Chapter 48 A Chance Encounter with the Heavenly Eye Reveals the Burden of the Mortal World
Outside the Xiao Clan Ancestral Hall, the wind and rain were gloomy, and thunder rumbled among the clouds. A tall figure stood in the courtyard.
Xiao Yi gripped a longsword in his right hand, his eyes vacant and lifeless, the runes on his forehead emitting a faint glow. His movements were stiff and slow as he dragged the sword into the ancestral hall, like a puppet being manipulated.
Thunder rumbled, and a bolt of lightning struck down from the clouds, illuminating the still-damp bloodstains on the sword and the dozen or so corpses lying in the courtyard, all killed with a single, fatal blow to the throat.
The ancestral hall's offering table was lined with layers of memorial tablets, and the candlelight flickered in the wind, casting long shadows of people outside the door.
Xiao Yi stood before the offering table and slowly raised his head. A flash of sword light appeared, and he slashed his wrist with the sword, blood dripping down his arm. He knelt down and used his own blood to draw a complex array pattern.
The blood flowed slowly. Xiao Yi raised his sword again, the blade slicing across his chest and abdomen, until he drew slower and slower... The formation was completed. Xiao Yi swayed, his consciousness dissipated, and he collapsed heavily beside the blood formation, his body covered in sword marks, lifeless.
As the blood-red runes swirled, all the memorial tablets on the altar began to tremble violently, finally collapsing with a deafening roar. Amidst the flying fragments, a figure emerged from the cracks.
The candles inside the ancestral hall dimmed, and the newcomer, with flowing white hair, was surrounded by a cold, ethereal glow. The Myriad Manifestations Return to Nothingness originated with the Xiao clan, a place to collect the souls of the dead. The Xiao clan ancestral hall was another passageway, opened by Xiao Yi with a blood sacrifice.
The Xiao family had offered incense for nine hundred years, and now they had finally reached their peak. Her gaze swept indifferently over the corpses scattered on the ground, then looked at the deep night outside the door. With a flick of her wide sleeve, her figure disappeared from the spot.
——
Above the nine layers of clouds, in the vast and silent surroundings, Mingying looked at the newcomer, her gaze shifting slightly before she slowly spoke after a long while: "...Imperial Preceptor?"
Xiao Qingyi nodded calmly: "It's me."
Mingying paused, then, as if remembering something, asked, "Where's Xiao Jingze?"
Xiao Qingyi did not answer, but gazed at her calmly and gently.
Mingying clenched her fists, finally stood up, and walked towards her expressionlessly: "What a brilliant game of chess, Grand Preceptor. What is your ultimate goal? Isn't everything you've done aimed at gaining divine power?"
Xiao Qingyi shook her head and suddenly said something completely unrelated: "I was born for you."
"Born for me?" Mingying twitched her lips, finding it utterly ridiculous. There was no hint of a smile in her eyes. "It's ridiculous. You are you and I am me. No one was born for me."
Xiao Qingyi's expression remained unchanged: "Or rather, I was born for God. I was born with the ability to prophesy and saw the collapse of the Nine Provinces. Saving all of this is the destiny I have always carried."
Mingying smiled and said, "Oh, the destiny you bear is the destiny that controls mine. Then you should be the one to be the goddess."
Xiao Qingyi remained noncommittal. Mingying met her gaze, and heavenly fire appeared beside her: "So, what are you going to do?"
Xiao Qingyi said calmly, "I'm here to kill you."
Mingying glanced at her bleeding palm, and Xiao Qingyi spoke again: "After the battle with the Immortal Venerable, even if you burn your blood, you are no match for me now."
Mingying found it absurd and gave a cold laugh: "You went to great lengths to make me the prophesied goddess, only to kill me in the end?"
