Chapter 61 The Grand Finale (Part 1) See, your senior brother will always be with you…
Jun Lintian's words, "Because I like you," were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, but instead of creating sweet ripples, they left behind a blank and bewildering void.
Shi Liuying was stunned.
Do you like... your senior brother?
Of course I like it.
She loved the serious profile of her senior brother when he taught her swordsmanship, loved the warm fingertips of his hand when he handed her snacks, loved his helpless yet indulgent sighs when she made mistakes, and loved how he always stood silently behind her, like a silent and reliable mountain.
But... is this the kind of "liking" that my senior brother talked about?
She couldn't figure it out.
My heart felt like it had suddenly been stuffed with a ball of yarn that had been tangled up by a cat; I couldn't find a clue, only waves of inexplicable panic and... helplessness.
She was used to everything having clear goals and paths; she had to hone her swordsmanship to the extreme and spare no effort in protecting those important to her. But the feeling of "liking"—something invisible and intangible yet profound—was a completely unfamiliar territory for her.
She opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Her clear eyes were filled with genuine confusion, and a hint of guilt she herself was unaware of for not being able to respond immediately.
Looking at her like this, the faint expectation deep in Jun Lintian's eyes flickered like a candle flame in the wind, then quietly went out, leaving only a barely perceptible sense of loss.
But he quickly laughed again, his smile still gentle, even with a touch of self-deprecating ease, as if his earlier earth-shattering remark was just a casual joke.
"If I had known that my feelings for you would cause you so much trouble," he said softly, with his usual considerate manner, "I shouldn't have said it."
He turned his head and looked up at the starry sky again, his profile appearing somewhat hazy in the moonlight.
Only he knew the unspoken words in his heart: "I'm just afraid... after tonight, I'll never have the chance to tell you again."
“It’s not bothering me,” Shi Liuying quickly shook her head, her tone serious.
She just... hasn't figured it out yet.
Jun Lintian smiled and didn't press the matter further, assuming that she was just being understanding and didn't want to embarrass him.
He reached into his robes and took out a plain blue sachet embroidered with a few simple orchids, and handed it to her.
"Tomorrow you will go to rescue Hanzhou. Your senior brother will not be able to accompany you or provide support."
He gently placed the sachet in her palm, his fingertips brushing against her skin with a slightly cool touch: "Keep this safe. If you feel powerless or encounter a problem that you really can't solve... open it."
The sachet was soft to the touch, carrying a very faint, clean and pure scent belonging to Jun Lintian, as well as a more subtle spiritual energy fluctuation that Shi Liuying could not discern.
She carefully accepted it with both hands, as if holding a rare treasure, and nodded solemnly: "Yes, I will remember what you said, senior brother."
"Go and rest." Jun Lintian raised his hand and, as he had done countless times before, gently patted the top of her head. The movement was natural, as if the confession had never happened. "There's another tough battle tomorrow, so you need to be well-rested."
Shi Liuying obediently stood up, but she felt that her senior brother was different today.
Although his smile remained gentle and his instructions were still considerate, his complexion... seemed paler than usual, and even the usual composure in his eyes revealed a hint of indescribable fatigue.
But then I thought about it again. My senior brother has never been very strong. Perhaps it was because he had been working hard for days and was worried about her.
She walked to the door of the thatched hut, placed her hand on the rough door panel, but then stopped and turned around.
The moonlight cast a long, slender shadow over her. She looked at Jun Lintian, still seated on the rooftop, her eyes clear and earnest, and said, word by word:
"Senior brother, after I rescue Senior Brother Hanzhou tomorrow..."
She paused, seemingly organizing her thoughts, before finally saying firmly:
I will give you the answer.
This is not a perfunctory response, nor is it an evasion.
She needs time to sort out her chaotic thoughts, but she will never let down her senior brother's earnest intentions.
Upon hearing this, Jun Lintian's eyebrows curved into a smile, as gentle and beautiful as an orchid leaf unfurling under the moon.
