Chapter 298 The Grand Finale
Looking up, one sees the Wangchuan Bridge, the place they had reached before. Beneath it, a flower umbrella, shimmering with light and surrounded by calamus, stands!
Mu Jianjian suddenly remembered that when she saw her senior brother in the Dark Realm, the umbrella of light he was holding looked just like that!
Turning back to look at the souls that were gradually flowing and dissipating in the Yellow Springs River, she suddenly raised her hand, took out the flower umbrella beside the broken stone bridge, and pushed it towards the souls flowing in the river.
At the same time, a mechanical, emotionless female voice echoed in his mind—
[Warning! Warning! Host is prohibited from shattering the Third Realm! Repeat, Host is prohibited from shattering the Third Realm!]
Mu Jianjian remained expressionless, letting the surging Yellow Spring water on the shore lash her face. The disappearance of her realm and righteousness caused a corrosive pain all over her body, but her eyes were firm. Her right pupil flashed, and countless illusory butterflies materialized to pave the way for two faintly visible spiritual souls!
The two spirits were light and fragile under the pounding of the Yellow Springs water. Even though they used up all their true energy, everything was just a drop in the ocean in the face of the Heavenly Dao!
"Morning and Evening Hairpin—" Upon seeing this, Mu Jianjian bit her lip and instantly pulled out the hairpin from her head, letting it transform into a branch that carried a spirit flying far away to the underworld by the Broken Stone Bridge. Turning her head, she saw the spirit whose breath was getting weaker and weaker.
Everything on my body is gone...
His true energy was exhausted, his magical artifacts were damaged in the previous actions, and elixirs were useless while his talismans were ineffective...
After a moment's thought, Mu Jianjian slowly raised her hand and touched her right pupil.
In a daze, she recalled what her master had said to her when she first traveled back ten thousand years.
“Little girl, I didn’t mean to harm you. I can smell it. We are destined to be together.”
Perhaps it was indeed fate.
[Warning! Warning! The host is prohibited from engaging in any self-harming behavior! Repeat! The host is prohibited from harming themselves!]
A surge of electricity coursed through her brain and through her entire body, but Mu Jianjian did not stop. The moment she gouged out her right pupil, countless golden threads and illusory butterflies scattered and enveloped the soon-to-be-annihilated soul!
"Breaking the third realm and destroying the Pupil Transformation Technique means you can no longer use the later layers of the Pupil Transformation Technique, and you can no longer close the gap as you wish, is that right?"
She spoke softly, seemingly unaware of the trickling blood from the corner of her mouth, and asked in return.
The mechanical female voice that had been yelling for her to stop in her mind suddenly fell silent, replaced by complete stillness.
"Haha." Mu Jianjian's hands did not stop. She looked at the phantom butterfly that was gradually condensing into a road pointing to the underworld, and watched the spirit on it fly further and further away. She felt her vision getting heavier and heavier because of the blood. "To be honest, the setting of sacrificing one person to change the ending is really stupid."
Seeing her master, Immortal Zilu, selflessly transform herself into a phantom butterfly as her last strength to stop the rift from widening, what else could she not understand?
Upon closer reflection, she naturally understood why her senior brother had been concealing the truth. He probably wasn't telling her because he wanted to find other ways to close the gap...
Exhausted of all her inner energy, Mu Jianjian let her arms fall limply. She watched as the Yellow Springs Realm gradually crumbled before her eyes, and finally, unable to hold on any longer, she slowly closed her eyes.
"I've already made it all the way to the finale, you're not going to let all this go to waste, are you?"
The mechanical female voice in her mind remained silent, but without any rebuttal or warning, Mu Jianjian knew she had won her gamble.
——
"Pointy, pointy?"
Mu Jianjian slowly opened her eyes and found that only her left eye had some light, while her right eye was covered by thick silk cloth.
She tried to raise her hands to touch her face, but found that they were as if they had been twisted off, and she couldn't lift them no matter what she did.
"Sister, I'm late..." Linghu Zhuoyu's aggrieved voice rang out. Mu Jianjian looked up and found that everyone around her was a familiar face.
She paused for a moment, a flicker of confusion crossing her face as she looked at her senior brother, Yueyue, Ye Wuluo, Wanxing, and others. "Where are the people from the Immortal Palace?"
What about Bai Ji, Murong Yunyan, and the others?
“Dead,” Chi Wenqing lowered his eyes and slowly raised his hand to stroke the girl’s black hair. “Jianjian, you have been unconscious for more than a month. On that day, for some reason, your meridians reversed and your right pupil was damaged. If it weren’t for your body’s super strong ability to recover quickly, you probably wouldn’t have come back.”
The white-clad man's voice grew softer and softer, the last three words barely audible. Mu Jianjian met his eyes and saw the understanding and heartache in them.
Using the Celestial Palace as an excuse to justify her injuries, she clutched the bedsheet tightly after everyone had left, looking hopefully at Chi Wenqing, "Where is Master?"
If she succeeds, will her master also be able to come back to life?
But from the other person's shake of the head, Mu Jianjian found a negative answer.
