“The truth behind the endless war in Tianhua Domain is a story of madness and revenge.”

Ming Rihao cleared his throat and began laying it all out for Yue Yang in detail. “Ten thousand years ago, Tianhua Domain was just an ordinary region of the Western Heavenly Realm — nothing special about it. The common folk couldn’t exactly claim to live and work in peace, but they got by well enough. As for the rulers, apart from the Water Palace of the Central Divine Hall, which was the strongest, next came the Three Clans and Five Sects — the various powers checking and competing against one another. Over the years there was the occasional minor friction, but for the most part everyone kept the peace. That balance held until the Conquest Queen, Vivienne, appeared. In the battle beneath Conquest City, Tianhua Domain’s old domain emperor was killed on the spot, and the Three Clans and Five Sects lost so many of their finest that their ranks were left withered and thin. But most important of all, the common folk somehow got wind of a terrifying piece of news: the Water Palace Master — who had always existed as the impartial arbiter over every faction — had in fact fallen an unknown length of time ago, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell of the Water Palace, now merely a puppet in someone else’s hands.”

Yue Yang’s brow furrowed as he strained to seize on some clue. “The domain emperor dying in battle — that’s no surprise. But the Water Palace Master fell long before any of that?”

Ming Rihao nodded firmly. “To cover up the news that the Water Palace Master had already fallen, the Central Divine Hall not only sent in a new Water Palace Master to take charge, they also took the Water God Palace — which had originally hung up in the sky — and sank it into the ‘White River,’ a place said to be impossible to escape no matter what, where even the geese and swallows grieved.”

The moment Yue Yang heard the name “White River,” a question flashed in his eyes: Could it be White River City?

He even conjured the map of Tianhua Domain out of his storage ring.

Flipping through the pages, he began to check.

But Ming Rihao waved his hand and laughed. “That map is completely wrong — no point looking at it. The real terrain is nothing like what’s drawn there. The White River is far, far larger than the White River shown on any map, and it’s brimming with twisted, distorted law-force. And yes — you guessed right — the White River City you’re headed for sits above it. But White River City is not the Water God Palace. The real Water God Palace was sunk into the White River itself. To keep anyone from detecting it, they buried a floating continent over the top, and White River City was built on that floating continent.”

“The Water God Palace, and the Water Palace Master’s death — those tie back to the Divine Codex?” Yue Yang quickly seized on the crux of it.

“No one knows who leaked it, but word got out that the Water Palace Master had been secretly executed by the Central Divine Hall for concealing matters concerning the Divine Codex. And this Water Palace Master, famed throughout Tianhua Domain for her fairness, recorded everything she knew inside the Water God Palace before she died. On top of that, she sealed the key to opening the Water God Palace — in the form of an energy imprint — into the minds of her two daughters. Most likely she’d long known her days were numbered, and had made her preparations early.”

“Where were her two daughters?” Yue Yang asked.

“When that battle ten thousand years ago with the Conquest Queen killed the old domain emperor, none of the secrets could be kept down any longer — they burst wide open. Even installing a new Water Palace Master, even sinking the Water God Palace, did no good at all. In Tianhua Domain, about nine thousand years ago, a pair of twin sisters suddenly appeared — beautiful as celestial immortals, identical in appearance, yet utterly opposite in temperament, one lively and one still. The elder sister loved quiet: kind beyond measure, glad to help anyone, courteous toward men but deeply guarded, subtly keeping everyone at arm’s length. The younger sister hadn’t a scheming bone in her: playful, quick to laugh, brimming with energy, forever teasing people but never with any malice — like a happy, carefree little sprite. Had it not been for her elder sister’s protection, that younger one could never have survived in such a cruel, dog-eat-dog world.”

