Chapter 70
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As the No Way Out Sword slipped out of Xu Shuangce’s hand, Ying Kai tightly gripped the scabbard. Immediately, a powerful spiritual light flew out from his palm, covering the entire sword.
—This was a charm to sever the connection between the immortal sword and its master, akin to a lock.
Unless Xu Shuangce forcefully snatched it back, the sword would no longer be summonable by his spiritual consciousness.
The tense atmosphere finally temporarily eased. Xu Shuangce’s gaze fell on the bronze box, asking, “Have you looked at that scroll?”
Ying Kai responded coldly, “Not only did I look at it, but I also experienced the entire process again, from flood control to ascension, to killing obstacles and banishment to the mortal realm.”
Xu Shuangce asked in a strained voice, “Are you really… the Eastern God?” Ying Kai shook the bronze wedge box and retorted, “Have all your memories over the past thousands of years completely disappeared, leaving nothing?”
When heavenly gods descend to the mortal world, they inevitably drink the Meng Po Soup on the Naihe Bridge, naturally forgetting their past. Xu Shuangce nodded.
Ying Kai stared at him, seemingly carefully observing for any signs of lying.
However, Xu Shuangce met his gaze calmly.
After a while, Ying Kai seemed to finally confirm that there was no deception. He exhaled and asked, “So, you didn’t realize that this world is actually an illusion until you heard it from Du Kaixun at the bottom of the Tianmen Glacier Abyss?”
Xu Shuangce said, “Yes.”
“If I hadn’t found this scroll, were you planning to continue concealing the truth about the illusion?” Ying Kai rebuked angrily, “You’re confused! This illusion is already collapsing! Do you think your spiritual power can sustain it for long?”
Xu Shuangce closed his eyes and said softly, “…I don’t know.”
“—-Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Ying Kai seemed to be too angry to speak. Xu Shuangce’s usually emotionless face showed rare signs of exhaustion and despondency. He shook his head and said, “I understand everything you said. But the worldly obstacles have never had a solution. Until I find a way to revive Gong Wei after returning to the world, even if I have to sacrifice myself, I cannot let this illusion collapse…”
Ying Kai was so angry at this moment that he couldn’t speak, “Gong Wei needs you to save him? If you save him, everyone will die!”
Xu Shuangce suddenly stopped, surprised, “What did you say?”
The room fell into silence, and the two looked at each other, both seeing their own astonishment reflected in each other’s eyes.
“… Do you really know what happened on the Ascension Immortal Platform?” Ying Kai seemed to suddenly realize something and asked in disbelief. Xu Shuangce frowned and said, “I saw fragments of it in Liu Xuzhi’s mirror technique.”
Ying Kai immediately asked, “What did you see?”
“I had a killing barrier outbreak, slaughtering the grandmasters of the Immortal Alliance, with blood flowing like a river on the ground, even Gong Wei was…”
Xu Shuangce’s voice suddenly stopped, his face slightly changed.
“… No.” Each word from him carried a chill, “I didn’t see myself ‘slaughtering the grandmasters of the Immortal Alliance’.”
The reason he was certain that he was responsible for the tragedy on the Ascension Immortal Platform was mainly because he knew very well the consequences of a killing barrier outbreak—no one else’s killing barrier intensity could match his.
Since he was a teenager, everyone around him had repeatedly warned him to control his killing barrier. Otherwise, once it erupted, he would lose his mind, become addicted to killing, and become unrecognizable. It wouldn’t be surprising if he caused such a bloody scene.
At the same time, Xu Shuangce also knew very well that no one else but him could have caused such a tragedy on the Ascension Immortal Platform. Even Ying Kai might not have such terrifying killing power. Moreover, Ying Kai was not on the Ascension Immortal Platform at the time, because sixteen years ago, the two of them had exchanged sacrificial positions, and Ying Kai was in the underground palace under the Ascension Immortal Platform at that time.
The last and most crucial point was that the sword Xu Shuangce wore on his wrist, shattered by Yuchi Rui’s desperate strike, shattered his metal armguard, and then the illusion ended.
All the clues pointed to the same answer: he was responsible for the tragedy on the Ascension Immortal Platform.
