Chapter 84
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Xu Shuangce dashed back from the icy land thousands of miles away, still covered in snow and wind. He arrived at Dai Mountain Tui’e under the cover of night, only to find that Gong Wei’s residence, where he was being held, was empty.
Gong Wei had already left the human realm and rushed into Guiyuan to find Xuan Jinghe.
Over the past few months, Gong Wei had conversed with Ying Kai several times, and it was basically determined that he couldn’t stop the Immortal Alliance from building the Heavenly Dao Path by controlling Ying Kai. Opening the Heavens Gate was the common aspiration of every cultivator. Only when that path to ascension was opened could all beings gain a kind of elusive confidence, and continue their arduous cultivation. Otherwise, every disciple of the Xuanmen would be able to see the ultimate fate of growing old and dying at a glance when they were born. Who would still cultivate diligently for decades or even hundreds of years with a clear and unattached mind?
Comparatively, Ying Kai himself was not so enthusiastic about ascension. Subconsciously, he still harbored the confusion and pain from nine thousand years ago. But the problem was that the current Alliance Leader was swayed by public opinion, and even if Gong Wei persuaded him with words and illusions, he couldn’t stop the overall trend of the entire Immortal Alliance.
Even a deity couldn’t contend with human hearts, and Gong Wei realized this soberly. So, one night, he left Tui’e alone and, wielding a sword, entered Guiyuan. Taking advantage of the absence of the Ghost Crown Prince, he searched through the twelve mansions of Guiyuan, but he couldn’t find Xuan Jinghe no matter how hard he looked.
―― Of course, he couldn’t find him. At this moment, Xuan Jinghe had long been imprisoned in the Ghost Crown Prince’s secret sleeping chamber, trapped in the blood pool altar for hundreds of years.
And where was the Ghost Crown Prince? In the far north.
The Ghost Crown Prince revived Du Kaixun, who had been beheaded by Xu Shuangce, and obtained a part of Yin Yuan soul from him, thereby gaining the ability to control the soldier threads. He then had Du Kaixun lie in ambush under the Tianmen Pass, waiting for Changsun Chengfeng, who came to investigate the remains of the world ending soldier puppet, intending to assassinate his brother and take over his body.
Unfortunately, Du Kaixun missed his chance.
Changsun Chengfeng managed to escape from the Tianmen Pass and didn’t die at the hands of his younger brother.
Du Kaixun was seriously injured and unable to return to the Central Plains, so he had to linger around the Tianmen Pass to recuperate.
The Ghost Crown Prince could only lament that Changsun Chengfeng was lucky, then he returned to Guiyuan, but unexpectedly encountered Gong Wei, who was searching through the Yellow Springs to find Xuan Jinghe. This immediately sparked a fierce battle.
Qu Xie and Gong Wei were of the same origin, representing the Yin and Yang sides of the same mirror. Although Qu Xie, who grew faster most of the time, was slightly stronger, it was really difficult to determine the outcome in a fight to the death. Moreover, Gong Wei used all his tricks to keep Qu Xie entangled. As the day for the Ascension Immortal Platform to forcefully open the Heavens Gate approached, Qu Xie was trapped in Guiyuan and couldn’t escape.
Helpless, Qu Xie had to take risks. He transferred all his divine power into the Heavens Path formation in the underground palace of the Ascension Immortal Platform――this way, regardless of whether he was present or not, when the Ascension Immortal Platform was worshipped on the day of ascension, the formation would activate on time, using his divine power to build the Heavens Dao Path for the Xuanmen.
Furious, Gong Wei had no choice but to kill Qu Xie with a sword, then he turned and left Guiyuan, returning to the Dai Mountain Alliance.
This day happened to be the day of the Ascension Immortal Platform ritual.
The white jade high platform was adorned with golden pillars, and representatives from all the sects of the Xuanmen gathered at Dai Mountain. The grandmasters were all present.
Since the Heavens Dao Path could no longer be stopped, the only option left for Gong Wei was to kill Ying Kai.
The crimson-clad youth wielded a long sword, and behind him laid a sea of corpses, as if the terrifying Grim Reaper from hell had descended upon the earth.
――When Xu Shuangce was hastily summoned, this was the scene he saw.
Countless cultivators were injured or killed along the way, and the closer they got to the Ascension Immortal Platform, the more horrifying the scene became. The situation was unbearable to witness. Many young disciples, with promising futures ahead of them, were killed with a single sword through the heart, and many cultivators died with their eyes wide open, their last moments frozen in shock on their cold faces.
The white jade staircase was stained red with blood, and the thirty-six grandmasters on the Ascension Immortal Platform were also heavily injured or killed. Some had their right arms, used for wielding swords, brutally severed, while others laid in pools of blood, their fates unknown. The only one who could barely stand was Yuchi Rui, but even he could only gasp for his last breath, trembling as he pointed at Gong Wei: “Kill… kill him…”
There were no words to describe the feelings of the Cangyang Sect Master at this moment, or rather, he felt nothing at all, his mind completely blank like a dead man’s. “This… all of this is… his doing, he also killed Chengfeng!” Yuchi Rui’s tears welled up in his eyes, gritting his teeth as he stared at Gong Wei: “He also killed Chengfeng!!”
