An Eighth Realm Fate Master—in the entire True Immortal Realm, there was only one, and their life hung by a thread.
Yet Jiang Zhaoxue, who hadn’t advanced in two hundred years, actually broke through two realms in less than ten years, stepping into the Eighth Realm!
Each realm for a fate master represented a difference of ten million times. The moment she advanced, spiritual power surged like ocean waves and collapsing mountains, instantly spreading and rushing across this world.
It rushed toward the young talisman cultivator beneath the Dingkun Needle who held his brother and wept;
It rushed toward the youth in the northern wasteland desperately crawling forward;
It rushed toward cities, toward wilderness, toward every person who prayed for her protection.
Jiang Zhaoxue’s formation arrays were like suns suspended above all living beings. With each array’s activation, one more common person being drained of their primordial spirit by the Sacred Pool was saved. The pain vanished instantly, and those rescued hurriedly knelt.
Prayers and thanks scattered across every corner of the world, transforming into power that returned to Jiang Zhaoxue’s body, like the eternal cycle of heaven and earth, endless and unceasing.
Song Wulan watched this scene in shock and quickly reacted, saying coldly: “What use is protecting them? Even if you advance to the Eighth Realm, your spiritual power will eventually be exhausted. If you can’t destroy the array or kill Xin Luoyi, you’re only throwing your life away in vain!”
“Who says she can’t destroy it!”
A young man’s roar resounded through the clouds. Song Wulan’s instinct warned him something was wrong, but before he could figure it out, he heard a heaven-shaking boom from behind.
Song Wulan turned back in astonishment to see the broken Dingkun Needle in the distance burst through the clouds like a rapidly growing heaven-supporting stone pillar, rushing madly toward the sky.
Its extending body was covered entirely in blood-stained talismans, like blades carrying everyone’s fate and hopes, breaking through clouds, splitting sky-light, charging bravely upward, advancing without retreat!
As the Dingkun Needle rushed rapidly toward the heavens, Jiang Zhaoxue felt Penglai’s power awaken again in her body. Her dharma image opened its eyes in the heights to see beneath the Dingkun Needle—corpses everywhere, blood covering the steps below it. Qian Sisi lay unconscious at Ye Tianjiao’s feet, while Ye Tianjiao stood alone before the Dingkun Needle.
Wild wind whipped fiercely. The youth’s hair ribbon danced. One hand held a dagger, the other was covered in wounds. Blood flew from his slashed arm, transforming into tens of thousands of talismans that spiraled upward following the Dingkun Needle, filling in above every inch of the needle’s newly formed body, then rapidly solidifying into the pillar.
Ye Tianjiao looked up at the sky. Golden talismans continuously floated and rotated in his clear eyes. His entire being showed unprecedented determination and resolve, his face covered in bloody tears as he roared: “Who told you she lost?! Who said the Dingkun Needle broke?! I, Ye Tianjiao, was born exceptional! A mere Dingkun Needle—if heaven wants to break it, I insist it reach the heavens, insist it defy heaven itself! What can heaven do to me?! What can anyone do to me?! Didn’t the Book of Fate say I’m destined to die?! Didn’t it say it would take my life?! Come then!”
Ye Tianjiao looked at the sky, voice hoarse with fury: “My brother is dead, my master is dead, my fellow disciples are dead, my friends are dead! I have but one life—come take it if you dare! If heaven doesn’t kill me today, someday I will destroy it!”
His blood and voice swept upward together. The moment the Dingkun Needle violently struck the sky, Penglai’s power roared like a great dragon again, pouring into Jiang Zhaoxue’s body.
Jiang Zhaoxue closed her eyes. Her hundred-zhang tall dharma image slowly raised its left hand. Penglai’s power condensed in her palm, forming into fate-gambling patterns. The Qiankun Sign was flung out again, spinning rapidly in the heights.
Seeing this, Song Wulan knew she was about to gamble. His expression changed dramatically as he retreated, scattering three copper coins while simultaneously summoning teleportation arrays around them, shouting: “Kill her!”
At these words, Mu Jinyue rolled forward, dodging Pei Zichen’s sword. Seeing Jiang Zhaoxue’s spell light above, she lunged forward like a madwoman!
The teleportation arrays continuously produced cultivators, though clearly manpower was already scarce. They attacked Jiang Zhaoxue in unison. Pei Zichen raised his hand in a wave. Broken swords on the ground flew up, forming a sword array that shot urgently toward everyone!
His purple natal sword intent circled around Jiang Zhaoxue while he completely blocked Mu Jinyue’s path, stopping her frenzied attacks.
All of this fell into Shen Yuqing’s distant eyes.
His body’s spiritual power had recovered by more than half as he flew urgently on his sword. He watched from afar the woman in the morning light who seemed divine, as if returning to his twenty-year-old self.
Back then his heart had no other concerns, single-minded and devoted. He didn’t need to wonder if Jiang Zhaoxue was the murderer who killed his junior sister. He didn’t need to hate himself for causing Lingjian Immortal Pavilion to lose its best successor due to personal feelings. He wasn’t in pain, didn’t struggle.
He only carefully maintained that bit of youthful pride, as if he had never fallen for that woman proud and brilliant as a white tiger, while in his heart, he followed her regardless of everything.
He cultivated desperately to save her, yet feared dirt on her feet. Even when exhausted, he still had to carry her shoes, stepping over mountains of corpses and seas of blood to carry her out.
At twenty, his eyes held only Jiang Zhaoxue.
His wish every day was to become stronger, and stronger still, so he could gain Penglai’s favor and openly, equally, without making Jiang Zhaoxue compromise or feel wronged in the slightest, become his wife.
He liked her.
The moment he admitted this, his eyes suddenly stung.
From his youth, he had always been loving her. How many reasons, how many excuses—in truth they were all his selfish desires to keep her by his side.
He didn’t want to part from her. He looked up to this person, deeply loved this person. Only this love became twisted and warped in time and doubt. And he too, in Song Qingyin’s death, in Lingjian Immortal Pavilion’s conquest to unify Zhongzhou, in his daily climb upward, gradually became Lingjian Immortal Pavilion’s Shen Yuqing.
Yet Shen Zeyuan lived in his heart. Only now, as he was summoned by Jiang Zhaoxue’s radiance and finally admitted it, between them remained only one final red mark, teetering precariously between them.
He had only one last chance.
