Chapter 705
Prelude to Destruction
Chapter 705 Prelude to Destruction
In other words, from that moment on, the complexions of many holy masters changed at the same time.
Almost coincidentally.
It even included the Heavenly Eternal Lord and the Bright Heavenly Lord hidden among the crowd on the ground.
Numerous monks were immersed in the wonders of heaven and earth and their longing for the so-called "miracles", so they naturally did not notice the changes of many Holy Masters, but Jiang Nan was keenly aware that the Heavenly Evolution Holy Master and Huangtian Holy Master who were around him just now In an instant, his expression changed suddenly!
"what happened?"
He turned his head.
Tianyan Shengzhu was thoughtful and thoughtful, so it was not surprising that he had such a change in expression.
But Holy Lord Huangtian is different.
As a brawler with muscles growing in her mind, she couldn't be interested in general things, except for fighting, which were all big things.
For example, now.
"Jiangnan Jiangnan! Seems like... something went wrong?" Holy Master Huangtian said, scratching his head with a puzzled expression.
Tianyan Shengzhu also took a deep breath, his expression was extremely gloomy, "Your Excellency, the destruction... has begun."
Jiang Nan: "...?"
He slowly made a question mark.
what?
Shouldn't the two His Majesties and Calamity bring about the destruction of the Kunkan Second Dao?
But now Kunzun and Kandi are sitting on the cloud head, and there is no aura of disaster at all.
What started to destroy?
At that moment, Jiangnan could only feel his head hurting uncontrollably.
Something, was overlooked.
Although from the time he came to Kunkan Erdao until now, Jiangnan has learned quite a lot of truth along the way.
Including the destruction of the Kunkan Erdao, including his own story, including the origin and background of the disaster, and even the terrible disaster that the Qianli Erdao will face, he knows it all.
But there is one thing to say, one point, he has not figured it out.
That is... How did the Kunkan Erdao fall?
Although he guessed that the ending of the destruction was related to disasters and the two kings, he still didn't know what "thing" specifically caused the destruction of the two outer realms in an instant.
And now, this little detail is ignored.
Brilliant.
"What's going on?"
He looked at Tianyan Shengzhu, frowning.
The Holy Lord of a domain controls the way and luck of a domain. Although they cannot see any changes all the time, once a major event happens in a domain, they will be able to discover it thousands of miles away.
Like now.
However, the reaction of the Lord Tianyan made Jiangnan's frown even more solidified.
His face was dull and bitter, and he just shook his head.
"—I don't know."
At the same time, in Huangtian Dayu, which is a long and endless journey away from Tianwang Peak.
Because of the "Holy Master Beheaded Demon" incident that has been raging a few days ago, there are rumors that Huang Tian Sheng Master and Tian Yan Sheng Master were beheaded by the two sword masters sent by His Majesty because they fell into the devil's way, so the whole Huang Tian The atmosphere in Tiandayu was quite gloomy.
Especially Huangtian Holy Land, which once ruled the entire Great Territory, is like an eggplant beaten by frost, extremely depressed.
——For a Holy Land, the Holy Master is the backbone of all disciples and elders. When the Holy Master is there, the Holy Land will be prosperous like no other. If the Holy Master is gone, it will exist in name only.
The situation of Huangtian Holy Land is probably like this.
Since the news that the Holy Lord Huangtian was suppressed and killed more than half a year ago, the entire Holy Land has been gloomy, and even in the Great Territory, there has been a lot of chaos and turmoil—some large groups that are not much different from the Holy Land. Pai, after knowing that the Holy Lord of Huangtian had returned to the underworld, he naturally thought a little bit carefully, and made some small movements, overtly or secretly.
Fortunately, after all, there were the three elders of Huangtian who were in the Remnant Immortal Realm, and the Huangtian Holy Land had accumulated countless thousands of years of terrifying background, and these riots were easily suppressed.
Then, the situation reached a stalemate.
——A large domain cannot be left alone for a day.
Everyone is waiting, waiting for the meaning of the two His Majesties on Tianwang Peak.
Are the Huangtian Dayu and Tianyan Dayu merged into other Dayu?
Or will the two majesties send fairyland beings to govern it?
No one knows.
However, most people guessed that they would have to wait until the end of the Immortal Banquet before reaching a conclusion on these matters.