“At that time, the three most outstanding young men among the Three Clans and Five Sects all fell in love with them, one after another… more precisely, they all fell in love with that beautiful, kindhearted elder sister. At first, no one realized these twin sisters were the two daughters of the former Water Palace Master. But as the new Water Palace Master’s persecution wore on, the heads of the Three Clans and Five Sects all came to know the secret. To save themselves, they chose to sit back and do nothing. The three young men, however, were furious over it — they broke with their own families, led their own supporters, and fought a battle against the new Water Palace Master.”

“That battle dragged on for three years. By the end, the strongest of the young men — the one the elder sister favored — was killed on the spot. The other two were left gravely wounded, teetering on the brink of death.”

“Perhaps fearing they’d die with regrets, the two of them confessed the love in their hearts to the elder sister, one after the other. When the younger sister found out, she was heartbroken. All three big brothers loved her sister, and not one of them cared for her — it wounded her beyond words. Above all, the second brother, the one she liked most, had this whole time only ever treated her as a little sister. That was a truth she couldn’t accept.”

“To make her younger sister happy, the elder sister made her first sacrifice. She decided to disguise herself as the younger sister and leave, taking with her the corpse of the eldest brother who had fallen in battle — and let the younger sister take her place, marrying the second brother the younger one loved. When the younger sister heard this plan, she wept bitterly, but in the end, for the sake of the one she loved, she still did as her sister said. To chase after happiness, she resolved to shed her original sunny, lively nature and act gentle and demure, imitating her elder sister with everything she had. When she was to marry the second brother, that second brother was naturally overjoyed, while the third brother fell into utter despair — not even waiting for his wounds to heal, he left, disheartened and listless.”

Yue Yang had been listening a long while, and thought: if Auntie Qiong Yao had written this drama, just how many people’s tears would it have wrung out?

The tissue manufacturers, he figured, would laugh themselves to death.

Of course, this was not the end of the story.

On the contrary — this was only the beginning of the real tragedy!

“The second brother and the younger sister married, lived happily together, and soon had a little baby. But the sweetness of married life made the younger sister lose herself a little — her true nature began to surface, revealing cracks, and the second brother sensed something was off. Had the second brother simply accepted it and let things go on, their happiness could have continued. But this second brother, who didn’t know how good he had it, flew into a rage once he realized he’d been deceived. Despite the younger sister’s desperate pleas, he abandoned the household and set out to find the real elder sister.” Ming Rihao’s voice sank lower and lower, as if he couldn’t bear to tell aloud a tragedy that had already come to pass.

“Did he find her?” Yue Yang asked again.

“Yes, he found her. By then the elder sister was training the eldest brother’s own younger brother, hoping this young man would grow as valiant as his brother and restore their family’s glory. After searching so long and hard, the second brother finally found the elder sister — and saw this younger brother who looked so much like the eldest. He assumed the eldest brother hadn’t died at all, that he was living together with the elder sister, that he’d been deceived all along. So he flew into a rage, lost all control of himself, refused to hear any explanation, and insisted on attacking, turning his sword on them… In the end he killed by mistake that younger brother who had struggled so hard to catch up to his elder brother. To preserve the last bloodline of the eldest brother’s family, the elder sister used her own life — her second sacrifice — to buy back the younger brother’s life.”

“When the third brother learned this news, his grief was beyond words. And the new Water Palace Master shapeshifted into the third brother’s form, killed the remorseful second brother, then took on the appearance of the eldest brother’s younger brother and snatched away the infant still in swaddling clothes.”

“To bring her husband back to life — even though the one he loved was not her — the younger sister willingly offered up her own life to resurrect the second brother. His reason shattered by hatred and remorse, the second brother sought out the third brother, who knew nothing of the truth, and once again drew his sword against him. The two fought until both were grievously wounded, on the verge of dying together — and just then, the new Water Palace Master, disguised as the eldest brother’s younger brother, appeared. He captured them both and tortured them by every means he could, meaning to force out the secret of the Divine Codex. Meanwhile the real younger brother broke into the new Water Palace’s hall and found the ‘enemy’s daughter’ still in swaddling clothes… In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to kill that infant, and took her in to raise instead. After she was grown, torn by conflict and self-reproach, he fell in love with this grown daughter, then married her, and they had a pair of twin sisters of their own.”

