Chapter 75
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“……” Gong Wei breathed softly with each word, “Xu Bai, have you gone mad?”
The powerful spiritual protection at this moment was simply impenetrable. Xu Shuangce slightly tilted his head, and from this angle, Gong Wei could only see the sharp and slender corners of his eyes. “Do you see it? If you see it, don’t try to kill me here, don’t waste your efforts.”
Gong Wei lowered his voice and shouted, “Do you know that this place is about to collapse completely? Do you want to die together in…”
Before he could finish his sentence, there was a deafening roar overhead. The vast sky within a radius of thousands of miles collapsed, revealing a pitch-black bottomless abyss. The raging wind made everyone stagger for a moment!
Xu Shuangce grabbed Gong Wei’s wrist and shouted, “Let’s go!”
A dazzling white sword light came straight at them, and the sword qi, like a surging wave, was unstoppable. It was unexpectedly Ying Kai, who had risen from the half-collapsed mountainside in the distance. Xu Shuangce swiftly wielded his sword to block this strike, and Ying Kai had already appeared in front of them. He swept his sleeve fiercely, “Heavenly Summons!”
Countless divine spirits shimmered with spiritual light, rising from every corner of the earth like shooting stars, gathering around Ying Kai. Suddenly, he was enveloped in invisible roaring flames, and clashed head-on with Xu Shuangce for more than ten strikes. The surrounding rocks and trees shattered into pieces, rushing in all directions.
“Do you want to leave here?” Ying Kai looked at Gong Wei over Xu Shuangce’s shoulder and said in a deep voice, “Leave the formation eye!”
Gong Wei’s response was a sword slashing towards Ying Kai’s throat from bottom to top. The latter instantly tilted his head back to avoid it, but the sword qi still left a long blood mark on his chin.
Immediately after, with a clang, Bai Tai Shou collided with Mountain Ocean Order, and Gong Wei firmly resisted Ying Kai, saying coldly, “Why dodge?”
Ying Kai said, “Naturally, I…”
“If I kill you, you will immediately return to the real world alone, and you can rebuild the Path to Heaven in the Underground Palace. Whether you want to ascend or destroy the world, no one can stop you anymore—so why dodge?!” Gong Wei interrupted.
Clang!
Gong Wei swept his sword again, about to decapitate Ying Kai, but the latter gritted his teeth and blocked it with his sword, emitting a loud clang!
“Because you also know that once you return to the real world alone, time will flow again on the Ascension Immortal Platform, and I will immediately be pierced by No Way Out through the heart, causing the entire dream realm to collapse, and everyone trapped in the dream will perish.” The clash of two swords emitted a piercing friction sound, as Gong Wei leaned closer to Ying Kai’s ear and said, word by word, “—You can’t bear it.”
“……”
“Yuchi Rui, Mu Duozhu, Liu Xuzhi… Do you want to bring them all back to the real world, even though you know that after returning, they will continue to hinder your ascension?” Gong Wei’s eyes, cold yet with a hint of pity, looked at Ying Kai. “You are extreme and indecisive, deeply tormented yet unable to let go, full of boundless hatred yet still harboring a trace of compassion… You hate this distorted self, and you hate the people who made you like this, so you can only make them all disappear.”
The earth-shattering cry from years ago sounded again in Ying Kai’s ears, each word clear and audible: “Indifferent to death, worse than pigs and dogs!”
“Why don’t you save us if you want to become an immortal and a god?!”
“Tens of thousands of people knelt and begged him for seven days. They shouldn’t have begged him in the first place, but only for their own ascension…”
“….Shut up,” veins protruded from Ying Kai’s forehead, and he spat out two hoarse words from his clenched teeth, “Shut up!” “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let you ascend back then,” Gong Wei tightened his grip on the sword hilt, and said in a low voice, “You can’t reconcile with the world, let alone reconcile with yourself.”
Ying Kai roared, “Stop talking!”
Boom—Mountain Ocean Order came crashing down overwhelmingly, and Bai Tai Shou fiercely fought back. Xu Shuangce rushed forward to attack Ying Kai, and with each heavy collision, a violent qi burst forth, forming layers of circular shockwaves rushing in all directions!
At this moment, Ying Kai couldn’t withstand Xu Shuangce’s assault, let alone Gong Wei joining in. Under the joint attack of the two, he retreated repeatedly. Seeing this, the Ghost Crown Prince on the ground furrowed his brows tightly. He was about to stand up and move forward when he hesitated, suddenly dodged to the side like lightning, and two sharp leaf blades passed by his face silently.
The blades spun back, but were firmly caught by Mu Duozhu’s fingertips. He shouted, “Stop the Ghost Crown Prince!”
Not everyone present might immediately act against Ying Kai, but there was no hesitation when it came to the Ghost Crown Prince. Immediately, more than a dozen cultivators drew their swords and rushed forward. Qu Xie lightly clicked his tongue and sighed, “Mortals.” Then, he inserted the blood sword into the ground, formed a seal with both hands, and lifted his eyes, releasing a cold light as he uttered a single word: “Seal!”
