Chapter 73
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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Xu Shuangce didn’t know what to say. After a long while, he lifted the corner of his mouth heavily. “…So, am I such a selfless person?”
“In this lifetime, only you and Gong Wei have tried to save me.” Ying Kai smiled bitterly. “After the Battle of Annihilation, Gong Wei couldn’t bear to immediately fulfill his oath to kill me. He tried every means to rid me of my killing karma, but he was powerless. Coincidentally, after you ascended and met Gong Wei in the heavenly realm, you gradually fell into qi deviation…”
Xu Shuangce questioned, “I fell into qi deviation?”
Ying Kai hesitated, seeming to have difficulty expressing something, but in the end, he sighed and waved his hand without explaining further. “So, you openly told Gong Wei that you were willing to descend to bear the killing karma for me, until it was exhausted, before returning to the heavenly realm. This has never happened since the beginning of time. The hardships involved can be imagined, but you still insisted on doing it.”
“You have always been someone who cannot be judged simply as selfless or selfish, but rather, you do only what you believe is right, regardless of others’ opinions. You don’t care about others’ evaluations, and you don’t even care to know what the world thinks. You are truly carefree.” Ying Kai shook his head, his eyes full of exhaustion. “But I am completely opposite to you, so I live in great pain, whether as a god or a mortal.”
“…”
Ying Kai was probably not accustomed to revealing this side of himself. He turned from the door to face Xu Shuangce directly. “Talking about this now is meaningless. But I still want to ask one thing—when did you start to realize that something was wrong with me? Just because of The butterfly dies and the dream is born?”
Something invisible seemed to have changed between the two, and they could never go back to how they were before.
Xu Shuangce spoke slowly, “No, it was at the Ascension Immortal Platform.”
“The Ascension Immortal Platform?”
“It wasn’t me but you who was supposed to ascend in the real world. Do you remember when Yuchi Rui rebuked Gong Wei for talking nonsense on the Ascension Immortal Platform?” Xu Shuangce paused and continued, “That’s because no one believed you were God of the Northern Wall. They all thought Gong Wei was just trying to harm the leader of the Immortal Alliance. On the contrary, if Gong Wei had predicted that I, instead of you, would bring about the end of the world after ascending, I’m afraid everyone would have suspected it and thought that I looked more like someone who would do such a thing.”
Ying Kai stood frozen for a long time before he smiled self-deprecatingly. “I didn’t expect the flaw to be revealed here… I shouldn’t have let you see what happened on the Ascension Immortal Platform.”
Xu Shuangce chuckled. “Did you want to build the Ascension Path in reality because you remembered that you were God of the Northern Wall?”
Unexpectedly, Ying Kai shook his head. “No. The matter of forcibly opening the Heavenly Gate was just following the general trend of the various schools of cultivation at the time.”
For over a thousand years, no one had ascended, and the anxiety of cultivators had reached its peak. Therefore, the various schools of cultivation joined forces to build a path to the heavens, and then entrusted the most hopeful candidate for ascension, Ying Kai, to attempt it. If he could really ascend successfully, it would be a major hope for all cultivators.
Xu Shuangce felt a faint suspicion rising in his heart. “So how did you remember your identity now?”
Ying Kai said, “I’ve been dreaming of being roasted by the flames of karma for some time, vaguely remembering something, but not understanding it.” He nodded toward the round table. “It wasn’t until I saw that, that I truly remembered everything.”
When Xu Shuangce looked down, it was at the bronze wedge-shaped box.
Everything finally came together. Xu Shuangce’s face suddenly changed.
It was only at this moment that he finally understood why the ghost cultivator told Du Kaiyun that “the key to returning to reality is hidden in the skulls of the soldier puppets of annihilation”—the evil intentions of God of the Northern Wall were sealed in this bronze box. Only by letting Ying Kai personally touch it could his memories of thousands of years be restored, and only then would he want to break the illusion and return to reality.
If we delve deeper into the past: the Ghost Cultivator manipulated the soldier thread by exploiting Bai Xian’s desire for revenge, used the soldier thread to control the body of Law Flower Immortal, and used this corpse to awaken Ying Kai’s partial memories of the War of Annihilation. Then, it led Du Kaixun, Bai Xian, Xu Shuangce, Gong Wei, Ying Kai, and others to the depths below the Tianmen Pass Abyss, gathered three drops of blood, successfully awakened the World Ending Soldier Puppet, and ultimately obtained the bronze box.
