“The King of the Sky-Punishing Eagle Clan, Eagle Shattering the Void, sacrificed himself here to protect the welfare of the common people and the future of the continent: His heroic soul is immortal!” It watches over the continent forever!” Beneath this, another line of golden characters leaped out, shining brightly!
The Blood of Yan Huang let out a long cry, instantly soaring toward the heavens, circling rapidly once, and then descending with a sword gleam hundreds of feet long trailing behind it.
Mei Xueyan, Xiong Kaishan, He Chongxiao, and the others craned their necks, staring blankly at the colossal statue of the Eagle King suspended in the void between heaven and earth, unable to avert their gaze for a long time…
Little Eagle, I wonder if you are lonely over there? Are you feeling solitary? Do you ever think of us? You must! But how we miss you…
After a silence as deep as death, Xiong Kaishan suddenly burst into loud sobs, tears streaming down his face, collapsing onto the ground, weeping until he couldn't catch his breath: “Ninth Brother… Ninth Brother! Fourth Brother misses you, I miss you so much… You… you… come back, please come back…” As the Bear King’s heart-wrenching cries began, Mei Xueyan and He Chongxiao and the others finally couldn’t hold back and began to sob together…
The autumn wind howled past, carrying the Bear King’s hysterical cries far away, until it seemed as if the entire world was filled with this sound of profound sorrow… Following this, over a hundred thousand people simultaneously set to work, right at the foot of this great mountain, digging grave after grave to inter the soldiers who would sleep forever in this land. Many of them were represented only by a name, without even a sliver of bone remaining, so they could only scoop up a handful of earth from the ground to place inside…
Tombstones were erected one after another, so dense and numerous they stretched as far as the eye could see without limit.
The autumn wind whistled mournfully, whistling through the graveyard, the sound piercingly sharp and tragically grand, as if these tens of thousands of heroes were still shouting and fighting—still caught in the throes of that exceptionally brutal battle…
Paper packets, each bearing the name of someone once familiar or perhaps unknown, were buried one by one into the graves.
The earth rolled as they buried their comrades; their movements were meticulous, yet incredibly gentle, as if fearful of disturbing the slumbering heroic souls…
Jun Moxie silently observed the tombstones one by one, maintaining absolute silence for the entire day. His gaze was profound and distant, seeming to connect to another world, offering a silent tribute to the heroes resting eternally…
“Tomb of Gu Han, the foremost figure of the Holy Land! Gu Han, a Peak Saint Monarch, stood here and single-handedly slew three thousand Saint Emperors of the foreign race, ultimately exhausting himself in a mutual destruction with several powerful enemies! His merits are unparalleled, the greatest under heaven!” “Tomb of Mo Wudao, Master of the Secluded Immortal Palace!” “Tomb of Xi Ruochen, Master of the Secluded Immortal Characters!” “Tomb of Cheng Yinxiao, Holy Venerable of the Heavenly Sage Palace!”
“Tomb of Qu Wuhui, Holy Venerable of the Heavenly Sage Palace!” Countless heroes who once dominated the world, every single one of them, were colossal figures whom the entire continent had to look up to while alive… Yet now, they lay quietly interred here…
All glory, all history, dissipated here into the wind…
The vast sky remained silent, watching over everything here!
The great mountain stood mute, quietly guarding all that lay beneath it!
Jun Moxie pondered for a long time, finally unable to suppress the tumultuous emotions surging within him. On the mountainside dozens of zhang above all the tombstones at the foot of this mountain, he deeply carved a line of large characters: “One hundred thousand heroic souls are buried here! They are the pillars holding up the Xuan Xuan Continent! This, truly, is the Pillar Mountain! Formed by the souls and blood of one hundred thousand heroes, this mountain shall be eternal and unyielding!”
The crowd stood silently for a long time, gazing at the heroes who slept here, everyone’s eyes slightly moist.
“The magnificent achievements of this battle must be recorded in history!” Jun Moxie’s hair whipped wildly in the wind, his face solemn: “The deeds of heroes must be passed down through the ages!” He didn't specifically assign anyone to this task, but behind him stood Dugu Zongheng, Murong Fengyun, and the Profound Experts of all the nations. This request from the Monarch of Evil, once spread, would ensure that no sovereign would dare disobey, nor could any possibly defy it!
The great army rested here for a full ten days! Healing, mourning… Jun Moxie’s Hongjun Pagoda elixirs undoubtedly played a critical role during this time.
Many injuries that should have been fatal were resurrected under Jun Moxie’s elixirs…
On the morning of the eleventh day, led by Jun Moxie and Mei Xueyan, all participating personnel gathered here again, assembling before this field of tombstones.
Led by Jun Moxie and Mei Xueyan, over two hundred thousand people stood perfectly straight, their faces solemn, bowing deeply three times to the silent rows of graves!
The howling autumn wind in the sky suddenly intensified, growing ever more shrill, and countless leaves blew in from afar, swirling in the air.
The battle flags of the Continental Allied Forces stood tall in the mid-air, whipping loudly in the autumn wind…
The time to return to base had finally arrived.
