Chapter 1618 - Caizhi, Qianye (1)
Qianye Ying’er was aware of just how difficult it was to obtain a Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning.
The Eternal Heaven God Realm was uniquely advantaged in the contest for the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning because of several reasons. First, they had the Eternal Heaven Pearl, which had a special ability that allowed it to detect the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning. Second, they had the Great Void Cauldron. Third, their Guardians wielded powerful spatial divine powers. Although the Brahma Monarch God Realm and the Dragon God Realm were far superior to the Eternal Heaven God Realm in terms of strength, they never thought they had a real chance in obtaining the Divine fruit because of this.
The Burning Moon King Realm schemed and plotted to keep the the Untamed Divine Marrow hidden from view for a very long time, so it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that they desired the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning greatly. Unfortunately for them, they never caught a glimpse of its shadow even though tens of thousands of years had passed.
The main reason Yun Che and Qianye Ying’er came to the God Realm of Absolute Beginning was to escape the Soul Stealing Realm and the Burning Moon King Realm’s inevitable efforts to hunt them down. While they were planning to take the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning for themselves if given the opportunity, it was less of a real plan and more of a passing thought. Despite having fought hidden for an entire year, they never managed to explore deeper into the God Realm of Absolute Beginning, much less discover the divine fruit itself.
Their sudden encounter with the people of the Eternal Heaven God Realm and the discovery that the latter had found the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning was an unexpected but very welcome surprise. It was why Yun Che had used Qianye Ying’er to bait Zhou Qingchen into making their acquaintance in the first place. Assuming that the two Guardians were successful in their endeavor, they could either steal the divine fruit while the Guardians were showing it to Zhou Qingchen, or hold the crown prince hostage and take the divine fruit by force.
Both plans were equally risky, however… it was because they always had to face down two Guardians!
But what actually happened was completely different from their predictions. Honorable Zhu Liu was killed in action, and while Honorable Tai Yin had returned with the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning, he was all but several steps away from death’s door.
Although Yun Che’s decision to choose to kill Tai Yin and rob the divine fruit by force wasn’t completely risk free, it was nothing like the danger they would’ve faced had they gone through with their original plan considering how precious it was.
“It was way too easy.” Yun Che wasn’t surprised by Qianye Ying’er’s comment. “What are you thinking?”
As incredible as it sounded, it was a fact that they had obtained a Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning and killed an Eternal Heaven Guardian almost effortlessly. Both missions should have strained their abilities to their limits; the latter was close to being impossible to achieve.
“Tai Yin and Zhu Liu are masters of space profound energy, and they had the Great Void Cauldron. They should’ve been able to retreat safely even if they were unlucky enough to stumble into the Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning,” Qianye said with a frown. “The only explanation is that the dragon emperor knew that they would show up and ambushed them the moment they appeared in his territory, cutting off their means of escape in the process.”
“However,” Qianye Ying’er said, “protecting the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning was much more important than eliminating the intruders to the dragons. If they really were prepared from the start, then the divine fruit should have been protected better than ever before.”
“In reality, Zhu Liu was killed, and Tai Yin returned with the divine fruit despite being severely wounded. This doesn’t quite make sense no matter how you think about it.”
Qianye Ying’er loosened her fingers slightly and allowed the divine fruit’s indescribable aura to spread to their surroundings. It couldn’t be anything but the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning.
That meant Tai Yin was really dead, and the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning in her hand was the real thing.
“I guess our luck really is that good today,” Qianye Ying’er said. “First the Untamed Divine Marrow, now the Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning. Did the blind heaven finally decided to open its eyes and grant us devils its favor?”
Yun Che scrunched his eyebrows together instead of replying.
His object of desire falling into his hands when he thought all hope was lost, the enemy he couldn’t kill dropping dead right before his eyes...
Why did this feel so familiar?
Suddenly, he recalled the strange yet familiar aura he discovered lurking inside Tai Yin’s wounds.
When a dark light flashed across his mind, he looked up abruptly and shouted, “Caizhi, it was you, wasn’t it!?”
“?” Qianye Ying’er looked at him in confusion, but the blue sky darkened all of a sudden. A terrible pressure pressed down on her from the sky, turning every drop of blood in her body into ice. It was as if the galaxy itself was collapsing on her. A colorful but frigid figure appeared in the next instant and made a grab toward Qianye Ying’er with destructive might.
Despite having returned to the middle stage of Divine Master Realm, Qianye Ying’er found herself unable to breathe beneath the oppressive pressure. All she could do was to barely unleash the Divine Oracle.
Ding!
A finger that looked so delicate it might crumble at the slightest touch clashed against the golden weapon that could split even stars in half. A soul wrenching peal later, the Divine Oracle was sent flying like a dead snake with its aura crushed like it was nothing. Qianye Ying’er herself was falling backwards with a trail of blood sliding down the corner of her lips.
The clash also caused her to loosen her grasp over the divine fruit. It was instantly sucked back into the the colorful figure’s palm.
“Caizhi!”
Yun Che shouted as he stared at the girl’s back, a burst of complex emotions filling up his cold, dead heart in an instant. He even felt… a trace of joy that should have died a long time ago.
If he had one relative left in this world, it would be Caizhi.
The girl didn’t respond to his call at all. Instead, she dashed straight toward Qianye Ying’er while summoning the Heavenly Wolf Sacred Sword. The divine might and killing intent she was unleashing were things that could make even the world tremble in fear.
Seven years ago, Caizhi and Qianye Ying’er had fought each other. At the time she wasn’t able to leave a single wound on Qianye Ying’er despite working together with Jasmine. They were even injured, and they only escaped due to Jasmine’s ability.
But today, Caizhi was able to hurt Qianye Ying’er, destroy her weapon, and snatch the divine fruit from her in one exchange.