Shen Yuqing needed to be faster, even faster, exerting all his strength without room for error.
He rushed forward madly. Under Pei Zichen’s protection, Jiang Zhaoxue summoned all power into her body. Her left hand raised high, the dharma image’s hand bloomed with light that fell upon the Sacred Pool.
Xin Luoyi seemed to sense something. The entire blood pool churned frantically.
“Heavenly Dao is fickle, gamble fate upon heaven—”
“Heavenly Dao is fickle, gamble fate upon heaven—”
Her voice echoed through the world. Song Wulan opened his array simultaneously. Mu Jinyue’s eyes widened instantly as she shrieked: “Block Pei Zichen!!”
As she spoke, everyone surged toward Pei Zichen. Mu Jinyue shot toward Jiang Zhaoxue like lightning.
The flying swords protecting Jiang Zhaoxue rushed at Mu Jinyue, but she paid no heed, letting over ten flying swords pierce through her body as she lunged at Jiang Zhaoxue!
Jiang Zhaoxue pressed her hands together and shouted: “Supreme great fortune, ten thousand arrays annihilated, execute—Song Wulan!”
“Two Polarities Array complete, execute—Jiang Zhaoxue!”
Copper coins and jade slips flew out together, splitting simultaneously.
Jiang Zhaoxue’s dharma image palm struck down urgently. Radiance beneath her palm flowed like a reversed river, heavily crashing into the Sacred Pool. A flying sword shot straight at Song Wulan.
At the same moment, Mu Jinyue charged forward, locking onto her. Tens of thousands of light swords flew at both of them simultaneously.
“Axue!”
“Female Lord!”
As the flying sword pierced Song Wulan, Pei Zichen and Shen Yuqing’s spiritual power exploded simultaneously at the center.
Jiang Zhaoxue seemed to sense something and looked up to see, within the radiance, the flying sword shatter inch by inch. Song Wulan looked at her through the light, revealing a strange smile.
“Jiang Zhaoxue, see you in the future.”
Jiang Zhaoxue froze in shock, falling together with Mu Jinyue. Pei Zichen and Shen Yuqing both plunged into the light, reaching toward the two women falling simultaneously.
Jiang Zhaoxue fell in a daze. She had completely lost strength, and her vision was somewhat blurred.
She only saw white light above, and within that white light, a figure came toward her without hesitation.
Seeing that figure, she realized why she fell so peacefully—because she knew he would come.
All her life she had been saving people, yet only for this person did she harbor the expectation of being saved.
Realizing this, she couldn’t help but smile bitterly. In her confusion, she was grabbed by the other person, like a treasure lost and found, pulled fiercely into an embrace, then carried leaping to the heights.
On the other side, Shen Yuqing, the moment he leaped into the radiance, was temporarily blinded by the overly bright light. His eyes saw only white emptiness, as if enduring thousands and tens of thousands of years. He only knew to search for that person, endlessly searching for that person.
Jiang Zhaoxue.
Jiang Zhaoxue.
He desperately called Jiang Zhaoxue’s name: “Jiang Zhaoxue!”
“Shen Zeyuan!”
Someone called out loudly. Shen Yuqing instinctively turned back. Light returned to his eyes. He saw a hand reaching toward him as if seeking rescue, softly calling: “Shen Zeyuan.”
Jiang Zhaoxue’s voice—this was Jiang Zhaoxue’s voice!
Hearing this name, even in darkness, he grabbed the other’s hand without hesitation.
The moment he grasped it, tremendous pain came from his palm. Shen Yuqing looked up in shock to see brightness slowly returning before his eyes.
A delicate, gentle face that showed no aggression appeared before him, raising a brilliant smile like a blood-stained poppy, tilting her head with a light laugh: “Do you know why you chose wrong?”
The moment he heard the voice, Shen Yuqing’s eyes widened in shock. The red mark on his hand began to hurt as if carved open by a blade, rapidly shrinking and disappearing.
The other seemed to see through his thoughts, leaning close to murmur lowly: “Because in your heart, Jiang Zhaoxue is someone who would reach out to you. But Shen Yuqing, you and she—it’s over forever. From today, I curse you in Song Qingyin’s name.”
Mu Jinyue spoke, but it was Song Qingyin’s voice from years ago.
Shen Yuqing was stunned for a moment. He watched her use Song Qingyin’s expression, slowly and seriously saying: “I curse you—may love bring you nothing, may hate never end. Life after life, forever and always, you can never be with Jiang Zhaoxue. I won’t plant even one Tianyan Vine. Jiang Zhaoxue—go die!”
The moment the words fell, tremendous force struck from Mu Jinyue’s palm. Shen Yuqing was shaken into releasing his grip. He watched her crash heavily into the blood pool, her entire being exploding completely in the water.
The blood seemed awakened by her flesh. It suddenly formed a whirlpool, rushing downward as if being consumed by someone.
Shen Yuqing’s sword light burst downward as he shouted: “No!!”
Heavenly thunder roared down with his sword light. The blood pool erupted in towering waves, revealing the woman kneeling at the pool’s bottom.
She wore blood-red robes, her eyes covered by white silk, looking up at the sky like a divine statue sunken at the pool’s bottom.
Black energy coiled around her like serpents, resentment nearly devouring her. As Shen Yuqing’s sword light crashed down, the white silk was severed. The woman slowly opened those green eyes beneath the silk.
The sword light fell from above her head. Shen Yuqing entered her vision. Her entire body was split in two. A crack appeared from her crown. She stared at him with beast-like eyes, as if seeing everything from his sword intent.
She seemed to have difficulty controlling her body, tilting her head with creaking sounds. When she spoke, her voice was like some beast’s hoarse growl: “Shen… Yu… Qing?”
The moment the words fell, Xin Luoyi’s body suddenly exploded. The resentment stored in her body burst forth thunderously, violently throwing Shen Yuqing away.
The entire Sacred Pool shattered into pieces. Blood water surged out. Resentment ran rampant. Ghosts wailed and wolves howled, covering heaven and earth.
Shen Yuqing couldn’t concern himself with anything else. He immediately flipped up, standing in the wild wind, using spiritual power to control all the blood water, not letting a single blood drop escape.
Mu Jinyue’s blood was mixed in this blood. He couldn’t distinguish where the heart’s blood was, so he would let all the blood water irrigate the Zhanshen Sword.
“Find the Zhanshen Sword!”
