“Xuanli, are you happy?” Gu Baiqing suddenly smiled and said, “The formation has been lifted, which proves that the fragment has already been taken by Li Xiuran. Just now everyone should have been like us, struck by the spiritual energy and knocked unconscious. Later we’ll go find Li Xiuran. Once the eight fragments are gathered together…”
Mo Xuanli froze, excitement flashing through his eyes instantly, then suddenly fear flickered past.
“What’s wrong? Why such a complicated expression?” Gu Baiqing reached out and touched Mo Xuanli’s eyes, asking curiously.
Mo Xuanli immediately said, “No, I’m happy, very happy. I’m just happy that… I don’t dare believe everything is really real.”
Similar scenes had appeared many times already.
Every time they were real to the extreme, and in the end they really took his life.
But he believed this time was real. He had already escaped the illusion.
“Silly. And your cultivation should advance to the tribulation stage very soon. Didn’t you absorb a lot again just now?” Gu Baiqing said happily. “Tribulation… once you reach tribulation, I won’t have any worries left.”
Mo Xuanli also looked at Gu Baiqing with relief and said, “Mm. Once I become a normal bloodline, those people probably won’t make things difficult for me anymore. I also won’t drag Master down.”
Gu Baiqing couldn’t explain it, so he could only say seriously, “I don’t care what your bloodline is. As long as the two of us are together, that’s happiness, so there’s no such thing as one dragging the other down. I also don’t like you discriminating against your own bloodline. I was talking about something else, when the time comes, you’ll know.”
Once Mo Xuanli reached the tribulation stage, he would be unbound himself. Then he could do whatever he wanted. If everything really went smoothly, there would be no need to take the final path arranged by senior sister. After all, gambling meant both wins and losses; if you could avoid gambling, it was better not to gamble.
Mo Xuanli suddenly froze, and couldn’t help but feel a little shy, but his hand gently rubbed along Gu Baiqing’s lower back as he said implicitly, “What Master is talking about… that matter… I… I also want to.”
Gu Baiqing froze, instantly embarrassed, and couldn’t help wanting to knock Mo Xuanli on the head, what was going through his mind? But seeing the other’s cute expression, his heart suddenly relaxed, and he laughed, “You secretly read so many little booklets behind your Master’s back, when the time comes, don’t let Master’s first time leave a bad impression.”
“I swear, definitely! Definitely not, Master, rest assured!” Mo Xuanli hadn’t expected Master to pick up on that line. His face instantly flushed red, as if he had completely reverted to the previous little Mo-dog again, so cute that Gu Baiqing wanted nothing more than to hug him and kiss him again.
Feeling that he had mostly recovered, Gu Baiqing patted Mo Xuanli’s face and said, “Let’s go. It’s time to handle proper business.”
Mo Xuanli nodded, stood up first, then pulled Master up, brushing the dust off Master’s clothes. Suddenly, something within his field of vision caught Mo Xuanli’s attention.
On the restored ground, traces of the remnants of the earlier reincarnation formation could be seen.
At the edge there was a string of numbers, marked as one thousand.
Mo Xuanli reacted for a moment, his expression suddenly changing drastically. His hand trembled slightly as he released Gu Baiqing’s sash, staring blankly at Gu Baiqing.
The instant Gu Baiqing looked over, Mo Xuanli suddenly grabbed Gu Baiqing’s hand and placed it over his own heart.
“What’s wrong?” Gu Baiqing asked, casually feeling his little disciple’s well-developed chest muscles. In this posture, it was far too similar to the little gestures the little Mo-dog used to make when declaring his affection, so Gu Baiqing naturally teased him. “Your heartbeat’s fine. What do you want to do?”
Mo Xuanli just stared blankly at Gu Baiqing for a while and said, “It still feels very unreal.”
Gu Baiqing laughed. “Is it because your wish is about to come true, so you’re happy?”
Mo Xuanli wanted to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. It felt as if a huge stone was pressing on his heart, his nerves being messed with at random. His head hurt terribly, and for a moment he even wanted to destroy everything in front of him to prove whether it was real or not.
But reason told him that everything was real.
Mo Xuanli’s expression changed several times before he finally hugged Gu Baiqing and said, “Master, I’m afraid. I’m really afraid that everything is an illusion.”
Gu Baiqing didn’t know why Mo Xuanli had suddenly become so uneasy. He didn’t lecture him about any grand principles, just hugged him and gently coaxed, “Then Xuanli, what kind of proof do you think would make it feel real to you?”
Listening to Gu Baiqing’s gentle coaxing, Mo Xuanli felt anxious yet moved. His eyes revealed confusion and exhaustion. “I don’t know either.”
“Then once the God-Slaying Sword is finished and your bloodline is completely changed, will it feel real?” Gu Baiqing smiled. After all, ever since he encountered the Half-Step Immortal at the age of ten, that had always been Mo Xuanli’s wish.
Mo Xuanli seemed to take a deep breath. Only after the cool plum fragrance filled his mind did he suppress the storm-like madness raging in his thoughts.
“Let’s go, Master.”
