Chapter 150, Fragments: My light isn't very bright anymore, I've been...

Zhu Jing noticed that array runes were lighting up beneath his feet, almost covering the entire valley.

But she didn't move, nor did she try to turn around and run away. Even though she knew she had fallen into a trap, her expression remained calm.

Her reaction was so calm that Qingyuan himself panicked and suppressed his smugness at the success of his scheme.

"This formation was personally set up by the Divine Lord Mo Bei, and it was tailor-made for you, Second Miss. Are you satisfied?" Qing Yuan was afraid that things might change if he delayed, so he made hand seals as he spoke and began to activate the formation.

As the magic circle shone brightly, Zhu Jing's body seemed to be completely fixed to the ground, unable to move. The white light patterns all over the ground seemed to come alive and surged towards her body at the same time, making her look like a luminous pillar of light.

Qingyuan's eyes lit up as well. He looked at Zhu Jing with a hint of greed and murmured in amazement, "So this is the Heavenly Pillar, so this is the Heavenly Pillar..."

His hand seals moved faster and faster as he began to rapidly absorb spiritual energy from Zhu Jing's body. The endless stream of spiritual energy from heaven and earth cleansed his divine meridians, giving him an unprecedented sense of ease and satisfaction.

“Spiritual power, this is the true spiritual power of heaven and earth, far more effective than any incense offerings. This is what the gods should enjoy…”

Faced with Qingyuan's demands, Zhu Jing did not resist at all. In fact, if she had fought desperately just now, she might have had a chance to escape, but she did not.

Surrounded by a spiritual aura, she looked up at the starry sky. The Milky Way was brilliant, and stars were scattered everywhere. She thought to herself that this should be the last time she would see such a beautiful starry sky.

Zhu Jing withdrew his gaze and looked at Qing Yuan. He flipped his hands, palms facing the sky, and his spiritual power suddenly surged, like a flood, rushing towards Qing Yuan.

Qingyuan was steadily absorbing spiritual energy, watching his cultivation level break through layer by layer and his power grow stronger and stronger. He even felt that once he completely refined this Heavenly Pillar, what could Mo Bei do to him? In the future, he would be the strongest being in the Three Realms!

However, the input of spiritual energy suddenly surged, and his divine meridians gradually could not withstand it. In just a moment, his entire divine body was about to burst, and the divine essence within his body flickered with a dangerous light.

"What are you trying to do? Do you want to use your spiritual power to burst me apart like you did with those Xuanxiao Sect disciples?" Qingyuan asked angrily.

“Those are not disciples of the Xuanxiao Sect,” Zhu Jing said calmly. “They are traitors to the Xuanxiao Sect. I only kill traitors with my own hands.”

Throughout her life, Zhu Jing was guided by some kind of power. When she was controlled by Lin Shen, she could have killed him by self-destructing her spiritual power if she wanted to, but she couldn't, because she knew in her heart that it was not the time for her to die.

But at this moment, facing Qingyuan, she knew it was time, so she held nothing back, releasing her spiritual power with all her might.

Qingyuan sneered, "Do you think that after witnessing the deaths of those people, I would be completely unprepared and let you manipulate me, following in their footsteps? Second Miss, you are so naive."

As he spoke, Qingyuan, enduring the pain of his divine meridians being ruptured by spiritual power, took out an octagonal array plate from his sleeve. This was a magical artifact that could be carried with one's person and had its array miniaturized and imprinted within it. At this moment, Qingyuan was extremely grateful that he had chosen to stand with Mo Bei, the Divine Lord, and obtain such a treasure from him.

When Mo Bei, the Divine Lord, sent him to deal with Zhu Jing, he anticipated that Zhu Jing would use self-destruction to perish together with Qing Yuan. Therefore, he entrusted this to Qing Yuan. Once Zhu Jing made his move, he would activate this octagonal array plate. The array on it could connect the two people's divine meridians for a short time, so that Qing Yuan could transfer the spiritual power that his body could not withstand to Mo Bei.

