Blade

The dead silence of Yaochi did not last long.

Like ice breaking, a brief freeze followed by a surge of undercurrents and clamor. The immortal officials and generals recovered from their shock, a mixture of shock and anger. Shouts, discussions, and calls for troops mingled as they attempted to clean up the utter mess. The golden celestial soldiers regrouped like a tide, cordoning off the scene, cleaning up the blood and debris, and repairing the cloud steps and buildings destroyed by Ao Guang.

However, all the hustle and bustle seemed to have nothing to do with the standing red figure.

Yinglong stood there, like a jade sculpture with its soul lost. Her phoenix crown half-fallen, her beaded curtain askew, revealing her pale, bloodless face. Her eyes, once sharp as swords, piercing the void, now stared blankly at the nothingness that swallowed Ao Guang. Unfocused, only a blank, shattered light.

The burning sensation on his fingertips lingered; it was his blood. His hoarse, laughing, blood-soaked whispers still seemed to echo in his ears, about the sunny shallow bay, the coral reef fish, and the wedding that had existed only in his dreams for a thousand years.

"...Suicide for love...isn't just...an ancient rumor..."

Every word was like a red-hot dagger, stirring repeatedly in her heart.

She had never imagined that the Dragon King of the East China Sea, who was calm and wise when controlling the floods, and who would occasionally frown helplessly at her jokes, the shadow that should have faded away in her memory over the past thousand years, actually had such... such a crazy and desperate obsession deep in his heart.

A thousand years of waiting.

A betrothal gift from all over the world.

Kill the madman on the ninth level alone.

In the end, the one who pulled her to witness it together... was completely destroyed.

"Yinglong!"

A voice filled with suppressed anger and concern rang out beside her. The Crown Prince of the Heavenly Emperor had already reached her side, his golden robes stained with dust. His face was gloomy, and his gaze towards the void was filled with lingering fear and murderous intent. He reached out, trying to hold her shoulders.

At the moment when his fingertips were about to touch her wedding dress, Yinglong trembled violently, as if pricked by an invisible needle, and subconsciously dodged to the side.

The prince's hand froze in mid-air, and his expression became even uglier.

Yinglong didn't look at him. Her gaze slowly moved down and landed on the Fenji Sword that was still floating in the void.

The sword's blade was crimson, its once flowing lava luster now seeming much dimmer. At the tip of the sword, a glaring drop of dark golden dragon blood, not yet completely dried, slowly and stubbornly condensed, about to drip.

That was Ao Guang's blood.

It was the blood left when he held the sword and pierced his own heart.

She remembered the dull touch of the sword as it pierced through the black armor and sank into the flesh and blood. She also remembered the pair of dragon eyes burning with the final madness and liberation in the crevices of the black armor as he approached.

Is he using the most tragic way to prove...that sentence to her?

"Your Highness," Yinglong finally spoke, her voice hoarse and husky, a stark contrast to her usual clear voice. "Today's events were caused by me. I must apologize to His Majesty the Emperor of Heaven."

She offered no explanation or justification, simply stating a fact. Her tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable sense of distance.

The Crown Prince frowned as he looked at her pale, stubborn profile, her gaze never moving from the Fenji Sword. A complex, dark expression flickered in his eyes. He finally spoke in a deep voice, "This matter is of grave importance. Ao Guang of the East Sea is guilty of treason, and the evidence is irrefutable! You were forced to stab him, and it was an act of helplessness. What crime have you committed? The most urgent task is to stabilize the Heavenly Court and eliminate the remaining evil!"

He deliberately emphasized the words "tantamount to treason" and "helpless act" in an attempt to characterize her behavior.

Yinglong seemed not to hear it. She just raised her hand slightly and made a fake move towards the floating Fenji Sword.

The Fen Ji Sword made a low humming sound, and the sword body trembled slightly, as if it was resisting, but eventually it turned into a red light and flew back into her hand.

The sword felt extremely heavy in his hand.

The hilt of the sword seemed to still retain the strength left by his tight grip, as well as... the temperature of the burning dragon blood.

She lowered her head, looking at the dark gold on the tip of the sword, and lightly brushed it with her fingertips. A faint but incomparably clear aura belonging to Ao Guang followed her fingertips and pierced deep into her soul.

With despair, with unwillingness, with a thousand years of accumulated madness, and also with... at the last moment, a sense of relief that was almost liberated.

She gripped the hilt of the sword so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"I'll be back soon."

Without waiting for the prince's response, Yinglong's body flashed with crimson light, and she vanished from her spot, heading straight for the Heavenly Emperor's Lingxiao Palace, beyond the Thirty-three Heavens. The prince was left standing there, his face livid, staring in the direction she had vanished, his eyes sinister.

---

Lingxiao Palace.

Thousands of feet of golden light, a thousand auspicious mists. The Emperor of Heaven sat upright on a nine-tiered throne, his crown tassels drooping, obscuring most of his face. Only the boundless majesty emanating from his body, as vast and boundless as the sky itself, enveloped the entire hall.

Inside the hall, the immortal officials and generals stood in a solemn atmosphere, a solemnity so heavy it could have dripped water. Word of the incident at Yaochi had already spread throughout the Heavenly Court, and now everyone's attention was focused on the red figure that suddenly appeared in the hall.

Yinglong had shed her torn wedding gown and donned her usual red battle armor. Her hair was untied, and she still looked a bit dishevelled. She knelt on one knee, the Fenji Sword held horizontally before her.