“By the time the second and third brothers escaped the prison, a thousand years had already passed. Each prepared his own plan of revenge. The third brother buried his name for many years, training furiously, readying himself for a final showdown with the new Water Palace Master. As for the second brother, whose mind was shrouded by the fury of hatred — he had no idea he’d been deceived. He found the eldest brother’s younger brother who had ‘killed him,’ found this enemy who had ‘stolen away’ his daughter. The most tragic part of all: he couldn’t tell the difference between his wife and his daughter, and, still believing his wife had betrayed him, he struck with all his might, cutting down both his daughter and his enemy together beneath his sword.”

“With his treacherous scheme succeeding, the new Water Palace Master was immensely pleased with himself. He seized the pair of twin sisters back again and imprisoned them as slaves, bent on wresting the secret of the Divine Codex from the two girls. His son, however, utterly rejected his father’s methods — not only did he secretly release the two girls, in the end he even married the younger sister he’d come to love. The enraged new Water Palace Master struck his son down, and that younger sister fled with the son, escaping with their lives. In the end, the new Water Palace Master’s grandson grew into a domain emperor known as the Revenge Domain Emperor, who furiously declared war on his grandfather — and also made war on the second brother, the ‘Rage Domain Emperor’ who had caused the whole tragedy back then.”

“On another front, the elder sister who had escaped with her life was saved by the old domain emperor’s son. From the imprint passed down in her blood, she found the Divine Codex — the very Divine Codex her ancestor’s records had spoken of — and within it she obtained a broken, incomplete divine nature. From then on, returning to Tianhua Domain in the guise of a half-god, she was extraordinarily powerful, beyond anyone’s match. Kind as she was, she was gentle just like the ancestral grandmother who had quietly sacrificed herself all those years ago, and she resolved to dissolve this feud and bring the hatred to an end.”

“However, just as she was about to fully fuse with that incomplete divine nature, her husband — the old domain emperor’s son, who had been secretly scheming all along — ambushed her. She fell, and the greater part of her energy was seized by her husband. Her husband vaulted in a single leap to the rank of a domain-emperor-class powerhouse of Tianhua Domain, styled the ‘Radiance Domain Emperor.'”

“The Revenge Domain Emperor and the Rage Domain Emperor would stop at nothing to kill the Radiance Domain Emperor, to kill the new Water Palace Master — and between the two of them there were wounds that could never heal and hatreds that could never be forgiven… In the beginning, Tianhua Domain’s war was just a personal fight between the Revenge Domain Emperor and the Rage Domain Emperor. Later, with the sudden rise of the Radiance Domain Emperor, Tianhua Domain became an all-out killing ground of chaos. For three thousand years, because of a hatred that can never be forgiven, this fighting has never once died down. As for everything that developed afterward, I expect you’ve already heard some of it, so I won’t go into it.”

When Ming Rihao finished, he let out a long breath, as if trying to expel in one go all the gloom that had built up in his heart.

Yue Yang was silent for a long while.

Then he suddenly spoke. “Wait — that’s not right. Even if the news about the Divine Codex checks out, there’s still one important person. How come he never showed up at the end? That third brother? Wasn’t he training furiously? Wasn’t he supposed to have a final showdown with the new Water Palace Master? Why hasn’t there been any sign of him?”

Ming Rihao, too, was silent a long time before finally letting out a sigh. “Because he was later sealed inside the Prison Emperor’s Divine Hall — a full six thousand years without ever coming out.”

Yue Yang was stunned.

His mouth fell open wide enough to stuff a fist into. It was a good while before he slapped his thigh and burst out laughing. “Holy crap — so that poor sucker of a third brother, the one who got absolutely nothing from start to finish, that’s you?”