——These ideas, of course, are still considered by the high-level people in the practice world.
For ordinary people and all living beings, it doesn't seem to make much difference which holy master is ruled by them. The impact on them may not be as much as whether the meat and vegetables on the street are more expensive.
As for the thoughts of ordinary people, the practice world will not care about it - in their view, the will of mortals has no effect and can be completely ignored.
The saying that water can carry a boat can also overturn it is not applicable in the practice world.
——One thing to say, if there is no accident, there is nothing wrong with this kind of thinking.After all, for practitioners, the lifespan is only a mere hundred years, and mortals who have no power to restrain a chicken will never be able to affect the pattern of the practice world.
But by accident, it just happened.
Those mortals they ignored didn't affect the pattern of the entire practice world, they even affected the pattern of the entire world.
——The entire Kunkan Second Dao!
On this day, the Immortal Banquet was in full swing, and almost the entire senior level of the cultivation world of the Kunkan Second Dao was paying attention to the grand event.
But for Gongyou Kingdom, which is located on the southeast border of Huangtian Dayu, this is just an extremely unusual year-end.
Gongyou Kingdom is located on the edge of the great realm of Huangtian. The world is poor and the aura is thin.
In layman's terms, this kind of place can't produce any peerless talents with amazing spiritual roots. Occasionally, there will be one or two who have the aptitude for cultivation, but due to the almost non-existent aura illusion, they will not be able to break through their innateness and embark on the road of cultivation for the rest of their lives.
Similarly, there is no great power in this kind of place who is willing to establish a sect. Over time, only the aborigines in this place will thrive, and there will be no fairy trails all year round.
But despite this, the local people also feel happy.
Perhaps, the lives of mortals don't need some monks to intervene?
For mortals with less than a hundred years of lifespan, there is also no need to worry about gods fighting mortals, and there is no need to worry about being affected by fish.
In short, this is a huge country that is quite prosperous but not magical.
This day was just a few days ago.
After a night of heavy snowfall, it covered the entire country, as if it was covered with a layer of silver.
imperial capital.
As the most prosperous city in the entire Gongyou Kingdom, early in the morning, busy vendors are shuttling through the streets and alleys. Occasionally, a group of guards who have not been on duty can be seen passing by on the snowy ground, wearing heavy armor and holding iron guns, stepping on the snow. And pass.
In the orderly streets and alleys, festive red lanterns hang on both sides of the streets and alleys, fluttering in the cold wind, bringing a little warmth.
On the other side of the lantern, there are banners with a yellow background, with black bird-shaped totems embroidered with various crafts, which looks quite strange in the pure white world.
But for the people who were bustling around, they seemed to be used to it, and they didn't feel that there was anything wrong at all.
As if, already used to it.
——Although there was a wave of resistance to the "Night Bird" totem in the entire Kunkan Second Dao, they were all under the jurisdiction of many practice sects. It is difficult for anyone to care.
Coincidentally.
Between the entire boundless Kunkan and the two realms, there are many mortal kingdoms like Gongyou Kingdom.
After all, although the Kunkan Second Dao is ruled by practitioners, no matter how powerful the monks are, they all start from mortals.Without the huge soil of the entire mortal group, no matter how powerful sects and forces are, they are rootless duckweeds, lofts in the sky.
Gong Niao Imperial Palace.
In the steel animal head furnace, there is a raging carbon fire burning, as if all the warmth in this icy and snowy place is concentrated in this Nuoda palace.
An old man in imperial robes was sitting on the throne, facing forward. In the center of the hall, a dancer in light gauze who seemed not afraid of the cold was dancing with a graceful figure accompanied by the melodious sound of the piano.
The figure on the throne squinted his eyes slightly, and gently raised his fingers to the music. Every time he raised his hand, the obedient maid picked up the exquisite pastry and gently put it into his mouth.
It can be said to be the ultimate enjoyment.
But in the harmonious and even extravagant atmosphere, some things are happening quietly.
——From outside the border of Gongyou Kingdom, the translucent lines like flowing water rippled like water waves.It is extremely thin and vast, like a layer of light smoke, without any breath.
Not to mention ordinary people, even successful monks are hard to find.
Although even if it is discovered, it will be unable to do anything about the extremely fast fainting speed.
In short, at noon on this day, like a drastic change that no one knew about, an invisible wave of water swayed and covered the entire Gongyou Kingdom.