He roared in the wild wind, calling out: “Pei Zichen, find the Zhanshen Sword!”
Hearing Shen Yuqing’s words, Pei Zichen turned his back to the storm brought by the resentment, holding Jiang Zhaoxue in his arms. While resisting the wild wind, he extended his divine consciousness to search the entire Sacred Pool for the Zhanshen Sword.
According to their estimate, the Zhanshen Sword should have been placed at the Sacred Pool’s bottom.
However, even after the wild wind ceased, dust settled, and heaven and earth returned to peace, Pei Zichen still hadn’t found any trace of the Zhanshen Sword.
His heart raced. He was utterly panicked yet didn’t dare speak out.
Mu Jinyue’s blood would soon lose effectiveness. If they couldn’t find the Zhanshen Sword now, once Mu Jinyue’s blood lost its effect, the Zhanshen Sword could never emerge. A thousand years later, there wouldn’t be that Tianyan Vine to save Jiang Zhaoxue.
Without that Tianyan Vine…
Without that Tianyan Vine…
Pei Zichen’s body trembled uncontrollably. Jiang Zhaoxue noticed and turned to look at him.
Seeing his pale face, Jiang Zhaoxue understood the result immediately and said at once: “The Zhanshen Sword isn’t here?”
Pei Zichen raised his eyes, breathing lightly. Jiang Zhaoxue immediately stepped out of his embrace and turned to look at the Sacred Pool.
Shen Yuqing controlled all the blood water in the Sacred Pool. Hearing the sound, he raised his eyes to look at her.
Jiang Zhaoxue’s gaze fell on his hand holding the sword. That hand bore the last red mark of their wager. It was being erased by the Heavenly Dao, but Shen Yuqing obstinately refused.
He used spiritual power to resist the Heavenly Dao’s force. Jiang Zhaoxue frowned slightly: “Don’t waste spiritual power. Let go.”
“I won’t.”
Shen Yuqing spoke stubbornly, moisture in his eyes as he stared at Jiang Zhaoxue, insisting: “I won’t let go.”
Pei Zichen keenly scanned between them, his hand behind his back quietly clenching tight.
Seeing Shen Yuqing’s obstinacy, Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t be bothered with him. She observed the surroundings, thinking about why the Zhanshen Sword hadn’t emerged.
Surrounding mountains collapsed, rivers changed course, corpses lay everywhere, resentment ran rampant.
They had exhausted all their strength. They seemed to have changed something, yet everything seemed unchanged.
According to the conditions for the Zhanshen Sword’s emergence—enough power for the Zhanshen Sword to absorb before emerging, an evil creature formidable enough to alarm the sword, and pure yin blood.
Now so many had died. The power from sacrificing human souls was sufficient.
Xin Luoyi had emerged. This evil creature was also sufficient.
Even pure yin blood had been delivered into the Sacred Pool.
Why hadn’t the Zhanshen Sword appeared?
It wasn’t here. Where was it?
The Suguang Mirror wouldn’t let people return in vain. There must be a purpose. Each time it guided them, it was to complete a task, to obtain a divine artifact.
She had always thought the Suguang Mirror brought them back to slay Xin Luoyi, completing the “immortal’s descent” described in history.
Following this logic, with Xin Luoyi gone, the purpose should be complete. The Zhanshen Sword should emerge and bring them back.
Now the Zhanshen Sword hadn’t emerged, meaning the Suguang Mirror’s target wasn’t Xin Luoyi at all.
Then who?
Jiang Zhaoxue felt momentarily bewildered. These seventeen years of speculation were completely overturned. Unease suddenly arose in her heart as she desperately reviewed the past.
Who connected this entire journey back a thousand years?
Who gave her countless chances to change fate?
Who had always been closely related to her?
Jiang Zhaoxue frowned, thinking of many people—Ye Tianjiao, Ye Wenzhi, even Chen Zhao.
Unable to determine for the moment, she simply took out the Suguang Mirror.
Only the last mirror fragment remained. It reflected Jiang Zhaoxue’s face, lighting up with points of light.
The Suguang Mirror, which had been ineffective since their arrival five years ago, finally had a direction—
North.
North—that was where Ye Wenzhi arranged for Pei Shulan. The person they met from the very beginning, besides Pei Shulan…
When that person appeared in Jiang Zhaoxue’s mind, she suddenly froze.
In that moment, countless images floated through Jiang Zhaoxue’s mind.
The infant the couple brought before the Yuelao Temple;
The child in the capital who clung to her the moment she emerged from the space-time rift;
In the residence, hoarsely begging her to save her child;
At the Life and Death Manor, clutching her sleeve in silent pleading;
The cold youth when they met again…
Those images flashed rapidly through Jiang Zhaoxue’s mind, finally stopping seventeen years ago, on that day when she sought shelter from rain at a temple on her way to slay a demon. She had held an infant, looked down and said those words: “Cultivate heaven, cultivate earth, cultivate immortality, cultivate the Dao—none compare to cultivating oneself. Cultivate your own heart, attain the righteous path. You shall be called Li Xiuji.”
Then the scene shifted to inside the space-time rift, where that senior couldn’t restrain themselves and kissed her.
“Save him, thousands and tens of thousands of times.”
Save him.
When he was an infant condemned by his clan to be drowned by his parents for his Lone Star fate—save him;
When at four years old, abandoned and hunted—save him;
When at twelve, trapped at the Life and Death Manor—save him;
When at seventeen, about to become Xin Luoyi’s nourishment—save him.
She saved him time and again, missed him time and again. She was summoned back by the Suguang Mirror not for Xin Luoyi, but for—
“Li Xiuji.”
Jiang Zhaoxue murmured. In that very instant, a purple light shot skyward from the north. The red dot on the Suguang Mirror blazed brightly.
Jiang Zhaoxue turned back in shock to see the earth shaking violently. The resentment dispersed through heaven and earth rushed eagerly toward the north, then transformed into an even larger whirlpool, sweeping up heaven and earth’s spiritual energy along the way.
“Li Xiuji!”
Jiang Zhaoxue reacted instantly. Without hesitation, she turned to summon the immortal crane, pulled Pei Zichen up, and rushed toward the north.
Shen Yuqing collected all the blood water into his qiankun pouch and urgently followed.