He waved his hand, his tone relaxed: "There's no need to insist on giving your senior brother an answer. After tomorrow, once you defeat Ao Hao and end this calamity that has lasted for hundreds of years, with your current level, you're probably not far from transcending the tribulation and ascending to immortality."
He looked at her with pure, untainted expectation and pride in his eyes: "What I want to see even more is that you achieve the goal you've been longing for since you entered the sect—to reach the pinnacle of the Great Dao and become the strongest in this cultivation world."
As Shi Liuying listened, the turmoil in her heart seemed to be soothed by this pure expectation.
She nodded vigorously, a bright, slightly childlike smile blooming on her face: "I will! I will become the strongest and protect you all!"
She paused, then silently added in her mind: There's also protection, from her frail senior brother.
"Aren't you going back to sleep, Senior Brother?" She looked at Jun Lintian, who was still sitting in the same spot.
Jun Lintian smiled and said, "Senior brother, sit a little longer, get some fresh air, and then go back. You should go to sleep."
Shi Liuying said no more, pushed open the wooden door, and went inside.
The door closed, separating that pale blue figure from the warm light.
Jun Lintian sat alone on the cold rooftop, gazing at the small window that emitted a dim yellow light, just as he had done countless nights in the past when he quietly guarded it from the side.
A night breeze rustled through the bamboo grove in the distance, carrying the faint fragrance of lantern flowers in the courtyard.
He closed his eyes slightly, and many images flashed uncontrollably through his mind.
When I first saw her, I was struck by the astonishingly stubborn look in her eyes, as seen in the image stone.
When I taught her to practice swordsmanship, she was so tired that her arms were trembling, but she stubbornly refused to put down the wooden sword.
She held the lantern flower, her face earnestly showing her intention to heal his wounds.
She secluded herself for five years, and he waited quietly for her to rise and fall, under the trees, on the rooftops, and in every place where she might return.
And just now, when she heard the confession, her eyes were filled with confusion, clear and bright.
Each scene is as clear as yesterday.
After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes. The last trace of tenderness in his eyes gradually settled, turning into a bottomless calm and a barely perceptible sense of relief, as if he had completely let go.
He looked up at the setting moon on the horizon, and silently said to himself:
Senior brother, this is all I can do to accompany you this far.
The road ahead is higher, farther, and the scenery is even more magnificent.
You have to go by yourself.
-
The next morning, before dawn, Shi Liuying got up.
Pushing open the door, the courtyard was empty, and the roof was only damp with dew.
My senior brother has already left.
I suppose you're not feeling well and should go home to rest.
Thinking this, Shi Liuying rubbed her temples, which were throbbing from thinking about something, and forcibly suppressed the faint unease in her heart.
She checked her own condition; the spiritual power of the Great Ascension stage was surging like the sea in her meridians, perfectly harmonious and free.
The Blazing Sword sensed its master's fighting spirit and emitted a low, clear sound from its sheath.
Without lingering, Shi Liuying transformed into a streak of light and sped towards the secret location where Ao Hao was most likely to be hiding, which she had pieced together from Chi Yang and the director the previous night.
-
The Abyss of Desolation truly lives up to its name.
Upon entering its range, the spiritual energy of the outside world is as if isolated by an invisible barrier, replaced by a viscous, cold, chaotic energy filled with decay and despair.
The light was dim, and the jagged black icicles, like the fangs of a monster, pierced from the ground and the surrounding ice walls.
The air was filled with a nauseating stench and a shrill scream that sounded like the wails of countless vengeful spirits.
Shi Liuying held her breath and focused her mind, suppressing her spiritual power to the extreme, like a stalker in the dark, following the extremely faint connection between herself and Shen Hanzhou, which originated from their shared sect.
At the bottom of the abyss was an enormous ice cave, as if hollowed out by a giant beast.
Countless sharp ice spikes hung from the cave ceiling, while the ground was a huge array engraved with strange and twisted runes. At the array's core, the black energy was the most concentrated, almost solidified.
