The fierce battle between the Wuchen Division and Lord Zichou continued, with no one noticing the abnormalities occurring in the Sea of离恨 (Sea of Abandoned Hatred).
Shao Yi stood with his arms crossed, staring intently at the Sea of Abandoned Hatred as black mist churned and rolled. Its pitch-black, profound color had faded considerably. The little mud loach finally understood the purpose of those three heart feathers.
Scalding sweat ran down his face and into his collar. His black robes were already soaked through. Even he felt the sensation of impending annihilation from the turbid energy entering his body.
But wait, just a little longer. Only the last heart feather remained—the corpse hadn’t been completely destroyed yet.
He closed his eyes. The fiery red jewel on his forehead flashed violently as he exerted all his strength to release the divine soul power of an Imperial Lord. The threads of connection with the obsession were about to snap like breaking strings, yet he still couldn’t truly communicate or control it. His brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
Behind him came the sound of chaotic footsteps. In the next moment, two hands rudely grabbed him by the collar. Qing Yan’s pale face appeared in his field of vision. Due to severe pain, his breathing was labored, yet his gaze was sinister and bone-chilling, his voice filled with killing intent: “…You sent A’Yi into the Sea of Abandoned Hatred?”
While dealing with Lord Hushen, he had suddenly received a note with a phoenix heart feather drawn on it, with the two characters “Xuan Yi” written below. He immediately understood that the Qingyang Clan had begun their operation. For so many years, he had trained desperately day and night precisely for this day.
To resolve the Sea of Abandoned Hatred—there was no problem with that. As long as the heart feather bond was severed afterward, even if he perished in the Sea of Abandoned Hatred, it didn’t matter.
But he never expected that Shao Yi’s target was never him and his father. From the very beginning, his target had been A’Yi.
Qing Yan turned to look at the Sea of Abandoned Hatred, whose color had faded countless shades. His expression dark, he threw Shao Yi aside and turned to walk toward the Sea of Abandoned Hatred. After only a few steps, he crashed into an invisible barrier. Shao Yi said indifferently, “I promised the little mud loach that regardless of success or failure, I would send you back to Zhongshan. Young Dragon Lord had best not create unnecessary complications.”
Qing Yan said coldly, “If you think A’Yi will perish, do you believe you can still live?”
If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t sever the heart feather bond with A’Yi, he would have already torn him to pieces.
Shao Yi’s voice remained calm: “I will do my best to prevent her from perishing.”
Qing Yan’s gaze was icy: “Even if she doesn’t perish, do you think the Zhuyin Clan will spare you?”
Shao Yi narrowed his eyes slightly, suddenly raised his arm, and struck Qing Yan’s chest with his elbow. He was already restrained by the heart feather of the Qingyang Clan’s Imperial Lord, his chest in excruciating pain. Under this strike, he nearly passed out from the pain, his vision went black, and he fell to the ground.
“Young Dragon Lord should worry about his own little sister’s affairs first.” Shao Yi looked away from him, no longer watching. A droplet of sweat ran down his chin into his collar. “If it’s not resolved within one moment, I’ll have to sever the last heart feather.”
He already felt on the verge of annihilation. When this little mud loach went berserk, it was quite formidable. Did she really intend to absorb the entire Sea of Abandoned Hatred? Remarkable.
More and more sweat poured out. His hair was also soaked, his lips white as snow. His palm pressed against his chest, his heart nearly leaping out of his throat. Suddenly, his back erupted in tearing, violent pain, followed by his right leg, left leg, between his ribs… His body was about to split apart. Her too-young divine body couldn’t withstand such immense Zhuyin darkness.
Annihilation was imminent.
Shao Yi suddenly closed his eyes and pinched out a gentle radiance of intertwined gold and cyan from his heart. Without hesitation, his fingertips twisted, and it seemed an invisible gleaming light was swiftly severed. His body instantly felt incredibly light—the third heart feather bond was broken. Their connection of two hearts as one pulse ended here.
He bent down, grabbed the unconscious Qing Yan, and walked into the hidden passage without looking back. The colorful, magnificent carriage still waited in the forest. The divine officials respectfully bowed to him: “Young Dragon Lord suddenly awakened and rushed through. We subordinates dared not obstruct him and disturbed Phoenix Lord. We pray for your forgiveness.”
Shao Yi casually tossed Qing Yan into the carriage: “Send them back to Zhongshan and seal shut all remaining ancient passages in the lower realm.”
“Yes.” The divine officials showed not a trace of hesitation and immediately drove the carriage away from the forest.
Shao Yi wiped away the remaining sweat on his face. The radiance of the divine soul jewel on his forehead slowly dimmed. The last faint thread of connection between him and the obsession was completely severed. Whether it would succeed depended only on heaven’s will. He would remain here until he witnessed the outcome with his own eyes.