"Your Majesty, Yinglong, has come to apologize."

Her voice echoed in the empty hall, calm and peaceful.

The Emperor of Heaven did not speak immediately. An invisible pressure spread like a tide, and some of the less advanced immortal officials in the hall were already having difficulty breathing.

After a long time, the Emperor's indifferent yet majestic voice was heard from the throne, with no emotion to be found:

"Where is the sin?"

"Ao Guang of the East Sea and I once had an old friendship. I failed to detect his evil intentions and accumulated resentment for thousands of years, until he went crazy today, attacked the Heavenly Palace, slaughtered the immortals and gods, and disturbed the Yaochi ceremony, causing a terrible disaster. This is one of my sins of negligence." Yinglong lowered his head and spoke clearly, word by word.

"Ao Guang, driven by our old friendship, approached me. I failed to evade him in time and was forced to attack him... injuring him. Although I was defending myself, it ultimately led to his... death. This is my second sin of inappropriate response."

She didn't mention Ao Guang's last whisper, the illusory wedding, or the shock of losing her mind at that moment. She simply attributed everything to "old friendship," "coercion," and "self-preservation."

The hall was completely silent. The immortals all had different expressions, some sympathetic, some critical, and some gloating.

"Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea, has renounced his celestial ties, his body and soul annihilated. This is his own fault." The Emperor's voice remained calm. "However, the East Sea dragon clan controls the waters below and is crucial to the stability of the three realms. Although Ao Guang is dead, his clan must be vigilant."

As the words fell, a golden decree slowly emerged from in front of the throne.

"Imperial decree: God of War Yinglong, effective immediately, is temporarily relieved of his duties in the Heavenly Court and confined to the old palace at Kunlun Ruins to reflect on his mistakes. You may not leave without further notice."

"Also, send Taibai Jinxing, bearing my decree, to the East China Sea to investigate the remaining dragons and rectify the affairs of the aquatic tribes, as a warning to others!"

"Your Majesty, I accept your command and thank you." Yinglong kowtowed without any fluctuation in his voice.

She stood up, took the suspended decree, and without even glancing at the immortals in the hall, turned and walked straight out. Her steps were steady, her back straight, still the domineering Nine Heavens God of War.

However, the knuckles of her hands that held the Fazhi and Fenji Sword turned slightly white due to excessive force.

He walked out of the Lingxiao Palace, passed through the sea of ​​clouds, and flew towards the direction of Kunlun Ruins.

The auspicious clouds and auspicious auras around her, the celestial palaces and pavilions, seemed to have become a blurry background. In her mind, the scene in front of the Yaochi Lake replayed uncontrollably over and over again - he grasped the sword blade, took a step forward, and when the blade disappeared from his body, those dragon eyes, burning with the last flame, stared at her through the black armor.

And, the whispers accompanied by blood and laughter.

"...Imagine our wedding..."

She suddenly closed her eyes and increased her speed. The red light tore through the sky, as if she was trying to escape from something, but there was no escape.

Kunlun Ruins, her old Taoist temple, has now become her prison.

The mountain top has been covered with snow for thousands of years, and the palace is cold and lonely.

She dismissed all the immortal servants and stood alone in the center of the empty hall.

Finally, no more hiding.

She lowered her head, looking at the Fenji Sword in her hand. The dark golden dragon blood on the tip of the sword had already dried up, but it was like an eternal brand, engraved there.

The fingertips gently touched the dark gold.

Beneath the cold touch, it seemed as if a raging flame was burning her soul.

Thousands of years ago, Mount Buzhou collapsed and the Heavenly River flooded backwards. They stood side by side on top of the flood waves...

He said: "When this matter is settled and the four seas are pacified, I will offer the four seas as a betrothal gift..."

She smiled and replied, "What do I need those shiny stones for? Why don't you accompany me to the top of Kunlun Mountain to watch the sea of ​​clouds appear and disappear..."

Later, she was ordered to return by the Heavenly Court. Before leaving, he looked at her with deep eyes: "Yinglong, wait for me."

She remembered her turbulent mood at the time, the heavy mission and constraints on her shoulders, and in the end, she only said: "Ao Guang, wait for me to come back."

She thought he understood that she was helpless.

She thought that time would dilute everything.

She thought that it was just a past event in their long life that would eventually fade away after fighting side by side.

Little did she know that, at the end of the East China Sea, beneath the abyss, someone took the polite words "wait for me to come back" as an eternal promise, and used a thousand years of loneliness to construct a sunny wedding dream. In the end, in the most tragic way, this dream, along with himself, was completely torn apart in front of her...

"Wait for me... to come back..."

Yinglong murmured the words he had left behind a thousand years ago, his voice hoarse and with a slight tremor that he himself did not even notice.

She suddenly remembered Ao Guang's last satisfied and desolate laugh.

He waited.

Wait for her to come back.

He came back and personally "killed" him.

A fishy and sweet taste rushed up her throat, and she suddenly turned her head, and a mouthful of golden divine blood splattered on the cold ground, like a sad and beautiful flower blooming.

She raised her hand and pressed hard on her heart, which was aching violently. It felt as if an invisible sword had pierced through it.

In the empty Kunlun Temple, the only sound left was her suppressed, broken breathing.

Outside the hall, the wind and snow gradually rose, whistling across the mountaintops and covering up all other sounds.