Chapter 60: All Beings Are Equal—Even Demons – Candle of Worldly Wishes

Chapter 60: All Beings Are Equal—Even Demons – Candle of Worldly Wishes

The Divine and Demonic Grand Burial lies at the very heart of the Tianyuan Continent, situated on the Central Continent.

The various continents and domains stretch tens of thousands of miles, separated by numerous natural barriers that render them inaccessible to flying vessels—and even if such vessels could reach them, they would arrive too late.

“If we need speed, we must rely on teleportation arrays,” Li Xueke said. “But all teleportation arrays are under the Divine Court’s control.”

He shot Fu Yu a look that conveyed the rest—unpleasantly so: *The moment you show your face, you’ll be obliterated instantly.*

Fu Yu waved it off casually. “It’s fine.”

Worried she might have forgotten her recent ‘accomplishments,’ Li Xueke reminded her, “We killed a Sage’s avatar. Doesn’t that make us wanted?”

Fu Yu remained utterly unconcerned. “He Yingkong? He wouldn’t dare.”

Li Xueke mumbled a dazed, “Oh.”

The Dogtail Grass Sprite mindlessly parroted, “A mere Sage—how laughable! Even with ten times the courage, he wouldn’t dare!”

The Paper Effigy Boy happily stretched its body and executed a series of sharp, rustling forward flips across the low table: “Sage—die! Sage—die!”

Wu He gazed up at the sky: “…”

He was likely the only sane person left.

As the flying vessel soared over Monkey Ridge, the Paper Effigy Boy flung itself against the porthole, craning its neck to peer at Stone Monkey Mountain. Its head whipped violently in the fierce wind.

Watching, Li Xueke felt a pang in his own neck and instinctively reached out to yank the reckless paper figure back.

The Paper Effigy Boy squealed with excitement. “Big monkey! Big monkey!”

Suddenly, Li Xueke jolted upright, as if struck by a memory. He whirled around to stare at Fu Yu. “Wait… you… you used to raise a monkey?! A *monkey*?!”

His scalp crawled. Trembling, he pointed at the towering Stone Monkey Mountain. “C-c-could it be… *that* one…?”

Fu Yu chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. “No—the one I raised was just an ordinary monkey.”

Her eyes curved as she rested her chin on her hand, lost briefly in recollection. Then she gestured with her palm on the low table. “About this big. It spent all day lying around, sleeping—too lazy to move a muscle.”

Li Xueke sighed, disappointed. “Oh… sounds pretty ordinary, then.”

Wu He couldn’t help but roll his eyes and shrug, gazing skyward in utter exasperation. “A monkey that sleeps all day is *ordinary*?”

Do these people have *any* common sense at all?!

Monkey Ridge.

The leader of the Yellow-robed Cultivators was a middle-aged cultivator at the Great Perfection stage of the Transcendent Realm, bearing the Daoist title Master Sanyuan.

Master Sanyuan directed his men to clear all corpses from the mountain and lay them out upon the bluestone platform—Qin Qianzhu’s men, his own disciples, and the Evil Cultists from the stone caverns.

His gaze swept the scene—and he couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation.

“What’s going on here? How did you arrange the bodies?”

The subordinates, who had labored diligently to move the corpses, scratched their heads in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Master Sanyuan pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed.

On the bluestone platform, beneath the flat, sunlit expanse, the remains of fallen comrades and Evil Cultists had been carefully laid out.

Yet the bodies of Qin Qianzhu’s cultivators—also members of the Divine Court—had been carelessly dumped into a dark, cramped corner, haphazardly piled together.

Master Sanyuan asked quietly, “Whose side are you on? The same side as the Evil Path?”

The group suddenly realized their grave error—and gasped in shock. “Ah—!”

If word got out, it would amount to outright treason!

The Divine Court cared deeply about such matters!

One cultivator instinctively reached out to shove aside an Evil Cultist’s bones—but the moment his fingers closed around the scarred, emaciated ankle, his strength vanished.

His lips trembled slightly.

“Master…” He looked up, voice quavering. “These people… they claimed they were brainwashed—so they had no reason, felt no pain, and feared no death… Is that really true? Look at these corpses. Are these the expressions of mindless puppets, stripped of will?” He gave a bitter laugh and asked again, “The Divine Court constantly preaches boundless compassion for all beings—so why is it deemed unreasonable to choose death to protect one’s comrades?”

Silence fell. No one could answer.

Trembling gazes intertwined, slowly sweeping over the scattered bones.

Corpses are not like the living—they cannot speak cleverly or deceitfully.

They say nothing—and yet they say everything.

After a long pause, another cultivator spoke softly, “To be honest—if I were captured and tortured like that, I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t betray everyone. But if any of you were killed like that, I’d risk my life to avenge you.”

