Chapter 63-Uncle Chen’s Past
The tip of the broom scraped across the charred and hot rocks, sweeping aside a broken piece of the Red Phoenix ship with dark red melt marks on the edges.
The fragments made a dull sound as they rolled down, and a small cloud of smoke with the smell of burnt metal rose up.
Uncle Chen, or Chen Xinghe, did not pause at all.
He hunched his back, and his cloudy old eyes stared intently at the ground, as if he wanted to completely remove every particle of dust stained with gunpowder, blood, and evil spirits.
He was surrounded by solidified magma, cracked earth, drifting clouds of gray dust, and the awe-inspiring gazes of his fellow survivors, but he ignored them all.
"Maitai..." He muttered hoarsely, his voice so low that only he could hear it.
These two simple words have long been engraved into his bones, becoming his only obsession and...salvation in his entire life.
The fingertips felt the rough touch of rock, with lingering heat.
This touch, however, strangely penetrated the dust of thousands of years and touched a cold, sticky, rusty-sweet blood deep in the memory.
Ten Thousand Years Ago: Falling Star Sea
The sea at that time was not azure blue, but reflected the brilliant starry sky, sparkling like flowing broken diamonds.
The sea breeze, carrying the coolness of stardust, blew across an isolated island suspended above the sea of stars.
There are no magnificent buildings on the island, only a simple and elegant courtyard with a huge ancient star tree in the courtyard emitting a warm halo.
The young Chen Xinghe was no hunchbacked old servant. He stood tall and straight like a pine tree, his face handsome and resolute, his brows radiating a fierce determination and a fervent obsession with the ultimate swordsmanship.
Wearing a dark blue robe, he looked like a peerless sword drawn from its sheath.
In his hand, he held the Guichen Sword, its sharp edge and sword intent soaring into the sky! Chaotic gray light flowed from the sword body, and wherever it passed, the space was left with faint traces, as if eroded by time.
"Xinghe! You've cut the stardust stone in the sword training ground into pieces again!" A clear, ethereal voice, with a helpless smile, sounded.
Upon hearing this, Chen Xinghe's sharp sword momentum instantly subsided, like steel tempered to a soft, pliable form. He turned and looked at the woman approaching from beneath the ancient Xingchen tree.
She is not a stunning beauty, but she has a quiet temperament like an orchid in a valley.
Her eyes were clear, as if reflecting the entire sea of stars, and a gentle smile played upon her lips. She wore a moon-white dress dotted with tiny starbursts, and in her hands she held an ancient scroll radiating a gentle starlight—the very treasure coveted by the Immortal Alliance: the Celestial Star Orbit Map.
"Xuan'er," Chen Xinghe sheathed his sword with a neat and efficient movement, a rare, childish embarrassment on his face. "The last move of the 'Thirteen Falling Star Swords', 'Return to Dust', is too powerful, and I can't send and receive it as I wish... I'll go to the Falling Star Sea and find some better stardust stones to pave for you." He felt a little embarrassed as he looked at the deep trenches plowed by the sword energy and the gravel all over the sword training ground.
Xing Xuan walked over to him, not glancing at the messy ground. She lifted her delicate fingers and gently brushed away the tiny specks of stardust from his temples, kicked up by sword practice. Her fingertips were slightly cool, carrying the tranquil aura of the stars.
"The stone shatters, so be it," she said softly, like the whisper of the stars, her eyes filled with a hint of anger and deep worry. "I'm only worried about you. The sword intent of 'Return to Dust' is too brutal, burying all things and returning them to dust... Xinghe, I'm afraid you'll become absorbed in it, ultimately consumed by this sense of annihilation, and lose your true heart."
Chen Xinghe held her hand, feeling the warmth beneath the slight chill, his eyes firm. "Don't worry. My sword annihilates the enemy, but it protects you. With you here, my sword spirit has a home, and I will never lose myself in this return to the dust." He paused, looking at the star map in Xing Xuan's hand. "But you, those despicable people in the Immortal Alliance, are still obsessed with the star map. I'm afraid recently..."
Xing Xuan's smile faded a little. She snuggled gently in Chen Xinghe's arms, looking at the magnificent yet murderous sea of stars outside the courtyard: "Observing the orbits of the stars, deducing one's destiny, and understanding the secrets of heaven... This was originally the supreme method to explore the ultimate truth of the universe, but it has become a tool for them to fight for power and eliminate dissidents. This world... is too dirty." Her last three words were spoken with deep fatigue and a hint of imperceptible disgust.
"Dirty?" Chen Xinghe laughed and tightened his arms, "Why should Xuan'er worry about such dust and filth? When my swordsmanship is perfected, I will sweep the universe clean with one sword and give you a clean sea of stars!" He was in high spirits, and the Guichen Sword made a low humming sound in its sheath, as if responding to the heroism of its master.
