Chapter 99 Chapter 99 "You are free..."
Sheng Zhiyi stood frozen in place, the echoes from the temple still faintly reverberating. She felt her fingers stiffen and her blood freeze.
A hundred years of reincarnation, yet forever unchanged.
It turns out that her entanglement with him did not begin with the Tianyan Sect, nor did it originate from that ridiculous system, but was a dead end that was etched long ago, in a more ancient time.
Every encounter, every closeness, ultimately points to the same ending—she ends his life with her own hands.
"When love arises, calamity ensues; when the heart is soft, the entire clan is wiped out."
Therefore, any understanding, heartache, or even deeper feelings she developed for him were accelerating the arrival of this catastrophe?
Sheng Zhiyi's face was ashen, and her body trembled slightly uncontrollably.
She looked at Ji Fuguang inside the cocoon of light. The golden chains of divine power were like red-hot irons, deeply embedded in his body. With each shift of light, a surge of demonic energy was taken away, along with a sliver of his life force.
He clenched his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, cold sweat mixed with black blood dripping down, but it evaporated into nothingness when it touched the chains.
The divine power within him shone ever brighter and grew ever colder because of the divine decree.
This power was so vast, far surpassing anything she had ever possessed before, as if she were born to have it. Yet, the purpose of this power was to kill the person before her.
Ji Fuguang also heard the divine oracle. The complex emotions in his eyes slowly faded, leaving only an almost deathly calm, as if he had already expected it to be like this.
He stopped looking at her, simply closing his eyes wearily, enduring the pain of being bound by chains, as if he had given up all struggle.
"Did you hear that?" His voice was low and hoarse, tinged with mockery, though it was unclear whether it was directed at her or at himself. "This is... our ending."
"No... what ending? I don't believe it!" Sheng Zhiyi slowly shook her head, her gaze sharp as she stared intently at Ji Fuguang in front of her. "If we're really talking about an ending, you should have died long ago in the back alley, in the thatched hut, in the cave of a rogue cultivator... Ji Fuguang! You've struggled all this way, are you going to accept your fate?"
"Sheng Zhiyi, do not make a mistake!" The voice from the temple dome carried a hint of displeasure. "This is the only way out that the gods have painstakingly divined, the only way to save all living beings! Kill him, end the demon race, and this will be an unparalleled act of merit!"
"Save the common people?" Sheng Zhiyi suddenly chuckled softly, her laughter filled with sarcasm.
Who is it that plunges the people into suffering? Is it Ji Fuguang?
Even though he received the Demon Lord's memories and inheritance, did Ji Fuguang really do anything heinous?
All he ever wanted was to survive... Couldn't that be allowed?
Sheng Zhiyi clearly sensed the malice the world harbored towards Ji Fuguang.
She raised her eyes, as if piercing through the golden light, and looked directly at the supreme will of the gods.
"What else can you use to threaten me, my life? My life is in my own hands, I'm not a prop you can manipulate at will!"
"You think you aren't?" The oracle's voice carried a hint of irritating leisure. "Without killing the Demon Lord, do you think you can break this seal? You can't leave this place!"
"Moreover..." the oracle said calmly, "Even if you saved him in this life, so what? Sheng Zhiyi, your soul is marked with the mark of the gods. In the next life, you will still be bound and driven by the system, suffering endless pain until you finally kill the Demon Lord. This is your destiny!"
Ji Fuguang's pupils suddenly contracted inside the cocoon of light.
Sheng Zhiyi gritted her teeth and sneered, "Fate... let's see!"
She believed in herself and in her choices. Even in the next life, she would never lay a hand on Ji Fuguang.
Ignoring the oracle's stern rebuke, she walked step by step toward the cocoon of light. The barrier formed by divine power scorched her skin, bringing a sharp pain, but she seemed oblivious.
“Ji Fuguang,” she called to him, her voice not loud but unusually clear, “Don’t try to lie to me anymore, and don’t try to drive me away anymore.”
She reached out her hand, her fingertips almost touching the golden light barrier. The spiritual and divine power collided, producing a clear "crackling" sound.
"Tell me the truth, what exactly is going on with this formation?"
Ji Fuguang looked at the unwavering determination in her eyes, and at the beads of blood seeping from her fingertips as she resisted the divine power. His gaze became unusually complex as he stared intently at Sheng Zhiyi, as if trying to memorize every inch of her.
He tugged at the corners of his mouth, trying to put on his usual nonchalant smile, but it only aggravated the injuries on his face, making him look incredibly bitter. "You're still... so smart."
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with a clear and mocking understanding.
“Junior Sister…” His voice was broken and intermittent with pain, yet it carried a strange calmness, “The gods never gave you a choice… You and I, from beginning to end, are both… sacrifices for this purification ritual…”
"Sacrificial offerings?" Sheng Zhiyi was shocked.
“That’s right.” Ji Fuguang gasped for breath, struggling to gather his strength to speak a complete sentence, “This formation… requires energy beyond imagination… It has never locked down just my demonic bones… but also you, you who bear the blood of a god and carry the sword spirit… Your life, your soul, are the final kindling to ignite this purifying fire…”
The sword spirit trembled violently in Sheng Zhiyi's dantian, seemingly trying to stop Ji Fuguang from continuing, but was forcibly suppressed by Sheng Zhiyi with even stronger willpower.
"The so-called mission, the so-called curse..." Ji Fuguang looked at her, his eyes filled with a cruel tenderness that Sheng Zhiyi had never seen before, "It's all to ensure that you, this 'key,' can willingly and at the most opportune moment... insert into my 'lock' and start this... grand sacrifice at the cost of the joint martyrdom of the inheritors of gods and demons."
