Yu Yi's gaze shifted from the dissipating scene to meet Xue Chenjing's eyes, which were lowered as he looked at her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke, only the rumbling sound of crashing waves filled the air.
Cang Cang's other tentacles desperately clung to the island, but the terrifying suction of the teleportation array pulled it inch by inch toward the vortex. Once more than half of its body was sucked into the array, it was like a dam breaking, and it could no longer stop itself from falling into the other side of the teleportation array.
The octopus's body slid quickly into the teleportation array, and Yu Yi felt the ground tremble beneath her feet. She hastily took to the air, but at the same time, a familiar force wrapped around her waist, pulling her away from the octopus's body and into Xue Chenjing's embrace.
Cang Cang watched them drift away from it and hurriedly raised a tentacle, whimpering, "Oh no, I'm going to be sucked away. Dad, Mom, you must come find me!"
Yu Yi wanted to look back, but Xue Chenjing held her tightly, making it impossible for her to move. He released all his mimicry limbs, wrapping the two of them in a transparent sphere as they spun with the towering waves.
Cang Cang's body was incredibly massive; a single suction cup on its tentacles was larger than a person. When it thrashed wildly, it looked like collapsing pillars of heaven, making it difficult to find a way out.
The flailing tentacles also carried waves of water pouring in from all sides, as if a sudden sewer had been opened.
Xue Chenjing had raised the palm-sized baby octopus into such a giant, and despite not being entirely cold-blooded, he didn't cut off its troublesome tentacles for his own convenience. Moreover, cutting through a tentacle with skin thicker than a city wall was no easy feat.
A faint cry of a crane echoed through the waves. Xue Chenjing lifted his gaze and saw the Red-Crowned Crane Senior Brother stumbling through the spray of water. His mimicry limbs clung to the octopus's tentacle, using it as leverage to swing toward the crane.
His arm firmly encircled Yu Yi, and his lips pressed against her cheek, kissing her temple. He asked, "Yi Yi, Yi Yi, did you kill me? Did you finally succeed in killing me?"
Yu Yi's fingers tightened on his sleeve. After a moment of silence, she finally answered truthfully, "Yes, I killed you."
She had plunged the sword into his heart, but it hadn't succeeded in separating them; it had only added another memory of his death to his existence.
"That's great," Xue Chenjing sighed, his breath brushing against her ear, making it itch.
He swallowed, his breathing heavy, his heartbeat transmitting through their tightly pressed bodies, strong and clear even over the rumbling sea.
Xue Chenjing smiled, once again feeling an overwhelming sense of relief as he murmured, "It's really great."
Yu Yi wanted to look up at him, but the transparent tentacles surrounding them suddenly loosened, and a torrent of water fell, drenching them both.
Drops of water fell from his hair, lashes, and chin, landing on her face.
In that moment, Yu Yi was transported back to the previous life when she had pierced his heart. The Primordial Sword had pinned him to the blade from below, and the accumulated power of her sword had torn through his heart, ripping through his veins and leaving bloody wounds all over his body.
Yu Yi had sat below, gripping the sword tightly, her mind fixed on the thought of "going home." From beginning to end, she had not hesitated.
The Demon Lord's blood had rained down on her like a shower, and as his demonic energy dissipated, his true form was revealed in the mist.
His hand had slipped weakly from the blade of the Primordial Sword, and with a final soft whimper, tears and blood had fallen together as he said, "It hurts so much, it really hurts."
Under the spray of water, she heard Xue Chenjing say, "Unfortunately, I don't remember. I just don't remember. But I will, I will definitely remember."
His tone was filled with regret, as if forgetting something precious and beautiful.
Yu Yi was jolted back to the present by the memories. The blood-red color around her faded back to the white spray of water. The saltwater stung her eyes, making them ache, and she couldn't help but shout, "Don't remember!"