Yuchi Xiao: “You guys be—”
Before the word “careful” could be uttered, countless chain-like blood-red seals centered around the Ghost Crown Prince, rapidly extending east, west, south, and north. They stretched along the ground towards the various cultivators present, like thousands of hissing venomous snakes.
“What’s…what’s going on?” “Let go of me!” “These things can’t be cut!”…
Everyone was tightly bound by concentric circles of blood-red seals, and cries of shock echoed continuously. Immortal swords fell to the ground one after another. At this moment, Gong Wei saw this scene as he pushed Ying Kai back several meters with his sword. Immediately, he shouted, “Changsheng, catch it!”
As he spoke, a talisman flew out of his sleeve, condensing into a rope of shimmering light in mid-air, shooting towards Yuchi Rui!
As long as he grabbed this rope, he could leave with them. However, at this critical moment, Yuchi Rui gasped, shook his head abruptly, and exerted force to cut off the blood-red chains crawling towards his feet along the ground. Immediately after, a sword light from the Rakshasa Tower heavily struck, causing the seals on his nephew Yuchi Xiao’s body in the distance to “crack” and break.
The young master of the Yejinmen immediately drew his sword and rushed over to assist in the battle, “Lord Sword Sect Master…”
However, Yuchi Rui waved his hand vigorously, and the overwhelming force sent his nephew flying into the air, and he was caught directly by the rope held by Gong Wei!
Gong Wei realized something, “Changsheng?”
Yuchi Xiao struggled, “Uncle!”
“Take him away!” The roar of the Sword Sect Master overwhelmed everything else, “I’ll stay here, hurry up and leave, don’t look back!!”
There was no time to delay. Xu Shuangce forced Mountain Ocean Order back with a sword, while Ying Kai still tried to stop them. Meanwhile, the sword qi from the Rakshasa Tower was already coming from above, so Gong Wei had to turn around first to block this imposing sword.
In this moment, Xu Shuangce had already passed by, one hand holding Gong Wei and the other dragging Yuchi Xiao, rushing towards the distance without looking back like an arrow!
The Ghost Crown Prince narrowed his eyes, “You want to leave like this?” Then he drew his sword to pursue. But just as he was about to go after them, there was a deafening clang, and the Rakshasa Tower erupted in blazing golden flames. It fiercely collided with the blood sword, and the rocks under Yuchi Rui’s and the Ghost Crown Prince’s feet simultaneously turned into powder!
At this moment, most of the cultivators were more or less pinned in place by the blood-red seals, only Yuchi Rui was holding his sword to block the Ghost Crown Prince and Ying Kai. The Ghost Crown Prince’s eyes flickered with cold light as he looked Yuchi Rui up and down, “Do you really think you can stop both of us?”
Ying Kai also sensed something, “Changsheng, don’t do anything stupid. Everything that happens in the dream will not have no impact on reality.”
However, Yuchi Rui turned a deaf ear, and the air around him was tightening bit by bit. An unusually powerful qi rose from the ground around him. The various sizes of gravel around him began to tremble, and then, with a bang! They simultaneously exploded into stone powder.
“Gong Wei,” he gasped without looking back.
With spiritual power delivering each word to Gong Wei’s ears as if they were right next to him, each word was hoarse yet clear, “You are my only brother, Yuanju is my only blood relative, Xu Shuangce…”
He paused for a moment and said honestly, “Although I still can’t stand Xu Shuangce, you must all survive.”
The hands in Gong Wei’s sleeves trembled slightly, and he heard him say at last, “On the Ascension Immortal Platform, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
As the last word was spoken, the area within a radius of ten li around Yuchi Rui collapsed simultaneously, and a blazing golden light shot up from the ground, like a towering diamond-shaped shield.
The golden core of the Sword Sect Master completely exploded.
The divine sword Rakshasa Tower burst into flames, terrifyingly powerful, illuminating half of the sky!
“…Qu Xie…” Gong Wei’s voice burst from between his teeth, then he roared, shaking the mountains, “Qu Xie!!”
The Bai Tai Shou sword pierced through the air, its unprecedented furious sword light reaching a height of a hundred zhang, tearing the earth like a blade. The blood sword slipped from his hand, and a spray of blood arced from the Ghost Crown Prince’s chest for an instant!
Ying Kai drew his sword to strike, but in the next moment, the Rakshasa Tower thundered down. Dazzling spiritual power enveloped Yuchi Rui’s entire body, sending Ying Kai flying dozens of zhang away with both him and his sword!
The sword light emitted by Ying Kai’s strike shot towards the sky, aiming directly at Xu Shuangce’s back. But Xu Shuangce didn’t even turn his head, shouting, “Blood River Carriage!”
A long roar pierced the sky as four divine birds pulled a huge carriage through the clouds. In the eyes of everyone, they drew a huge arc, scooping up Xu Shuangce, Gong Wei, and Yuchi Rui at the perfect moment, narrowly avoiding the sword light cleaved by Mountain Ocean Order.
