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"I... should have seen it before," the High Priest murmured, but for the life of him, he could not recall where. A strange sense of eeriness crept into his heart, and his pupils constricted as he roughly guessed the origin of the other party.

"Have you thought of something?" Zhang Xiaoyun asked tentatively from the side.

"Do any of you remember what happened thirty years ago?"

"Thirty years ago?" Zhang Xiaoyun was momentarily stunned but quickly caught on.

If something noteworthy happened thirty years ago, it had to be the renowned Heavenly Moon Plan by the King of Qin!

The King of Qin, supported by various forces, sealed most of the ancient and.

.. some nearly resurgent Otherworldly Demon Statues.

His final move, aiming to eradicate the world’s grudges and fears, was to exploit the innate talent of the Thousand-Faced Fox and the projection of the Divine Mirror to conduct a large-scale memory erasure.

The technique’s range was cast so widely that it was said to only affect the ordinary citizens, leaving powerful Warriors and Magicians unaffected.

But was it really so?

The High Priest did not think so at all.

After the Heavenly Moon Plan, the Ancient Demon Clan made their move, coveting Ali and the Heavenly Mirror, plotting to take them secretly.

They attached great importance to this and feared exposure; hence the plan was extraordinarily cautious, demanding a surefire strike.

Naturally, he, with the most formidable combat power, went personally.

But as they prepared to strike, the Qin King’s Forces underwent a drastic change!

The demonic identity of the King of Qin was exposed, he lost the people’s support, and major clans collectively rebelled.

The King of Qin, afflicted by a deadly poison, was subsequently killed in a coordinated attack supported in secret by several major families and the guild, leading to his demise.

That should have been an opportune moment for them to seize Ali and the Heavenly Mirror amid the widespread focus on the King of Qin.

Yet, while he and his group of elites were in hiding,

they were shocked to find that Ali had vanished...

The so-called Divine Mirror disappeared, too, and what’s more, many within the Qin King’s Forces had no recollection of Ali and the Heavenly Mirror.

At that time, he knew that the King of Qin had actually altered their memories.

Ali’s powers had weakened due to diffusion, but that did not mean the memories couldn’t be changed at all.

They all remembered the implementation of the Heavenly Moon Plan, but some of the details had been silently erased.

And in that operation, they too experienced memory gaps...

Many action details did not add up, and upon returning to Yun Du City, he, as if facing a formidable enemy, had convened all the lucid Elders to discuss countermeasures, evidently feeling that the Ancient Demon Clan must have been exposed, possibly necessitating an early strike!

However, strangely enough, after the death of the King of Qin, the continent fell into tranquility.

The citizens, having forgotten all about the demonic affairs due to the Heavenly Moon incident, lost their prior fear and resentment.

Great Jin, under the stewardship of the Siao Family, quickly returned to peace and entered a period of recovery, with the world’s Spiritual Energy gradually stabilizing as if all strife had dissipated with the death of the King of Qin.

For a full two years in Yun Du City, the Ancient Demon Clan was too anxious to make any moves. But eventually, they dispatched some embedded agents to probe around, and the facts proved that no one had noticed them.

What was the nature of the memory they lost? How did Ali and the Heavenly Mirror escape from them? He had thought it impossible to uncover these secrets.

But it seemed that wasn’t the case now.

The Old Celestial Master glanced at the Demon Figure in the distance, feeling somewhat certain.

He must have encountered that creature during the operation he led back then; they might have even clashed, but in the end, he and the few Elders who survived returned without that portion of their memory.

What had that creature done to him back then? And what was it doing appearing now?

Could it be that the King of Qin was about to enter the scene?

"But the King of Qin... hadn’t he been tricked and disappeared by Chen Qing?"

"The High Priest spoke of the incident thirty years ago, the one you led the team on?"

"Mm..." The High Priest nodded. "There was some discrepancy in my memory back then. I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. The inevitable has still arrived, but I don’t understand, which side is this guy on? Is he with the Reincarnators’ Power or Qin King’s Forces?