Xiao Qingyi sighed, but her eyes remained expressionless. She raised her eyelids and slowly explained to her, "The spiritual veins are formed from the bodies of dragons. Since the dragons fell, they have provided the world with a continuous supply of spiritual energy. Now, they have been completely consumed, and the world is about to collapse. You are the reincarnation of a dragon, and only you, after becoming a god, possess the ability to transform into a dragon. By transforming into a dragon, you can fill the void in the spiritual veins and prevent the spiritual energy from dissipating. This is the way to save the world, and it is the only way."
Mingying's eyes curved slightly: "In other words, I was born to die because of this."
Xiao Qingyi said, "Among all living beings, whose end is not death? Your loved ones are gone, your enemies are dead, what is the point of continuing to live? The Ming family has extended your life by ten years, delaying all time, which is already defying the heavens."
Starting with the New Jersey floods ten years ago, Mingying was gradually pushed into the position of a goddess by her. Now, at the end of all things, Xiao Qingyi said coldly: "Only your death can change this situation, so you can't live no matter what."
Mingying remained silent, the Heavenly Fire still hovering in mid-air. Facing the oppressive power of Xiao Qingyi's spiritual energy, she showed no intention of fighting back. She simply asked again, "Where is Xiao Jingze?"
Xiao Qingyi replied, "He's dead. Since he wanted to kill me to avenge Jin Jianwei, I certainly won't let him live."
Mingying felt a moment of emptiness in her heart, then slowly touched her chest: "I promised him, I said I would go back."
Xiao Qingyi said nothing more, but just watched her quietly, as if waiting for her to make her own choice.
Mingying lowered her eyes to look at her hands: "If I die, will this world not be destroyed because the spiritual energy dissipates?"
Xiao Qingyi nodded: "Not bad."
Mingying smiled and said, "Okay, I agree."
She always tried her best to live, never giving up. All those who loved her worked so hard, only to have the goddess ultimately abandon Mingying's life?
Mingying asked earnestly, "What do I need to do?"
Xiao Qingyi was not surprised by her final choice, her face still bearing the same expression that had remained unchanged for a thousand years: "The dragon's heart and essence are both within you, you are now ready to transform into a dragon."
——
Everyone across the Nine Provinces heard the echoing toll of the Mountain and River Bell, and a clear dragon's roar resounded throughout the heavens and earth. They raised their heads and looked up at the sky, their eyes filled with the dragon's shadow that blotted out the sky, and they all raised their arms and shouted.
"Look, everyone, look!"
"It's a dragon! It's a dragon! The Dragon God has descended to earth!"
The moon shines brightly in the heavens, and the shadow of a dragon coils around it. A long, azure-scaled body bursts forth from the clouds, its horns sharp and its five claws tearing through the clouds. Moonlight flows across its body, and its spiritual energy is boundless.
The goddess transformed into a dragon to save the world and revitalize the nine continents.
In the Shengjing Palace, the Emperor stood with his hands behind his back before the collapsed palace gate. Amidst the swirling smoke, he looked up at the sky, his expression increasingly unreadable. In the Huaijiang Shen Mansion, the head of the Shen family, having worked day and night, issued orders. His gaze suddenly turned to the windowsill, where withered peach branches were dotted with crimson, like a rosy dawn reawakening, blooming with vibrant colors.
The Star Gazing Tower, standing between heaven and earth, suddenly exploded, all its restrictions were broken, and the towering building was reduced to rubble. A dark figure leaped out from it. Xiao Jingze wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his pupils contracted, and twelve golden rings surrounded him. He exhausted his spiritual power and rushed towards her.
Amidst the cacophony of the outside world, Mingying lay quietly in the center of her heart's sea, the black water flowing slowly. She had severed her own heart's flow, the water level dropping, dropping further, until the sea dried up and the rocks crumbled.
Her consciousness dispersed like water, and in her daze she seemed to hear Xiao Jingze's voice. Could it be that the dead can meet in another time and space?
The atmosphere inside the Mountain and River Bell was warm, and all the love enveloped her. Eighteen years of memories were condensed in the long river of history, seemingly only a short moment, but for her, the memories of this spring were exceptionally clear.
What would be the dragon's last wish?
The past is the past, and this is the first time Mingying has looked back on her past so seriously.
