After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

"Whether it's true or not, we have to go and see."

The Vice President and the Secretary of State nodded in succession, and Zhou Yan sighed inwardly.

To be honest, everyone, including Zhou Yan, could see that they had been tricked by Zhu Jiuyin. Their trip to Mount Tai was likely to be a minefield for Zhu Jiuyin, but there was no other way. As the rulers of the Eastern Xia Federation, they had to go and see what was happening in the face of the danger of the collapsing pillar of heaven.

Regardless of whether I'll get scammed, I must finish what needs to be done.

Xuanwu stared at Zhou Yan.

"I'll go with you. How many more people can you bring?"

Zhou Yan looked toward the door of the presidential office.

"Then count me in."

The door to the presidential office opened, and Zhuque, dressed in a tracksuit and wearing a baseball cap, walked in. Behind Zhuque, Jiufeng followed. However, after seeing Zhou Yan, Jiufeng didn't say much and went to Zhou Yan's side, hugging his arm.

Before Zhou Yan came to see Xuanwu, he had discussed it with Zhuque. Zhuque was also helpless, after all, who knew what would happen if the Heavenly Pillar collapsed.

When faced with matters of great importance, Zhuque can only join forces with Zhou Yan and Xuanwu; other conflicts and issues of interest can be set aside in the face of survival.

Xuanwu clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"Very good, let's not delay."

Xuanwu walked out of His presidential office, followed by Zhou Yan, Si Ling Si San, Jiu Feng, and Zhu Que.

Four true gods left the Black Palace and boarded a plane bound for Mount Tai at the Black Palace's airfield.

……

A certain mountain.

The young woman, with her fair skin, sat by a stream, holding a fishing rod in her hand, quietly watching the small fish swimming back and forth in the water.

As a true god whose age surpasses that of 99% of the gods, Zhu Jiuyin's patience is far beyond that of ordinary people. He sat for a full twenty hours without catching a single fish, yet he did not change his posture, still quietly watching the stream.

Then footsteps came from behind Zhu Jiuyin, followed by a gentle voice.

“Madam, the detective outside the Black Palace in Zhongzhou City has sent a message saying that the president’s plane has taken off and is flying towards Mount Tai.”

Zhu Jiuyin, satisfied, lifted the fishing rod, which still hadn't caught anything, and handed it to his subordinate.

The subordinate took it and inquired.

"Madam, I've arranged the flight to Mount Tai. Shall we go?"

Zhu Jiuyin shook his head.

"No need to rush. Let Bai Ze and his group go into the Mount Tai Secret Realm first to take a look."

Whether it's Zhou Yan, Xuanwu, or Zhuque, none of them are worthy of the divine position and authority of the Taishan Emperor. Even if they obtain the divine inheritance of the Taishan Emperor, they cannot compete with Zhujiuyin for the divine authority of the Eastern Peak Emperor. Therefore, it is most appropriate to release these fish in to see what kind of thunderbolts might be unleashed in the Taishan Secret Realm.

Chapter Eighteen, Secret Realm Nine

"The plane is preparing to land at Ta Aye International Airport. The outside temperature is 23 degrees Celsius..."

"Please be careful when retrieving items from the overhead compartments. Please collect your checked baggage from the baggage claim area..."

Sitting in first class, Zhou Yan felt the seat beneath him shake, and his body lean forward slightly due to inertia.

The Vermilion Bird and the Black Tortoise beside Zhou Yan both looked out the window.

Suzaku sighed.

“When I was little, my parents, who were geologists, went to various mountains around the world every day to conduct geological surveys. Sometimes they were so far away that they didn’t even come back for the New Year. At that time, I thought that when I grew up and became capable, I would definitely start a construction company and only do one thing each year.”

Zhuque's face showed a hint of childish mischief.

"Level all the mountains in the world!"

Xuanwu, standing to the side, joked.

“Geologists don’t just examine mountains.”

Geologists study geological changes. If Zhuque wanted to ruin his parents' work, he would have to destroy all the continents on Earth.

Zhuque sighed.

"So it's just a child's whims."

Xuanwu seemed to have thought of something as well, and said with a complicated expression.