But at the same time, another fact could not be denied: he did not witness the process of the tragedy happening. He did not personally witness himself wielding the sword to massacre everyone!
Ying Kai’s expression was incredulous as he pointed to the furrowed brow of Yuchi Rui on the bed, once again asking Xu Shuangce, “Do you really know what happened on the Ascension Immortal Platform?!”
“…”
Xu Shuangce’s chest heaved, unable to speak for a long time. Ying Kai grabbed his arm and drew a complex soul-sealing symbol with blood on Yuchi Rui’s forehead, coldly saying, “The soul of Changsheng’s is much stronger than Liu Xuzhi’s. You can see much more from his primordial spirit than from Liu Xuzhi’s. Why don’t you take a look at what happened on the Ascension Immortal Platform sixteen years ago and then tell me why you insist on prolonging this illusion!”
Xu Shuangce’s pupils dilated sharply, and in the next moment, the soul-sealing symbol erupted with spiritual light. He and Ying Kai simultaneously separated a soul, forcibly dragged into the unconscious body of Yuchi Rui—
The scene before them was like a deep water veil. After a while, a cold wind blew, dispersing the gray mist.
Xu Shuangce suddenly opened his eyes and found himself once again on the Ascension Immortal Platform, with its vast expanse of white jade and towering golden pillars.
But unlike last time, there was no thick blood in the gaps between the tiles, and there were no severely injured cultivators lying around. About thirty senior cultivators from major prestigious families were gathered on the Ascension Immortal Platform, led by the Three Sects—Yuchi Rui, Mu Duozhu, and Changsun Chengfeng. The rest of them had solemn expressions, silent and tense, forming a defensive formation like an iron barrel.
In the sky, an invisible bowstring seemed to be gradually tightening, and everyone stared intently at the endless white jade steps below the Ascension Immortal Platform, as if facing a formidable enemy.
“Can the disciples below the mountain really stop him?” Mu Duozhu whispered.
Changsun Chengfeng shook his head. “Just to delay time. As long as we wait for…”
Wait for what?
Xu Shuangce didn’t wait for an answer. He saw Yuchi Rui suddenly open his eyes, sharp as a hawk’s, and turn his head to look towards the distant mountains and forests, uttering words, “The formation is broken!”
As if a heavy hammer had struck, everyone’s expression changed simultaneously.
Following Yuchi Rui’s gaze, they saw in the distant mountains and forests a vast expanse of gray and white. An invisible formation rapidly rose into the sky, then suddenly shattered, bursting with a boiling killing intent like a torrent.
Countless shattered leaves turned into blades, and birds scattered, chirping in panic.
The circular energy rushed in all directions, even flattening the towering ancient trees!
Behind them, more than thirty masters were in turmoil. Someone exclaimed, “How… how could this happen?”
“Too powerful, can’t be stopped at all!”
“Who is that demon? Where did he come from?!”
Someone murmured what everyone was thinking, “Is he really human…”
At the forefront of the formation, the three sect leaders wore grave expressions. Suddenly, Yuchi Rui’s eyes narrowed, and he stared straight towards the base of the Ascension Immortal Platform. “He’s here.”
In the void, Xu Shuangce had already sensed what was coming and abruptly turned his head.
In the next moment, the earth-shattering truth from sixteen years ago was finally revealed before his eyes—
A figure in a crimson robe appeared at the end of the white jade steps, covered in blood, tall and slender. His hair and robe sleeves fluttered in the wind, holding a blood-dripping Bai Tai Shou in his hand.
Every step the young man took left behind deep crimson footprints, as if he were a terrifying Asura emerging from a sea of blood in h*ll. But an Asura wouldn’t have his incomparably beautiful face, or his serene demeanor that words couldn’t describe. The stark contrast chilled everyone present to the bone.
—It was Gong Wei.
Not the child who later lost his mind in the illusion, nor the Mirror Spirit who struggled to maintain the illusion until his divine power dried up and he was in unbearable pain.
It was the real powerful, clear-minded, representing the god of death.
With a clear clang, the divine sword Rakshasa Tower was unsheathed. Yuchi Rui swiped his hand, deeply cutting a trench in the ground, “Stop!”
