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Chapter 304: Funeral (Part 1)

Closing the shop door, Chen Xuan followed Marina into the long street, traversing through the gray, haze-covered city. The place seemed teeming with buildings, of grand scale, yet the pedestrians were few and far between. Even if a rare passerby happened to appear, upon seeing Marina’s black robes, they would reveal terrified expressions and hurriedly bow their heads in avoidance.

Clearly, this place did not seem to be on France’s territory.

"Where is this?" Chen Xuan asked.

"London," Marina replied, "Now, the entire upper echelon of the Witch Gathering Hall is searching for your whereabouts, I didn’t expect to encounter you here."

That’s because you’re a customer of the shop, while other witches are not.

The last time he came here was during the day the East-West alliance army launched a major counterattack; he sat on a floating ship, crossing the English Channel, sending off troops for the expedition. After seeing months pass, now the witches can already walk freely in London?

Just how many years have elapsed during this time?

"Tell me... what happened here while I was away." Chen Xuan didn’t worry that the other party would doubt his identity, after all Marina had visibly aged, whereas he remained unchanged from the past. Unaffected by the passage of time... this fact alone sufficed for people to believe in his extraordinariness.

"Yes," Marina replied respectfully, "Thanks to you, we achieved victory."

An entire thirty years had passed.

The French military cooperated with sect cultivators, eventually occupying the English mainland, and drove all Demon Fiends back to the sea. The British monarchy collapsed, with the remnants of the royal army fleeing into Ireland’s primordial forests, completely losing control over Britain.

Though the cost was considerable, the threat from across the Channel had, for the first time, completely vanished from history.

According to the alliance army’s next plan, the French forces and Eastern sects would divide England, establishing a bridgehead to monitor the sea. France would continue clearing the remnants of the British army in Ireland, while cultivators used this foothold to find methods to delve deeper into the sea to annihilate the Demon Fiends.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuan finally understood why this city, seemingly prosperous, appeared so desolate at the moment.

Because the Kingdom of Great Britain had fallen.

The city’s residents welcomed a new ruler—the change in order induced panic and unease, needing time to soothe. It was perfectly normal for people to fear Marina; she belonged to the ruling class and was a witch once widely persecuted; nobody wished to cross such a figure.

Chen Xuan calculated, noting that Joan was already seventy-five years old, not particularly long-lived, but compared to her original fate of being burned alive at nineteen, she had traversed an entirely different path.

"So who is now France’s King..."

"His Majesty Louis," Marina replied.

That was unsurprising; he was likely known as Louis XI by posterity, thought Chen Xuan. Yet, at this juncture only the name matched; thereafter the European continent’s situation was utterly transformed, rendering the known history irrelevant.

Reaching the London outskirts, Chen Xuan saw a battleship suspended in the air.

Compared to the fleet at the time of expedition, this floating ship evidently underwent comprehensive enhancements, not only larger in size, but its exterior shone with a faint blue glow like a layer of spell armor. Its keel stretched around a hundred meters, the hull resembling a high-rise building, such a vast creature hovering overhead certainly imparted a strong sense of oppression.

Beneath the battleship rested a military camp.

Even before entering, one could see the camp’s hundreds of flagpoles, each topped with white silk bands.

Even sect cultivators mourned Joan’s passing.

Yet, compared to the funeral she deserved, this camp seemed notably understated.

Amid Chen Xuan’s puzzlement, Marina proactively introduced, "We’re almost there; using this Bridge Five, we can return to Paris immediately."

"Bridge Five?"

"Yes, it’s a teleportation array set up by the Lotus Cloud Sect, each bridge covers a range of nine hundred miles. Our army relies on these teleportation nodes to address the logistical issues of cross-sea operations."

Chen Xuan couldn’t help but be shocked.

Ji Yun and Ji Lian managed to research such a miraculous array?

"Can it transport anything?"