In the whole country, no one is aware of it.
But some changes started quietly.
In the palace, on the grand hall.
At a certain moment, the originally soothing and peaceful musical tune suddenly became sad and shrill!
At that moment, the old emperor sitting on the throne frowned!
He naturally recognized that this music was a mourning song that would only be played when Gong Niao Kingdom was burying the dead!
Play a mourning song in the palace?
What kind of audacity is this? !
Before the old emperor could speak, a red-robed eunuch with a stern expression on the side suddenly changed his face!
"Bold! Don't take it yet!"
As soon as the words fell, the iron guard stepped forward, frightening the dancers to the point of paleness!
At the same time, like tigers pouncing on their prey, they bumped into the group of musicians who suddenly started playing the mourning song!
In less than a few breaths, all of them were won!
"Forgive Your Majesty! Forgive Your Majesty!"
The red-robed eunuch turned around, facing the old emperor, he didn't dare to raise his head, and repeatedly pleaded guilty!
At the same time, my heart trembled!
——Today's musicians were personally arranged by him, each of them was checked clearly by three generations, and only after there were no mistakes, did he dare to let them enter the palace, just to avoid any accidents.
But who would have thought that these originally extremely clever musicians would suddenly play a mourning song in the palace hall?
Who are they going to mourn?
Who else but the emperor!
At this time, the heart of the red-robed eunuch felt cold.
It's not about these musicians, but about himself - as the person in charge of selecting musicians into the palace, he is naturally to blame for such rebellious behavior.
But the strange thing is that the old emperor did not fly into a rage as imagined, but kept silent all the time.
The red-robed eunuch raised his head blankly, but saw a scene he will never forget in his life!
The old emperor, who was frowning deeply, suddenly seemed to be in a daze, stood up, and walked out of the palace in a daze.
"His Majesty?"
The red-robed eunuch looked blank, and subconsciously asked.
But the old emperor ignored him and just walked out of the hall.
At the same time, following the figure of the old emperor, the red-robed eunuch saw—the guards, the musicians, and the dancers stopped at the same time.His eyes were empty and lifeless, just like the old emperor, he walked towards the outside of the palace.
The red-robed eunuch was stunned, he no longer cared about court etiquette, he rushed out of the hall first, stood on the top of the majestic palace, and looked at the entire city.
Then, panicked.
——I saw that in the vast capital city, countless pedestrians were walking on the street like walking corpses, chanting something in their mouths.And all the "Night Bird" totems are filled with a faint black light, which is extremely strange!
"destroy……"
Suddenly, the red-robed eunuch whispered in his ears.
When he turned his head, he saw the old emperor walking up to the city wall with many guard dancers, staring at the vast world, murmuring incessantly.
"destroy……"
"destroy……"
"All destroyed..."
Like a sincere prayer, the atmosphere was strange and frozen.
Where had the red-robed eunuch seen such a battle before, his whole body was in shock!
What happened?
he thinks.
But the next moment, a night bird totem in front of the palace flashed, and he stopped thinking about anything.
The brilliance in his eyes also dimmed, replaced by the same sincere prayer.
"destroy."
He said.
As a result, countless sincere prayers came from the mouths of every creature from top to bottom in the entire Gongyou Kingdom.
Even cats, even dogs, even insects and rats in the sewers are using their own methods to pray for destruction!
And in this weird atmosphere, the night bird totem became brighter and brighter!
Logically speaking, it is difficult for the will of mortals and beasts to have any impact on the world.
Even if it is more, it is the same.
Not to mention that although Gongyou Country has a population of one million, it is nothing more than a drop in the bucket for the whole world.
But this time, it's different.
Above the sky, the undetectable lines like water lines trembled when countless voices sounded.
then.
The sky is falling.
Without warning, it came suddenly!
The earth overturned and the sky collapsed!
The majestic imperial palace, thousands of living beings, will be destroyed in one day!
In the rift between heaven and earth, chaos looms!
The same thing is happening at the same time in various parts of Kunkan Erdao.
At that moment, countless mortal beings, insects, fish, birds and beasts, seemed to be bewitched by something, and prayed for destruction at the same time!
And a certain thing covering the entire Kunkan Second Dao accepted these wishes and... distorted reality!
The entire vast world is entering the prelude to perdition.
