Death and Rebirth

"...Ah." Instinctively looking back in confusion, the moment her gaze met his eyes, Li Junwu felt as though an invisible hand had violently seized her heart. What met her sight was a pair of black eyes devoid of whites, wisps of vapor drifting out with an ominous aura, identical to the Mu Nuo she had once seen. A chill shot up her spine. Li Junwu's red lips parted slightly, but before the words could leave her mouth, Xu Yuan had already seized her wrist first and hurled her violently toward the prefectural yamen below! Whoosh— The sudden surge of immense force left Li Junwu stunned for an instant. Wind howled past her ears. Watching his figure grow farther and farther away in the sky, her gaze gradually filled with disbelief: "Chang... Changtian..." As far as her eyes could see, his body began to disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye, his limbs collapsing into a mist of blood. Perhaps from the searing agony of his body breaking apart, his narrow phoenix eyes narrowed involuntarily. Yet this was only the beginning. His limbs vanished in an instant, followed by his torso, and finally his head. Before he vanished completely, Li Junwu suddenly noticed those pitch-black eyes looking toward her. His voice echoed in the depths of her heart, half like an instruction, half like a command: "Remember, the wager isn't settled." With those words, the last wisp of Xu Yuan's flesh and blood shattered as well. In its place, a cloud of blood mist lingered where he had stood, bearing witness to his former existence. The armored woman crashed to the ground with a boom, kicking up a plume of dust inside the prefectural yamen, after which all sound ceased. A chilling stillness of slaughter instantly spread throughout the city. Tianye watched in silence as he disintegrated and died, offering neither a word nor an action. Until, a trembling female voice sounded in her heart, interrupting her thoughts: [He... he failed?] Tianye did not answer the question. Instead, she teased: "Right up until he died and dissipated, he didn't even spare you a glance." Hearing this joking tone, Tianyan paid no heed to the words themselves. Instead, she breathed a sigh of relief and said coldly: [If you're in the mood to joke, does that mean he's still alive?] That fellow always liked taking risks, always liked making dangerous gambits, always liked putting his life beneath a collapsing wall—whether in an illusion or reality. Yet every time, he managed to turn danger into safety. This time shouldn't be an exception either... Tianyan thought with a trembling heart, but that shred of hope was shattered directly by Tianye's icy words: "Sometimes, I really wonder if the Great Severance ten thousand years ago broke the Stele of Deducing Heaven as well." [What do you mean?] "Someone who can't even tell whether Xu Yuan is dead or alive actually shares the title of 'Tianyan' with me." Having said that, Tianye let out a soft sigh and spoke faintly: "Tianyan... "Whether you're willing to admit it or not, he's already dead." "Did you feel it?" Cliffs had collapsed, altering the very terrain, and everywhere the eye could see was a scene of devastation. Outside the city, the battle that had raged for the better part of a day suddenly plunged into an eerie silence. Tianyuan stood aloft in the void. Within the deployed Dao domain, countless phantoms identical to her flickered in and out of sight, making it impossible to discern truth from falsehood. Feng Jiuxuan stood sword in hand on the yellow earth. Beneath his feet, countless sword gouges a zhang wide stretched to the horizon. After a brief locked gaze, Tianyuan glanced sideways at Zhenxi Prefectural City shrouded under the gray veil, her pale gold eyes devoid of emotion: "Xu Changtian's death failed to shake your sword heart. It seems I was mistaken—the ten-thousand-year calamity is not Xu Changtian..." The edge of the sword Wuming in Feng Jiuxuan's hand gleamed with cold light. His expression was indifferent: "That assassination—you ordered it." Tianyuan did not understand what he meant by this, but said: "Yes." "If so, you should know that Changtian has died once before." "Is that so." Understanding dawned in Tianyuan's heart. Her golden eyes were exquisitely beautiful, shimmering with faint halos of light: "You think Xu Changtian can still come back to life?" "..." Feng Jiuxuan regarded her coldly. "This time is different from the last." Tianyuan stated a simple fact: "Now, not a trace of his corpse or bones remains. How can you speak of rebirth?" "..." Feng Jiuxuan fell silent for a moment. He raised the three-foot sword Wuming level before his eyes, staring through its cold gleam at the white-robed figure above, and slowly spoke four words: "I believe in him." Lying inside the crater in the prefectural yamen, Li Junwu's beautiful eyes stared blankly at the space where he had once stood. All around was silence. Amidst the stillness, Li Junwu was in a daze. She couldn't understand why a scourge like him would die. She couldn't understand why that bastard could still be so calm before he died. Was it to give her hope so she wouldn't be sad? What an idiot. She was Li Junwu. How could she possibly be sad over him? How could she act out of pure