You Lost!

Xu Changqing held the Bone Saber and looked at the petals beside the Woman in White. His entire aura shifted, becoming exceedingly strange.

The Bone Saber was thrown out and stood silently before him. He formed seals with both hands, his ten fingers spreading like butterflies unfurling their wings as the five Dao Palace Divine Beings appeared once more.

"Divide!"

As though stripped apart by some force, the milky-white saber split into five, each one flying into the hands of a Dao Palace Divine Being.

At last, the Dao Palace Divine Beings jointly unleashed the Reincarnation Saber Technique, linking together into a circular line that enclosed the Woman in White.

Xu Changqing moved his hands, tracing an arc through the cold universe. A streak of white radiance appeared wherever his hands passed and did not fade.

Dense silver runes began to appear, hovering above the Woman in White's head before finally sinking into her body.

She was astonished. She could not block those strange silver runes; they seemed not to exist at all, entering her body without resistance.

The next moment, the Dao Palace Divine Beings attacked together.

The Woman in White's A Thought Blooms, Reign Over the World Secret Technique also began to dance, directly crashing into them.

"Boom!"

It was a terrifying collision. The Starry Sky trembled, heaven and earth overturned, and below them lay an Ancient Star of life on the human race's Trial Path.

At that moment, Heaven Collapsed and Earth Cracked across that life-bearing Ancient Star. The once-warm world was instantly destroyed, lava erupting everywhere. The sky was illuminated, the sun and moon vanished completely, and the Starry Sky blazed brightly.

Xu Changqing was also sent flying by the Woman in White's final strike. He crashed directly into a passing comet, which exploded, tearing apart his body as blood flowed from him like a river.

Every bone in his body was broken. His arms and thighs twisted at bizarre angles, his back was torn open, and his chest had caved in.

His Nascent Soul had also suffered grievous damage.

But he had already completed his attack. The seven forms of the Reincarnation Saber Technique had been unleashed one by one.

They instantly sealed the Woman in White's memories, while the silver runes stirred the things she was least willing to face.

When the white light faded, the Woman in White stood silently in the Starry Sky, blood continuously flowing from her body. Her eyes were closed, and tear tracks ran down her exquisite face.

Now!

Xu Changqing seized the opportunity. While the Woman in White was trapped in his Dao technique, he charged toward her with the Bone Saber in hand.

One slash pierced directly through the Woman in White's chest. Then he fiercely grabbed her hair and leaped down from the Starry Sky.

"Boom!"

With a tremendous crash, Xu Changqing dragged the Woman in White by her hair and smashed her heavily into the ground, making her bounce back up.

His large hand pressed against her face and gripped hard. Then he moved, sprinting wildly across the ground. The back of the Woman in White's head continuously scraped against the earth, her hair falling out in clumps as her scalp stuck to the ground.

Xu Changqing stepped on the Woman in White's stomach, sending her bouncing heavily upward. He then delivered a side kick that sent her flying into the air before leaping up again, gripping the Bone Saber with both hands.

Cold light gleamed in his indifferent eyes. Holding the Bone Saber tightly, he aimed its tip at the Woman in White's chest and viciously stabbed it in once more.

"Pfft!"

The Bone Saber pierced through the Woman in White's chest. Her eyes remained closed, tears still streaming down her face as pain appeared in her expression.

A black nail appeared in Xu Changqing's hand, and he drove it into the Woman in White's crown.

It sealed her Nascent Soul!

It seemed to take a long time, yet it had happened in an instant.

The Woman in White was pinned to the ground by the Bone Saber, blood continuously flowing from her body.

At that moment, she had lost her memories of the battle. Her body had become smaller, and she stood barefoot in a spacious place, crying and shouting loudly.

"Brother..."

"Little sister!"

"Immortal Elder, can you take my little sister with you too?"

Ahead of her, an old man held the hand of a boy about twelve years old, with several young men standing nearby.

