【Dad Coins - Inverse Cause Lotus (Completed)】
Hmm... Although it was unclear how this thing came about, the result was good in the end.
Setting aside the influence of the Red Dust Immortal, the more pressing matter at hand was actually Hundred Bones Resonating of Love.
The two continued to move along the edge of the Fallen Immortal Abyss. The crimson-gold spiritual veins were still spreading toward the periphery, leaving them with less than a third of the original safe area.
Besides the gains brought by the Red Dust Immortal, there was actually another continuous gain happening right now.
—That was Emperor Bai's affection level.
Ever since that "acting" session, her affection level seemed to have entered a slow automatic mode. There was no need to do anything deliberate; as long as the two of them stayed together, the numbers would jump up every now and then.
The frequency of the affection jumps wasn't fast, but the timing of each jump was extremely subtle.
In galgame mechanics, this was called "passive affection accumulation." It usually only triggered after affection broke through a certain threshold, and the trigger condition was generally a key plot event. These key plot events often only had two options, which were to let you choose whether to go inside or stay outside.
Although they hadn't experienced that key plot event with Hundred Bones Resonating yet, they had at least gone through the kissing event.
A single kiss could achieve such an effect... Perhaps it should be said that Emperor Bai was too innocent?
Such a powerful body, yet so innocent—it was just too unfair!!
Gu Chengming thought to himself.
Of course, besides the affection level, there were actually some new changes.
Specifically, on the CG panel, one slot in the skill bar that was originally labeled as 【Locked】 had changed to 【Unlocked】.
The initial form of "Emperor Bai, aid me" was back, with a multiplier of about double.
Gu Chengming tentatively activated it. Although it hadn't fully returned to its strongest state, that feeling of synchronization with his body had indeed returned.
He was just about to be happy when his peripheral vision caught Hundred Bones Resonating sitting opposite him, and his heart couldn't help but sink.
The outline of Hundred Bones Resonating's right fingertips was a bit blurrier than yesterday, like the edge of a painting that had been slightly bled by water.
The girl was looking down, examining her own fingers with a slight frown. Seeming to notice Gu Chengming's gaze, she quickly looked up, clenched her fist, and tilted her chin toward him.
"Emperor Gu, where are we going today?"
Gu Chengming looked at her, putting the two things together, and a sense of unease grew in his heart.
The answer was almost self-evident: Hundred Bones Resonating's power was flowing back to her source—or even more seriously, it might be flowing back to Hundred Bones Resonating of Love.
They were originally existences from the same source. The current Hundred Bones Resonating was more like a temporarily separated branch, and the main river was now reabsorbing it.
Gu Chengming didn't voice this guess because he knew Hundred Bones Resonating felt it too.
Over the next two days, Gu Chengming's guess was gradually verified.
The CG's unlocking speed wasn't fast, with the progress increasing by a few points every few hours. Gu Chengming's authorization to call upon Hundred Bones Resonating's techniques was slowly being restored.
At the same time, Hundred Bones Resonating's body was also bit by bit becoming transparent.
It started with her fingertips, then spread to her wrist. By the end, her entire right arm had become faint enough that the rock wall behind it could be vaguely seen from certain angles.
Hundred Bones Resonating didn't mention it, but her behavior betrayed her growing anxiety.
The girl began to look at her hand more frequently, rubbing her fingers, clenching her fist and then releasing it, as if confirming that something was still there.
When eating spirit flowers, she no longer carelessly swallowed them one by one as before. Instead, she would hold a spirit flower before her eyes to examine it for a moment before putting it in her mouth.
She would occasionally stop suddenly while walking, looking down at her own footprints.
The print left by her right foot on the sand was half as shallow as the left one. In another day, she might not even leave a trace behind.
Hundred Bones Resonating stared at that shallow footprint, her lips pressed into a line. Then she lifted her foot and stepped on it firmly, as if that could make it deeper. Afterward, she continued forward as if nothing had happened, her steps slightly larger than before, as if she wanted to use speed to shake off those increasingly shallow tracks behind her.
Finally, night arrived.
The two rested in a wind-sheltered cave. Hundred Bones Resonating sat leaning against the stone wall, her knees curled up, her chin resting on her knees. Her white hair hung down on both sides, obscuring most of her face.
She suddenly spoke: "Emperor Gu, if the one staying by your side was a stronger version of me..."
Her voice was muffled, mostly blocked by her knees and hair. It didn't sound like she was asking a question, but more like stating a fact she had been thinking about for a long time.
She didn't continue after getting halfway through.
Hundred Bones Resonating might not be clear about the situation with "Hundred Bones Resonating of Love," but her intuition told her what was happening.
Her power was flowing back, and the destination of that flow was her other self.
【The 《Huiyuan Sword Manual》 is quite worried. Although it doesn't particularly like other techniques that compete for affection, it doesn't want Hundred Bones Resonating to disappear like this.】
【The 《Red Dust Phantom Step》: Daoist Gu, we must find a way.】
Just as Gu Chengming was about to say something, a system prompt he had never seen before suddenly popped up.
【Hundred Bones Resonating CG [Redacted], Unlock Condition: ?】
The name of the CG was obscured, and the unlock condition was also a question mark.
But the timing of its appearance was too coincidental—so coincidental that Gu Chengming almost immediately realized the significance of this CG.
This was Hundred Bones Resonating's final CG.
In the galgame system, the final CG represented the conclusion of a love interest's personal route. It was the convergence point of all plotlines and the final stroke of a character's arc.
Once unlocked, the character's existence would no longer depend on any external conditions but would be "confirmed" by the system itself.
In other words, as long as this CG was unlocked, Hundred Bones Resonating would not disappear.
She would continue to exist in a form permanently recognized by the system—not as a technique, not as an appendage of the Love form, but as herself.
Gu Chengming stared at that question mark for a long time, then closed the panel and turned to look at Hundred Bones Resonating.
The white-haired girl still maintained her curled-up posture, her face buried between her knees, unknown if she was asleep or pretending to be.
Her semi-transparent right hand hung at her side, her fingertips glowing faintly in the darkness as if they could melt into the air at any moment.
"Emperor Bai," Gu Chengming's voice came: "I won't let you disappear."
Silence followed for two breaths.
A muffled voice came from between her knees: "This Emperor won't disappear. This Emperor is a Heavenly Emperor. How could a Heavenly Emperor disappear?"
Gu Chengming reached out and rubbed her head. The girl found it quite pleasant.