Sheng Zhiyi felt ice-cold all over, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
Ah, I see. She finally understood.
All the suffering, all the struggle, all the deception and concealment, ultimately point to this ending.
The gods were defeated in the war between gods and demons, and the solution they chose was so extreme and so reckless—sacrificing their chosen successor in exchange for a so-called "clean" future.
Her experiences in this world were all arranged by the gods. They deliberately showed her this book to make her believe that Ji Fuguang was a virtuous and upright gentleman. This way, once she knew Ji Fuguang's true identity, she would naturally develop a dislike for him. At the same time, the system guided her to kill him.
However, what the gods did not expect was that Ji Fuguang would destroy her spiritual root and remove the system that had been threatening her all along.
“You have a way… right?” Sheng Zhiyi looked up at Ji Fuguang.
“Junior Sister…” Ji Fuguang suddenly laughed. His face was still stained with blood, but it was just like when they first met. The corners of his lips were slightly raised, his phoenix eyes sparkled with a gentle smile, and his voice was as soft and gentle as a spring stream melting snow. “Trust me this once… completely empty your divine power and pour it into the formation in front of you…”
Injecting it into the formation? Wouldn't that strengthen the formation?
Sheng Zhiyi was about to say something, but seeing Ji Fuguang's expression, she swallowed her words back. "Okay, Ji Fuguang, you know I hate being lied to."
Ji Fuguang continued to look at her, a smile on his face.
Divine power flowed from Sheng Zhiyi's palm, surging into the formation like a torrent.
The golden light of the formation surged, almost completely obscuring Ji Fuguang's figure.
"roar--!"
It was no longer the roar of humans, but the wrath of a demon lord from the primordial era!
The suppressed demonic energy around Ji Fuguang suddenly erupted on an unprecedented scale, and the thick, tangible black demonic flames frantically assaulted the golden chains!
The entire temple shook violently, and the star pattern on the dome flickered, as if it might collapse at any moment.
"What are you doing... Ji Fuguang! You lied to me!"
Sheng Zhiyi sensed something was wrong and immediately shouted out.
She tried to withdraw her divine power, but her palms were held captive by the formation, and her divine power kept leaking out.
"I'm sorry, junior sister." Ji Fuguang's face turned even paler. His expression was indistinct in the almost blinding light, and his voice was somewhat unsteady, but his tone was still gentle.
"This is probably... the last time I'll lie to you... What happened before was my fault... I made you suffer so much for no reason..."
"I don't ask for your forgiveness... I just... please don't... hate me anymore..."
His voice grew increasingly shaky, his body began to blur in the surging demonic energy, and countless dark golden, complex, and ancient demonic runes appeared on his skin.
These magical runes moved like living things, eventually converging on his spine.
Click—click—
The sickening sound of bones cracking could be heard clearly.
To Sheng Zhiyi's horror, a dazzling yet dark light was forced out of Ji Fuguang's spine from his back!
It was not a physical entity, but it embodied all his essence as the Demon Lord, the source of his power, and the vessel of his destiny—the Demon Bone!
The pain of having his demonic bones removed was unimaginable. Ji Fuguang's figure instantly became transparent, his features distorted by extreme pain, but the look in his eyes as he looked at Sheng Zhiyi carried an almost devout calmness.
The stripped-off demonic essence transformed into a ball of pure, dark energy, suspended in the center of the formation.
It did not dissipate; instead, it exuded a mysterious and subtle ancient aura.
The formation has gone mad.
Such pure and immense demonic essence was the perfect fuel it had always dreamed of. All the golden chains instantly reversed direction, like sharks smelling blood, frantically coiling around and devouring that mass of dark energy!
In that very instant!
Sheng Zhiyi felt her dantian suddenly empty. The sword spirit that had been lurking in her dantian and causing her hidden worries seemed to be drawn by an irresistible force. It screamed as it was pulled out of her body and turned into a stream of light, involuntarily heading towards the mass of demonic bone essence that was being devoured by the formation!
Blood of the divine offspring, soul of the sword spirit, bones of the demon lord... the offerings are complete.
The formation received far more energy than expected, emitting a blinding light like the sun, and its operation instantly overloaded! The entire temple was completely engulfed in golden light, and the runes jumped and rearranged as if boiling!
At the same time, Sheng Zhiyi felt a faint, crisp sound, like glass shattering, coming from the depths of her soul.
"Snap—"
The divine mark that bound her, like a malignant tumor, shattered under the overwhelming energy impact and amidst the chaos of rules where the sacrificial target was replaced by demonic bones...
An unprecedented sense of ease swept over my body, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
She was free! Truly and completely free from that damned fate!
The light gradually faded.
Sheng Zhiyi looked eagerly toward the center of the formation.
The golden chains disappeared, and the enormous fluctuations of divine power subsided, leaving only a figure curled up on the ground.
It is Ji Fuguang.
He lay prone on the ground, his clothes soaked with sweat and blood, clinging tightly to his thin body.
His breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible, and his face was a deathly pale color, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.
Sheng Zhiyi staggered over and, with trembling hands, carefully helped him up and held him in her arms.
His body was terrifyingly light and terribly cold, devoid of the unfathomable demonic energy fluctuations of the past, and without even a trace of spiritual power.
He struggled to lift his heavy eyelids, his vision blurred, and it took him a while to focus before he could see that it was her.
Those eyes, once deep and unfathomable, once brimming with smiles, now held only a profound weariness and a sense of relief.
"You are free..."
Junior sister, you are finally free from being bound by anyone or anything.
In this world, do whatever you want to do.
"Ji Fuguang!"
Sheng Zhiyi shook his body desperately, but she couldn't stop his eyelids from slowly closing.
His life was truly exhausting...
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