Chapter 75: Epilogue (II)

Sui Ning felt as if she had just had a long dream. She was dazed and confused, unable to distinguish between the past and present.

In the end, she even found herself becoming lost in this dream.

She saw Yanheng’s life—a life that was full of glory but also one that was lonely and cold.

And then there was Jihu’s life and his eventual fate.

She was Yanheng, and Xie Changzhou was Jihu.

Thousands of years ago, when her father and mother perished, they entrusted the divine jade to her, who had yet to hatch.

“Heng’er, father and mother have infused half of their divine power into the jade. I hope that when you encounter a fateful calamity ten thousand years from now, you can overcome it smoothly.”

“Your father and mother love you.”

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With the divine bones of the creator god and half of the divine blood of Yanheng’s father and mother, the divine jade was almost invincible all the way.

Until one day, the two forces within his body collided, and he was almost on the verge of death.

While he was meditating with his eyes closed, he was discovered by the demon clan and was saved by Yanheng.

From then on, he was known as Jihu.

The first war god in the upper realm, Jihu

He accompanied Yanheng for thirty thousand years until Yanheng died.

Jihu was almost hopeless, just like what Sui Ning had once seen. He knelt down and tried to catch the scattered fragments of Yanheng’s soul that were floating in the air, crying out in pain.

“In the next life, be yourself; I will guard this world for you.”

Suddenly, the surroundings plunged into a terrifying darkness. In the long and silent darkness, Sui Ning almost thought she had gone blind.

A faint light appeared, gradually becoming brighter, until finally the light suddenly flashed.

Sui Ning felt a little uncomfortable and covered her eyes until she could adapt to the brightness. Then she trembled and lowered her hand.

It was still dim all around, with only a beam of light shining diagonally on a person ahead.

He was tall and slender, wearing silver-white battle armor, and his black hair was tied back with a jade crown.

His eyebrows and eyes were cold, focused on the void in front of him.

That was Jihu.

“Have you thought it through?” A cold and solemn voice echoed in the surroundings, making Sui Ning’s heart tremble.

“That sound came from all directions. Sui Ning couldn’t see him, but he was everywhere here.

Ji Hu’s back was still straight and upright. He spoke in a cold voice: “Yes.”

“Where are you going to send her?”

A glimmer of light appeared in Ji Hu’s hand, and the familiar aura softened his heart.

“To another world.”

He looked up at the void, which was dark in Sui Ning’s eyes and nothingness.

But he looked very serious, with sincere eyes.

“Please make a deal with the Heavenly Dao of another world, send Ah Heng over, and let her live her own life.”

“Heavenly Dao, I beg you.”

Sui Ning’s heart was sour, her throat seemed to be choked, and she felt uncomfortable.

The Heavenly Dao was silent for a moment and finally spoke slowly: “Yanheng is a divine spirit, and her destiny is to seal the Wanmo Cavern and slay the demons.”

Ji Hu said, “I’ll do it.”

The Heavenly Dao did not speak and waited for Ji Hu’s next words.

Ji Hu’s cold and hard facial features faded away, and at this moment, he was warm and gentle, with a smile on his lips.

He whispered, “I am also a god.”

“I am the divine bone of the creator god. I am more suitable than Yanheng. She can only seal, but I can eliminate with one stroke.”

The cold voice of the heavenly dao replied, “You will die.”

Ji Hu shook his head, saying, “I only need her to live. If she dies and my divine power is not fully awakened, I will deeply regret it.”

“I will stay and guard the world while you send her to another world.”

“After ten thousand years, when Gui Ba is reborn, I will use my divine power to bring peace to this world.”

This time the heavenly dao was silent for a long time, seemingly unsure of what to say.

Ji Hu sent the soul of the Yanheng into the void, his eyes gentle and affectionate.

He said softly, “I was born for her. Her divine blood awakened me, and her godly parents hoped that I could help her pass the trial, but I didn’t succeed.”

“This time, I will definitely save her.”

A beam of light shone down on him, and Jihu’s profile was illuminated with a glow. His eyes were the same color as Xie Changzhou’s.

Sui Ning couldn’t help it any longer. The emotions belonging to Yanheng surged within her, and she suddenly burst into tears.

The heavenly dao said softly, “Okay, I will send her to another world.”

Suddenly, a pair of huge and icy eyes appeared in the dim void, staring closely at the small figure of Jihu in front of them.

“From now on, you will bear the fate of Yanheng, and you will be the only divine being in this world.”

Jihu laughed, saying, “Okay.”

The soul of Yanheng gradually flew towards the heavenly dao, and Jihu’s figure disappeared before Sui Ning’s eyes.

It was like someone suddenly pressed the accelerator, and Sui Ning saw the first half of Xie Changzhou’s life.

