Chapter 97 097 Calming the Situation: Which deity sacrificed themselves for this cause...?
Yun Tianjiao recognized the handkerchief as her own. It was made of the finest cloud-patterned satin, embroidered with a pattern of colorful clouds chasing the moon. Chunxi had embroidered two identical handkerchiefs for her. Yun Tianqi liked them and insisted on taking one.
That day at the opera house, Mu Ge was cut by a shard of broken porcelain. Yun Tianjiao casually gave him this handkerchief to bandage his wound, but he never expected that Mu Ge would keep it.
"Your Majesty... Your Highness..."
Mu Ge spoke with difficulty, as if he was using all his strength to squeeze out those two words. His arm, which had been severed by the Demon-Slaying Blade, quickly grew back. He touched his body and pulled out the Princess's token that Yun Tianjiao had given him when they parted last time.
"Your Highness..." He held up the token with both hands and respectfully handed it to Yun Tianjiao, just as he had in life.
Yun Tianjiao took the cards and suddenly clenched them tightly in his palm.
"Mugo, it is the royal family that has wronged you." Her eyes were filled with sorrow. For a moment, she even wanted to kill Yun Tianqi with her own hands, but she knew that Mugo's tragedy was not only because of Yun Tianqi.
Mu Ge knelt straight down in front of Yun Tianjiao, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.
“I…can’t go back…I…can’t go back…Kill…me…Kill…me…”
He gripped the demon-slaying knife in Yun Tianjiao's hand, his palms cut raw and bloody by the sharp blade, yet he seemed oblivious, looking up at her and pleading for his life.
"I don't want to...be a monster...I...can't control myself..."
Mugo's eyes filled with more and more blood and tears, which eventually gathered into two hideous bloody streaks on his cheeks.
Yun Tianjiao showed no disgust whatsoever. He simply patted his head, like an elder comforting a helpless and bewildered junior. Then, he suddenly leaned closer and whispered, "Could you do one last thing for me?"
No one knows what the Princess said to that terrifying demon in front of everyone. All that is known is that when the Princess stood up, the demon suddenly went berserk and attacked the Zhiwei Heavenly God beside the Princess.
With lightning speed, Mugo used pillars of blood to create a cage, trapping Zhiwei inside. Zhiwei realized what was happening, but instead of paying attention to Mugo, she looked at Yun Tianjiao, only to meet his gaze.
Their eyes met briefly, and Yun Tianjiao curled her lips into a smile. Then she blew a whistle, and the fine horse that she had tied to the side beforehand galloped over in response. She mounted the horse and rode away without looking back.
"Eldest sister! What are you going to do?" Yun Tianqi was still sitting on the ground, watching Yun Tianjiao walk further and further away until she disappeared from sight. For the first time, he felt a sense of panic that his eldest sister was going to abandon him.
"Come back! Don't go!" As if guessing what Yun Tianjiao was going to do, Zhiwei suddenly went crazy and began to break through the barrier set up by Mu Ge.
However, the demonic energy transcends the six realms, and even someone as powerful as Zhiwei could not break free from it for a time.
Zhiwei's eyes burned with rage as she spoke to Muge through the spiderweb-like blood-red cage: "You'll kill her like this! Do you want to watch her die?"
"This is... the last thing I can do for Your Highness... to repay her... kindness..." Mugo's state was not particularly stable. His red demonic eyes were sometimes clear and sometimes chaotic, as if he was trying to maintain his own consciousness. His expression was both painful and contradictory.
Looking at Mu Ge like this, Zhiwei suddenly felt a deep sense of fear. She wondered if he would have ended up like this if he hadn't met her.
"I'm afraid I can never repay your kindness in recognizing my talent."
Zhiwei's voice was deep and cold. He finally gave up using his divine power to break the restriction and instead began to release the inexhaustible spiritual power within his body. Amidst the changing air currents, his hair danced and his robes billowed. His white divine robes transformed into the black crown of a ghost king, revealing his true form as a ghost king in broad daylight and before everyone's eyes.
