Chapter 76 (076) - Two-in-One [VIP]

After lunch, time flew by, and it was already evening.

Yin Chu Jiu had been writing in his diary in his room. The moment the moon rose above the horizon, he looked up and gazed outside. The outside world was still bustling. He sat back down and looked at the potted plant on his desk; it remained unchanged.

Could it really be as Mo Ling and Yue Ling said, that the illusion will never shatter again? New energy has been injected, and it can last for a very, very long time?

With a slight frown, Yin Chu Jiu looked at the potted plant. He should have been happy and relieved that he could stay, but for some reason, as he watched the moon slowly rise, from a thin line to a full circle, a feeling of unease rose in his heart.

He clutched his chest; his heart was beating faster than before.

Disturbed, Yin Chu Jiu could no longer continue writing in his diary. Since he was almost finished, he put it away. The aroma of food wafted from the camp, and he stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

He felt a little sad, but undeniably, he was really looking forward to Yue Ling bringing him food.

Yin Chu Jiu paced around the room several times, but the familiar knocking sound didn't come. For some reason, as if driven by an unfamiliar force, Yin Chu Jiu opened the door and went outside.

If Yue Ling doesn't come, he'll go by himself.

Upon entering the kitchen, Yin Chu Jiu suddenly realized that the cook was not the same one as before. Somewhat puzzled, he asked the man, "Where did the older brother from before go?"

"Big brother? Who are you talking about?" The chef looked even more confused than Yin Chu Jiu.

The chef's doubts seemed genuine, so Yin Chu Jiu paused for a moment but didn't ask any further questions. She grabbed some food and left the kitchen.

The chef was definitely gone, but the people around him seemed to have never seen him before, as if he had never existed among them.

Holding the food, Yin Chu Jiu didn't return to the cabin but instead wandered around the open area of ​​the camp. After wandering around, he discovered that more than one person was missing from the camp. Moreover, he crouched down and noticed that the flowers and plants on the ground were gradually disappearing. He even saw two people chatting together, but one of them suddenly vanished, while the other only paused for a moment before going about their business as if nothing had happened.

Someone disappeared, and no one noticed. After that person disappeared, they also disappeared from the memories of these people, as if that person had never existed.

Yin Chu Jiu was horrified. The illusion's energy was indeed running low, so not only the flowers and plants, but even the people were gradually disappearing. What was strange, however, was that the illusion hadn't shattered yet. What was going on?

Everything in the illusion, except for the souls and consciousness of the people who originally existed outside, is made of energy. When the energy is insufficient, those people and things will gradually disappear.

If, as Mo Ling said, new energy is injected, then those people should not disappear.

Things in the illusion are disappearing, but not quickly, and not many things are disappearing.

But in the end, it is still slowly disappearing.

Just as Mo Ling had said, the energy hadn't appeared yet; it was still consuming the original energy within the illusion. It's just that, for some reason, the energy, which should have been used up, was delayed a little longer.

What exactly happened?

Unable to eat, Yin Chu Jiu got up, intending to go find Mo Ling to ask him again. Suddenly, five middle-aged men dressed in black robes appeared beside him. Startled by their appearance, before he could even shout a warning, the five men attacked him. Five forces struck him, and he immediately lost consciousness and fainted.

Five men in black robes, carrying Yin Chu Jiu, identified the energy fluctuations in the air and rushed towards the location. The five men appeared and disappeared quickly, almost unnoticed by anyone in the camp.

"My lord, are you really going to do this?"

In a clearing in the forest, Yue Ling sat cross-legged on the ground. Beneath him was a circular array, emitting a hazy white light. The hazy white light spread outwards, invisibly connecting with several other arrays that had been buried around the forest, eventually forming a unified whole.

Ancient formations used souls as sacrifices. The person who contributed their soul needed to leave a soul imprint at the center of the formation, and then the soul could be transformed into energy to support the entire formation and maintain the world in which the formation was located.

Mo Ling and the other two stood to one side, each with a grim expression.

Mo Ling was heartbroken. He was the first to regain his memories and the one who cared most about Yue Ling returning to the real world. To get Yue Ling back, he went to great lengths to separate Yin Chu Jiu and Yue Ling, persuading him to help Yue Ling regain his memories. But even though he regained his memories, he didn't want to leave.

Zi Zhuo's feelings were also complicated, but as someone who had witnessed how Yue Ling fell in love with Yin Chu Jiu, he understood his choice.