Shen Hanzhou was bound by several jet-black chains and suspended above the center of the formation.
His face was ashen, his eyes were closed, and his breath was extremely weak. His spiritual energy was being drawn away by the array below and fed into the churning, expanding black shadow at the center of the array.
The dark figure, whose outline of Ao Hao could be vaguely discerned, was swollen and twisted beyond recognition.
Countless tiny, black threads, like blood vessels or nerves, extended from all parts of his body, connecting to the array below and the four walls of the ice cave, as if he had become part of this abyss of desolation, a deformed, living core.
"You've come." A hoarse, distorted voice came from the shadows, carrying a teeth-grinding, harsh tone. "I've been waiting for you for a long time..."
Shi Liuying gripped the Buling Sword tightly, and a crimson light shone in the dim ice cave.
"Let him go." Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chill.
"Let him go?" Ao Hao let out a strange laugh. "He was the bait I painstakingly caught, just waiting for you to walk right into my trap!"
Before the words were even finished, the walls of the ice cave suddenly trembled!
Countless sharp ice spikes, as if under command, shot towards Shi Liuying in a massive, overwhelming barrage!
At the same time, the black light of the ground array intensified, and a heavy pressure descended, attempting to restrict her movements. Furthermore, a cold and evil force, like a leech, tried to erode her meridians and soul along her spiritual power!
Shi Liuying's eyes sharpened, but she neither flinched nor avoided the attack.
"Bling—"
The crimson longsword was drawn from its sheath. Its light was not particularly dazzling, but it carried a purity and awe that could cleanse all filth.
Where the sword flashed, the ice spikes that shot towards them turned to dust without a sound.
She took a step forward, her body moving with her sword, instantly covering a distance of dozens of feet, the tip of her sword pointing directly at the dark figure in the center of the formation!
"Hmm?" The shadowy figure was clearly not expected that her power was so pure and restrained, and let out a muffled groan of surprise.
But he reacted extremely quickly. His swollen and twisted body suddenly shrank, narrowly avoiding the sword's edge. At the same time, countless black threads, like living things, wrapped around Shi Liuying from all directions.
Shi Liuying's swordplay continued unabated, her figure leaping and turning in the narrow ice cave, so fast that only a faint blue afterimage remained.
The sword light wove a dense net, and wherever it passed, the black threads snapped, emitting a sizzling sound as if burning, and dissipating into black smoke.
Not only is her swordsmanship exquisite, but her mastery of Mahayana stage power has also reached a level of complete freedom.
The black shadow controlled by Ao Hao retreated repeatedly, letting out angry roars.
He discovered that his proud power, which could erode the Heavenly Dao, was completely constrained and difficult to exert its power in the face of Shi Liuying's supreme sword intent, which was pure to the extreme!
"Impossible! How could you... be completely unaffected?!" came an incredulous roar from the shadows.
Shi Liuying did not answer. She had only one thought in her mind: a swift victory to save Shen Hanzhou!
The sword light grew increasingly fierce and swift, like a sudden storm, forcing the dark figure to retreat step by step. Black mist continuously exploded from its body, and its distorted form showed signs of instability.
With victory in sight, Shi Liuying changed her sword stance again, preparing to unleash her strongest attack to completely crush the monster—
In the blink of an eye!
"Hehehe..." The dark figure suddenly let out a series of eerie laughs, stopped retreating, and instead suddenly raised its head. Its eyes, now filled with only chaos and malice, stared intently at Shen Hanzhou, who was suspended in mid-air with a weak breath!
"You think... I really can't do anything about you?"
He chuckled strangely, and the black chains connecting Shen Hanzhou suddenly tightened to their limit!
A suction force ten or even a hundred times stronger than the previous extraction of spiritual energy suddenly erupted!
"Ugh—!"
Shen Hanzhou, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes wide and let out a short, extremely painful scream.
