"However, my senior sister's cultivation level is likely to drop by a whole major realm. Her spiritual power is currently weak, and I don't know when she will be able to cultivate it back up."
"This... a higher realm?"
"Yes. She has reached the late stage of the Tribulation Transcending Realm, and is only one Heavenly Tribulation away from passing. If she passes it, she can ascend to the Nine Heavens. It seems that she will have to stay in the lower realm for another thousand or eight hundred years. After all, the spiritual energy in the lower realm is too thin, and the cultivation speed is not as fast as it was ten thousand years ago."
Wei Liao felt a pity, but also a sense of admiration. To give up the opportunity to ascend to seal the evil beast showed that cultivators were not cold-blooded people; they too were willing to sacrifice their lives for righteousness.
"But there's no need to worry. Even if my senior sister drops two more major realms, no one in this world can defeat her."
"Even your master can't? And neither can your third junior sister who came to see you last time?" Wei Liao asked curiously.
Xu Liang rolled his eyes at him, "Why does Master hit us? If we make a mistake, Master can take our lives with just a word, why bother with fighting and killing?"
"Third junior sister, as a sword cultivator, only wants to compete with others using her sword. However, she still cannot comprehend the essence of swordsmanship, so it is impossible for her to defeat senior sister."
"Even you, Celestial Master Xu Liang, can't?"
Xu Liang wished he could cover his mouth and shut up. How could he say such things so casually? Only someone as ignorant as Xu Shang would dare to shout and kill his senior sister every day. In reality, the Cangyun Sect was very harmonious, and the junior brothers and sisters all respected their senior sister. Who would dare to have such a suicidal thought?
They're having a lively conversation here.
The two who were sealing the formation remained completely silent.
Gu Jingjun sighed softly as she watched Xu Yi get involved.
"You shouldn't have come. You can ascend after overcoming the tribulation of love. Why wait another thousand years? The lifespan of a cultivator is long and unpredictable. What's the point?"
"Ha. So you know I'm going through a love tribulation? You're about to die, who am I supposed to help you through? Or do you want me to pray to heaven to find someone else?"
Gu Jingjun remained silent, then gritted her teeth and uttered two words: "No."
"Not allowed? If you die, whether you allow it or not will be out of your control. At worst, I'll switch to the Path of Passion and indulge in the sea of love like my third junior sister. That would be better than staying with you, Miss Gu, and being a widow year after year."
"..."
This has angered the young sword cultivator. She even said she would change her path and start over. Isn't she afraid that the Cangyun Sect Master will wake up immediately and rush over from his cave to beat her up?
A note from the author:
Gu Jingjun hoped Xu Yi would be safe. To her, the life of a cultivator was long; at worst, this cycle would end, and Xu Yi could wait ten or twenty years before seeking her next reincarnation to undergo tribulation. In any case, it would all be hers anyway. Moreover, using one of her own reincarnations to prevent Xu Yi from getting hurt was a very worthwhile thing to do.
In fact, Xu Yi, who was also a cultivator, naturally understood this viewpoint.
However, Xu Yi had fallen in love and could not bear to watch her lover die in front of her. The person Xu Yi loved was Gu Jingjun, and she also loved the same person in every reincarnation.
To her, Gu Yueyue was her lover. Even if this was just a cycle, Gu Yueyue lived briefly as her independent personality. She would not allow Gu Jingjun to end Gu Yueyue's existence too soon.
This is the biggest disagreement between them. To be honest, Gu Jingjun's love for Xu Yi is somewhat selfish.
She didn't want Xu Yi to get hurt, but she never thought about the pain Xu Yi felt watching her die again and again.
Chapter 108
Xu Yi felt her life force draining away; this body probably wouldn't last much longer.
She glanced at the person beside her and smiled faintly.
"Stop right now."
Xu Yi successfully saw the anxious expression on that person's face. At this moment, Xu Yi felt extremely free and smug, even with a secret sense of vengeful pleasure.
However, she soon lost her joy. More than the pleasure of successful revenge, she couldn't bear to see the pain on that person's face.
Xu Yi sighed softly; she hoped this would be the last time.
She didn't want to take revenge on anyone, much less make things difficult for the people she loved, but she had indeed had enough of losing them a thousand times over.
Xu Yi's myriad thoughts lingered in her mind for only a few breaths before she began channeling spiritual energy into her hands without stopping, instead accelerating and intensifying the process.
She casually tossed the Demonic Sword to Xu Liang, who was watching from the sidelines.
"Life and death are preordained. Today, I vow to sacrifice myself for my cause, which can be considered a worthy death!"
Upon hearing Xu Yi's words, not only was Gu Jingjun astonished, but Xu Liang and Wei Liao were also shocked.
"don't want!"
Gu Jingjun shouted his words of protest, but he still couldn't stop Xu Yi.
Xu Yi dodged Gu Jingjun's hand that reached for her. The barrier was right in front of her. Xu Yi chuckled: "Instead of sealing it, it's better to suppress it. The Gu clan is noble and righteous, and the Gu family head is even more admirable. Your Gu family has guarded this formation for generations, and it's time for a break."
"No, please... I beg you."
Gu Jingjun poured all his cultivation into trying to complete the formation before Xu Yi could make a move.
However, Xu Yi had already made thorough preparations and left no room for maneuver. She leaped into the air, sacrificing herself to form an array.
Under the golden light, all the beasts cried out in despair.
