Chu Yu and the other two were all shocked.
However, the elder's face darkened and he spoke in low tones, "No good... This is a living spirit from the nether world, how could it still be alive? Has it always been hiding here, and then was freed when the seal was released?"
At this time, a commotion broke out downstairs.
The terror of the words "living spirit" was probably lost on the people of today's world.
But in the era of the Great Emperor, these two words had been akin to death in the human realm!
The living spirits from the nether world were like the messengers of death.
They bore an inborn hatred towards all things living in the human realm.
Sounds of fighting came from downstairs, along with the alarmed cries of women and children.
In a flash, Chu Yu appeared downstairs. Before his eyes, a humanoid living spirit that radiated a cold, unearthly energy was massacring the people present in the hall.
Regardless of how these people currently existed in this world, the flames of boundless rage burned fiercely within the depths of Chu Yu's heart as he watched humans like him be massacred by a creature of a different kind.
"Stop!"
He thundered as he made his move.
Mercilessly, he swung his palm at the cold and unearthly living spirit.
Within his swing was the mighty power of the laws.
This power was born of enlightenment from the three realms technique.
The living spirit seemed to realise that Chu Yu was not one to be trifled with, but the hatred inherent within its very being compelled it to rush at Chu Yu anyway.
It raised its hand… and revealed scaly black claws that seemed as though it were forged from steel!
Thump!
A dull sound echoed from the blow.
Chu Yu's face remained unchanged, but the living spirit howled.
One of its claws had been smashed to pieces from the impact!
"Good!"
Someone in the hall could not help but let out a jubilant cheer.
This was a time of great spirit amongst the people. With the Great Emperor reigning over the human realm, no one dared to look down upon them.
The millions of people who lived under the rule of the Great Emperor naturally carried within their very being the great pride of being human.
Chu Yu followed with a swing of his fist, which shone with powerful runes from his magic.
The living spirit raised its arms in a forced attempt to deflect Chu Yu's attack.
Snap!
Both its arms were broken in an instant!
The sound of bones shattering was heard.
It let out a furious yet pained roar. "You lowly vermin... my lord will not let any of you off!"
As it spoke, a rush of terrifying power rippled from within its body.
It would go as far as to detonate its own body in order to kill everyone at the scene!
With an icy expression, Chu Yu raised his leg to kick the living spirit out of the hall.
The instant it was out the door, the living spirit disappeared immediately.
No matter who it was, anyone that had been sealed away for countless years could only survive in the place they were originally trapped in.
Should they leave, death would be a certain fate!
The people in the hall stared in shock. They had already begun to realise that events which they could not understand had occurred.
Previously it had been that scholar who had tried to venture out only to almost die.
Afterwards it had been the drunkard, and now it was the frightening living spirit from the nether world.
After they left the hall, they had all met with a terrible end.
A room they were unable to leave and three strangers who had suddenly appeared in the restaurant...
Just what had happened?
They had not believed the words of Chu Yu and Xu Xiao Xian earlier. But now, with the incredible strangeness of recent events, the people had instantly felt that something was not right.
The few who knew about the sealing like the elder had shock and fear written all over their faces, as though they had already thought of something.
Chu Yu's expression was solemn as well.
The living spirit they had just encountered was clearly just a small fry.
Eons ago, it had hidden in this restaurant. Perhaps it had wanted to attack, or it had been waiting for someone.
But before it had made a move, it had been sealed away.
The moment the seal was released, it had attacked in an instant.
It was a good thing that this was not a powerful living spirit. If that had been the case, there was no guarantee that it could be subdued, even by Chu Yu.
The most troublesome part of it all was that Chu Yu's divine sense had lost its power in this kind of place. He could not sense anything at all.
If there was a powerful living spirit hiding around the place without letting on a sign, there would be great carnage if it suddenly launched an attack.
This group of people could not leave the room they were currently in. At the same time, it seemed as though they were existing through a different means. Nonetheless Chu Yu did not want anything unfortunate to befall these ancient people.
There had already been a few deaths in the hall, and the families of the victims were gathered around the bodies weeping.
At this time, the elder had come down from upstairs too. At the sight, he could not help but sigh.
"How terrible all this misery is!"
"Sir, all this…...was probably caused by that Great Emperor, right? If it's not him…...how could the nether world and the Immortal realm attack the human realm?" Xu Xiao Xian asked all of a sudden.
At her words, the restaurant fell silent in an instant.
Everyone was glaring at Xu Xiao Xian in fury.
Xu Xiao Xian was rendered quite speechless. She thought to herself, "I was only speaking my mind casually, do you all have to react like this? Do you all lack independent thought?"
The elder looked at Xu Xiao Xian and said with a serious face, "Young lady, you are an outsider with little understanding of the situation, so I will not argue with you. But do refrain from saying such things in the future."