Ji Hu was reincarnated as Xie Changzhou, who possessed divine bones and was naturally gifted. At the age of five, he was discovered to have extremely suitable spiritual roots for cultivation and was sent by the Xie family to the Limitless Sword Sect to train.

As a child, he was taken under the wing of the then-Sword Saint Ban Xu and was cultivated to be the next Sword Saint.

Wenjian Peak was extremely high and cold, but the young Xie Changzhou was mature beyond his years. Even when his cultivation was not enough and his eyelashes were covered in frost, he never shed a tear.

Ban Xu was especially strict with him, but he was diligent in his cultivation and had a desire to serve the people from a young age, vowing to devote himself to them.

And he did. At the age of twenty, he reached the nascent soul stage; at 150 years old, he reached the Mahayana; and at 200 years old, he reached the crossing the tribulation stage. He was the number-one person of his time.

She watched as he endured hundreds of years of loneliness, his eyelashes trembling with frost during the onset of the cold poison, and when he was seriously injured and on the brink of death, he would only lock himself indoors to heal.

These were all supposed to be her duties.

Sui Ning cried out in pain, knowing that these were all memories and things of the past, but she couldn’t help trembling as she reached out to touch him.

Even though her hand passed through his cheek multiple times.

Her face was full of tears, her vision blurred, and suddenly everything went black. She couldn’t see anything.

“Send back the Yanheng.”

It was the Heavenly Dao.

Before her, there was darkness, and she could only hear voices.

Then, a somewhat old voice rang out: “You sacrificed half of your power to me back then. You were willing to fall into slumber just to send Yanheng into my world. Why would you want to send her back?”

Sui Ning was startled, and her heart began to race.

The Heavenly Dao sighed, and its ethereal voice sounded particularly helpless at this moment: “Before the battle, Gui Ba left behind half of his demonic bones, which transformed into Shen Jie. He has already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and Gui Ba can resurrect at any time by relying on Shen Jie.”

“But when Jihu used the divine power of Yanheng’s divine parents to preserve her soul, he had no divine power left, only divine bones. How could he completely seal the Wanmo Cavern and still have the strength to kill Shen Jie?”

The Heavenly Dao paused for a moment, and its voice suddenly became heavy: “What I want is the eradication of all evil spirits from this world. I want absolute certainty, not just putting all the stakes on Jihu.”

The old voice spoke up: “Do you want Yanheng to come back and kill Shen Jie?”

The Heavenly Dao shook its head and said, “No, Yanheng cannot kill him. Once she regains her divine power and understands what I have done, she will definitely try to stop Jihu.”

“She loves Jihu; she won’t let him die for her.”

“But I want Jihu dead. He has natural divine bones, and he can directly uproot the Wanmo Cavern.”

Sui Ning’s hand trembled lightly as hatred surged in her eyes. Even though she couldn’t see anything, she accurately locked onto the Heavenly Dao’s position and wished she could kill it directly.

The old voice fell silent for a long time without responding, and finally, it sighed lightly.

The voice spoke again, somewhat helplessly: “Shen Jie hasn’t recovered his memories yet, right? Turning him around and preventing the resurrection of the Demon God—is this method feasible?”

The Heavenly Dao hesitated: “Is this method viable?”

The old voice sighed helplessly: “Don’t hesitate anymore. Gui Ba needs to resurrect from Shen Jie. Shen Jie must have a strong enough demonic heart for this. Let Yanheng go and eliminate his demonic heart. Then Gui Ba won’t be able to resurrect from Shen Jie, and he’ll only be worn down in the Wanmo Cavern.”

“Ten thousand years, fifty thousand years, one hundred thousand years, how many evil spirits from the Wanmo Cavern can he devour? Even if the Wanmo Cavern emerges, without his dark bone, it won’t be easy to kill him with only using Jihu.”

The Heavenly Dao fell silent for a moment but eventually gritted its teeth and agreed, “Fine, I’ll trouble you with this.”

Afterward, Sui Ning saw her own ridiculous life.

It was absurd and laughable.

The so-called “System Agency” was just another world’s Heavenly Dao, and the system was just a string of data sent by him.

It was absurd that she had misunderstood the data given to her by the system. Shen Jie was her true mission.

She and Xie Changzhou were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

According to the Heavenly Dao’s plan, she was only sent to stop Shen Jie, while Xie Changzhou was the one he arranged to send to his death.

She and Xie Changzhou were used from beginning to end.

Sui Ning had never felt so much hatred. Why should she and Xie Changzhou be used like this? Why couldn’t they have their own lives?

Tears fell from her eyes; her chest felt constricted, and she could hardly catch her breath.

She closed her eyes tightly, and when she opened them again, she was met with the familiar curtain.