impulse? Back then, the old man in her family had told her: When someone important passes away, one doesn't feel grief at the very first moment; only when habit prompts you to call their name in daily life do you suddenly realize that an eternal parting has arrived. Only then do you remember: Oh, so that scourge is gone. He won't joke and laugh like before. He won't fool around together like before. Everything about him has already been frozen in memory. Li Junwu bit her teeth tightly, still watching the empty void where he had once stood. She didn't understand the wager he had spoken of. Although she was truly stupid compared to him, although she indeed had much to learn to catch up to him, there was... there was still one truth she understood clearly. When a person dies, their flame goes out—how could anything remain unsettled? Li Junwu slowly rose from the crater beneath her feet, the halberd in her hand pulsing with bursts of divine light. The terrifying aura belonging to a military array began gathering around her, and a massive vortex of Source Qi gradually formed with the prefectural yamen at its center! Yet right at that moment— "Stop! Thank fuck I had the foresight to know before I died that you damn woman would pull some reckless shit." Xu Yuan's low curse, tinged with distaste, suddenly rang in her ear. Li Junwu looked around, but could see nothing. Meanwhile, Xu Yuan's rambling voice continued: "Don't look around. By the time you hear this voice, I'm probably already dead. Once the concentration of Source Qi in your body exceeds a certain threshold, it triggers this remnant voice of mine." Rambling up to here, Xu Yuan's voice carried a hint of helplessness: "Sigh, what a mess. In order to stop an idiot like you, I didn't even have time to pay attention to my Tianyan. If she finds out afterward, she's definitely going to sulk." "..." Li Junwu. "Still, Tianye is there on her side, so nothing too extreme should happen. "In short, while I am indeed dead right now, I'm not actually completely dead... Tsk, explaining the specifics is a bit complicated, but anyway, just stay in the prefectural yamen and enjoy the show. "Also, I only left this one message. If you dare pull any more reckless shit, watch out or I'll mess you up after I come back to life." "..." Li Junwu. Xu Yuan's voice faded, and along with it dissipated the massive military array vortex that Li Junwu had been about to condense. Standing somewhat dazed in place, it took a long while for Li Junwu to snap back to her senses from his voice. Gripping her halberd, she slowly squeezed out two words: "...Oh, fine." Curling her lips, though confusion and worry still filled her heart, having received this transmission allowed Li Junwu to calm down somewhat. She instinctively glanced toward the golden-eyed maiden in the direction of East City. Tianye sensed it and looked back along the line of sight. The instant their eyes met, Li Junwu had an odd smirk in her eyes. That flat-chested woman hadn't received a transmission. Tianye, however, curled her red lips with mild amusement, then teased Tianyan within her body: "Right before he died, he didn't even spare you a glance, but he left plenty of words for that commandery princess. It seems the more devoted someone is, the less they're cherished, heheh..." [...] Tianyan felt aggrieved, but had no words to retort. Seeing this, Tianye wanted to twist the knife further, but above the prefectural yamen, another sudden change was already underway. The blood mist Xu Yuan had turned into was exceptionally thick, obscuring whatever lay within, yet Tianye could faintly sense that something was gestating inside it. Unfortunately, before that thing could be born, an afterimage swift as lightning had already arrived before it. The White Emperor. Having remained silent for an entire day, he struck once more. Boom—! A visible white shockwave expanded rapidly, instantly dispersing the blood mist. And at the epicenter of this tremor, a handsome youth with long hair caught the White Emperor's fist with a single hand. Yet looking closely, countless black silks wrapped around the White Emperor's arm, retarding the fist's might. Mu Nuo opened its eyes. Its eyes were no longer pitch-black, but clear with distinct black pupils and white sclera, like a mirror reflecting all things in the world. It looked at the enemy who had slain its father and said: "White Emperor, we can talk." "..." Tianyan. "..." Tianye. In the distance, hearing these words, the golden-eyed maiden wore an odd expression. Why did those words feel so familiar to them? As a great demon who had lived for over a millennium, the White Emperor's keen sight likewise discerned the transformation in this yin ghost brat. After a moment of silence, he said: "I thought the winner would be Xu Changtian." Mu Nuo looked upon the ghost city that had risen because of it. Its tone was cool as snow, completely matter-of-fact: "He was the nourishment Heaven bestowed upon me. No matter how many schemes he possessed, he was destined to be devoured by me." "After devouring Xu Changtian, you've changed a great deal." The White Emperor stared into the youth's clear eyes. "The old you would inevitably have sought vengeance for your father's murder." Mu