Now, Mo Bei's cultivation level is unfathomable, and he can completely absorb the spiritual power released by Zhu Jing's self-destruction in a short period of time.

It was precisely because of this trump card that Qingyuan was able to act with such confidence.

Qingyuan struggled to activate the incantation, injecting spiritual power into the octagonal array plate. However, he waited and waited, but the array on the plate never activated.

As the continuous flow of spiritual energy into his body pushed it to its limit, he began to fear, a look of panic appearing on his face: "What's going on? Why hasn't the formation been activated yet? Wasn't it supposed to connect my divine veins with that of the Divine Lord Mo Bei? Could it be that I misremembered the activation incantation?"

“You’ve fallen for their trap,” Zhu Jing said coldly. “Mo Bei is no longer a god and can no longer absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.”

"You're talking nonsense!" Qingyuan's eyes bulged out, seemingly because of Zhu Jing's words that things had taken such a turn for the worse. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

However, Zhu Jing did not grant his wish and insisted on continuing, "Mo Bei knows that I am the embodiment of the Heavenly Pillar, capable of generating the power of heaven and earth. This power restrains him, but it can enhance the spiritual power of his enemies. He absolutely cannot allow such a hidden danger to exist, which is why he plotted to use you to perish together with me. Qing Yuan, you might as well think about it. With Mo Bei's greed, if my power could be used by him, would it even be your turn?"

Qingyuan's face gradually turned pale. On one hand, he believed Zhu Jing's words, and on the other hand, he was indeed at his limit. He felt that his divine veins would shatter at any moment, and his divine essence was flickering faster and faster.

He was terrified and knelt down with a thud, crawling to Zhu Jing's side. "Second Miss, Siran, please spare me this time, for the sake of the time I saved you. Let me go, and you can withdraw your spiritual power. I will also release you from this formation. I... I can even help you fight against Mo Bei!"

At this moment, Zhu Jing was almost unrecognizable as a human. The dense spiritual energy of heaven and earth was tightly bound by Mo Bei's runes, enveloping her layer by layer, reaching the sky above and the earth below. Rather than saying that she was a girl, it would be more accurate to say that she had returned to the original form of the Heavenly Pillar. Only her face was vaguely visible, and her watery eyes reflected Qing Yuan's groveling face.

“Absolutely not. If I let you go, you'll definitely betray me and side with Mo Bei. I won't leave a traitor like you as an ally for my sister and the others, nor will I allow Mo Bei to have a trump card up her sleeve when she fights my sister to the death. I want her to be able to focus entirely on that demon without any worries. As for our personal feud…”

However, Qingyuan did not hear Zhu Jing's last words. At this moment, he was like a ball filled with spiritual power. With a scream, he exploded in a blinding light. His divine body shattered into dust, and his divine essence also exploded, instantly being swallowed up by the rich spiritual power of heaven and earth.

The dream of wealth and power shattered, and Qingyuan ultimately met the same fate as those disciples who had betrayed the Xuanxiao Sect.

"...Now, it can finally come to an end." After saying this, Zhu Jing's eyes, the only remaining feature, were completely covered by the beam of light.

A moment later, the Demon-Slaying Blade flew out from the pillar of light, filled with the spiritual power of heaven and earth, and flew towards the direction of the Yun Chi Ancient Capital Palace.

The pillar of light standing in the deep valley suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light, then began to tremble violently, causing the earth to shake and the mountains to sway. Finally, it suddenly exploded, scattering into countless pieces of light, like ten thousand stars falling.

...

When Shen Qiongzhi and Gong Xin arrived at the valley, this was the scene they saw: the once dark valley, which had been obscured by the mountains, was now as bright as day. In the sky, on the ground, in the forest, in the grass, and even on the surface of the lake not far away, there were sparkling white light flakes, a scene of breathtaking beauty.

