Chapter 1705: Return to Xu Prefecture's Independence

"Where am I?" he wondered. "Ah, right! I was searching for the Immortal King's Indestructible Bell, and I even managed to obtain it!"

He excitedly sat up, but the space around him was completely empty.

As memories flooded his mind, his expression gradually darkened. "Jiang Fan! It's you again, damn it!"

"This is the Celestial Realm, not the Central Land! How could I run into you here too?"

He continued roaring until a gust of wind swept by, making him suddenly feel a chill across his entire body.

He looked down and exploded with rage. "You only left me my underwear?"

"You might as well have taken everything! Leaving me just my underwear — am I supposed to thank you for that?"

Anger surged through him, his vision went black, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

All his diligent efforts and hard-won gains in the Celestial Realm had ended up benefiting Jiang Fan.

It took him a long time to calm down, his fists clenching so tightly they creaked. "I'm no gentleman if I don't avenge this!"

"Once I find a few more powerful weapons in the Celestial Realm, I'll return to the Central Land and settle the score with you!"

Suddenly, the ground beneath him vibrated violently, as if something was tearing through the Celestial Realm's spatial barrier and attempting to enter from that very spot.

Wang Chongxiao quickly cast a mysterious spell he had learned, instantly merging his body with the surrounding stone wall. Only his two darting eyes remained visible.

*Boom!* A tremendous cracking sound echoed. Below them, a terrifying void rift appeared.

Everything in the canyon was instantly sucked into it. Even the canyon walls on both sides swayed precariously, threatening to fall into the void.

Wang Chongxiao was utterly terrified.

Fortunately, a group of resplendent golden Giant Emperors returned with the remnants of the giant army, and the void rift closed once more.

The leader was the Six-Sun Giant Emperor. Behind him were three One-Sun Giant Emperors and the Ten Sins of the Central Land.

The Sleeping Giant Emperor was in a dire state. His normally massive body was now emaciated, reduced to skin and bones, having lost most of his flesh and blood.

Even the cursed sun wheel on his forehead had dimmed because of this, looking as if it was about to extinguish.

*Thud*—the Sleeping Giant Emperor collapsed weakly to the ground, speaking with lingering fear. "Your Majesty, what was that thing?"

"How could there be such a terrifying thing outside the Central Land's spatial barrier?"

The expressions of several Giant Emperors and the Ten Sins of the Central Land all changed, and the Giant Kings they had rescued turned pale on the spot.

The rescue operation conducted by the Giant Emperors and the Ten Sins of the Central Land had initially proceeded smoothly. They had located most of the over one hundred Giant Kings, and two to three thousand ancient giants had been gathered.

Although casualties remained heavy, at least some vital remnants had been preserved for the Celestial Realm.

To their surprise, a bizarre lotus root suddenly emerged. Its long, infinitely extendable stem swept out, entangling numerous giants.

In an instant, it drained them into husks. Even the Sleeping Giant Emperor, upon intervening, was ensnared by the stem and had all his flesh and blood drained away.

Had the Six-Sun Giant Emperor not returned in time to drive it off, the Sleeping Giant Emperor would likely have been entirely drained into a dried husk.

Even so, the remnants of the army they had so painstakingly gathered were consumed by that lotus root, with more than half perishing.

Only a mere twenty-plus Giant Kings and over a thousand ancient giants were lucky enough to be saved.

The Six-Sun Giant Emperor's expression was exceedingly grim. "That is the Calamity-Crossing Black Lotus, an ancient entity that has existed since the very creation of the Underworld!"

The Sleeping Giant Emperor said, "No wonder it's so powerful."

The Six-Sun Giant Emperor stated grimly, "That was only a seedling. If it had been a mature form, even I would have been left behind!"

"What?" The giants gasped, aghast. A mere seedling of the Calamity-Crossing Black Lotus was already so terrifying.

What about a mature one?

The Sleeping Giant Emperor, still trembling with residual fear, declared angrily, "This Calamity-Crossing Black Lotus is another scheme concocted by the people of the Central Land!"

"They sank Hunyuan, and even positioned a Calamity-Crossing Black Lotus to guard the void, mercilessly annihilating any giants who fall into it!"

"How malicious the Central Land people are!"

