Chapter 190 - You Are Not To Blame For My Death
Shui Zian turned back and glared at Zhong Yue, the old man was brimming with the desire to battle; the air was made viscous with his killing intent. Although the elder had a short and small stature, the auric field he had could terrify the celestials and demons to stay a few miles away from him!
“There were so many uncanny things revolving around you, more than enough for me to take you as a devil soul that came from the underground of Swords Gate; but at the end of the day, I’ve decided to spare your life, and the reason was very simple … you’ve left behind too many doubtful points.”
Shui Zian laughed out loud, his eyes were filled with many things that would be left untold, “If you really are a devil soul that had possessed the mortal body of this unlucky child of the Zhong Shan Clan, you wouldn’t have left behind so many suspicious points, in turn, you’d be like Shui Qingyan, flawless in form and behaviour. If it weren’t for the final battle between you and Shui Qingyan in the Lawless Battles, no one would’ve known that her prowess had increased so much! The only mistake she made, was to engage in a battle with you.”
“While you, you don’t act like the sly and cunning ancient gods, I can hardly list down a decision you’ve made that I would call perfect or particularly smart, but that’s precisely what had proven your innocence. When the headmaster first heard of you, he asked me a question, ‘Is there any problem with this boy?’, and I answered him, ‘Have you ever seen such an idiotic god before?’, the headmaster laughed and agreed.”
A smile climbed onto his wrinkled face as he continued, “The more I observed your actions, the more intriguing I find you. I saw Jun Sixie in danger when I was tracking down the Xiang Dragon to the Savanna Wasteland, but before I could do anything, you had taken the initiative to act and save her on your own, that was when I knew that you were the naughty Xiang Dragon that rammed at my water stronghold.”
His eyes were filled with content, and said, “Then you went over to the monster race, disguising yourself with the identity of a dragon that went by the name of Long Yue to become one of Shi Buyi’s disciples. From then onwards, the decision you would go on to make would become wiser and more precise with your experience, leaving fewer holes and mistakes that would come back to harm you. And I was so happy for you, after all, I had been watching you every step of the way in this journey that you’ve embarked on.”
Zhong Yue’s eyes turned red while Shui Zian took out a scroll and tucked it over into his hands, smiled and said, “The joy I’ve experienced from watching you grow into your own man – becoming stronger with every passing day – was even greater than having the treasures falling down from the sky by themselves. Take this scroll with you, it’s a copy of the map. Come, I’ll bring you to a safer realm, hide in it while I’m engaged in the battles. I can’t protect you anymore, this place is too remote, and there aren’t any celestial temples I can put you in.”
“Elder Shui….”
Zhong Yue’s nose turned sour and tears nearly rolled down his cheeks. All these while he had been doubting Shui Zian’s loyalty to humanity, and yet, who knew that this old man was actually watching over each and every step he took, cheering for and relishing in every little improvement he had.
“Stop being so girlish, you are man, you should raise your chest up and applaud for me! I’m just going to duel with that three brats, I’m not on suicide mission.”
Shui Zian strode forward and continued, “Without you burdening me, I might just be able to fight my way out. By then, you’ll be the one stuck in this Divine Battlefield, at that time, you can slowly find yourself a place to cry! Go, go, go, we’ll search around, there must be a safer realm left behind by one of the godly spirits….”
Zhong Yue clenched the scroll in his hands and followed behind while Shui Zian was glancing around and searching all over the place. Moments later, he said, “If you survive and I don’t make it back to Swords Gate, you must go to the headmaster and tell him this, ‘The traitor is among one of those who has access to the map.’, there aren’t many people privy to this information in Swords Gate … Come on, get rid of that sad face you have there, I’m not dying yet, I’ve been sly and cunning from birth until now, in fact, I’m the smartest in Swords Gate. I’ve over hundreds of tokens in my Yuan Shen realm, they were all given to me by the strong and overpowering brats, along with the token given by you, all these can save my life over hundreds of times….”