【Hundred Bones Resonating Affection: 460/Until Death Do Us Part】
...
At the same time, in another part of the secret realm, at the edge of the Fourth Realm area.
Yu Wenqiu squatted on a dead iron birch tree, the perception range of her Heavenly Eye spread out before her. The purple spiritual light at her brow flickered unsteadily, like a lamp nearly out of oil.
The Heavenly Eye was originally a technique with high consumption. Compared to others, Yu Wenqiu's spiritual power reserves might be considered abundant, but they were truly insufficient before this technique.
From this perspective, calling her "Big Yu Cat" was indeed correct. After all, besides reading storybooks, Elder Yu couldn't sustain anything for more than ten minutes.
"Cut off again." She clicked her tongue, retracted her divine ability, and rubbed her temples.
The interference from the Royal Court's spiritual veins was getting stronger. The effective perception distance the Heavenly Eye could maintain had shrunk from dozens of miles to less than ten, and the signal was intermittent.
Finding Gu Chengming was becoming increasingly difficult.
She changed her posture; squatting on one foot for too long had made her knee a bit sore.
The distant sky was still that oppressive crimson-gold. Since the establishment of the Royal Court, this sky hadn't shown any other color, making one's heart feel heavy after looking at it for long.
Yu Wenqiu fished out a piece of dry rations from her sleeve and took a couple of bites. Her spiritual power consumption was too high, and physical hunger followed suit.
A cultivator at her level shouldn't have to worry about a meal, but the spiritual energy in the secret realm had been mostly sucked away by the Royal Court, making fasting difficult.
Life was harder than working the night shift back at the sect.
"Elder Yu." Su Qingmeng's voice came from behind: "I have an idea."
Yu Wenqiu turned her head. Su Qingmeng stood under the tree, her hand resting on her sword hilt, and said: "The Heavenly Eye's perception uses spiritual power fluctuations as a medium, so it's easily interfered with by the spiritual veins."
"But sword intent is different. The remnants of sword intent are attached to the physical level and don't travel through spiritual vein channels."
"I've practiced with Daoist Gu for a long time and am very familiar with the characteristics of his sword intent."
"If he has used a sword in the secret realm, I can identify him from the residual sword intent."
Yu Wenqiu raised an eyebrow. She admitted this line of thinking was indeed clever. The Heavenly Eye was a wide-range scan—accurate but easily interfered with—while sword intent tracking was a directional search—small range but unaffected by spiritual veins. If the two cooperated—
"You set the direction, and I'll scan the range?" Su Qingmeng nodded.
Yu Wenqiu jumped down from the tree and clapped her hands: "Alright, let's try."
Their cooperation wasn't smooth at first. Yu Wenqiu's Heavenly Eye required a calm mind and focus, while Su Qingmeng's sword intent tracking required moving and searching. One needed to stop, the other needed to go; their rhythms were completely mismatched.
On the first day, the two circled a withered forest three times. Yu Wenqiu tripped over tree roots twice, and Su Qingmeng stood in place several times waiting for Yu Wenqiu to finish her technique.
"Elder Yu, is it ready?"
"Wait a bit more, almost locked on—it broke. Start over."
"..."
The second day was much better.
The two types of perception worked alternately, covering a range nearly double what they could achieve individually.
"There are traces here." Su Qingmeng suddenly stopped, her fingertips lightly tracing through the air.
Yu Wenqiu immediately followed, the Heavenly Eye locking onto that area.
"Direction is toward the southeast." She confirmed: "There's no spiritual pressure from Royal Court projections around."
"The specific location seems to be... the Fallen Immortal Abyss?"
"Let's go."
...
Things began to get complicated on the second afternoon.
While crossing a dry riverbed, the two ran into a group of cultivators being hunted by three projections.
Seven or eight people were running until they were out of breath, their realms ranging from the Second to the Third Realm. The remnants of different sect emblems on their clothes showed they were clearly a group of stragglers who had temporarily banded together.
Yu Wenqiu paused, glancing back at Su Qingmeng. The latter looked back at her expressionlessly, her meaning clear: you decide.
Fourth Realm spiritual pressure spread out, three sword lights pierced through the air, and the three projections were completely annihilated within half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
The rescued cultivators slumped to the ground, gasping for air: "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior!"
"Which sect is Senior from?"
Yu Wenqiu waved her hand: "No need for thanks. You all should quickly each—"
Before she could finish, shouts came from upstream again. Another group was being chased by projections.
Yu Wenqiu stepped in again, cut down the projections, and then turned to leave.
These people didn't dare to wander far and couldn't find a safe place to stay, so they naturally all relied on staying by Yu Wenqiu's side.
"Senior, can we follow you?" "Exactly, it's so safe with a Fourth Realm expert around!"
"Senior, please take us with you!"
Yu Wenqiu looked around at the nearly hundred people crowded around her, her expression quite interesting.
—I just wanted to find someone, how did I become the leader of a gang?
【System Prompt: Yu Wenqiu has obtained the title "Leader of the Resistance"】
This prompt obviously didn't exist, but Yu Wenqiu felt that if it did, it would have popped up at this moment.
She took a deep breath and looked at the crowd.
Disciples from various major sects were mixed in—some from the Wanfa Sect, some from the Tianji Pavilion. The oldest were barely in their early twenties, and the youngest looked like a yellow-haired girl who had just reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Every one of them was covered in dust and looked miserable, but their eyes held a streak of unyielding spirit.
Yu Wenqiu sighed.
As the scale of the group expanded, their marching speed naturally slowed down. While leading this group to move, Yu Wenqiu continued to cooperate with Su Qingmeng to track Gu Chengming's traces.
The two goals were originally contradictory, but Yu Wenqiu soon discovered an unexpected benefit.
With more people, there were more sources of information. Although these disciples' cultivation wasn't high, they had been scattered across the secret realm longer than she had. They had a considerable understanding of the Royal Court projections' patrol routes, the blind spots of spiritual vein coverage, and even the topographical changes of various areas.
A Tianji Pavilion disciple pulled out a simple map he had drawn: "Here, here, and here are the intervals between projection patrols. Every half hour, there's about a fifteen-minute window."
Another Wanfa Sect disciple added: "There's a spiritual vein crack at the boundary between the Fourth Realm and Third Realm areas. The Royal Court's crimson-gold spiritual veins stop there; they can't seem to cross it."
Yu Wenqiu's ears perked up: "They can't cross?"
"Yes, we saw it when we passed by earlier. The crimson-gold spiritual veins spread to the edge of the crack and seem to be blocked by something. Those projections are also unwilling to approach that area."
