Chapter 97 Seeing him leave, a tremendous sense of loss welled up inside me…
The ninety-ninth bolt of heavenly lightning, like a thousand-pound thunderbolt carrying the power to incinerate all things, was about to claim Si Yao's life like a death god from hell.
Si Yao's crimson robe had already been reduced to ashes by the shockwave of the heavenly lightning. Even though she used all her spiritual energy to try to resist the heavenly lightning, her knees slammed heavily onto the white jade tiles of the square.
Jiang Cifeng had already withstood the first ninety-eight bolts of heavenly lightning, but he seemed to be on the verge of death. The power of this ninety-ninth bolt of heavenly lightning was the sum of the power of the previous ninety-eight bolts. Let alone Si Yao, who was only at the Golden Core stage, even if this bolt of lightning struck Jiang Cifeng, he would probably be annihilated.
At this moment, the lightning struck Si Yao. How could Si Yao possibly resist it?
Her resistance was like an ant trying to shake a tree—utterly futile.
Before the ninety-ninth bolt of heavenly lightning even struck her, Si Yao already felt her whole body become unsteady, her chest bones ached terribly, as if they were about to fall apart at any moment.
That's not right...
Si Yao was puzzled...
She clearly saw in the Fate Stone that as long as she and Jiang Cifeng held a wedding ceremony, Jiang Cifeng would bear the entire heavenly lightning, which would then cause him to ascend to immortality.
On the contrary, if she had not become a Daoist couple with Jiang Cifeng, and if she had not held such a grand wedding ceremony, then the heavenly lightning would have struck Si Yao when Jiang Cifeng was undergoing his tribulation.
However, the outcome that has come true is the opposite of the future predicted by the Destiny Stone.
Something must be wrong!
But she no longer had time to think about it.
"Elder Si Yao—"
"No...no..."
The members of the Hehuan Sect were terrified. Led by Sect Master Yan Yu, several elders of the Hehuan Sect, including Yu Ke, made hand seals, and a pinkish-purple barrier suddenly rose up, enveloping Si Yao entirely.
At this critical moment, everyone in the Hehuan Sect did their utmost to protect Si Yao's life.
But even they were powerless against the heavenly lightning.
"Venerable Jiang, Elder Si Yao is almost there..."
Xiao Shengyuan tried to wake Jiang Cifeng, hoping he would save Si Yao.
But the thunder had already crashed into Si Yao's ears, and its earth-shattering aura pressed in. At that moment, she vaguely saw her three souls and seven spirits being blasted out of her body.
"puff--"
Si Yao coughed up blood. At the critical moment, the heavenly lightning bolt that was heading towards her suddenly stopped for a moment.
A figure flew out from the crowd and immediately blocked her way.
"Boom!"
It sounded as if thousands of thunderclaps were roaring in unison, the earth trembled, and the air uttered a series of fragmented sounds.
For a few breaths, time seemed to stand still, and the surrounding plants and trees seemed frozen in place.
After a while, the thunder stopped, and the world returned to calm.
"You...you managed to take it?"
"How did Elder Si Yao manage to withstand it?"
"No...no...who is that?"
The murmurs among the crowd grew louder. The immense power of the heavenly lightning had caused Si Yao to faint briefly. When she awoke, she found a man with his back to her.
The man knelt on the ground, one hand on his chest.
He let out a muffled groan, and blood gushed from his mouth.
Everyone was shocked. Si Yao panicked and stared at the familiar figure, her trembling hand reaching out.
The man leaned back weakly, and Si Yao caught him with both hands.
He was dressed in the ordinary clothes of the lowest-ranking disciples of Tianchen Island, which made his otherworldly face seem somewhat out of place.
"You..." Si Yao trembled all over, her mind blank, especially when she saw the bright red blood at the corner of his mouth, she panicked even more, "Didn't you leave? What are you doing back here?"
At this moment, the disciples of the Hehuan Sect also gathered around, and several elders exclaimed in surprise, "Little Yezi!"
They never expected that the ninety-ninth heavenly lightning, which even the Heavenly Enlightenment Venerable of the Wind Sword Sect could not shake, would be withstood by Si Yao's disciple, Xiao Yezi!
Si Yao looked down at Li Ye in her arms, her voice choked with sobs, "Our agreement was already made, why did you come to save me again?"
Li Ye simply looked at her, a slight smile playing on his lips. He slowly raised his hand, his fingertips brushing against her pale lips, his hand stained with hot blood.
He wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't speak.
"boom--"
A loud bang came from the sky, and space suddenly tore open, filled with dark mist. Two dark figures flashed out from the opening.
An immense pressure descended, as if an invisible hand had snatched Li Ye from Si Yao's arms in an instant.
Who are you?!
As Xiao Shengyuan, the master of Tianchen Island, raised the magical weapon in his hand, the high-ranking members of the various sects became alert.
"Demons, do not flee! How dare you run rampant on Tianchen Island!"
Xiao Shengyuan shouted, while Si Yao watched Li Ye disappear.
Her memory suddenly returned to the images she had sensed at the Fate Stone.
In her past life, she had a human head and a snake's body, her body covered in wounds, curled up deep in the swamp, her green-scaled snake tail soaked in blood.
At that time, she had a huge wound on her right shoulder, from which blood was gushing out. In addition to feeling excruciating pain, she felt a great emptiness in her heart, as if she had lost the most important thing in her life at that moment.
Yes, that's exactly how it feels.
Now, looking at the vanished Li Ye, her heart is filled with the same intense pain!
She was in so much pain that her whole body convulsed until everything went black, and she collapsed heavily to the ground.
When Si Yao woke up again, it was seven days later.