【Final mission: Fuse the God-Slaying Sword, successfully complete the breakthrough, enter tribulation-stage cultivation. Prompt: Upon completion of this mission, the host may be unbound.】
Gu Baiqing hurried along together with Mo Xuanli, listening to the system’s reminders as they went, his heart full of joy, feeling that victory was right ahead.
But a trace of doubt flashed through his mind.
Strange, why was his task to help fuse the God-Slaying Sword? Wasn’t it enough to just level up to tribulation?
However, the tasks did not interfere with one another, so Gu Baiqing didn’t think too much about it. He was going to fuse the God-Slaying Sword anyway.
Following the aura of the fragments, the two quickly arrived at that small courtyard.
Seeing the familiar place, Mo Xuanli’s gaze trembled slightly. Gu Baiqing held his hand, and together they flew over on their swords.
They saw Li Xiuran sitting cross-legged. Having just broken through, he had also advanced to the late Immortalization stage, and Half-Step Immortal was circling around him.
Beside Li Xiuran was the largest fragment of the God-Slaying Sword.
The two landed. When Half-Step Mad saw that they were safe and sound, his face was full of delight.
Mo Xuanli stepped forward, looked at Li Xiuran’s injured arm, and helped cast a spell to treat it.
Half-Step Mad moved over to Gu Baiqing’s side to ask about the situation.
With just a slight hint between the two, they understood, once again, their tasks overlapped.
Sure enough, the basic tasks assigned by the Heavenly Dao system were basically very similar.
But this was Gu Baiqing’s final task, while it was not Half-Step Mad’s.
Gu Baiqing was still worried about Half-Step Mad’s task. After thinking it over, while Mo Xuanli had finished the treatment and was researching with Li Xiuran the two people’s weapons and the final fragment of the God-Slaying Sword, Gu Baiqing stepped forward and took Mo Xuanli’s storage pouch.
Mo Xuanli thought Gu Baiqing was going to take something and didn’t mind.
Because he had discovered an even more troublesome matter: the fragments of the God-Slaying Sword seemed unable to gather together relying solely on the fusion method he had used before.
He would have to wait for Li Xiuran to help as well.
And just as they were waiting for Li Xiuran to wake up, suddenly a figure charged over to kill them.
That dark red long dress was extremely conspicuous, and the killing intent coming at them was fiercer than ever before.
Mo Xuanli instantly manifested a long whip and knocked away the incoming whip.
He immediately stepped in front of Gu Baiqing.
“Mo Xuanli!”
The newcomer was none other than Xuanyue.
Looking at Xuanyue’s eyes splitting with rage, she was nothing like how calm she had been when she had seen Mo Xuanli before.
It was obvious she knew something.
Gu Baiqing sneered coldly, raised his hand, and a bolt of lightning directly struck toward Xuanyue.
Xuanyue, fighting one against two, could not win at all. If not for the arriving Le Xi throwing themself in to protect her, Xuanyue would certainly have been struck seriously injured by the master and disciple’s combined attack. Le Xi fell to the ground, coughing blood nonstop, but Xuanyue no longer had the patience to care about all that and directly questioned, “Mo Xuanli, where is Mother! Where is Mother!”
Mo Xuanli’s eyes flickered. “Naturally staying in the place where she should stay.”
Xuanyue looked at Mo Xuanli in almost disbelief. After all, given Yun Yue’s status, they had lived together day and night for a long time. She had never imagined that Mo Xuanli would say such words.
“You… you stopped me from saving Mother? Have you gone mad! You’ve already ruined our family this badly, and now you won’t even take the initiative to help save Mother to atone for your sins, instead you even stop me! You really… really should not have appeared in this world! You are simply unforgivable!”
The hope of saving her mother collapsing made even the always calculating Xuanyue somewhat deranged, or rather, she had been abnormal from the very beginning.
Gu Baiqing directly stepped forward and grabbed Mo Xuanli’s hand, then unleashed a lightning strike at Xuanyue.
Xuanyue struggled desperately to block it, but in the end still fell to the ground.
“You have no right to say such things. The more than ten years of happy life you enjoyed were all built on Xuanyue’s suffering, and you think you’re worthy of making him atone? I won’t say that as his Older Sister you should have protected him, but at the very least you have no standing to hate him! Your misfortune was caused by your parents. You should hate your parents.”
“No! We were originally very happy. It was his birth that destroyed everything. It was him!”
“Simply unreasonable!” Gu Baiqing shouted angrily.
Mo Xuanli also looked at Xuanyue coldly. “Do you think I wanted so much to become your family? Did she give birth to me with my consent? I would rather have absolutely nothing to do with you. Master is right, you are not worthy! Your hatred has no meaning to me anymore. Baili Xuanyue, today I will kill you!”
Xuanyue sneered contemptuously and slowly stood up. Behind her, a large number of demon clan members surged forth, densely filling half the sky, their power astonishing. It seemed the demon clan had recovered faster than the cultivators; indeed, the demon-summoning formation had given them a great deal of power.
Under Xuanyue’s summons, this was no longer a force they could face at present.