(End of this chapter)
In other words, from that moment on, the complexions of many holy masters changed at the same time.
Almost coincidentally.
It even included the Heavenly Eternal Lord and the Bright Heavenly Lord hidden among the crowd on the ground.
Numerous monks were immersed in the wonders of heaven and earth and their longing for the so-called "miracles", so they naturally did not notice the changes of many Holy Masters, but Jiang Nan was keenly aware that the Heavenly Evolution Holy Master and Huangtian Holy Master who were around him just now In an instant, his expression changed suddenly!
"what happened?"
He turned his head.
Tianyan Shengzhu was thoughtful and thoughtful, so it was not surprising that he had such a change in expression.
But Holy Lord Huangtian is different.
As a brawler with muscles growing in her mind, she couldn't be interested in general things, except for fighting, which were all big things.
For example, now.
"Jiangnan Jiangnan! Seems like... something went wrong?" Holy Master Huangtian said, scratching his head with a puzzled expression.
Tianyan Shengzhu also took a deep breath, his expression was extremely gloomy, "Your Excellency, the destruction... has begun."
Jiang Nan: "...?"
He slowly made a question mark.
what?
Shouldn't the two His Majesties and Calamity bring about the destruction of the Kunkan Second Dao?
But now Kunzun and Kandi are sitting on the cloud head, and there is no aura of disaster at all.
What started to destroy?
At that moment, Jiangnan could only feel his head hurting uncontrollably.
Something, was overlooked.
Although from the time he came to Kunkan Erdao until now, Jiangnan has learned quite a lot of truth along the way.
Including the destruction of the Kunkan Erdao, including his own story, including the origin and background of the disaster, and even the terrible disaster that the Qianli Erdao will face, he knows it all.
But there is one thing to say, one point, he has not figured it out.
That is... How did the Kunkan Erdao fall?
Although he guessed that the ending of the destruction was related to disasters and the two kings, he still didn't know what "thing" specifically caused the destruction of the two outer realms in an instant.
And now, this little detail is ignored.
Brilliant.
"What's going on?"
He looked at Tianyan Shengzhu, frowning.
The Holy Lord of a domain controls the way and luck of a domain. Although they cannot see any changes all the time, once a major event happens in a domain, they will be able to discover it thousands of miles away.
Like now.
However, the reaction of the Lord Tianyan made Jiangnan's frown even more solidified.
His face was dull and bitter, and he just shook his head.
"—I don't know."
At the same time, in Huangtian Dayu, which is a long and endless journey away from Tianwang Peak.
Because of the "Holy Master Beheaded Demon" incident that has been raging a few days ago, there are rumors that Huang Tian Sheng Master and Tian Yan Sheng Master were beheaded by the two sword masters sent by His Majesty because they fell into the devil's way, so the whole Huang Tian The atmosphere in Tiandayu was quite gloomy.
Especially Huangtian Holy Land, which once ruled the entire Great Territory, is like an eggplant beaten by frost, extremely depressed.
——For a Holy Land, the Holy Master is the backbone of all disciples and elders. When the Holy Master is there, the Holy Land will be prosperous like no other. If the Holy Master is gone, it will exist in name only.
The situation of Huangtian Holy Land is probably like this.
Since the news that the Holy Lord Huangtian was suppressed and killed more than half a year ago, the entire Holy Land has been gloomy, and even in the Great Territory, there has been a lot of chaos and turmoil—some large groups that are not much different from the Holy Land. Pai, after knowing that the Holy Lord of Huangtian had returned to the underworld, he naturally thought a little bit carefully, and made some small movements, overtly or secretly.
Fortunately, after all, there were the three elders of Huangtian who were in the Remnant Immortal Realm, and the Huangtian Holy Land had accumulated countless thousands of years of terrifying background, and these riots were easily suppressed.
Then, the situation reached a stalemate.
——A large domain cannot be left alone for a day.
Everyone is waiting, waiting for the meaning of the two His Majesties on Tianwang Peak.
Are the Huangtian Dayu and Tianyan Dayu merged into other Dayu?
Or will the two majesties send fairyland beings to govern it?
No one knows.
However, most people guessed that they would have to wait until the end of the Immortal Banquet before reaching a conclusion on these matters.
——These ideas, of course, are still considered by the high-level people in the practice world.