Finally, Shui Zian found a Yuan Shen secret realm, he flicked his finger and shot out the Sword Qi, slitting open a narrow cut and said solemnly, “Go in! Disciple of the Zhong Shan Clan, get in there, now!”
Zhong Yue leaped onto the ground, crawled in the muds and lunged himself into the secret realm of the godly spirit.
“Don’t come out yet, wait patiently until the storm has passed!”
Shui Zian’s distant voice rang in the secret realm, it was faint as there was a whole dimension that separated them, “Remember, you are not the one they are trying to kill, you never were … it was always me they had their eyes on. They had planned to kill me from the start! Whether end up dying or not, you mustn’t blame yourself for what will happen to me! I don’t need your sympathy, you hear me?”
“And also, although this secret realm is relatively safer, it has its own dangers too, you must stay cautious. You should only come out when everything is over and when it is safe to. However, you must still be careful when you leave, as there might still be celestials lingering around hunting for you. At that time, I won’t be there for you, no one will, and the only one that can save you, is you yourself….”
….
Within the secret realm, tears began to pool in his eyes again and immediately, little flames burned in his eyes, vaporizing the tears so that they would not trickle down.
Shui Zian did not need tears, he regarded them as futile expression of helplessness; tears were useless, they would not contribute any help to the situation at all.
“The only thing that one can fall back on … was power, a strong and overwhelming power that can destroy all who stand in my path! But I’m too weak, so weak that I can’t do anything at all….”
Zhong Yue was beside himself with grief as he had never felt so powerless before, he could not intervene in the battle between Elder Shui and the four Xiao Mang celestial magnates. Moments later, he regained his calm and placid composure, mumbling to himself, “Whining has no use at all, in order to become stronger, I will have to work harder instead of wallowing in my own sadness and sorrow! I may be weak now, but it will not last for long. A tragedy like this … this feeling of absolute helplessness … once in this lifetime is enough!”
He recollected his thoughts and cast away the distractions in his mind and examined the surroundings. This was a Yuan Shen secret realm left behind by a godly spirit, the spirit had ceased to exist but the secret realm remained.
The Yuan Shen secret realm of the godly spirits that died in the battles would be paved with countless unpredictable dangers.
Taking the Wan Xiang Secret Realm as an example, if a god had died in battle while he was still casting his Wan Xiang Realm, augmenting himself with the almighty strength of the myriad; then when he died, his Wan Xiang Secret Realm twould be glutted with the almighty strength of the myriad, swirling and ravaging in the secret realm!
Zhong Yue has entered the Wan Xiang Secret Realm of a godly spirit back when he was in the Xiao Mang celestial race; the Wan Xiang Secret Realm has simulated countless terrains and objects under the worshippings of the white-robed priests.
While the Wan Xiang Realm of the dead godly spirits would be even more precarious, the strengths of the mountains and powers of the oceans, the dreary desserts and the seas of fire, meteorites and the powers of the celestial temples, various kinds of terrible images and scenarios would emerge in the secret realm.
If it was the Wu Xing Realm, then the five elemental Qi in it would kill anyone who dared to enter; while the Yin Yang Realm was glutted with the Yin and Yang Qi; the Shen Cai Realm would tumble the heaven and earth, siphon the life force of the intruders; but the Dao Yi was the most horrifying one, after all, it was the realm that amalgamates the powers of all five Yuan Shen realms.
The secret realm Shui Zian chose was the safest among all, there were no upheavals of Qi in the secret realm, and even if there were, it would not be as dangerous as the other secret realms.
Zhong Yue cast his gaze around, the sun was dangling on his left and the moon on his right, which clearly suggested that this was a Yin Yang Realm.
In the secret realm, the sun and moon were incomplete, a big chunk of the sun was gone while fire cascaded down like a waterfall from the sky. It was the Yang Qi; on the other hand, there was a hole that perforated the moon with moonlight streaming down from it – it was the Yin Qi.