Incense smoke wafted in the air, filling the room with a pleasant fragrance.

Upon waking up, she immediately felt the intense pain in her abdomen, as if thousands and thousands of needles were piercing her, making her tremble, yet she was powerless to struggle.

“Ningning, Ningning, wake up!” Tang Tang rushed over, her bright face full of anxiety.

Sui Ning was unable to respond to her words, writhing in pain with cold sweat on her forehead and a pale and weak expression.

Her abdomen was in excruciating pain; she could barely breathe, and each breath felt like a knife twisting in her, causing her entire body to tremble with the pain in her stomach.

Tang Tang hurriedly sent her spiritual energy to investigate, but as soon as the spiritual energy entered her body, her heart seemed to stop beating.

She trembled and said, “Ningning, you… are about to give birth.”

Sui Ning bit down on the pillow on one side in pain, and with a tearful voice, she asked, “Where… where is Xie Changzhou… where did he go?”

Tang Tang ignored everything else and wiped the cold sweat from her face, lifting up her blanket to make her lie flat.

Sui Ning tightly held her hand, trembling as she asked her, “Where is Xie Changzhou… where is he…”

“Tell me he didn’t go.”

“Tell me he won’t leave me.”

Her eyes were red, but her gaze was clear, and she stared at Tang Tang stubbornly, her face full of determination, enduring the pain and looking at her with a heart-wrenching expression.

Tang Tang’s heart trembled, unable to bear lying to her any longer, and the words of refusal were swallowed up.

“Jianzun… he went to find Shen Jie. The evil spirits from the outside world have been appearing for more than seven months.”

Sui Ning looked at her unwillingly, gritting her teeth and enduring the intense and piercing pain in her abdomen.

Tang Tang cried as she transferred spiritual energy to her, telling her about what had happened over the past few days.

More than eight months ago, chaos began outside, with many people, young and old, men and women, disappearing at first.

Later, the sky split, and cracks appeared in the void from time to time, sucking people inside.

Seven months ago, cracks in the void no longer sucked people in, but instead green flames with numerous hideous ghost faces crawled out from within, roaring towards the people.

The location of the appearance of evil spirits was unpredictable and irregular, and whenever they appeared, Xie Changzhou would go to save people.

So during Sui Ning’s pregnancy, he often stayed away from home for half a month.

Until ten days ago, the sky completely split, and countless evil spirits crawled out of the cracks. Shen Jie led the demons to launch a massive invasion, causing heavy casualties among the cultivators.

Ten days ago, Sui Ning fainted.

“Ningning, how are you? Don’t scare me.”

Tang Tang was anxious, and tears streamed down his face.

Sui Ning buried her head tightly in the pillow, cold sweat pouring from her forehead. She was unable to suppress the painful cries from her mouth.

The outside world had been chaotic for almost a year, but Xie Changzhou had created the illusion that everything was peaceful for her.

The prosperous and peaceful scene of Gusu town that she had seen in the past few months was all fake.

It was all fake.

He thought he was protecting her.

“Xie Changzhou…”

Her abdomen twisted in pain, and Sui Ning suppressed the intense pain.

The soul bell and spirit pearl sensed her weakness, circling above her. The warm and majestic spiritual energy healed her meridians, replenishing her rapidly depleted energy and blood.

Sui Ning tightly held Tang Tang’s hand, gasping heavily as she gritted her teeth and said, “Help… help me give birth; I need….. to go find him…”

“I need to go find Xie Changzhou… Tang Tang, hurry…”

Her thin clothes were soaked with sweat; she held onto Tang Tang’s hand tightly, her neck veins bulging as she endured immense pain.

She never knew that giving birth as a woman could be so painful. As if a pair of hands were reaching into her abdomen, stirring it recklessly, she was almost numb with pain.

Her face was covered in sweat; she was pale and exhausted. She clenched her teeth and looked at the soul bell and spirit pearl in front of her.

Tears streamed down her face, running over her sweat-drenched temples and falling onto the pillow beside her.

“Xie Changzhou…”

She couldn’t help but cry out in pain.

“Just wait for me.”

***

In the void, Xie Changzhou stood tall and majestic.

Behind him, the disciples of the sect stood in formation, with Master Dingyuan standing by his side.

Master Dingyuan still had a gentle and compassionate appearance, his prayer beads turning lightly in his hands as he clasped them together in front of him.

He sighed softly, “What a sin.”

Xie Changzhou remained silent, his gaze cold and icy, his jaw tightly clenched, and his facial features sharp and distinct.

In front of him were tens of thousands of dark green flames, with fierce faces roaring in the flames, opening their bloody mouths, and charging towards him, all of them being blocked by him.