For ordinary people and all living beings, it doesn't seem to make much difference which holy master is ruled by them. The impact on them may not be as much as whether the meat and vegetables on the street are more expensive.
As for the thoughts of ordinary people, the practice world will not care about it - in their view, the will of mortals has no effect and can be completely ignored.
The saying that water can carry a boat can also overturn it is not applicable in the practice world.
——One thing to say, if there is no accident, there is nothing wrong with this kind of thinking.After all, for practitioners, the lifespan is only a mere hundred years, and mortals who have no power to restrain a chicken will never be able to affect the pattern of the practice world.
But by accident, it just happened.
Those mortals they ignored didn't affect the pattern of the entire practice world, they even affected the pattern of the entire world.
——The entire Kunkan Second Dao!
On this day, the Immortal Banquet was in full swing, and almost the entire senior level of the cultivation world of the Kunkan Second Dao was paying attention to the grand event.
But for Gongyou Kingdom, which is located on the southeast border of Huangtian Dayu, this is just an extremely unusual year-end.
Gongyou Kingdom is located on the edge of the great realm of Huangtian. The world is poor and the aura is thin.
In layman's terms, this kind of place can't produce any peerless talents with amazing spiritual roots. Occasionally, there will be one or two who have the aptitude for cultivation, but due to the almost non-existent aura illusion, they will not be able to break through their innateness and embark on the road of cultivation for the rest of their lives.
Similarly, there is no great power in this kind of place who is willing to establish a sect. Over time, only the aborigines in this place will thrive, and there will be no fairy trails all year round.
But despite this, the local people also feel happy.
Perhaps, the lives of mortals don't need some monks to intervene?
For mortals with less than a hundred years of lifespan, there is also no need to worry about gods fighting mortals, and there is no need to worry about being affected by fish.
In short, this is a huge country that is quite prosperous but not magical.
This day was just a few days ago.
After a night of heavy snowfall, it covered the entire country, as if it was covered with a layer of silver.
imperial capital.
As the most prosperous city in the entire Gongyou Kingdom, early in the morning, busy vendors are shuttling through the streets and alleys. Occasionally, a group of guards who have not been on duty can be seen passing by on the snowy ground, wearing heavy armor and holding iron guns, stepping on the snow. And pass.
In the orderly streets and alleys, festive red lanterns hang on both sides of the streets and alleys, fluttering in the cold wind, bringing a little warmth.
On the other side of the lantern, there are banners with a yellow background, with black bird-shaped totems embroidered with various crafts, which looks quite strange in the pure white world.
But for the people who were bustling around, they seemed to be used to it, and they didn't feel that there was anything wrong at all.
As if, already used to it.
——Although there was a wave of resistance to the "Night Bird" totem in the entire Kunkan Second Dao, they were all under the jurisdiction of many practice sects. It is difficult for anyone to care.
Coincidentally.
Between the entire boundless Kunkan and the two realms, there are many mortal kingdoms like Gongyou Kingdom.
After all, although the Kunkan Second Dao is ruled by practitioners, no matter how powerful the monks are, they all start from mortals.Without the huge soil of the entire mortal group, no matter how powerful sects and forces are, they are rootless duckweeds, lofts in the sky.
Gong Niao Imperial Palace.
In the steel animal head furnace, there is a raging carbon fire burning, as if all the warmth in this icy and snowy place is concentrated in this Nuoda palace.
An old man in imperial robes was sitting on the throne, facing forward. In the center of the hall, a dancer in light gauze who seemed not afraid of the cold was dancing with a graceful figure accompanied by the melodious sound of the piano.
The figure on the throne squinted his eyes slightly, and gently raised his fingers to the music. Every time he raised his hand, the obedient maid picked up the exquisite pastry and gently put it into his mouth.
It can be said to be the ultimate enjoyment.
But in the harmonious and even extravagant atmosphere, some things are happening quietly.
——From outside the border of Gongyou Kingdom, the translucent lines like flowing water rippled like water waves.It is extremely thin and vast, like a layer of light smoke, without any breath.
Not to mention ordinary people, even successful monks are hard to find.
Although even if it is discovered, it will be unable to do anything about the extremely fast fainting speed.
In short, at noon on this day, like a drastic change that no one knew about, an invisible wave of water swayed and covered the entire Gongyou Kingdom.
