Descent

The moment the mist obscuring their vision collapsed, nearly everyone in the viewing area caught sight of the man and two women at the center of the battlefield in an instant. Yet the state of the battle struck them as utterly bizarre. In just the span of a cup of tea, the tide of battle had reversed so drastically. Fellow Transcendent Realm experts, they could clearly sense the terrifying power harbored within the hand seal on the Saintess's fingertips. Thus, when that searing heat swept across the man's body, they keenly noticed that Xu Changtian seemed unable to hold on. And indeed, that was the case. The cinders of the hand seal blocked the vitality attempting to knit together the cleaving wound across his waist. The Inter-Abyss dissipated, the fungal carpet was annihilated, and the Dao domain collapsed. Judging by this scene, Xu Changtian ought to have reached the end of the line. Not to mention... the sword of the Sword Sect's first disciple, already pressed against his chest. This was a fatal strike with zero chance of survival—no. Wait, no! Someone suddenly noticed something amiss. Faced with such lethal peril, the Prime Minister's Manor's di son still possessed a trump card to turn the tables. They remembered the Dao charm of death. As long as Xu Changtian used the Dao charm of death to enter that state of deathly immortality, he could evade this hard-won opening created by the Saintess. After a moment of silence, a sharp shout of warning rang out: "The Dao charm of death! Xu Changtian hasn't yet entered that immortal state of death!" "..." Hearing the voice in this moment between life and death, Xu Yuan cast a leisurely glance toward the speaker. How idiotic. Since when had these high-and-mighty Transcendent experts developed such dreadful eyesight? Then again, it made sense; these people were merely second- and third-in-command figures of the sects across Hongnong. Having poor vision suited him just fine, allowing his plan to continue unfolding. In the next instant, Ran Qingmo obediently drove her sword into his chest. A flash of intense pain came and went, for upon contact, the frost of the ink sword began freezing everything within him. Experiencing the big ice block's Dao charm firsthand was no pleasant feeling. A piercing chill spread outward from the wound in his chest. A layer of frost gradually glazed over his body, and beneath this frost, everything began grinding to a halt. First the flesh and blood of his body, then the source qi flowing through his meridians, followed by the dissipation of his vitality, which began to slow. Even the cinders from Tianyan clinging to his wound and burning continuously were frozen solid by this frost. It could be considered a literal hell of ice and fire. Finding humor amidst his suffering, Xu Yuan turned his gaze toward the two women right before him. Having driven the Dao charm into his body, Ran Qingmo gripped the ink sword tightly, her beautiful eyes fixed on him with doubt: "Why... do this?" Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then chuckled softly: "Because you need it." Ran Qingmo thought for a moment and said: "Because I am the first disciple of the Sword Sect?" "Of course." Xu Yuan said gently in a very low voice, "After this battle, the spectators will spread the news of your stances to the entire world." "But this... this doesn't seem to fulfill your promise." "Don't rush me... I'm still working on it," Xu Yuan said with a wry smile. Ran Qingmo bit her lip: "Oh. Then what will you do now?" "Don't worry. A bad weed lives a thousand years—I won't die." Xu Yuan gave a laughing reply to her question, then turned to Tianyan and asked softly: "So, do your visions of the future show the day of my death now, Chosen of the Calamity?" Tianyan did not answer, merely staring at him calmly. Seeing this, Xu Yuan sighed softly: "How boring, little ice block." This time, Tianyan finally spoke. The crisp voice of the young maiden was cold and detached: "You're holding back. You're intentionally yielding to us." "Wrong, I'm holding back an entire ocean." Xu Yuan curled his lips in amusement. "Have you forgotten? In the past, it only took me the time of a cup of tea to make you kneel on the ground and beg for mercy." Ran Qingmo was puzzled. She didn't understand, thinking Xu Yuan probably hadn't been that formidable before. "A vulgar joke," Tianyan remarked blandly, not a single ripple in her pure golden eyes. "I am asking why you are so completely fearless." Xu Yuan found her reaction somewhat dull: "Because I'm not afraid." "Not afraid?" "Your purpose here wasn't to kill me, but to seal me, right?" As he spoke, Xu Yuan lowered his gaze to inspect his body. Frost had already covered almost his entire form, creeping up his neck toward his brain. It seemed that before long, he would end up just like Qin Mo back then, frozen into a block of ice by the big ice block. Tianyan's flawless, holy countenance remained aloof: "With your