Every step was carefully calculated, and every step yielded immediate results.
From the very beginning, the Ghost cultivator’s target had been Ying Kai. Only with the help of Ying Kai’s power could it break through this dream!
“…I won’t let you break The butterfly dies and the dream is born,” he said softly, word by word.
“Do you really know what you’re saying?” Ying Kai’s eyes showed a hint of mockery. “Only by completely destroying the formation eye can this dream end safely, and all the cultivators, including Gong Wei, can return to reality alive. Otherwise, once the dream collapses completely, everyone will perish—do I need to remind you again who is included in this ‘everyone’?”
“…”
“Including Liu Xuzhi, including Wen Xiuyang, including Yuchi Xiao, including Changsheng, whom you watched grow up, and also including yourself.” Ying Kai paused and continued, “Including the one waiting for you to return in the Forbidden Hall… Gong Wei.”
Xu Shuangce’s face had never looked so grim. Ying Kai raised an eyebrow. “Is it really worth it for tens of thousands of cultivators in the world to bury me alone?”
The two stared at each other for a long time, and Xu Shuangce finally closed his eyes and said, “There are still other ways, Ying Kai. I’ll go find Gong Wei and persuade him to lift The butterfly dies and the dream is born spell himself, so that everyone can return alive to reality. As long as you are willing to explain the situation to the various schools of cultivation, there is still room for maneuver in this matter. At least the Ascension Path has been completely destroyed…”
“It hasn’t been destroyed.”
Xu Shuangce’s expression froze.
Ying Kai sighed regretfully. “You just had the opportunity to kill Gong Wei on the Ascension Immortal Platform; he hadn’t had time to completely destroy the foundation of the array. So, after returning to reality, I can still find a way to rebuild the Ascension Path.”
Xu Shuangce clenched his fists in his sleeves, and after a moment, he opened his dark and sharp eyes. “The Lord of the Realm will not truly die. Do you think breaking the array is as simple as stabbing Gong Wei with a sword?” Ying Kai said calmly, “That’s just because you haven’t found the right way to destroy the formation eye.”
Formation eye?
Suddenly, Xu Shuangce remembered something and had a lightning-like realization: Gong Wei’s eyes!
Just then, without any warning, a deafening roar echoed in the high sky outside the hall.
Boom—
The entire ground shook violently in an instant, tables and chairs shifted, porcelain ware fell and shattered. Xu Shuangce quickly stepped to the window to look outside, and the sky revealed an unprecedented huge gap, violent cold winds sweeping down to the mortal realm.
“The demon wind is coming, the demon wind is coming!”
“Save us!”
“Mother, mother!”
…
The fleeing crowd turned into peach blossoms amidst their cries, emitting a crimson light as they floated into the sky, disappearing behind the deep sky hole. But this spiritual power was of no help to the entire world. Further away, in the high sky, collapses continued one after another, terrifying black holes extending all the way to the horizon!
With a bang, Ying Kai closed the window with a sweep of his sleeve, and the cries for help disappeared instantly.
“I forgot to tell you,” he said lightly, “I’ve always hated hearing people’s cries. Now, I can finally close the window.”
Xu Shuangce clenched his teeth, turned and rushed to the door, but was stopped by Ying Kai’s outstretched hand. “Do you want to infuse spiritual power into Gong Wei? It’s useless. It’s about to collapse completely.”
“Get out of the way!”
Ying Kai smiled. “Guess how many people will recover their memories of reality in this wave?”
Xu Shuangce’s brow furrowed, and in an instant, he reached for No Way Out in Ying Kai’s palm. But Ying Kai reacted faster. The two clashed lightning-fast, exchanging dozens of moves, with their energies crisscrossing. Walls, pillars, and tiles burst into pieces. With a loud rumble, Xu Shuangce’s back hit a screen, and the heavy jade screen instantly turned into powder. He flew out without a chance to react, crashing down and collapsing half of the wall!
“Your spiritual power is probably less than thirty percent of usual.” When the dust settled, Ying Kai stepped forward. “If you continue like this, you’ll probably dissipate before the illusion collapses completely.”