Yu Wenqiu and Su Qingmeng looked at each other.
An area projections didn't want to approach, an area spiritual veins couldn't cover.
They didn't hesitate and led the group toward that direction that very day.
They reached the destination at dusk. The color of the crimson-gold dome was noticeably dimmer in this area. The light of the spiritual veins stopped about thirty zhang ahead, like a tide hitting a dam, only able to lick powerlessly at the edge without being able to cross an inch.
Beyond thirty zhang was a completely quiet space.
No crimson-gold spiritual runes, no spiritual pressure from projections, even the air flow was a bit slower than outside.
And right in the center of that space, a scar spanned across the earth.
Calling it a scar wasn't quite accurate. It looked more like a certain sword had slashed down from the heavens, cleaving space itself. The edges of the rift still held a lingering sword intent so sharp it made one's heart turn cold.
Yu Wenqiu stood ten zhang in front of the sword scar, her peach-blossom eyes narrowing slightly.
Su Qingmeng walked closer, stopping five zhang from the sword scar.
Yu Wenqiu nodded. Her Heavenly Eye was actually much more useful here than outside. Without the interference of the crimson-gold spiritual veins, her perception became exceptionally clear.
She delved her divine sense into the depths of the sword scar, trying to trace the origin of this strike. Images emerged in her Heavenly Eye—blurry and distant, as if peering at another era through layers of mist.
She saw a figure standing on this land, holding a sword.
The figure's face couldn't be seen clearly, but the aura surrounding them made Yu Wenqiu's breath stall for a moment.
That was an existence far beyond the Fifth Realm.
Then the figure raised the sword, struck, and the sword fell.
The Heavenly Eye's vision cut off at that moment.
Yu Wenqiu retracted her divine ability and exhaled deeply, thinking to herself that once again, a senior from the Wenjian Sect had been a huge help.
"Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch..."
Su Qingmeng turned to look at her.
Yu Wenqiu explained: "The historical projections in the secret realm are all reconstructed from the residual dao thoughts of ancient great cultivators. But the remnants of some great cultivators are too powerful to be fully contained by the secret realm's rules and can only be preserved in another form."
She pointed to the sword scar at their feet: "This is the trace left by the Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch in this secret realm. It's not a projection, not a remnant thought, but the afterglow of a single strike. The sword intent of this strike is so strong that even the Royal Court's spiritual veins cannot invade it, and the projections don't dare to approach."
Hearing this, the nearly hundred disciples behind them first froze, then erupted into long-suppressed cheers.
"We're safe?" "The projections can't come in?!" "Fantastic!"
Watching these people's excited looks, Yu Wenqiu also felt a sense of relief.
At least they had a temporary foothold. Since this area was unaffected by spiritual vein interference, her Heavenly Eye could function better. Using this as a base to continue searching for Gu Chengming's whereabouts would be several times more efficient than before.
That night, the disciples enjoyed a rare peaceful sleep.
The temperature near the sword scar was a few degrees lower than outside, but it lacked that irritating, sweltering heat of the crimson-gold spiritual veins. Instead, it carried a crisp, cool feeling, like an autumn mountain breeze.
Yu Wenqiu sat by the sword scar keeping watch. Su Qingmeng sat cross-legged three zhang behind her, her long sword resting horizontally on her knees, in a state between sleep and wakefulness.
She suddenly felt that her role as the Leader of the Resistance was quite legitimate.
—If only Little Gu were here too, to let him know that she has her moments of glory too.
...
Edge of the Fallen Immortal Abyss.
Hundred Bones Resonating's left arm had also begun to turn transparent. She sat on a rock, lifting her hands against the remaining light of the sky to compare them. Her right hand was almost completely transparent, while the left had just begun to change, still retaining most of its physical feel.
"Hmph." She lowered her hands, her tone carrying a bit of defiance.
Gu Chengming sat beside her, staring blankly at the system panel.
The CG's unlocking speed was accelerating. Hundred Bones Resonating's technique skills had been restored by nearly seventy percent. This meant that her time as a manifested existence might only have a few days left.
And the unlock condition for that final CG was still a question mark.
【Hundred Bones Resonating CG [Redacted], Unlock Condition: ?】
Gu Chengming went over all the currently known information in his mind.
Affection level 460, Until Death Do Us Part—already the highest level in the system's definition. All prerequisite CGs had been unlocked or were being unlocked.
According to conventional galgame logic, these conditions should have been enough long ago. But the final CG just wouldn't light up. Therefore, the condition wasn't in the system.
The condition was in Hundred Bones Resonating herself.
Gu Chengming turned to look at the white-haired girl beside him. She was using her left hand, which still had a physical feel, to draw circles on the ground out of boredom, humming a tune she had learned from somewhere—completely out of key.
"Emperor Bai."
"Hmm?" Hundred Bones Resonating's finger stopped on the ground. She tilted her head to look at him, a bit confused.
"If you could make one wish," Gu Chengming looked seriously into her eyes, "what would you want most?"
Hundred Bones Resonating opened her mouth.
Many answers flashed through her mind.
Becoming an Emperor, conquering the heavens, being peerless under heaven, standing side-by-side with Emperor Gu above the nine heavens.
These were all things she had once blurted out, each spoken with total confidence and conviction.
But right now, sitting on the edge of this wasteland about to be swallowed by the crimson-gold spiritual veins, feeling her body slowly dissolving, those grand wishes suddenly felt very far away—not as clear as the person before her.
Something new suddenly filled Hundred Bones Resonating's heart.
A sentence reached her lips, but she swallowed it down with effort.
That sentence was too heavy—so heavy she wasn't sure if she had the right to say it, especially in her current state where she might disappear at any moment.
If she said it, it would sound like a final parting word.
Hundred Bones Resonating didn't like parting words.
Parting words were for the weak; a Heavenly Emperor didn't need them.
So she chose the answer that sounded most like her.
She shook her fist: "Wait until I beat that imposter, then I'll come make a wish with Emperor Gu."
...
Finally, let's turn the perspective to our undercover lady.
On the fifth day of Su Qiuzhi's time as a mole, her realm broke through.
This progress would have taken at least half a year of bitter closed-door cultivation in the Hehuan Sect, but she had only used five days, and she hadn't even practiced seriously the whole time.
Su Qiuzhi sat cross-legged on a spiritual-rune stone platform on the outskirts of the Royal Court, her feelings quite complicated.
