When the Great Spike Miwang broke through to the new rank in the depths of the galaxy, the strike it unleashed by combining old and new—that colossal slashing energy... when first condensed, was a pinpoint of light smaller than a grain of rice.
This tiny, brilliant point of light traversed the galaxy, piercing through boundless darkness.
During this process, though condensed to the utmost limit, it still could not avoid depletion and dissipation; no one could estimate the exact ratio or extent.
Yet as it dissipated and wore away, it expanded instead, until upon finally nearing the azure planet, it had evolved into a slash several thousand kilometers long and hundreds of kilometers wide.
That night, roughly ten seconds after Chen Buer looked up, Ne also looked up from beneath the glaciers of Antarctica.
They were the only two people in the world at that time who sensed that energy in advance.
"The one that flies the highest... an airplane?" On the autumn wind-swept grassland, Xu Xiaohong asked with reddened eyes, managing a smile.
"Isn't it? Well, whatever works, as long as it goes the highest. I'm uneducated, you know that." Chen Buer turned back and said, "The mutton's done."
During the time they waited for that highest-flying contraption to be arranged, they ate meat and drank wine. Chen Buer gave Xu Xiaohong a few instructions and calmly bade them farewell.
Then, on that autumn night under a full moon, upon the grassy plains where he herded sheep, he set down his blue-and-white porcelain wine bowl, stood up with his blade strapped to his back, and departed alone on his journey...
He went to fight in the vault of heaven.
His name was Chen Buer, and he was invincible in this mortal world.
And so, as a matter of course, he went to do what someone invincible in the mortal realm ought to do.
Those present to see him off were all old comrades.
"I bear a blade, shedding old robes to march to war,
Striking midstream with the oar, striving for great harmony.
Countless men through ancient times and now, yet how many were true heroes?
Shattering our heads in yellow dust, carving deeds into the firmament,
From death to this day, our hot blood still runs crimson."
"I have a red tassel, that can bind the azure dragon..."
The rough singing, heavy with the scent of strong liquor, drifted with the wind from behind him.
They stood watching, but none of them—not even Xu Xiaohong—tried to stop him.
***
The azure planet, a certain day thirteen years ago.
The world had its day and night; stars, moon, and sunlight; clear skies and rain; autumn, spring, and summer.
Lovers were affectionate or quarreling; children were well-behaved or mischievous; those heading out were stepping out the door, while those returning home were on their way; someone had just caught sight of their beloved, while another was heartbroken and drunk...
High in the vault of heaven, in a place beyond sight, Chen Buer's tiny figure appeared amidst the vastness of everything.
Because he saw no enemy,
he felt a touch of disappointment.
And a flicker of worry.
Even so, he drew his blade and threw himself forward, slashing toward the brightest part of that descending energy—the core pinpoint of light that had grown immensely large yet remained dazzlingly brilliant.
That single strike slashed out a blade shadow a thousand times its size.
That single strike burned away everything.
...In East Asia, across many places in Huaxia where the Mid-Autumn Festival had just passed, muffled thunder suddenly rumbled across the sky, echoing and rolling for a long time.
The light in the sky was suddenly tinged with a faint shade of blue.
Then, rosy clouds that should only have appeared at dawn or dusk on the horizon bizarrely manifested right at midday in the central sky before the eyes of many.
Afterward, the sky returned to calm.
Chen Buer was dead. The commander of Azure Huaxia's Sole Witness Legion was dead. The man invincible in this mortal realm was dead.
He had died high above the vault of heaven on this ordinary day.
On the ground, there were no clues that could be traced, no traces or echoes left behind. Xu Xiaohong and those few old comrades waited for him on the grasslands for seven days, herding and feeding the sheep in his stead, and even asked an elderly herdsman to help deliver two lambs...
Even though, in truth, they all knew he was dead.
On the eighth day.
