The birthplace of the cultivation world is where the Guixu lies. Deep within the East Sea is a bottomless valley known as Guixu, where streams from all directions converge, and the spiritual veins of Guixu are also located here.
From a distance, the sea is vast, the water surging powerfully. Streams from all realms converge from various directions, gathering in the center of the sea to form a cascading waterfall.
The night wind is piercing, and the thunder roars continuously from within the clouds. The sky is torn apart by lightning, with electric arcs weaving through it. The cold, biting wind sweeps up the waters of the entire East Sea.
A bolt of lightning, falling from tens of thousands of feet, strikes a person.
He kneels on the ground, attempting to tear apart space to leave, but everything he has is given by that old being. Now that it is angry, naturally, it will not allow him to use its power to leave.
He has no physical body, but he still has the five senses and can feel pain.
A peregrine falcon stands at a distance, its keen eyes hesitating, wanting to speak up on his behalf, yet it knows the anger of the Heavenly Dao, afraid it would only provoke the Heavenly Dao further.
This old being has a really bad temper, and the situation was indeed his own fault.
The thunder tribulation lasted for three full hours. After the lightning dispersed, from behind the heavy clouds, a pair of eyes revealed themselves.
The pupils were unclear, filled with chaos. Flowing seawater, swirling clouds, the radiance of the sun and moon—everything was within those eyes. Those eyes contained the entirety of the world.
The young man, badly wounded from the strikes, did not rise. He lazily lay in the deep pit, his body covered in blood and deep gashes.
His blood was black, and the black mist around him surged out of his wounds.
“Tch.” The young man sneered coldly, lying on the ground, gazing up at those eyes in the sky. “You asked me to help you, so you must allow for the fact that my strategies aren’t perfect and I’ll fail sometimes. Didn’t you also find Shi Yao? She failed too, didn’t she?”
The peregrine falcon flew over and kicked him. “Shut up, don’t speak!”
Worried that the Heavenly Dao might strike again, the falcon stood on the black-clad man’s chest and hastily tried to explain, “My lord, Sang Dai is too strange. We have followed every step according to the plan, but every time she finds a way to break through. There’s something on her that helps her, but we don’t know what it is!”
All things in the world follow laws. The Heavenly Dao can only determine a person’s destiny after they are born, but it cannot interfere midway. Now, the old destiny has been altered, and the thing on Sang Dai has actually overridden the Heavenly Dao’s power, setting a new fate for her.
The new fate—
Was that Sang Dai overturned the Guixu Immortal Realm.
That was not the fate set by the Heavenly Dao, but the one set for her by that mysterious thing on her.
“My lord, it’s really like this. According to the destiny you set, she was supposed to die in the Immortal Demon War, but Su Xuan suddenly came out of seclusion. This is truly strange. Later, when someone tried to kill her in Bairen, she suddenly could use the Tianyu Stone. The Tianyu Stone has been unusable for thousands of years. Why is it only she who can use it? Ling Yin had her swear on blood, but there were others in the past who tried this method, and they couldn’t use the Tianyu Stone. Why can her blood work?”
“When we were in the Snow Realm, we also wanted to kill her, but as you saw, the Snow Owl still had its soul lingering in the Snow Realm. The Snow Owl gave her the Guixu spiritual power. At that time, Sang Dai, Su Xuan, Tan Huai, and even Ji Cang were all there. We couldn’t kill her. It’s like she always finds a way out, always having some kind of opportunity.”
The Heavenly Dao coldly watched the peregrine falcon explain, while the black-clad young man under the falcon’s claws continued to laugh carelessly.
“Then… then we led her to Linglong Town. As you know, Sang Dai and Su Xuan were together. Neither we nor Shi Yao could kill them, so we had to separate them and deal with them one by one. Shi Yao was responsible for eliminating Sang Dai, and we were responsible for eliminating Su Xuan, but Su Xuan endured! Sang Dai… Sang Dai should have been finished. She… she was poisoned by rosemary, but she survived the Illusionary Killing Array, and even with only a bit of soul power left, she endured your Grand Ascension Thunder Tribulation. She is too strong! It’s like there’s something really helping her!”
The thunder rumbled deafeningly, and the Heavenly Dao’s anger surged. The waters of the entire East Sea became turbulent and dangerous, rising thousands of feet high.
The peregrine falcon flinched in fear, its wings trembling. It turned to glance at the black-clad young man.
He lay there, eyes closed, calmly, neither explaining nor rebutting, as if he didn’t care whether the Heavenly Dao’s anger had subsided or whether it would strike him again.
The peregrine falcon didn’t understand. Why?
Every step they took was to kill Sang Dai, but each time it seemed they were just a little short. Sang Dai always had many people helping her. There were too many secrets surrounding her.
In the Burning Heaven Realm, Ling Yin told her how to use the Tianyu Stone. In the Snow Realm, the Snow Owl gave her the Guixu spiritual power. In Linglong Town, she nearly died in the Thunder Tribulation, but during the brief moment when she closed her eyes, it seemed like she suddenly understood something. She leaped up and actually struck the sky!
It was all too strange. The peregrine falcon couldn’t help but doubt…
Was everything his partner had done meant to kill Sang Dai, or to save her?
He even threw the Guixu Spiritual Vine into Linglong Town, and Sang Dai took it.
He brought Ying Heng to Linglong Town, and Ying Heng, a person who had lost all his senses, somehow managed to escape.
