Chapter 2273: Unavoidable Fate

"Good!" Fang Canran quipped. "Any other life-saving treasures? Hand them over."

He was relaxed, showing no grand emotion about his impending task.

"Plenty," He Lingchuan said, grabbing a brocade pouch. "These are all small items crafted by Dong Rui; they might save your life at a crucial moment."

"Mr. Dong is truly considerate," Fang Canran said, putting them away carefully.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" He Lingchuan asked. "Have you secretly hidden a descendant somewhere? I can take care of them."

Fang Canran looked at him in astonishment. "How did you know?"

He Lingchuan stroked his chin, marveling at his own uncanny intuition, as if it had been blessed.

After a moment of hesitation, Fang Canran said, "I have twin sons. Their birth mother died in childbirth, so I fostered them with a family on Stone Hat Islands. The twins don't know I exist and consider their adoptive parents their true ones. Every six months, I send someone to deliver them money and provisions, and the family lives a very peaceful life."

"Stone Hat Islands?" He Lingchuan mentally pinpointed the location. "It's not far from Yangshan Islands, far from the mainland, and very peaceful."

"The mainland is unstable; I want them far from conflict."

He Lingchuan made another move on the board. "Why didn't you raise them by your side?"

"The Shao family's mission is too burdensome," Fang Canran whispered. "If they don't know about me, they won't know about the Shao family, and they won't have to shoulder its inherited mission!"

He Lingchuan fell silent. Was such a mission not a curse?

"They should have their own opportunities and their own lives, even if they remain ordinary people their entire lives," Fang Canran said earnestly. "Let the Shao family's mission end with me; it shouldn't be passed on to the next generation!"

"Yes," He Lingchuan sighed softly. "I hope the turmoil and suffering caused by the Sky Demon end with us, never to be left for future generations. Brother Fang, proceed with confidence. I will send people to ensure extra care for your sons on Stone Hat Islands."

Fang Canran immediately stood up and bowed to him. "Thank you, Brother He."

He only felt at ease entrusting such a secret to He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan's immediate action was to assuage Fang Canran's lingering concerns.

He Lingchuan grasped his arm, preventing him from bowing. "Why thank me? If you successfully deploy those eight thousand Punishment Dragon Pillars, then humanity will owe *you* a monumental debt!"

That would truly be an immeasurable act of merit.

"I'm merely working in the shadows. It is you, Brother He, who will face the Sky Demon directly in the future," Fang Canran mused. "Your path will be truly arduous."

"Alright, enough, let's not flatter each other," He Lingchuan chuckled. "Let's finish this game quickly; consider it your farewell."

The two resumed placing pieces, and the illusion ended there.

A gust of wind swept through, and the tall tower grew desolate again, leaving only He Lingchuan sitting opposite the flickering lamp.

The Great Evolution Heavenly Pearl had sensed the wearer's state of mind, recreating his last farewell to Fang Canran from memory.

He hadn't realized that farewell would be their last.

He Lingchuan gently exhaled.

But had he truly not expected it? Fang Canran had already prepared for the worst when he accepted the eight thousand Punishment Dragon Pillars from him.

Why else would he entrust his children to him just before departing?

Despite knowing such great peril lay ahead, he went willingly.

Furthermore, the shattered lamp of the soul light indicated that Fang Canran had chosen to take his own life.

Given He Lingchuan's understanding of Fang Canran, he would only be so resolute under one circumstance:

To die to keep a secret!

Someone must have been tracking him, someone must have driven him to a dead end, and someone must have wanted to extract information about the Punishment Dragon Pillars from him.

That Fang Canran was able to take his own life meant he had successfully protected the secret to the very end!

History truly is a terrible cycle.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Shao Jian took his own life while pursued by the Sky Demon;

One hundred and fifty years later, Shao Jian's descendant, Fang Canran, chose the same method to protect the secret of the Grand Square Gourd and the Punishment Dragon Pillars!

Despite his extensive experience, He Lingchuan felt a profound pang of grief.

One of the most significant mental journeys on the path to becoming the Great Emperor of the Nine Underworlds was "loss."

General Hong had told him that people like them spent their lives experiencing loss, forever battling pain and guilt.

Losing family, losing dear friends, losing so many excellent teammates who fought beside them, losing so many brave, resolute, and beloved warriors.

Along this path, others only saw his boundless glory;

But looking back himself, behind him lay a desolate ghost realm, strewn with bleached bones.

Furthermore, their war with the Sky Demon had not yet reached its peak, and Fang Canran's demise might only be the beginning of sacrifices.

This was the path he and Fang Canran had personally chosen, a destiny they could not escape.

Oh, what a damnable fate!

He Lingchuan pulled a wine flask and two cups from his robes, filled both with wine, placed one before the flickering lamp, and held the other.

"Brother Fang, you're right," he murmured to the flickering lamp. "The pain and sacrifice caused by the Sky Demon must end with our generation, never to be passed on to those who follow!"

With that, he raised his cup and drained it, then gently poured the other cup of wine before the flickering lamp.

He then gathered the fragments of the lamp from the floor and descended the tall tower without looking back.

Back in the Imperial Study, he went to the garden and patted the most flourishing old locust tree.

The ancient tree spirit's bark was deeply fissured, like wrinkles on an old person's face. It had lived for seven or eight hundred years, making it one of the first inhabitants of the Golden Hall of Chixiao. Its branches typically twisted wildly, living up to its name "wood ghost." Standing beneath it on a sweltering summer day offered refreshing coolness.

However, it had a hollowed-out tree hole, level with a person's chest, a creation unknown to be from insects or woodpeckers.

He Lingchuan then addressed the old locust tree:

"Retrieve the last intelligence report sent by Fang Canran."

The locust tree's branches and leaves rustled.

Then, He Lingchuan reached into the tree hole and pulled out a document.

This ancient tree spirit had refined the tree hole into a small spatial pocket. As the Great Emperor of the Nine Underworlds, He Lingchuan handled too many secrets to carry them constantly, so he entrusted them to the old tree spirit.

This old entity only recognized people, not tokens, ensuring its secrecy was highly reliable.

For security, Fang Canran had sent out intelligence irregularly over the years to prevent any patterns from being detected. The content was written in code, appearing to outsiders as complex and tedious commercial goods reports.

Only in He Lingchuan's eyes did they reveal their true nature.

He Lingchuan had reviewed it two months prior; this time, it was merely for reconfirmation.

Each of Fang Canran's reports was rich with information, this particular one containing two hundred and fifteen entries. He not only reported on the distribution of the Punishment Dragon Pillars but also compiled any significant observations from his travels that he deemed valuable.

The intelligence he provided was exceptionally detailed. Most of it naturally pertained to the Sky Demon, local governance, immortal sects, and the lives of the populace, thereby helping the Great Emperor of the Nine Underworlds gain a richer understanding of the outside world.