Someone cursed, “Screw you! *You’re* the one who’ll get killed!”

Everyone laughed—but their smiles were strained.

Master Sanyuan’s gaze grew heavy as he surveyed his subordinates, enunciating each word with deliberate clarity: “The words you’ve just spoken have already violated the gravest taboo.”

Their breaths hitched; they pressed their lips tightly together, tense and silent.

“But don’t forget—we fought Qin Qianzhu because *he* offended the Lord first.” Master Sanyuan’s expression softened slightly as he snorted. “The Lord never ordered rebellion. Who told you to act on your own?!”

The group instantly understood. “Right, right! The Lord never ordered rebellion—we follow the Lord’s lead! We all obey the Lord!”

No one dared ask the unspoken follow-up: *What if the Lord truly intended to rebel?*

Anyway—following the Lord could never be wrong.

Their subsequent actions unfolded in perfect unison: gently, they gathered the remains of their fallen comrades and the tortured, laying each to rest with proper burial.

“Rest in peace.”

Master Sanyuan flicked his wrist, summoning a flying sword. He mounted it and skimmed down the cliff face cleaved by Sword Intent.

The others exchanged glances—and followed in unison.

Even before reaching the severed spiritual vein, the dense spiritual energy welling up from below was already overwhelming.

Everyone was astonished and elated.

They plunged into the earth's ley line, only to see Master Sanyuan, who had arrived first, standing motionless like a statue deep underground, his head tilted upward.

“What’s going on?”

One after another, the cultivators landed beside Master Sanyuan.

Following his gaze upward, each one who looked up stood frozen in shock.

“This is…”

They saw chains gleaming with a blood-crimson light, as thick as a bull's torso, pulsing and swelling like living creatures. These chains were drawing vast amounts of pure spiritual energy from the direction of Stone Monkey Mountain, originally meant for that impregnable prison mountain, but here they were severed clean through. Spiritual energy seeped from the broken ends.

This energy carried an ominous bloody aura, indicating that whatever was suppressed beneath the mountain was nearly drained dry.

Lord’s single slash had severed the largest “artery.”

The severed formation’s energy vein was still clinging to life, struggling and twitching out of inertia.

“The thing suppressed down there… is still alive,” someone murmured. “Who knows if it’s a person or something else.”

“There’s so much spiritual energy here… should we take it?”

“Can we really take it? It doesn’t feel right…”

As one, everyone recalled the tortured prisoners in the stone cave dungeon.

Beneath the stone mountain… were they also… their companions?

After a moment of silence, Master Sanyuan took the lead and stepped forward.

Slowly raising a hand, he channeled the spiritual energy throughout his body. A spinning, bright Bagua diagram gradually took shape before him.

“Clang!”

With a sweep of his wide sleeve, he cast the Bagua seal, suppressing one of the energy veins.

The blood-tainted spiritual energy ceased leaking.

Everyone exchanged glances and stepped forward one after another.

“Clang!” “Clang!” “Clang!”

No one could explain why they were committing such a treasonous act.

Anyway… whatever… forget it!

Exhausted, the group slumped against the stone wall.

“If that thing breaks free, will it just kill us all in passing?”

“It’s been suppressed for thousands of years—it won’t break free that easily, right?”

“Don’t worry, Evil Cultists don’t kill innocents indiscriminately.”

“Since when do Evil Cultists not kill indiscriminately? Take Fish-Dragon City for example… uh.”

They almost forgot—in Fish-Dragon City, the one sucking people’s faces wasn’t from the Evil Path; it was Venerable Yunshang. 🙂

Gradually, tired snores rose beneath the stone wall.

The sights and sounds of the day had been too shocking; even in their dreams, a monkey popped up.

This monkey stood tall between heaven and earth, yet was covered in dust and grime.

It stood with arms akimbo, head held high, nostrils pointed to the sky, weak yet arrogant: “Monkey Grandpa’s got your back!”

The flying vessel descended toward a main city.

Above the city walls was the emblem of the Divine Court, interwoven in gold and white, its pattern so complex that staring at it too long made one’s vision blur.

“Master, master,” the Foxtail Grass Spirit said with false bravado, “didn’t you say last time that the seven Sages are all, ahem, minor figures with little reputation?”

Fu Yu responded absentmindedly with a hum.

She hadn’t heard of any of the seven titles.

Back in the day, she and Jun Bu Du had slaughtered so fiercely that the top-tier combatants of the immortal sects were almost annihilated. With no tigers in the mountains, even a mediocre son-in-law could become a Sage.

Fu Yu waved a hand. “Nothing impressive.”