If at the moment when he heard the news and rushed over, Xu Shuangce actually had other thoughts in his mind, now all his thoughts had disappeared after witnessing everything along the way.
Xu Shuangce looked at Gong Wei, who was covered in injuries, trembling as he opened his mouth. He wanted to say that he had gone to the far north, killed Du Kaixun, and came back that night to find him in Tui’e, but he was already gone; he also wanted to ask about the meaning behind the words he said to him that night, that you were a little fox, was there some hidden and special meaning in it, can you tell me?
But in the end, he clenched his teeth tightly.
“You are not human, nor do you belong to this world…” he heard his own voice, each word tinged with the bloodthirsty dryness of his throat: “I must send you away.”
The youth grabbed the sword’s edge despite everything: “Xu Shuangce, I like you, you can’t do this to me!”
“…No, you don’t understand what this feeling is.” Xu Shuangce looked at him, each word cold and hopeless: “You’re just a mirror that shows me how I fell into emotional obstacles.”
Tears filled Gong Wei’s eyes as he widened them.
The next moment, his pupils turned blood red, and the Illusion Technique of The butterfly dies and the dream is born was activated.
The torrent of divine power swept through heaven and earth, freezing the passage of time in the mortal world.
On the Ascension Immortal Platform, Xu Shuangce froze, suspended in Gong Wei’s heart;
Meanwhile, beneath the Yellow Springs, the last remnants of Mirror Immortal’s divine power coalesced into a mirror coffin, imprisoning and sealing away the Ghost Crown Prince’s soul, along with all the cultivators in the world, pulling them into the vast dream world slowly unfolding.
――The story finally begins from this moment.
In the The butterfly dies and the dream is born, being personally killed by the realm lord is the only way to leave the dream and return to the real world. So when Gong Wei entered the dream, he knew that he would be empty of all thoughts and memories, and the last bit of his determination only allowed him to remember one thing, which was to kill Xu Shuangce.
He wanted to drive Xu Shuangce out of this destined-to-be-destroyed dream, despite his grievances and reluctance.
But what he didn’t expect was that when Xu Shuangce entered the dream, he only saw the young Gong Wei for the first time in the peach blossom forest of Cangyang Sect. The emotional obstacles that had not been extinguished for nine thousand years rose again from the depths of his heart, almost piercing through his entire soul in an instant.
Born from love, worry arises; born from love, fear arises; born from love unattained, evil obstacles arise.
“I have always loved you, like a mortal blaspheming the gods in his heart…”
“…I am willing to carry these joys, worries, and fears forever, until the end of my long life.”
By the banks of the River of Three Ways in the underworld, Xu Shuangce laid in Gong Wei’s arms, slowly opening his eyes.
The last trace of divine light entered his brow, and then his divine power spread magnificently, shaking the three realms. After nine thousand years, the Eastern Heavenly God finally returned to his place.
“…” Xu Shuangce stared at Gong Wei’s familiar face, his eyes blinking incessantly, before hoarsely saying, “I seem to have had a very long dream…”
Gong Wei’s deep crimson sleeves brushed against the rocks on the riverbank, and he smiled as he propped his chin up with one hand: “What did you dream of?”
Xu Shuangce was silent for a moment before saying, “I dreamt of a little fox saying he would like me forever.”
“Mm.” Gong Wei’s mischievous smile deepened: “The little fox will love you forever.”
Xu Shuangce reached out, his slender fingers trembling violently, and held the back of Gong Wei’s neck, urging him to lower his head, and their lips touched, then their lips and teeth entangled without interruption.
As if the separation and chaos of nine thousand years had never happened, as if the Eastern Heavenly God from nine thousand years ago was kneeling by the cloud couch, the emotional obstacles newly born, heartbeats like drums, imprinting a devout kiss on the drunken Mirror Immortal.
“…You guys,” a calm voice sounded nearby.
Gong Wei almost jumped in shock, Xu Shuangce turned his head to look, only to see Yuchi Rui sitting cross-legged about ten steps away, still holding the posture of wiping his sword from earlier, his eyes calm, his face expressionless.
After a while, he slowly said, “So this is what they call dual cultivation in books.”
“…” Xu Shuangce said, “It’s not.”
Gong Wei: “Yuchi Rui, listen to me explain! It’s not what you think!”
However, Yuchi Rui looked back and forth between the two of them, his gaze sharp and accusatory, and after a while, he turned his body around by rubbing his buttocks on the ground, revealing only a cold and upright back.
“In broad daylight, under the vast sky…” he said coldly, “…and you made me witness dual cultivation.”
Want to show your support? Come donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Ah, the never-ending tragedy that is the life of a light bulb when two people in love are near….