Ding!!
Tunan slipped from Lin Fuqing’s hand. It hit the ground and bounced up twice, with two drops of blood splashed on the blade.
Almost at the same moment, Lin Fuqing’s knees also hit the ground. He collapsed, his face as pale as paper, and his whole body trembled for a moment. Suddenly he spat out a mouthful of blood.
He swayed. His upper body leaned forward involuntarily and he fell lightly to the ground.
He continued to tremble, vomiting blood, until his vision darkened and became blurry. His fingers curled up in spasms, fingertips turning pale.
He… killed…
He killed…Ji Na…
Lin Fuqing tried hard to open his eyes and search for Ji Na’s figure in his dim and shaking vision.
He saw Saint Ziwei lying on the ground, blood flowing out from his motionless body. Blood continued to flow out, staining the bottom of the Purple Star Astrolabe that had fallen desolately to the ground.
“Cough…!”
Lin Fuqing’s body suddenly straightened up, twitched slightly twice, and then he vomited another large mouthful of glaring red liquid on the ground.
There were dark clouds overhead, as if it was about to rain, and the Mountain, Sea, and Stars Terrace was dark and cold.
He was soaked in a cold sweat, his breathing rapid and weak. Trembling, he took out a bottle of pills and chewed them, swallowing without even looking at them too closely.
However, it was all to no avail. After burning his cultivation, Lin Fuqing felt as if his limbs and bones were torn into pieces, and the spiritual power belonging to a cultivator gushed out madly.
His proud cultivation level quickly declined.
From Golden Core to Great Acknowledgement…
From Great Acknowledgement to Foundation Building…
From Foundation Building to Qi Drawing…
Lin Fuqing bit his tongue hard. He couldn’t faint. This was still the Mountain, Sea and Stars Terrace of the Ziwei Pavilion. If someone found out that he had killed the Holy Son…
People in Ziwei Pavilion could even use things like the Nine-Turn Soul-Destroying Formation. When a powerful person came and directly devoured his consciousness, he would easily know what kind of disaster had befell him and what kind of unlucky star had killed him.
Lin Fuqing gritted his teeth and propped himself up. Standing in the cold night, drowsy and choking on blood, he covered his lips, looking up with his pale face and lifeless eyes.
He looked at the thick dark clouds in the sky and suddenly realized… with his crippled body, there was no hope for him to ascend to become an immortal in this lifetime.
He would no longer be able to kill the star for his little troublemaker.
He had broken his promise.
Lin Fuqing raised his weak, trembling hands. He held a floating fiery red talisman between his hands. The talisman emitted a powerful and terrifying aura, rolling out like a heat wave.
A fire attack talisman that could withstand a full-strength attack from a Mahayana monk.
This was something his master had given to him for self-defense.
Warm memories suddenly revived.
Before coming to Liuhua Continent, he went to the top of the Main Peak of Xuyun and rolled in his master’s arms, his white robe covered in snow flakes.
Yin Changxin smiled, poked him between the eyebrows, said he looked like a little fox rolling in the snow, and then gave him this fiery red talisman.
“Oh, why would Qing’er need this?”
The young immortal brushed off the broken snow on his body without caring, and said with a crisp smile, “I won’t provoke a Mahayana cultivator.”
The master said leisurely, “You won’t provoke one, but you don’t think your little calamity star will provoke one either?”
Lin Fuqing bit his lip and thought for a moment, then said, “…That’s right, I’m afraid Ah’Yuan will fight with the Fang family.”
Yin Changxin snorted, “It’s not easy to raise stars. You should always prepare more things just in case.”
A gentle breeze blew, and the snow on the pine branches fell.
At that time, everything was still peaceful.
………..
Lin Fuqing wiped the blood from his lips. With dilated pupils, he raised his fingers with difficulty and used the last bit of his spiritual power to cast a low-level invisibility spell on the rune.
The talisman gradually disappeared in his hand. He said softly, “Go” and threw the talisman into the sky.
The talisman flew against the wind, faster and faster, turning into an invisible lightning that suddenly penetrated the rolling clouds in the dark night.
What was above the clouds?
It was the way of heaven, the most inviolable way of heaven.
No one dared anger the rules of heaven, for to do so would incur heaven’s wrath.
Lin Fuqing stepped back, his face raised, suddenly feeling so insignificant. He saw dark clouds covering the sky, and after a flash of red light, there was a deafening roar of thunder.
At this moment, the thunder was heard in all three realms.
Countless creatures looked up in horror.
Fire fell from the sky like a pillar onto the Mountain, Sea and Stars Terrace. The scorching red light exploded and turned into a vast sea of fire.