Xuanyue said ferociously, “Do you think I’m the only one who hates you? It is your existence that caused two immortal–demon wars. It is the entire world that hates you!”
If it were what she had said before, Mo Xuanli listened numbly, but this sentence now still struck him.
Xuanyue waved her hand, and among the many demon clan members, a black shadow swiftly attacked.
Before it could even reach them, a Buddhist seal fell, directly forcing the shadow demon out from underground.
Qian Yue appeared alone, standing beside Mo Xuanli and Gu Baiqing, looking ahead expressionlessly.
“Good is rewarded with good, evil with evil. Existence is not judged by right or wrong; actions are.” After saying this, Qian Yue said to Mo Xuanli, “The eight pieces are complete. Hurry and fuse them. The people of the cultivation world are coming.”
Mo Xuanli stared at Qian Yue blankly for a moment. Everything was understood without words.
But the next second, a puppeteer controlled countless puppets to drill out from underground, attempting to launch a sneak attack and seize the fragments of the God-Slaying Sword.
And at this moment, two figures flew over like two meteors. Two top-grade spirit swords stabbed straight into the ground, using a joint killing skill to directly give the puppets a thorough clean-up.
Only a hearty laugh was heard. “These little things want to sneak attack my brothers! Isn’t that a joke? Don’t you think so? Qingrong.”
Beside him, Xie Qingrong smiled gently, but his strikes were ruthless. Using the earth as a medium, he instantly restrained several large puppets. He coldly looked toward the opposing demon clan members and said, “The immortal–demon war was nothing more than a fight stirred up by a few people for their own desires. Those swept into the center can only be considered unlucky. The true culprits have always been selfish hearts.”
The two of them both turned back and nodded once toward Mo Xuanli.
And just at this moment, a powerful killing intent rushed toward Jingzhan and Xie Qingrong.
It was the Kill Demon…
Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli were just about to make a move, when suddenly two extremely powerful sword intents struck directly toward the Kill Demon.
Taking a closer look, it was actually Chu Fei and Nan Zhi. The two did not say a word and immediately started fighting. It was just that midway through, Nan Zhi seemed to want to attack Xuanyue, but was still forced back.
And arriving together with them were Ji Chuling and Si Chun. Ji Chuling rushed straight toward Li Xiuran as soon as she arrived, anxiously asking Half-Step Mad about his condition.
Si Chun landed beside Mo Xuanli, worry flickering in her eyes, but upon seeing demon clan members attacking, she went up to meet them. The one attacking her was precisely the troublemaking Man Eating Demon Yu Xin, as if deliberately picking opponents.
At this time, the beast demon on the side summoned demonic beasts, but they were disrupted by melodious voices one after another.
“Still a scourge that lives for a thousand years. I thought you were so deeply in love that you would die to be buried with my sister!” An arrogant voice came over, it was Junhua, who had arrived with the merfolk clan.
The beast demon was an old acquaintance. Upon hearing the voice, his expression changed drastically. “I did it to revive her.”
“Bullsh*t!” Junhua couldn’t be bothered to deal with him and raised his eyebrows at Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli. “Didn’t make it in time earlier. Count me as late. How is it?”
“It’s fine.” Gu Baiqing immediately said, then sized up Junhua, only to see Junhua pull Three Bean out from her robes, as well as the little black dragon coiled around Three Bean’s neck.
Mo Xuanli saw it too and immediately showed a worried expression.
“Overexerted. He’ll be fine in a bit. Leave them with me.” Junhua said with a smile.
Ao Heng and Three Bean both seemed to open their eyes and look at them, as if to show they were fine, but when Ao Heng looked at Gu Baiqing, a trace of doubt flashed across his eyes.
And Gu Baiqing’s gaze also lingered on Ao Heng for a long time.
In the blink of an eye, looking around, there was actually no room left for Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli to make a move. Because they were being protected, these companions had stable states of mind and were least affected by the demon-summoning formation, so they had recovered their combat strength early and rushed over to support them.
Mo Xuanli’s gaze trembled. He took a deep breath and looked at Gu Baiqing. Gu Baiqing nodded, and Mo Xuanli sat back down beside Li Xiuran, quickly helping Li Xiuran wake up so that the God-Slaying Sword could be fused as soon as possible.
And seeing this scene, Xuanyue could no longer suppress her anger at all. She was unwilling to accept it. She felt that her miserable life was clearly all caused by Mo Xuanli, he should have been despised and blamed by everyone, forced to live in guilt. Why… why were there still so many good people standing by his side, protecting him?
He should have been just as dark inside as she was. Where exactly had things gone wrong?
Xuanyue’s eyes were almost red enough to drip blood. Demonic energy surged skyward along with her rage, and all the demon clan members responded to her call, launching a frenzied attack.
And at this time, large numbers of cultivators also rushed over. When they arrived, they had not yet figured out the situation, so naturally they joined in dealing with the demon clan.
But there were also some people who were being supported and moved over with unsteady steps.
They kept their heads lowered, cloaked in robes, as if afraid to see anyone, their entire bodies emitting demonic energy.
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