“When I was young, my parents had some very… regrettable experiences because of the reckless behavior of capitalists. At that time, I had only one thought in my mind: if one day I become the one in power, I will arrest all the capitalists and grind them to dust, leaving not a single one alive.”

Zhou Yan quickly turned to Xuanwu and asked.

"and then?"

Xuanwu said sadly.

"Little Bai Ze...do you think morality can govern a country?"

Zhou Yan: "..."

Xuanwu asked again.

Do you think that love, justice, and kindness alone can resolve all conflicts and bring happiness to everyone?

Xuanwu was betrayed by his own beliefs and justice. It's not that being betrayed made him turn evil and degenerate, wanting to destroy the world. But from that moment on, Xuanwu grew up.

Zhou Yan shook his head.

"Okay, okay, stop talking, I understand."

As the top official of Dongyang Prefecture, Zhou Yan did not try to move the common people with love, justice, and kindness. Instead, he planted many spies among the people. Many popular leaders were Zhou Yan's subordinates. These popular leaders would report to Zhou Yan every day on the trends, thoughts, and dissatisfaction of the people at the grassroots level with the government.

Xuanwu reached out and patted Zhou Yan on the shoulder. (The remaining text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the preceding sentence.)

"That's how we all got here."

The four true gods rose one after another and walked out of the airport together.

The plane was described as an international airport, but it was actually a private airport. When Zhou Yan, Zhuque, Jiufeng, and Xuanwu came out, there was no one else around. Only a few people in charge of the private airport came up and chatted with Xuanwu for a few minutes.

After Xuanwu politely finished speaking with the person in charge, he left with Zhou Yan, Zhuque, and Jiufeng, and got into an open-top car heading to Mount Tai.

The driver was a tour guide who didn't talk much. After asking Zhou Yan and the others about their destination, he drove out of the city and all the way to the foot of an unnamed mountain in the Taishan Mountains.

Zhou Yan and the other three got off the car one after another. After getting off the car, Zhuque, Xuanwu and Jiufeng all looked at Zhou Yan. Zhou Yan took out the Taishan Token that Bixia Yuanjun had given him before, which could open the Taishan Secret Realm.

At this moment, a bird's-eye view of the Mount Tai mountain range appeared on Mount Tai Lingling's body. In the bird's-eye view, there was a dim red flash, which was the gate of the Mount Tai Secret Realm.

Zhou Yan rose from the ground and flew to a height of 300 meters in the air, comparing the mountain peaks one by one with the map on the token.

After identifying several hilltops as landmarks, Zhou Yan flew to a small, sparsely populated basin.

After landing in this basin, the Mount Tai token in Zhou Yan's palm began to heat up.

When the temperature rose to fifty degrees, translucent thin lines slowly appeared above a relatively empty flat area in front of Zhou Yan, covered only with weeds.

It's as if someone is gradually reducing the transparency of something 100% transparent. Lines appearing in mid-air slowly emerge as a door frame, followed by red walls and copper nails, and then a plaque above the gate that reads "Taishan Grotto Heaven." (Seven)

A minute later, a large red gate, about eight meters high and four meters wide, appeared before Zhou Yan, complete with its frame.

Behind Zhou Yan, the Vermilion Bird, the Black Tortoise, and the Nine Phoenixes descended in front of him.

Zhuque has the most straightforward temper. When she saw the gate to the secret realm open, she walked towards the gate, ready to push it open and go in.

Zhou Yan hurriedly replied.

"Lord Suzaku, wait a moment."

Zhuque stopped, looking at Zhou Yan with confusion. (Part Two)

Zhou Yan chuckled awkwardly. Yu

"I have the ability to sense danger; let me sense it first." Han

Zhuque nodded and stepped aside.

Zhou Yan closed his eyes; using his eyes to clear a path was a routine procedure for him.

In the distance, Zhou Yan carefully put away the Mount Tai token, walked to the gate, and placed his hands on it.

It didn't feel too heavy; Zhou Yan easily pushed the door open, and as the crack in the door widened, he peered inside.

Inside the gate was a plaza surrounded by several streets leading to different places. It seemed to be night inside the gate. Zhou Yan could still see the plaza clearly, but beyond the streets, he could only make out the general outlines of those extremely distant places in the darkness.

