Chapter 352 The Banquet
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Three days later—
Celestial Capital City.
The setting sun was as red as blood, dyeing the ruins of the Celestial Capital into a dark red.
Lin Wan stepped over the broken city walls, her plain white boots stepping on charred bricks, producing faint cracking sounds.
The entire imperial city now remained only a vast wasteland, and behind the wasteland, Mount Buzhou was like a wound tearing heaven and earth.
This huge black mountain connecting heaven and earth hung down from the clouds, its surface covered with honeycomb-shaped holes, and each hole flickered with dark green phosphorescent fire.
Looking from a distance, those phosphorescent fires connected into one piece, faintly outlining the street layout of the Celestial Capital back in the day.
The position of Vermilion Bird Street shone with the densest green light, as if thousands of souls were still hovering over their native land.
At the foot of the mountain, the once majestic imperial city walls were now scattered like a child's building blocks.
Half of the "Tianshu Gate" plaque was inserted obliquely into the scorched earth, corroded by the black water seeping from the mountain until only the character "Tian" could still be recognized.
Even more bizarre was that all bricks and stones were twisted and deformed towards the direction of Mount Buzhou, as if attracted by some invisible force.
Lin Wan looked up.
The mountainside of Mount Buzhou was hidden in lead-gray clouds, and occasionally a scarlet color flashed through the gaps, as if some giant creature was peeping at the human world.
Where the mountain body met the ground, the soil presented a morbid purplish-black color, and countless root-like black veins spread out from the mountain base.
These veins were slowly but firmly eroding the land within a radius of a hundred miles.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Ji Wuque's voice came from behind.
"This mountain is the true Heaven Pillar."
Lin Wan looked over following the sound, only to see that amidst the ruins, a white jade pavilion was miraculously preserved.
Ji Wuque was sitting in the pavilion, with a table of exquisite wine and dishes in front of him.
"What a refined mood."
Lin Wan couldn't help but praise.
"Fairy Lin is indeed trustworthy."
Ji Wuque raised his cup in greeting, his black dragon robe glowing with a dark light in the twilight.
"Come and taste this, this is the 'Nine Heavens Condensed Dew Brew' from the Upper Realm. Every drop is the essence of the 'Weak Water' collected from the Cold Abyss Heaven."
Lin Wan walked straight to the table and sat down, picking up the wine pot to pour herself a cup.
The liquid in the cup flowed like a galaxy, reflecting her cold and beautiful eyebrows and eyes.
"It is indeed worthy of being a fine brew from the Upper Realm."
She drank it all in one gulp, the bottom of the cup tapping against the stone table with a crisp sound.
"Not afraid the wine is poisoned?"
Ji Wuque raised an eyebrow.
The corners of Lin Wan's mouth rose slightly.
"There is nothing in this world that can poison an Immortal Venerable."
Her fingertips tapped the rim of the cup lightly.
"But you—"
Her gaze swept over the surroundings.
"What a grand display."
Between the broken walls and ruins, dense golden patterns could be faintly seen.
Those patterns formed a huge formation, shrouding the entire ruins of the Celestial Capital.
The most conspicuous was the broken Heaven Stele in the center.
The original inscriptions on the stele had been tampered with, and now it was covered with twisted runes.
"Using the Heaven Stele as an anchor to refine this place into an overlapping space."
Lin Wan said indifferently.
"As long as one does not walk out of this area, Immortal Venerables from the Upper Realm can descend with their complete cultivation..."
She suddenly chuckled softly.
"How many Immortal Venerables have you joined forces with? Come out quickly. Everyone might as well have a drink first and get to know each other?"
The surroundings were silent.
Ji Wuque shook his head.
"How could Immortal Venerables from the Upper Realm fancy a mundane person like me with no background? There has always been only one Ji Wuque in this world."
Lin Wan sensed the surroundings slightly; it seemed that there was truly only Ji Wuque's aura in the vicinity.
This made her feel a bit moved, and then she felt a trace of pity, but this trace of pity vanished without a trace before Ji Wuque could notice it.
She changed the topic and said.
"Come to think of it, this was also the national capital of the Great Zhou in the past, a place you built single-handedly. Doesn't it hurt to see it like this?"
Ji Wuque showed no sorrow or joy.
"These are all necessary sacrifices. Those who achieve great things do not stick to small details."
Lin Wan laughed.
"It seems that we indeed have different paths and do not conspire together. I actually know of a place that suits you very well."
Ji Wuque's face changed.
"Oh?"
"A place called Foreign Tomato. The people there like people like you, who are decisive in killing and selfish!"
In the White Jade Pavilion, the night wind rolled up the lingering fragrance of the leftover wine.
Ji Wuque rubbed his fingertips against the gilt wine cup, the dark patterns on his black dragon robe glowing with a blood-like shimmer in the moonlight.
He looked at Lin Wan opposite him, whose expression was indifferent, and did not get angry.
Instead, he suddenly chuckled softly.
"Does the Fairy know why this pavilion can remain intact under Mount Buzhou?"
Lin Wan lowered her eyes to pour wine, the amber nectar rippling in the cup.
"Profound Yin Jade as the bones, Nether Iron as the tendons, and cast with a million living souls—it indeed took some thought."
"So the Fairy saw through it long ago."
Ji Wuque raised his head and drank the wine in the cup.
"Then you should also understand that today is different from the past."
When he put down the wine cup, the black dragon relief winding around the pavilion pillar suddenly opened its scarlet eyes.
"At this moment, the ruins of Celestial Capital City have become an Immortal Prison. Even an Immortal Venerable would find it hard to fly away with wings."
Lin Wan's fingertips stroked the rim of the cup, and a strand of sword energy silently submerged into the stone table.
"So?"
"So I will ask one last time."
Ji Wuque suddenly leaned his body forward, golden light exploding in his pupils.
"Are you willing to rule the Upper Realm with me?"
The night wind stopped abruptly.
Lin Wan raised her eyes, the black shadow of the entire Mount Buzhou reflected in her pupils.
"I already stated the answer long ago, and it is the same now—"
She tapped her fingertips on the table surface.
"No."
"A pity."
Ji Wuque slowly leaned back against the chairback.
Outside the pavilion, thirty-six blood-colored beams of light suddenly lit up.
"Then I must wrong the Fairy to stay here for a period of time."
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