Mingying should be a very happy mortal. She has spent more than ten years with her family and has many old and new friends. She has seen mountains and rivers, lakes and seas, the red sandstorms of Pingzhou, and the first snow falling in Yuancheng. Every bowl of medicine she drank had a piece of candy. She also met the person she liked when spring came. The two of them did many things they liked. Her life seems to be very, very fulfilling.
She had made three wishes, but none of them had a good outcome. Should she make another one?
Mingying frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed. She'd make another wish; she was about to save the world, so there was no need to trouble others. Making a small wish for herself wasn't excessive at all.
The dragon's eyes held a smile as she turned to take one last look at the dying land. Her tail swept across the collapsed mountains, and her breath calmed the churning ocean. A gentle green rapidly spread across the once barren farmland, clear springs gushed from the riverbeds, and new branches sprouted from the trees. Wherever she passed, spiritual energy transformed into gentle rain, nourishing every inch of land and every kind of life equally. Mountains and rivers returned to their rightful place, and heaven and earth were clear and bright.
Mingying closed her eyes contentedly, perhaps with a tiny bit of regret in her heart, but that didn't matter anymore. The dragon finally coiled beneath the Nine Provinces, supporting the endless cycle of life on this land.
Nothing is eternal. Mingying's consciousness dissipated into specks of light, and the dragon's corpse was not eternal either. The spiritual energy would eventually dissipate, and she didn't know if a third dragon would appear then, or if the third dragon would be willing to save the world again.
So Mingying made her last wish, exhaling all her spiritual energy to return to heaven and earth.
The world is being reshaped, ushering in a new era. There will be no more gods who control everything, and spiritual veins will no longer generate spiritual energy. In the future, there will be no more distinctions between mortals, cultivators, and gods. Whether one is born with spiritual roots or divine status will no longer matter. Spiritual energy will benefit all living beings. This is the ultimate balancing law of the Heavenly Dao.
Xiao Qingyi stood amidst the sea of clouds, bathed in the sunlight. Her figure gradually became hunched over, and she slowly collapsed. Fine lines appeared at the corners of her eyes, and the vicissitudes of time etched themselves onto her face. Her hair turned completely white and withered. This body had borne the karma of nearly a thousand years, and now it had finally come to an end.
She lay beside that pile of broken bones, two people who should have died nine hundred years ago leaning against each other. She and the accident she foresaw had actually been together for so many years.
Xiao Qingyi blinked her cloudy eyes and, like an ordinary person, slowly recalled the past.
Eight-year-old Princess Song Xijia stood under the flowering tree, her expression a mixture of curiosity and provocation: "You are Xiao Qingyi?"
Xiao Qingyi nodded slightly: "From now on, I will become your teacher and impart to you the ultimate principles of heaven and earth, the way of good and evil. I do not ask that you ascend to the Great Dao and join the ranks of immortals in the future, but I hope that you will have a compassionate heart and love all living beings."
Memories return to nothingness after death. The spring breeze sweeps across the earth, the spring light is so bright, and it is the time when all flowers are in full bloom. Peach blossoms are dazzling, apricot blossoms are falling in abundance, the streets are bustling with people, the people of the nine provinces are filled with joy, and children are running and playing with kites on the ridges of the fields, a peaceful spring scene.
Amidst a sea of flowers covering the mountains and fields, a dark figure slowly searches for something, its footsteps leaving bloody traces on the fragrant grass.
The soul that had been lost while repairing the Mountain and River Bell returned, like waking from a dream. Xiao Jingze looked bewildered, recalling the hatred of the past.
The mountains and rivers remain, spring is in full bloom, everything is beautiful, but she is no longer here.
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Author's Note: *The chapter title comes from Wang Guowei's poem "Huanxi Sha". "Trying to climb the peak to gaze at the bright moon, occasionally opening the eye of heaven to observe the mortal world."
Stopping here feels like a tragic ending, but the main story will definitely have a happy ending, with one more chapter to go.
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