If this continued, she would become the Royal Court's second-in-command. This undercover job was just too agonizing.
It wasn't physical agony, but mental wavering.
She only needed to provide information about Gu Chengming to that Heavenly Emperor.
Of course, what she provided was all nonsense—trivial scraps like "Daoist Gu prefers light food" or "Daoist Gu has a habit of practicing for one cycle after waking up before washing up." But Hundred Bones Resonating of Love listened intently every time, and even gave rewards afterward—and quite a lot of them.
Su Qiuzhi felt she was probably the most cost-effective information broker in the entire secret realm, selling street-stall goods for sky-high prices.
Even more ridiculous was that as her time in the Royal Court grew longer, her reputation as the Heavenly Emperor's confidante spread further. The cultivators loitering on the outskirts of the Royal Court would proactively make way for her when they saw her coming, and occasionally projections would even clear the path for her.
Su Qiuzhi would occasionally remember her original intention.
—I came here to be a mole.
But every time this thought popped up, it would be pushed back down by another.
—A mole has to stay alive to pass on information.
To stay alive, one needs cultivation; to have cultivation, one needs resources. Where do resources come from?
—Lord Heavenly Emperor, food, please. I'm hungry.
Su Qiuzhi squeezed that pot of crimson-gold spiritual wine in her sleeve that she still hadn't brought herself to throw away and took a deep breath.
Stay steady, Su Qiuzhi. You are a person with a bottom line.
Where that bottom line was, she wouldn't say.
...
That night, a projection brought word: the Heavenly Emperor summoned her.
Su Qiuzhi straightened her clothes and followed the escorting projections through layers of checkpoints, entering the Royal Court's core area again.
Along the way, the projection guards on both sides of the spiritual-rune corridor stepped aside to make way, and a few even bowed their heads slightly.
Su Qiuzhi walked past without changing her expression, her back ramrod straight and her pace steady.
—Her acting had improved by leaps and bounds in these five days. She wondered if she could use this to snag a management position in the sect after returning.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love wasn't sitting on her throne. She was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the high platform, her feet dangling in the air, playing with a spirit stone in her hand. Her posture was as casual as if she were spacing out on the steps of her own backyard.
"You've come. Sit."
Su Qiuzhi sat three zhang away from her. A projection brought spiritual wine; she took it but didn't drink.
She had almost defected after drinking it last time; she had to learn her lesson this time.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love didn't care whether she drank or not. Her gaze fell on the edge of the distant crimson-gold sky, and she suddenly spoke.
She spoke of things she had experienced with Gu Chengming, some past events, and things Gu Chengming had said.
Su Qiuzhi suddenly felt like she had touched the edge of something.
This Heavenly Emperor before her didn't just appear out of thin air. Those memories she spoke of were too specific; they didn't sound like hearsay, but more like personal experiences.
But if she was the one who had experienced them, then what was the relationship between her and the people around Gu Chengming?
As they chatted more, a certain guess in Su Qiuzhi's heart became more certain: there was someone by Gu Chengming's side she didn't know about, someone who looked exactly like this Heavenly Emperor and shared the same memories.
A white-haired red-faced confidante.
—She was what that person would look like "in the future."
Once Su Qiuzhi understood this layer, looking back at all this Heavenly Emperor's actions, the puzzle pieces suddenly clicked into place.
All her actions—building the Royal Court, conquering the heavens, searching for an Imperial Consort—were essentially her own way of expressing the feelings that the "confidante" by Gu Chengming's side didn't dare to admit.
Thinking of this, Su Qiuzhi asked cautiously: "If the Heavenly Emperor truly keeps Gu Chengming by her side... then what?"
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love was silent for a moment, then laughed breezily: "Then she'll have no more excuses to keep running away."
Su Qiuzhi suddenly felt her position had become delicate.
She was a mole; her goal was to pass information to Gu Chengming to help him deal with the Royal Court's threat.
But what if the master of the Royal Court wasn't a threat from the start? What if this whole grand Heavenly Emperor play was just an incredibly clumsy confession from beginning to end?
Su Qiuzhi tilted her head back and drained the remaining wine in her cup.
—Dammit, I came here to be a mole. Why don't you say something about a conspiracy involving the heavens or the Great Dao?
Who wants to hear you talk about this!
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Bitter wine enters the throat, and the heart aches.
...
At the same time, in the outside world, Floating Islet City.
Floating Islet City's city-protecting array had been running continuously for six days. The spiritual light flowing in the array runes had gradually faded from its original deep blue and now showed a faint grayish-white.
The outer realm sky demons had not retreated. Fifth Realm great cultivators took turns sitting at the array core. Shen Qianqiu, Zhongli Yuan, and the sect masters of the Wanfa Sect and Tianji Pavilion were on a roster, each guarding for four hours.
Inside the Guanlan Pavilion's council hall, the Mohist Sect's Grand Elder Liu Chongji stood before the completely blackened water mirror and spoke in a deep voice: "The disciples' soul projections are being assimilated."
"After the secret realm was taken over by the Royal Court, the soul stability mechanism originally maintained by the Mohist spiritual veins failed. The Royal Court provided alternative spiritual energy, but that crimson-gold spiritual energy is incompatible with the disciples' spiritual power attributes."
"The soul projections will be gradually eroded and rewritten, eventually merging with the secret realm's law structure."
"What does 'merging' mean?" Zhongli Yuan of the Taiyi Sword Sect pressed.
"It means they will become a part of the secret realm." Liu Chongji's voice sank, "They will never return."
The hall fell into silence.
This was scarier than death. Death was at least an end. What did becoming a part of the secret realm mean?
It meant your soul was still there, your consciousness might still exist, but you were no longer yourself. You would become a strand of spiritual energy flowing in the spiritual veins, a parameter in the operation of laws, a brick in this cage itself.
"How much time is left?" Shen Qianqiu asked.
"According to the current rate of assimilation—" Liu Chongji closed his eyes: "Seven days."
...
In Ji Yixi's residence, the spiritual lamps were dim.
Her perception state of the Great Record had been maintained for too long. The situation inside the secret realm was changing every moment; the Royal Court's spiritual veins were still expanding, and the games between various forces continued to advance.
And she was the only one in Floating Islet City capable of piercing through the spiritual vein interference to observe the interior of the secret realm.
In these three days, she had discovered two things.
The first concerned the timing. The Royal Court's spiritual vein operation was not a monolith.