The already dim spiritual light around him vanished at a visible speed, and his entire body seemed to have been drained of its life force in an instant, his skin quickly turning ashen and shriveling!
Ao Hao was reckless, determined to forcefully drain all of Shen Hanzhou's life force and cultivation as fuel for his final gamble!
"Stop!" This move caught Shi Liuying off guard, and she desperately swung her sword at the chains.
But Ao Hao seemed to have anticipated this. The expanding black shadow suddenly exploded off a small portion, transforming into a thick black shield wall that forcefully blocked Shi Liuying's furious attack.
In just that short time!
Despite the extreme pain and the rapid passing of life, a strange clarity returned to Shen Hanzhou's eyes.
He saw Shi Liuying fighting for him below, and he saw the undisguised malice in the monster's eyes, a desire to completely drain him and use that malice to threaten Shi Liuying.
For five years... no, for much longer, he had always been the one being protected.
Because of the system, because of his personality, and because of his strength, he always hid behind his senior brothers and sisters, especially Liu Ying.
He was greedy, he was afraid of death, and he always wanted to use spirit stones and treasures to maintain that sense of security.
But he couldn't just stand behind Shi Liuying forever, becoming a burden...
Anyway, he was supposed to die anyway.
Just as Ao Hao was grinning maliciously, preparing to completely drain the last bit of life force from Shen Hanzhou—
Shen Hanzhou's eyes, which always gleamed with a sharp light or carried a fawning smile, suddenly flashed with an unprecedented, almost tragic, resolute light.
With his last bit of strength, he bit his tongue hard, drawing blood.
His essence blood, mixed with all the remaining spiritual power, and... the sliver of origin deep within his soul that was tightly bound to the system but was now forcibly shaken at the cost of his own destruction, exploded with a bang!
There was no earth-shattering noise.
Only a sudden burst of pure, almost dazzling white light silently spread out from the center of Chen Hanzhou.
The light was not dazzling, but it carried a warm power that burned away all filth.
Wherever he went, the black chains binding him broke inch by inch, and the black light of the array below dimmed rapidly as if it had encountered its nemesis.
"You—!" Ao Hao's roar, filled with shock and rage, was drowned out by the white light.
Self-destruct!
Shen Hanzhou chose the most decisive and thorough method—detonating everything within himself, including the system's origin that had haunted him for hundreds of years.
He wanted to sever the last connection between himself and this monster, and he also wanted to use this last, pure light to clear the obstacles for his junior sister, even if it was just a little bit.
"Sinking Cold Boat—!!!"
Shi Liuying's exclamation caught in her throat.
Almost instinctively, she pulled out the "space-time rift" that the director of the transmigration bureau had given her, activated it without hesitation, and enveloped it in the direction of Shen Hanzhou!
She wanted to pull him into the rift in time and space, even if it was just a wisp of his soul.
But... it was too late.
The white light dissipated, and the spacetime rift slowly closed.
With trembling hands, Shi Liuying caught only a light, lifeless shell from the edge of the crack.
On Shen Hanzhou's face, there remained a final trace of resolute calm, as if all burdens had been lifted.
In the end, he didn't get to wait for his junior sister to take him home.
Just then, a sharp whooshing sound came from the entrance of the ice cave!
It was Rong Yan, Su Wan, Chong Cang who rushed over after noticing the intense energy fluctuations here, and Chi Yang, whose face was still pale but whose eyes were firm!
"Fireflies!"
"Han Zhou—!"
They saw the cold body in Shi Liuying's arms, and they also saw the dark figure of Ao Hao below, whose formation was damaged by the self-destruction of Shen Hanzhou, whose aura was disordered but who was even more furious and frenzied.
"They're all here... Good! Excellent!"
Ao Hao let out a hysterical laugh, his dark shadow expanding violently, radiating a suffocating, devouring desire: "Perfect timing to wipe you all out! I'll turn your systems, your power, all of them into nourishment for me!"
