Sad Song

Ye Chang had already been certain of victory. Seeing that Li Ziye was powerless to turn the tide, his thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere. When a ripple of spiritual power appeared behind him, his reaction was actually half a beat too slow.

"Spiritual power fluctuations? What's going on? How could this brat possibly break free of my restraints?!"

Startled, Ye Chang could not help turning around. What entered his sight were three streaks of red light viciously plastering themselves toward his face!

"Not good! This brat is trying to kill himself!" Ye Chang had fought Modern Dharma Cultivators more than once, so he naturally recognized the Flameburst Talismans most commonly used among them. These talismans posed no threat to him, but they could easily blow a Qi Refining Wang Qi to death. If Wang Qi died, Li Ziye would have no more reservations!

Ye Chang formed a hand seal, and the spiritual power around him transformed into golden radiance that lunged at Wang Qi, attempting to extinguish the Flameburst Talismans' force. At the same time, his thoughts raced. He actually undid part of the seal on his spiritual power without my noticing? An immortal artifact? No, he can't use one... Could he have learned that seal-breaking technique from Mount Luofu Mystic Clarity Palace, the one that operates thirty-seven streams of spiritual power at once? What kind of joke is this? That method is utterly useless except against the sealing arts of my Emperor-Grade Heaven-Splitting Dao, and it is incomparably complicated. Did he have nothing better to do than practice that?!

Most of the Flameburst Talismans' power was offset by Ye Chang, but the remaining shockwave still made Wang Qi's chest jolt. Without the slightest hesitation, he activated the remaining talismans on his left hand. Two layers of luminous mist separated Ye Chang's spiritual power, and Wang Qi instantly felt his body lighten as all the spiritual power he had lost returned in full! The healing talisman turned into a warm current that flowed from his hand through his entire body. Coupled with the orange mist that stimulated his physical strength, Wang Qi actually felt brimming with energy!

Wang Qi did not dare delay. The instant he landed, he turned his back to Ye Chang and ran outward. Empowered by the talismans, his speed far surpassed the limits of an early Qi Refining cultivator, and in the blink of an eye, he had dashed dozens of meters away.

"Damn it!" Ye Chang's expression changed drastically. If this brat escaped, he would not only lose the clues to the immortal artifact and the Ancient Method inheritance, but also the hostage who could restrain Li Ziye. He instinctively raised his hand to cast a grappling spell. Just then, a hand slipped beneath his armpit and pressed an acupoint on his left hand, forcing both his hands upward by an inch. The spell grazed past Wang Qi's body and missed.

"You're finished." Li Ziye smiled. His normally gentle face was covered in blood, giving it a somewhat ferocious look. With a beckoning gesture, the Heavenly Sword's sword case began to shake violently. Ye Chang discovered that the seal he had set was crumbling, and terror seized his heart.

Having already seen through the mysteries of the Emperor-Grade Heaven-Splitting Dao's cultivation method, Li Ziye would never again give Ye Chang the chance to seize Wang Qi. Once the Heavenly Sword broke free of its seal, Ye Chang would be defeated without question!

"Damn it, damn it, damn it..." Ye Chang's mind was in chaos, and thoughts of fleeing flashed through his heart one after another. Yet he understood that the Heavenly Sword was on the verge of breaking the seal. The moment he turned around, he would be selling Li Ziye a gaping flaw. And even if he escaped by luck, the Ancient Method Cultivators' hideout would be exposed along with him. What awaited him then would be a fate worse than death!

So now I... am doomed?

Doomed?

Doomed...

Once that despairing thought appeared, it could no longer be restrained. It took root and sprouted in the Nascent Soul Cultivator's mind, spreading at terrifying speed!

Li Ziye sensed the violent upheaval in his opponent's aura and inwardly cried out in alarm.

He had pushed too hard. He had driven the other man into a dead end while he still possessed some strength! This aura clearly belonged to a technique of mutual destruction, one that sacrificed life itself in exchange for a heaven-shaking final blow!

"Wuwuwu... Hehehehahaha... Brat, you forced my hand!" Ye Chang roared, "Heavenly Devil Blood Dissolving Technique!"

Wang Qi lay prone on the ground, struggling to rise, but the movement tugged at his injuries and made him cough up a mouthful of blood.

"Really rotten luck... Urgh... Even across both my lives, I've never suffered injuries this severe." Wang Qi sighed, then simply rolled over and circulated the remaining spiritual power within him to mend his body. Only then did he have the chance to examine his surroundings.

The jade rabbit was sinking in the west, and dawn's light was faint. By that light, Wang Qi could barely make out that this was a plain west of Dabai Village.