It wasn’t just because Qianye Ying’er was far weaker than she used to be. Caizhi’s own strength had evolved beyond recognition.
“Caizhi!!”
Expression changing, Yun Che executed both Star God’s Broken Shadow and Moon Splitting Cascade to appear in front of Caizhi, forcing her to halt her momentum and the giant sword that was even bigger than her own body. The blade of the sword was just a sixth of a meter away from his chest.
Just a couple of meters behind Yun Che was Qianye Ying’er.
Caizhi’s pressure froze, but her killing intent didn’t falter in the slightest. After years of separation, Yun Che and Caizhi finally saw each other again. However, a blue sword now stood in between the two.
“Don’t kill her!” Yun Che said urgently. However, he suddenly couldn’t breathe when he saw her eyes.
Caizhi’s appearance hadn’t changed in the slightest despite the passage of time. She was even wearing the same colorful outfit that accentuated her youthful innocence. She looked just like the first time they met each other.
However, her eyes had completely changed.
Once, her eyes looked like they were embedded with many colorful stars. Now, it looked like a bottomless, dark abyss. Both her beautiful spirit and winsome smile were completely gone. All that was left behind was the darkness and the cold.
Her aura had changed as well. As the darkness profound energy sensitive person in the current world, he could sense clearly that Caizhi’s Heavenly Wolf divine power had undergone a drastic evolution… no, it wasn’t even the Heavenly Wolf divine power everyone knew anymore. It had become a devilish wolf that hated the world after all the distortion it was subjected to!
Before this, Yun Che thought that there was nothing left in the world that could hurt him besides his own memories. Now, Yun Che felt like his soul was pierced by poisonous needles at the sight of Caizhi’s eyes.
Jasmine’s words after she forced Caizhi and him into a marriage replayed itself in his mind:
“Yun Che, I know you must think that this is all so absurd and ridiculous… but there is an abyss inside her heart. The reason I’m doing this is because I want you to save her from it. You are the only one who can do it.”
“If for some reason I’m not by her side in the future, she’ll still have you in her world. At the very least, she won’t fall into the abyss forever…”
At the time, Jasmine knew that she was soon to become a sacrifice. The reason she forced Yun Che and Caizhi to marry each other in a ceremony that was so simplistic that it was borderline absurd was so that Yun Che would shine a light into Caizhi’s heart even after she was gone. It was to prevent Caizhi from falling into darkness forever.
However, Jasmine’s biggest fear still happened in the end.
It was clear that Caizhi had transformed into Jasmine’s worst nightmare… no. It was worse. The sheer amount of devilish energy rolling off Caizhi’s body shocked even him. The abyss she fell into was deeper than even the one Jasmine had foreseen.
“Cai… zhi…” Yun Che called out her name again, but his voice had become incredibly soft.
“You’re… protecting… her?” Caizhi asked. The melody in her voice no longer existed. All that was left was a terrible grimness.
Before the sacrificial ritual had happened, there were two people that Caizhi hated the most: Yue Wuya and Qianye Ying’er. The former drove her surrogate mother to death, and the later plotted her older brother’s death.
Today, Qianye Ying’er was much weaker than she used to be, and she was much stronger. She could finally take revenge for her older brother, Xisu, with her own hands.
Yun Che grabbed the Heavenly Wolf Sacred Sword by the blade. Although the blade of the weapon was crawling with dark blue energy, it didn’t hurt him at all. He said, “Caizhi, I agree that she deserves to die, but not now.”
His fingers tightened further around the blade as he stared into Caizhi’s eyes. He said softly, “The Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor left behind her origin blood and devil art to me before she left. Right now, she’s the best cultivation incubator I have.”
“She was our enemy back then, but now we all share a similar goal. I’ll be dedicating my life to vengeance against my enemies for my family, Jasmine, Master, and myself… And she is the perfect tool for this; a weapon. Without her, my journey will take much longer to accomplish.”
Qianye Ying’er, “...”
But Yun Che’s words failed to move Caizhi at all. The Heavenly Wolf Sacred Sword suddenly burst into light, splitting the flesh between his finger and thumb and throwing him into the distance.
The wolf howled again, and the world changed colors. The Heavenly Wolf Sacred Sword fell murderously onto Qianye Ying’er again.
Yun Che twisted his body unnaturally in midair before stepping in front of the Heavenly Wolf Sacred Sword again using Star God’s Broken Shadow. At the same time, he conjured the Heretic God Barrier.
Bang!!
The Heretic God Barrier shattered instantly, and this time the blade touched Yun Che’s solar plexus before it stopped.
“Caizhi.” Yun Che looked calm despite blocking Caizhi from getting to Qianye Ying’er again. He said softly, “Her life doesn’t belong to herself anymore. She is under my control completely. Please leave her until I have accomplished my goal. After that, you may kill her whenever you wish.”
Caizhi was still unmoved. Her reply was as simple as it was short. “She… must… die!”
But this time, Qianye Ying’er was the one who walked out of Yun Che’s shadow before stopping next to him. Not only did she look completely unafraid, a faint and enigmatic smile was dancing across her lips.
“Who would’ve thought that the wolf pup would become far stronger than the much praised Xisu one day? Xing Juekong must be stupid to think of sacrificing such an impressive daughter.”
Infinite cold bloomed in Caizhi’s gray eyes when she heard the name “Xisu” from Qianye Ying’er. A pair of dark blue eyes appeared on the Heavenly Wolf Sacred Sword.
“It’s true that the Heavenly Wolf Xisu died because of me, but… are you sure you can kill me?” Qianye Ying’er said indifferently. The devil wolf Caizhi absolutely had the power to kill her, but for some reason she purposely said the words that were least helpful in keeping herself alive.