Compared to the messy affairs of the Nine-Hua Alliance, Su Hua was clearly far more interested in Monarch Chixiao.
She had been staring at the painting in her hand, examining it very carefully. The painting depicted a person—a stern, cold man, an aloof, domineering, and peerless man. The man stood in mid-air, his long hair dancing wildly, a fierce and enormous dragon-elephant coiling around his body.
Above in the sky, dark clouds gathered densely. Holy, mirror-like spring eyes were imprinted across the firmament, each one condensing and manifesting sacred lightning. The painting showed a sky full of these spring eyes, and thus a sky full of sacred lightning, all striking down upon the man.
Beneath the man's feet were countless corpses, too many to count, a river of blood, severed limbs and shattered flesh everywhere, like a hell on earth.
The painting had no name, only two lines of text at the top:
Chixiao's wrath transforms wind and cloud, / He slays all the noble immortals in the world.
The Immortal Dao's Judgment manifests in the heavens, / The Monarch looks down with pride upon the Nine Heavens.
This painting was a peerless masterpiece in the world today, because the one who painted it was no ordinary person, and the one painted within it was even less ordinary.
The painter was a venerable senior of unknown cultivation years. No one knew who this senior was; people called him the Old Master. He was the Grand Elder of the Chixiao Sect and, aside from Monarch Chixiao himself, the only person in the world today capable of restraining the various mighty lords of the Chixiao Sect.
And the person in the painting was none other than the famously renowned overlord of the ancient era, Monarch Chixiao.
The countless corpses on the ground were immortals of the Immortal Dynasty.
The spring eyes in the sky were none other than Eyes of Judgment, and those streaks of lightning were precisely Judgment Lightning.
It was said this painting was created on the spot by the Old Master back when Monarch Chixiao withstood the Immortal Dao's Judgment and slaughtered all the immortals.
There were many such paintings in this world, too many to count.
However, paintings imbued with artistic conception were absolutely rare, and this one was considered the pinnacle of conception. At the very least, over all these years, Su Hua had searched the world and had yet to discover any painting that gave a more immersive feeling than the one in her hand.
Su Hua just kept looking, her beautiful eyes shimmering with a complex mix of emotions—admiration, curiosity, but mostly expectation, endless expectation.
Beside her, Qian Shan shook her head rather helplessly, sighing inwardly. Ever since Young Lady obtained this painting, whenever she had a spare moment, she couldn't help but take it out to look at. As for how many times she had looked at it, Qian Shan had lost count. She truly couldn't understand what was so captivating about this painting.
"You know what, Qian Shan? I've always had this feeling... that Monarch Chixiao isn't dead..." Su Hua's voice came at some unknown moment.
Just like the painting, Qian Shan had heard this sentence countless times. She didn't respond, waiting for what came next. And she was almost certain that Su Hua would inevitably bring up that one divination hexagram she had accidentally obtained.
"Judging from that divination hexagram, my journey to the Great Northwest this time is bound to bring about some change."
Sure enough.
Su Hua still brought up that divination hexagram.
Qian Shan shook her head. "Young Lady, you should understand better than anyone that a change in the hexagram is just a change. It doesn't necessarily point to karma."
"That's true, but..." Su Hua gently traced her finger over the image of Monarch Chixiao on the painting, murmuring, "...but my change will only be because of karma, not because of anything else."
"Alright."
Qian Shan knew Su Hua's karma was Monarch Chixiao. Regarding the question of whether Monarch Chixiao was alive or dead, she and Su Hua had argued countless times. She really didn't want to argue anymore. She just sighed and said, "Even if your hexagram points to karma, even if Monarch Chixiao has reincarnated, how would you find him?"
Looking at Su Hua's silent form, Qian Shan continued, "A hundred years have passed since the Calamity. If Monarch Chixiao truly reincarnated, he likely would have done so long ago. Yet no one has any news of him. There are only three possibilities. First, he did reincarnate, but his soul hasn't awakened. Second, the awakening failed, and he went mad or demonic. Third, he awakened but dares not reveal his identity, choosing to live in seclusion."
"Regardless of which possibility, Young Lady, you have no leads. Trying to search for him in this world is undoubtedly like looking for a needle in a haystack. Young Lady, all these years, you've come to the Great Northwest borderlands almost every so often, often residing in the Four Great Regions... but... even if Monarch Chixiao reincarnated, he wouldn't necessarily be here, right? I know this is Monarch Chixiao's hometown, but he was hunted here before. I imagine he holds no affection for his hometown."
"You're right."
Su Hua smiled faintly. "Monarch Chixiao indeed holds little affection for his hometown, but not because he was once hunted here. It's because of his personality. He's a very carefree person, to be precise, a very unrestrained, wild person. He wandered everywhere from a young age, wild from childhood, so he never had the concept of a hometown."
"If that's the case, Young Lady, why then..."
"Hehe. Monarch Chixiao might have no feelings for his hometown, but that doesn't mean he has no feelings for the people here. He was an orphan, had no family, only enemies all over the world. That's why he values loyalty and friendship more than anyone."
Su Hua closed her eyes, recalling all the information she had gathered about Monarch Chixiao over the years. A smile couldn't help but curve at the corner of her mouth. "Moreover, he's also a very nostalgic person, and a person who sees things through to the end. I'm certain that if he truly has reincarnated, he will definitely come to the Four Great Regions of the Great Northwest borderlands. At the very least, he'll meet his old acquaintances."
Qian Shan asked, "There are many of Monarch Chixiao's old acquaintances in the Great Northwest borderlands, especially the Four Great Regions, right? The old master of Liuren Mountain, that woman from Taixing Cave, and quite a few others... but we haven't heard that Monarch Chixiao sought any of them out..."
"Perhaps he already has, and no one knows. Monarch Chixiao should be well aware that his identity cannot see the light. Once his identity is exposed, the world will be thrown into chaos. That's not the important part. The important part is that in this life, what he least wants to see is implicating others because of himself, especially his former acquaintances. So, even if he meets them, he would absolutely never let them know."
"Then how does Young Lady plan to search?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I don't know, but that doesn't mean others don't know. At the very least, I know there is one person who has been searching for Monarch Chixiao all along. Not searching, perhaps—waiting. Yes, waiting all along in the Four Great Regions, never actively searching."
"I wonder who Young Lady is referring to..."
"I don't know who it is either."
"You don't know either?"
Qian Shan was utterly confused, completely unable to grasp what Su Hua was saying. "Young Lady, if you don't know, how do you know there's someone waiting for Monarch Chixiao in the Four Great Regions?"
"Because the Flaming Sun Heart of Yunxia Sect has disappeared."