The divine bones reappear, and his godly power returns. The godly power of the Creator is particularly pure and powerful. When the evil spirits touched his godly power, they all screamed and turned into wisps of blue smoke.

The disciples of the sect suffered heavy casualties. Only godly power can kill the evil spirits, and in the past half month, disciples who encountered evil spirits could only be entangled and devoured unless they could hold on until Xie Changzhou arrived.

However, sometimes evil spirits appeared in several places in succession, and Xie Changzhou couldn’t make it in time. The disciples had to protect the people, resulting in even more casualties.

Most of the disciples in the sect were already dead or injured.

Shen Jie stood in front of the demon army, his black robe fluttering in the wind. His slightly red eyes were full of paranoia and ruthlessness, and he had a sinister smile on his lips.

“Xie Changzhou, do you want to stop me?”

He seemed to find it very funny, and his smile became thicker and thicker. He exuded a chilling and bloodthirsty aura.

He swept his gaze over the disciples behind Xie Changzhou, then fell on Master Dingyuan beside him.

Shen Jie raised an eyebrow. “You want to fight against us, the entire demon clan and evil spirits, with only these remnants of soldiers and that bald old donkey beside you?”

Xie Changzhou remained calm, standing with his hands behind his back and showing no reaction to Shen Jie’s words.

Shen Jie chuckled. “I am also in the later stage of crossing the tribulation now. How can you fight against us with just your own strength, relying on your godly power that came from who-knows-where?”

Master Dingyuan was taken aback, and he carefully probed Shen Jie. His old face was somewhat incredulous.

He exclaimed, “How did you suddenly ascend to the later stage of crossing the tribulation?”

Not even a year had passed since he advanced from the early to the later stage of crossing the tribulation. Moreover, his demonic energy was especially pure and rich, much stronger than before.

But Master Dingyuan clearly remembered that Shen Jie was a hybrid of human and demon. How could he possess such pure demonic energy, comparable to that of the ancient demon clans?

Master Dingyuan frowned in confusion.

“You swallowed Gui Luan’s demon core.”

A clear voice rang out.

As soon as she spoke, Master Dingyuan’s pupils shrank.

That’s right, this kind of pure demonic energy can only be found in the ancient demon clans.

But now, besides the demon god Gui Ba, the only ancient demon clan left is Gui Luan. If Shen Jie wanted to advance quickly and have such pure and powerful demonic energy, it must be because he had swallowed Gui Luan’s demon core!”

Shen Jie looked at Xie Changzhou with a smirk on his lips, still teasing. 

“Yes, I have to thank Jianzun.” Shen Jie’s smile did not reach his eyes. “Thanks to Jianzun’s thunder, Gui Luan was seriously injured, and I was able to pick up a bargain.” 

Xie Changzhou’s face suddenly darkened, and his voice was cold and biting. “Are you here to disrupt the world of cultivation?” 

“With everything you’ve done, do you want to drag the entire world down with you?” 

Shen Jie’s smirk froze, and a cold gleam flashed in his eyes. “So what if I am?” 

He raised his chin slightly, his expression as cold and arrogant as ever. “I want to rule this world. As long as it belongs to me, I don’t care what it looks like.” 

He suddenly laughed, word by word. “I don’t care.” 

As long as he became the ruler of the world and killed Xie Changzhou and Dingyuan, he would have everything he wanted. 

His eyes were cold and sinking as he looked at Xie Changzhou, with a hint of provocation in his gaze. “Xie Changzhou, including everything you possess. Your status, your cultivation, and even… your wife?” 

He had been suppressed by Xie Changzhou for so many years. The world respected and loved Xie Changzhou, but he was despised and hated. 

Even the only person who had ever saved him was doing it for Xie Changzhou. 

He wanted to take everything away from Xie Changzhou and kill him, and everything Xie Changzhou had would be his. 

Xie Changzhou’s gaze instantly turned cold. 

Master Dingyuan sighed quietly. Shen Jie really didn’t know what was good for him, daring to bring up that person in front of Xie Changzhou. 

He silently took a step back, afraid that later on their ally, the White Jade Sword Saint, might accidentally injure him. 

Xie Changzhou stood tall, his white robe fluttering, a faint redness appearing at the corner of his eyes, and layers of cold light swirling in his glass-like eyes.

He walked slowly towards Shen Jie, his exquisite features still refined and noble, and his whole body exuded an air of haughty aloofness.

With each step he took, the evil spirits that were howling and rushing towards him were forcefully suppressed and pushed back.

The green fire flickered in his eyes like a fallen evil god from hell, and the killing intent emanating from his body made one’s heart tremble.

“You’re not worthy.”

He didn’t say much; he just raised his weapon and charged towards Shen Jie.

The epic battle had officially begun.