The crane flew rapidly, wind whipping fiercely. Jiang Zhaoxue watched the resentment surge cloudlike toward the north. Harboring a sliver of hope, she transmitted her voice to Li Xiuji. She had given Li Xiuji a voice transmission talisman—she didn’t know if he could hear, but still urgently tried to dissuade him: “Li Xiuji, don’t do something foolish! You haven’t cultivated your mental state. Once resentment enters your body and your benevolent thoughts are devoured, you’ll never be yourself again!”
The other side remained silent for a long time. Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help repeatedly calling: “Li Xiuji, say something!”
“But, Immortal Master Jiang,” the moment Li Xiuji’s voice transmitted, the talisman paper turned black. Jiang Zhaoxue felt the resentful force seeping from the voice transmission talisman, burning her hand painfully. She heard his voice, calm and determined: “I want to live.”
These words emerged, and Jiang Zhaoxue froze. On the other side, the voice transmission jade token also rang. Ye Tianjiao said urgently: “Sister, something happened to Ming on the way to the refuge Big Brother prepared. After his death, his obsession was too deep—his soul didn’t scatter and could actually absorb spiritual power to cultivate! Now somehow he’s created a formation array himself, using the power left in heaven and earth to shape a body. With enough resentment from this battle, he can condense a divine body. But a divine body condensed from resentment won’t have any benevolent thoughts. If his power isn’t sufficient, he’ll absorb the life force of all living things in heaven and earth. Given the strength of the divine body he’s forging now, the mortal realm won’t be able to withstand it!”
“All my life, I’ve struggled to survive.”
“I’ve already reached the refuge through the Dingkun Needle’s teleportation array,” Ye Tianjiao panted softly. “He’s nearby. The Zhanshen Sword is also there, right beside him. The formation array beneath his feet is very intricate—it’s impossible to harm him from within. The only method is for Qian Sisi and me to use our life forces to create an array to restrain him. When we lock him down, you pull out the Zhanshen Sword and deliver a fatal blow. I’ll set up the array first and wait here with Qian Sisi for you to arrive.”
“But from birth, heaven wanted me dead, the world wanted to kill me. The only one who believed I could live was you.”
Li Xiuji’s voice came after Ye Tianjiao finished speaking. Jiang Zhaoxue gripped the crane’s feathers tightly. That word “alright” simply wouldn’t come out.
Pei Zichen beside her noticed. He took out his own voice transmission jade token and calmly responded to Ye Tianjiao: “We’ll be there soon.”
However, as he spoke, Pei Zichen deliberately slowed the white crane’s flight speed.
Jiang Zhaoxue looked at the sun completely obscured by resentment in the sky, listening as Li Xiuji continued: “At birth I have no memory, only that my parents treated me very well. So even though they later abandoned me, I held no resentment. I only wondered—could my fate improve a little? That way I wouldn’t implicate anyone and could return home to be with them.”
“In my youth, I thought if I was more obedient, I could live well. So back then, when beaten I didn’t cry. When parting from you, I actually knew you and Immortal Pei were abandoning me, but I didn’t dare ask you to stay. Only I was too young then. When you finally left, I still couldn’t help crying. That night after you left, I spent the whole night in self-reflection. I thought—it’s because I wasn’t good enough that everyone despised me.”
“That’s not true…”
Jiang Zhaoxue recalled that four-year-old child’s crying and said with difficulty: “It was me… I didn’t do well enough.”
“No,” Li Xiuji said calmly. “As I grew older, I understood—it wasn’t that I wasn’t good, nor that you weren’t good. Rather, my fate was bad. We met by chance—why should you save me? Bad luck always surrounds me. Even my own parents couldn’t endure it. How could I blame others? But why is my fate bad?”
Li Xiuji seemed somewhat unable to understand. Jiang Zhaoxue was equally confused.
Why?
Li Xiuji clearly possessed tremendous fortune. His fortune was better than any she’d ever seen. Without accident, he even had the fate of a Divine Lord.
This was the accumulation of hundreds of lifetimes of cultivation. Why was it like this?
Jiang Zhaoxue stared blankly at the white feathers on the crane’s back before her, listening as Li Xiuji asked: “I tried to do good deeds. Even when killing, it was only self-defense. If self-defense is wrong, why did those people want to kill me? Why are some born to smooth fortune while others are born like mud and dust? I wanted to accept my fate—but I couldn’t understand. Why?”
“Why is everything I do wrong? Why must I die? Just now I had already escaped. You gave me talismans. You told me I possessed great fortune. So I desperately ran out—”
Li Xiuji’s voice grew intense: “But all along this road, pursuers and interceptors were everywhere. Fragments from the collapsed Dingkun Needle were everywhere. I ran desperately, dodged desperately. Finally approaching the destination, I could already see it! I saw the barrier outside the refuge building. I saw my mother with my younger siblings inside the barrier. But I couldn’t climb anymore…”
Li Xiuji’s voice was hoarse: “My body hurt so much. My soul was being extracted. I heard you tell me to petition you. I petitioned! But your spell protected all living beings—all except me! Immortal Master Jiang, I’m mortal. I can resent, I can hate, I can fear, I can think. If heaven wants me dead, people want to kill me, gods won’t protect me, then I’ll find a path for myself—”
The distance to Li Xiuji’s direction was close at hand. Jiang Zhaoxue saw that the surrounding resentment had condensed almost as thick as black water. She couldn’t see anything clearly, only felt the speed at which the surrounding resentment was being absorbed noticeably accelerate. She urgently tried to stop him: “Li Xiuji, heaven and earth have karmic principles. If you don’t do wrong, you can still turn back. But if you harm the innocent, then you’ll truly have no way back!”
“Heaven and earth have no principles—I shall be my own principle! Heaven and earth are unjust—then I shall be myself, and for all those in the world who suffer injustice, I’ll forge a path against heaven. Heaven decrees me ephemeral—”
As he spoke, Jiang Zhaoxue heard Ye Tianjiao’s voice: “Sister! Over here!”
The moment the words fell, radiance burst forth from the black energy. The powerful impact instantly overturned the crane. Pei Zichen grabbed Jiang Zhaoxue and crashed heavily to the ground. Shen Yuqing swung his long sword to form a barrier before the two, his eyes sweeping across Pei Zichen’s hand protecting Jiang Zhaoxue. He roared in anger: “Let go!”
Pei Zichen immediately rose and erected a barrier with Shen Yuqing, pressing his lips together as he blocked before Jiang Zhaoxue.
Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t concern herself with anything else. She only felt this surging powerful resentful force. She looked up in astonishment to see heaven and earth with rolling clouds and moving stones, fierce wind whipping, mountains and rivers colorless, the blazing sun lightless. Only a thread of purple-gold radiance gradually spread from the thick black resentment, slowly revealing a human form.
She squinted at the figure in the windblown sand, vaguely seeing the other raise a hand toward heaven. Then the youth’s calm voice carried dharma resonance that echoed through heaven and earth, rising toward the sky together with the radiance, calmly yet firmly declaring: “I fight for ten thousand years of spring!”
In an instant, purple-gold radiance shot skyward, parting clouds and tearing heaven, drowning heaven and earth!
The destructive wind raged. Evil beings shrieked as they surged forth. Jiang Zhaoxue struggled to open her eyes in the violent wind to see a youth’s silhouette vaguely revealed in the radiance.
This wasn’t a boy’s form—it vaguely had some of Pei Zichen’s build, but his divine body wasn’t yet fully shaped, so his features couldn’t be seen clearly. Only wide sleeves danced, long hair scattered, and a jade wheel hung suspended at his forehead, majestic as a mountain.
As the silhouette appeared, the youth’s pressure aura spread. Feeling this pressure like Mount Tai bearing down, both Shen Yuqing and Jiang Zhaoxue were shocked.
This was pressure that only a divine body could possess.
And over these tens of thousands of years, only one person had cultivated a semi-divine body, one step away from becoming a god.
That was one thousand years ago, the one who abandoned his flesh, created the Jiuyou Realm cultivation method, pioneered a realm alone, spent eight hundred years devouring the Great Wilderness, and two hundred years ago forcibly crossed Cangming Sea—the strongest person who could only be sealed when the True Immortal Realm mobilized entirely with the help of the Book of Fate—
The Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor.
Li Xiuji was actually the Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor.
The person the Suguang Mirror had brought her and Pei Zichen back for was actually the Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor!
Why would the Suguang Mirror opened by Pei Zichen bring them back to the era when the Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor emerged?
What connection did Li Xiuji have with the Suguang Mirror?
Before she came back, how exactly did Li Xiuji become the Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor?
Question after question circled in Jiang Zhaoxue’s mind, but she had no time to think further.
The surrounding resentment grew increasingly thin. After Li Xiuji absorbed these evil beings from the mortal realm, he would begin absorbing resentment. These were left by those who died unjustly in this battle. Once the resentment was exhausted, he would completely lose his sanity and would spare no cost for power, beginning to absorb all power in the entire mortal realm, including people’s lives.
Jiang Zhaoxue knew they couldn’t wait any longer. Shen Yuqing clearly had the same thought. He raised his hand to draw a blood talisman on his sword and instructed: “Axue open the array, Pei Zichen protect the dharma, I’ll go retrieve the Zhanshen Sword.”
With that, Shen Yuqing took the lead charging straight toward the Zhanshen Sword’s direction. Pei Zichen left his sword intent behind while secretly flinging a paper figure into Jiang Zhaoxue’s sleeve, then followed close behind.
Jiang Zhaoxue opened the Shanhe Bell, blocking those demons clanging against it. Watching Shen Yuqing and Pei Zichen rush into the black fog, she raised her hand in a turn as formation arrays spread beneath her hands.
Just now executing Song Wulan and destroying the grand array had used too much spiritual power. The moment she opened an array, she felt her meridians ache.
She looked up at Li Xiuji and couldn’t help saying: “Li Xiuji, if you don’t stop, you and I can only be enemies!”
But Li Xiuji clearly could no longer hear her voice, only closed his eyes and continued absorbing power.
Jiang Zhaoxue bit her lip, raising her eyes to look at Pei Zichen and Shen Yuqing completely submerged by those demons. She gritted her teeth and endured the pain to channel spiritual power into her body.
Pei Zichen sensed Jiang Zhaoxue opening the array and looked ahead.
The demons grew more and more numerous. Direction was impossible to discern. They piled up in his vision, densely packed.
Pei Zichen sensed the Zhanshen Sword’s direction, staying beside Shen Yuqing as he called out: “Give me the qiankun pouch.”
Shen Yuqing said nothing, as if he hadn’t heard.
Pei Zichen sensed the increasing demons around them and their extremely slow movement. He grabbed Shen Yuqing’s wrist and said through gritted teeth: “Master, I have the Yuan Luogong—it’s easier for me to get through!”
“But that’s mine!”
Shen Yuqing shouted fiercely, turning to look at him as if looking at a thief. Whether he meant the qiankun pouch or something else, he restrained his emotions and emphasized: “That’s mine.”
With that, Shen Yuqing’s sword flourished. He raised his sword in a sweep. Sword intent exploded on the ground, instantly blasting all the demons away.
Shen Yuqing’s form shot forward like an arrow. Pei Zichen’s sword intent circled around him as he unwillingly nocked an arrow.
Just as the demons were about to surge back together like water from two banks meeting, an arrow flew past Shen Yuqing’s side, shooting through with a “boom” to create a space.
Shen Yuqing seized the chance to leap forward. The Yuan Luogong’s spatial power instantly teleported him before the Zhanshen Sword. He slashed toward the Zhanshen Sword’s barrier ahead. A red umbrella suddenly attacked from the black energy, opening with a “whoosh” to block before the Zhanshen Sword, clashing with Shen Yuqing’s sword.
Then the umbrella surface spun rapidly. The umbrella ribs expanded violently, attacking toward Shen Yuqing’s sword tip. Shen Yuqing’s expression turned slightly stern as he bent backward. Pei Zichen leaped urgently to stab. His sword hooked upward, sending the red umbrella away with its momentum. Six sword intents pursued the red umbrella closely, raising his hand to seal off the newly born demons in Li Xiuji’s direction, blocking both person and umbrella entirely. He urged coldly: “Go.”
Hearing this, a beast’s roar came from the black energy. The ground before the Zhanshen Sword suddenly split open. Tens of thousands of black monsters rose like ocean waves, surging down at Shen Yuqing.
Shen Yuqing’s sword light slashed urgently. However, after one slash, another wave came. Repeatedly, he couldn’t advance even an inch.
Watching Li Xiuji’s body above with only his chest remaining transparent, Shen Yuqing grew greatly anxious. Just as he was about to turn back, he heard rumbling thunder from the sky. Then lightning rushed down, with a “boom” instantly suppressing the waves, accompanied by Jiang Zhaoxue’s shout: “Go!”
