380: Chapter 97: The Second Time, Regicide_2 380: Chapter 97: The Second Time, Regicide_2 Every frozen moment of this long river was filled with the blood and tears of countless people.
Xie Xuanyi silently sensed the soul spirits surging from the Heart Lake.
His “Principle of Life” slowly increased, piece by piece of the Heart Lake was illuminated by the light of the Tao Rules.
Eventually, his gaze fell upon several familiar soul thoughts.
“Mu Niu…”
Xie Xuanyi’s expression was complex as he looked at the few trembling souls not far away.
Those who had escaped from the Tiesuo Alley.
They had died in this ultimate battle.
They were destined to die.
The Li Mei, after all, were the lucky remnants who had stolen the secrets of heaven to live a “second life.”
Their brief lifetime’s conclusion had long been predetermined.
Being born was already a great fortune.
Xie Xuanyi stepped forward, and Mu Niu looked up, blankly gazing at the young man in black, this wretched soul, merely squatting in a corner of the Heart Lake, now raising his face, his eyes filled with confusion and helplessness… he was not smart, and after being strangled by the Ruyi Dao, his soul thoughts returned to the void, and the Spirit Wisdom he had painstakingly developed over the years was entirely lost.
At that moment.
He was like a piece of dry candle, already burnt to its end, leaving only a tiny bit at the bottom.
Like a stronger breeze would scatter his soul apart.
“…Do you still recognize me?”
Xie Xuanyi’s eyes were full of unbearable pain.
Mu Niu looked blankly at the young man, smiling stupidly, he reached out his hand, attempting to grasp Xie Xuanyi’s sleeve.
The Principle of Life landed on the top of Mu Niu’s head.
Xie Xuanyi’s sleeve trembled slightly, he saw Mu Niu’s memories… Mu Niu was born into a poor family and sold at a low price due to famine while still an infant, the human trafficker delivered him to the house of an aristocrat, but that was just the beginning of the nightmare.
This aristocrat was cruel by nature, bought many infants and youth, threw them into horse stables and pig pens to be raised like livestock, and once they grew up a bit, named them as lowly beasts and used them as slaves, whipped and humiliated daily.
This was why Mu Niu’s soul was so fragile.
His body was covered in whip marks, even in death, he couldn’t find peace.
Later on, Mu Niu was sent to the Great Yue Imperial Palace, Emperor Qi wanted to ascend to immortality, and enormous national power was required to construct the sacrificial platform, Mu Niu became the aristocracy’s offering of labor, daily carrying wood and stone, without rest, he didn’t die to “sacrifice,” but from “exhaustion”…this simple-minded fellow died from exhaustive labor for Emperor Qi’s Immortal Ascension Platform.
Xie Xuanyi had witnessed many people’s Soul Seas, but the suffering Mu Niu experienced in his life… made his heart tremble.
Perhaps, for this big fellow, the “happiest” moment in his “life” was after his death, assuming the body of a Li Mei and arriving in Tiesuo Alley.
“Hehe…”
The Principle of Life transformed into a gentle light, landing on Mu Niu’s head.
This giant, crouching down, almost level with Xie Xuanyi, hugged his knees, tilting his head, gazing intently at Xie Xuanyi’s cheek.
He smiled foolishly.
Li Mei, these beings are naturally “inferior.”
After consciousness returned to the void, how could Mu Niu recall who the young man in black before him was?
But.
Some things, once they occur, leave traces behind.
The big fellow strained to turn his head.
He couldn’t remember many things.
But he vaguely felt that the face of this young man in black was familiar, as if seen in a previous life.
In this painful, cold life, not many people could bring him a sense of warmth…
He smiled foolishly, and as he smiled, his body slowly crumbled.
“…”
Xie Xuanyi reached out his hand, intending to touch Mu Niu’s cheek, but as his fingertips fell, they touched only air.
All of this was like a dream, like the wind.
He had seen everything.
Yet could retain nothing.
The Principle of Life…
could only briefly retain a remnant soul.
Dust to dust, earth to earth.
Mu Niu’s remnant soul turned into specks of luminescence, like the thousands of fireflies pouring into the Heart Lake, briefly flickering before gently dispersing, vanishing between heaven and earth.
“Emperor Qi…”
Xie Xuanyi’s nose felt a bit sour as he watched the phosphorescence churning in the Heart Lake at that moment.
The fireflies flew, turning into a fierce tide.
“For ascension, could you really disregard these people’s lives?”
Xie Xuanyi slowly withdrew the Principle of Life.