The black cat squatted down without saying a word, and stopped eating meat. Tears streamed down her face, something she never usually did.

Yue Ling observed the expressions on the three men's faces, but he merely glanced at them before lowering his eyes. His voice was low as he said, "Let's begin."

Mo Ling and the other two breathed a sigh of relief and waved to the masters standing beside them, signaling them to take action. The five masters nodded, extended their hands, and began changing hand seals in front of Yue Ling.

As they moved, the energy in the air slowly changed. Invisible fluctuations radiated outwards from Yue Ling, causing slight vibrations in the surrounding air.

it works.

Yue Ling's eyes brightened slightly, and a faint smile appeared on her lips, which had been pressed into a straight line. The three people outside the formation, however, turned their heads away, avoiding the scene.

Mo Ling and the other two couldn't bear to watch, but they kept observing the energy fluctuations in the air. As they were observing, another energy fluctuation suddenly came from the air. As soon as the three of them looked in the direction from which the energy came, they saw five black-robed men appear out of thin air. One of the black-robed men was carrying Yin Chu Jiu in his hand, and they recognized the leader of the black-robed men.

"Chou Jiu!"

Then, they realized they recognized the person Qiu Jiu was carrying.

"The ninth day!"

How did Qiu Jiu and his group end up here? And how did they manage to capture Chu Jiu?

Without much thought, Mo Ling and his two companions rushed forward. However, another figure rushed forward even faster than them. Yue Ling had actually escaped from the formation, and the Death Vortex struck towards Qiu Jiu.

Qiu Jiu was startled, not expecting Yue Ling to attack without a word. He quickly grabbed Yin Chu Jiu and dodged to the side, barely avoiding the attack. However, while he dodged, the black-robed men behind him did not. Two death vortexes struck the two black-robed men directly. In just an instant, the black vortexes that hit the two black-robed men rapidly expanded, swallowing them both.

The remaining two men in black robes immediately turned pale. They had been killed by Yue Ling's death vortex, their souls were killed, and they were dead in reality, never to wake up again.

Qiu Jiu was also still in shock. He grabbed Yin Chu Jiu by the collar and hissed at Yue Ling, "Aren't you afraid to kill him too?"

Yue Ling clearly cares about Yin Chu Jiu, so how could he still try to harm him now?

As if knowing his thoughts, Yue Ling stopped, lifted her eyelids to look at him, her eyes dark and deep, "Why wouldn't I be afraid to kill him?"

Qiu Jiu was taken aback, but Yue Ling continued, "Don't you know that I've regained my memories? Don't you know the purpose of this illusion? I created this illusion to torment him and kill him. Do you think I'm afraid of killing him?"

Qiu Jiu glanced down at Yin Chu Jiu, who was still unconscious, and felt a chill run down his spine, along with a sense of the wheel of fortune turning. This kid had endured the whipping for Yue Ling back then, and now that Yue Ling had recovered, he was naturally taking him to heart.

He wasn't without suspicion that Yue Ling was lying, but he knew exactly what Yue Ling was like before: cold, gloomy, indifferent to everything, yet incredibly powerful. In his presence, everything in the world seemed like an ant.

As if to prove his words, Yue Ling attacked the two men in black robes again. However, the two men in black robes were prepared after the previous attack and dodged.

But the two men in black robes didn't survive either. Just as they dodged Yue Ling's attack, Mo Ling and his two companions attacked. Their first strike didn't kill the man in black robes, but the next moment, their attack arrived again. With two attacks, the two men in black robes were completely dead.

Qiu Jiu took two steps back in shock; Yue Ling had actually made his move.

Now, he is the only one left of the five men in black robes.

Yue Ling stared at Qiu Jiu and took two steps toward him. As he walked, his aura grew stronger and stronger. The black vortex of death spun in his palm. The more it spun, the deeper the color of the black vortex of death became. It was the color of energy compressed to the extreme.

If this death vortex attacks him, he will die.

"Yue Ling, do you really want to kill him?" Qiu Jiu said through gritted teeth, enunciating each word clearly.

Yue Ling's eyes were cold. "You think I'm lying?"

Qiu Jiu was filled with resentment and roared angrily at him, "Yue Ling, what right do you have to kill me!"

Yue Ling stopped, her eyes chillingly cold. "Why should I kill you? Just because you attacked my formation, altered the illusion, and even entered it to cause chaos, do you think I don't have enough reason to kill you?"