Then, “Roar!”
The Qilin Bird spewed a fierce flame, directly engulfing and incinerating the sword light. Then the four divine birds glided together, disappearing into the vast northern sky like meteors.
Bang!
The three men collided in the carriage, and the door slammed shut tightly.
Yuchi Xiao didn’t even hesitate, immediately trying to rush out, but Gong Wei raised his hand, and an invisible barrier immediately pushed him back, causing him to stagger and kneel heavily on the ground after a few steps.
“…Uncle…” Yuchi Xiao’s forehead pressed against the ground, trembling all over from the effort to suppress his emotions. The veins on his neck and back of his hand bulged, and after a while, he vented his frustration by punching the floor.
“My mother, my uncle, the twelve hundred disciples of my clan…they all…they all…”
No one answered him, except for the howling wind outside, silence filled the cart.
“You must have a way, right?” Yuchi Xiao suddenly turned his head, every word filled with despair, “They won’t all be lost, will they?!”
Following his gaze, Gong Wei stood tall, half shrouded in shadow, and after a long while, he raised his beautiful yet cold eyes, bloodshot but calm voice, “Yuanju, I’m going to tell you an unpleasant truth.”
“The Heavenly Dao is not entirely benevolent to mortals, even I have a cruel side. I will risk everything for the lives of the innocent, but there are limits to that risk, and I won’t let both the God of the Northern Wall and the Ghost Crown Prince go free in the end.”
Yuchi Xiao’s pupils trembled slightly, “…The Heavenly Dao?”
“Ten thousand years ago, the world was chaotic, and the Heavenly Dao was a double-sided mirror suspended between heaven and earth. It reflected the joys and sorrows, marriages and funerals, births, aging, sickness, and death of mortals. Over time, the side that saw the goodness and joy of mortals became filled with clear qi, increasingly turning towards the heavenly realm, while the side that saw the secrets and reality of mortals became filled with turbid qi, increasingly falling towards the underworld.”
Gong Wei paused and said, “So the two sides of the mirror separated, the former gave birth to me, and the latter gave birth to Qu Xie.”
“…” Yuchi Rui murmured, “So, that is the Ghost Crown Prince?”
“He just refused to admit his relationship with the Heavenly Dao, so he came up with the nickname ‘Ghost Crown Prince’ for himself, which was later believed by people, and that’s how rumors spread.” A faint cold smile appeared at the corner of Gong Wei’s lips, “And the reason he instigated the God of the Northern Wall to destroy the world is very simple, just to kill more people—the more people die, the fuller the Yellow Springs, the more abundant the Guiyuan, and the stronger his divine power becomes. Qu Xie is a capricious evil god, willing to gain power and indulge in pleasure, even if all humans are completely wiped out from the world.” “He and the God of the Northern Wall hit it off, which is why there was the apocalypse nine thousand years ago. If I can’t completely defeat the two of them this time, the flames of the apocalypse will inevitably rise again, and by then it will be difficult to contain them again.”
Yuchi Rui stood motionless for a while, tears gradually welled up in his eyes, hoarsely, “But my uncle…”
Gong Wei remained silent for a while before speaking softly, “Yuanju, your uncle asked me to bring you back to the mortal realm. I swear you will definitely survive.”
Yuchi Xiao roared in disbelief, “I don’t need to survive! Let me go back and die in battle! I—”
“When the last moment comes, I will kill you and Xu Bai together. As soon as you two leave the dream, time in the mortal realm will resume flowing, and the entire dream will vanish in smoke along with me on the Ascension Immortal Platform.” Gong Wei stared at him, his gaze weary yet calm. “Yuanju, if one day in the future you ascend to the Dao and stand at this height, you will understand everything I did today.”
Yuchi Xiao’s fingers dug deep into the floor, his muscles tense to the point of trembling. Gong Wei reached out to pat his shoulder, but before his hand could make contact, a tremendous force struck from behind, like invisible shackles, lightning-fast, twisting Gong Wei’s hands behind his back with a firm “click” locking them in place.
Gong Wei turned in surprise, only to see Xu Shuangce stepping forward from behind, saying lightly, “You can talk, just don’t get physical.”
“Xu Bai…”
Xu Shuangce stood still, reaching out to gently brush in front of his eyes, his palm tenderly passing over his eyelashes.
“You can’t kill anyone,” Gong Wei heard Xu Shuangce say before losing consciousness. “Just take a nap.”
Yuchi Xiao stared in astonishment, only to see Gong Wei silently slump down, effortlessly caught by the Cangyang Sect Master and cradled in his sturdy arms.
Yuchi Xiao opened his mouth but struggled to speak, “Sect Master Xu, what are you…”
Xu Shuangce replied coldly, “We’re going to Tianmen Pass.”
“Tianmen Pass?”
“Mmm.” Xu Shuangce looked out the window, the clouds swiftly retreating, reflecting in his dark and sharp eyes. “To take the third path beyond life and death.”
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