On the return march of the human race's million-strong army, the sole Mo-purging vessel carried all of the Ninth-Order powerhouses aboard.
Compared to their peak numbers, the human race's Ninth-Order contingent had dwindled considerably. Many newly ascended Ninth-Orders had perished in that final battle, their Dao extinguished.
Of those who still lived, only roughly twenty remained.
Among the human Ninth-Orders, Fu Guang of the Dragon Clan had also been invited.
Everyone took their seats. Many radiated faint, unsteady auras — all bore wounds. The great war had ended only recently, and even with the recuperative capabilities of Ninth-Order cultivators, full recovery in such a short span was impossible. To make matters worse, the human race's supplies had been all but exhausted; even the Spirit Pills for healing were running dangerously low.
The Ninth-Orders who arrived one after another quickly sensed the gravity of the atmosphere. They did not know what had happened to prompt Commander Mi to summon all of them for a council, but a single glance at his expression told them the news could not be good.
Once the last Ninth-Order had taken his seat, Mi Jinglun spoke. "I have gathered you all here today because there is something I need to confirm with everyone."
He surveyed the room, paused briefly, then recounted in full his earlier conversation with Xiang Shan.
The Ninth-Orders listened. Some were completely baffled, some sank into deep thought, and a small handful who already knew the details furrowed their brows tightly.
Ouyang Lie blustered, "What's the problem with your chat with Big-Head Xiang?"
He had heard nothing wrong with it — just a normal conversation.
"A big problem!" Mi Jinglun fixed him with a look, his expression severe. That instantly made Ouyang Lie realize this truly was a major issue, even though he still did not understand where the problem lay.
Xiang Shan said, "The agreement we signed with the Mo Clan back then was of paramount importance — it was the turning point in the rise of the human race. Something so critical, neither Brother Mi nor I could possibly have forgotten it. If one of us had a momentary lapse of memory and failed to recall it, that might be understandable. But the key point is that *both* of us drew a blank. When the agreement came up, neither of us could immediately recall its specific contents. That is something that should have been absolutely impossible."
Ouyang Lie frowned. "Perhaps the battle left us too exhausted?"
Xiang Shan turned to face him. "Do you remember what it was like the first time you met Yang Kai?"
"Of course I remember," Ouyang Lie answered reflexively. "How could I forget something like that? Back then he was…"
He trailed off, clearly realizing something. His expression shifted and his brow knotted tight.
Xiang Shan addressed the other Ninth-Orders. "I suggest everyone think back — recall some incident where you interacted with Yang Kai, or a shared experience!"
The Ninth-Orders complied.
Before long, every face in the room had taken on a strange, unsettled look.
Reading their expressions and seeing the changes playing across one another's faces, Ouyang Lie knew they had encountered the same thing he had. He could not help but ask, "How can this be?"
Following Xiang Shan's prompting, he had tried to recall his first meeting with Yang Kai. At first, he genuinely could not remember — it was as though an invisible membrane had been placed over that layer of memory. The scene was right there, just within reach, yet he could not make it out clearly no matter how hard he strained.
After several breaths of effort, he finally recalled it. The first time he met Yang Kai had been outside the Great Profound Pass. He had been lying in ambush with his disciples, monitoring enemy movements, and Yang Kai had come on Xiang Shan's orders to make contact.
At that time, Yang Kai had been only a Seventh-Order cultivator!
Mi Jinglun's voice rang out. "It is not just you. Once Brother Xiang and I identified the problem, we had many officers and soldiers questioned. They experienced the same thing as you. Every matter involving Yang Kai — whether they had personally interacted with him or merely heard about it — none of them could immediately recall specific details."
"What is causing this phenomenon?" Wu Qing asked in a low voice. He, too, had just tested his own memory, and the situation was exactly as Mi Jinglun described.
"The precise cause is unknown, but of this we can be certain — it is connected to the Silhouette Technique," Mi Jinglun said. "You should all remember that Yang Kai previously stated the eight silhouettes were summoned from eight future millennial time-spans. The fact that the eight silhouettes were dispersed means that, for the next eight thousand years, he does not exist."
Everyone nodded. They had all been present when Mi Jinglun spoke with Yang Kai, and those had been Yang Kai's own words.
"Yang Kai said this was the price the Silhouette Technique demanded. But it now appears that Yang Kai himself may have underestimated the severity of that price. He believed the cost was simply an inability to exist in the next eight thousand years. In reality, however, an invisible, immense force may be slowly erasing every trace of his existence from this world! That is why anything related to him has suddenly become hazy in everyone's memories."
"Could such an inconceivable thing truly be real?" Ouyang Lie said, unable to believe it.
The most straightforward way to erase someone's trace from the world was, of course, to kill them. But the kind of erasure they were experiencing now went far beyond mere killing — it extended to other people's memories of that person as well.
Mi Jinglun said, "Before Yang Kai unleashed the Silhouette Technique, I never imagined such an uncanny secret art could exist in this world."
Ouyang Lie fell silent at once.
The mysteries of the Silhouette Technique defied all comprehension, and the price of wielding it must be equally beyond imagination. No matter how difficult Mi Jinglun's conjecture was to accept, the facts were the facts.
"And this is only the beginning. What worries me is — as time goes on, will we eventually forget Yang Kai altogether?"