Qiu Jiu grabbed Yin Chu Jiu and pulled her backward, laughing maniacally, "Haha, all of this is your fault, all of it is Yin Chu Jiu's fault! If he hadn't made you the protagonist and us the supporting characters, would we have done this? Why were you born destined to become a top expert, and why are we all just your foils!"

Yue Ling didn't react at all after hearing this. Chu Jiu only saw that he eventually reached the top, that he had amazing luck as the protagonist, and that he became the number one on the continent at a young age. But she didn't see that he suffered discrimination from a young age, that his mother died when he was born, that his father died when he was three, and that he was kicked out of his home at the age of four and became a beggar.

Later, he was betrayed and framed. Every time he tried to trust someone, he was abandoned. All he had left were these three subordinates, but what good were they?

He possessed the greatest power, yet he had no friends, no partner, no family; he was the loneliest man in the world.

Yue Ling remained silent, only approaching Qiu Jiu step by step. Qiu Jiu stopped retreating. He stared at Yin Chu Jiu in his hands, a glint of madness flashing in his eyes. Since he couldn't kill Yue Ling, he would kill this person, this culprit. What he couldn't have, he wouldn't let anyone else have.

Originally, he wanted to kill Yue Ling, let Yue Ling die in this illusion, and then leave once the illusion shattered. He would then lead the Scorpion Palace to defeat the Lingyue Palace and become the number one power in the Illusion Demon Continent.

However, he did not expect that Yue Ling no longer cared about Yin Chu Jiu, and would no longer make sacrifices for Yin Chu Jiu, or even die for her.

Since that's the case, then let's kill Yin Chu Jiu.

It's all the same anyway.

Raising his hand, Qiu Jiu concentrated his strength to strike Yin Chu Jiu's head, but just as he was about to strike, he suddenly noticed that Yue Ling's hand was trembling slightly, and a look of urgency flashed deep in his eyes.

Yue Ling doesn't want Yin Chu Jiu to die!

In that instant, this thought flashed through Qiu Jiu's mind.

Once this thought occurred to him, Yue Ling's other statements no longer held up to scrutiny. Qiu Jiu began to observe his surroundings, noticing Yue Ling's expressions and those of Mo Ling and the others. Then he realized something was amiss. Not only was something amiss, but there were also five array masters in this open space. He recognized those masters; they were also masters from the Lingyue Palace in reality.

And... he saw it too. There was a formation on the ground, covered by leaves. He hadn't seen it before, but after the fight, the fallen leaves tumbled and the formation came out.

Thinking of something, Qiu Jiu's eyes lit up. Suppressing her elation, she stopped what she was doing and said to Yue Ling, "Yue Ling, you're lying!"

Yue Ling's expression remained unchanged.

"Hahahaha, you're lying!" Qiu Jiu was no longer afraid. He shouted, "You're lying!" Not only that, he pointed at the five array masters and said, "Not only that, you're even trying to maintain this illusion! You're actually using an ancient array, sacrificing souls as offerings, to try and replenish the energy of this illusion!"

In their haste, Mo Ling and the other two blurted out some nonsense, which only confirmed Qiu Jiu's suspicions. Qiu Jiu stared at Yue Ling, still maintaining her attack stance against Yin Chu Jiu.

Yue Ling stared at Qiu Jiu for a long time. After a long while, the black vortex of death in his hand disappeared, and he said to him firmly, "What do you want to do?"

“Kill yourself, and I’ll let him go,” Qiu Jiu said. “You know I don’t want to die. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re alive, I wouldn’t want to kill him. Only one of you can live. Besides, since you’re going to die anyway, it doesn’t matter whether you die sooner or later, right?”

Mo Ling and the other two were extremely anxious. "My lord, please don't do that!"

However, Yue Ling didn't look at them. She simply raised her hand, took out a dagger, and plunged it into her own chest with a calm expression. "Fine."

Qiu Jiu was overjoyed and paused for a moment. In that instant, Yue Ling disregarded the injury on his chest and transformed into a cloud of black mist, enveloping Yin Chu Jiu in a ball. When Qiu Jiu realized this and attacked, he only managed to slap Yue Ling's palm hard.

Yue Ling pushed Qiu Jiu away with force. At the same time, the Death Vortex in his hand attacked, striking Qiu Jiu. The next moment, Qiu Jiu disappeared, just like the two black-robed men from before.

As soon as Qiu Jiu died, Yue Ling collapsed, but even so, he did not let go of Yin Chu Jiu. Mo Ling and the other two rushed over. Zi Zhuo and Mo Ling quickly checked Yue Ling's wounds, while the black cat woke Yin Chu Jiu from her unconsciousness.

