Ignorance
Why...? Was it Yunxiu who did this? Was Yunxiu trying to stop him?
"Let me in!" He roared, madly hitting the barrier with his immortal power...
"She couldn't possibly do such a thing... Impossible..."
But no one heard him. Everyone's attention was on Yunxiu. Yan Xiu had already summoned the Immortal Locking Chain. The silver chain wrapped around Yunxiu's shoulder blade like a spirit snake, the cold chain piercing her flesh and sealing her immortal power.
"Come back with us." Yan Xiu's tone was unquestionable and firm.
Yunxiu didn't look back, but just bit his lower lip tightly, with blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
She looked at the ferocious figure approaching from the front. The huge red vertical pupil was staring greedily at her and the master behind her.
Wu Yi could feel that the divine power in Yunxiu's body was surging wildly.
"Can't!"
Wu Yi's heart skipped a beat. He finally understood what Yun Xiu was going to do. "Xiao You, no! No!"
But Yunxiu seemed not to hear. She slowly turned around, taking one last look at her master behind her, and also at Wu Yi, who was blocked outside the barrier. There was no resentment in her eyes, only a calm farewell.
Yunxiu saw himself at that time through Wu Yi's eyes.
She clenched the sword in her right hand, her voice hoarse but resolute:
"Heartless—broken!"
A crisp cracking sound echoed as the sword she had grown up with shattered into pieces under her will. Countless glittering fragments swirled back and crashed into her heart.
Her body burst out with a dazzling glass-colored light, and the phantom of a crystal-clear heart beat in front of her chest.
"Self-destruction?!"
Wu Yi pounded against the barrier like crazy, his pale blue immortal energy nearly exhausted, yet the barrier remained motionless. He could only watch helplessly as Yunxiu's glass heart erupted with intense light, piercing the core of the evil spirit, and watched as she dissipated inch by inch among billions of stardust particles.
The evil spirit disappeared, and all kinds of strange visions fell from the sky like the Milky Way, turning into points of light and dispersing into the mortal world.
He heard a wailing sound, but he didn't know whose it was. It could be someone below the mountain, someone close to him, or even himself.
Is anyone still alive? Wu Yi didn't remember looking back, but he seemed to know why Yun Xiu did this.
What about the human world... Is there anyone still alive in the human world?
Those spots of light scattered into the mortal world are not auspicious signs at all, but "poisonous rain" wrapped in the cruel power of evil spirits.
The moment Wu Yi hit the barrier, the fluctuations of immortal power and divine power from the mortal world collided with each other, and countless broken pictures suddenly exploded before his eyes.
It was not the scorched earth of the forbidden area, but the villages and towns he had passed by before, which were now shrouded in a light black mist, as if they were tightly wrapped by a huge black net.
Farther away, in Linhe Village, where rice was once grown by the river, villagers used to tell him, "The rain is good this year, and the rice stalks are so heavy they'll bend under their weight." Now the river has turned inky black, and on its surface float broken oars, worn straw raincoats, and several children's cloth shoes, filled with black mud and embroidered with tiny fish patterns on the toes.
It was made by a woman in the village for her child, and he had previously praised the beautiful embroidery.
The rice ears that were piled up like a small mountain in the threshing ground at the entrance of the village have now turned into a charred piece. A few crows landed on the grain pile and pecked at the things inside. Upon closer inspection, they found that they were the bones that the villagers had not had time to collect.
An old farmer in a coarse cloth shirt clutched a sickle, his body entangled in the black mist like a cocoon. The sickle fell to the ground, its blade clinging to the blackened rice grains. It was obvious that the fog had overtaken him while he was harvesting rice. At his feet lay a bamboo basket filled with freshly picked cucumbers, which had turned black, as if soaked in ink.
Those who escaped the massacre have been hiding for almost half a month, relying on the spring water in the cave and the stored dried meat.
When Wu Yi passed by before, he chatted with them across the cave. The hunters said, "When the storm is over, we will go down the mountain to find our relatives."
Now the entrance of the cave was blocked by black fog. The people inside were hugging each other. Some were still gnawing on tree bark covered with black mud. Some had stopped breathing, their eyes wide open, staring at the direction of the cave entrance.
The hunter in the innermost part was still holding a bow and arrow with the arrow pointed at the cave entrance, but the arrow shaft was corroded by the black fog and only half of it remained. The arrow feathers fell to the ground and were crushed to pieces by people.
There was a woman holding a baby. The baby was dead and its face was purple. The woman was still patting the child's back gently, muttering something, and black mist was seeping in through her sleeves.
Her arms had turned blue-black, but she was unaware of it. She just stared blankly ahead, as if she no longer felt the pain.
Wu Yi thought - or rather, Yun Xiu thought - that as long as the evil spirit was defeated, things on earth would gradually get better.
“Why…why is this happening…”
He suddenly understood why Yunxiu had self-destructed. The so-called "Ancient God" was likely the source of divine power. If Yunxiu knew who was responsible for the calamity, she would have immediately sought to stop it—in such a horrific manner.
Maybe she already knew who the culprit was, and she would rather sacrifice herself to stop it.
But was it all in vain? Wu Yi looked at the scene before him.
Wu Yi couldn't bear it any longer and let out a shrill roar. The immortal power burned wildly in his body and the cracks on the barrier became bigger and bigger.
