Chapter 866: No Regrets

Chapter 866: No Regrets

Long ago, Zhao Changhe had realized that the Gu had little to do with everyone’s cultivation system—in other words, it didn’t depend on cultivation. An ordinary person with no cultivation at all and a top-tier demon god at the third level of the Imperial Realm would both be equally affected by the Heartlink Gu, and neither could resist it.

This thing was essentially a “Heavenly Dao Will,” though at the time he thought it belonged to another sky.

Whether one could break free from it also had little to do with one’s current formidable cultivation; this wasn’t something that could be fully resolved through cultivation alone. Of course, it wasn’t entirely unrelated—at least, stronger cultivation allowed for greater focus and concentration, making it easier to act.

Sisi’s cultivation, at the very least, had reached a level where she could achieve self-forgetfulness and concentration—enough.

The question was, how to proceed?

No matter how much he looked inward, he couldn’t find where the Gu insect existed. It had long since dissolved into his body, like nutrients absorbed daily, indistinguishable from his own being. Even if he wanted to use the Wang family’s Heaven-Expelling and Sea-Calming method, which he had been secretly honing, to expel the foreign substance, he couldn’t find any foreign object to expel.

Yet his heart still felt as if something was invading it, as if it were about to burst from within.

Zhao Changhe didn’t believe that something clearly invading with foreign force could be unfindable. What nonsense about a vague Heavenly Dao—if understood scientifically, this was just the objective law of things. As long as an influence could be exerted, there had to be something.

It was simply that the thing was intangible, with no physical entity to be found. Yet discerning the real from the illusory had always been the path he was walking. As long as something existed, there had to be a reason for its existence.

Leaving aside other Gu, take the Heartlink Gu alone—what was its prerequisite? Love and longing, thus a shared heart.

Love was intangible; it had no form or substance. If one tried to find something called “love” inside the body, it would certainly be impossible.

But did this thing exist? It certainly did.

Since it existed, there was a foundation for turning an illusory concept into a tangible entity, and then… catching it. The prerequisite was that both people’s thoughts aligned, so that it could resonate and manifest.

Thus, relying on oneself… the only solution was for the two to truly love and miss each other, to be of one heart even without the Gu, so that the superfluous Heartlink Gu could be revealed.

So the solution was to truly know what the other was thinking at that moment.

In the “vague heavenly will’s” thread-pulling drama, Zhao Changhe and Sisi, due to their geographical distance, had spent the least time together and had the least basis for love. Their acquaintance was filled with suspicion and betrayal; after understanding each other, their relationship was more about gratitude, conquest, and servitude, even on a grand scale as a vassal state. Thus, the concept of “master and maid” remained obvious even now, and Sisi was the only woman who would voluntarily kneel under the table to serve him.

Was this relationship called love? Could it be called a shared heart? Would he believe it himself if he said so? Not guarding against her was already a stretch.

Sisi gazed into the distant void at Zhao Changhe, and Zhao Changhe looked back at her from afar.

Though far apart, both could clearly see each other’s eyes—one gentle with a smile, the other shimmering like water.

“In some people’s minds, you and I probably don’t love each other much,” Zhao Changhe transmitted with a smile. “What do you think?”

Sisi tilted her head and smiled. “It seems that way. We meet too rarely, and you have too many women. I’m always scheming against you—even this Gu transformation should be my fault.”

“But do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

“I know. Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

“Want to try? Let’s say it together. If we guess wrong, we might die.”

Sisi smiled faintly. “Then let’s say it together.”

Saying it together didn’t require counting one, two, three. If counting was needed, it wouldn’t be a shared heart.

So the next moment, they spoke at the same time.

Sisi said: “You’re thinking that this Gu was something you asked me to plant in the first place, not my fault, and you still have no regrets.”

Zhao Changhe said: “You’re thinking that if you deliberately say it’s your fault, my first reaction will surely be that I asked for it myself, and I don’t regret it either… If you guess like that, you won’t go wrong.”

As they spoke, they both blinked, revealing fox-like smiles.

To guess each other’s thoughts, there had to be a method. The little enchantress cleverly set up a lead, making their current thoughts extremely easy to align.

Though it was a trick, wasn’t it also a testament to how well they understood each other?