"Why?" Xu Xiao Xian asked.
Actually, she intended to get further clarification.
This was where she and Lin Shi were similar in their viewpoints. They had to figure out something completely before they could move on.
They absolutely refused to live without having clarity.
This was a major principle the two women lived by.
The elder glanced at the people. He had already been informed of many things by Chu Yu and the two others with him.
He knew that his people currently existed in a strange way, and it was hard to tell for sure just what kind of state they were in right now.
He decided to not hide anything any longer, and to reveal the truth once and for all.
Looking at Xu Xiao Xian, he said, "This happened eons ago, and records have long since diverged from the truth. Truth to be told, we are only just a group of normal people who lived during that era. There is not much we know, but this we know for sure: the reason behind this war is absolutely not what people from your era believe it to be."
When the people heard that these three young people really were from a future era, the expressions on their faces were interesting to watch.
A delicately pretty young girl next to the elder blinked at Lin Shi through large, dark eyes and asked, "Elder sister, are you all really from the future?"
Everyone in the hall turned to look at Xu Xiao Xian.
Baring pearly white teeth, Xu Xiao Xian laughed evilly, "That's right, so you really are an old granny now!"
"Ah!"
The little girl burst into tears.
A young man who was about eighteen or nineteen years old glared at Xu Xiao Xian, but his face was pale. He had heard more than the others, yet deep down in his heart, he still found it all unbelievable.
Anyone who had been sealed away for countless of years, waking up only to realise that millions of years had already passed and that they could no longer return to their original lives would definitely be contending with extremely complicated emotions.
It was already very remarkable that they had not just lost their minds on the spot.
It seemed as though Xu Xiao Xian was poking fun at the little girl. But she was actually prompting them to recover the emotions a human should have at a faster rate.
Whether it was love or hate, one would naturally feel better after expressing all these emotions of happiness, anger, sadness and joy.
The elder understood Xu Xiao Xian's intentions too, so he did not mind her actions. He continued speaking, "Before the war, cultivators could ascend to the Immortal realm, become an Immortal and enjoy a longer lifespan. But even then, there were not many from the human realm that ascended! That was because in the eyes of countless practitioners, the Immortal realm was not that much better than this pure land anyway."
"A pure land..." Aside, Lin Shi smiled bitterly. She thought to herself that the human realm of today was anything but a pure land.
The elder continued speaking, "Our human realm has the best living spirits out of the three worlds, and an unimaginable array of precious resources. Both the Immortal realm and nether world are after these things."
"And to the Immortal realm and nether world, the living spirits in this human realm are just like ants."
"They could let us live if they feel like it, if not they'd just crush us like it was nothing."
"So, the Emperor cast the heavenly cauldron and set up the heavenly courts. He wanted to absorb the Qi of the three realms…...and the underlying intention was to protect this pure land!"
"It was for protection!"
"I may only be a lowly old man, but I am still very clear about these things. If you don't believe me, why don't you ask the people here and see what they say?"
As he spoke, the elder cast his gaze towards the others in the hall.
"That's right, if the Emperor had not set up the heavenly courts so that the human realm could be independent of the Immortal realm and nether world, this world would probably have become a true hell on earth."
"The Emperor feels for our plight, he is the only one that is truly good to us!"
"That's right, you people are from the future, it's only a given that you don't know how good the Emperor is!"
Xu Xiao Xian's eyelashes fluttered as she felt the urge to retort, "Yeah, and in this day and age even my older brother could pass for a descendent of this Emperor guy!"
But she knew she could not just joke about that so casually.
However, some people stared at the trio and questioned, "So you all are really from the future? There is no inkling of time ever stopping in our brains, have millions of years really passed by?"
At the nods of the three, a hush fell over the people in the room.
The elder then proceeded to tell the crowd the truth of the situation he had pieced together from Chu Yu.
The crowd may have had their doubts about their earlier conversations, but when the full truth was presented to them, everyone was in disbelief and at a loss as to what to do.
At the same time, a deeper sorrow overflowed from deep within their hearts.
Even the fact that they could have been sealed away was unknown to most of these people.
To their senses, it did not seem as though anything strange had happened at all.
Everything had been going on as per normal. In the next instance, a few strangers had appeared all of a sudden and told them, "You all have been sealed away for millions or even billions of years! The state you all are in right now is also not that of a normal human. If you leave the room, you may just disappear completely..."
How would they feel?
It was a given that they would not be able to accept this truth!
It was frightening and uncomfortable to even think about it.
As such, Chu Yu understood the feelings of these people very well.
They were already strong in having kept their cool well enough after judging for themselves that all this was neither a lie nor a joke. To be able to do this was already very admirable of them.