Back then, he was the renowned "Guichen Sword Master," renowned across the vast sea of stars. With one strike of his sword, all things vanished into dust! His Taoist partner, Xingxuan, ethereal as a star, controlled the orbits of the heavens, deducing the mysteries of heaven. Like a celestial couple, they roamed the starry sea, seeking only the Great Dao.
The tip of the broom brushed against a dark red, solidified lava. The color was very much like... dried blood.
In Uncle Chen's turbid eyes, the gentle smile that Xing Xuan had shown thousands of years ago when she scolded him for dirtying the ground was instantly covered by a glaring scarlet!
The magnificent sea of stars was dyed blood red! Countless broken pieces of magic weapons and the corpses of monks floated in it, like a painting of hell!
The Immortal Alliance! Under the banner of "recovering the ownerless treasure and upholding the righteous path," they gathered seventeen Mahayana giants and set up the "Ten Thousand Immortals Locking Veins Formation" to lock down the heavens and the earth, trapping Chen Xinghe and Xing Xuan in the core of the Falling Star Sea!
"Chen Xinghe! Hand over Xingxuan and the Zhoutian Star Track Map! I will spare your Taoist partner's life!" The leader of the Immortal Alliance had a voice like a loud bell, filled with false compassion and naked greed.
"Dream on!" Chen Xinghe protected the seriously injured Xing Xuan behind him, and the Guichen Sword burst out with an unprecedented gray sword light, and the annihilation sword intent swept in all directions!
He was like a wounded lone wolf. Wherever his sword flashed, space was annihilated and laws shattered! He annihilated the combined attacks of several Mahayana cultivators with a single blow! But he himself was covered in blood, his dark green robe tattered.
There were too many enemies! Too strong! The Myriad Immortals Locking Veins Formation continuously drew upon the power of the star sea, suppressing his cultivation and eroding his sword intent!
"Xinghe... let's go..." Xing Xuan's face was pale, blood oozing from the corner of her mouth. The radiance of the Zhoutian Star Orbit Map in her hand dimmed. She forced herself to deduce the opportunity to break the formation, her spirit nearly exhausted. "Take the map... let's go..."
"Shut up!" Chen Xinghe used a sword to deflect three fatal attacks directed at Xingxuan. The recoil force made him spit out a mouthful of blood, which splashed on Xingxuan's pale face.
He looked at the glaring red on Xing Xuan's face, his heart aching, and roared, "Let's die together! My sword, Chen Xinghe, can bury all my enemies, but it can't bury you!"
A sinister glint flashed in the eyes of the Immortal Alliance leader. He didn't attack Chen Xinghe, but instead summoned a strange magical weapon—a "Soul-Breaking Nail" stained with an ominous aura! He aimed it directly at the back of the defenseless Xing Xuan who was currently deducing!
"Xuan'er——!" Chen Xinghe's eyes were bloodshot, and he wanted to go back to rescue her, but he was entangled by several other Mahayana monks!
A sound so subtle that it is almost inaudible!
The inky black soul-breaking nail ignored the faint protective starlight around Xing Xuan and penetrated her back with incredible precision!
"Uh..." Xing Xuan's body suddenly stiffened! His deductions came to an abrupt halt! The celestial chart in his hand fell to the ground!
Her clear, star-like eyes instantly lost all their luster, became empty, and were then filled with boundless pain!
A strange black energy instantly spread from her heart, madly eroding her soul and vitality!
"No——!!!" Chen Xinghe let out a heart-wrenching roar!
The Guichen Sword sensed its master's boundless grief and rage, and burst out with an unprecedented gray light!
The annihilation sword intent no longer pursued precision, but instead transformed into a destructive frenzy that swept across the world! Like a madman, he rushed towards Xing Xuan regardless of everything!
A Mahayana cultivator who stood in front of him didn't even utter a scream before he and his magic weapon turned into ashes under the gray sword light!
He finally rushed to Xing Xuan and hugged her limp body.
It felt icy cold to the touch! The strange black energy was like a maggot attached to her bones, madly devouring her vitality!
"Xuan'er! Xuan'er! Look at me! Look at me!" Chen Xinghe frantically transferred his pure sword energy into Xingxuan's body, trying to dispel the black air, but it was like a drop in the ocean!
The Guichen Sword's intention of annihilation is extremely overbearing, but it is helpless against this vicious curse that is entangled with the soul!
Xing Xuan's scattered eyes struggled to focus on Chen Xinghe's face, looking at his face distorted by madness and despair, looking at his face and body stained with her own and others' blood... In her eyes, there was no fear of death, only endless attachment, heartache... and a deep, indescribable... disgust.