Shen Yuqing seized the chance to roll forward and leap high, raising his hand to throw the qiankun pouch upward. With one sword slash, then guiding with the sword tip, blood water poured down like the Milky Way, rumbling as it irrigated the Zhanshen Sword!
The moment the Zhanshen Sword was irrigated with blood, the sword body immediately trembled. The entire wasteland shook like a dragon’s roar. Someone above shrieked sharply: “Stop!!”
However, Shen Yuqing completely ignored this, only pressing the blood to continuously pour onto the Zhanshen Sword. He watched the constantly trembling Zhanshen Sword, repeatedly chanting silently in his heart.
Tianyan Vine…
Tianyan Vine.
He must grow the Tianyan Vine.
This was their last chance. He had to grow the Tianyan Vine. He had to let Jiang Zhaoxue live.
Surrounding demons lunged forward like madmen. Jiang Zhaoxue’s lightning transformed into a barrier. Pei Zichen protected beside Shen Yuqing. The blood water grew less and less. The Zhanshen Sword gradually lit up.
Shen Yuqing’s heart raced.
Soon—the Zhanshen Sword would awaken, the blazing yang fire would appear, and where it intertwined with the extreme yin blood, the Tianyan Vine would grow.
With the Tianyan Vine, Jiang Zhaoxue would live. Jiang Zhaoxue’s chance at life was something he gave her.
He and Jiang Zhaoxue, life after life, destined marriage, endlessly entangled.
No one could separate them.
He owed her the Unity Contract. He would give her the Tianyan Vine. Their lives were mutually given. In Jiang Zhaoxue’s bones and blood was the thread of life he gave her. He was the same.
The ground around them shook more and more violently. Just as the Zhanshen Sword’s red light appeared and sparks emerged from the earth, joy appeared in Shen Yuqing’s eyes as he hurriedly reached to grasp the sword hilt.
In that very instant, Li Xiuji above suddenly opened his eyes. Spiritual pressure “boomed” and sent Shen Yuqing flying back!
The qiankun pouch flew and crashed to the ground. Blood water spilled across the earth. Demons beside it flew over, instantly devouring all the blood.
Jiang Zhaoxue watched this scene and suddenly felt a dizzying sensation coming from her surroundings, as if she were incompatible with everything around her.
She vaguely felt something calling her. She turned back in confusion to see a black hole appear behind her. Everything around the black hole seemed twisted by some kind of rule. The moment Jiang Zhaoxue saw the black hole, she seemed locked by some inexplicable rule. She couldn’t move, watching helplessly as a pale and enormous hand emerged from the black hole.
That hand was condensed from threads of Heavenly Dao laws, like chains. The moment it appeared, Jiang Zhaoxue felt a scalp-numbing terror spreading densely throughout her body. She was like an ant gazing at a boundless cosmic monster, and this monster had locked onto her.
The Heavenly Dao!
This was the Heavenly Dao trying to erase her, erase this person who shouldn’t exist.
They had failed. Shen Yuqing hadn’t planted the Tianyan Vine. The final result calculated by the Heavenly Dao was to preserve all original causes but erase her!
Jiang Zhaoxue’s entire body trembled. Every piece of flesh seemed to be dismantled, completely unrelated to herself.
Her body became distorted as that giant hand approached. The moment everyone turned back to see this, they all roared.
“Sister!!”
“Jiang Zhaoxue!”
“Axue!!!”
Only Pei Zichen—only Pei Zichen—without hesitation, without a word, he directly charged toward the nearby Zhanshen Sword.
No one noticed his movement. Shen Yuqing rushed toward Jiang Zhaoxue like a madman. Even though he might be brought into the space-time rift by the Heavenly Dao and completely erased, he couldn’t control himself. He grabbed Jiang Zhaoxue’s hand.
Jiang Zhaoxue turned back in shock. For the first time, she saw such unrestrained weakness and fear in his eyes. And in the instant he grasped her, scorching flames thunderously rose from not far away, instantly rushing toward the surroundings!
These flames seemed composed of tens of thousands of blazing suns, the ultimate yang and righteousness, carrying the tremendous power of slaying immortals and destroying gods, tearing apart all rule restraints, thunderously washing over the wasteland!
It burned away all surrounding demons and monsters. The Heavenly Dao also shattered and exploded in that firelight, then was instantly covered by the ice following close behind the flames. Ice and fire intertwined onward, transforming this heaven and earth into a world of ice and snow!
Everyone stood in the icy world, turning back in astonishment to look toward the fire’s source.
They saw Pei Zichen supporting himself on the Zhanshen Sword, hunched at the waist, standing in the firelight.
A dagger was inserted in his heart. Blood and his spiritual power continuously poured down. His face was deathly pale as he stared at Shen Yuqing’s hand grasping Jiang Zhaoxue, saying hoarsely: “Master, she no longer owes you.”
With that, Pei Zichen grasped the dagger stabbed into his chest with one hand and thrust it deeper. Jiang Zhaoxue felt that stab as if it pierced her own heart. Her breath caught instantly, fingers trembling. She stared at Pei Zichen in disbelief, watching him force his heart’s blood to fall.
“Pei Zichen!”
Jiang Zhaoxue urgently moved forward. Pei Zichen shouted: “Don’t come over!”
He seemed in extreme pain. The moment he opened his mouth, his face turned deathly white. He raised his head, trying his best to relax his expression as he soothed: “I’m fine, Female Lord.”
Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t speak. She looked at the person before her, only feeling her heart overflowing with something, as if about to explode.
Seeing her expression, Pei Zichen slowly revealed a smile, saying hoarsely: “I’m very glad this seed was planted by me.”
With that, Pei Zichen panted, looking down at his own chest. One hand pressed the dagger backward, the other gripped the sword hilt. He gritted his teeth and exerted all his strength, gradually pulling the Zhanshen Sword outward!
The Zhanshen Sword seemed rooted deep in the earth. The moment he moved, the ground shook violently. Surrounding demons lunged forward like madmen. However, the Zhanshen Sword’s blazing yang power was a natural barrier, blocking all evil beings outside the radiance.
Only the blazing yang power was too strong. Each inch the Zhanshen Sword moved outward, flames rapidly spread further. But the moment flames emerged, they were immediately frozen.