"I thought it was possible... I've been trying my best to save her, but why..."
Chi Wenqing felt the little girl crying uncontrollably in his arms, her clothes soaked with tears. He comforted her patiently, "Perhaps she has just lost her memories of her past life and hasn't returned yet..."
Once Mu Jianjian's emotions had calmed down a bit, she asked about the Celestial Palace.
"The Immortal Palace did not attack the Profound Gate. Bai Ji and Murong Yunyan did not survive. With the Wood Spirit Clan's clarification, other forces in the Upper Realm did not cause trouble. Half a month later, the palace gates were desolate. When the people from the Profound Gate went to search, there were no cultivators inside."
"As for the Changsheng Tower, it has closed its doors to Changfeng Valley and has refused entry to outside cultivators. Therefore, we have decided to set off for the Changsheng Tower in a week to settle all our grievances."
"A week later?" Mu Jianjian's expression changed drastically. "My injuries will never be healed in a week!"
Even if the mechanical female voice compromised and modified and repaired her body, the other party was still angry with her for acting on her own initiative, so there were no system benefits or compensation whatsoever. Naturally, she couldn't recover in such a short time to participate in the battle.
"Jianjian, you stay at Xuanmen. We'll go to Changfeng Valley." Chi Wenqing's dark eyes were cold, and his tone left no room for argument.
"No, you need me!" She desperately tried to prove that there was nothing wrong with her body. "Although I've lost my right eye, given time, the suture can be closed after the pupil dilation procedure—"
“The longer this drags on, the deeper the cracks will become.” Chi Wenqing paused. “Jianjian, none of us want to see you in danger again, okay?”
——
Ever since Chi Wenqing said those words, Mu Jianjian seemed to be under house arrest in the Xuanmen. Apart from her mother, Ye, who came to visit her every day, she couldn't see anyone at all.
Her body recovered well thanks to external forces and system repair, but it was still far from its former peak. However, as the departure date agreed upon by Chi Wenqing and the others drew closer, she was still being guarded here by two Void Realm cultivators and could not move an inch.
Everyone came to see her before she left.
Sang Wanyue said, "Jianjian, I will protect you this time." Ye Wuluo stood aside, his expression conveying his firm stance.
Linghu Zhuoyu said, "Sister, wait for me to come back."
Wan Xing then described to her the praise her people had given her after she returned to the Wood Spirit Clan. Mu Jianjian could never forget the look Wan Xing gave her at the end, like a distant star, "The Tree Spirit said I've grown so much, and even asked about your recent situation…maybe I can become the clan leader after I come back…"
Ye Xuanzhi, however, remained nonchalant, pretending to put her down and advising her to rest. In reality, his trembling hands revealed his guilt over her misfortune.
etc.
Mu Jianjian looked out the window at the warm spring sunshine. It was the second day since they left. She slowly walked to the door and asked the servant beside her, "Could you go to the pharmacy and get me some medicine?"
The attendant looked extremely hesitant, and then added, "One of you two Void Realm cultivators can stay here and watch over me; I can't leave anyway."
After one of the guards left, Mu Jianjian was about to use her pupil-changing technique when a woman swiftly struck at the guard, so fast that she gave him no time to react.
She stared in surprise at the unexpected guest before her.
"It's been a long time, Miss Gongsun." Mu Jianjian smiled, ignoring the cold murderous aura emanating from the woman, and showed no hostility.
"It really is you. It will take a lot of effort to get close to you." Gongsun Yetong's clothes were covered with bloodstains from the fight. Her eyes narrowed. "Only if you die will he live well."
"Why do you say that?" She was startled; the hatred in the other person's words was deep and undisguised.
"You know nothing!" Gongsun Yetong clenched his fists at her ignorant look. "If it weren't for seeing you again, he would never have gone to a battle with a predetermined outcome! If it weren't for you, he wouldn't be rushing to Changfeng Valley now to protect what you want to protect!"
No wonder...
Mu Jianjian slowly lowered her eyes, "But when that crack closes, this world will perish, and no one will survive alone."
“This is different.” Gongsun Yetong stared at the pale-faced girl in front of him, his heart filled with complex emotions. The girl’s neck was snow-white and fragile, as if it would break with the slightest touch.
"If you don't want him to die, then take me to Changfeng Valley." Mu Jianjian looked at her, just as she had ten thousand years ago. "You'll agree, won't you?"
——
The valley floor was filled with overwhelming true energy and the stench of blood, while countless cultivators were fighting in the air. Looking up, one could see a huge, dark red rift that seemed capable of swallowing everything fixed in the sky, from which a deep red pillar of light emerged and slowly descended.
A giant python coiled at the bottom of the valley, vigorously slapping at the "manluo" that grew all over the ground, while a blue-red Bifang occupied the sky, its clear chirping deafening.
"Hurry up! Everything will be over once that deep red beam of light falls!" Mu Jianjian urged Gongsun Yetong, who was piloting the demon beast ahead, anxiously.
We absolutely cannot let that beam of light fall into the valley!
A bad ending from a previous story flashed through her mind, and she tensed up, pointing to the very top of the Longevity Pavilion, "Send me there!"
