Chapter 379: Sinking Into Oblivion
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
Xue Ying felt a deep pain in his heart. Chi Qiu Bai had always been around, taking good care of him from the very moment he entered this group of Transcendents. Chi Qiu Bai had treated him like an older brother would.
But now, he was dead!
He refused to betray the Xia Clan and decided to instead betray the Great Demonic God!
"Eternal Wind."
Figure after figure came over—Mountain Lord He, Palace Head Chen, Si Kong Yang, Chao Qing, City Lady Bu, and all the others sent their body projections over. They stared at Chi Qiu Bai, who was sitting there, cross-legged, without emitting a trace of aura. The pain they felt could not be described in words. Everyone had such high hopes for Chi Qiu Bai over the years, and even from before Xue Ying’s rise, they had all thought Chi Qiu Bai would become the most powerful member of the Xia Clan.
"Eternal Wind, you…why would you…" Si Kong Yang’s voice trembled ever so slightly. "Ai!"
"Any one previously loyal to the Great Demonic God that decides to betray him will end up suffering pain worse than death." Chao Qing shook his head. "Eternal Wind’s soul has already been taken, and he is now in a position where, even if he wanted to die, he wouldn’t be allowed. His soul will most likely now fall in a state of eternal torture!"
"It’s all the fault of this war!" Palace Head Chen’s heart hurt so bad that he began gritting his teeth. "Had this war not existed, would the Great Demonic God have tried so hard to convert our Xia Clan Transcendents, to even deliberately pull Eternal Wind’s wife into the Dark Abyss? Ai!"
"One wrong step, and all the following steps will also be wrong…" Grand Elder Palace Head muttered.
"Giving one’s loyalty to the Great Demonic God is equivalent to them handing over their soul to him," Si Kong Yang said, voice trembling. His pain was just as great, if not worse than the others’. He had already come to view Chi Qiu as the one who would become the next Water Daoist Faction’s Faction Head and had always thought highly of him, essentially treating as his own son.
Xue Ying watched silently from the side.
"Big Brother Eternal Wind, your death will not be in vain," he softly mouthed.
Inside one of the Star Pagoda’s palace halls.
A red-robed Xue Ying was sitting cross-legged when a figure condensed beside him. She was none other than Jing Qiu, who was beginning her rest period after controlling the arrays.
"Xue Ying." Jing Qiu walked over with a slightly pale complexion.
"Jing Qiu, it has been tough on you." Xue Ying stood up.
"It’s not anything worth mentioning. Compared to your work, I am not doing much," Jing Qiu lightly murmured. "After seeing that letter left behind by Eternal Wind, I began thinking that if your soul had been the one dragged into the Dark Abyss by the Great Demonic God, for the sake of once more uniting with you…I would have likely made the same decision Elder Brother Eternal Wind made in the past. After all, back then, we had no idea that the Great Demonic God was planning to annihilate the entire Xia Clan."
Xue Ying nodded. "The many generations of Transcendents from the Demonic Faction throughout history might have all been selfish, but all they did was merely fight over the faith of the people, not wish to destroy the entire Xia Clan."
"Big brother took one wrong step and fell into a route of no return." Jing Qiu looked outside the Star Pagoda with a forlorn gaze. "I wonder whether his soul is being tortured at this very moment and whether his wife is also facing the same torture!"
Xue Ying lightly nodded, but with a heavy heart.
In spite of his desire to rescue them, he didn’t have the power to do so.
Jing Qiu continued, "His soul will suffer from eternal torture, but that’s not even the worst part. The scarier thing is…that his selfish decision caused his true love’s soul to also suffer the same endless pain. It is that decision that’s truly causing everyone to feel sorrow for him."
Xue Ying was startled.
Indeed, he had not realized this point before. Chi Qiu Bai’s decision to betray the Great Demonic God also meant that his true love’s soul would face that same torture. That was likely the regret that gnawed at Chi Qiu Bai’s heart most.
"Damn! It’s all because of this damnable war!" Xue Ying growled. "The Sorcerer God and the Great Demonic God have dared treat our Xia Clan as nothing more than ants just for the sake of acquiring Crimson Rock Mountain. No matter the cost, there’s no way I’ll let them do as they want. We shall win this war, regardless of what it takes."