Spiritual energy surged violently. Every splashing wave and every rising bubble was an extremely bright flame.
Faintly, an ancient dragon wrapped in flames rushed down from the sky, roaring with the will of heaven, and opened its bloody mouth. Ji Na’s body was encased in the flames and finally swallowed by the dragon.
Lin Fuqing’s mind was blank. His eyes burned with pain from the vast and ruthless light, and tears flowed down his face.
In this light and heat, he felt the last vestige of spiritual energy dissipate in his body. He had become a complete waste.
His twelve meridiances were shattered and his dantian had withered.
The extremely talented Little Immortal Lord from Taiqing Island was no more.
…
Liuhua Continent.
The young talents who were originally celebrating the successful conclusion of the Golden Osmanthus Challenge fell silent.
Everyone froze as if under a spell, and they all turned their heads to look far away at the place where the divine fire was falling.
A corner of the night sky was burned red, and the fierce red rising in the darkness looked like a hole in the sky.
Someone exclaimed:
“It’s the divine fire, the divine fire!!”
“Then, isn’t that the direction of Ziwei Pavilion’s… Mountain, Sea, and Stars Terrace!?”
“Could it be that Ziwei Pavilion was spying on the way of heaven, and finally provoked the wrath of the gods—”
“What did Saint Ji predict again!?”
In the inn, the black-robed youth stared dazedly at the flames burning in the night sky. After a few breaths, he shuddered. Then he grabbed his sword, kicked open the door, and rushed out.
—He didn’t care whether those charlatans in Ziwei Pavilion lived or died, but Lin Fuqing was still there!!
……..
Tick. Tick.
After the skyfire dissipated, Lin Fuqing felt a slight cool breeze hitting his face. It was raining on the Mountain, Sea, and Stars Terrace.
It was so cold.
Lin Fuqing lowered his eyes tiredly and shuddered.
He let out a breath and fell back to the ground, exhausted again.
It was getting colder.
It felt as if all the fires in the world had been extinguished, leaving nothing but coldness.
Although his consciousness should have been blurred, he felt strangely awake, as if there was a tight string in his brain pulling him, preventing him from fainting.
It wasn’t over yet.
Lin Fuqing squinted his eyes and raised his hand with difficulty. In his pale hand was the small gadget that he’d taken out from his Qiankun bag just before his spiritual power completely dissipated.
The Hidden Stone.
Before coming here, Song Youdu had given him many modified general magic weapons, and this was one of them.
Naturally, no one in this mortal world knew that there was a genius tool-refining expert in Xuyun who was able to create such a terrifying thing.
Lin Fuqing fumbled to put it around his waist, and the aura fluctuating around him turned into that of a Golden Core stage cultivator.
Finally, he stood up with difficulty.
Blood was churned in his lungs, rushing upwards. Every bone in his body was in great pain, and every organ was clamoring and overwhelmed.
Lin Fuqing stood very straight with a calm expression.
His bones were like green and tough bamboo branches, his brows were like snow-capped mountains and clouds, and his long hair, wet by the rain, looked like melted thick pine soot ink.
He walked slowly, and except for his bleak face and unfocused eyes, his entire demeanor and temperament were still as elegant and graceful as that of an immortal youth in white.
This minor flaw didn’t hinder him.
Being frightened by the sudden fire, being saddened by the death of a friend, being worried about the impending disaster…There were too many reasons. It was natural to lose control a little.
He stopped in front of Ji Na’s body. Under the heavenly fire, the Holy Son’s originally beautiful face was no longer recognizable.
He bent down and picked up the Purple Star Astrolabe that had fallen to the ground with both hands. Then he turned around, took two steps, and stopped again.
“Saint Ziwei.”
Lin Fuqing looked back deeply and said hoarsely:
“I will do my best to protect your world.”
He stepped onto the stairs and saw from afar that the elders of Ziwei Pavilion had gathered below.
Lin Fuqing was suddenly glad that he’d focused on practicing the light-body skill called Traceless, which made it convenient for him to conceal his true cultivation stage. He stepped forward and gracefully flew down the long steps.
…
That night, a piece of news that shocked the three realms came from Ziwei Pavilion.
Ji Na, the Saint of Ziwei, attempted to use astrology to spy on the heaven’s secrets, but ultimately incurred the wrath of heaven and died in the divine fire, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Ruan Mingtong.
Lin Fuqing, the chief disciple of Xuyun Sect, was entrusted by the Holy Son to spread the news of the impending disaster to the people, and led all the immortal sects to resist the great calamity three years later.
=========
In present time.
The illusion in the sea of consciousness slowly closed.