“The Yin Yang Secret Realm of a godly spirit, but the Yin and Yang Qi here aren’t the Pure Yin and Yang Qi, clearly this godly spirit that died didn’t get to cultivate the Pure Yin and Yang Qi. This is a good place to me, I can use the Yin and Yang Qi of the secret realm to nourish my own Yin and Yang Qi.”
Zhong Yue strode forwards to the place where the Yang Qi was leaking out from the sun. Regarding the Yin and Yang Qi, he was considered to be lucky as he had acquired both the sun spirit and moon spirit, attaining the true quintessences of the Yin and Yang Qi. He had thus mastered the Yin Yang totem carvings, and most of all, acquired himself a slight modicum of both Pure Yin and Pure Yang Qi.
Different talents specialized in different fields, even when compared with the gods, he also had his own fortes over them.
“My Yin Yang Secret Realm can also utilize the Yin Qi and Yang Qi here and cultivate it to the peak! I can also recondition the Yin Ying in my body, consolidating the sun spirit and moon spirit so that the balance between the Yin and Ying can be achieved. And most importantly of all, my sun spirit and moon spirit will experience a great leap in prowess!”
Zhong Yue sat beside the liquid fire and started his cultivation.
“Elder Shui….” the image of the short elderly man kept appearing in his eyes, swinging his long wide sleeves around in the air.
“You said that you didn’t die for me, but I know it very well in my heart … I was the cause of your death! If it weren’t for the fact that the headmaster had sent you over to save me, how would you be here in the first place?”
“You didn’t want me to blame myself for your death, worrying that the I would lose my rationality because of that, and that the guilt would consume my heart and toss me into a state of despair until I spiral into a depraved and abject state? Don’t you worry, I can assure you that won’t happen, Elder Shui.”
“All I could feel in my heart is my lack of power, the helplessness of not being able to help at all, and so, I will become stronger, one day after another. I’ll strengthen myself unceasingly, so that same thing will never happen again.”
….
In the dreary Divine Battlefield, Shui Zian clasped his hands together, the long sleeves covered his hands while they fluttered in the wind. The old man slowly walked forward, the left side of the sky was dark and gloomy while the other side was clear and lucid with the round moon shining brightly in the sky.
The gloomy clouds were not clouds, but a grayish-black robe that covered the sky; the bright moon was not the moon, but a round plate made of jade; while the clear and lucid sky was in fact, a web made of rays that veiled the sky.
Shui Zian raised his head and gazed at the three overpowering soul weapons, suddenly, he laughed and said, “Xiao Yin, Xiao Qing, Xiao Yuan, the three senior martial siblings need not hide anymore, I’m here already!”
Hu——
The gloomy clouds bubbled up and morphed into a grayish-black robe that donned onto a three-headed old man. The bright moon fell down from the sky and turned into a jade plate hovering behind a white-haired old lady; while the web made of jade-green rays swayed violently and revealed an old man standing upended on the web.
Three magnate priests out of the four celestial temples appeared on the only safe path in the Divine Battlefield.
“Shui Zian, Senior Martial Brother Shui, you are a smart man, so I suppose we brothers and sisters need not say too much, right?”
Xiao Qing—the hunching old lady with the jade plate shining brighter behind her, said smilingly, “You must be able to delineate our true targets. All four of us - Yin, Qing, Yuan, Que, and along with Xiao Demon God, there are five magnate cultivators. And our only goal, is to kill you! You should be proud of yourself, even before death, you were able to severely injure Xiao Demon God and Xiao Que, forcing us to come together just to kill you.”
“Be proud of my death?”
Shui Zian laughed loudly, “Before I die, I’ll bring one or two of you along with me, the only questions is: who will it be out of you three?”
The three magnates launched their attacks, Xiao Yuan answered with a smile, “It'd be impossible, you are wounded and the Sword Cocoon is not with you, you won’t be able to bring along any one of us with you to the afterlife.”