Now was the moment for all the soldiers to offer their final salute and farewell to the heroic souls sleeping here!
More than two hundred thousand people stood there, not a single word spoken, only a silence as profound as death.
After a long, long pause, the military standards finally stirred, and the first army began its departure. Many, many people kept turning back even after traveling far, far away…
Then, the allied forces departed in succession…
By the afternoon, as vast numbers of reinforcements left, the area began to look somewhat empty. The troops from the Tianxiang Empire were the last to depart: only the lineage of Sky Punishment and the armies of the Evil Monarch’s Estate remained.
During these ten days, Xiong Kaishan had remained sitting on the ground, gazing blankly up at the statue of the Eagle King in the clouds, lost in thought about who knows what. His once robust body had visibly wasted away several sizes in these days.
Jun Moxie remained silent for a long time, finally turning around to face everyone.
“All those here who have reached the cultivation level of Saint Emperor or above, step forward one pace.”
Suddenly, a large number of people stepped out from the crowd; a rough estimate showed several thousand individuals!
Jun Moxie looked at them one by one, a ruthless look suddenly appearing on his face, gritting his teeth: “I have called you forth to assign you a mission! This task is exceptionally arduous, but it must be completed! If you fail to accomplish it, you will be buried here just like these brothers!”
Jun Moxie’s voice was unusually fierce; even Mei Xueyan was hearing him speak in such a tone for the first time!
Everyone’s eyes fixed brightly on Jun Moxie; from the tone of his voice, they could tell that whatever he was calling them out for was undoubtedly going to be an earth-shattering event!
“Five thousand people, divided into five teams! Led by Eagle Fighting the Void, Wind Rolling Cloud, Chu Qi Hun, Xiong Kaishan, and He Chongxiao—you will charge into the foreign race territory! Search meticulously, capture ruthlessly, and completely annihilate the entire foreign race population! Ensure that every root is severed, leaving not even weeds behind!”
“Yes!” All the Saint Emperor experts present gave a unified response.
Jun Moxie stared menacingly toward the south of Pillar Mountain, saying gravely: “There are no longer any formidable experts left among the foreign race capable of fighting. The sole purpose of this campaign is to resolve the threat permanently and eliminate future troubles once and for all. I will await news of your victorious return at Sky Punishment. I trust you will not disappoint me!”
“Yes!” All the Saint Emperor experts responded in unison again.
Light finally sparked in Xiong Kaishan’s eyes, which had been filled with sorrow; he shouted the loudest. The hatred in his eyes burned like raging flames.
The Bear King desperately needed a slaughter to vent the grief in his heart!
Little Jiu, Ninth Brother, Fourth Brother will use every remaining scrap of life from the foreign race filth to send you off! To avenge you!
On the journey back, Jun Moxie and the others traveled with the Sky Punishment reinforcement army. Along the way, Jun Moxie and Mei Xueyan were both rather silent.
Now that the three great Holy Lands, the only powers capable of resisting Sky Punishment and the Evil Monarch’s Estate on this continent, were permanently gone, the two felt no joy in their hearts. Instead, they were filled with complex emotions, even a sense of loss—a strange feeling of having no idea what to do next was quite vexing. They had no particular destination in mind, so they simply accompanied the army slowly back. The return journey naturally did not need to be rushed, and coupled with the presence of tens of thousands of troops, it took more than ten days before they saw wisps of cooking smoke ahead, indicating they had returned to inhabited areas.
Having stayed at the Pillar Mountain site for so long, seeing human habitation again suddenly made everyone’s hearts tremble slightly, bringing forth a feeling of profound familiarity. They had all wrestled with life and death, and the feeling at this moment was indescribable.
“Moxie, have you noticed that during this War for the Heavens, no helpers appeared from the Ethereal Illusionary Manor? Given the relationship between the Ethereal Illusionary Manor and the Three Great Holy Lands, this is a very strange situation,” Mei Xueyan said, exhaling a long breath as she looked at the distant cooking smoke. “Although the Ethereal Illusionary Manor has never openly participated in the War for the Heavens, they always provided covert assistance. This time, the collapse of Pillar Mountain—how grave the situation was—yet there was absolutely no word from the Illusionary Manor. This defies logic, especially since we now have considerable ties with the Miao family of the Illusionary Manor. Something is unusual here.”
“Indeed, there must be something else going on,” Jun Moxie nodded in agreement, pondering why the Illusionary Manor did not send aid.
Could it be because Zhan Kuang has returned to the Manor, and the other Seven Great Families are preoccupied with their own affairs!?
As soon as this thought occurred, thinking of Zhan Kuang made Jun Moxie’s head involuntarily ache. That fellow’s bizarre condition was now truly difficult to deal with. He was simply unkillable; even the Chaos Fire, reputed to incinerate everything in heaven and earth, could not burn him away!
How exactly could he be completely destroyed?
Furthermore, a considerable amount of time had passed since that battle… If Zhan Kuang intended to devour human flesh and blood to bolster his power, who knows how much he has absorbed by now…
If the incomplete Zhan Kuang was already this formidable, how terrifying must he be now after consuming the essence blood of humans?