The Holy Son, whose soul was forcibly separated, fainted to the ground and lost consciousness the moment his soul returned to his body.
Only the reborn Demon Lord looked soberly at the clear night sky, recalling the fire and rain in his previous life.
All of a sudden, Lin Fuqing sucked in a breath of cold air, his face turning pale without any warning, and a look of hidden pain appeared between his furrowed brows.
His soul, which had not yet fully recovered, was once again on the verge of collapse due to the backlash of forced stimulation.
It hurted…
It was really annoying.
He struggled to walk down the terrace, smiling bitterly even when he could barely walk, thinking to himself that he had a terrible aversion to this place, as he was often in extreme pain every time he went down.
Cold sweat dripped down his back, and his vision became increasingly blurry. He covered his mouth and coughed twice, then looked at his palm in the starlight above his head… Another pool of blood.
His vision turned gray as he barely made it to the stairs. His legs weakened and he fell to the ground. Only then did he realize that even his fingertips were shaking and he had no strength to move.
Lin Fuqing endured the tearing pain in his exhausted soul, and thought to himself: Oh no, I won’t be able to go back tonight.
He felt like he was about to pass out. But Zhiyuan was still there…waiting for him to come back…
He had to go back. If he couldn’t go back, his little troublemaker would be so worried and frightened.
Lin Fuqing attempted to stand but fell to the ground again, his eyes blank. His internal organs spasmed and a sweet and metallic taste surged up his throat.
He was not quite conscious anymore, and he didn’t have the strength or the energy to cough or vomit, so he just tilted his head and let the blood slowly flow out from his lips.
When he thought of Fang Zhiyuan, his heart ached as if it was being stabbed by a knife.
His little troublemaker was not what he was now.
He missed the high-spirited young man in black so much. He missed him madly.
He missed those days with every fiber of his being. At that time, Zhiyuan would say coldly, “I want to leave, don’t stop me”; and he would smile and say, “I won’t stop you, I will accompany you.”
But what about now? Fang Zhiyuan now became so silent and submissive, and so cautious, because of his troublesome senior brother.
He was pushed so hard by himself that he was about to go crazy and collapse, but he only dared to hide away in the middle of the night to drink. Even though he was so worried and uneasy, he only dared to say a few insignificant jealous words.
Then he silently watched him leave, quietly waiting for him to choose to come back, or not.
Lin Fuqing’s eyes suddenly became moist.
He did protect his little troublemaker, but the rebellious young man who dared to fight him with a knife was also killed by his own hands.
Lin Fuqing murmured in his heart in a trance: I’m sorry.
I’ve tortured you into this state. I really treated you badly, very badly…
I really tried my best, but I was really unable to do it.
Just like now, I want to come back to you as soon as possible, but I really can’t get up…
Lin Fuqing closed his eyes and tears rolled down his cheeks.
He whispered in his heart, don’t blame me too much.
He used his remaining strength to take out a message paper goose, and reluctantly urged his spiritual energy to write, “I will be back tomorrow, don’t worry.”
After finishing it, Lin Fuqing still felt uneasy, as he always felt that something was missing.
He breathed weakly, and looked at the words with his already hazy eyes. It took him a while to slowly realize what was missing.
Lin Fuqing raised his hand again and added two words.
—Nothing’s wrong.
“I will be back tomorrow, I am fine, don’t worry.”
Lin Fuqing tapped lightly and said “go” and the little paper goose fluttered away in the night.
Lin Fuqing stared blankly for a long while, then retracted his gaze and began to search for a pill in his Qiankun bag and put it into his mouth.
He couldn’t go back tonight, but he still would have to act normal when he see Zhiyuan tomorrow morning.
Lin Fuqing chewed the pill and couldn’t help laughing.
It tasted so bad…
It was exactly the same as in the previous life.
The night flowed quietly and the stars twinkled.
Fortunately, there was no rain tonight, and the rain would not fall until three days later.
It was unknown when the hand holding the porcelain bottle of pills slowly dropped. The fingertips loosened, the small bottle rolled to the ground, and several pills fell out.
Lin Fuqing’s long eyelashes drooped heavily, casting shadows on his snow-white skin.
He was so tired.
Let him take a nap.
The author has something to say:
Key points: In Chapter 39, when Lin Fuqing was playing with the Hidden Stone, he said that Fifth Song had newly made it that day. This was a lie orz. In fact, the correct foreshadowing of the Hidden Stone was in Chapter 8 when Fifth Song gave the universal magic weapon. Qing’er was afraid that Xiao Huoxing would be too perceptive and could associate something with it, so he deliberately deceived him on the timeline.