Xue Chenjing was taken aback by her outburst. At that moment, Crane Senior Brother had also broken through the waves and arrived nearby. The vortex below had fully sucked in Cang Cang's body, leaving only one tentacle still struggling in the water. The teleportation array's spiritual lines flickered ominously, on the verge of collapsing.
He didn't have time to think further. He reached under her abdomen with a broad hand, lifting her up with force and pushing her onto Crane Senior Brother's back. "Yi Yi, wait for me to come back."
Xue Chenjing's figure quickly plunged downward, swept into the teleportation array along with the last tentacle.
In that moment, Yu Yi's heart was in turmoil, and she failed to catch him.
The teleportation array, under the massive weight of Cang Cang's body, finally burst, sending spiritual lines shooting in all directions and a towering water column exploding into the sky with a thunderous roar.
The Red-Crowned Crane carried Yu Yi, its wings tense as it rushed through the waves. The towering waves soon subsided, but the sea below was already empty, with no trace of the teleportation array, Cang Cang, or Xue Chenjing.
Yu Yi's internal spiritual energy surged. The fortune she had taken from the destined one once again enveloped her, and everything in this world seemed to become more familiar and friendly, even the sea breeze brushing against her face felt gentler.
Yu Yi's Golden Core in her dantian was catalyzed, like a fetus finally matured, giving birth to a body and form. Her spiritual roots merged into the fetus, becoming the meridians of the Nascent Soul.
She had reached the Nascent Soul stage, and it had happened so casually.
Yu Yi looked up at the sky, but there were no threatening thunderbolts. Every step of a cultivator's journey should be tested—at Foundation Establishment, one must prove the determination to leave the mortal world and embark on a difficult path; at Golden Core, one faces three thunder trials to shape the golden body; at Nascent Soul, one endures six thunder trials to test theDao heart.
Each step should be a constant self-examination of one's Dao heart, recognizing the vastness of the universe and the vitality of all living things, never allowing any deviation.
Unfortunately, this world was flawed, like a long-term sick person, with every cell diseased.
The vortex subsided, but the mist over the sea did not dissipate. Xue Chenjing had left Earth Impurity here, and the mist condensed into a black-and-white little beast, landing on Crane Senior Brother's back.
Earth Impurity remembered its master's command to transform into this form to please her, so it unhesitatingly chose to become such a little beast.
Yu Yi instinctively reached out to catch the panda cub rolling into her arms. As soon as her fingers touched Earth Impurity, her senses connected with it, and all the hidden scenes beneath the mist were revealed in her mind.
She saw the deep abyss on the other side of the teleportation array, a chasm so deep that no sunlight could penetrate. The other end of the teleportation array was set in that abyss, intending to draw away the Earth Impurity mist and disperse the demons around Xue Chenjing, to defeat them one by one.
Thus, cultivators had already set up a net of traps on that side, waiting. Yu Yi saw Cang Cang's severed tentacles, blue blood splattering everywhere. The voice that had sweetly called her "Mom" was nearly torn apart, its sound waves shattering the canyon, causing rocks to crash down from above.
In the flickering light and sea of blood, Xue Chenjing's figure flashed by, his hand pressing on the octopus's body. Spiritual lines shot out from his fingertips, wrapping around Cang Cang and shrinking its massive body inch by inch.
Its body was too large, making the process extremely slow, giving the attackers another opportunity. Xue Chenjing wiped the blood from his chin, surveying the surroundings with bright eyes in the dark valley, his anger almost erupting.
"I will kill you all—"
Perhaps because the Earth Impurity mist in the abyss had been cleansed, or for some other reason, the scene on that side suddenly disappeared, and Yu Yi could no longer see.
The panda cub formed by Earth Impurity in her arms stood up, showing her the scenes beneath the mist over this sea island. Some of the arrays on the outer islands had been destroyed, while others trapped righteous cultivators.
But one person had already crossed the outer islands and was about to reach the central spirit island.
Yu Yi patted the Red-Crowned Crane and immediately said, "Crane Senior Brother, go back, to the spirit island."
