Before the words left his mouth, he flipped his wrist and snapped his ten fingers together, interlocking his index fingers at his forehead – in that instant, ten streaks of light, like cones, coalesced into a single one at the bottom end and came down with a bang!
The Heavenly Punishment! Zhu Yan was shaken and her face turned pale.
Of course she was aware of the horror of such a spell in his hands – if she didn’t exert her entire body, she would only have to die here instead of being able to avenge Yuan!
“Bastard!” The anger and resentment in her heart rushed up like a fiery explosion, and she pulled the broken blade from its sheath behind her back and plunged forward. The blade was infused with powerful spiritual energy, like a blaze of fire – the same stance of Heavenly Punishment, but she used it with the help of a weapon, which was different from the intensity of a magic spell.
Today, even if she had to give up her life here, she would fight him to death! He wouldn’t think of getting rid of her so easily!
The moment their bodies intersected in the air, Zhu Yan only felt the blade vibrate, almost escaping from her hands, and it took all her strength to hold on to it with a firm grip. The two forces in the air clashed and roared, unexpectedly holding against each other! Great, she had actually resisted the strike of her Master’s Heavenly Punishment?!
Zhu Yan’s heart was overjoyed as she landed on the ground, not waiting for her feet to stabilize before she turned back. However, as soon as her body turned around, she realized that not far away, Shi Ying had also just landed on the ground, and his fingers were once again closed on top of his forehead, and his eyes were incredibly stern.
No! Master, he was about to perform the Heavenly Punishment again!
It was a matter of life and death, and she had to be faster than him! One moment slower and she would be blown to pieces!
Without a second thought, she instantly reverted her blade and gathered all her strength to unleash a second Heavenly Punishment! The two vaulted upwards, their figures intersecting in the air for the second time.
She gave it everything she had, and with a sharp sound, the light of her blade swept across the sky like a meteor. In that instant, the blade cut into flesh and blood with a lingering impact, and with a sharp pain in her wrist, the blade flew out of her hand.
What? Did she hit him with it? Or did her blade got knocked out of her hand by him?
The first time Zhu Yan turned back in shock after landing, she discovered that Shi Ying’s figure had actually been forced to retreat sharply by her own slash, flying backwards like a kite with a broken string, his back hitting heavily against a broken wall in the ruins. And with that, her broken blade plunged directly into the man’s chest from the void!
No way! Her mind went blank for a moment, her entire body trembling, and she didn’t even know whether to be happy or angry. The man from across the room was staring at her, his hands hovering over his forehead, the light building up between his fingers still coalescing, but without the slightest intention of releasing it – neither attacking nor blocking.
During the moment when the two crossed paths earlier, he unexpectedly withdrew the power of the Heavenly Punishment, allowing her slash to penetrate his chest without resistance!
How… why did this happen?
Zhu Yan scored with one blow, but she was almost frozen in shock, not moving for a long time, tilting her head to look at the target that her blow had hit, dumbfounded and incredulous. Where was his Heavenly Punishment? Why hadn’t it been unleashed? Was she dreaming?
Until a drop of blood fell from the emptiness and landed on her face. It was crimson, burning blood.
No… this was not a dream! This could not be a dream!
“Ma… Master?” She managed to ask tentatively, the corners of her lips twitching. Yet the man in the void didn’t answer, still just staring at her with an unspeakable expression in his eyes – that blade of hers had pierced deep into his heart, penetrating his body and pinning him to the wall behind him!
No! That cannot be! How could she, how could she really have killed her Master? How could that Godlike man be hit by her with such a casual strike! She… must be dreaming, right?
On such an exhausting morning after returning from a sanguinary battle, everything took such an unexpected turn, so fast that it almost seemed like an ephemeral dream. Zhu Yan trembled for a moment, finally lifting a hand cautiously and touching the broken blade that had pierced his chest: cold, sharp, the blade’s edge was stained with blood – boiling hot blood!
In that instant, she exclaimed as if she had been scalded, as if she had woken up from a deep nightmare, and looked at him in disbelief, her eyes full of fear and shock: “Master… you…”
Why, why did he withdraw the Heavenly Punishment at the last minute? What did he… wanted to do?
“Very well, you really killed me.” Shi Ying dropped his head and gazed at her steadily, his tone still calm as he grabbed her hand and pressed it to his bleeding heart, “And you did what you said… cough, not bad… not bad for a disciple of mine.”
Blood streamed incessantly from between her fingers, gradually staining her hands, sleeves and lapels in a ghastly crimson color. Zhu Yan almost lost her mind in such a situation.
“Master… Master!” She shouted out in desperation, trying to pull her hand away. However, he refused to let her go and just grabbed her by the hand covered in blood, watching her struggle frantically, with a grin as cold as a blade in his eyes that she could not understand. Her whole body was shaking and her mind was blank, Master… Master, what the hell is he doing? What the hell is… going on?
“Ah-Yan… don’t you understand?” He looked at his disciple’s bewildered expression and patted her on the shoulder, his eyes suddenly flooded with a strange smile, “This is the end. As it was prophesized.”
