Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 603 - 383: The Ancient Battlefield (Tianyan Side Story)

Chapter 603: Chapter 383: The Ancient Battlefield (Tianyan Side Story)

As his words fell,

Xu Yuan gave the girl a gentle smile and then withdrew his gaze, but Tianyan subconsciously tensed up a bit.

Calling him Xu Yuan.....

Watching his profile, Tianyan slightly pursed her lips:

"Are you... angry?"

"Ah?" Xu Yuan was taken aback, looking back, "Angry about what....."

Mid-sentence, Xu Yuan noticed her expression resembling that of a little girl who had done something wrong and suddenly realized what she was referring to.

The name and the appellation.

In this world, close acquaintances usually use the appellation rather than the name.

His elder brother and father had always called him Changtian.

Considering Tianyan’s inexplicably angry behavior from before, his previous words might as well have told Tianyan,

Our relationship should end here; there’s no need to take it further.

The girl’s perceptive mind made Xu Yuan feel a moment of speechlessness, instinctively wanting to tease this Washboard Saintess, but he decided against it.

Glancing with his peripheral vision at the billowing clouds below,

there, the brown earth was already faintly visible.

There were pressing matters of varying urgency; his knowledge about the ghost fog was rather limited.

After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan said softly:

"Hmm... you can think of it as a nickname."

"Nickname?"

Although Tianyan was somewhat puzzled in her heart, seeing Xu Yuan’s smiling face, she felt somewhat reassured deep down.

Xu Yuan has shown his true anger before, and it wasn’t like now.

After a moment of silence,

Tianyan said softly, "Nervous, truly making a fuss over nothing."

Xu Yuan smiled lightly, but before he could speak, he was met with Tianyan’s half-squinted scrutinizing gaze:

"Xu Yuan, what did you just say also?"

Xu Yuan’s heart tightened, his gaze clear:

"What also?"

"Just now you asked me to also call you Xu Yuan."

"What does it mean?"

"Also, whom else have you asked to call you Xu Yuan?"

"...."

It was bad, Tianyan was clearly so foolish, yet she caught on to such minute details.

To admit it outright, or to make up something on the spot?

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Yuan already had his answer.

Using other Big Ice Lumps to stimulate Tianyan once or twice could enhance her sense of crisis, but if done too often, it would backfire.

After a brief silence, Xu Yuan lightly chuckled and made up a story:

"Many people, my father, my elder brother..."

"Did I not deduce the interactions in your Prime Minister’s Mansion at Jiatiange? It includes the scenes of you and your family together."

"...."

Xu Yuan’s eyes twitched.

Damn it, this Yantian Art even includes peeping?

Tianyan let out a cold snort, sounding indifferent:

"That person is nothing but Ran Qingmo, isn’t it? Why do you have to hide it?"

As she spoke, her voice slightly lowered, almost inaudibly: "Hmph, it’s not as if I mean anything to you, and it’s not like anything could ever happen between us."

The girl’s expression turned slightly desolate. Xu Yuan’s narrow phoenix eyes slightly squinted with laughter as he pinched her small hand:

"Hey, are you jealous?"

Tianyan looked down towards the falling ground, not making a sound.

She was obviously jealous.

Xu Yuan’s voice was neither hurried nor slow:

"We’re not even sure if we can get out of here, what are you being jealous about?"

"Don’t use that excuse."

Tianyan suddenly spoke up abruptly:

"We have been together for seven years, and you and Ran Qingmo... never mind."

Halfway through, it seemed Tianyan found it difficult to continue and turned her face away, no longer speaking.

Seeing the girl’s jealous demeanor, ripples of an indefinable emotion surged in Xu Yuan’s heart. Yet, he chose not to speak up to explain or say some clichéd lines to comfort her.

With the Big Ice Lump, mere indulgence and compliance would suffice, but Tianyan’s temperament required a mix of pull and discipline.

He had never forgotten the domineering manner of the formidable female ghost when Tianyan first appeared as a young girl.

Were he to be merely compliant, Tianyan’s tail would shoot up to the sky.

Silence spread between the two,

suddenly,

as the churning white fog around them reached its end, a gust of wind rolled by, and they smoothly landed at the bottom of Sword Casting Valley.

Holding Tianyan’s small hand, Xu Yuan’s eyes flickered with a bloody light as he scanned the surroundings, showing a trace of surprise.

In sight was a forest.

Yet, compared to the lush greenery atop the cliffs, the trees at the valley’s bottom were withered and twisted.

The dried branches were dark brown, the leaves were sharp and needle-like, and the roots that should have been anchored in the soil were twisted and exposed, imperceptibly squirming slowly.

Moreover, through the potent will-spirit and Origin Qi sensing of the Primordial Realm, Xu Yuan could tell that many creatures were moving through the forest in soft rustling motions.

However, due to the distance and the interference of the ghost fog, he couldn’t sense them clearly and did not know their true appearance.

But everything before him was somewhat beyond his knowledge.

Seven years ago, the ghost fog kept by the Prime Minister’s Mansion outside Jingjiang Prefecture was completely different from this ancient battlefield.

The captive ghost fog was pitch-black as ink, and apart from the Yin Ghosts, no other living creatures existed within it; any living person or demon thrown into it would be devoured immediately.

And before me here...

"Tianyan..."

Xu Yuan hesitated to ask, "There are living creatures within this ghost fog?"