After Jiang Cifeng's ordeal that day, the Hehuan Sect brought the unconscious Si Yao back to the sect.
The moment she opened her eyes, she realized she was lying in her own room.
Turning to the side, I saw Yu Ke sitting in front of me.
"You're finally awake. I was really afraid you wouldn't make it through this." Yu Ke still had that same old self that always wanted to bicker with Si Yao, but the concern and worry in her eyes were undeniable.
Si Yao struggled to sit up, but Yu Ke actually put a pillow behind her back. "You're weak, you should stay in bed if you can."
She sat back down and looked at Si Yao, saying to herself, "Although your disciple took the brunt of that lightning for you, the power of the heavenly lightning also severely injured your body before that. As you know, that was the ninety-ninth heavenly lightning that Jiang Cifeng experienced during his tribulation."
Si Yao's dazed eyes finally regained a glimmer of light. "I know, if someone hadn't taken the fall for me, how could my Golden Core body have withstood the attack? Perhaps I would have already perished, body and soul."
Hearing this, Yu Ke frowned, "Who exactly is your disciple? Since he was able to withstand that lightning, it means that his strength is far superior to Jiang Cifeng's."
Seeing Si Yao lost in thought again, Yu Ke couldn't suppress her curiosity, "And why did those two demons take him away? He..."
Before she could finish speaking, Yu Ke saw two lines of tears fall from Si Yao's eyes.
She was stunned. "Okay, I won't say anything more. You should get some rest."
Si Yao closed her eyes, trying hard to fall asleep.
But a moment later, a faint presence appeared in the room.
Si Yao asked irritably, "Yu Ke, why haven't you left yet?"
"It's me," a man's voice came.
Si Yao opened her eyes and looked over with a calm expression.
"You?" Si Yao's voice rose slightly as she scrutinized the person in front of her.
The man was dressed in white, just like the Azure Phoenix Sword Master in white robes who had appeared in the previous life as sensed by the Fate Stone.
"Jiang Cifeng." Si Yao's voice remained calm as she withdrew her gaze. "You ultimately succeeded in overcoming your tribulation."
Jiang Cifeng, who is now a celestial being and a celestial lord of the Ninth Heaven, simply took some time to come to the mortal realm to see Si Yao.
"I have come here to tell you the truth."
After hearing Jiang Cifeng's words, Si Yao looked up and asked, "The truth?"
It turned out that on the day of the tribulation, when the ninety-ninth bolt of heavenly lightning struck, Jiang Cifeng was unable to reach Si Yao even with all his might.
When he saw the heavenly lightning striking Si Yao directly, he thought that Si Yao's soul would be scattered as a result.
At that moment, an overwhelming sense of powerlessness overwhelmed him, accompanied by immense anguish and guilt that shook his very soul.
He realized that if Si Yao were struck by lightning, she would surely die.
And her death was caused by him.
The endless remorse reached its peak in just a few breaths, causing the power that had been dormant in the deepest part of his heart for thousands of years to suddenly awaken.
And then, he actually succeeded in overcoming his tribulation.
After recounting his successful tribulation, Jiang Cifeng added, "Before that, the Fate Stone that you and I sensed on Tianchen Island had already been tampered with."
Upon hearing this, Si Yao instinctively gripped the blankets tightly around her. "Are you saying that those scenes from our past lives were fake? Or perhaps, there was no romantic relationship between us in our past lives?"
Jiang Cifeng remained silent.
Si Yao took a deep breath. "On the day you underwent your tribulation, when the ninety-ninth bolt of heavenly lightning struck me, I realized that the Fate Stone might be malfunctioning."
In the future predicted by the Destiny Stone Crystal on Tianchen Island, Si Yao clearly saw that after she and Jiang Cifeng became Daoist partners, Jiang Cifeng successfully overcame his love tribulation, and when heavenly lightning descended, he resisted it all and finally attained immortality.
In reality, the last bolt of lightning struck her.
Si Yao clenched her fists. "The future predicted by the Destiny Stone crystal told me that if I became your Daoist partner, I would receive a great fortune. If I did not obey the words and did not become your Daoist partner, I would die."
She got up, got out of bed, put on an apricot-colored outer robe, and walked step by step toward Jiang Cifeng. "In fact, I will only die if I become your Daoist partner. This is the truth!"
Jiang Cifeng held his breath and closed his eyes. "Yes, this is the truth."
Si Yao scrutinized him for a while, then turned her back. "You wouldn't deliberately tamper with the Fate Stone for the sake of undergoing tribulation. The one who did this must be the demon I met on Tianchen Island that night."
Si Yao knew about Jiang Cifeng's character.
However, what was unexpected was that Jiang Cifeng's Fate Stone had also been tampered with.
Jiang Cifeng opened his eyes and said, "These days, I have been to Wuzhou. After investigation, I found that the Fate Stone has indeed been infused with a chaotic aura. It is precisely because of this chaotic aura that the past and future that you and I see in the Fate Stone are very different from reality."
With a flick of his wrist, a Destiny Stone crystal appeared in his palm. "What's even stranger is that I also discovered that the Destiny Stone in Wuzhou had its strange aura removed by someone several dozen days ago."
Si Yao couldn't help but recall that several dozen days ago, it was precisely when Li Ye took the initiative to leave Tianchen Island.
At that time, he was returning from Wuzhou and had specially brought back a destiny stone crystal for Si Yao.
"Could it be!" Si Yao's breathing quickened, and her shoulders trembled. She looked at the Destiny Stone crystal in Jiang Cifeng's hand, "Can this Destiny Stone crystal in your hand still sense our past lives? Were our past lives different from what we saw before?"
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Author's note: Thanks to "Daydreamer" for the nutrient solution!
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