Yu Yi's sword realm spread across the scattered islands, and the might of the Nascent Soul instantly alarmed many people. Yi Heng keenly sensed the sword qi blocking his path and threw out five talismans from his sleeve, forming a solid barrier around him.
The collision of sword qi and talismans produced a sharp screech, and the arcs of lightning traveling through the sword ignited flames, burning a hole in one of the talismans.
Yi Heng was forced into a continuous retreat, the surrounding terrain changing unpredictably under the mist. Just as he managed to find a path, it vanished into nothingness.
The cultivators trapped on the archipelago were all blasted away by the formidable sword energy. Emerging from the mist, they saw the blue sky and exchanged glances, each feeling a sense of relief after surviving a catastrophe, their will to fight long gone.
Moreover, the mist's coverage overlapped with a sword realm. Once they were forced out, attempting to re-enter would no longer be met with restrained sword energy. Instead, it unleashed a bone-chilling killing intent that swept toward them. Yi Heng retreated several steps, barely avoiding having his throat slashed by a sword beam.
Sword cultivators of the same rank were simply more domineering/overwhelming.
Yi Heng awkwardly rubbed his neck, not daring to take another step forward. He returned to the sea, and talismans flew out from his sleeve, shooting into the water. He gathered the remains of the shipwreck, piecing together a makeshift warship. Leading a defeated army, he drifted away from the island.
Yu Yi had just formed her Nascent Soul and her cultivation was extremely unstable. She had barely managed to hold on until now. After the battered warship disappeared into the vast sea, she retreated into the spirit island to make the most of her time and stabilize her condition.
In the depths of the rift, Xue Chenjing lay exhausted on the ground, his body stained with red and blue blood. Around him, others lay similarly on the ground, though he still had breath, while the others were already lifeless.
The octopus, reduced in size, crawled over him, barely clinging to life as it hugged its broken and injured tentacles, curling into a ball.
Xue Chenjing sat up from the ground, placing Cang Cang into a bead, which he twirled between his fingers. The blue rings on its body had completely faded, it had lost three tentacles, and the remaining ones were scarred. It might survive, or it might die.
"Useless thing. If you're going to die, don't call her 'mother,'" Xue Chenjing said, gripping the bead. He then sliced open his palm and squeezed a few drops of blood into the bead. "And don't call me 'father' or 'dad.'"
Without strength, life was this arduous. Wanting to protect even the last few people and things in one's possession required near-death struggles, yet still couldn't fully safeguard them.
Xue Chenjing pressed his hand against his chest. His desire for the Heart Flame made him faintly sense its presence again. The bright flame was sealed within the pinnacle of a tower, beneath which were the demon subordinates who had once followed him.
Betrayed by their demon lord, they were in agony, their hatred overwhelming, cursing and screaming at him day and night, yearning to tear his flesh and blood. A millennium of time only deepened their hatred, never easing it.
It seemed that to reclaim the Heart Flame, he would have to endure their seething hatred.
Xue Mingyuan really knew how to make things difficult for him. For the sake of his world's populace, he spared no effort to strip him of everything.
Xue Chenjing pressed his hand against his forehead and lightly laughed, "Brother, this life, Yu Yi is mine. This is your just deserts."
A wisp of his thoughts transformed into a breeze, flowing into the Heart Sea Temple.
Xue Mingyuan raised his eyes in the temple. The memories of his past life awakened in his mind. He remembered her smile, her bright and unyielding gaze, and the moment she came to him, her blushing cheeks yet firm tone.
She said, "I like you. Would you like to be with me?"
He couldn't suppress his heart's flutter, yet had to restrain it. In the long years of the past, those who had entangled with them hadn't ended well. So, Xue Mingyuan hesitated, retreated, dared not accept her heart, unwilling to drag her into his whirlpool.
But in the end, she was still drawn in.
Xue Chenjing's wisp of thought was like a heart-rending sword, piercing into his heart.