Although still angry, Tianyan did not let personal feelings interfere with serious matters, her golden pupils scanning the surroundings as she asked indifferently,

"Why can’t there be living creatures?"

Xu Yuan stiffened at her question, surveying around thoughtfully before responding,

"I remember that ghost fog is supposed to devour all living things."

Tianyan shook her head gently and pulled Xu Yuan forward,

"The archives your Prime Minister’s Mansion possesses are too few, so few that even the past nature of the ghost fog is unclear.

"Xu Yuan, whether it’s the Yin Ghosts or the creatures at the bottom of the valley, if they want to continue to survive, they must find a relationship of mutual dependence.

"And this ancient battlefield that has existed for who knows how long has already formed a balance."

"..."

After listening carefully, Xu Yuan contemplated for a moment before gaining understanding, and while observing the eerie environment around, he whispered sardonically,

"Wow, even Yin Ghosts understand sustainable development."

The ghost fog raised by the Prime Minister’s Mansion has an external force continuously supplying it with death row prisoners and corpses to produce soul beads.

But this wild ghost fog has no external force to provide it with blood food.

If it wants to continue to exist, it must find a balanced ecosystem.

In other words, this ghost fog, which has no boundaries in sight, is actually a breeding ground for the Yin Ghosts, and the living creatures inside are their reserved food supply.

With this realization, Xu Yuan said no more.

Ten thousand years ago, the Yin Ghosts were powerful and raised living creatures for blood food.

Ten thousand years later, humans are powerful and raise Yin Ghosts for resources.

The strong preying on the weak, a fair matter.

"What a strange ecosystem."

Feeling the warmth of the young girl’s fingertips, Xu Yuan stepped on the dark brown earth, causing it to rustle, and sighed softly,

"But such an extensive ghost fog, being an ancient battlefield... just how many people died here in Sword Casting Valley back then..."

As the Saintess of Jiatiange, Tianyan seemed to have read about this history:

"Over a hundred million beings."

Over a hundred million...

The colossal number stunned Xu Yuan momentarily before he turned back his gaze,

"You... what did you say?"

Tianyan’s golden eyes swept around, gesturing towards the ground, her tone calm,

"During the ancient times, the fourteen states of the Central Lands were not only inhabited by our human race. Today’s prosperity of the human race was built step by step by those sages back then. At the end of the chaotic era, only humans and the Demon Race remained powerful, and this Sword Casting Valley was the site of the decisive battle between the two races.

"Wagering the rise of an entire race, the war resulting in hundreds of millions of casualties is not considered excessive.

"Humans won that battle, and so we have exclusive possession of the fertile lands of the fourteen states of the Central Plains, while the Demon Race was forced to retreat into the Ancient Abyss."

Then,

Tianyan recalled a little and continued calmly,

"Moreover, according to the ancient records I have read, Sword Casting Valley was a geographical feature created by that great battle."

"...."

This information was not available at the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Even beyond Jiatiange, such ancient secrets may have been known by no one.

But this information from so many years ago was not at all important.

After hearing all this, Xu Yuan realized another problem and asked the young girl next to him in a low voice,

"The ghost fog in this Sword Casting Valley should be continually expanding outward, right?"

It’s common knowledge among cultivators that ghost fogs expand.

Xu Yuan did not believe that Sword Casting Valley would defy this knowledge.

Although the ghost fog seemed to have formed a strange balance, the total size of the area was just so much, and the resources within would eventually be exhausted.

Such a vast expanse of ghost fog existed here, and yet Jiatiange, as the leading power in the world, left it unattended?

If it were the Dayan of today, they would surely mobilize the army to eliminate such a danger immediately.

Tianyan did not immediately answer Xu Yuan’s question but, after a moment of thought, she replied softly,

"That was twenty thousand years ago. I don’t know how the Pavilion Master of that era made decisions, but if Jiatiange chose to ignore it, there certainly would have been reason."

At her words, Xu Yuan chuckled lightly, his tone teasing,

"Erasing such a grand ghost fog would likely have shaken Jiatiange’s position of power, right? Or maybe it was because the mountains are high and the Emperor is far away, and this place does not fall within Jiatiange’s sphere of influence, after all, I remember Jiatiange’s ancient site is said to be atop the peaks of Tianjue Mountain by the sea."

"....."

After a moment of silence, Tianyan did not deny this response, admitting frankly,

"That is a possibility."

"Doesn’t Jiatiange pride itself on protecting the human race? How could your Jiatiange allow this ghost fog to grow to such an extent?"

"The premise of protecting the human race is that we must first continue to exist, all things involve choices."

With that,

Tianyan paused for a moment, looking into Xu Yuan’s eyes, she asked in return,

"Isn’t your Prime Minister’s Mansion the same?"

"...."

Making eye contact,

Xu Yuan chuckled and shook his head, also without denial,

"Indeed."

Tianyan withdrew her gaze, continuing to look around, before asking softly,

"Xu Yuan, do you know why I brought you to this Sword Casting Valley to avoid Jiatiange’s pursuit?"

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow,

"Why?"

Tianyan’s lips curved into a smile, she raised her palm, and gestured at the white fog all around with a circle,

"Ghost fog can disrupt the Yantian Art’s deduction results. As long as we hide in here, the current Pavilion Master will only be able to deduce that we are within this ghost fog!"