position as the di son of the Prime Minister's Manor, it is impossible for you to accept being sealed." "Indeed." Xu Yuan gave a slight nod, then smiled: "So you'll understand in a moment." "..." At his words, Tianyan lapsed back into silence, remaining on guard. In the future she could foresee, Xu Yuan simply chatted casually while placidly accepting his fate of being frozen by Ran Qingmo's Dao charm. Yet for him to maintain such an attitude meant he undoubtedly had something to rely upon. What could it be? While Tianyan kept silent, Xu Yuan chatted gently with Ran Qingmo. Seconds ticked by. The future Tianyan could see remained unchanged, until a certain moment when she abruptly saw heaven and earth turn black and white, with a great river cutting across toward the horizon. The Life-Death Dao domain. Why was he able to deploy the Life-Death Dao domain? Without time to contemplate the reason, Tianyan moved without hesitation. Boundless source qi coursed through her meridians, yet just a moment before her art could take shape, she suddenly halted. Because she discovered that the future she could foresee had not changed. The black-and-white space representing the Life-Death Dao domain still unfurled before her eyes. The Life-Death Dao domain was already fully prepared! This guy had been waiting on purpose! At that moment, Xu Yuan also noticed Tianyan's abnormal reaction. Halting his idle chatter with Ran Qingmo, he smiled at Tianyan, his eyes curving gently: "Ten breaths, right?" "..." Tianyan remained silent. She realized she had been played. This guy... was using this method to probe the limit of how far into the future she could see! No, wait. Xu Yuan didn't seem to be targeting her. After a moment of silence, as Tianyan pondered a countermeasure, she murmured: "The Dao domain of death is special; without the deaths of sufficient living beings, it cannot be deployed at all." Xu Yuan nodded, then cast a glance around them. Seeing this, Tianyan followed his gaze. And then, she saw Heaven Sword Peak beneath their feet, already transformed into a dead domain! Xu Yuan had used the Dao charm of life to slaughter the living beings on Heaven Sword Peak once, and just moments ago, he had annihilated all of the black death fungal carpet ripened by that vitality... This guy... From the very beginning, he had never intended to use the ancient aberrant ghost Inter-Abyss to counter the Tianyan Dao Method! He had been fulfilling the prerequisites for the Life-Death Dao domain! Frost had covered his face by now, turning his dark eyebrows and eyelashes a pale blue with ice crystals. Xu Yuan looked at the silent Tianyan and said gently: "Tianyan, placing too much faith in the future you see can sometimes become your shackle." Images of the future flashed in Tianyan's golden eyes. She said slowly: "Even the Life-Death Dao domain cannot grant immunity against Ran Qingmo's Dao domain." In the future she could see, that black-and-white world of life and death was also being frozen by the frost, albeit at an extremely slow pace. Because Ran Qingmo's cultivation was not high enough. To this, Xu Yuan merely chuckled softly and replied: "As long as it's enough for me to escape. My goals for this trip to the Sword Sect have basically all been met, so it's time for me to go—" Before he could finish, "Why doesn't the Third Young Master stay for another day or half a year?" A gentle female voice drifted over. Xu Yuan looked back toward the sky and clicked his tongue at Wen Xinyun's abrupt arrival: "I knew an old fossil like you wouldn't let things rest." Before his words fell, an aura pressure belonging to those beyond the Saint Realm began to sweep and converge. At the same time, boundless fluctuations began gathering around Xu Yuan. A vast river appeared in everyone's vision in an instant, surging tempestuously toward the ends of the wilderness. The entire world was divided along its line—half pitch-black, half stark white, split with absolute clarity! Even as the Life-Death Dao domain stunned the onlookers, a tiny speck condensed at Wen Xinyun's fingertip, sending it toward that great river: "Have you forgotten? Before me, your Dao domain cannot unfold." Weng— The fluctuation belonging to the Void Realm swept outward. Almost everyone present lost all sense of the world's Dao charm in that moment, but contrary to everyone's expectations, that black-and-white world resembling a twilight divide remained standing before their eyes. This time, Wen Xinyun's Void Realm failed to disrupt the structure of the Life-Death Dao domain. Seeing the bewilderment in his enemy's eyes in the sky, Xu Yuan shook his head gently: "What era is this, still expecting one trick to work forever? Since I dared to come to the Sword Sect alone, I naturally took an old fossil like you into account." "..." After a brief silence, the surprise in Wen Xinyun's eyes vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Looking at the pale blue frost on his body's