Jing Qiu grabbed hold of Xue Ying’s hand. "We will certainly win. I know you will succeed in breaking that black flower to pieces."
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In the distant Dark Abyss…
The Great Demonic God, Da Er Hao, was sitting on his throne, a cold and savage expression on his face. He very clearly understood how much importance Chi Qiu Bai placed on his wife and felt that, as long as he held onto her soul, Chi Qiu Bai would obediently listen to his orders and never betray him. However, the truth had just smacked him straight in the face. Even then, his side was still on the winning end of the war as of that moment, so he remained as calm as ever.
His body contained a single point that, while seeming small at a glance, was actually a huge and vast world.
As a World Deity, his Deity Sea could easily be developed into a world. This was also one of the reasons why World Deities could draw souls into their bodies.
Ah~
Inside that world was a black-robed woman tied to a frame as she suffered from lash after lash. Her form was merely spiritual, but the whip was covered in flowing Deity seals. Time after time, the whip lashed at her, causing her to shout in pain.
Just a hundred meters in front of her, a crystal ball hovered, filled with endless flames burning in its interior. It contained a single, vaguely visible figure; it was none other than Chi Qiu Bai’s soul.
The burning pain of that hellfire was so great that Chi Qiu Bai couldn’t stop trembling.
"No—" Watching that woman suffer from lash after lash right before his eyes, Chi Qiu Bai unwillingly shouted in disbelief, "No, no…"
The Great Demonic God’s voice reverberated within the crystal ball. "Chi Qiu Bai! My only wish now is to let you watch your true love suffer from endless pain, day in and day out. Don’t worry, she is unable to see you. In fact, she will remain forever unable to look at you, and you many never speak to her again! In the meantime, I want to let you try various forms of torture. Hahaha…rest assured, this is only the beginning; the true show is still waiting for you at the end. I truly want to see how you, a Transcendent so loyal to the Xia Clan, will act as a soul suffering from the injustice of my torture. Haha…"
Watching that woman be tortured so close to him, Chi Qiu Bai was in extreme anguish. Only he knew how much he wished he could take her place and her pain.
"Xiao Xi." Chi Qiu Bai extended his right hand and lightly murmured, "I’m sorry! I’m so sorry…"
Time went on, day after day. In the blink of an eye, two years were already through.
The Star Pagoda, the enemy fortress, and the black flower all remained as they were in that vast desert. Xue Ying’s Qi Avatar had tried anything—to the extent of going out there himself—but it was to no avail. After all, his avatar did not have another Blood-Drinking Spear. Regardless of how much Xue Ying struggled, the Qi Avatar could only last for close to a year before finally dissipating. Meanwhile, his true body remained trapped within the Sacred Sorcerer Camellia, where it trained his spear techniques without pause.
While the Sorcerer God was playing those instruments, the sound did nothing to disturb Xue Ying. He was able to maintain his calm, keep on pondering the Profound Mysteries behind the True Meanings, and continue practicing his spear techniques without any other care. It was very much like how he threw all his concentration into practicing back when he suffered from the hex poison!
Yet two years had passed, and he still could not break the black flower open. His three True Meanings had yet to reach the Deity Heart realm, and he began to feel the same bottleneck anxiety previously experienced by the Meishan Clan Master, Jian Huang, and Chen Jiu.
Hu hu~ The enormous translucent black petals were layered one upon another, forming a wide circular black flower with a diameter of 1,500 kilometers.
Xue Ying took a break from training in his spear and gazed at this titanic flower.
This was the prison that trapped him.
"Two years have already passed, and I’ve yet to break through. The Star Pagoda won’t be able to last much longer." Xue Ying held onto the spear from its shaft.
Wu wu wu…
The melody sung by the Sorcerer God reverberated throughout the enclosed black flower space. Xue Ying turned around to glare at the Sorcerer God and Great Demonic God, who were resting in the distant red leaf space, and then went back to continue training his spear techniques without hesitation! This entire time, he had been training like a madman!
After all, there truly was too much responsibility placed on his shoulders…
******