The sword energy of the Demonic Sword in Xu Liang's hand poured out, and a dazzling light was drawn out of the dark night.
Thunder rumbled across Cangshan Mountain in winter, and torrential rain poured down.
Another instance of abnormal weather, another erroneous forecast from the Cangshan Meteorological Observatory.
Xu Liang put away the Demonic Sword and went to Gu Jingjun, who was kneeling on the ground.
"Patriarch Gu, Senior Sister has already sacrificed herself. Please... take care." Xu Liang tried to help her up.
Gu Jingjun was pulled up by her force, but his legs were too weak to stand.
The rain intensified, surpassing even the heaviest summer downpours.
Looking at the golden runes that had disappeared in mid-air, and sensing no evil energy in the surrounding air, Wei Liao knew that the formation had succeeded.
He never expected that the fairy who kept saying she hated mortals would actually use her body as a pact to suppress the ferocious beast.
At this moment, his prejudice against monks was completely shattered.
Gu Jingjun tried to connect to the sealing array, but could not detect any aura.
"Impossible. Why would this happen?"
It's just a sealing, something the Gu family heads have done countless times throughout history. Even she herself came here ten thousand years ago to reinforce the seal several times.
The situation is not critical this time, so why should she be willing to risk her life for the cause?
"Patriarch Gu, why don't you go down the mountain and rest for a while?" Xu Liang advised her. This rain was unusual. Gu Jingjun broke free from the shackles of her reincarnation memories, awakened her cultivation ahead of schedule, and exhausted her spiritual power. She was already very weak.
Xu Liang didn't want the Gu family head to fall ill immediately after his senior sister left.
When my senior sister comes back, I'll have to chop her up.
"She's not dead, is she?" Gu Jingjun gripped Xu Liang's hand tightly. Xu Liang felt the cracking sound of bones in his wrist and forced a smile. "Senior Sister threw herself into the battle in front of you. Whether she's dead or alive, Patriarch Gu, you should know better than us."
Gu Jingjun pushed her away and staggered to the center of the formation to check.
Indeed, Xu Yi's presence was gone; not even a trace of life could be detected here.
The absence of the life-giving core signifies that everything within it is dead and will forever slumber.
Xu Yi is a sword cultivator, and she has her own sense of justice and righteousness, but she is never a reckless person. Why should sealing an array require losing her life?
Why did Xu Yi insist on going to his death?
Gu Jingjun couldn't understand it. She transferred her last bit of spiritual power to the center of the array, using all her strength to send her plea into it, but she received no response.
"Patriarch Gu!"
Seeing the person swaying precariously, Xu Liang acted faster than he thought, rushing over to support him.
Using spiritual power to probe further, they discovered that Gu Jingjun had already fainted.
Xu Liang sighed softly, not expecting the young couple to go to such lengths, with one faking death and the other fainting.
Wei Liao rushed over, wanting to help him up.
Xu Liang turned to look at a cave in the Cangshan Secret Realm, then quickly turned back to Wei Liao, politely declining with a light smile.
Xu Liang sighed deeply and led Gu Jingjun down the mountain.
As dawn broke, the rain subsided.
At the foot of the mountain, Xu Liang saw the Taoist priests holding umbrellas, their faces full of worry. Xiao Ye followed a little Gu girl, perhaps feeling that as a fellow woman, she could find some sense of security.
Little did she know that the woman beside her was a centuries-old sorceress who had recently been hired by Wei Liao at a high salary.
He's a truly ruthless killer who doesn't blink an eye.
Ono watched them come down the mountain from afar. Ignoring the drizzling rain, she ran towards Gu Jingjun without hesitation.
"Master Xu, Commander Wei. What happened to Sister Yue?" Xiao Ye wanted to help pick her up, but Xu Liang subtly avoided her.
Xu Liang explained with a cold face, "She is seriously injured and should not be moved easily. Let me support her."
"Oh, okay." Ono's voice was trembling with anxiety, almost breaking down in tears. "What happened? Is it resolved? Will my sister Yue be alright?"
Ono asked a series of questions, but Xu Liang didn't know which one to answer.
The matter was completely resolved, since her senior sister had indeed sacrificed herself, but she couldn't guarantee whether the Gu family head would be alright.
What if she wakes up and finds that her senior sister is really dead? What if the Gu family head can't think straight?
It's unclear whether the Gu family head's current coma is due to the immense shock he suffered, making him unwilling to wake up, or whether his body has genuinely been damaged.
Xu Liang couldn't quite understand this kind of love. In fact, she understood the word "emotion" even less than Xu Yi, a sword cultivator who practiced the Path of Ruthlessness.
As a practitioner of medicine who entered the Dao, she appears gentle but is actually cold-hearted.
She had long since seen through life and death, and so-called love was nothing but a dreamlike and false thing.
They escorted Gu Jingjun back to Gu Yueyue's home.
Xu Liang can't drive and doesn't have the time or money to get a driver's license, so he has to ask Xiao Ye to be his driver.
Along the way, Ono couldn't help but look at the rearview mirror frequently, where Gu Jingjun was still unconscious, leaning against Xu Liang.
Xiao Ye, however, felt that something about Gu Yueyue had changed.
The person was still the same person, looking exactly like Yue-jie in her memory. Even though she was unconscious at this moment, there was still a big change in her temperament.
"Master Xu, what happened to Xu Yi?"
Ono had held back for a long time, but finally couldn't help asking the question.