The man in question was thin, with a face like a rat. He crouched in the street corner with a natural lascivious quality about him.

This was none other than Wei E.

“Ol’ Brother!” Su Yi smiled and walked up to him.

Wei E froze, stunned. When he saw Su Yi’s familiar face, he couldn’t help but gasp. “Who... who are you?”

He dared not recognize the man in front of him, because he feared he’d recognize the wrong one!

“What, are you worried that I’m here for revenge? You needn’t worry,” said Su Yi. He helped Wei E off the ground, then said, “If anything, I ought to thank you.”

“T-thank me?” Wei E gaped at him.

“In River King Purple Tiger’s manor, I profited from my misfortune and gained useful intelligence. I naturally ought to thank you,” said Su Yi, clapping Wei E on the shoulder.

Wei E instantly concluded that this was the “big idiot” who’d been impersonating Wang Zhiwu!

“You still have the face to talk to me!?” Wei E sputtered and moved further away. “You do realize that you almost got me killed by impersonating His Excellency Wang?”

Su Yi blinked. “What do you mean?”

Wei E spat, “You’re still going to pretend? Earlier, I met the real Wang Zhiwu. How could I not realize that you’re no more than a fake?”

Su Yi was stunned. Wang Zhiwu is actually in the Spirit Treasure Celestial City? Strange. How did he manage to get this deep in the River of Destiny?

“What, got a guilty conscience?” Wei E glowered, clearly still embittered. “I tried to help you out of the goodness of my heart, but look at you! You were an imposter right from the start, and you deliberately deceived an honest fellow like me. You sure are black-hearted!”

“Tell me, then. Who took me for a fool right from the start? And who deliberately lured me into River King Purple Tiger’s manor?” Su Yi said with a laugh.

Wei E deflated, then said sheepishly, “Brother, didn’t you say that you benefited from this disaster? So give me face, okay? In the River of Destiny, what matters most isn’t strength, but rather, destiny. It seems to me that your destiny is ridiculously good!”

Wei E wasn’t kidding, either. After all, the fake Wang Zhiwu had just escaped River King Purple Tiger’s manor unscathed.

Su Yi laughed and chastised him. “Cut the crap. Come on and take me to the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone.”

Wei E gaped at him. “That place is downright malevolent, and everyone knows it’s a forbidden zone. What are you going there for?”

“What’s with all the questions? Quick, lead the way.” Su Yi tugged on Wei E’s shoulder and walked off.

Wei E tried to struggle, but much to his horror, he realized that he could in no way break free. He instantly realized that this fake Wang Zhiwu was obviously an expert in his own right.

“Oh yeah! Does Wang Zhiwu know that I impersonated him?” Su Yi asked along the way.

“See?” Wei E said coldly. “You admit it yourself! I was truly blind and foolish to have believed you. I might as well have fed my good intentions to stray dogs!”

Although he said this, he told Su Yi the truth, including his encounter with the real Wang Zhiwu. He even included Wang Zhiwu’s companion, River Empress Lu Ping!

Su Yi couldn’t help but suspect that Wang Zhiwu was here for the Key to Endless Tribulations, too. Things really are getting more and more interesting...

When he saw that Su Yi wasn’t the type to sweat the small stuff, Wei E gradually relaxed, then asked all of his pent-up questions at once. “Brother, you still haven’t told me who you really are or why you’re trying to screw over that Wang Zhiwu guy. And how did you escape River King Purple Tiger’s manor, anyway?”

Unfortunately for him, Su Yi just smiled and didn’t answer.

Wei E found it frustrating to the point that he longed to stab Su Yi in the throat, but he dared not try it. He sighed. “People like you are always bullying honest, simple folk like me.”

Su Yi disregarded this completely. Wei E was an unscrupulous scam artist. It was obvious that he was up to no good. Who knew how many people he’d tricked over the years?

And he called himself honest? No one would believe that!

“Can you at least tell me why you’re going to the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone?” asked Wei E, unwilling to give up just yet.

Su Yi said casually, “I just want to have a look around. If it’s dangerous, we can leave immediately. I promise you won’t get hurt.”

Wei E instantly relaxed. “That’s great!”

Four hours later, Su Yi saw the greatest forbidden zone in the Spirit Treasure Celestial City off in the distance. The whole place was shrouded in thick, turbid mists, and it seemed there was no end to the smog. It was full of a sinister, malevolent air.

It was like gazing into the pits of hell!

As bustling and prosperous as the Spirit Treasure Celestial City was, when they arrived, everything seemed desolate, barren, and bleak. The whole place was abandoned.

If Su Yi hadn’t been there for this whole journey, he could never have imagined that a forbidden zone so strange and sinister could exist in a city.

“Rumor has it that this blasted place is what remains of that River Ancestor’s heart power,” said Wei E, pulling in his head like a turtle. He seemed as cautious as could be. “But if that’s true, I’m afraid that River Ancestor must have lost himself to obsession a long time ago. Otherwise, how could his heart have transformed into a place so terrifying?”

Su Yi paused to consider it, then nodded. “That’s indeed entirely possible.”