Every day at the Hour of the Dragon, when Hundred Bones Resonating of Love released the "Grace," the crimson-gold spiritual energy would spread evenly from the Royal Court core to the entire secret realm. This process required her to disperse her own power to every terminal of the entire spiritual vein network.
Dispersion meant dilution. During the roughly fifteen minutes the Grace lasted, the defenses of the Royal Court core area would drop to about thirty percent of their usual strength. The projections' reaction speed would slow down, the precision of spiritual vein perception would decrease, and even the strength of the spatial lock would fluctuate.
This was the only window to approach Hundred Bones Resonating of Love.
The second thing concerned the Red Dust Immortal. The Royal Court's crimson-gold spiritual veins covered over ninety percent of the secret realm. On the surface, the entire spiritual vein network operated smoothly, but at the very bottom of the network, in the deep crevices where the crimson-gold light couldn't reach, Ji Yixi's Great Record captured a layer of karmic weaving that was almost merged with the secret realm's foundation.
But it wasn't part of the secret realm, nor was it laid by Hundred Bones Resonating of Love.
—The Inverse Cause Lotus.
The Red Dust Immortal's handiwork.
The parasitic seed wouldn't activate on its own. It just lay quietly at the bottom of the secret realm, breathing with the spiritual veins and rising and falling with the laws. While Hundred Bones Resonating of Love controlled the secret realm, it was completely invisible, consuming no energy and producing no fluctuations.
It had only one trigger condition: a second transfer of control over the secret realm.
After triggering, it would follow the karmic channels pre-buried by the Red Dust Immortal to transmit these powers to the Inverse Cause Lotus.
Once the Inverse Cause Lotus was repaired, the Red Dust Immortal could once again activate Huichuan.
And this time, he wouldn't make the same mistake.
Ji Yixi condensed this discovery into a karmic mark as well.
"After defeating the master of the Royal Court, do not lower your guard. That person—"
Next was the problem of transmission.
The passage between the secret realm and the outside world had been blocked by the Royal Court, and all conventional communication methods had failed. But the essence of the Great Record was "observation," and observation itself would build a karmic connection between the observer and the observed.
This connection was as thin as spider silk, so fragile that the slightest external force would break it, but it did exist.
Ji Yixi condensed the information in the jade slip into the most concise karmic mark and sent it out along that thin line.
Whether it succeeded, she couldn't confirm.
But with Gu Chengming's level of sharpness, he should be able to receive it.
After sending out the mark, Ji Yixi's fingertips trembled slightly. Establishing that thin karmic line had almost exhausted her remaining spiritual power reserves; she was currently so weak she even struggled to stand up.
She leaned against the back of her chair and rested with her eyes closed for a moment, then suddenly gave a bitter smile.
—I've done everything I could. The rest is up to him.
The sky outside the window was already brightening; it was another night without sleep. The spiritual lamp finally exhausted its last bit of spiritual power, the flame went out, and the residence fell into the deepest darkness before dawn.
...
Edge of the Fallen Immortal Abyss.
Gu Chengming woke up before dawn with a blurry message lingering in his mind. He had successfully received Ji Yixi's message.
"After defeating the master of the Royal Court, do not lower your guard. That person—"
"That person" obviously referred to the Red Dust Immortal; there could be no one else.
"Do not lower your guard after defeating the master of the Royal Court," because defeating the master meant a transfer of control, and a transfer of control would trigger the parasitic seed.
In other words, he wasn't facing one battle, but two.
And the interval between these two battles might only be an instant.
Gu Chengming turned to look beside him. Hundred Bones Resonating was curled up by the stone wall, her white hair scattered on the ground, her arms hugging her knees. The morning light shone through the rock crevices onto her; her right arm and half of her shoulder were almost transparent, allowing the grey texture of the stone wall behind to be clearly seen.
With just him and Hundred Bones Resonating, even if they used the Grace window to approach the Royal Court core, it would be impossible to deal with Hundred Bones Resonating of Love and the parasitic seed simultaneously.
He needed help.
And help was currently looking for him.
...
Inside the sword scar area of the Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch, Yu Wenqiu sat cross-legged at the edge, the purple light of the Heavenly Eye flickering at her brow.
This area, unaffected by spiritual vein interference, allowed her divine ability to return to its peak state, her perception range expanding back to dozens of miles.
Su Qingmeng's sword intent tracking had locked onto Gu Chengming's latest position two hours ago—a collapsed zone at the southeast edge of the Fallen Immortal Abyss. The residual sword intent was no more than half a day old, indicating he was still active nearby.
Yu Wenqiu's Heavenly Eye extended in that direction, passing through the wasteland, rift valleys, and gravel belts—two figures were moving quickly along a dry waterway.
The one in front was Gu Chengming. Although his Wenjian Sect cultivator's robes were so dirty their original color couldn't be seen, he was unmistakable. Beside him was a girl with white hair and white training robes, looking exactly like the Heavenly Emperor she had previously seen sitting on the bone throne when peering into the Royal Court with her Heavenly Eye.
Yu Wenqiu retracted her Heavenly Eye and stood up.
"Found him?" Su Qingmeng asked.
Yu Wenqiu drew her Dharma Sword, pouring spiritual power into the blade, and the sword light extended three feet.
"The white-haired one is there too."
Su Qingmeng's hand also moved to her sword hilt.
...
Gu Chengming sensed the newcomers at a gravel beach at the end of the waterway.
Fourth Realm spiritual pressure, completely undisguised, approaching extremely fast.
Just as he was about to pull Hundred Bones Resonating to hide, a sword light slashed down from the sky, accurately pinning itself into the ground between him and Hundred Bones Resonating, sending gravel flying.
Yu Wenqiu landed from the sword light, her peach-blossom eyes half-squinted, her Dharma Sword held horizontally before her, the blade pointing directly at Hundred Bones Resonating.
Immediately following, a second figure landed to Yu Wenqiu's side and rear. Su Qingmeng, her long sword already unsheathed, her sword intent like frost.
Hundred Bones Resonating was startled, and then she also bristled: "?!"
The girl thought to herself: Is this that maid of Emperor Gu's?! She truly has been possessed by an evil cultivator, to dare point a sword at this Emperor!
Gu Chengming held back Hundred Bones Resonating with one hand and made a "calm down" gesture toward Yu Wenqiu with the other, his posture looking exactly like a neighborhood committee auntie mediating a dispute.
The two sides confronted each other across Gu Chengming, their spiritual pressure and aura clashing. The man in the middle took heat from both sides, his head aching terribly.