Compared to the divine power of a Celestial Lord, his Ghost King Inner Core power possesses the power to destroy the world. It also shares the same origin as the Demonic Fiend. Although it cannot destroy the Demonic Fiend, it can completely break free from the Demonic Fiend's barrier.
However, at the very moment the red spiderweb barrier shattered, a subtle connection was formed between Mugo and Zhiwei.
He actually read Zhiwei's memories of her entire life: from their first meeting in Heaven to their enchanting night rain, he was given a name by her, and he died for her. He became a ghost, searching for her in Heaven and Earth, but ultimately missed her for one lifetime. However, he finally found her.
Countless images flashed before Mugo's eyes. He was like a beggar peering out of a window at someone else's treasure, feeling both envious and wistful.
The people on the street had already fled in terror because of the appearance of the Ghost King. The remaining worshippers, mostly refugees, knelt down in large groups.
Blood rained down, staining the once-prosperous imperial city crimson. The Ghost King broke the barrier to pursue his princess, leaving only Mugo standing there, dumbfounded.
He watched Zhiwei's figure disappear at the end of the street and muttered to himself, "Unfortunately, I am not so lucky as to wait for the goddess who will save me."
...
Yun Tianjiao rode at breakneck speed, knowing that Mu Ge couldn't stop Zhiwei and could only stall for time. Fortunately, she arrived at Wanxi before Zhiwei did.
What was once a beautiful and auspicious place is now shrouded in darkness and filled with resentment. The Blood Lake stretches as far as the eye can see and continues to expand outwards at a visible speed. Blood demons emerge continuously from the bubbling Blood Lake, and from their birth to their arrival on the shore to wreak havoc, it takes them less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Yun Tianjiao took out the vajra pendant hanging around her neck and held it in front of her, hoping to ward off the blood demons and get closer to the blood lake. She originally thought that these blood demons would be wary of this magical artifact belonging to the ancient god Yu Meng, but strangely, they seemed to be more afraid of the demon-slaying knife in Yun Tianjiao's hand than the vajra.
This surprised Yun Tianjiao greatly. Recalling the origin of this demon-slaying blade, she only remembered that it was given to her as a birthday gift by a low-ranking minor god who wanted to curry favor with her. She had even forgotten which minor god it was.
But none of that matters to her anymore.
She came here intending to sacrifice herself to this lake of blood.
Yun Tianjiao guessed that his fate could dispel the resentment of the demon because of Zhiwei.
After Mugo was beheaded, Zhiwei's reaction was extremely strange; she even attempted to imprison her.
So the first thing she did after leaving the palace was to send Zhiwei away, pretending to go find Shen Hengzhen, but actually to find God Mo Bei. At that time, both God Mo Bei and God Gong Xin were there, and she confirmed from them that only divine essence of God-level or above could quell the wrath of the demon and make it disappear.
Yun Tianjiao had no right to condemn the three current Gods and one Heavenly Venerable for not sacrificing themselves for the sake of the mortal beings. However, since she was Yu Meng, she should also possess the divine essence belonging to the Gods. This could be confirmed in the memories of Princess A Meng of the Ghost Realm.
The source of this demonic calamity was Yun Tianqi, and both publicly and privately, she, as the eldest princess, should bear the consequences.
If one is destined to bear the curse of never living past the age of nineteen in every lifetime, then dying in this way in this life can be considered a fitting end.
As another wave of blood demons emerged from the blood lake and slowly crawled ashore, Yun Tianjiao swung his Ghost-Slaying Blade, slashing the blood demons into dust. Then, without letting the blade leave, he made a half-circle motion and cut his own throat, his movements swift and decisive.
A sharp pain shot through his neck, and blood splattered into the pool of blood.
"Your Highness!"
Zhiwei's hoarse roar came from behind.
Yun Tianjiao's eyelashes trembled slightly, but what she was thinking was: Luckily, she acted quickly enough without hesitation, otherwise she probably wouldn't be dead.