Hearing the girl's voice behind him, Gongsun Yetong glanced at the several cultivators standing on the high pavilion and said, "You go up there, I'll cover you."
Upon hearing this, Mu Jianjian nodded. As soon as the demon beast approached the high pavilion, she immediately leaped up and ran towards the top. Gongsun Yetong followed closely behind until two men wearing black robes with lotus flowers engraved on them appeared before them.
"you--"
Mu Jianjian turned to look at Gongsun Yetong and heard him say, "You go first."
She glanced at the woman's blood-stained robes, then swallowed her words, ignoring the sounds of fighting behind her, and leaped to the top.
A massive sundial operates within it, with minutes and seconds contained within the shadows of sunlight. A surge of powerful true energy shoots straight into the crevice in the air, carrying the stench of blood. At the far end of the pavilion, directly opposite the gradually widening crevice, stands a tall, imposing man clad in a black robe.
Mu Jianjian's heart sank, and her expression remained unchanged until the other person turned around to face her.
"Jianjian, I thought you saw it, and besides disgust, you would also feel some joy." Baili Mochen was dressed in a black robe, with a lifelike lotus flower in the center of the robe, which made his temperament even more enchanting and otherworldly.
She suddenly remembered that Fairy Biluo had recently found her son from the outside world.
"Get out of the way."
Now was not the time for reminiscing, and Mu Jianjian had no mood to discuss anything with the person in front of her.
“Jianjian, you are seriously injured, yet you still came to this place. You are really… disobedient,” Baili Mochen seemed oblivious to the other’s cold tone, his eyes filled with affection and nostalgia. “If you agree to one request, I will let you pass. How about it?”
"What?"
“I will always remember the number you told me when we were in the Red Mansion in Duyunfang.”
Mentioning this made Mu Jianjian's face turn as if she had swallowed a fly. "Disgusting."
She didn't want to say much, so she quickly walked to the top of the pavilion, wrapped herself in the blood-scented wind, and the closer she got to the crevice, the more she could feel the decaying atmosphere.
The black pillar gradually fell to the ground, and the black liquid slowly seeped out. Looking down at the afterimage below, Mu Jianjian's fingers were icy cold.
“Jianjian, under the sundial, they have placed countless living sacrifices. If we want to completely sever the connection between the two, we need another person.”
Seeing the girl turn her head in confusion, Baili Mochen gently raised a smile, "I have never been afraid of death, but I am afraid that you will not know the reason for my death."
Mu Jianjian's pupils contracted. Just as she was about to speak, she saw the man walk to the very center of the pavilion and fall towards the sundial. His powerful true energy surged out, and the gap shook violently.
The man's figure gradually disappeared from sight.
Mu Jianjian had no time for grief or further thought. She took a deep breath, glanced one last time at the people fighting desperately in the valley, raised her hands like her master from ten thousand years ago, and commanded, "Pupil Transformation Technique, descend—"
She recalled her previous conversation with the mechanical female voice.
"If I close the gap, will it reopen after many years?"
[No, host, you are special. You came into this world to accomplish these things. We will not allow this bug to happen again.]
As her consciousness faded, she vaguely heard roars coming from the bottom of the valley, but she could no longer see them.
——
"Beep beep beep—"
The smell of disinfectant from the hospital wafted into Mu Jianjian's nostrils. As soon as she opened her eyes, she was greeted with a bear hug.
Before my eyes came a sweet and lovely woman with pigtails. "Jianjian! You're finally awake! I went to your rented room a few days ago and found you lying motionless on the bed, unconscious. I was so worried that something might have happened to you!"
"What happened back then? Tell me! If anyone bullies you, I'll be the first to beat them up!"
Mu Jianjian dazedly spread her hands, touched her undamaged right pupil, and then, realizing what had happened, tears streamed down her face. "I'm back..."
“Jianjian, you’ve always been here, and I’ll always be with you.”
Listening to her best friend Tang Ruan's incessant chatter, Mu Jianjian spent the next few days in a daze after waking up.
Everything that happened in the world of cultivation now seemed like a bizarre and fantastical dream to her.
She wished it were just a dream, then her heart wouldn't ache so much...
"Your complexion is getting worse after resting in the hospital for a few days. Do we really not need to stay a few more days?" Tang Ruan asked tentatively, glancing at Mu Jianjian.
"Need not."
She stood in the hospital's registration hall, feeling the flow of people, when suddenly she caught sight of a familiar figure. "Who's that?"
"That man?" Tang Ruan thought for a moment, "It seems to be the son of a couple on the sixth floor who recently woke up from a vegetative state. They were always busy with business abroad, leaving their son in China and neglecting him. Who knew he would get into a car accident and become a vegetable..."
After thinking for a while, she realized that her best friend had already disappeared. She followed blankly, "Hey! Jianjian! What's wrong?"
Mu Jianjian's heart pounded. She followed the man's figure and turned left, only to find the corridor empty. Feeling lost, she prepared to turn back, but then heard a familiar male voice behind her.
A gentle, warm male voice asked, "Are you looking for me?"
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