Su Qingmeng stood behind. Although her hand was still on her sword hilt, her gaze had turned from wary to scrutinizing. She was observing Hundred Bones Resonating—this white-haired girl's residual sword intent had a certain resonance with Gu Chengming's sword intent she had tracked before, and the other party indeed held no hostility, though her mouth was very blunt.
"Elder Yu." Su Qingmeng spoke in a low voice: "She has no malice."
Yu Wenqiu glanced at Su Qingmeng, then looked at Gu Chengming's expression that seemed about to crack on the spot, and finally retracted her Dharma Sword reluctantly.
The explanation that followed took Gu Chengming about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
He couldn't say Hundred Bones Resonating was a manifestation of a technique, so he could only state vaguely that she was a "karmic variable triggered by Huichuan," sharing the same source as the Royal Court's Heavenly Emperor but with a completely different stance, and was currently helping him deal with the secret realm crisis.
The group returned to the camp in the sword scar area of the Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch. When Gu Chengming arrived, nearly a hundred disciples were scattered in groups of two or three near the sword scar resting. Seeing Yu Wenqiu return with people, they all cast curious glances.
"Who's that white-haired one?" "Could it be that Heavenly Emperor from the Royal Court?!" "Don't panic, don't panic. Elder Yu brought her back, so she shouldn't be an enemy, right?" "But she looks too similar—"
Hundred Bones Resonating didn't care about these gazes at all. Instead, she puffed out her chest and looked around with quite a bit of satisfaction: "Not bad, Emperor Gu still has so many elite troops under his command."
Ignoring Hundred Bones Resonating's words, Gu Chengming informed Yu Wenqiu and Su Qingmeng of all the information he currently possessed.
After the information summary ended, Gu Chengming proposed a general framework for action.
Tomorrow at the Hour of the Dragon, they would use the Grace window to break into the Royal Court core. He and Hundred Bones Resonating would be responsible for dealing with Hundred Bones Resonating of Love directly, while Yu Wenqiu would lead the resistance to pin down the projections on the periphery, buying them time.
When Gu Chengming reached this point, he looked down at the Dad Coin in the system panel.
【Dad Coins - Inverse Cause Lotus (Completed)】
He still didn't know how to use this thing, but it didn't matter.
Key items in a galgame would pop up and provide usage instructions when entering an important route choice!
In a corner of the system panel, another CG prompt was also flashing quietly.
【CG Love Infinite / Unlock Condition: ?】
The question mark remained, but Gu Chengming was no longer anxious.
The answer to this question mark wasn't in the system, nor was it on any pre-established script line.
It was in tomorrow, in the ending he would write with his own hands.
...
Hour of the Dragon.
The crimson-gold sky brightened for an instant; the Grace arrived as scheduled.
At the same moment the spiritual energy spread from the Royal Court core to the entire realm, Yu Wenqiu opened her eyes.
"Move."
The three groups launched simultaneously.
The east route of thirty people flanked from the side, casting spells in unison with overlapping spiritual light. They advanced alternately according to a pre-arranged formation. Their offensive wasn't enough to hurt the Fourth Realm projections, but the commotion was large enough to make it impossible to judge their actual numbers for a moment. Another team cut in from an intersection along a patrol interval they had mapped out over the previous days, detonating dozens of pre-buried spirit-explosion talismans, turning half the sky red.
The reaction of the projection army was slower than expected; their movement speed indeed dropped a notch during the Grace period.
But numbers were still an issue. Dozens of Fourth Realm projections gathered from all over, stacking three layers of spiritual light barriers on the frontal interception line. The pressure was heavy. Yu Wenqiu stood at the very front of the main group, her Dharma Sword held horizontally, her Fourth Realm spiritual pressure fully unleashed.
The disciples behind her watched the dark formation of projections before them, their voices trembling: "Elder Yu, so many Fourth Realm projections, we—"
Yu Wenqiu didn't answer. She retracted her Dharma Sword, lifted her left hand, and held her palm forward.
The purple light of the Heavenly Eye condensed at her brow, but this time, she wasn't using it to see.
The essence of the Heavenly Eye was "Observation" and "Transference."
Transference was a high-level use of the Fourth Realm Heavenly Eye. Yu Wenqiu had never used it in actual combat before because the cost was too high—each use would significantly damage her divine sense—but today there was no room to feel distressed.
A light pattern like a vertical pupil emerged at Yu Wenqiu's brow. The Heavenly Eye operated at full power, pulling out that sword scar carved into the deepest part of her memory.
Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch. A semi-transparent sword scar emerged from the air before her.
The projection array stopped the moment the sword scar appeared. The status suppression contained in that sword intent caused all these ancient projections to freeze in place, their weapons raised but not daring to strike.
The originally airtight interception array was cleaved open by the sword scar, creating a ten-zhang-wide passage. The corners of Yu Wenqiu's mouth quirked up.
A nosebleed flowed from her left nostril. She wiped it with her sleeve and tilted her chin toward the passage.
"The path is open!"
Su Qingmeng immediately followed, her Dharma Sword unsheathed, her sword intent spreading to both sides of the passage, forcing back the projections trying to close the gap by half a step.
"I'll hold the opening for the Elder." Su Qingmeng's tone remained calm: "Elder, continue to maintain the sword scar."
Yu Wenqiu nodded without wasting words.
She knew she couldn't hold on for long; the consumption of the Transference was swallowing her divine sense at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Her temples throbbed violently, and the edges of her vision had begun to turn black, but it would be enough as long as she could hold on for these fifteen minutes.
At the end of the passage was the Royal Court core. Two figures flashed past her side, charging deep into the passage.
It was Gu Chengming and Hundred Bones Resonating.
Half of Hundred Bones Resonating's body was already transparent, but she ran half a step faster than Gu Chengming. Watching that white-haired girl use her only remaining physical half to block occasional stray arrows from both sides of the passage for Gu Chengming while cursing "mere thieves dare to block this Emperor," Yu Wenqiu suddenly felt like she had lost again.
Wait, no, now was not the time to think about that.
Yu Wenqiu gritted her teeth, pouring all her focus back into maintaining the Heavenly Eye. The purple light wavered at her brow, and the sword scar flickered in the air.
The nearly hundred disciples behind her dispersed to both wings of the passage under Su Qingmeng's command, using their own methods to firmly hold back the projection army.
...
Passing through the passage, passing through the outer defense line.
The spiritual-rune corridor leading to the Royal Court core was much quieter than outside. Crimson-gold light patterns flowed underfoot, and the spiritual-rune patterns on the walls were orderly and solemn.