Her brain stiffened a little and she said nervously, “What… prophecy?”
“When I was just born, soon after, the Great Master said that I… cough, I will die in the future at the hands of a woman…”
He recounted the prophetic words that would shape his life, but his voice remained calm, “I was bound to remain in the valley until I was eighteen and not see any woman in this world; if I did, I should have kill her at once.”
Startled, she subconsciously blurted out, “But… but, you didn’t kill me!”
Yes, he hadn’t killed her! Ten years before, when he first met her, the young man who was cultivating alone in the Valley of the Kings did not yet turn eighteen, but stepped in to save the little girl who had intruded.
“Yes, I should have killed you that day.” He smiled wearily and shook his head, “I don’t know why, but surprisingly, I couldn’t bring myself to send you off to feed Chongming.”
Zhu Yan’s whole body started to tremble: “You… why didn’t you kill me at that time?”
Shi Ying gazed at her and said lightly, “Because from the first moment of seeing you, I have liked you.”
His voice was serene, as if he was saying something she should have known a long time ago. Yet there was a searing power in those short words, and every word that entered her ears caused her to shudder, as if struck by lightning, and she took a sudden step backwards, her eyes widening in shock: “What?!”
“I love you very much, Ah-Yan… although you have always been so afraid of me.”
The dying Great Priest gazed at his disciple and suddenly sighed faintly and almost indiscernibly, “This is something I had thought I would never be able to confess to you in this lifetime… it was supposed to be buried in my heart and carried with me to my grave.”
Zhu Yan was speechless, just shaking violently and incredulously.
“When you were thirteen years old, I gave you the hairpin that was left behind by my mother.” His voice was calm, “You probably don’t know that this was originally the bridal betrothal gift for the future Empress when she was welcomed by the Emperors of Kongsang in successive generations.”
Such words, every single one of them, burned into her heart.
“That year, you saved me from the Abyss of Cangwu… I said I would definitely return this life to you in the future” He looked at her, smiled slightly and said softly, “You know what? When I was saying ‘in the future’, I was referring to this day, today.”
She shuddered so violently that even her fingertips started to tremble.
“So, the Great Master was right about the prophecy, my life has been predetermined from the moment we first met.” His voice was calm as he finally let go of her hand and with a gesture of his opposite hand, he pulled out the broken blade that had passed through his chest and threw it to the ground, “It is a predestination for the seer to die from the prophecy.”
In that moment, he fell precipitously from the broken wall, barely able to stand on his feet.
“Master!” Zhu Yan lunged over to hold him up and shouted in an outburst, “No… that’s not true! Just now… just now it was obvious that you didn’t dodge the blow! You… why didn’t you dodge?”
Indeed, if he believed in the prophecy, why did he not kill her back then? If he didn’t believe in the prophecy, why did he do what he did at this very moment!
It was a paradox. He, by his own choice, has allowed this prophecy to be fulfilled!
“Why should I avoid it?” There was a gradual weakness in his tone, the blood surging out of his body taking away the breath of life minute by minute. Shi Ying shook his head slowly, “You loved someone else… since you swore to avenge him, I’ll let you get what you want earlier – that’s the last thing I can do for you, isn’t it?”
His voice was calm and beautiful, like drops of water sliding over a smooth, sharp blade, but Zhu Yan only managed to hear his body tremble and hiss hoarsely, “No… no! Everything can clearly not be like this! You could have not killed Yuan! You could have let him go! You… could have done it differently!”
“How can that be?” Shi Ying lowered his eyes, looked at the desperate young girl and sighed, “I am the firstborn son of the Emperor of Kongsang, the Great Priest of Jiuyi Temple… How can I sit back and let the disaster of the future fall over Kongsang in front of my eyes? No matter who that person was, I had to kill him!”
“…” Zhu Yan could not speak, she only clenched her teeth and shivered violently.
“There was no alternative. Ah-Yan,” he whispered, “from the beginning, everything was already predetermined, there was no other choice.”
“Even if that’s the case! Even if nothing else could be changed! But… but…” she shuddered, loosening her teeth and struggling to say the next few words, but could no longer contain herself and burst out in a sudden cry, “But just now, you could have blocked that slash of mine!”
She grabbed his lapels and shoved him desperately, bursting into tears like an explosion, “Bastard! Just now… just now why didn’t you block! Why? You could have blocked it!”
He looked at the devastated woman and suddenly a weak smile came into his eyes.
“Do you expect me to get in the way so badly?” Shi Ying asked softly, looking down at her, and there was actually a tenderness in his voice that had never been there before, sighing, “Will you be sad if I die? Will you… be more upset about my death than about that other man’s death?”
“…” Zhu Yan was unable to speak and shivered all over.
He asked in a low voice, “If you had known in advance that one of us had to die between him and me, who would you have wanted to die?”
“I… I…” she shuddered and could no longer hold back her sobs, feeling more helpless and desperate than she had ever felt in her entire life, “No! None of you must die! I would be better off dead myself!”
Yes, why wasn’t she the one who died?
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