surface, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of admiration. With her discernment, she deduced in nearly an instant the principle by which Xu Yuan had stabilized the foundation of his Life-Death Dao domain. Unlike Tianye's boundless Dao charm that overflowed from her body, Xu Yuan was able to resist the Void Realm's fluctuations by relying on external aid—the Dao charm of the Sword Sect's first disciple. Before that sword pierced his body, he had forcibly gathered all the life-death Dao charm between heaven and earth into himself, using the freezing power of the frost to lock it entirely within his body. Standing at the center of the black-and-white world, Xu Yuan's eyes were enchanting and eerie. He chuckled softly to the two maidens beside him, sending his voice via sound transmission: "Though there's much more I want to say, it seems I must go now." Having said that, Xu Yuan raised his eyes to glance at Wen Xinyun in the sky and said: "While my strength isn't enough to kill you just yet, I've prepared a grand gift for you on this trip. I hope you'll like it..." "You have a gift for her, but what about me?" "..." Xu Yuan froze. Hearing this familiar voice, Xu Yuan's pupils shrank abruptly. His relaxed ease vanished in an instant, and a shudder of deadly terror swept through his entire body. Are you kidding me, woman? Is there no end to this?! Looking toward the voice, he saw, sure enough, that familiar maiden, and caught the playfulness and amusement shimmering inside her clear golden pupils. His breathing turned ragged: "...Tianye, how did you revive so quickly?" "Mm-hmm?" Tianye unfolded her arms from around her ample bust, spreading her hands to either side. Her smile was like a blooming flower, her voice intoxicating like charm poison: "To see the real me once again in reality—you don't seem very happy." Hearing this, Xu Yuan subconsciously swallowed his saliva. The surrounding Life-Death Dao domain could not grant him the slightest sense of security now. He took a deep breath, rapidly contemplating a countermeasure as he murmured: "If you weren't here to kill me, I would be overjoyed." "Then you ought to be happy." Tianye's eyes curved into crescents, a crystalline light glittering within them. "Because I'm not here to kill you, but to seal you." "..." Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment and gave a bitter smile: "...This lineup you've gathered to corner me is a bit beyond what I can handle." "Mhm~" Tianye stood in the sky, gazing down at the man's entertaining reaction below, twisted delight shimmering continuously in her heart. "It seems you don't intend to give up." "Given my status, giving up naturally isn't an option." With those words spoken, just as Tianye was about to reply, she suddenly let out a soft laugh. Because the guy had already bolted. Step Void Slash was pushed to its absolute limit in an instant. Yet in the next moment, when Xu Yuan resurfaced in the physical world, Tianye had already appeared right before him. Unlike Tianyan, this maiden from twenty thousand years ago even had the leisure to raise a hand and stroke his face, whispering into his ear like a demon: "You don't need to run. I will keep you company~" Psychopathic crazy woman. In a life-or-death rush, Xu Yuan's eyelid twitched. Swearing under his breath, he swung his hand forward, wrapped in boundless blood qi. A streak of crimson light slashed across the horizon. Forcing Tianye back for a fleeting moment, Xu Yuan continued fleeing with Step Void Slash. Unfortunately, Tianyan seemed to have allowed Tianye into her sea of consciousness, sharing that vision of the future. The moment he resurfaced in the physical world once again, Tianye's hand was already pressed against his chest. She used no source qi, so it would not trigger a Void Flash. Xu Yuan wanted to say something, but his time had already come to a standstill. Tianye silently caressed his face. A lotus of sealing that seemed to span heaven and earth appeared beneath their feet, blooming atop the river of life and death... Ice-blue frost gradually covered and froze the surging river of life and death, and the blooming lotus of sealing began to slowly close. Everything around them was being sealed away. Tianye did not retreat, nor did she pull away. Gazing at the frozen man before her, she slowly lowered her eyelids, awaiting the end of all things. Yet right at this moment, an unprecedented gravity suddenly surfaced in the eyes of both Tianye and Wen Xinyun. Because the backlash from destroying the calamity prematurely had arrived. A swirling whirlpool of ripples was condensing behind Xu Yuan. Accompanied by immense spatial ripples, dazzling spheres of black, white, and purple light blended together, ultimately condensing into a brilliant halo resembling a black hole! And then, a deep black sleeve embroidered with dragon patterns reached out from within, gently closing its hand around the slowly closing lotus of sealing...