Chapter 200 The Fool "I promised... I'd get it back for you."...

"I want to see him."

Jiang Yuhuo wouldn't listen at all, stubbornly insisting on seeing that person. She instinctively reached out to grab the old man before her and make him lead the way, but immediately a disciple of the Heavenly Palace formed a spiritual seal and struck her sword. "Insolence! How dare you be so disrespectful to the Heavenly Palace Elder! That mermaid knew the Life Pearl was missing but deliberately deceived the Heavenly Palace; he brought this upon himself!"

"Impossible!" Jiang Yuhu shouted, stopping him from continuing. She steadied her chaotic mind. "You're lying to me. You must have hidden him. He could send out the spiritual vein; he couldn't be dead!"

The old man with white hair and beard snorted coldly upon hearing this, "The spiritual vein is indeed on you!" He waved the staff he was leaning on, and spiritual light gathered at the tip of the staff, which was the starting point of a spell. "If you know what's good for you, you will return it. He failed to complete the tribulation, so Tianque naturally cannot give this item to him."

Jiang Yuhuo found these words absurd. Jia Yue had used the tribulation lightning trial as a condition for exchanging the spiritual vein, and he had endured so much. And these people still wanted to take it back from her? They were all so sanctimonious, yet so shameless at heart.

Seeing that she showed no intention of returning it, Xingxuan warned her again, "That is the spiritual vein of the previous generation's patriarch of Tianque. If you do not return it today, you will be making an enemy of the entire Tianque."

"I won't return it!" Jiang Yuhu shattered the spiritual seal of the Tianque disciple with a single sword strike, then shot him a sharp glare. "That's not Jia Qianyang's stuff!"

"That was originally my spiritual vein!"

Xingxuan's expression showed slight surprise. He glanced around and said, "What are you waiting for? Take him down!"

The numerous white-robed disciples of Tianque immediately surged in front of Xingxuan, and countless Dao Spirit Seals shot towards Jiang Yuhuo from all directions, forming an invisible net in the void, intending to trap her in place.

Jiang Yuhuo did not escape, and she had nowhere to escape.

She stood at the center of the net, looking indifferently at the white-robed elder behind the disciples. "You turned a blind eye to your former sect leader's wanton slaughter in the mortal realm, and turned a blind eye to his use of forbidden techniques to devour souls. I am merely reclaiming my spiritual veins, yet you are mobilizing the entire sect to attack me... Is there ever any such logic in the immortal sects?"

"Hmph! Your things? Isn't your spiritual vein perfectly fine on you? The Heavenly Palace Holy Land, the sect's disciples are sacred, how dare you distort the truth here!" Xing Xuan glared coldly, his gaze scrutinizing, "In the end, you're just greedy for greater power. If I'm not mistaken, Jia Yue's life pearl is also on you, isn't it?"

"You coaxed him into handing over his life pearl, and that wasn't enough. You even dared to dream of obtaining a stronger spiritual vein, making him die for you. What a ruthless person you are!"

Xing Xuan twisted the truth, immediately portraying Jiang Yuhuo as someone who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals, seducing and manipulating Jia Yue. The disciples of Tianque were even more enraged. Before this, Jia Yue was a near-perfect sect leader in their hearts, an object of their utmost admiration. Looking at this person who had dragged their god down from his pedestal and put him to death, they wished he would perish.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Xingxuan added fuel to the fire, "Kill her! The mermaid pearl can then return to the sect leader."

"yes!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth surged, and the net that was covering them shrank smaller and smaller, while the power it gathered became stronger and stronger, swooping down with the intention of annihilating those caught in the net.

Jiang Yuhuo offered no explanation, but simply placed her hand on the sword.

She didn't care what they thought of her; she knew Jia Yue was still alive somewhere, and that was enough. She was going to see him and take him away from this place.

She raised her sword and unleashed a single horizontal slash.

In an instant, the world fell silent.

A blinding white rainbow swept across the entire plaza in front of the Hall of Cleansing, crushing countless spirit seals like slices of ice.

The white light blinded everyone, and by the time they realized what was happening, the woman in black had already placed her sword against Elder Xingxuan's neck.

"Take me to see Jia Yue." She gripped the old man's throat with one hand and held a sword to his veins with the other, her voice calm. "Otherwise, I'll kill you."

"stop!"

A man in white robes hurried in from outside the hall, his voice preceding his arrival. The man's white robes were embroidered with a black Jianmu tree, but he wore a tassel belt around his waist, a privilege not afforded to ordinary disciples. He landed in front of Jiang Yuhuo; he was none other than Ling Changyu, the former Left Protector of Jia Yue.

“Miss Jiang, you must not act rashly. To harm an elder is to make an enemy of the entire Heavenly Palace.”

Jiang Yuhuo recognized him. Instead of loosening his grip on the sword, he cut a line of blood on Xing Xuan's neck and said coldly, "If you don't want your elder to die, take me to see Jia Yue."

Ling Changyu frowned in confusion, but when he looked up, he saw the obstruction in Xing Xuan's eyes. The old man warned, "No, she wouldn't dare."

Ling Changyu immediately looked at Jiang Yuhuo, only to see her curl her lips into a cold smile, her expression still calm, but her eyes seemed to burn with a cold flame. She slowly pulled back the blade, cutting deeper into the flesh and blood vessels, "Do you think there's a difference between killing you and killing anyone else?"

The wound deepened, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

She genuinely doesn't care.

Ling Changyu was so shocked he wanted to stop her, and cried out repeatedly, "I'll take you there, I'll take you there! Don't do anything more..."