They were already of one heart even without the Gu.

As their words settled, Zhao Changhe suddenly reached into his own heart.

Han Wubing, standing nearby, stared wide-eyed.

But strangely, though his hand went in, there was no wound, no blood—as if it had entered a different space. When his hand left his heart, Han Wubing clearly saw Zhao Changhe pinching a black Gu insect between his fingers, twitching.

At the same time, a Gu insect emerged from Sisi’s chest and fell to the ground with a “pat.”

The Heartlink Gu, which had seemed golden and radiant, was actually black at its core, no different from the demon Mara.

“Can’t destroy it…” Zhao Changhe squeezed hard, but it felt like squeezing a phantom. “I need to find a way to deal with it…”

“Let me,” Han Wubing said with a smile. He reached out, summoned the Gu from Sisi’s side, snatched the one from Zhao Changhe’s hand, and ate both like roasted grasshoppers.

Zhao Changhe: “?”

Han Wubing’s face turned pale, sweat beading on his forehead. He hunched over and said in a low voice: “Though you severed my White Tiger karma, this body is still formed from the White Tiger Sword Bone—that can never change. I simply cannot develop such romantic entanglements. The Heartlink Gu is useless on me. I’ll trap it within myself. He set a cage for us, and I’ll set one for Him. Isn’t that delightful?”

Zhao Changhe stared at him, speechless.

Yes, Han Wubing was flawed. His emotions were incomplete. This kind of Gu meant nothing to him; inside his body, it would only scurry around like a headless fly. If karma and fate were vague, was this something the Heavenly Dao itself hadn’t considered? What was heavenly will?

“But you might suffer from illness from now on… I might not be able to cure it. Don’t you regret it?”

Han Wubing gave him a strange look, as if puzzled why he would ask such a soft question. Then he smiled. “No regrets.”

As Han Wubing’s words fell, a muffled groan came from beyond the heavens.

The Gu scheme that had been laid for two epochs was shattered here, clean and thorough. The Heavenly Dao, more or less, suffered a certain backlash.

And its backlash was not limited to this.

…

“Heaven bless us…”

Countless people in the Miao lands knelt and kowtowed, gazing at the colossal giant that towered between heaven and earth.

With every step it took, thousands of mountains were crushed into plains. With every breath it exhaled, hurricanes swept through, shattering mountains. A single stone chip falling from its body became a meteor shower.

Mortals had never seen such a terrifying invasion; they didn’t even know where this thing came from.

And above, the Four Symbols blazed, flames scorched the sky, a ghostly face twisted in the void, and the oppressive aura made it nearly impossible for anyone to breathe.

What kind of apocalyptic scene was this?

Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival, yet fear gripped everyone’s hearts.

But those with slightly higher cultivation could vaguely sense that the ghostly face above was being restrained by four different auras, as if trapped within the sky. Surrounding the ghostly face were the Four Symbols Sect’s venerables and Yue Hongling, each now on the Heavenly Ranking.

And the giant that could bring about the apocalypse hadn’t moved much either; it, too, was being restrained. Restraining it was a stunning woman in a purple dress, her graceful figure like a speck of dust before the giant, yet the vast, boundless darkness and annihilation she emitted seemed to say: “Destruction and doom? You think you’re worthy? That’s my domain.”

The Second Demon God, Ye Jiuyou.

Those with some knowledge whispered this name, their hearts turning cold.

Strangely, why was Ye Jiuyou helping them? Before her, the stone giant seemed like a toy—though it looked imposing, it had yet to cause any real damage.

And recalling the earlier sword aura that shot into the sky, with everyone’s swords uncontrollably trembling—that was the Third Demon God, Sword Emperor? And the one protecting everyone from the backlash of blades and guarding the flesh from sacrifice with the veins of mountains and rivers—that was the Fourth Demon God, Piaomiao?

The true demon gods had risen, all heroes had emerged in a battle that began so abruptly. No one in the world, not even the old Heavenly Ranking masters like Yu Xu, had received any hint. This final battle had suddenly begun.

July 15th was the Night of a Hundred Ghosts, but today was the Mid-Autumn Festival! Had they chosen the wrong date?