But the air was filled with the residual warmth from the dispersion of the Grace spiritual energy, like walking into a room where the furnace fire had just been extinguished.
At the first corner of the corridor, Su Qiuzhi leaned against the wall waiting.
She wore the Royal Court's standard robes, with the token of the Heavenly Emperor's confidante hanging at her waist, and two escorting projections following behind her. She didn't even change her posture when she heard the footsteps, only lifting her eyelids.
At the end of the corridor, two figures burst through the spiritual-rune light screen.
The projections guarding the corridor immediately turned, raising their weapons—Su Qiuzhi immediately spoke: "The Heavenly Emperor has ordered to let them pass."
The projections hesitated for a moment, looked at the token at Su Qiuzhi's waist, retracted their weapons, and stepped back to their positions.
Gu Chengming stepped out from behind the light screen, and the two looked at each other.
Su Qiuzhi didn't say much. Her gaze slid over Gu Chengming and fell on Hundred Bones Resonating behind him.
Half of the white-haired girl's body was already transparent, her left hand clenched into a fist. Su Qiuzhi's lips moved slightly.
She had spent these days in the Royal Court, seen with her own eyes Hundred Bones Resonating of Love sitting on the bone throne, and heard with her own ears those memories of Gu Chengming. This fading white-haired girl before her was the owner of those memories.
She wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn't speak.
Gu Chengming looked at Su Qiuzhi in this outfit, his brain failing to process it for a moment.
—Wait, sister, what's with this outfit?
But seeing that the other party was helping him, Gu Chengming quickly realized some things and hurriedly offered a word of thanks.
As for what exactly had happened, he would listen to her explanation later.
Su Qiuzhi said vaguely: "Don't thank me. About that dual cultivation thing later—" Gu Chengming had already rushed out with Hundred Bones Resonating.
"Hey! I'm not finished yet!"
The two figures disappeared into the depths of the corridor. Su Qiuzhi stood in place, her expression hard to describe as either anger or helplessness.
She looked down at the token at her waist, then looked toward the end of the passage.
Su Qiuzhi sighed and turned to walk in the opposite direction.
The disciples outside were fighting for their lives, and the projections could return to the core area at any moment. She had to stall for as long as she could in the corridor.
After all, she was the Heavenly Emperor's confidante.
—One last shift in the system; she'd stand it well before leaving.
...
Royal Court core.
The crimson-gold spiritual runes spread into a net underfoot. On the high platform, the bone throne was nowhere to be seen, replaced by an Imperial Seat condensed from pure laws.
There were no guards, no projections, even the light of the spiritual runes was dimmer than in the corridor.
This didn't look like an Emperor's palace, but more like a room that had been deliberately cleared, as if the owner had long known guests would arrive today and had cleared away the obstructive things in advance.
The air was filled with a faint crimson-gold spiritual energy, warm but not burning, like autumn afternoon sunlight on the body.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love sat upon it, resting her head on one hand.
Her gaze crossed the empty hall and fell on the two figures walking in from the entrance.
Hundred Bones Resonating walked half a step ahead of Gu Chengming, her arms spread to block him behind her.
"You've come." Hundred Bones Resonating of Love stood up from the Imperial Seat, her crimson-gold spiritual pressure slowly spreading: "Half a day earlier than this Emperor anticipated."
Her gaze moved from Hundred Bones Resonating to Gu Chengming, lingering for two breaths.
Then, she struck out boldly!
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love didn't use her full power.
But not using full power and not being able to kill you were two different things.
As the first punch fell, Hundred Bones Resonating crossed her arms to block. The crimson punch wind pierced through her defense, the aftershock blowing her white hair back. Her feet dragged two deep grooves in the ground, and she only stood firm after being pushed back five zhang.
Gu Chengming's ten flying swords unsheathed simultaneously, his sword domain spreading, the pink light trying to trap Hundred Bones Resonating of Love in place.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love didn't even glance at the sword array.
With a casual wave of her hand, the crimson-gold power of karma surged out like a tide. The ten flying swords spun and were knocked back to their original places.
The gap was too large.
Gu Chengming realized this fact the moment the sword array was knocked away.
Even more troublesome was that she also held part of the secret realm's law authority. Inside the Royal Court core area, she was the rules themselves.
But she indeed wasn't using her full power. Gu Chengming could feel that the power wrapped in those punches was reserved, like an adult arm-wrestling with a child, using just enough strength to win but not enough to break the arm.
Faced with the second punch, Hundred Bones Resonating met it. Her right fist had almost no physical form left, but she still kept it tightly clenched, crimson blood qi condensing on the illusory surface of her fist as she struck out with a head-on blow.
Fists met, and space shattered.
Then Hundred Bones Resonating flew back.
She crashed into the base of the high platform, bone fragments flying everywhere, and she was embedded into the pile of bones.
Gu Chengming rushed forward to pull her out. Hundred Bones Resonating coughed twice, a streak of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, but she was still smiling.
"I'm fine. This Emperor can take it—"
The wind from the third punch had already arrived.
Gu Chengming pulled Hundred Bones Resonating to dodge to the side. The punch wind brushed past them, blasting a two-zhang-square crater into the ground several zhang behind them.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love retracted her fist and tilted her head to look at them.
"What can you take?"
Hundred Bones Resonating wiped the blood from her mouth and glared at her.
"When you encounter a truly powerful enemy, what can you do?"
The fourth punch, the crimson-gold blood qi carrying the afterglow of karmic laws, made space itself creak under the pressure.
Hundred Bones Resonating gritted her teeth and met it, crossing her fists to block. She held for half a breath before being swept up by the punch wind and thrown to the ground, rolling several times before stopping.
Her body was even more transparent than before; the consumption of battle was accelerating her dissolution.
Gu Chengming's sword domain spread again, the ten flying swords forming a formation to try to gain a moment's respite.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love stood outside the formation, in no hurry to strike. She just watched Hundred Bones Resonating crawl up from the ground—using her only remaining left hand to push off the ground, her knees shaking as she forced herself to stand straight.
"You can do nothing. You can't even keep your own body." Hundred Bones Resonating of Love took another step closer.
"You will only stand before him with arms spread, and then you will protect nothing."
"Is this all you can give him?"
Hundred Bones Resonating's fists clenched, and despair gradually flowed into her eyes.
Then Gu Chengming moved.
He retracted his sword domain, and all ten flying swords returned to their sheaths.
Hundred Bones Resonating turned to look at him, stunned.