He took Jiang Yuhuo to the top of Tianque Mountain. Beneath the snow that never melts is a closed stone chamber, desolate and cold, with only the sound of wind and snow all day long. Disciples who have made mistakes in Tianque are imprisoned here, waiting for their sentences to end or for a day when they will be pardoned. If they do not live to see the end of their sentences, they will die here.

The stone door slowly opened, and the stone chamber remained dark, but Jiang Yuhuo saw a glimmer of light in the darkness—the glimmer of a fish tail.

That brilliant, dazzling, powerful, and beautiful fish tail was hanging weakly and dimly in the depths of darkness.

Jiang Yuhuo's heart tightened, her entire mind gripped by that faint light.

It was in that moment of distraction that the person beneath her sword had the opportunity. Xing Xuan secretly gathered a Spirit-Dispelling Seal, which struck her, and Jiang Yu Huo's sword, which was held to his neck, immediately fell to the ground. This seal could penetrate protective barriers and inflict severe damage on a cultivator's spirit and power in an instant.

Jiang Yuhuo felt an invisible force jolt her meridians, causing her to stagger and fall to her knees. However, this also allowed her to take another step forward and see the person locked in the darkness more clearly.

The snow-white robes had turned dark, indistinguishable between stains and bloodstains... The person who was always spotless was now curled up in a dark corner, motionless...

Jiang Yuhuo's eyes suddenly reddened. She gripped her sword, got up from the ground, and walked blankly toward the disheveled figure.

An invisible array separated the two of them.

Jiang Yuhuo noticed, but did not stop walking.

Xingxuan had already formed another spiritual seal in his hand and was about to strike Jiang Yuhuo when Ling Changyu stepped in between them.

“Elder Xingxuan, why be so ruthless? That was a forbidden formation set up by the seven elders together. You can only enter, not leave, and no one in the world can break it. Once she went in, she will definitely not be able to come out. Whatever the elder wants to take back, he can take it back anytime in the future.” He sighed softly, his tone pleading, “Elder… please give them some time.”

Xing Xuan snorted coldly, the light at his fingertips dissipated, and he glanced into the depths of darkness. The woman who had stormed the Heavenly Palace had already entered the forbidden formation.

Well then, no matter what skills she has, she can only obediently be imprisoned in this forbidden formation.

Xing Xuan turned and left, and Ling Changyu quickly followed.

Darkness and silence returned to the stone chamber.

Jiang Yuhuo bent down and first saw the battered fish tail. The tail, which should have been shining, was covered with bloodstains and scorch marks. Large and small scabs were layered with charred black marks, creeping menacingly among the fish scales.

The moment her hand touched it, the battered fishtail flinched and moved slightly toward the corner, as if trying its best to get away from her, but it only shifted a few inches.

He was too weak to move anymore.

“Jia Yue…” Her throat tightened, and her voice trembled violently, “How could it have turned out like this…”

Her gaze traveled upwards along the fish's tail. His clothes were tattered and filthy. As she drew closer, the strong stench of blood finally confirmed to her what those dark colors were.

"Jia Yue..."

Hearing her call, the merman in the darkness stirred, but only turned his face inward.

A faint voice came from the darkness, "...Don't come closer...Don't...look..."

Jiang Yuhuo didn't search any further. She painstakingly found a slightly intact spot on the fish's tail, placed her hand on it, and used the breath of the mermaid pearl to try to heal it.

But the breath she exhaled was as weak as a stream, too insignificant for such injuries. The wounds healed very slowly, so slowly that it worried her.

She wanted to envelop his entire body in the aura of the mermaid pearl, just like when Jia Yue had healed her before, but no matter how she tried, the aura was always pitifully small.

Hot tears fell onto the scales, scalding them with a chilling heat.

The merman's nearly collapsing consciousness was once again pulled back from the pitch-black depths by this scorching heat, and he heard her hoarse voice.

"Jia Yue, please teach me, I can't do it well..."

The merfolk breath was constantly flowing in, and he was actually already recovering. It's just that recovery is always the slowest at the beginning, not because he was doing a bad job.

His heart felt like it was being boiled over, scalding his throat and leaving him speechless for a long time. All his thoughts finally coalesced into one sentence: "Fool..."

Jiang Yuhuo looked up and saw the body's owner open his eyes. His blue eyes were dim and unfocused, and his voice was hoarse and weak. "What are you doing here... risking your life to get in here, only to be locked up with me?"

He hid his face in the darkness, and Jiang Yuhu could only see his eyes. Even though he was so badly injured, his gaze remained calm.

She wiped away her tears, sniffed, and whispered reproachfully, "You're the fool! You've lived for two hundred years, how can you still believe in such nonsense about becoming a god like a child? You've lost your life pearl, how dare you... how dare you trigger the tribulation lightning?"

She gently stroked the fish tail beneath her palm, her eyes filled with tenderness. "If I had known the conditions would be like this... I wouldn't have wanted that spiritual vein."

"But you know perfectly well that I... no longer need it, so why continue..."

"I promised... I would get it back for you." The eyes seemed to dim even more in the darkness. "I've never kept my promises to you. This time, I don't want to... break my word again."

From seven years ago to now, from the promise of companionship to the body swap... he has repeatedly let her down...

He tried to make amends to her, but he failed.

While his purpose in summoning heavenly lightning to overcome the divine tribulation was to exchange her spiritual veins with Tianque, he also harbored a secret thought: if he could truly succeed in transforming into a god, he could tear through time and space to return to the past, to that night with her, and prevent everything from happening.

But ultimately, no miracle happened to him, and they could never go back to the past.

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Author's note: It's getting sweet, it's getting sweet!