Nuo fell silent for a moment, then spoke softly: "I can sort out the causal relationship now. My father's death was not what you desired." The White Emperor scrutinized the aura radiating from the other, his eyes deep as water: "Yet you bear the karmic fruit of the Dragon Will." Mu Nuo nodded, not denying it: "The Dragon Will indeed let me understand many things, but Xu Changtian and the Great Yan sects that brought all this about are our true common enemies. We can cooperate." The White Emperor neither agreed nor disagreed, but did not strike again either, waiting for what the other had to say next. Seeing this, Mu Nuo smiled slightly and pointed to the ghost city below: "From Guyuan's perspective, there should be no reason to refuse the addition of combat power such as mine, while I also require Guyuan's sanctuary to evade the pursuit of the human race." The White Emperor remained silent. Such empty words had no foundation of mutual trust. Mu Nuo seemed to understand this as well. It locked its gaze onto the two women who held close ties to Xu Changtian: "I promised Xu Changtian that I would slaughter everyone close to him with my own hands before his eyes. Do you think this pledge of loyalty suffices?" Killing Tianyan would incur the enmity of the sects. Killing the commandery princess would incur the enmity of the imperial dynasty. The White Emperor pondered for a moment, then stepped back a few paces through the air, clearing the path: "You truly have changed a great deal. A word of warning: they are both very strong, especially that Saintess." Mu Nuo lifted a hand slightly toward the city below: "I am aware of this. But both of these women must burn their lifespans to draw upon their power. I need only stall them." With those words, in an instant, countless tendrils of black qi converged within the ghost city. The earth trembled; heaven and earth seemed to invert. Colossal, ghostly stone steles rose from the ground one after another, triggering waves of panic-stricken screams among the surviving commoners and martial apprentices in the city. Having done this, Mu Nuo glanced at the White Emperor beside it and suggested: "To avoid mishaps, why not lend a hand? Guyuan would also like to see Great Yan's national power weakened, would it not?" Standing to the side, the slit pupils of the White Emperor's draconic eyes showed no emotional fluctuation: "I will act depending on the circumstances. If you remain as fragile as before, I will assist them in killing you." Hearing this, Mu Nuo gently shook its head: "You certainly don't hide anything." "Cooperation only exists when both sides are equals. You need to prove your worth." "Is that so? A mode of cooperation like this isn't something I dislike." Words ended, leaving silence. Mu Nuo looked toward the golden-eyed maiden in the distance. Tianye returned the look with a leisurely, flippant gaze. Suffocating killing intent gathered quietly in the silence, and just as it was about to reach the boiling point— "Heheh..." Mu Nuo suddenly chuckled softly: "Look at my memory—I almost forgot my promise to that Xu Changtian." With that, Mu Nuo tapped its fingertip. A handsome youth clad in splendid, luxurious robes rapidly condensed within this murky space. Watching this scene in the sky, Li Junwu's heart involuntarily accelerated, beating so fast that she instinctively pressed hard against her chest. Chang... Changtian. In the blink of an eye, the form solidified. Between the domain of the living and dead, Xu Yuan descended upon the world once more. Lowering his gaze to glance at his body and confirming it was no different from what he had anticipated, Xu Yuan raised his eyes to meet that pair of extraordinarily clear eyes. Raising an eyebrow, he smiled: "Ho, your eyes actually..." "Silence." With that single word from Mu Nuo, Xu Yuan's voice and movements ground to an abrupt halt. It did not look at that detestable face. Turning its face away, it spoke with a cold smile: "Xu Changtian, I have no desire to hear your voice. I summoned you out only so you could watch with your own eyes as those close to you—" "As the master of this domain of the living and dead, you brat truly can control these resurrected people. But unfortunately for you, it doesn't work on me." "..." Mu Nuo. It whipped its head back, eyes going wide. It felt its control over Xu Changtian weakening at lightning speed. Instinctively, it wanted to erase his existence, but the moment that thought surfaced in Mu Nuo's mind, those suffocating whispers surged into its brain like a tide. Untouchable. An ineffable resonance field enveloped Xu Changtian, forcefully stalling its control over him. Yet the link between the two still existed. This was a one-sided severance... Meeting its gaze, a glint of blood-red light ignited in Xu Yuan's pupils. He stretched his limbs, tilted his head, and rubbed his neck with a faint smile: "Surprised? "Didn't I already tell you before? "That thing is a curse to you, but to me, it's a gift." With those words, ripples of black-and-white ink resonance radiated outward with him at the center, revolving and converging like a Taiji Bagua. During this process, his aura, which had originally been merely at the Bodily Fusion realm, began climbing step by step.