Countless flickering moments converged into resplendent fireflies.
Held fast by the four clasped hands of Rose and Yaxiu, a new holy grail condensed between them. It was not as profound and mysterious as the Supreme Holy Grail; instead, it shone as brilliantly as a burst of fireworks, resembling a platinum trophy commemorating achievements they had once attained.
At the peak of Ruby Mountain, Fanxing remained expressionless, but the starlight in her eyes burned ever more fiercely. Yaxiu could tell that Fanxing had not anticipated Rose's birth. No Divine Lord could have foreseen it—long before the very first Divine Lord was born, the standoff between the Four Pillar Gods and the Prime Angel had already been established.
In ancient times, sorcerers had perhaps only been able to reach Two-Wing at most. Only as the Four Pillar Gods came into being one after another did the Distant Sky Realm, Ruby Mountain, Hell, and Heaven emerge, paving the way for the possibility of the first Divine Lord. The history of the Four Pillar Gods might well predate any existing mortal race. Apart from feelers like them who received firsthand knowledge, even the Divine Lords could only speculate about the delicate relationship between the Four Pillar Gods and the Prime Angel.
In a certain sense, Fanxing was actually right. If she could make Yaxiu give up the Supreme Holy Grail, everything would proceed smoothly without a hitch. Fate was not on Yaxiu's side; it was on the side of the Four Pillar Gods, on Rose's side. Yaxiu was merely a feeler who happened to be at the right place at the right time. Yet, as fate would have it, he was Rose's feeler, and the lover of the only two gods in reality.
Fanxing had descended divine miracles from her Kingdom of Heaven without daring to breach the sky curtain. It was easy to imagine how tremendous her consumption was and how constrained she was, so much so that Weise could hold out until now relying on her Silver Lantern Domain. Fanxing was the sovereign of this shadow realm, free to destroy it at will; but Rose was an owner of the Void Realm, free to reclaim it whenever she wished.
On this ever-shifting stage, the sorcerer had finally broken free from the role of a supporting character to wage a final war against the protagonist!
As the fireflies drifted and swirled, Supreme Nectar began to condense within the resplendent holy grail!
The supreme authority left behind by the Prime Angel now diverted into two holy grails!
Yaxiu raised his head and fearlessly met Fanxing's gaze from afar, a demon seemingly lurking within his eyes. He had no desire to prove how extraordinary he was; he merely wanted to take back what belonged to him, merely wanted to prove that their existence was not meaningless!
How laughable. Feili and Niya had worried before that he would oppose a Divine Lord to save the world, yet in the end, it was for their sake that he fought a Divine Lord to the death. Fate was always thrusting him into this position, always demanding that he defend something. But the girls had already set themselves ablaze for him—how could he not respond with a roaring inferno?
Yet Fanxing remained expressionless. She looked down on them with disdain as chain after chain reached out from the void from all directions, connecting to the Supreme Holy Grail. Since the mysterious chains were the Prime Angel's chains, they could naturally seize the Prime Angel's authority as well!
Fanxing was already far ahead of them. At her current rate, she was certain to seize nine-tenths; Yaxiu and Rose would barely be able to snatch back even a tenth!
"Feeler, pull hard," Rose whispered against his ear. "She holds memories of your longing as well. Snatch her back."
Come on.
Fanxing, what you owe me, I will take back with my own hands...
Take it back!
Yaxiu pulled with all his might. Several threads emerged from Fanxing's body and were caught tightly in his grasp. Fanxing's expression finally shifted. Her gaze flickered between light and dark as she stared at Yaxiu from a distance, and she actually reached out her hand to grab the threads as well!
So sunny.
Yaxiu instinctively raised a hand to block the sun, squinting as he continued walking down the street.
A stone-paved sidewalk with weeds sprouting from the cracks, an asphalt road radiating heat, shops flanking both sides with glowing neon signs. Stores with shut glass doors blasted air conditioning, while outside an open corner store, neighbors sat gathered together, waving hand fans and playing chess. Children drank soda; young people sped past on bicycles with ringing bells; an uncle wearing a straw hat rode a tricycle through the alleys, the loudspeaker on his cart ringing out clear and loud: "Recycling old TVs, old refrigerators..."