When Yin Chu Jiu woke up, she saw Yue Ling surrounded by Zi Zhuo and Mo Ling. He was spitting out blood one mouthful after another, his face was pale, and his dark eyes were fixed on him.

Meanwhile, Zi Zhuo and Mo Ling kept calling out, "My lord, please eat the divine herb! You'll get better if you eat it, you'll get better if you eat it!"

Yin Chu Jiu's mind went blank for a moment. He didn't understand what had happened or what was going on.

"Black, black cat, what's wrong?" His voice was unsteady, and his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

The black cat cried out, "My lord refuses to take the divine herb! He doesn't want to leave this illusion! He'd rather die than leave this illusion, he doesn't want to leave you!"

Only then did Yin Chu Jiu learn what Yue Ling had done for him, and what Yue Ling had been secretly preparing all along.

Mo Ling: "The Lord wants to stay in this illusion with you. He doesn't want to leave. He sacrificed his own soul to find the ancient formation, hoping to convert the power of his soul into energy to maintain the illusion. He refuses to take the divine herb and refuses to leave."

Zi Zhuo was treating Yue Ling's injuries. Yue Ling had just fainted, and the black cat was taking care of him with Zi Zhuo. Meanwhile, Mo Ling took Yin Chu Jiu aside to talk to him about these things.

Yin Chu Jiu stared blankly at the unconscious Yue Ling, unable to react. So the new energy that Mo Ling mentioned was Yue Ling's soul power. So Yue Ling was even willing to die in order to keep him and to prolong this illusion.

He still wants to leave.

If he doesn't want to leave, then Yue Ling will have to leave.

All of this was like a dream, a dream he couldn't understand. He felt like he was watching it all from outside the dream, but his body was reacting in place of his thoughts.

He asked, "Will Yue Ling die if she doesn't take the divine herb?"

Mo Ling nodded. "Yes, if the divine herb is not taken, the master will die. The ancient formation is useless now. Not only did Qiu Jiu and the others interrupt the process, but now that the master is so badly injured, he cannot bear the pain of having his soul power extracted. He will die the moment the formation is completed."

"So... no matter what, Yue Ling will die?" he asked again. "Then if Yue Ling eats the divine herb, will he not die? Will he live?"

Mo Ling nodded again, "Yes, that's right. But once that happens, the moment the Lord recovers, this illusion that was already on the verge of collapse will shatter. He will return to our world, and you will return to yours. You will never be able to be together again."

He heard himself say, "If Yue Ling dies, I will die too. If he lives, I will try my best to live. Although we can't be together, the thought of the person I love living in another corner of the world makes me not want to die, and I can't bear to forget him."

"So what do you want to do?"

This time he didn't answer. Yin Chu Jiu's soul seemed to float in mid-air as he watched his body walk to Yue Ling's side. Zi Zhuo took out the divine herb he always carried and handed it to him.

Then, he personally fed the divine herb to Yue Ling. Yue Ling was unconscious and couldn't eat, so he put it in his own mouth, crushed it, and fed it to him. Green juice spilled from the corners of their mouths, and then he still fed the herb to him.

While he was feeding him, Zi Zhuo drew his sword. The sword was pulled from Yue Ling's body, and the wound that had almost pierced his heart was immediately revealed. But the next moment, a green light appeared on Yue Ling's body, and the wound instantly disappeared.

At the same time, Yue Ling's aura also rose steadily. All his power finally reached its peak. At that moment, he broke through the limit of the twelfth level of the Heavenly Rank and became the first and only Great Saint in the world.

Then, he saw the sky shatter, the vegetation disappear, the fish and birds become transparent, and the ground sink, the entire illusion resembling a broken mirror. Yue Ling moved his hand, and as if his soul had returned to its body, he regained all his senses.

He knew he had to leave, that it was time for him to depart.

Leaning close to Yue Ling's ear, he took out a storage ring he had always kept hidden from his pocket and placed it in Yue Ling's hand, whispering, "Yue Ling, you must live well. I love you."

I love you.

Upon hearing this voice, Yue Ling finally opened his eyes and regained consciousness.

But he didn't see anyone, only a set of clothes falling on him, and in his hand, there was an antique ring.

Author's Note:

The fantasy story is finally finished. Time to return to reality _(:з」∠)_

I don't feel like it's written in a angst-free way at all. 1551, I just don't have the talent for writing angst...