All of this was too coincidental. One after another, these coincidences could no longer be called coincidences.
But he said nothing, didn’t argue, and did nothing.
The peregrine falcon gritted its teeth, enduring the pressure of the Heavenly Dao, and continued, “My lord, please give us one last chance. If Ying Heng is healed by the little monster from the Divine Healer Valley, he will surely remember the Guixu matter, and Sang Dai will definitely come here. Once Sang Dai arrives, she will walk into a new destiny. She will destroy Guixu, and the four realms will surround and kill her!”
“This time… this time, she will definitely die!”
Is it certain?
The peregrine falcon didn’t believe it. Repeated failures made it feel that Sang Dai was simply eerie. She was just an ordinary Heavenly Grade spiritual root awakener, how could she not be killed?
The pair of eyes slowly faded, but the last glance was directed at the black-clad young man behind the peregrine falcon.
They all knew what that meant.
It was a warning, the last chance. If Sang Dai doesn’t die, then he will.
The clouds dispersed, revealing the starry sky behind them, and the full moon hung high in the sky.
“The stars are quite beautiful tonight.”
He still had the leisure to speak.
The peregrine falcon, furious, kicked him again. “Shut up! Don’t you know this is your last chance from Him? If you fail again, and if Sang Dai doesn’t die, then it will be us who die!”
The black mist cleared the blood from his body, and after the Heavenly Dao’s power vanished, his wounds could begin to heal.
The black-clad young man sat up and shook the dust off his clothes. “I know, I’m trying to stay alive, aren’t I? If the four realms want to kill Sang Dai, she will definitely die. Don’t worry.”
This person never speaks seriously. After being partners for so many years, the peregrine falcon was growing increasingly distrustful of him.
“He should be going back to sleep now. He won’t wake up for long. Tell me, do you really want to kill Sang Dai?” The peregrine falcon stood on his shoulder and asked, “All the things you’ve done, are they really for killing her?”
The black-clad young man jumped up from the pit, casually kicking the mud off his shoes, and replied without much interest, “Oh, of course, I want to kill her. Isn’t that what I’m trying to do?”
The peregrine falcon kicked him again. “You’re still lying to me. We’re partners!”
The black-clad young man sneered. “I already told you, I’m not going to be partners with a bird. If you don’t hurry and find a way out, sticking with me, if Sang Dai doesn’t die, you’ll be struck down by the Heavenly Dao along with me.”
The peregrine falcon shuddered. “That can’t be… Sang Dai should die, right?”
“Who knows? She’s really powerful, and you know that. Although many people want Sang Dai to die—”
The black-clad young man bent down and stirred the seawater to wash the blood off his hands. His gaze turned to the distant sea, where the center appeared to have been violently struck, creating a hole, with water from all directions flowing toward the Guixu.
The former Guixu had once shone with golden light, and every drop of seawater carried its spiritual energy. Now, the spiritual veins of Guixu were destroyed, and it was filled with death, leaving only scorched earth.
He spoke, “But there are also many people who want her to live.”
The peregrine falcon asked, “And you? Which kind of person are you?”
Do you want Sang Dai to die, or do you want her to live?
“Me?” The black-clad young man straightened up, and though his lips remained pale beneath his mask, he was still smiling. “Hmm, whether she lives or dies doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care.”
His words, a mix of truth and lies, were something even the peregrine falcon, who had followed him for so many years, couldn’t decipher. Over the years, he had wandered through the four realms, indulging in food and drink, living like a reckless noble, never doing anything serious.
“You need to understand,” the peregrine falcon couldn’t help but remind him, “If Sang Dai doesn’t die, then you will.”
“I don’t know what you really want to do,” it continued. “We’re partners, but you don’t trust me. You won’t tell me what you’re doing, but we’ve known each other for so many years. My life was saved by you. In the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, we are in the same camp. I want you to live, and that’s the truth.”
The black-clad young man walked off in the distance, then asked, “Why do you want me to live? If I live, a lot of people will die.”
The peregrine falcon replied, “You saved my life. Of course, I want you to live!”
“It’s a pity I don’t want to be partners with a bird. I only saved you back then because it was convenient.”
The black-clad young man was completely indifferent.
The peregrine falcon was infuriated and kicked him several times with all its might.
“Who cares about being your partner? Go die then!”
It flapped its wings and flew into the distance, drawing a clear dark line through the night wind. This peregrine falcon was not a high-level spirit and couldn’t take on a human form; its cultivation wasn’t high either.
The black-clad young man tilted his chin and looked up at the night sky. The peregrine falcon had long since disappeared into the distance.
Footsteps approached from the opposite direction, and the black-clad young man withdrew his gaze to look.
Shi Yao, still wearing her pink dress, had long since lost any color in her face. Her neck, covered by her cloak, faintly revealed some black veins, and the surrounding aura of the Four Sufferings was thick.
The black-clad young man raised an eyebrow. “Miss Shi, it looks like the Four Sufferings on you have worsened quite a bit. What, didn’t Bi Fang find you a new spiritual root to absorb the Four Sufferings for you?”
Shi Yao’s expression was indifferent. “Once Sang Dai dies in the Guixu, a new spiritual root will appear.”
“You think Sang Dai will die?”
“Don’t you?” Shi Yao replied coldly. “You think she won’t die? Is it because you think she’s strong, so she won’t die? Or is it because you don’t want her to die, and want to help her survive?”