He held back no longer, and the chaotic energy of the entire Abyss of Absolute Spirit began to converge on him madly. The black shadow swelled up to the point that it almost broke through the ice cave, and countless black tentacles stretched out towards Rong Yan and the other two who had just arrived!
"Don't come any closer!"
Shi Liuying suddenly looked up and shouted sharply.
She gently laid down Chen Hanzhou's already cold body, stood up, and her light blue dress fluttered in the violent energy flow.
She looked at the few people who were anxiously trying to rush over to help, then at the lifeless Shen Hanzhou, and finally at the twisted, crazed monster that seemed to want to devour everything.
A clear, even chilling thought, like an icicle, pierced her mind.
No more sacrifices can be made.
Not a single one.
She took a deep breath and poured her vast Mahayana-stage spiritual power, as boundless as the ocean, into the spacetime rift in her hand, which had not yet completely dissipated.
At the same time, she used her understanding of the spatial Dao of "Sword Heart Reflecting the Dao" as a guide to forcibly distort and rewrite the underlying rules of the spacetime rift!
The originally stable, two-way spacetime channel began to violently vibrate and deform under her relentless spiritual energy impact and rule alteration, emitting unstable light capable of tearing space apart.
"Liu Ying! What are you doing?!" Rong Yan sensed something was wrong and cried out in alarm, trying to break through the black tentacles' obstruction.
Chong Cang's eyes changed drastically, and he unhesitatingly shot the demonic energy in his hand towards the tentacles, attempting to clear a path.
Chi Yang gritted her teeth, and a faint light emanated from her body, a sign of the extremely costly life-saving skill she had hidden away in her system.
"Walk!"
Shi Liuying uttered only one word.
She pushed forward with both hands!
The distorted light gate, which she had forcibly transformed into a one-way, unstable exit, suddenly appeared behind Rong Yan, Su Wanzhongcang, and Chi Yang like a giant vortex, irresistibly sucking the four of them, along with Shen Hanzhou's corpse, into it!
"No—!" Rong Yan's exclamation was swallowed up by the portal of light.
Chong Cang's last look at her was filled with a deep and complex emotion.
Chi Yang and Su Wan reached out their hands, but in vain they grasped at the void.
The portal flickered violently, then suddenly closed and disappeared.
They were sent away from this perilous world, along with the system that had haunted them for hundreds of years.
She sent him to a safe world... where Shi Liuying didn't exist.
After doing all this, Shi Liuying felt as if all her strength had been drained.
The meridians were wracked with excruciating pain, and the soul was dizzy from overexertion and the backlash from the rules.
The Great Ascension stage cultivation within her, which was originally enough to allow her to touch the immortal realm and even potentially break through in one fell swoop, was now rapidly declining like the receding tide.
The threshold of the Tribulation Transcending Stage... is now unattainable.
She might not even be able to maintain her current level; her cultivation would plummet to rock bottom, turning her into... an ordinary person.
But she doesn't regret it.
At the moment she decided to reverse the spacetime rift and send her senior brothers and sisters away, a vivid image suddenly appeared in her mind: many, many years ago, when her grandfather pushed her into that dark and narrow safe cellar, but turned around and rushed towards the terrifying behemoth without hesitation.
Shi Liuying smiled faintly.
It turns out that her grandfather had taught her what "love" was much earlier, with his own life.
like?
The word sent a shiver down her spine.
Fragments of memories, almost forgotten, suddenly surfaced in my mind like a school of fish startled.
At that time, they fought off the Demon Lord together. They discussed in a book that only two people who love each other very much can practice the same cultivation technique.
At that moment, Senior Brother's earlobes turned red, Chi Yang laughed heartily, while Elder Chong Cang, with a gloomy face, defined love:
"To give up ten thousand years of cultivation just for a chance to be by her side, that is true love."
"You, Liu Ying, are you sure you love Jun Lintian?"
Giving up... millennia of cultivation... just for a chance to be with someone...
Is this what love is...?
Shi Liuying fell to the ground, and the Buling Sword slipped from her hand, landing diagonally on the ice beside her.