Xu Shuangce wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his index finger, his pupils cold and deep. In the moment of eye contact, Ying Kai suddenly felt a sense of unease.
But before he could turn around, a fierce wind had already arrived behind him, aiming straight for No Way Out sword in his hand—it was Xu Shuangce again!
The “Xu Shuangce” in front of him, wiping blood with his finger, vanished with a bang—it was a substitution technique!
Ying Kai’s pupils contracted. It was too late to say anything; Xu Shuangce’s fingertip had already touched the hilt of No Way Out sword, and the divine sword was about to be unsheathed.
But in the instant they passed each other, the wind lifted Ying Kai’s sleeve, revealing a shard of broken mirror deeply embedded in his arm. In an instant, it reflected in Xu Shuangce’s eyes, with half a character carved in blood—Qu.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Shuangce recognized it.
In the winter of the twenty-eighth year of the Taiyi Era in the illusion, half a year after Gong Wei’s “death,” a giant mirror coffin was found abandoned in the depths of the pine forest on Dai Mountain Island. The mirror coffin was half a zhang tall and weighed over a thousand jin. The blood-sealed characters on the coffin lid were ancient and obscure, and only half of the surname of the deceased was left—”Qu”!
A sharp claw, like smoke, rose from the mirror, grabbing Xu Shuangce’s hand that touched No Way Out sword, and then clicked!
The intense pain spread, and Xu Shuangce struggled violently, stepping back several steps. His elbow was already bent backward. He gritted his teeth and realigned it with a crack, then snapped it back into place. At this moment, a large amount of cold and evil black smoke rose from the mirror, rolling to the ground like a living thing, transforming into a familiar figure.
Gray robe, hood, headless and faceless, countless crimson lights flickered where the face should have been. In the sleeves of the robe, there was an eerie blood sword. It was the ghost cultivator!
“…” Xu Shuangce turned to Ying Kai, each word carrying a chill, “Did you open the mirror coffin in Ding Xian Ling?”
Ying Kai calmly returned his gaze, “It’s not over yet.”
Only to see the Ghost Crown Prince’s body gradually undergoing changes, the smoke condensed into substance, white hands extending from under the gray robe, the body elongating and slender; features appeared in the hood, revealing the face of an eighteen, nineteen-year-old youth.
His skin was pale, his appearance handsome, with eerie crimson lights hidden deep in his eyes, and a somewhat indifferent smile playing at the corner of his mouth. This appearance bore at least five similarities to Gong Wei, but he was taller, with broad shoulders and long legs, exuding a lazy yet profoundly powerful oppression.
The gray robe fell from the sky, transforming into black attire, with the belt robe embroidered with gorgeous amaryllis flowers.
At the same time, the unnatural red film finally faded from the sword in his palm, revealing a gleaming blood-colored cold light.
“It’s finally released. It wasn’t easy,” he said lazily, with a tone both low and grandiose. “At the moment when the dream was activated, even I thought I was done for.”
Xu Shuangce’s face was ice-cold as he murmured softly, “I thought you had been thrown into the deepest depths of the Yellow Springs by Xuanjing River… Ghost Crown Prince.”
The youth flicked his sleeve with his fingertips, paused at the sound of Xu Shuangce’s voice, looked up at him, and then suddenly curved his eyes.
“My master’s bones are unusually tough, rarely seen in the world. It took quite some effort to lock him up in the cage I carefully crafted. But now he can neither seek life nor death. I can finally relax a bit.”
The Ghost Crown Prince folded his hands behind his back. Despite his naturally aggressive appearance, his smile was very pleasant and friendly, a stark contrast that made people even more uneasy. “Long time no see, how have you been, God of the Eastern Heavens?”
Xu Shuangce’s thoughts raced, and his finger dipped in blood swiftly wrote a character in his palm. However, his expression remained unchanged. “Is it you who has been secretly manipulating the Alliance Leader’s eagerness to build the Road to Heaven in the mortal realm?”
The Ghost Crown Prince arched his eyes. “What do you think?”
“What is your relationship with Gong Wei?”
The expression on the Ghost Crown Prince’s face remained unchanged. “Can you guess?”
At this moment, a thunderous quake pierced through the heavens and the earth, coming from the northern horizon—just as they spoke, another piece of the sky collapsed, this time in the direction of Cangyang Sect!