Gong Wei reached the last step of the platform and halted his steps.
—Unlike in the illusion later, in the real world, everyone seemed to harbor a huge hostility towards Gong Wei, as if facing a stranger from another world.
The next moment, Chang Sunchengfeng’s interrogation revealed the answer, “Since half a year ago when you suddenly appeared in the Immortal Alliance, your behavior has been inhuman, your actions mysterious, and you repeatedly attempted to stop today’s Ascension Ceremony. Who are you exactly?! What do you intend to do?!”
Under the gaze of everyone present, Gong Wei’s voice was unexpectedly gentle, “Since persuasion is of no use, today I am here to kill.”
Behind the three sects, everyone’s expression changed, someone whispered, “As expected!”
“But I only need to kill one person, it has nothing to do with all of you.” Gong Wei held his sword and made a “please” gesture with his hand, “Please disperse, don’t block my way.”
However, Yuchi Rui coldly said, “If you take another step forward, your corpse will lie here today. Do you want to try?”
As soon as the words fell, the swords on the Ascension Immortal Platform rang out, and all the immortal swords were unsheathed at the same time!
Thirty-six divine swords surrounded by a chilling aura simultaneously reflected Gong Wei’s face, and the thick killing intent in the air was on the verge of erupting.
“—”
Gong Wei’s gaze swept across the faces of everyone present, sighed softly, and his breath dissipated into the chilly wind.
“I like people very much. Since coming to the Immortal Alliance half a year ago, I have always wanted to blend in with everyone…” He sighed with regret, “But it seems that I have failed.”
No one in the audience could hear the regret in his words, but as soon as he spoke, the emotions of the crowd surged, and someone whispered, “Like people?! What kind of tone is that?” “Could he be a demon?” “Where exactly did this monster come from?!”….
A cultivator angrily said, “No matter where you come from, today we are about to open the Gate of Heaven. Why do you want to stop us? Hurry up and leave!”
As soon as this statement was made, Yuchi Rui’s expression changed slightly— they wanted to open the Gate of Heaven?
Could the Gate of Heaven, which was only opened during ascension, be forcibly opened by human power?
Before he could get an explanation for his doubts, there was a sudden loud noise behind him, and a terrifying aura erupted like a hurricane, piercing straight into the sky!
“—Success?” “The Gate of Heaven is about to open!”
The excitement and agitation of the various cultivators intersected, and as Yuchi Rui turned around to look, he saw the most unimaginable scene of his life.
In the center of the Ascension Immortal Platform, there was a white jade well that led directly to the underground palace used for worshiping gods and ghosts. As the entrance to the underground palace, the white jade well was always sealed, but now a golden light rose from the well, rising into the sky, disappearing into the thick layers of clouds, illuminating half of the sky.
At the top of the pathway, behind the clouds, it seemed that a door was slowly opening, leaking out a clear light surrounded by countless immortal energies. It was the gate to the heavenly realm!
At this moment, someone shouted, “Stop him!”
Xu Shuangce turned his head to look, and Gong Wei was staring solemnly at the pathway to heaven, taking a step forward—
Cold light flashed with a resounding clang as Yuchi Rui flew out, the edge of the Rakshasa Tower sword fiercely colliding with the Bai Tai Shou, halting Gong Wei’s steps!
The two sword blades clashed firmly, emitting sharp friction sounds, reflecting a chilling glare in Gong Wei’s eyes: “I only need to kill one person on this trip. If he doesn’t die today, he will slaughter the world after ascending tomorrow. Are you all still unwilling to let me pass?”
Yuchi Rui scolded loudly, “This is simply absurd! Nonsense!”
Gong Wei said in a low voice, “Since that’s the case…”
He suddenly exerted force, forcing the Rakshasa Tower back heavily. Yuchi Rui staggered back several steps, only to see Gong Wei decisively swing his long sword, creating a terrifying arc-shaped bloodstain on the ground!
“To kill you all is not my wish. Those who die by my hand today will be blessed with merits in the next life.”
Gong Wei’s right pupil had completely turned into a bizarre and beautiful blood-red color, majestic spiritual power emanating from his body as he calmly said, “Come at me together.”
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