Shen Qiongzhi stared blankly at them and asked Gong Xin, "What are these? Why are they so bright?"

Gong Xin looked at her silently without saying a word.

Shen Qiongzhi was furious. Suddenly, she found the way Gongxin God was standing there holding the pottery jar quite displeasing.

"Where is Zhu Jing?" She searched everywhere, venturing into the woods, crawling on the ground, climbing the hills, and even jumping into the lake, but she couldn't find any trace of Zhu Jing.

"Where is Zhu Jing? Where is the new Divine Venerable Gong Xin, Zhu Jing?"

The explosive power of the Heavenly Pillar could be felt within a radius of a thousand miles. Moreover, they had just been nearby and witnessed the pillar of light that stood between heaven and earth shatter into stardust after a burst of intense light. Gong Xin saw it, and Shen Qiongzhi certainly saw it too.

Despite their best efforts to get here, they were still a step too late.

Gong Xin bent down to examine the remaining traces of the array on the ground and said, "Miss Chen, this place has been set up by Mo Bei into a special array. Immortal Lord Zhu Jing must have fallen into the trap and was forced to unleash the power of the Heavenly Pillar within his body, exceeding his limit, and thus perished."

"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm looking for Zhu Jing. Why are you mentioning Tianzhu to me?"

Shen Qiongzhi was about to go find someone when Gong Xin raised his voice and shouted, "Miss Shen, Immortal Lord Zhu Jing was formed from a fragment of the Heavenly Pillar, and she has already perished."

Shen Qiongzhi screamed, her body emanating black resentment, revealing her ghostly appearance. She glared fiercely at Gong Xin, as if she wanted to devour him alive: "You're talking nonsense! You rat demon are spouting rubbish!"

Gong Xin sighed deeply, "Miss Shen, if Immortal Lord Zhu Jing were still alive, he would not want you to be like this. Now that we are facing a formidable enemy, no matter how sad you are, I hope you can restrain yourself."

Shen Qiongzhi burst into tears, starting with soft sobs and eventually wailing, "How could Zhu Jing die? How could Zhu Jing die? She was the embodiment of the Heavenly Pillar! Didn't you all say that the Heavenly Pillar was incredibly powerful, capable of sustaining all the gods in your Heavenly Court..."

"Immortal Lord Zhujing is merely a fragment of the Heavenly Pillar," Gong Xin corrected.

“Fragments of the Heavenly Pillar, fragments of the Heavenly Pillar…” Shen Qiongzhi unconsciously repeated, then suddenly remembered something, stopped crying, opened her eyes wide, looked up and down, gazing at the tens of thousands of scattered points of light, and suddenly overjoyed, “Aren’t these all fragments of the Heavenly Pillar? Yes, these are all fragments of the Heavenly Pillar, then if I collect them all, can’t I find Zhu Jing?! Divine Lord Gongxin, don’t you think so?”

Divine Venerable Gongxin was taken aback. "Although it's theoretically feasible, if you want to transform the fragments of the Heavenly Pillar into humans, you'd need a very large piece. These..."

It can no longer be considered a fragment; it's just rubble.

The Divine Lord Gongxin did not continue speaking, as he could not bear to shatter Shen Qiongzhi's newly ignited hope.

Shen Qiongzhi's eyes gleamed as she began casually collecting specks of light. Each speck was so tiny and faint that when the light faded and the dust settled in her hand, it was invisible without special magic. Yet, Shen Qiongzhi treasured them, carefully cupping them in her palm, taking out a Qiankun bag, and sending the seemingly insignificant speck of dust into it before collecting the second speck of light.

But soon she remembered something, and under Gong Xin's gaze, she transformed her hand into a ghostly claw and grabbed into her own abdomen.

Gong Xin was shocked, even his usually narrow eyes widened: "What is Miss Shen doing?!"

Shen Qiongzhi frowned slightly, seemingly enduring great pain, and actually took out her own Ghost Pill and handed it to Gong Xin.