As Xu Shuangce made the final stroke, he rushed forward. However, Ying Kai’s agility was unmatched. He withdrew his hand to shield No Way Out behind him. Unexpectedly, Xu Shuangce feigned an attack, and the palm with the blood-written character pressed against Ying Kai’s chest, revealing the word “Forbidden”!
Ying Kai’s movements abruptly froze, and he stood frozen in place.
In the blink of an eye, the Ghost Crown Prince’s sword came slashing down. Xu Shuangce narrowly dodged the blade, but the edge of Cangyang Sect Master’s robe was silently shaved off.
It was just a split second away from reclaiming the No Way Out sword. Xu Shuangce retreated to the gate like lightning, at the same time pressing his palm towards the Ghost Crown Prince’s head. The forbidden curse in his palm emitted a red light, but the next moment, his hand passed directly through the Prince’s head, pressing on nothing!
“Oh, sorry.” The Ghost Crown Prince apologized as if he had just remembered something. “I forgot to mention, my body has already been left under the Yellow Springs to accompany my master.”
Despite his aggressive swordsmanship, his expression remained unchanged. He swung his blood sword viciously towards Xu Shuangce’s throat, seemingly about to decapitate him!
Clang!
The blood sword was heavily blocked, producing a loud and deafening sound—it was Mountain Ocean Order!
For a moment, the scene froze, and the unexpected gaze in Xu Shuangce’s eyes was reflected on the intersecting swords.
Ying Kai had actually forcibly broken free from the forbidden curse, although his tendons cracked, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, and the hand gripping the sword handle was cracking inch by inch, flesh and blood revealing bone.
“Xu Shuangce is my only brother,” Ying Kai stared at the Ghost Crown Prince, his gaze as cold as a sword’s edge. “Have you forgotten, Qu Xie?”
The Ghost Crown Prince’s usually happy expression changed slightly at this moment, but immediately returned to normal. He made a polite gesture. “Oh, sorry about that.”
As soon as the Ghost Crown Prince’s words fell, Xu Shuangce stepped back sideways, but the blood curse on Ying Kai’s body had been completely broken. The two engaged in a brief exchange, with Mountain Ocean Order narrowly missing Xu Shuangce’s ear several times, and the sword energy rupturing the surrounding walls into pieces!
The Ghost Crown Prince Qu Xie stood leisurely not far away, watching the battle with interest. Suddenly, he spoke, “To be honest, God of the Eastern Heavens, I haven’t thanked you yet.”
Xu Shuangce knew he was just trying to disturb him and remained silent, focusing on dodging Mountain Ocean Order’s sword edge. Behind him, a deep sword arc suddenly appeared on a stone pillar.
“Gong Wei has been battling me for tens of thousands of years, never falling behind in his meticulous schemes. Before he activated The butterfly dies and the dream is born, he sealed me in the mirror coffin, preventing me from appearing in the illusion for the first twenty-eight years, until you…Cleanly stabbed him to death at the Ascension Immortal Platform.”
Mountain Ocean Order left a long scar on Xu Shuangce’s left arm, blood spraying in an arc!
“For the sixteen years he was ‘dead,’ he lost control of the illusion, and I could barely make the mirror coffin appear on Dai Mountain. But before I could figure out a way to leave the coffin and find Alliance Leader Ying, I was sealed in Ding Xian Ling again.”
The Ghost Crown Prince seemed to feel that his own fate was quite unfortunate. He sighed as he smiled, then suddenly changed the subject. “By the way, I have been sealed in the mirror coffin all along. Can you guess why I suddenly appeared in Linjiang City a few months ago?”
In fact, Xu Shuangce had a vague answer in his heart, but amidst Ying Kai’s relentless pursuit, he remained as cold as frost, not saying a word.
“Oh, yes.” The Ghost Crown Prince smiled. “Because after you stabbed them in the dream, Gong Wei in reality finally ran out of energy. His control over the dream had reached its lowest point, and he couldn’t even maintain the seal on the mirror coffin. Thanks to you taking action decisively at the Ascension Immortal Platform…”
Xu Shuangce’s voice was stern. “Shut up!”
He forcibly diverted Mountain Ocean Order’s sword edge, pointed a finger at the ghost crown prince with a fierce aura, and shot out spiritual power!