Gu Chengming closed his eyes, beginning to mobilize everything he could use in his body.
Dad Coin: Taixu Sword. Dad Coin: Tianji Deduction.
Then, he swallowed all the things he had prepared beforehand in one go, and Gu Chengming activated them without hesitation.
His meridians, which had been drained of spiritual power, were instantly filled. His blood qi boiled again, and his internal organs, which had been injured by the punch wind, were restored as if they had never been hurt through the reversal of karma.
He was in peak condition, but it wasn't enough.
The sword domain of the Huiyuan Sword Manual spread to its limit, the Qingxin Art stabilized his mind, the Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art reinforced his foundation, and the Red Dust Phantom Step tightly retracted his aura.
Countless medicinal powers tore through his meridians.
Then—
"Emperor Bai, aid me."
He had originally planned to use this after being fully prepared, but the plan had been completely disrupted.
Blood qi was forcibly extracted from his four limbs and hundred bones, poured into his fists. His meridians began to crack under the overload, and the spiritual power vortex in his dantian poured out at ten times the speed, shaking his foundation.
The skin on his arms dried and cracked, veins bulged, and his bones emitted cracking sounds under the pressure.
Within a few breaths, Gu Chengming could already be described as a "wreck."
This wasn't the Laboratory of Love. In that room, he could start over if he died, but here, no one could say what would happen after death.
Then, Hundred Bones Resonating saw it. She saw the cracks spreading down his arms, the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, and the rapid decay of his young body under the cost.
Her pupils dilated sharply. The girl pounced forward, grabbing his wrist with her only remaining left hand.
That hand was already semi-transparent, almost unable to grip a solid object.
"Stop quickly!"
Gu Chengming didn't stop. He turned to look at Hundred Bones Resonating. The white-haired girl's face was full of panic, tears swirling in her eyes, but because her body was too illusory, even the tears became semi-transparent points of light.
Gu Chengming smiled.
He remembered the question Hundred Bones Resonating had asked before.
"If the one staying by your side was a stronger version of me..."
"Just as I said—" his voice was very light, the taste of blood already rising in his throat, but his tone was incredibly steady, "I don't need a stronger Hundred Bones Resonating."
Hundred Bones Resonating froze.
Then he smiled and said jokingly:
"If the one following me to conquer the heavens isn't you—"
"Then I don't mind slaughtering through these nine heavens and ten earths."
Hundred Bones Resonating stared at him blankly.
Tears finally fell. The semi-transparent points of light slid down her cheeks, turning into fine light like dust in the air.
She wanted to say something, her lips moving several times, but she couldn't make a sound.
Because she finally understood.
It wasn't that I need you because you are strong, or that I choose you because you can help me.
It's you, you, so it must be you.
And Gu Chengming had already said this countless times.
A Heavenly Emperor doesn't cry. A Heavenly Emperor is invincible in the world; why would she shed tears?
But she wasn't a Heavenly Emperor.
She was just a fool who liked someone but had never dared to admit it.
【CG Love Infinite, Unlocked.】
【Description: Hundred Bones Resonating has finally recognized her feelings for you.】
【Pour all affection into this one punch.】
Hundred Bones Resonating grabbed Gu Chengming's hand.
Her only remaining left hand was almost transparent enough to be invisible, and the touch from her fingertips felt like holding a wisp of smoke about to dissipate.
But she held it tighter than ever before.
"Emperor Gu."
Her voice no longer trembled.
Tears still hung on her face, but her gaze became bright again—that arrogant brightness that belonged to Hundred Bones Resonating.
"I love you."
She took a step forward, her figure overlapping with Gu Chengming's.
Her semi-transparent body turned into white light, gathering from her limbs toward the center, flowing up Gu Chengming's arm and merging into his meridians.
It felt like someone was hugging him from behind. The moment the white light poured in, the cracks on his arms began to heal.
His dry, cracked skin regained its elasticity, his bulging veins calmed, and his shattered bones were reassembled in the light.
【Hundred Bones Resonating Affection: 500/Until Death Do Us Part】
Light overflowed from within his body. White, warm light. It wasn't the power of blood qi, nor spiritual power, nor sword intent.
It was pure feeling itself, unadulterated by any excuses or disguises.
【CG Love Infinite】: The higher Hundred Bones Resonating's affection for Gu Chengming, the greater the power of this strike.
White light condensed on the surface of his fist. The sword domain of the Huiyuan Sword Manual resonated; the pink light was wrapped, drawn, and merged by the white light. The two colors intertwined on the surface of his fist, finally turning into a light that was neither sword intent nor punch intent.
This wasn't "Emperor Bai, aid me," which was a desperate gamble that burned everything.
This was the power of two people truly becoming one.
Gu Chengming raised his fist, the light illuminating the entire Royal Court core. The crimson-gold spiritual runes paled before the white light.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love stood before him, ten zhang away. She watched the white light overflow from Gu Chengming's fist, watched Hundred Bones Resonating's affection condense into solid power.
She didn't dodge, didn't defend, but instead began to laugh.
"She finally said it." she said softly.
—Love Infinite.
...
The punch fell.
The white light swallowed everything.
The crimson-gold sky trembled and cracked in the white light, the rifts radiating outward from the Royal Court core, spreading to the edges of the secret realm.
Hundred Bones Resonating of Love's figure slowly dissipated in the white light.
Starting from her fingertips, it was exactly the same way Hundred Bones Resonating had dissolved, only in the opposite direction—Hundred Bones Resonating went from solid to illusory, while she went from illusory to light.
She didn't struggle.
When she had dissipated until only her upper body remained, she lifted her hand. The moment her fingertips touched the surface of the fist, the crimson-gold and white merged briefly. Like two rivers that had been separated for a long time, reuniting at the estuary.
Then she hugged Gu Chengming, her remaining body turning into crimson-gold light, flowing in through his shoulders, arms, and chest, merging with the white light that had previously integrated.
White and gold intertwined, circling once deep within his sea of consciousness before settling into peace.
The crimson-gold sky began to collapse.
Fragments fell one after another like faded colored glass. The spiritual veins darkened one by one from the edge of the secret realm to the center, like lamps extinguishing themselves before dawn.
The throne shattered.
The bone high platform collapsed with a crash after losing the support of the spiritual veins, bone fragments scattering everywhere.
Primal God-Realm, Myriad-Law Sovereign, Origin Nine-Heavens, Hundred-Bones Royal Court.
Completely concluded.
Rate on N.U.