Not that he didn’t want to retain…
If possible, Xie Xuanyi wished to let the poor souls of the Great Yue linger in this world a little longer.
But, he simply couldn’t bear to watch.
Emperor Qi, in his pursuit of becoming an Immortal, had gone mad.
What do people seek in cultivating Dao… nothing more than freedom, ease, longevity, and immortality.
Emperor Qi had already obtained so much.
Yet he willingly gave everything up, for those elusive words “becoming an Immortal.”
Xie Xuanyi lingered for a long time, and finally, he chose to exit the Heart Lake.
…
…
Xie Xuanyi opened his eyes and, as expected, saw the concerned gaze of Lu Yuzhen.
“How does it feel to comprehend the Principle of Life?”
Lord Lu smiled and began.
“Not very good.”
Xie Xuanyi shook his head and answered truthfully.
This response somewhat surprised Lu Yuzhen.
Lord Lu was momentarily embarrassed, unsure of what to say.
“Emperor Qi has not completely ‘Silent Annihilated.'”
Looking at the gradually breaking giant dharma in the distant sky, Xie Xuanyi softly said, “May I speak with him for a moment?”
“Feel free.”
Lu Yuzhen vaguely guessed the reason for Xie Xuanyi’s discontent and said indifferently with a wave of his sleeve, “If you wish, you can also personally deliver the final strike to spare me the trouble.”
Clouds whisked by swiftly.
Soon, Xie Xuanyi arrived at the head of the gigantic dharma.
Ruyi Dao had already shattered.
The remnants of Emperor Qi, along with the Ruyi Dao Fire, ignited this Tongtian giant, whose body burned brightly and whose limbs snapped like flowing clouds, disintegrating…
At this moment, Emperor Qi sat amidst the fiery clouds at the dharma’s brow.
His body ablaze with light, his aura had plummeted to the extreme, yet he still tried to maintain the emperor’s prestige, stubbornly sitting atop the fiery throne of nothingness.
A monarch who lost his kingdom, a god fallen from the altar.
He once had everything.
But now, he had nothing.
After igniting the Dao Fire, Emperor Qi, like the souls of the Great Yue Kingdom, was destined to burn himself out completely, facing irreversible Silent Annihilation.
“We’re here.”
Treading on white clouds, Lu Yuzhen softly said, “Although he is about to face Silent Annihilation, he is, after all, a ‘Celestial Being’…
We should keep our distance to avoid any accidents.”
Xie Xuanyi nodded.
He looked at the man sitting in the sea of flames.
Coincidentally,
Emperor Qi also raised his head at this moment, looking towards him.
Their gazes met once again.
“Undying Spring…”
Emperor Qi opened first, looking at the two standing on the white clouds, he couldn’t help but laugh self-deprecatingly, “Had I known that such Divine Artifacts existed in this world, why would I have ever exhausted my efforts and resources to build the Immortal Ascension Platform, trapping this True Dragon, attempting Ascension?”
After the defeat.
The spirit of Emperor Qi seemed to have collapsed.
Although he sat on the fire throne, his entire demeanor had plummeted.
“…?”
Xie Xuanyi frowned slightly, sensing something amiss from Emperor Qi’s words.
He knew Qing Li was captured.
But, did Emperor Qi really build the Immortal Ascension Platform solely to detain Qing Li?
“Nearly nine million people…”
After a long while,
Xie Xuanyi finally spoke.
He looked at Emperor Qi and asked seriously, “In these thousand years, when you saw the mountains of corpses and seas of blood stacked at the entrance of the Great Yue Imperial Palace, did you truly not feel pain?”
“Pain?”
Emperor Qi hesitated.
He became melancholic, murmuring, “I naturally feel pain…
After painstakingly waiting for an excellent opportunity, I failed to seize it…”
“If I could do it all over again, I would definitely slay the dragon and ascend…”
Xie Xuanyi fell completely silent.
Emperor Qi never felt he was wrong.
He only regretted failing to seize the chance and failing to slay the True Dragon.
“Is there anything else you want to say?”
Seeing the reason for Xie Xuanyi’s silence,
Lu Yuzhen spoke softly.
Xie Xuanyi shook his head; there wasn’t much he wanted to ask.
“Then, make your move.”
Lord Lu watched the man in the fire domain, his eyes filled with both lament and mockery.
He gently said, “The second regicide…
You are familiar with this task, so I’ll leave it to you.”
…
…
(Thanks to the lord of the swordsmen for the reward!)