“Goddess Gongxin, I need to go find Zhu Jing. I’m afraid if I delay, I’ll never find her again. But I also know the situation is critical. Sister Tianjiao needs my help. Could you give her this Ghost Pill and let her refine it for her own use? I think that would be more helpful than me staying by her side. After all, I have a bad temper and might cause trouble.”

Seeing that Shen Qiongzhi was about to leave her Ghost Pill behind and go off to chase after the fragments of the Heavenly Pillar, Gong Xin said anxiously, "The Ghost Spirit won't last long without its Ghost Pill!"

However, Shen Qiongzhi said nonchalantly, "I know. You can come find me after you've dealt with Mo Bei. I believe that with Zhiwei and Sister Tianjiao around, they will definitely be able to find a way to prolong my life."

"But... the fragments of this pillar have already scattered, how can you chase after them?"

After losing the Ghost Pill, Shen Qiongzhi became translucent, looking as if she was just one breath away from being completely destroyed.

She floated around in mid-air, collecting the debris with great enthusiasm. When Gong Xin asked her question, she took a moment to turn around and smile at him. "It's okay. Even if it's scattered into the sky, into the land, or into the water, as long as I pick it up one by one, I'll eventually be able to bring the person back."

...

Outside the Chang Le Palace, Mo Bei stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the plaque with the three characters "Chang Le Palace" written on it, and continued to say to Yun Tianjiao: "These people continue to use the name Chang Le Palace because I reminded them and made them grateful for your sacrifice as the eldest princess of Yun Chi Kingdom, which prevented the birth of the demonic energy and its rampage in the human world."

Mo Bei sighed as he spoke, turning to look at Yun Tianjiao. “Don’t you find it ironic? When you died saving them, they were so grateful to you that the streets were filled with people carrying your coffin and weeping. But how long has it been? They’ve forgotten you completely. If they weren’t afraid of me, they wouldn’t even keep the name of your palace.”

Based on this, Mo Bei concluded: "So why should the gods treat mortals kindly? They are useless except for providing incense, and they do not deserve our protection."

Just as Mo Bei was giving a long and eloquent speech, the ground suddenly trembled slightly, and the night sky to the east was suddenly illuminated by something.

Yun Tianjiao's heart skipped a beat, and she turned around abruptly. She didn't know what had happened, but the unease that had been lurking in her heart ever since she entered the palace was now growing stronger.

She instinctively grabbed Zhiwei's hand.

Mo Bei saw her reaction and finally stopped pretending to be mature. He played with his little braid hanging down his chest and smiled brightly, "I wonder whose house set off a big firecracker. It was quite bright."

Just then, a whooshing sound came from afar. At first, Yun Tianjiao thought it was another hidden weapon released by Mo Bei, but looking in the direction of the sound, she saw that it was the Ghost-Slaying Blade flying towards her.

Mo Bei also noticed the Demon-Slaying Blade, but he seemed quite wary of it and didn't try to snatch it. He coldly watched as Yun Tianjiao took the blade into his hands.

When Yun Tianjiao grasped the Demon-Slaying Blade, she felt the surging spiritual energy within it, and her eyes instantly turned red. Pointing the tip of the blade at Mo Bei, she couldn't hide the killing intent in her eyes, and asked in a trembling voice, "What...what did you do to Zhu Jing?!"

Mo Bei smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Guess?"

He lit his magical glass lamp and held it up to Yun Tianjiao to see. "Look, this lamp isn't very bright anymore. I've been wanting to replace the wick. Your little sister is a bit too big to use whole. It would be just right if it were broken into small pieces. So let's not linger too long while we catch up. I still need to collect the fragments to make a wick!"

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Author's Note: Happy Holidays! I originally planned to finish this story before the National Day holiday, but judging from the progress, it seems like there are still two or three chapters left. I'll leave it until after the holiday to finish writing. Have a great holiday everyone!