And, what intrigues me more, can the Otherworldly Demon Statues be controlled? "

"What should we do?" Zhang Xiaoyun looked upward cautiously.

Perhaps it was the reason he lost the contest; he seemed to have lost his previous arrogance.

"Let’s not act rashly..." the High Priest whispered.

Although the guy had taken control of the Western Sea Army, he hadn’t made a subsequent move, and he only held Tian Heng captive, which merely meant the Western Sea Army would not act recklessly.

It was impossible for him to command them.

For them, the Western Sea Army’s inaction was actually a good thing.

The ritual... only had a quarter of an hour left to conclude. As long as the ritual was successful, the spirits of heaven and earth would believe in their Ancient Demon Clan. That was their foundation.

Even if everyone escaped this time, as long as the ritual was successfully carried out in full, and they retained the Four Holy Spirit for the Imperial Clan to successfully parasitize, this time would still be a success.

As for the future contests, he was not afraid. In terms of sheer strength, his Ancient Demon Clan didn’t play house during the era of the Sorcerer Dynasty. They had amassed plenty of resources. When the Spiritual Energy surged, he was confident to face the Reincarnators’ Guild directly.

Zhang Xiaoyun nodded and then, resentfully, looked upward again.

He had lost the contest and been separated from Fei Jun’s body, but he still had a chance.

Fei Jun had no forces behind him, and Chen Qing was currently in trouble.

If he could capture Fei Jun during the coming chaos, his Ancient Demon Clan’s innate talent would still allow him to re-enter Fei Jun’s body!

But just as he entertained these thoughts, more bad news emerged.

"High Priest, there are armies surrounding us from outside."

The High Priest and Zhang Xiaoyun hastily peered through countless spatial fragments to look at the perimeter.

They saw beneath the Imperial Palace, which topped the sky, that a dense, dark cloud had spread across the entire Yun Du City, unknown when.

And outside the city of Yun Du, the city gates unguarded by the Four Holy Guard were quickly devoured by the creatures beneath the dark clouds.

Pairs of greenish pupils stared intently at the Imperial Palace from within the black fog, their formidable aura more oppressive than the dark clouds above.

Especially the woman leading atop a Dragon Colt, her spirit was extraordinary; with just one glance, the High Priest knew she was an existence capable of threatening him!

"Ghost Army?" Zhang Xiaoyun’s face turned ashen. "It seems the Capital City has also failed. King Chu Jiang is pure waste. Back then, he lost to the emerging King Xiang, and now, after plotting for many years in advance, he still fumbles even with King Xiang out of the picture!"

The High Priest was not surprised; he glanced at the distant Emperor, who had remained calm from start to finish, certainly having a backup plan. It seemed that everyone had underestimated this Emperor; he not only possessed great power himself but surprisingly held such an ace up his sleeve!

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"So that’s how it is..." King Xiang’s hoarse voice spread out. "This is the confidence you had that the Capital City wouldn’t fall. You hid it well indeed!"

"If I didn’t hide it well, how could I have lured that old slick King Chu Jiang into action?" The Emperor said with a slight smile.

Five years ago, when Chen Qing encountered King Chu Jiang on the Path of Yin and Yang, he knew the Capital City was targeted by that old guy.

Unfortunately, the old guy was scheming within the Path of Yin and Yang, leaving himself only to passively defend. But in this world, can one guard against a thief for a thousand days?

Only by finding the opportunity to pull that nail out can he go on campaigns without constantly worrying about his rear.

"It seems she did well." King Xiang spoke softly. "To be able to take down King Chu Jiang."

The Emperor didn’t speak, but the smile on his face never faded. As the reliance that grew up with him, he trusted her the most; he also believed his Siao Family’s first jewel would surely manage it!

"Get ready..." the Emperor turned his gaze towards the four beams of light suspended in the air. "The ritual should be ending soon. As soon as it ends, we’ll prepare to snatch them!"