*
One hundred and eight pitch-black ice dragons transformed into ice blades, slicing the frozen Imperial Lord on the opposite side until he was nearly unrecognizable, yet he still hadn’t been completely destroyed.
Xuan Yi gasped heavily for breath. The renewed depletion of her divine power caused her vision to darken repeatedly. She stared fixedly at the Imperial Lord’s unchanging face and finally felt somewhat at a loss. Had she not used her full strength? Or was this corpse not as easy to destroy as Shao Yi had claimed?
She raised her hand to touch her heart. The third heart feather bond had just been severed as well, which meant that if she absorbed more turbid energy, she would truly perish.
She had long prepared herself for annihilation, but before that, she absolutely must send Fucang out.
Xuan Yi struggled to turn around. The azure blue Chun Jun sword lay on the sandy ground not far away. Her legs were weak, and she walked over step by step. Just as she was about to bend down and pick it up, this treasure sword of heaven suddenly began to hum sharply. Immediately after, it transformed into a golden light. A massive golden dragon roared as it lunged at the Imperial Lord’s corpse, which was being endlessly entangled by the pitch-black ice dragons. Golden light spread out, and countless tidal waves swallowed both the Imperial Lord and the pitch-black ice dragons.
Such massive tidal waves… She gasped heavily and with difficulty turned her head again, only to see that Fucang, whom she had earlier knocked unconscious with her ice barrier, had already sat up straight. He was covering his abdominal wound with his hand, both eyes fixed solely on her, his gaze profound—impossible to tell if he was pleased or angry.
The sword energy transformed into tides, repeatedly crushing the Imperial Lord’s corpse. The pitch-black ice dragons had already been ground into fragments. The Imperial Lord was sliced countless times in the golden tides, up and down repeatedly. Suddenly, he released a low sigh. His long hair turned to black ash inch by inch, followed by his head, shoulders, arms…
Xuan Yi stared blankly at this corpse that she couldn’t destroy no matter what, finally dissipating strand by strand into the profound, lightless black mist of the Sea of Abandoned Hatred. She suddenly felt bewildered and absurd, completely unable to feel any joy for a moment. Success? Finally destroyed this corpse completely? It actually wasn’t her who destroyed it? Then what was the point of all her desperate actions before? Watching helplessly as her achievement was stolen?
She couldn’t help but look toward Fucang again. He had already passed out—why couldn’t he just stay unconscious? The moment he woke up, he stole all the credit she had worked so hard for!
He still didn’t move, both eyes fixed on her, watching her in a way that made her spine tingle.
Your courage is truly great. His eyes seemed to say this.
His courage was what truly deserved to be called great—he actually dared to steal her achievement. Xuan Yi swayed twice. Her knees truly had no strength, and her body floated lightly down onto the sandy ground. She was so tired. She needed to rest for a while. She still didn’t know whether absorbing so much turbid energy today would have any effects. Her body felt especially heavy, a sensation she had never experienced before.
Clear wind sounds roared toward her. The massive golden dragon lunged at her, its brilliant golden mouth opening wide as if planning to swallow her whole. She truly had no strength to resist. If it wanted to bite, let it bite. If it wanted to swallow, let it swallow. If it imprisoned her in Chun Jun, so be it—she didn’t believe he wouldn’t let her out.
Chun Jun suddenly stopped at her side, as if hesitating about something. Two cold golden eyes stared fixedly at her, circling up and down in puzzlement.
What are you looking at? Haven’t you ever seen such a brave, righteous, beautiful, and kind princess? For the sake of maintaining the order of heaven and earth, she had just nearly perished—and that was three times nearly perishing in succession. Xuan Yi threw all her previous thoughts to the back of her mind, insisting that she had been striving for the order of heaven and earth.
Fucang recited an incantation. The golden dragon finally obediently opened its giant mouth and swallowed her in one gulp. Xuan Yi only felt brilliant golden light before her eyes, so bright that her eyes nearly went blind again. She quickly covered her head and face with her sleeve and slowly felt herself about to fall into unconsciousness. She was exhausted and needed to sleep properly for a while.
The golden dragon transformed into an azure blue treasure sword and fell into Fucang’s palm. He stroked the sword body—it was better for her to remain inside Chun Jun and not come out again.
With a gesture of his hand, the sword sheath transformed into a moderately-sized golden dragon and continued forward, breaking through the black mist. Whether it was an illusion or not, the black mist within the Sea of Abandoned Hatred seemed to have thinned countless times. Breaking through the black mist was much easier than before, requiring almost no effort.
Not far away, the frozen Fangfeng Clan members and those monsters suddenly also began to move. Fucang was about to throw out Chun Jun when he saw that they paid no attention whatsoever to his side. One by one, they frantically rushed toward the outside of the Sea of Abandoned Hatred—the Wuchen Division over there would likely face another fierce battle.
He pressed on the deepest wound in his abdomen, furrowed his brows tightly, and followed the path opened by the sword sheath, slowly walking out.