"Uh, should we report this news to the Azure Council? I mean..." The core leadership of the Azure Council knew what Chen Buer had gone to do, but did not know the specifics or the outcome, an old comrade said.
Xu Xiaohong hesitated. Because his own martial strength was not high, he had grown very weak over these past few days.
So he chewed hard on a wheat cake; he knew he couldn't collapse as well.
"We can't say anything for now. Let me think on it," Xu Xiaohong said.
If they told them, Azure might lose all faith and collapse—collapsing from Chen Buer's death, collapsing before that terrifying existence from deep space.
If they told them, Ne might resurface, and the world would instantly hurtle toward extremes.
"He... he has to be alive, do you understand?" Xu Xiaohong said with his back turned, locking the door.
Chen Buer had to be alive. He could shirk his duties and go herd sheep, or have a falling-out with the Council and slack off or act shameless... but he had to be alive. At least, people had to believe he was still alive.
"Hey, what are you locking my door for?"
"Where are my sheep? Eaten up? Given away?!"
"Fuck your grandfather, Xu Xiaohong..."
A familiar voice drifted from the distance behind them.
Ten-odd seconds later, the old comrades turned around. Then Xu Xiaohong turned around woodenly as well. Staring blankly at the figure standing on the grassland, he asked, "Are... are you a fucking ghost?"
"...To hell with your grandfather, Xu Xiaohong! An educated man like you believes in that crap?" Chen Buer cursed as he walked over.
He snatched the key and unlocked the door again.
He sent the old comrades out to ask the herdsmen for his sheep back.
Then he sat down by the doorway, staring blankly at Xu Xiaohong for three whole minutes.
"Yeah, I did die."
"...Bullshit."
"Really. And I don't know what happened either, or whether I count as a ghost, or what the hell I even am right now... I'll figure it out slowly later. Anyway, I'm back."
"Good that you're back."
"Yeah. Oh, right, there's a real formidable thing, far away, heading this way." Chen Buer didn't know the word Miwang yet; he pointed a finger up toward the vault of the sky and said.
"How formidable?"
"How formidable? Formidable enough that it slashed a blade across the stars and fucking killed me." Chen Buer looked annoyed for a moment... before finally adopting a serious expression and saying, "I don't know exactly when it'll arrive, but I reckon I have to wait for it."
If I die, I'm afraid it'll be too late.
I'm probably no match for it.
Even so, I have to wait for it.
Because besides me, there is no one else in this world who can take that fight, who can wager their life in that final struggle.
***
After that day, Chen Buer entered a three-year period of weakness. His life was fragile, and that eerie energy wreaked havoc every day, devouring everything.
He endured that agony, feeling the energy, and from it sought a path forward.
He tried his best to explain his insights into life source energy, but in truth, he could never make it clear. In the old man's own words, it was the price of being uneducated.
Three years later, suddenly one day, he found himself stronger than before.
Then another three years...
In those thirteen years, Chen Buer never struck with full force again—because he had no need, because he couldn't, because he dared not... because for thirteen years, he had been waiting. Waiting for that final battle, even if it might be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
It should be soon, he thought.
And at present, Chen Buer was in the first year of yet another period of weakness, or rather, vulnerability. That was why, not long ago, he had told Han Qingyu: For me to exert all my strength right now to kill a Daie isn't worth it.
***
Thirteen years later, in the depths of the universe, aboard the colossal ship.
"To slash and extinguish that energy... is it a peer-level powerhouse? Has a top-tier Yanxiu already emerged there?!" the voice continued to ask.
If such a powerful Yanxiu truly had arisen on the target planet in so short a time...
It made them worried.
Yet it also excited them.
But the predecessor clearly stated that no source energy or dead iron was found there!
"I do not know. There is no basis to judge anything yet, but suddenly, I am beginning to look forward to it." Xiuxigelai looked toward the road ahead, uncertain how much longer it would take to arrive, and said:
"Strange creatures, humans."
Chapter 640