The Foxtail Grass Spirit secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

If they weren’t impressive, then it should be fine even if a fight broke out later… right?

Li Xueke and Wu He very honestly shrank to the back.

They racked their brains but couldn’t figure out why Sage He Yingkong wouldn’t dare to issue a warrant for her, Ghost Lingjun.

Just because she said he wouldn’t dare?

Was her mouth blessed by some divine power?

The Paper Effigy Boy stretched himself long, wriggling and contorting until he was almost a slender paper cutout, yet still couldn’t drag his turtle-like master forward.

Ahead lay the plaza before the Sage Hall.

The teleportation array was inside the hall.

From a distance, they could see the area around the plaza packed with people, densely crowded with commoners.

The entire city’s populace queued toward the altar, receiving candles from the priests before retreating carefully and reverently.

Squinting her eyes, Fu Yu remarked sarcastically, “Oh? The Divine Court is handing out warmth now?”

The Foxtail Grass Spirit cupped its foxtail around its ear like a wind-catching ear, listened for a moment, then turned to Fu Yu. “Master, master! The Divine Court is asking the people to light candles and pray for another race, wishing that race could break free from the tyrant’s seal and regain their freedom!”

Li Xueke, now a man with memories, belatedly realized and was shocked for the second time. “What?! The Divine Court really plans to release the Evil Spirits! They’re truly insane!”

He had genuinely witnessed Evil Spirits ravaging the mortal world.

Fuming with rage, Li Xueke scanned the surroundings. “And these commoners are following along like fools? Do they even know they’ll be the first to die if Evil Spirits come?”

Wu He glanced at him listlessly. “Of course they don’t know.”

In the Divine Court’s narrative, the race sealed by the tyrant was upright and kind, equally deserving of compassion.

After so many years of twisting black and white, such notions had long been deeply ingrained.

For example, Wu He, even knowing that Evil Spirits are evil, can't really muster any genuine fear.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit listened carefully again, quietly passing on the intel: "The Divine Court says that once the seal is broken, the Longevity Elixir can be sold for twenty silver."

"..."

Wu He muttered weakly, "That's bad."

Li Xueke fumed, "That's bad."

The Divine Court is truly shameless!

After getting the scoop, the Foxtail Grass Spirit tucked its tail, blinking slowly: "What's so bad? Whether the seal opens or not isn't something the common people can decide anyway."

Wu He and Li Xueke said in unison, "That makes sense!"

Fu Yu's gaze, however, turned cold. She waved her hand, leading the group across the square and onto the long white jade steps before the holy hall.

The two men, one grass, and one paper figure nervously followed her.

Two High Priests stepped forward to meet them.

Expressionless, Fu Yu produced the token: "Central Continent, Divine-Demon Grand Burial."

Her companions held their breath.

A moment later, the High Priest nodded and returned the token: "Ghost Lingjun, this way, please."

As they stepped into the teleportation array, the two men, the grass spirit, and the paper figure couldn't help but frantically exchange glances.

—What? He Yingkong really didn't issue a warrant for us!

—I don't understand, why?

—Our master's words really are blessed!

Fu Yu wasn't surprised at all.

Given that live-in son-in-law's cautious and timid nature, how would he dare make it public that an avatar of his that was raising a body-double had died out there?

He would only come for Ghost Lingjun himself, and he would definitely do it secretly.

Brilliant white light erupted within the teleportation array.

Spiritual currents surged, winds and clouds shifted.

A moment later, a chill enveloped them, and the air carried a biting, frosty scent.

They had arrived in the Central Continent.

Exiting the teleportation array, Fu Yu briefly dealt with the High Priests on this side and led the way out of the holy hall.

This holy hall in the Central Continent sat atop a high platform.

Looking out into the distance, the outline of the Divine-Demon Grand Burial was faintly visible.

That was the Twilight of the Gods, the graveyard of deities.

Echoes of war still lingered above the ruins.

Fu Yu gazed intently for a moment, then sighed softly: "Now this is really bad."

"Huh?!"

"A divine artifact." She paused. "Once considered a useless divine artifact."

Hearing the word "useless," Wu He and the Foxtail Grass Spirit instinctively looked at Li Xueke, making him jump with anger.

Fu Yu waved her hand: "The World Wish Candle. If it can gather the wishes of the world, it possesses the power to change heaven and earth. I see now. I wondered what ability they had to deal with Nine Crossroads Dust. So it was this."

He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world—this has never been an empty saying.

Yet, the most difficult thing to obtain in this world is precisely the hearts of the people.

Who would have thought that, after years of manipulation and guidance by the Divine Court, they had actually succeeded in borrowing the power of the people's wishes?

They had turned a useless divine artifact into a weapon capable of piercing the heavens.