He scanned the area. They were still several tens of thousands of feet away, but he could already sense a bone-piercing, malevolent aura seemingly capable of infiltrating the deepest recesses of the heart. It was thoroughly uncomfortable.

Of course, Su Yi had long since condensed a Heart Soul capable of giving rise to the Light of the Heart, so this wasn’t enough to affect him.

Wei E, however, clearly found it hard to take. He quivered from head to toe, his expression full of terror. No matter how hard Su Yi tried to persuade him, he refused to take even a single step further.

Su Yi pondered briefly, then decided to continue on his own.

“Brother, you must be careful!” warned Wei E, but inwardly, he’d have loved nothing more than for the fake Wang Zhiwu to hurry up and die already. He wouldn’t be able to cause trouble then.

When he saw Su Yi fade into the distance, Wei E turned and scampered off, quick as could be. All the while, he clenched his bodhisattva pendant and muttered, “Watch over me, bodhisattva. Watch over me.”

The Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone was so enormous that it seemed you could enter from anywhere.

Su Yi didn’t do anything particularly eye-catching. He came to a halt thirty thousand feet away from the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone, then started walking around the perimeter, all the while maintaining a safe distance.

This was a forbidden zone that had stood for a long, long time, a place not even River Emperors dared enter. Who knew what secrets were hidden inside? Was this sinister place really what remained of the giant River Ancestor’s heart?

Although he’d yet to draw near, Su Yi used his divine sense to seize a hint of the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone’s aura. He sensed it briefly and discovered that it was indeed strikingly similar to the aura of the Outsider Celestial Demons. But it wasn’t quite the same, either, as it was full of mottled, sinister energies. If these energies invaded someone’s body, they’d corrode and destroy them. Not even Eternals were exempt!

“Can you discern this aura’s origin?” Su Yi gave the wisp of aura he’d seized to Innocence, who was hidden in his sleeve.

“Master, that’s indeed the power of a heart devil!” said Innocence. “But it’s been permeated with another strange, malevolent power, making it impure. It’s extremely strange. If I’m not mistaken, that malevolent power induced that River Ancestor’s heart devil, leading to his ultimate demise.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but find the story familiar, and he quickly understood why. Back then, Jiang Wuchen’s heart fractured after the Laws of Rahu invaded it, giving rise to a heart devil.

But this was different. Problems had arisen in the River Ancestor’s heart because a strange, external power had invaded it!

“Master, should I go instead? After all, here in the Spirit Treasure Celestial City, I have no need to fear the current of the River of Destiny,” suggested the little girl.

Su Yi hesitated, then shook his head. “Just keep an eye on things for now. I’ll decide whether or not to have you intervene later.”

Innocence beamed. “You’ve even started looking out for my well-being! Alright, I’ll do as you say!”

Su Yi really didn’t understand what there was to be happy about, but he couldn’t be bothered to give the matter any further thought.

As he walked, Su Yi’s appearance silently shifted. This time, he took the form of a young man in Daoist robes with long gray hair.

This was Lu Shi’s appearance. Back in the God Domain, Lu Shi was once Di E’s backer. He’d caused Su Yi considerable trouble. More importantly, Su Yi had never forgotten that Lu Shi had the first of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos, the Writing Brush of Genesis.

He also remembered that during the God Domain’s Battle for Order, Lu Shi had said that if one of them won the Battle for Order, the other would have to give up their Mysteries of Chaos.

But Lu Shi had obviously reneged on this agreement. Su Yi had long since nursed a grudge over this, and he was determined to settle this score sooner or later.

As for why he’d taken on Lu Shi’s appearance? It was simple. Wang Zhiwu was in the Spirit Treasure Celestial City, and he already knew someone was impersonating him, so continuing to wear his face would be needlessly risky.

Hm? About ten minutes later, Su Yi silently came to a spot. He’d just spotted a strange figure standing on a hilltop right in front of the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone.

He was stick-thin, but he was dressed in long, enormous, blood-red robes. He had an unusually large head with long, disheveled hair reminiscent of tangled kelp. He carried a geomantic compass in one hand and formed hand seals with the other. It seemed he was trying to divine something.

When Su Yi looked over, the man sensed him immediately and looked over. A powerful sense of impending crisis coursed through Su Yi’s heart. He felt like an ant gazing up at a giant, prehistoric beast!

But the feeling lasted only an instant before the man retracted his gaze and returned his attention to his geomantic compass. The sense of impending crisis faded away.

A River Emperor? Or perhaps a River Ancestor? Su Yi couldn’t even begin to guess. All he could say with certainty was that whoever he was, he was after the Key to Endless Tribulations.

Without any further delays, Su Yi continued into the distance.

But before he’d gotten far, the green-haired man in blood-red robes said from behind him, “Wait!”

Su Yi silently came to a halt. That familiar sense of crisis coursed through him once more, like a blade pressed against his back.

He turned to look at the green-haired man in blood-red robes. “Are you talking to me?”

The man’s bright eyes shone like torches as he gazed at Su Yi in bemusement. It seemed he’d discovered something. “You could see me earlier, too, right?”