Ming Rihao was livid — he very nearly raised his hand and slapped this heartless fellow to death.

Was being a poor wretch something he’d chosen?

It was the cruel jest of fate!

The more Yue Yang thought about it, the funnier it got, and the louder he laughed, tears flying everywhere.

It wasn’t until Ming Rihao, in his rage, hurled a wine cup at his head that he barely managed to rein in his laughter. Forcing it down and feigning sympathy, he offered comfort. “Come on now — two-legged toads may be hard to find, but two-legged women are everywhere. Lose one, just go find another. When a young man’s in his first love, it’s perfectly normal to act like a bit of a dumbass — long as you don’t stay a dumbass your whole life, you’re fine. Go find yourself a new girl!”

Ming Rihao’s rage gauge shot up to at least a million. Who comforts a person like that?

Finally, straining to hold back his laughter, Yue Yang added, “Old Hao, I totally get why nobody fancied you back then. Just look at you — grown up into this big, dumb, dopey lug of a thing. It’d be a miracle if any woman liked you…”

Ming Rihao could no longer hold down his temper — he’d sooner hold in his own piss and shit than put up with this brat a moment longer!

He grabbed Yue Yang by the collar and hoisted the brat straight up ten meters into the air, glaring at him with those bull-like eyes. “You want to die, don’t you?”

Yue Yang hurriedly shook his head. A heartbroken man was never someone to trifle with — let alone a poor-wretch uncle who’d been heartbroken for thousands of years; that made him harder still to provoke. Who knew whether this poor-wretch uncle might get overstimulated and break down bawling on the spot? If that happened, it would be too horrifying to bear… The moment Yue Yang thought of this, he shivered right there and quickly plastered on a fawning smile. “Old Hao, heartbreak’s no big deal. What’s heartbreak like? There’s even a song about it — heartbreak’s just a cold; take a little Happiness Cold Remedy and you’ll be fine. Cough, cough, cough — oh, right, we don’t have any Happiness Cold Remedy here… Tell you what, let me set you up with someone. I’ve got a few pig-folk friends, and word is they’ve got a princess — plump and sturdily built, bold in temperament and matchlessly brave. Her appetite’s a bit big, sure, but she’s got a great disposition, never picky about food, absolutely first-rate girlfriend material! And most important of all, that princess’s figure matches yours perfectly — truly a match made in heaven!”

The veins on Ming Rihao’s forehead bulged and throbbed, popping audibly.

His face went black.

He forced his fury out through gritted teeth. “Are you finally done running your mouth, you little brat?”

Just as Ming Rihao — this poor-wretch uncle — was about to make his move and dismantle the ribs of that annoying brat Yue Yang, a sudden clamor rose up outside, and the sound swept through the city like a hurricane passing over.

“The Freedom Queen’s been captured — for real? No way?”

“It’s true. They say it took a full six Lords and twelve Sky-rankers to surround and take her.”

“Impossible — there must have been a traitor who sold her out. Otherwise, no matter how many they sent, there’s no way they could capture the Freedom Queen. Damned traitor, I’ll kill him!”

At the sound of the Freedom Queen’s name,

the fury on Ming Rihao’s face suddenly drained away all at once.

Yue Yang seized the chance to break free. He glanced at this poor-wretch uncle’s expression, then darted over to the window to look outside, and found that the starving folk and the destitute mercenaries had all been thrown into a panic, faces full of despair, while the rich and the guards were cheering thunderously, wild with joy — two utterly opposite expressions. Still, opposed or not, for one side it was heaven and for the other, hell.

Somewhat probingly, he asked, “Hey, poor-wretch uncle — this Freedom Queen, is she that, ahem, is she a descendant of your first love?”

Ming Rihao punched him hard, knocking Yue Yang flat to the ground. “Stop calling me poor-wretch uncle! Damn it, I never should have told you the truth — you’re not the kind of guy who can keep a secret at all!”

(End of Chapter 932)