Both sides entangled forward—fire burning three thousand li, ice freezing three thousand li. And Pei Zichen’s blood flowed from the Zhanshen Sword’s top all the way down, irrigating the entire Zhanshen Sword.
Blood seeped into the earth. A seed rapidly broke through the soil and sprouted, blooming a small white flower.
The flower bloomed beneath the sword. Blood drops fell and struck the flower head. The flower stem trembled lightly.
This magnificent yet delicate scene made Jiang Zhaoxue’s heart tremble. A’Nan stood on Jiang Zhaoxue’s shoulder, watching this ice and snow intertwined with flames all along the way, murmuring in confusion: “That’s spiritual power…”
Then A’Nan reacted and cursed: “I knew he doesn’t have pure yin blood—how could he pull out the Zhanshen Sword! Turns out he’s acting recklessly relying on being an ice-type Heavenly Spirit Root! Back then, the Divine Lord required extreme yin blood when the Zhanshen Sword emerged precisely because the Zhanshen Sword’s emergence brings blazing yang fire that burns three thousand li. The Divine Lord feared common people would suffer, so he required a suppressing element. Now he’s using his heart’s blood and spiritual power to forcibly suppress it. Later when he pulls out the sword, he’ll still have to fight Li Xiuji desperately. He doesn’t want his life!”
“Stop talking.”
Jiang Zhaoxue took a deep breath, raising her hand to form arrays. Whether comforting herself or A’Nan, she said through gritted teeth: “He’s the male lead. Nothing will happen to him!”
With that, Jiang Zhaoxue rapidly drew the formation array. As she drew, A’Nan was especially anxious: “What wish will you gamble on this time?”
Gamble on what?
Should she wish to protect Pei Zichen, or wish to kill Li Xiuji?
Actually, both options led to the same destination. If Pei Zichen took the Zhanshen Sword, his target was to kill Li Xiuji. If she protected Pei Zichen, that was indirectly killing Li Xiuji.
But thinking of killing Li Xiuji made Jiang Zhaoxue’s heart tremble.
Something was wrong. Something wasn’t right.
But she didn’t know what wasn’t right.
She frowned tightly, watching as Pei Zichen gradually pulled out the Zhanshen Sword. The moment he drew the sword, Li Xiuji seemed to finally sense danger and suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes had been completely occupied by resentment, becoming pure black, showing not the slightest emotion.
The instant he opened his eyes, he seemed like the sky. Spell light like tens of thousands of stars fell toward Pei Zichen.
Pei Zichen gripped the sword and flipped up in a leap, raising his hand to grab through empty space, pulling the Yuan Luogong from the void. He transformed the Lingxu Fan into a bowstring, placed the Zhanshen Sword upon the string. His right hand’s two fingers pulled the bowstring. The bow opened like a full moon, the sword like a pool of clear water. Then his fingertips released. The Zhanshen Sword transformed from one sword into tens of thousands of arrows, sweeping up heaven and earth’s remnant clouds, resolutely charging toward Li Xiuji!
Jiang Zhaoxue’s Qiankun Sign that had long been gathering power instantly moved. She immediately called out: “Heavenly Dao is fickle, gamble fate upon heaven—”
“Save him.”
A voice came from the void, exploding by Jiang Zhaoxue’s ear. In that instant, the wild wind finally swept away the fog that had been gathering on the ground within the formation array, revealing beneath the fog a youth’s corpse that had lain there for who knows how long.
The moment she saw the corpse, Jiang Zhaoxue’s breath caught.
He lay quietly on the ground, wearing ill-fitting clothes, his body covered in wounds—knife and sword cuts, burns, and even fragments of the Dingkun Needle embedded in him.
His entire back was completely sliced open, exposing the spine and internal organs inside. And that spine…
There was no spine.
His entire spine seemed to have been extracted, leaving an empty space.
Without seeing this body, she hadn’t felt such a huge impact. But seeing it with her own eyes, she instantly recalled that lively and sensible child from her youth.
Throughout his life, he had called to her for help countless times, but she had never successfully saved him.
Each time she promised to save him, yet each time at the moment of choice, she abandoned him.
“Save him.”
That voice appeared again. Jiang Zhaoxue looked at the child lying on the ground, watching as Pei Zichen’s arrows clashed with Li Xiuji’s descending spell light, then the remaining mass thundered toward Li Xiuji’s body.
Arrow after arrow tore through space, pulling Li Xiuji backward.
Though Li Xiuji’s body wasn’t yet fully shaped, he still struggled madly. Jiang Zhaoxue clearly felt him beginning to absorb surrounding power. Her mind asked herself repeatedly.
Why did she come back?
Why did she awaken? Why did she break through to become a Seventh Realm Fate Master? Why come back?
What did the Suguang Mirror bring her back to do?
Kill Li Xiuji?
Because they hadn’t killed Li Xiuji back then, letting Li Xiuji become the Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor, causing the calamity of Cangming Sea battle years ago—so it brought her back to kill Li Xiuji?
But how many people wanted to kill him?
They tried to kill him again and again, instead forcing him into becoming the Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor. And the divine body he shaped could continuously absorb any power, growing stronger when encountering strength. Even with the Zhanshen Sword in hand, could they kill him?
As long as he had no bottom line, no scruples, he could make the entire mortal realm his nourishment. No one could do anything to him.
But the Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor of a thousand years ago didn’t do this.
He didn’t directly absorb any realm’s power. He only transformed all places into locations for cultivating Jiuyou Realm techniques.
Li Xiuji, even a thousand years later, never acted without scruples.
He had never died from being killed, but rather lived because of being killed.
Slaughter couldn’t truly kill him—
“Save him, Yaoyao.”
That voice rang out. Jiang Zhaoxue understood in an instant.
His divine body gathering all power came from obsession. The obsession was so deep that his soul gained physical form. And his obsession was hatred, but Li Xiuji’s soul still remained.
From four years old, twelve years old, seventeen years old—he called to her for help again and again, met her again and again.
She should save him.
Should wholeheartedly, without choice, without abandonment, strive with all her might to save him once.
The moment she realized this, she felt a clear breeze behind her, blowing open a path forward. Before Jiang Zhaoxue herself could react, she was already rushing forward.
Shen Yuqing protecting beside her turned back in shock to see Jiang Zhaoxue had already run out like the wind.