Yu Xu looked into the distance and said softly to Li Shen Tong beside him: “Ye Jiuyou’s power is enough to destroy the Three Realms. Even if this giant is formed from the Spirit Clan’s world, destroying it shouldn’t be too hard for her… But she’s only restraining it, as if waiting for some moment.”

Li Shen Tong was worried. “If she has ulterior motives, who can stop her? Even you and I aren’t qualified to participate now.”

Yu Xu was also deeply troubled.

Anyone with a bit of insight could see that Ye Jiuyou’s power was beginning to shift. She actually seemed to want to abandon this giant… If she let go, what would happen to the giant?

The entanglement between Ye Jiuyou and the stone giant did not, in truth, endure for long.

As the source of darkness from which this world evolved, she could, in a sense, even claim the title of Mother of the World—a pedigree higher even than that of Ye Wuming—though she had been far too wretchedly targeted. Yet when it came to the matter of stone evolving into flesh, she could be considered an expert.

She could see that the blood sacrifices the stone giant received were nowhere near enough, having been disrupted far too much by Piaomiao.

The original state of the stone giant posed a rather significant problem... this was a colossus of heaven-supporting proportions; once destroyed, the mere splashing of its stone splinters would be a meteor shower to the earth, causing countless casualties. Especially for the Miao region directly facing this collapsing mountain of a pillar, the surrounding tens of thousands of miles could be leveled to the ground.

Destroying this giant by her own strength alone would already require immense effort, and she might not possess the residual strength to halt a world-spanning landslide of that scale—a certain wretched man might very well scold her when the time came.

Coincidentally, the withered flesh evolved from the present meager, teeth-picking scrap of an offering allowed its form to alter into a colossal corpse puppet, which would make things much easier to handle when the time arrived...

The one executing this task was not herself... she had more important matters to attend to.

The moment the stone giant thoroughly evolved into a body of flesh and blood, truly earning the title of an ancient god's vessel, Ye Jiuyou decisively retreated, her graceful silhouette soaring straight into the firmament.

A sudden flash of bloody light materialized at her previous position.

Lie's silhouette sat cross-legged in the void, a formation plate overflowing with malevolent aura resting before him. Lie lifted his gaze, peering through the bloody light of the formation plate at the torso ahead, and grinned: "Too withered, deficient in vital energy and blood, a complete disgrace."

The giant, having finally attained a form of flesh and blood, was at last able to speak: "It is one thing for Ye Jiuyou to oppose me... Lie... you are a creature bred from the surface of my own body, yet you also oppose me?"

"You? What kind of thing do you think you are." Lie laughed heartily: "If you had honestly lain there, Master Lie would still respect you as an ancestral god and burn three sticks of incense for you sooner or later. Since you've crawled up to play the demon, then go the fuck to sleep for eternity!"

The ancient god's voice boomed like thunder: "You were previously... still clashing with Zhao Changhe... could it be that it was all an act?"

"Not exactly. I have my own plans and never intended to cooperate with him. It's just that after a bout, I realized he was stronger than me and his plan was far more complete than mine, so I went along with the show. It couldn't be helped, it relied entirely on tacit understanding; after all, no one knows which of our spoken words might be overheard by your ears."

"Your so-called Ten Thousand Souls Blood Sacrifice was merely intended to bring me into this current state?"

"Naturally. The blood sacrifice you require would be insufficient without millions of living souls; the so-called ten thousand souls was nothing more than a way to give you a human semblance. Now, reluctantly filling it with some blood-crabs and the like produces roughly the same effect. What kind of figure is Ye Jiuyou? Spending her efforts to drag things out with you just to wait for you to change into this state—one can only imagine how impatient she felt inside, yet you actually believed you were a match for her?"

The ancient god: "...What are you scheming for?"

"None of us can be certain whether, after killing you anew, you would simply evolve into another miniature cosmos, rendering all our efforts futile. But I possess a method that is guaranteed to ensure your thorough extinction."

An ominous premonition welled up within the ancient god's heart, only to hear a sharp "swish" as Lie's Blood God Blade slashed directly into his own head, his divine soul drifting out to be absorbed by the formation plate.

The ancient god: "You are mad!"

Lie's voice erupted in laughter: "What I command is vital energy and blood; you must first possess these before I can... re-initiate creation."