Although Zhiwei caught up with Yun Tianjiao at top speed, she was still a step too late, just like Yun Tianjiao failed to save Mu Ge from the Embroidered Robe Envoy's blade that day.
Fearing that Zhiwei would arrive and use her ghost magic to revive her, Yun Tianjiao cut the ghost-slaying blade a few inches deeper.
She felt the faintness of impending death, and sure enough, she saw a warm ball of light seep out from her chest, slowly rising into the air and beginning to sink into the lake of blood.
The blood lake, which had been quietly bubbling, began to boil, its waves surging as if yearning for the infusion of divine energy.
Zhiwei wrapped one arm around Yun Tianjiao from behind and used her ghostly magic to bind the divine essence with the other. However, Yun Tianjiao's desire to sacrifice his divine essence to the lake was probably too strong, and Zhiwei couldn't even restrain the divine essence. Despite her best efforts, she could only watch helplessly as it sank little by little into the lake.
"Your Highness, do you know that once the divine essence is sacrificed, you may never be able to come back!" Zhiwei stared at her with red eyes, her peach blossom eyes still incredibly beautiful even in this situation.
Yun Tianjiao dropped the demon-slaying knife in her hand to the ground. She turned her head to look at Zhiwei, and with great effort, she raised her hand and gently touched the corner of his eye. She smiled and said, "Wasn't I supposed to die anyway? Now that the demon has emerged, someone has to take care of it. What else can we do?"
"The heavens have wronged you, the world has slandered you, and you have yet to clear your name. Is it worth sacrificing your divine essence in this way?"
"What's done is done, why care about what the world says?" Yun Tianjiao felt that the past was gone and was quite carefree.
Zhiwei said angrily, "You are no longer a goddess, so why should you still bear these burdens? At worst, I'll just kill a god and force them to perform the lake sacrifice..."
Even the most talented woman in the world knows that using divine essence to dispel demonic energy requires complete volition, let alone Zhiwei. She knew he was just unable to accept it and was venting his emotions, so she didn't argue, but simply touched his face.
"I'm sorry, Zhiwei... I didn't discuss it with you beforehand, but I think you probably guessed it."
Zhiwei covered Yun Tianjiao's hand with her own, their hands clasped together on his face. He finally couldn't hold back anymore and choked out, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't given the Ghost King's blessing to Muge, he wouldn't have become a demon after death... It's me... I should be the one to offer sacrifices to the lake in your place..."
He's talking nonsense again.
You're just a ghost, full of resentment yourself, how could you possibly quell the resentment of demons?
But Yun Tianjiao could no longer speak. She could only smile and look at him with the compassion and tolerance of a goddess, just as she had when she was seriously injured and struggling to cross the river, yet she still smiled and said to him, "You child, don't pry into adult matters."
The divine essence belonging to the ancient deity forcefully sank into the blood lake with irreversible force, stirring up huge waves. Without hesitation, Zhiwei, almost at the same time as the divine essence sank into the blood lake, grabbed Yun Tianjiao's corpse and jumped into the lake together.
The heavens and earth echoed with the cries of countless ghosts, but they were not the sharp, painful screams; rather, they sounded like sighs of some kind of liberation.
Those blood demons who had just climbed ashore and were running like zombies towards the nearby cities and villages instantly turned into wisps of smoke and rose into the sky. The area of the blood lake began to shrink little by little, and Mugo, who had completely lost his human emotions and was indiscriminately slaughtering innocents in the inner city of the imperial city, finally stopped his actions.
A woman who had nearly died at his hands scrambled to her feet and fled. Mugo raised his head, gazing at the vast sky. His mouth, stretched to its limit, gradually returned to normal with a sigh of relief. He even revealed a gentle smile, closed his eyes, opened his arms, and silently turned into ashes, dissipating into the sky.
The gods who were killing the rampant blood demons nearby also stopped what they were doing. As the blood demons disappeared one after another, they all showed expressions of shock.
Which deity sacrificed himself to quell the demonic power?
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