He knew he couldn't wait any longer. If he allowed this divine power to dissipate, not only would all the mortals die, but Yunxiu's sacrifice would also be meaningless. He had to take this divine power back, even if it meant his own life.
When the last ray of light fell, Wu Yi finally broke through the barrier.
He stumbled over, knelt on the ground, and reached out to grasp the dissipating light fragments, but only grasped a piece of nothingness. His palm was still clutching the white jade statue, and at this moment, the statue suddenly emitted a faint golden light, absorbing the scattered light fragments around it.
There's an ancient legend that says the statue can actually contain a part of the god: his thoughts... or power.
He murmured, his voice choked, tears mixed with the blood rain on his face, dripping onto the charred ground.
"I never believed it... I never believed that it was you who hurt my brothers and sisters..."
The wind carried the smell of blood, as well as the last, very faint breath of immortal power left by Yunxiu.
Wu Yi hugged the statue and sat on the ground, looking at the empty sky and the sad or suspicious faces of his disciples.
Yunxiu had sent him away in the first place because she wanted him to live. Perhaps she had known that this would happen and had been prepared to sacrifice herself, but she didn't want him to be involved in this destruction.
Wu Yi's fingertips suddenly pinched into his palm, and blood flowed down along the lines of the white jade statue, spreading a small dark red patch on the ground.
He looked at the glass light fragments that were constantly dissipating in the air, and Yunxiu's last words seemed to ring in his ears, and the severe pain in his heart suddenly surged.
If no one absorbs the evil god's divine power, it will seep into the earth along the spiritual veins. Not only will the purgatory on earth continue, but even the dead will not be able to rest in peace. The fragment of Yunxiu's soul will also be completely scattered between heaven and earth and can never be found again.
Acting completely on instinct, he bit his wrist and blood dripped onto the statue. The light green immortal power instantly rushed into the statue like crazy, and even the only remaining paulownia tree core essence in his body was burning violently.
His back arched slightly beneath his green robe. He could clearly feel the immortal energy nurtured within him for a century flowing through his veins to his fingertips, interweaving with his blood and carving fine, vine-like patterns on the surface of the statue. Those were the veins that had been the strongest in his time as a paulownia tree, and now they seemed to come alive, spreading along the carvings of the statue, gradually absorbing the scattered light particles around him.
"Wu Yi! What are you doing!?"
The master finally reacted and tried to step forward to stop them, but was blocked by an unknown barrier. Yan Xiu's Broken Water Sword had already been unsheathed, but when he saw the determination in Wu Yi's eyes, his movements suddenly stopped.
He'd seen that look before... he'd just seen that look before.
The white jade statue was activated by its essence, blood, and primordial immortal energy. The vine patterns on its surface glowed with a dark golden light, like a fine net, actively drawing in the scattered divine power and soul fragments. However, the remaining divine power of the evil spirit was too immense. As soon as the statue absorbed a wisp, it penetrated Wu Yi's body with devastating force.
His bones made crisp "crackling" sounds, and the skin on his arms began to emit a transparent light. The immortal power and divine power in his blood vessels tore at each other, causing him to tremble all over in pain, and cold sweat dripped along his jawline onto the statue.
"Hold on... hold on a little longer..."
He muttered, pressing the statue tightly against his chest, letting the divine power flow through his bloodstream and into his limbs. The tree core's essence pulsed violently within him, as if resisting the divine power, yet gradually yielding to his will, intertwining with the light fragments, forming a swirling vortex of light in front of his chest.
Was it an illusion? He could actually vaguely feel the soul fragment of Yunxiu in the statue, which was trembling slightly.
The divine power that had been lingering in the air for a long time suddenly seemed to be pulled by an invisible magnet and slowly flowed along the vine patterns on the surface of the statue.
The pungent, fishy smell gradually dissipated, replaced by the fresh, burgeoning scent of grass and trees breaking through the earth. Beneath the charred earth, tender green buds pushed through the gravel, timidly poking out leaves. Old trees, previously frozen and withered by the fierce spirit's divine power, sprouted new green leaves, their tiny veins gleaming with a shimmering light. Even the broken grass stems in the clearing slowly straightened in the dim light, returning to a vibrant green.
The bloody rain had long since ceased, and the twin suns in the sky had faded, revealing a clear, pale blue. The wind, carrying the scent of newly sprouted grass, brushed past the broken Wuxin sword and the quietly recumbent white jade statue.
A few tiny insects, seemingly from nowhere, slowly crawled across the scorched earth, resting on newly sprouted blades of grass. The distant stream once again shimmered with clear water, reflecting the slowly returning trees along its banks. Under the dim light of the statue, the once silent, forbidden mountain behind the temple gradually returned to the lush vegetation of memory.
The surrounding light particles gathered towards the statue faster and faster, and even the remaining evil aura in the air was forcibly pulled in.
Wu Yi's body began to become transparent, and pale blue light overflowed from his fingertips, shoulders and neck, merging with the divine power. He looked up at the empty sky.
Gradually, his voice became as light as the wind, and his body completely turned into a light blue light, which drilled into the statue along the lines of the statue.
When the last bit of flesh dissipated, the white jade statue suddenly burst out with dazzling light, absorbing all the scattered divine power and soul fragments, and even cleansed the bloody smell in the air.
After the light faded, the statue lay quietly on the charred ground, with the vine patterns on its surface glowing faintly.
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