Old Acquaintances

Yaan had wiped out the vast majority of the Ghu Clan. He had also dealt with the Aque Clan, which was said to be the second strongest force below the Ghu Clan in the current day.

Word spread like wildfire, and before long, almost everyone in the new Heavenly Path Province was made aware of the drastic changes to these lands!

Rumours spread by word of mouth, by communications treasures, by messengers sent between the various cities, sects, schools and clans, until it became difficult to differentiate reality from fiction.

However, one thing was for certain; a young silver-haired man going by the name of Yaan, had indeed annihilated the entire Ghu Clan, before making the Heavenly Path Sect the new overlord of the region.

As for the subject of these rumours…

Yaan returned to Elia's temple abode, calmly sipping her excellent herbal tea as she sat across from him and stared at him in a daze. She wasn't sure what to say, so in the end, her words were somewhat odd.

"You really did return before sunset…I'm glad…"

Yaan paused and looked up. June, who had returned to her preferred humanoid form and sat beside Yaan whilst curiously inhaling the unique fragrance of this tea, looked back and forth between Yaan and Elia with an expression of intrigue.

"I said that I would do so, so it's only natural that I would stick to my word." Yaan chuckled. "There are still one or two more things left for me to do, but for now, there's nothing urgent to attend to."

Elia covered her mouth as she laughed.

"You do something so insane like overthrowing the Ghu Clan and renaming the province, yet you don't see this as something incredible at all, do you?"

Yaan paused briefly, before shaking his head.

"The Ghu Clan is just a mortal clan. Once you've seen the wider world, it really doesn't feel amazing at all."

"But you you even took over the Ghu- no, the Heavenly Path Province!" Elia insisted.

At this point, Yaan smiled slyly and shook his head.

"No Elia, you took over the Heavenly Path Province, miss new Heavenly Path Leader. I'm just some reclusive ancestor who doesn't involve himself in worldly matters."

"We're the same age!"

"Actually, due to certain reasons, I'm significantly older than you this point." Yaan reminded her of the fact that he had spent long periods of time within various spatial acceleration treasures. He was actually around 100 years older than her, if you thought about it in those terms.

For now, he still hadn't mentioned the alternate Fragment lives that he had experienced, because he was keeping the matter of the Primordial Devil to himself, not wanting to get Elia wrapped up in this mess.

It was unfortunate for the the Dao Clone of Qi that he did not possess Yaan's complete intelligence and scheming ability. Otherwise, he might have considered the fact that, despite them being separated via entire world planes…eventually he and the Primordial Devil were fated to meet again…

And the Primordial Devil was the most sadistic of the four Primordial Demons, who would go to any and all lengths to torment anyone related to Yaan, to vent out the frustration of his failure from back then.

*****

Within the centre of the Blood Plane, there was a mountain that towered far above any other mountain in this world - its name was Primordial Mountain, and dug into this mountain of monstrous proportions, was an infamous place called the War Hall.

Primordial Mountain and the War Hall were Located within the Primordial Empire, the central and strongest empire on the Blood Plane, and the headquarters for the Primordial Alliance.

Of course, divinities, didn't waste all of their time hanging around in this place, so for the most part, there were only two living occupants within the War Hall; The Primordial Devil, proud ruler of the Primordial Alliance, and the Primordial Sage, the alliance's undisputed key strategist for their countless operations across the four planes.

After witnessing Yaan's death and being prevented by the Sage from devouring him, the incomplete Primordial Devil initially went mad with rage…until the Sage revealed to him that Yaan was alive, living on the Spirit Plane. Annoyingly, however, she did not tell her more than this.

Despite his brash personality, the Primordial Devil was actually very intelligent, and he trusted the Sage's schemes to the utmost degree. Whenever she withheld information from, it was always for their own good…

And so, he believed in her words from back then.

'If you wish to overcome your tribulation of heart, then I can no longer interfere. This matter is between yourself and Yaan; I will assist the two of you along your paths, because only like this, will a finale be reached.'

"Oh Sage, I know in my heart that what you say is correct, and I can feel the approaching day of reckoning coming any time now…hahaha, that monstrosity with his twisted heart…I wonder how he will react when he learns of the presents that I have prepared for him…"

The red-haired devil's killing intent erupted in an unending, unrestrained state. He had entered this state ever since his failure that day, and with each passing moment that he knew of Yaan's survival, the overbearing hatred, the searing desire to kill in his heart only grew stronger.

"You…are…a fool…" A dry, raspy voice quite came from a couple hundred feet ahead of the devil.

As always, the Primordial Devil sat atop his throne of bones whilst one of the Sage's bodies floated by his side expressionlessly…however ever since his rebirth, there had been two new residents in the War Hall…

For some unknown region, the Primordial Sage had forced them both to leave the micro-realm that she called 'Origin Island', preventing him from interfering with any of the mortals that Yaan had come to know in that place. The Primordial Devil was disgruntled, but after leaving that place and returning the the main Blood Plane, his thirst for blood could not be extinguished, and could only be eased somewhat by his current actions…

Two figure were tied up using some intricate black thorn chain formations across the war hall. The formations were inflicting unimaginable torment upon them, and yet, interestingly, neither of them were willing to let out a single sound of pain. Clearly, they were both formidable individuals.

As for the identities of these two?

They were the only two people that the Primordial Devil had deemed that Yaan cared bout, at least to an extent, on the Blood Plane.

The man to speak in a raspy voice was none other than Ga Shu.

By his side, was the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader.

"I am a fool? Well, this fool seems to be living quite well, whilst you two…are merely ants that I will use to crush the spirit of that monstrosity." The Primordial Devil replied with a sinister smile.

Both of the pair forced themselves to look up through the pain, showing the same mocking expressions. They had been told all about Yaan'a origins, and although shocking…it only further proved to them that Yaan, the red demon who had whipped up a storm on the Blood Plane, then died yet somehow found a way to survive…

Was a monster of the highest order.

"If you think that you can use us to hurt him…you do not understand senior at all." The Bloody Totem Tribe Leader laughed grimly.

Not only were she and Ga Shu captured back then, before being placed into this torturous formation to torment them ever since…but they had been forced to bear witness as all that they cared about - the entire Lunar Song Kingdom - was annihilated with a single strike from this devil.

They knew that all of this had happened because of Yaan…

But they did not hate Yaan, because they understood that hating a man such as he was so futile that it was laughable.

"My lord…is a great man…a good man…." Ga Shu spoke with difficulty, but made sure to stare the Primordial Devil in the eye as he spoke.

The Primordial Devil roared with laughter.

"That monster? Good? He is the incarnation of evil itself!"

"No…" Ga Shu slowly shook his head, sighing as he recalled the times he had spent with Yaan…and how Yaan had given him a few more decades with his wife.

"He is a good man, walking a path against his heart towards an ambition that even he is yet to realise. Someone like you cannot comprehend the perseverance of my lord. I say that he is good, not because I believe that he will save me - but because I know that he will allow me to die, in order to destroy the evil that is you."

The Bloody Totem Tribe Leader had already lost to the strength to speak; she wasn't an immortal after all. However, the hidden blood-lust in her smile said it all…

She had placed her bets on Yaan, and because of her gamble, her tribe was able to see a world that they had never before been able to imagine.

Now, also because of Yaan, her tribe was gone - eradicated by this damned devil. She knew that her tribe and her people had reached the end of their story - but this was just life. She had no regrets.

Now, all she wanted, was to see if Yaan could take a step beyond the peak that she had seen.