The Ghost Crown Prince tilted his head slightly, effortlessly evading the surge of spiritual power. “Do you know why Gong Wei was so eager to expel you from the dream?”
Xu Shuangce forcefully blocked Ying Kai’s sword moves with one hand while continuously directing fierce qi towards the Ghost Crown Prince with the other. However, the Ghost Crown Prince calmly evaded each one, his smiling voice unchanged. “Because only when you return to the real world can ‘No Way Out’ that’s been locked within his heart be released, piercing through his chest in an instant, causing the dream to collapse instantly. He can finally be freed from the long agony of sustaining the dream that supports the cycle of life and death. But unexpectedly, not only did you not die, but you also heartlessly killed him, forcing him to continue the dream for another sixteen years. During these sixteen years, his physical body in the real world suffered extreme pain, enduring the agony of spiritual depletion every moment…”
Xu Shuangce suddenly shook his sleeve. “I told you to shut up!”
The violent surge of spiritual energy rushed towards the Ghost Crown Prince, pushing him heavily against the stone pillar; at the same time, Mountain Ocean Order slashed down, and Xu Shuangce was about to block it head-on, but Ying Kai threw something out with his other hand, as if cutting open a long and deep crack in the air.
Xu Shuangce finally couldn’t dodge in time. In an instant, he recognized that treasure.
—The Mustard Seed Jar!
The crack came crashing down, enveloping Xu Shuangce in an instant. The surroundings on the left, right, and behind him turned into a dark and enclosed space. Only the front remained connected to the normal scene inside the hall. However, when Xu Shuangce reached out to push, nothing happened. He was already firmly trapped by the transparent barrier.
Xu Shuangce roared angrily, “Open it!”
Ying Kai stepped back half a step.
The Ghost Crown Prince stood up from the mess, dusting off his robe with ease, and smiled, “You’re still the same, God of the Eastern Heavens. You can’t help but inquire about everything related to the Mirror Immortal, even if even a little bit of bad news might stimulate you to lose control and become possessed.”
Xu Shuangce clenched his teeth, closed his eyes for a moment, and gradually calmed down. When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the calm demeanor of the Cangyang Sect Master, as cold as ice.
When Ying Kai broke free from the curse, all his joints were injured, with his right arm, which held the sword, being the most severely wounded. Blood continued to flow down the Mountain Ocean Order sword, dropping onto the tiles at his feet. Xu Shuangce withdrew his gaze from the bloodstains on the ground, no longer looking at the Ghost Crown Prince, and said in a deep voice, “Ying Kai, you’re not this kind of person.”
But Ying Kai said, “I am.”
His voice contained a kind of resignation and calmness, as he asked, “Do you know why, when we worked together to control the water, only I developed a killing barrier? Because you weren’t here to control the water from the beginning; you were here to save me.”
Xu Shuangce was stunned.
“When tens of thousands of people begged the immortal sect, I couldn’t bear the pressure and wanted to control the water, but you said it wasn’t a natural disaster, but a man-made calamity. Even if we wanted to save them, we shouldn’t resort to such methods. After a fierce argument, you left in anger. But when I was about to be drowned by the flood, you suddenly appeared. In the end, we both died in the surging Taihu Lake, welcoming Gong Wei’s opening of the Heavenly Gate together.” Ying Kai smiled with a touch of sadness. “You both tried to save me more than once, but you’ve forgotten it now.”
Xu Shuangce felt as if he were immersed in ice-cold water, and after a long while, he said hoarsely, “But we never succeeded.”
“Yes, because my killing barrier has a long history and runs deep…” Ying Kai’s eyes showed a hint of self-mockery. “It started from the moment when the people kneeling at the mountain gate shouted out ‘Seeing death without saving, worse than pigs and dogs’.”
Bang!
Xu Shuangce suddenly pressed his palm heavily against the transparent barrier. But before he could speak, Ying Kai flicked his sleeve, and invisible energy pushed Xu Shuangce back into the darkness behind him, and the Mustard Seed Jar closed suddenly!
“Sorry, Shuangce.” Ying Kai’s voice seemed to come from a distant place, calm and exhausted. “This time, neither of you need to come and save me anymore.”
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Well, once again, I totally missed the twist. Kin of a bummer that the nice Ying Kai turned out to be a bad guy.