Yaxiu hurriedly slipped into an air-conditioned shop and asked for a bottle of soda. Foregoing a straw, he tipped the glass bottle back and chugged it down, wiping the sweat from his forehead with immense satisfaction. Then he opened the freezer chest, and for reasons unknown, bought two chocolate lava crunch ice creams. Tearing one open, he stood waiting in the sunlight, eating as he waited.
The shop was playing a song very familiar to him, "Love Searching for You in Memory":
"If I could hate you, despise you with all my might, I would even run from meeting you."
"It's just that I want to let you go, yet still long for you; who would remember my sorrow?"
"What I fear most is someone bringing up the past."
"No matter how far I stretch my arms, there remains a distance between us."
Just then, Yaxiu heard footsteps approaching beside him. He turned to look at a blonde girl holding an umbrella. She wore shorts and sandals, her long legs pressed together without a gap, and a camisole top. She was waving at him, her eyes brimming with light brighter than the stars. She was so radiant that even her eyelashes seemed to smile, and the umbrella in her hand looked as though she held a bouquet of roses. Even the sunlight paled beside her.
Yaxiu waited for her to come over and handed her the chocolate lava crunch ice cream. She closed her umbrella, unwrapped the bar, and licked it like a kitten—so adorable that a passerby, distracted by the sight, bumped headfirst into a lamppost.
With the wooden stick between his lips, Yaxiu watched her with gentle eyes. Once she finished, he asked, "Did you win a prize?"
She checked her stick and shook her head. "Nope."
"Let's go." Yaxiu reached out his hand to her. She placed her hand in his palm, and then both stepped forward at the same time.
Crashing into each other's embrace.
Squelch!!
Yaxiu's stick turned into a sharp sword, and Fanxing's turned into a shooting star, piercing clean through each other's souls.
"You really had the heart," her voice was still full of cheerful vitality. "I thought you wouldn't be able to bring yourself to do it."
"You didn't notice, did you?" Yaxiu said. "Behind you is the starry sky."
Fanxing looked up, only to realize that half of the sky was blazing with bright sunlight, while the other half glittered with brilliant stars. The boundary between the starry sky and the sun was the boundary between her and Yaxiu.
"Accustomed to being surrounded by stars, how could you ever understand a shadow chasing the sunlight? Knowing full well that nothing is possible, yet still unable to keep from betting hope on tears."
Yaxiu closed his eyes. He knew that the next time he opened them, he would never again see that girl whose eyes were brimming with light, like a ray of sunshine that had captivated the years.
"It worked!"
Yaxiu opened his eyes and saw that the resplendent holy grail in his hand had already collected half of the Supreme Nectar. The threads of longing in his hand were entirely exhausted, and the Nation of Stars had completely dissipated, leaving behind only the meteor sky curtain that sealed off the inside from the outside.
When he looked toward Weise, she immediately shook her head. "My current state is very strange. Caught between spirit and soul, possessing the natures of both god and mortal, without even a physical body. There's no point in giving it to me."
"Besides, do you really have the heart to give these memories to me?"
Hearing this, Yaxiu hesitated no longer. He raised his head, his gaze meeting Fanxing's right on cue. One stood at the mountain's peak, the other on the mountainside, both well aware that in this lifetime, they could only be mortal enemies bound to fight to the death.
Rose looked down, seeing silver apprentices appear upon the misty ocean, and golden travelers walking across the storm-drenched continent... They were the humble mortal multitudes, dispatched by every nation to witness this unprecedented coronation ceremony.
She looked upward, seeing the gods of Hell lurking one by one in the shadows. They held disdain, they felt envy, they were filled with malice, their killing intent chillingly acute—yet they could only watch. Above the shadows stood four great beings upon the clouds, casting downward their gazes that transformed into howling tempests and torrential rains, yet able only to raise meaningless ripples against the meteor sky curtain.
Under the witness of the entire world, Yaxiu and Fanxing drank from their holy grails at the same time. The authority of the Prime Angel surged through their souls, poised to give birth to Supreme Void Wings that transcended all!
Chapter 995