They were standing right there, and he just said that to their faces?
Was that really okay?
If they had been able to see through Yi Tianxie,they'd probably have already jumped him and beaten him into a pulp.
But the moment they looked at him,they instinctively felt a terrifying sense of danger—as if, once they made a move, they'd suffer utter and brutal defeat.
So, for their own safety,they wisely chose not to act.
What made it even stranger was:
when they looked at Yi Tianxie, they couldn't clearly see his face. It felt oddly familiar and yet unfamiliar,like he bore the aspect of all living beings—a paradox,a mask of humanity.
"Who exactly are you people?"Chen Sheng finally asked, wary and suspicious.
After all, to traverse the Feng Shui formationand find this hidden underground space—this was no ordinary feat.
It meant this place was no longer safe.
If one could find them,others could too.
That risk was enormous.
"Relax. We have no ill intent toward you,"Yi Tianxie said casually."We came because of the GreatSerpent Dynasty,and happened to notice your underground refuge along the way."
"You came for the Great Serpent Dynasty…Are you from the Great Yi Empire?"Ji Kang's eyes lit up, his voice full of hope.
Though it sounded like a question,his tone already carried strong certainty.
In this world,who else could move so freely across Sakura Province,who else would know so much about the Great Serpent Dynasty?
Other than Great Yi, there was no other powerthat could possibly fit.
"You really are from the Great Yi Empire?That's wonderful!
Has the Emperor Yi already learned about what's happening here?
When will the army arrive?"
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang exchanged a glance,then spoke with great sincerity.
"The humans here suffer terribly under those demons.
We two brothers… we've done all we can,but we simply don't have the strength to overthrow the Great Serpent Dynasty.
If Great Yi sends its army—we're willing to do anything to help."
Their words were heartfelt and genuine.
Especially Chen Sheng—he still remembered having his head chopped off in a previous life,turned into a chamber pot.That humiliation filled him with a boundless killing intent.
"No need to worry.We don't need your help—and Great Yi's army hasn't come."
"Right now, Great Yi is still on the Dragon-Demon Continent,standing off against billions of foreign race troops.
War could break out at any moment."
"As of now,only the two of us have arrived here in Sakura Province."Yi Tianxie said calmly.
It wasn't possible to mobilize a full army right now—but then again, it might not be necessary to solve the Sakura Province issue that way.
"What?! Then what can we possibly do?"
"Fellow Daoist, could you at least help us move the people from the underground cityto the territory of Great Yi?"Wu Guang asked with desperation.
"To be honest,Generals' City is already at the breaking point.
We're running out of everything."
"Worse still, the Great Serpent Dynasty has tightened control across the board.
It's now much harder to steal resources than before."
"If we charge out recklessly,we'll just be throwing lives away."
He was right—if they stayed, they might starve.If they fought, they'd die.
But if Great Yi could take in the people,they'd live—and not just survive, but thrive.
Great Yi was already a legend to these people.
A place where even ordinary civilians could cultivate. A place where destiny could be grasped by one's own hands. Not a kingdom, but a cultivation empire, a Celestial Dynasty.
"Don't worry," Yi Tianxie replied."Soon, these people will naturally become citizens of Great Yi."
"Because Sakura Province itself…will become one of Great Yi's provinces."
"There will be Celestial Cities here, just like everywhere else in Great Yi.
All of these humans will be easily taken in and resettled."
There was no need to relocate anyone—once the Great Serpent Dynasty fell,Sakura Province would be part of Great Yi's territory.And resettlement, by now, was something Great Yi handled flawlessly.
"Excellent.If Great Yi can destroy the Great Serpent Dynasty,then we'll gladly hand over these people—all of them,"Chen Sheng declared decisively.
A hint of hope flickered in his heart.
"No rush,"Yi Tianxie said meaningfully.
"If nothing unexpected happens,the Great Serpent Dynasty won't last much longer."
He turned to the mirror they'd been observing.
It displayed scenes from all over Sakura Province—clear, even with sound. A truly wondrous treasure.
"This is the Sakura Spirit Mirror,"Chen Sheng explained proudly.
"Its power is simple:
wherever there are sakura trees, the mirror can show everything within range."
"And here, the entire province is covered in sakura.
So the mirror can monitor the whole territory."
This treasure was what had allowed them to survive beneath the Great Serpent Dynasty's nose for so longwithout discovery.
It even let them track enemy movements in real time.
"Interesting," Yi Tianxie nodded."Let's wait and see…
I want to know what happens in the Great Serpent Dynasty at night."
At this moment, it was still daytime.
In the mirror, the people of the Serpent Dynasty looked… mostly human.
Though shorter than those of Han bloodline, they behaved normally—just oppressing and abusing the Han people as slaves.
"Also—take this."Yi Tianxie casually tossed a storage pouch over.
"There's enough grain insideto feed ten million people for a month."
This was no big deal.
In Great Yi, food was no longer a major concern.Thanks to the environment of the Eternal World,crops matured rapidly and yielded abundantly.
Great Yi had even started shifting from regular grains to spiritual rice,though spiritual rice required spirit fields and dense qi.
Most citizens ate a mix:
regular rice with a bit of spiritual grain—delicious, nourishing, and even helpful for cultivation.
In Great Yi, basic food was free—enough to never go hungry.
"Grain!This is all top-grade grain!"
Wu Guang was overjoyed,examining the pouch and finding it overflowing with life-saving rations.
"If we ration it carefully,this could keep the whole underground city fed for three months!"
Without delay, he rushed to distribute it.
Meanwhile, Chen Sheng brought out fine wines and delicacies to personally entertain Yi Tianxie and Nan Nan.
It wasn't long before night fell.
"Here it comes," Chen Sheng said gravely.
"Once night descends,the people of the Great Serpent Dynasty transform into demons.
Fellow Daoists, please look."
He pointed at the Sakura Spirit Mirror.
The image showed a bustling city of the Serpent Dynasty.
It had at least a million residents,all going about their day as normal.
Then—night fell.
Moonlight bathed the land.
Suddenly, everything changed.
A street vendor's body grew enormous, bloated. A pig's head burst out of his neck.Drool dripped from his jaws—his appearance utterly grotesque.
Others sprouted tails, or claws, or black horns.
All kinds of monstrous mutations erupted across the city.
Demonic energy filled the air,and the city transformed completely—no longer human,but a demonic realm.
"So it's true… a nation of monsters,"Yi Tianxie muttered, eyes gleaming coldly.
"Their bodies fused with demonic and beastly essence—man and beast as one, human and demon as one."
"This technique gives them incredible strength and bloodline abilities,but it's clear: the human side is subjugated,the demon dominates.
They've been thoroughly corrupted."
He recalled an ancient technique from the last epoch—one that allowed people to fuse with beast bloodlines,becoming a new branch of humanity.
But in that method, humans remained dominant,refining the power for their own use.
Most famous were the Wu Clan, one of the Forbidden Clans from the previous era.
They used beast blood to evolve their lineage, not become its slave.
That was the key difference.
What the Great Serpent Dynasty practiced was something far darker.They had lost control, becoming no longer human.
"But this kind of demonic nation is actually the perfect battlefield for me."
Yi Tianxie's lips curved into a wicked grin.
"If they're so eager to die…I'm happy to oblige."