After pushing the door a crack wide enough, Zhou Yan stepped inside.

The surrounding environment suddenly darkened, and except for the area behind Zhou Yan, the dim darkness enveloped him.

Zhou Yan silently walked to the center of the square and surveyed every corner.

Something was amiss; Zhou Yan didn't sense any danger in this place, and everything seemed safe.

Zhou Yan flew up from the ground and, relying on the Void Control System, flew to a height of 300 meters above the plaza.

From this altitude, Zhou Yan saw a vast, ancient city, large enough to house millions of people.

The city's layout is typical of ancient times, with the royal palace in the center, and streets and countless residences radiating out from the palace.

Most of the houses were not worth looking at. Zhou Yan glanced at the palace gate, where the plaque read "Dongyue Divine Palace".

It seems to be the secret Taoist temple of the Eastern Peak Emperor in this mortal realm. Bixia Yuanjun must have lived in this place back then.

Zhou Yan flew to the Eastern Peak Divine Palace, but not long after he arrived, his expression changed.

Zhou Yan flew down from mid-air and landed on a street three kilometers away from the Eastern Peak Divine Palace.

The streets were not densely covered with scattered white bones of various shapes.

Zhou Yan glanced at it and saw that it clearly stated "crocodile demon teeth and bones", "dog demon ribs", "rabbit demon leg bones", and so on.

There wasn't a single human bone among them; they were all the remains of monsters.

As Zhou Yan walked down the street, he found more and more corpses. Originally, he was lucky to see a few monster bones every ten meters, but after walking a kilometer, he could find several bones every five meters.

Then there were bones every three meters, bones every one meter, until finally the ground was covered with a layer of white bones, so dense that Zhou Yan couldn't even find a place to step on them.

Zhou Yan had no choice but to fly into the air and look at the corpses that covered the ground from mid-air.

What happened back then?

Zhou Yan shifted his gaze from where he came from to where he was standing now.

Judging from the arrangement of the remains, it seems that hundreds of thousands of monsters rushed from the outer circle of this huge city toward the Eastern Peak Divine Palace, and then from the outer circle, large numbers of monsters fell.

None survived.

Zhou Yan continued to approach the Eastern Peak Divine Palace.

As they approached, the skeletons were no longer just a single layer on the ground; by the time they reached the outer walls of the Eastern Peak Divine Palace, the ground was covered with a thick layer of skeletons half a meter high.

The bones of monsters of different races and names piled together turned the ground into an uneven, bone-strewn land.

Xu Zhouyan stared at all of this in astonishment.

This goes beyond what can be explained by simply fleeing for one's life.

Si Zhouyan clearly felt that for these bones to be piled up like this, someone must have piled up all the dead bones together to create this level of white bone carpet.

3. The remains inside the Eastern Peak Divine Palace are even more terrifying.

After Zhou Yanfei entered the Eastern Peak Divine Palace, he saw mountains.

6. That is a mountain made up of countless skeletons, some human, some demon, all piled together in a cone shape, the highest point reaching ten meters.

This sacred and lofty place, the Eastern Peak Divine Palace, is now filled with millions upon millions of corpses. The wind blows through these corpses, flowing through the gaps between them, making a whooshing sound.

Zhou Yan couldn't help but shudder.

Zhou Yan had been to the abyss and the underworld, and had seen many evil ghosts and spirits, but the towering mountains of white bones in the Eastern Peak Divine Palace had a far greater impact on him than any other forbidden zone for humans.

What exactly happened at the Eastern Peak Divine Palace back then?

Why……

How could there be such a sinister, even chilling, mountain of corpses?

Zhou Yan landed from mid-air and stood in the void, staring at the bones.

With Zhou Yan's current omniscient abilities, he could see three lifetimes from a single glance at a normal skeleton. Could he possibly know what happened to these skeletons before they died...?

Images began to appear in Zhou Yan's mind.

Zhou Yan first saw a full moon hanging high in the sky. Then the camera panned down, zooming in on rows of buildings on the ground, until finally it came to a man who looked unremarkable and who could easily be mistaken for someone else in a crowd.