She looked at her meridians, which were rapidly becoming empty, and felt the weakness of her life force draining away along with her cultivation level. Suddenly, a very faint yet extremely bitter smile appeared on her lips.
She thought, if only... if only I could be a little better.
So powerful that no one needs to be sacrificed.
So powerful that it can protect everyone.
So powerful that... she was willing to give up her hard-earned cultivation, enough to reach the pinnacle, and the unattainable path of immortality, just so they could stay by her side in peace and joy.
Even if they have to give up everything and become just ordinary people, as long as they live...
My consciousness began to blur, and the light and shadows before my eyes distorted and swayed like a revolving lantern.
She seemed to see her senior brother teaching her to hold a sword for the first time, Senior Sister Rong Yan giving her strange but delicious snacks, Shen Hanzhou secretly stuffing spirit stones into her storage bag, Elder Chong Cang silently protecting her, Senior Sister Chi Yang holding her hand and saying, "From now on, I'll protect you," and Junior Sister Su Wan calling her "Sister Liu Ying" with sparkling eyes...
And last night, on the rooftop, my senior brother gazed at the starry sky and whispered, "Because I like you..."
The final image of the slideshow focused on Ao Hao's enormous, bloated black shadow, exuding an aura of annihilation, pressing down on her with an overwhelming force.
it's over.
She did her best.
But... she couldn't tell her senior brother the answer in person.
And they couldn't... properly protect them until the very end.
She closed her eyes, awaiting the final devouring or destruction.
However—the expected darkness and excruciating pain did not come.
Instead, a warm, gentle, yet incredibly vast and powerful force erupted from her chest without warning!
It was Jun Lintian who gave her the sachet!
It flew out of her clothes on its own, hovering above her heart, and the bag opened by itself without any wind.
There was no dazzling light, no deafening sound.
Only the purest and most refined spiritual energy, like a babbling brook or a bursting river, carrying Jun Lintian's familiar, clear and clean aura, gently yet irresistibly flowed into her parched and shattered meridians, soothing the wounds of her soul and pushing her rapidly declining cultivation back up at a speed that defies common sense!
Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Void Refining, Body Integration... Mahayana!
And it's still climbing!
Mahayana Buddhism: early, middle, and late stages... culminating!
They even faintly touched the threshold of the legendary Tribulation Stage, which should only be crossed by a tribulation of lightning!
This power... is Jun Lintian's origin, the essence of all his cultivation, and may even... be integrated into his soul and life!
He had long ago sealed everything he owned inside this seemingly ordinary sachet.
When she was at her most desperate, most powerless, and prepared to pay any price, her senior brother's protection arrived as expected.
"Senior brother..."
Shi Liuying murmured unconsciously in the dazzling yet warm light.
Then, a chilling realization made her eyes widen in shock.
She no longer has any senior brothers.
She no longer has any senior brothers.
That gentle, smiling senior brother, who was somewhat frail and needed her protection, yet always stood by her side at the most crucial moments, teaching her swordsmanship, giving her lantern flowers, listening to her silly talk, and confessing his feelings to her just last night, even smiling and telling her not to be fixated on the answer, only hoping she would fulfill her dream...
He left everything he owned in this sachet.
It was left to her.
"Waaah..."
A suppressed sob, yet ultimately uncontrollable, broke out from Shi Liuying's throat.
Large, scalding tears, like beads from a broken string, gushed out and crashed onto the cold ground.
In her mind, over and over again, only Elder Chongcang's world-weary words remained, cold yet burning hot, so hot that her soul trembled:
"To give up ten thousand years of cultivation just for a chance to be by her side, that is true love."
A warm aura, surrounding her, repairing her, elevating her, and protecting her, flowed gently, as if carrying the last breath of the Heavenly Emperor, silently, again and again, whispering tenderly in her ear and in her heart:
See, your senior brother will always be with you.
In another way.
forever.
-----------------------
Author's note: Random red envelopes [pat on the head]
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