"Rumble!" A colossal torrent of bloody light surged from the formation plate, a power capable of tearing the vault of heaven apart sweeping across the body of the ancient god.

The vital energy and blood within the ancient god, who had only just gained a physical form, abruptly boiled and withered, turning into a dried corpse within a mere instant, while its newly born, sparse consciousness was smashed to smithers under the frenzied impact of the Blood God formation plate merging with Lie's divine soul.

At the moment of shattering, the ancient god's voice murmured in sheer disbelief: "You have slumbered from an entire epoch ago until now, just for this single strike, paying with your own life?"

Only the final, ethereal remnants of Lie's voice remained: "Since I have vowed that gods and buddhas alike shall dissipate, why must Lie remain in the world? To perish together with me is the finest destination for both you and me. I am fortunate to have a proper conclusion."

The massive dried corpse slowly collapsed, and at the place of its fall, a boundless dark abyss seemed to flash, collecting the corpse entirely into oblivion.

Ye Jiuyou glanced back once, her gaze lingering no longer. A corpse stripped of all its vitality, blood, and breath could at most serve as a puppet for her to toy with henceforth, never to escape her confinement again.

This was also part of her vengeance.

Lie had maintained a secret connection with her from very early on; when she previously told Zhao Changhe that she had prepared some backup measures, she was referring to Lie. Ye Wuming had attempted to forge an alliance with Lie in the past, and the present Ye Jiuyou would make a similar attempt for the same reason—because Lie was a demon god cultivated from a mortal human, effectively an ancient version of Zhao Changhe, and far more extreme than Zhao Changhe.

On the day he dedicated his core strike to the dissipation of gods and buddhas, Lie's path was already sealed.

Every man has his own aspirations; to die with no regrets.

"Boom!"

Above the firmament, condensing the resentment of Ye Jiuyou's two epochs, a wildly matchless power of total annihilation viciously slammed into the remnant soul restricted by the Four Symbols within the sky.

The Four Symbols were just beginning to feel a lack of strength when the most potent reinforcement arrived.

The remnant soul let out an exceedingly sharp and hateful shriek: "Ye... Jiuyou... You were utilized by Ye Wuming in the last epoch to result in a mutual defeat with me; this time, instead of dealing with Ye Wuming, you actually come to harm me again!"

Ye Jiuyou did not bother to pay it any mind whatsoever: "A mere remnant soul, nothing more than a casual strike as I pass by, yet you deem yourself worthy of such words?"

The remnant soul distorted, gradually dissipating within the raging flames.

Though she claimed it was a casual strike in passing, the damage it actually inflicted was something even Ye Wuming had never achieved in the past... total annihilation.

The post-realization Ye Jiuyou was no longer bound by the shackles of this world; the gods that Zhao Changhe could slaughter, she could now slaughter as well.

The defeat of the shamanic curses, the demise of the physical form, the destruction of the remnant soul—all three were the placements of the original Heavenly Dao within the boundary, and at this moment, they backfired simultaneously, acting upon the realms beyond the nine heavens.

"Rumble!"

Thunder echoed across the three realms, and startling lightning blanketed the nine heavens.

Beyond the nine heavens, the Heavenly Dao let out a muffled groan, clearly sustained a significant impact. It temporarily retracted a palm and struck toward Ye Wuming's forehead, attempting to force her back.

Unexpectedly, Ye Wuming neither dodged nor evaded, thrusting both her palms out together to strike heavily against his chest.

Almost at the exact same instant, Ye Jiuyou broke through the boundary, appearing like a twin shadow to strike at the Heavenly Dao's back.

Slightly further away, Zhao Changhe stood upon a world that resembled the pages of a book, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, pointing directly ahead.

The golden light of slaughtering gods and slaying demons on the arrow's tip caused even Ye Wuming to feel a chill in her heart.

Zhao Changhe had been accumulating power without fully participating in the battle, yet he had been micro-managing the various battlefields the entire time, mastering the timing... and appearing at the place he ought to appear at the most critical juncture.

His mastery over time and causality had actually reached such a level now, not a single bit inferior to her, Ye Wuming.

Yet within this hunt that seemed incomparably precise, an execution where every aspect was calculated clearly without omission, a smile manifested upon the face of the Heavenly Dao.