She ran so fast, as if someone was pulling her hand leading her forward. Just as Li Xiuji roared and raised his sword to strike at Pei Zichen, and Pei Zichen raised his sword condensing heaven and earth into one sword to resist, Jiang Zhaoxue suddenly threw herself onto Li Xiuji’s corpse on the ground!
With this throw, Pei Zichen was shocked into urgently withdrawing his sword, letting spiritual power divide to both sides. Li Xiuji froze in place.
In the instant he was stunned, Pei Zichen’s sword behind him blasted open all the spaces broken by the Yuan Luogong arrows, connecting them into one piece. Enormous suction came from behind, violently pulling him into the space. Only then did Li Xiuji react, grabbing at the space entrance. His eyes turned pitch black again as he struggled madly like a great dragon.
Pei Zichen desperately tried to close the space. However, Li Xiuji’s power seemed completely inexhaustible. The two deadlocked for less than a moment before Pei Zichen spat out a mouthful of blood. Jiang Zhaoxue urgently shouted: “Li Xiuji!”
Hearing this, Li Xiuji lowered his eyes to see Jiang Zhaoxue cradling the youth’s body, raising her head in the yellow sand.
The youth lay in her arms, expression peaceful. Jiang Zhaoxue had wiped clean the blood on his face, revealing his face covered in scars, looking especially terrifying.
Yet Jiang Zhaoxue gently placed his head in the crook of her arm, seriously looking at Li Xiuji as she called out: “My divination should kill you, but I want to save you. If you’re willing to leave the mortal realm, I can swear in a fate master’s name that even using my own life, I will preserve a thread of life for you. Heaven and earth bearing witness,” Jiang Zhaoxue spoke as the Qiankun Sign spun rapidly, then a blank jade slip shot urgently forth, flying toward Li Xiuji, carrying Jiang Zhaoxue’s voice, “I owe you one divination!”
Li Xiuji said nothing. That flying jade slip seemed like fate itself. He clearly realized that if he reached out to accept this slip, the space imprisoning him would immediately close. This meant giving up his chance to struggle, choosing to be sealed and leave the mortal realm.
That single jade slip became extraordinarily long before his eyes. He stared quietly at that slip. And Pei Zichen stood above, watching Jiang Zhaoxue’s back as she looked up at Li Xiuji with single-minded devotion.
His blood-stained fingertips trembled lightly. He couldn’t articulate what this meant.
He only felt jealousy and resentment that shouldn’t exist rising up, mixed with killing intent and envy.
For a moment, he hoped Li Xiuji would accept this slip, giving this child a peaceful end, concluding this human calamity.
For a moment, he hoped Li Xiuji wouldn’t accept this slip—that way there would be no entanglement between him and Jiang Zhaoxue, and what remained would be between him, Pei Zichen, and Li Xiuji in a fight to the death.
She should only need to save him alone.
Saving Pei Zichen alone should be enough.
Jealousy grew rapidly like that Tianyan Vine beneath the Zhanshen Sword. Yet he could only remain silently speechless, watching as the jade slip reached Li Xiuji’s presence. Li Xiuji finally reached out his hand.
The moment he grasped the jade slip, heaven and earth shook. The spatial suction intensified dramatically. Li Xiuji released his grip and fell downward. A wisp of red energy that had been crouching on his shoulder sensed Li Xiuji’s choice and madly tried to escape, but was firmly yanked back by the suction.
“Come with me.” Li Xiuji closed his eyes wearily. “Having consumed my blood and flesh, you can’t leave, Xin Luoyi.”
Li Xiuji dragged Xin Luoyi as he fell heavily. Jiang Zhaoxue watched the space above close. Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she saw Ye Tianjiao and Qian Sisi as if pulled by an invisible rope, rapidly falling toward the space.
Seeing this scene, Jiang Zhaoxue cried out in terror: “Pei Zichen!”
The instant the words fell, Jiang Zhaoxue used a Swift Talisman at maximum speed. She and Pei Zichen arrived before the space simultaneously, one in front and one behind. Pei Zichen grabbed Ye Tianjiao. Jiang Zhaoxue grasped Qian Sisi. Shen Yuqing followed close behind, grabbing Jiang Zhaoxue as he said urgently: “Axue, they used their own souls to lock Li Xiuji. Without one person dying, their soul chain with Li Xiuji can’t be broken!”
“Let go.” Qian Sisi spoke, laughing openly as she looked at Jiang Zhaoxue. “My soul is almost shattered. Whether I go in or not, it’s the same result.”
Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue’s hand trembled. She looked at the woman before her with a pale face, her soul clearly about to float out, recalling their first meeting in the capital when she stiffly twisted trying to perform a Persian dance to muddle through.
“Take this!”
Jiang Zhaoxue bit her lip and slapped a demon core into Qian Sisi’s hand, desperately gripping her as she shouted: “Put your soul in the demon core. Find an opportunity in the future to have someone send the demon core to Penglai’s Reincarnation Pool. I’ll wait for you in Penglai!”
The moment the words fell, Jiang Zhaoxue could no longer hold her. Qian Sisi was swept away by the wild wind. As she fell all the way, gripping the demon core, she looked at Jiang Zhaoxue with a bright laugh: “Good! In my next life, I’ll definitely be a rich demon cultivator, keep ten or eight beautiful men, and be good sisters with you again!”
These words made Jiang Zhaoxue laugh. The surrounding space clearly changed. The Suguang Mirror in Jiang Zhaoxue’s sleeve vibrated desperately. Pei Zichen gripped Ye Tianjiao tightly, watching as he was pulled down bit by bit by the suction, knowing there was no way to turn back. He could only say quickly: “You contradict the Book of Fate. In the future, the Book of Fate will hunt you relentlessly. Change your name. A thousand years from now, come to Lingjian Immortal Pavilion to find me. Tell me what you plan to call yourself—”
“Gu Jinglan!”
Ye Tianjiao declared without hesitation. Pei Zichen’s hand trembled. He looked in shock at the person falling all the way, seeing him smile brilliantly at himself, overlapping with the memory of that junior brother who had always been caring and attentive since entering the sect. He heard him call out: “Twelve hundred years from now, I’ll still be your good brother—Gu Jinglan!”
As the words fell, the space closed. In the final moment before closing, Li Xiuji, who had fallen first into the space, opened his eyes.
His divine body was completely formed. The scars originally on his flesh were also completely repaired. In that instant, Pei Zichen finally saw his face clearly.
A face identical to Pei Zichen’s own.