In the whole country, no one is aware of it.
But some changes started quietly.
In the palace, on the grand hall.
At a certain moment, the originally soothing and peaceful musical tune suddenly became sad and shrill!
At that moment, the old emperor sitting on the throne frowned!
He naturally recognized that this music was a mourning song that would only be played when Gong Niao Kingdom was burying the dead!
Play a mourning song in the palace?
What kind of audacity is this? !
Before the old emperor could speak, a red-robed eunuch with a stern expression on the side suddenly changed his face!
"Bold! Don't take it yet!"
As soon as the words fell, the iron guard stepped forward, frightening the dancers to the point of paleness!
At the same time, like tigers pouncing on their prey, they bumped into the group of musicians who suddenly started playing the mourning song!
In less than a few breaths, all of them were won!
"Forgive Your Majesty! Forgive Your Majesty!"
The red-robed eunuch turned around, facing the old emperor, he didn't dare to raise his head, and repeatedly pleaded guilty!
At the same time, my heart trembled!
——Today's musicians were personally arranged by him, each of them was checked clearly by three generations, and only after there were no mistakes, did he dare to let them enter the palace, just to avoid any accidents.
But who would have thought that these originally extremely clever musicians would suddenly play a mourning song in the palace hall?
Who are they going to mourn?
Who else but the emperor!
At this time, the heart of the red-robed eunuch felt cold.
It's not about these musicians, but about himself - as the person in charge of selecting musicians into the palace, he is naturally to blame for such rebellious behavior.
But the strange thing is that the old emperor did not fly into a rage as imagined, but kept silent all the time.
The red-robed eunuch raised his head blankly, but saw a scene he will never forget in his life!
The old emperor, who was frowning deeply, suddenly seemed to be in a daze, stood up, and walked out of the palace in a daze.
"His Majesty?"
The red-robed eunuch looked blank, and subconsciously asked.
But the old emperor ignored him and just walked out of the hall.
At the same time, following the figure of the old emperor, the red-robed eunuch saw—the guards, the musicians, and the dancers stopped at the same time.His eyes were empty and lifeless, just like the old emperor, he walked towards the outside of the palace.
The red-robed eunuch was stunned, he no longer cared about court etiquette, he rushed out of the hall first, stood on the top of the majestic palace, and looked at the entire city.
Then, panicked.
——I saw that in the vast capital city, countless pedestrians were walking on the street like walking corpses, chanting something in their mouths.And all the "Night Bird" totems are filled with a faint black light, which is extremely strange!
"destroy……"
Suddenly, the red-robed eunuch whispered in his ears.
When he turned his head, he saw the old emperor walking up to the city wall with many guard dancers, staring at the vast world, murmuring incessantly.
"destroy……"
"destroy……"
"All destroyed..."
Like a sincere prayer, the atmosphere was strange and frozen.
Where had the red-robed eunuch seen such a battle before, his whole body was in shock!
What happened?
he thinks.
But the next moment, a night bird totem in front of the palace flashed, and he stopped thinking about anything.
The brilliance in his eyes also dimmed, replaced by the same sincere prayer.
"destroy."
He said.
As a result, countless sincere prayers came from the mouths of every creature from top to bottom in the entire Gongyou Kingdom.
Even cats, even dogs, even insects and rats in the sewers are using their own methods to pray for destruction!
And in this weird atmosphere, the night bird totem became brighter and brighter!
Logically speaking, it is difficult for the will of mortals and beasts to have any impact on the world.
Even if it is more, it is the same.
Not to mention that although Gongyou Country has a population of one million, it is nothing more than a drop in the bucket for the whole world.
But this time, it's different.
Above the sky, the undetectable lines like water lines trembled when countless voices sounded.
then.
The sky is falling.
Without warning, it came suddenly!
The earth overturned and the sky collapsed!
The majestic imperial palace, thousands of living beings, will be destroyed in one day!
In the rift between heaven and earth, chaos looms!
The same thing is happening at the same time in various parts of Kunkan Erdao.
At that moment, countless mortal beings, insects, fish, birds and beasts, seemed to be bewitched by something, and prayed for destruction at the same time!
And a certain thing covering the entire Kunkan Second Dao accepted these wishes and... distorted reality!
The entire vast world is entering the prelude to perdition.
(End of this chapter)