She used up her last bit of strength, and with her cold, blood-stained fingers, she lightly brushed across the glaring bloodstain on Chen Xinghe's cheek that belonged to the enemy.
Her lips moved, her voice as weak as a gossamer, carrying a thousand years of fatigue and disappointment as cold as ice, clearly penetrating into the depths of Chen Xinghe's collapsed soul:
"This blood...this world...is too...dirty..."
The last bit of starlight in her eyes was completely extinguished.
In his arms, her body transformed into countless cold, slowly dissipating stardust... along with the strange black air, it returned to nothingness.
Only the dull map of the celestial sphere was left, lying quietly on the cold sea.
"ah--!!!!!!!!!!!"
Chen Xinghe hugged the empty arms and knelt down in the sea of blood and corpses, letting out a long and sorrowful howl like a lone wolf crying blood, which made the whole starry sea tremble!
Total despair! Dao heart shattered!
What sword art! What protection! What annihilation of all enemies! It's all bullshit!
He couldn't protect her! He couldn't even protect her last bit of purity! He let her die in this dirty conspiracy, in this filthy pool of blood!
“Go to hell…!!!”
He roared these two words like a madman, and there was no sharpness in his eyes anymore. Only endless silence and madness remained, which could bury the universe!
The Guichen Sword sensed its master's monstrous hatred and despair, enough to annihilate everything, and emitted a shrill humming sound! The chaotic gray sword light was no longer under control, like a world-destroying torrent bursting through a dam, madly sweeping in all directions with Chen Xinghe as its center!
Wherever the gray sword light passes!
The space was silently annihilated!
The law returns to chaos!
The sea of blood, corpses, broken magic weapons, the besieged Mahayana monks... even the magnificent sea of stars itself... everything, under the gray sword light that buried the eternity, was like a sand castle washed by the long river of time for billions of years, silently turning into the most primitive, lifeless gray dust!
With one sword! Bury the Hundred Miles Star Sea! Bury the seventeen great masters of the Immortal Alliance! Along with the Fallen Star Sea that carried all their beautiful memories!
As the gray dust slowly settles.
Chen Xinghe was the only one left in the world, kneeling in the dead silent gray desert, holding the cold star track map.
Lost everything.
The tip of the broom brushed past the last piece of gravel stained with dark red blood. Uncle Chen stopped moving.
The wind from the God Burial Abyss, carrying a chilly, murderous air, ruffled his graying hair. His cloudy old eyes seemed to peer through the scorched earth, ravaged by war and soaked in blood, and see the equally filthy, gray, dead silence of ten thousand years ago, which had buried everything he had.
He slowly straightened up, his hunched back looking even older. The broom in his hand was still the same worn-out one.
"Xing Xuan..." He repeated in a low voice again, his voice hoarse, carrying the fatigue of traveling through ten thousand years and the obsession deep in his bones.
He stayed in the Guixu Sect in the Burial God Abyss because it was remote enough and "clean" enough - at least much cleaner than the "Immortal Alliance" outside that was full of greed, betrayal, and blood.
He swept the floor, day after day, year after year, because Xing Xuan's last words became the only meaning of his life and the last anchor of his broken heart.
Everything he saw was filth. The greed of the Immortal Alliance was filth, the fighting among the cultivators was filth, the blood that flowed was filth, and even... his own hands, once stained with blood and annihilated countless souls, were filth.
The only thing we can do is to clean up the dirt wherever we see it bit by bit.
Only then could he feel that he was still alive, and that he was a little closer to Xuan'er, who had scolded him for dirtying the ground under the ancient star tree.
It seems that by sweeping away the dust in this world, one can wipe away the blood stains in the heart, and then... wait for the clean sea of stars to reappear.
His cloudy eyes swept behind him.
Chu Linyuan leaned on his sword, complex emotions surging in his cold eyes.
Xie Zhao lay weakly in Tie Niu's palm, but there was a smile on his face as if he had survived a disaster.
Luo Hongyi, Su Tang, Bai Xiaolu, Tie Niu... and the snow-white rabbit were all looking at him.
There was awe, shock, and confusion in their eyes, but more importantly, it was a family-like concern and belonging after having experienced life and death together.
These ruins and these people... don't seem so annoying anymore.
Uncle Chen slowly turned around and no longer looked at the "clean" ground he had swept, but looked towards the depths of the God Burial Abyss, the core where endless evil energy was rolling.
In the turbid old eyes, beneath the eternal silence, there seemed to be an extremely faint spark, quietly ignited by this group of "dirty" but tenacious children.
The sound of the broom rang out again, and this time, he walked towards the area that was melted by the Red Phoenix Cannon and looked like the entrance to hell.
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