Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
When the man regained his composure, he maintained his relaxed and kind demeanour. Smiling at Bai Ze, he said, “Supreme Divinity Bai Ze, it’s been a long time!”
“Why is it you?” Bai Ze could hardly believe his own eyes. He had interacted with Hongyu for a long time. The other man always came across as someone who did not mind much about the rest of the world. He had always been kind and he never came into any conflict with anyone. Although he had the highest cultivation level in all of the Divine World, he would not even harm the wild beasts. He was the kind of person who was even willing to share his own techniques with others. “Hongyu, you… really want to destroy the Underworld?”
Hongyu smiled even wider. Unabashedly, he said, “This is my life’s mission.”
“Why?” Bai Ze would never have thought that the man who wanted to destroy the Underworld was him.
“Everything I did was for the commoners of the Three Realms.”
“The commoners? Without the Underworld, how can the living beings of the Three Realms reincarnate?”
“I don’t want any more reincarnation.”
Bai Ze stiffened. “What do you mean?”
Hongyu’s face remained calm as his eyes clouded over. A moment later, he answered, “Bai Ze, I am different from you. I’ve been alive since the ancient times and I saw my closest friends leave me one by one. Be it friend or foe, once they entered Samsara, they forgot everything. I’m the only one who remains. Although their soul is the same, they are no longer the same person they used to be. I kept thinking what I should do in order to get them back.”
Hongyu sighed, as if recalling a painful part of his past. His eyes still glossed over, he continued, “In this world, be it mortal, immortal or god, no one can ever truly live forever. Immortals cannot and neither can gods. One day, we will all fall. After we enter Samsara, we will become someone else.”
His expression darkened as he focused on the group. “Everybody in the Three Realms is looking for eternal life. Mortals want to ascend to immortality and immortals want to become gods. Gods on the other hand… still fall. I am the only one left of the very first batch of ancient gods. Does anyone still remember the Qilins and the black turtles? I kept thinking, we have unlimited life, yet why do we all still meet our end?”
He suddenly broke into a grin, and recovered his kind expression from before. His body continued to emanate a godly glow. “Later, I finally understood. Nobody has true eternal life in this world because of the Samsara.”
Bai Ze jumped and understood why he wanted to destroy the Underworld. “You want to destroy the Reincarnation Stage!”
“Without Samsara, there would be no reincarnation,” Hongyu answered unabashed. “Without the Underworld, there would be no Reincarnation Stage. The living beings of the Three Realms would never have to enter Samsara and there would be no so-called life and death. That’s true eternal life – the eternal life that will belong to all beings of the Three Realms.”
“You…” Bai Ze’s eyes widened. “Do you know how many travelling souls that array of yours has killed? Without the Reincarnation Stage, they would not be able to reincarnate. They’ll disappear from the face of this world forever!”
A look of pain flashed across Hongyu’s face as he closed his eyes and said, “That’s a necessary sacrifice.”
Bai Ze’s heart tightened. Lonemoon stepped forward and drew his immoral sword. This an is obviously caught up in his own ideas. He would not listen to reason. “We will not let you destroy the Underworld.”
Hongyu scanned Lonemoon from head to toe, his expression unreadable. “You are indeed the greatest variable. Even though I made Bian Xinchen take on your appearance and closed the heavens, you still managed to make it to the Divine World.”
Lonemoon paused. “You know me?” Lonemoon was sure that he had never met Hongyu.
“I only predicted that you were once my biggest obstacle.” He smiled, as if Lonemoon now no longer mattered to him. “But the way things are now, you can no longer stop me!”
Before Lonemoon could figure out what Hongyu meant, Hongyu waved his hand, presenting an invisible crystal ball which glowed with a white light. A great force emanated from it.
The group retreated a step, but Hongyu was already flying ahead.
“Stop… Holy shit! Bai Ze, what are you doing?” They were about to stop Hongyu when Bai Ze suddenly drew his sword, turned around and began to attack them. Lonemoon managed to dodge instinctively, but Bai Ze kept charging toward them. “Bai Ze, you don’t really believe him, do you? Chef, help-” He turned to ask for Chef’s help, but his eyes widened in shock when he did.
For some reason, Chef also drew his sword. He did not come to Lonemoon’s aid, but instead began to attack Shen Ying.
“Shen Ying!”
“Huh?” Shen Ying turned around. Yi Qing’s sword brushed her side and struck the ground so that a huge pit appeared.
“Yi Qing!” Lonemoon stared at him in disbelief. On closer inspection of Bai Ze and Yi Qing, he saw that they both had dazed expressions that reminded him immediately of Feng San and Long Zhen.
“Shit, Shen Ying, they’re both being controlled by that old man Hongyu,” Lonemoon said as he dodged another attack from Bai Ze. “Bai Ze and Chef’s remnant souls are in his hands.”
Shen Ying frowned and turned to look in the direction that Hongyu flew in. He had not flown far away. In fact, they could see him standing where he was. He waved to them and the darkness around them immediately disappeared. Hongyu seemed to have opened something. A golden beam of light shot straight toward the sky.
“It’s the Reincarnation Stage!” Lonemoon shouted.
Shen Ying started to fly toward Hongyu, but Yi Qing flashed in front of her and blocked her way.
She paused. “Chef?”
“He’s being controlled. He has no consciousness. He’s just using the subconscious in his remnant soul to attack you!” Lonemoon reminded her. “He will not listen to you.”
Indeed, Yi Qing did not respond to Shen Ying. He conjured a seal to lock Shen Ying in where she was. He waved his hand expressionlessly and caused it to rain swords. The cool blades pointed toward Shen Ying. As Yi Qing flew into the air, the swords rained down on Shen Ying.
Shen Ying stared blankly, not knowing whether she should react.
The swords were just about to reach her.
Lonemoon jumped and shouted, “Shen Ying, Short-”
Before he could finish, there was a ringing sound. An uncountable number of immortal swords dropped… all around Shen Ying. They formed a circle of swords that trapped her within.
Shen Ying felt a weight on her neck. She bent down and felt a heat around her lips as something smacked her there.
Huh?
Lonemoon: “…”
Xuan Tong: “…”
Shen Ying: “…”
(⊙_⊙)
Was this… his subconscious working?
There was a rare moment of emptiness in Shen Ying’s mind. What was important was that the person who was standing on tiptoes and hugging her neck obviously did not have experience in kissing. He just brushed his lips against hers, then stuck out his tongue and… covered her entire face with saliva.
“…”
The corner of Shen Ying’s mouth twitched. She tore Yi Qing away from her. “Father Niu, can I kill him?”
Lonemoon: “…”
Before Lonemoon could answer her, Bai Ze broke out of the array and attacked him once again. Holy shit, Bai Ze was out to kill him. Both of them were acting on their subconscious – why was Yi Qing performing so well?