"Yes, but the larger the object, the more magic it consumes... Of course, to them, it’s called Spiritual Qi," Marina smiled, reminiscent of her past traveling days. However, turning to see the scene of white silk bands fluttering, her smile quickly became replaced by gravity.

The camp guards didn’t impede them, nor did they check identities.

Chen Xuan found people’s gazes sweeping over him repeatedly, whispering amongst themselves. When he returned their gaze, they all turned their heads, seemingly afraid to meet his eyes. Chen Xuan also used the Celestial Mist Skill to observe around, discovering these "soldiers" in various robes all possessed Spiritual Qi, with levels not low—at least that of the former Immortal Alliance’s core cultivators.

This demonstrated that Demon Slaying indeed offered a shortcut for improving Spiritual Qi.

No matter what heights they ultimately achieve, at least after absorbing Demon Fiend’s Spiritual Qi, the cultivators’ collective strength had significantly advanced.

Of course, Chen Xuan wasn’t surprised by this change; in the past, the Grotto Heaven secret realm could only be enjoyed by a few within certain sects, but now with Western Demon Fiends emerging en masse, there were endless targets to kill, essentially everyone had resources, as long as they didn’t die on the battlefield, their power could continuously grow, quick growth was inevitable.

He was merely curious... these people shouldn’t recognize him, so why was everyone’s gaze focused on him?

After posing this question to Marina, she sighed softly, "How could cultivators not recognize you... The Sect Leader of the Lotus Cloud Sect printed your and Immortal Master Liu’s portrait on Jade Coins; whenever they delve into their pockets, they see your likeness."

"Me?" Chen Xuan was unsettled, "Portraits on Jade Coins?"

This was somewhat exaggerated!

"Indeed... one side shows the Divine Envoy, Lord’s representative; the other displays the master of the most talented cultivator in history. Even Lady Joan remarked... the relationship between the East-West Alliance remains intact entirely due to your influence."

Marina displayed a "you didn’t know anything" expression as she regarded him, "You really should... pay more attention to us."

This was indeed a bit embarrassing.

He hadn’t anticipated the unpredictability in the passage of time.

Clearly, it wasn’t the same for Liu Shuyue.

Could it be the lack of a shop assistant here?

Entering the center of the camp, Chen Xuan saw the "Bridge Five" array resembling the Temple of Heaven. It was constructed entirely from white jade stone, occupying roughly a thousand square meters, with layers of stairs leading up. The top, six or seven meters above the ground, was a circular platform. Above the platform were dense talismans, with a radiance flickering among the texts, a mere glance revealed its extraordinariness.

A cultivator quickly stepped forward, bowing deeply to Chen Xuan, "Lotus Cloud Sect disciple An Ran pays respects to the Ancestor Master!"

As Chen Xuan pondered how to reply, Marina resolved it for him, "Initiate the array; the Divine Envoy wishes to promptly return to Paris."

"Yes!" The latter immediately directed a group of cultivators to commence work.

Once the platform’s radiant stream converged into a pillar extending to the sky, Marina first stepped into the beam.

Soon, her figure vanished without a trace.

Chen Xuan took a deep breath and followed forward.

In an instant, the world spun; his body seemed pulled into a void realm, and the next moment, he stood before another array. This experience bore semblance to passing through an intrusion point for the first time; he soon steadied himself.

Evidently, one teleportation’s distance was far from sufficient.

Heaven knows how many bridges the Lotus Cloud Sect constructed on the Britannia Isle and the European continent; after four successive transports, he eventually arrived at his destination.

Once word got out, more came to welcome him... Chen Xuan first entered the Imperial Palace, held an audience with King Louis, then sequentially met various cardinals and a circle of nobility, finally welcoming the Witch Gathering’s delegation, so much so that he momentarily couldn’t distinguish whether they were holding a funeral for Joan or orchestrating his meet-and-greet.

Thus, after such a busy half-day, he finally saw Joan—she lay silently on a wooden bed in Versailles Cathedral, covered with snowy white silk, surrounded by roses.