Little Nannan cried as she chased after her brother. Eventually, those people grew impatient and shoved her to the ground. Her forehead struck a stone by the roadside, splitting open as blood trickled out.

She felt terribly wronged, but in order to wait for her brother, she chose to remain there. That wait lasted several years.

She gradually grew up and learned about the Feathered Dynasty, but what filled her was even greater rage. Her memories also slowly returned bit by bit.

In the end, her fury surged to the heavens, shattering that illusory world.

But what awaited her was intense pain and exhaustion. Her Nascent Soul seemed to be bound by something.

Opening her hazy eyes, she saw a dark-red horizon. She could not move and could only lie quietly on the ground. A milky-white Bone Saber was embedded in her chest, while agonizing pain radiated from her crown.

The back of her head felt icy cold and burning hot.

"You lost!" A cold, clear voice reached her. The Woman in White weakly turned her head and discovered the white-haired man standing not far away.

Tear tracks still hung on her face, and she revealed a faint bitter smile. Yet she did not feel there was anything to it.

A loss was a loss.

During the time she had been trapped in the illusion, Xu Changqing had already had enough time to kill her, yet he had not done so.

The nail in her crown was a Soul Sealing Nail. It sealed her Nascent Soul, preventing it from escaping.

"Cough, cough..." The Woman in White breathed heavily, her proud chest constantly rising and falling as blood continuously spilled from her mouth and nose.

Xu Changqing walked to the Woman in White's side, grasped the Bone Saber, and gently pulled it out.

Splash...

Once the Bone Saber was removed, blood flowed out ceaselessly as though it cost nothing, her white robes turning into a Blood Robe.

"Why didn't you kill me?" the Woman in White asked. In her current state, Xu Changqing could have killed her.

Xu Changqing did not answer. He merely looked quietly at her face. He was a man who had read Sacred Ruins Patch—kill her? Impossible.

He was an Outer Domain Heavenly Demon. How could he dare kill an important figure in this world?

Even if no one came out to stop him, who knew whether she still possessed some life-saving item among her belongings?

If he failed to kill her and let her escape, that would be troublesome.

Yet Xu Changqing still spoke calmly. "Because there are no opponents on the way to Emperor's Road."

"If I had not used a trick to make you face what you least wished to confront, perhaps I would not have won either."

"So, we can verify each other's paths and grow together."

Still, a loss was a loss. The Woman in White had nothing she could not accept.

If she lost, she could simply win it back next time.

Moreover, she believed that as long as she did not admit defeat, she had not lost.

"Let's go." Xu Changqing turned around and took out a spaceship.

The Woman in White lay in a pool of blood and silently took out a stalk of Divine Medicine from her Sea of Bitterness, consuming it. Her injuries began to recover, and she regained the ability to move. She followed Xu Changqing into the spacecraft.

Xu Changqing was right. If she continued alone from the Ancient Trial Path, it might take a great deal of time, and she might not even encounter an opponent capable of matching her along the way.

It would be better to follow Xu Changqing to Emperor's Road. Whenever she emerged from seclusion with a breakthrough in cultivation, she would have an opponent to spar with.

Moreover, after this battle, the Woman in White dearly wanted to create something specifically capable of countering Xu Changqing's previous move, which primarily targeted her Nascent Soul and mind.

Although she had always been remembering her brother, whenever that obsession resurfaced, she would fly into a violent rage and easily lose her reason.

Had Xu Changqing not restricted her strength, and had she not been unfamiliar with their first battle, she would have broken free of the Soul Sealing Nail long ago and continued fighting.

But unfortunately, after falling into the illusion and then suffering a brutal beating from Xu Changqing outside it, her physical body had long since become utterly exhausted, as had her Nascent Soul.

The Woman in White secretly swore that she would create a spell to protect her Nascent Soul.

Yet the best defense was attack.

With the experience of clashing with Xu Changqing for the first time, she had also come to understand her own shortcomings.