The Six-Sun Giant Emperor gazed up at the sky, his eyes burning with unspeakable fury. "Half the responsibility for this defeat lies with me, and the other half with that human, Jiang Fan!"

"If he's not killed, my countless clansmen in the Celestial Realm will not rest in peace!"

"Notify the Dark Asura Clan to assemble a death squad. They are to infiltrate the Central Land before the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar dissipates and bring back Jiang Fan's head!"

All the giants' eyes gleamed with murderous intent. If the Central Land hadn't had Jiang Fan, they would never have been defeated!

At this moment, one of the Giant Kings asked, puzzled, "Your Majesty, is his name truly Jiang Fan or Wang Chongxiao?"

"Both times he came to the Celestial Realm, he introduced himself as Wang Chongxiao."

"Yet, there's another human in our Celestial Realm who constantly impersonates Jiang Fan and causes destruction everywhere."

"Who exactly is Jiang Fan, and who is Wang Chongxiao?"

The Six-Sun Giant Emperor declared grimly, "If you can't distinguish them, then don't bother; kill them both!"

Wang Chongxiao felt a suffocating tightness in his chest; a mouthful of blood welled up, but he couldn't spit it out.

"No, you *should* distinguish them!" he thought. "Jiang Fan is Jiang Fan, and Wang Chongxiao is Wang Chongxiao. Don't you understand the principle of 'every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor'?"

What made him want to vomit blood even more was that the Six-Sun Giant Emperor had explicitly named him, meaning the entire Celestial Realm would now be hunting him down.

Many among the Dark Asura Clan were aware of his existence. If they were commanded to assassinate him, staying in the Celestial Realm would become impossible.

It would be almost impossible to remain in the Celestial Realm and continue searching for treasures.

"Jiang Fan, oh, Jiang Fan! You steal my possessions and shatter my livelihood. You—you just wait!"

Wang Chongxiao fumed silently.

Meanwhile, in the Central Land's Guihui Province, at Tianshu City, the foremost of the Seven Cities of Heavenly Abyss...

Xue Qianzhang stood with his hands behind his back, overlooking the battlefield ahead.

The Half-Giants were engaged in a fierce battle with the humans, led by those from Starfall Mountain.

The outcome of the battle was self-evident: it was a one-sided victory for the Half-Giants.

This was because, during the previous great war, the ancient giants had only attacked the humans of the Western Continent. Though the Starfall Mountain Master had led the humans to victory, their casualties had been severe.

In contrast, the Eastern Continent, where Tianyi City was located, was not attacked by the ancient giants.

Moreover, they had remained passive during that conflict, suffering no casualties whatsoever.

Given this shift, wasn't the current power disparity between the two sides immense?

Watching the humans steadily retreat, Xue Qianzhang's lips curled into a smirk, his face revealing triumph. "From now on, Guihui Province will be our Half-Giants' territory."

"You humans, either become our slaves or die!"

Just then, a trusted giant hurried over, his face wreathed in smiles. "General Xue, we have successfully dismantled all privately constructed teleportation arrays."

"For the foreseeable future, no other province will be able to send reinforcements."

Xue Qianzhang nodded slightly. "The Sage is indeed far-sighted," he said.

"The moment the giants suffered defeat, he secretly sent us an urgent message, instructing us to destroy both the official and all privately constructed teleportation arrays to prevent human retaliation against us."

"Once the Sage returns, we will declare to the world, much like that other continent, that all outsiders are forbidden from entering Guihui Province. Anyone who tries will be killed!"

"From now on, we Half-Giants will be completely safe."

The trusted giant gazed at the nearby Sky-Connecting Black Pillar and said regretfully, "Actually, the best option would have been to go to the Celestial Realm."

"That is the homeland of our Half-Giants' dreams."

"Unfortunately, those Central Land humans got lucky and won the war. The Sky-Connecting Black Pillar is about to dissipate, and we don't have enough time to reach the Celestial Realm."

At the speed of an ordinary Nascent Soul stage cultivator, it would take at least five days to ascend to the Celestial Realm via the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar.

The Sky-Connecting Black Pillar clearly wouldn't last that long.

Therefore, they were forced to settle for a secondary option: Guihui Province's independence!