"They flew ridiculously fast." Wang Qi's thoughts drifted, and he actually found himself envying the supernatural abilities of high-level cultivators. "This time, I've really embarrassed myself all the way to my grandmother's house. Fine, old Zhen Chanzi was right. Learning some combat skills really needs to be put on the agenda... Hiss, starting tomorrow—right, old man!"

He tapped the ring on his hand with his spiritual sense. "Old man, at your age, don't sleep so deeply. You passed out right then and there."

After a long while, Zhen Chanzi's voice reappeared in Wang Qi's mind. "So quickly?"

Wang Qi froze, then asked, "What was so quick?"

"You broke the seal again so quickly?" Zhen Chanzi's voice was full of disbelief. "That technique cannot even be entered without half a month of bitter training. This old man thought that with your comprehension, figuring it out in three to five days would not be impossible. It was also possible that Li Ziye and that Nascent Soul Realm junior would fight for three to five days..."

The ability to model things helps one learn spells... Why would someone who got hanged from every tall tree he encountered need to learn spells?

Wang Qi grumbled inwardly for a moment, then his face suddenly changed. "Right, an explosion from behind just blew me over. I'm now about a hundred zhang from where Li Ziye and the others were fighting, and I still had two talismans protecting me at the time. With that kind of power, they should have already decided the victor, right? Can you use your spiritual sense to take a look?"

Zhen Chanzi pondered for a moment. "The aftershock merely brushed you... With such power, I fear both of them used life-sacrificing techniques in a fight to the death. Fine. I'll go take a look."

As he spoke, the jade ring grew faintly warm, and Zhen Chanzi's Mahayana Stage spiritual sense surged swiftly in every direction.

"It was actually a situation of mutual destruction..."

"What?" Wang Qi's expression changed sharply as he struggled to his feet.

"Hey, what are you doing? Sit down and treat your injuries!"

Wang Qi snorted and did not answer.

"With injuries like yours, if your internal organs are shaken again, you really will die!"

Wang Qi asked, "What's the situation over there now?"

"Are you even listening..."

Wang Qi raised his voice. "What's the situation over there?"

Zhen Chanzi said helplessly, "That Nascent Soul Realm Ancient Method Cultivator has been reduced to nothing but bones and ashes. It was likely a method like the Heavenly Devil Blood Dissolving Technique, sacrificing his own life to seek mutual destruction. Li Ziye... his life force has been extinguished. Even this old man at the height of his power could not save him."

Wang Qi did not stop walking. "If I can't even hear his last words, then the debt I owe him will be far too great."

Zhen Chanzi snapped, "If you feel indebted to him, then remember that no matter how insignificant it may be, a life is still a life!"

"At least right now, I have a chance to fulfill one of his final wishes!"

With every step Wang Qi took, he felt his shattered internal organs crashing about inside him. Fortunately, the site of the explosion was not too far away, and he did not have to walk for long.

The air here was saturated with a bloody stench that the night wind could not disperse. The earth that had been ravaged by a self-detonating Ancient Method Nascent Soul Cultivator's power had been shattered into material as fine as sand. Only a great pit remained at the center of the explosion. In the weak dawn light, a person could vaguely be seen lying at its bottom.

Wang Qi slid down along the edge of the pit. Fortunately, a cultivator's self-detonation involved turbulent spiritual energy rather than extreme heat and pressure, so the soil within the pit was actually much looser than the surrounding ground. Enduring the pain, Wang Qi crawled over with both hands and feet until he reached Li Ziye. He extended a hand and shook him. "Hey, Senior Brother Li, hey..."

A Golden Core's body truly was powerful. Though Li Ziye's life force had already been severed, he still retained consciousness. "Ah... You actually came back..."

Wang Qi nodded, then feared the other man could not see it and answered aloud, "Yeah."

"You... called me Senior Brother... Looks like you have made up your mind to... to join the Immortal Alliance?"

"Stop talking." Wang Qi grasped Li Ziye's hand. "Is there any way to open magical artifacts like your storage pouch? There should be medicine inside..."

Li Ziye's hand moved slightly, and Wang Qi hurriedly let go. Li Ziye laboriously shifted his right hand to his waist and gently brushed a small pouch. "It's open... Find some medicinal pills. The... senior in your ring should be able to distinguish basic medicinal properties."

"Is there anything that can save your life?"

Li Ziye seemed to want to shake his head, but in the end he merely tilted it slightly. "My life force is extinguished... There is no... bringing the dead back to life."

Wang Qi let out a breath. "Do you have any final wishes?"

"Final wishes... Let me think..." Li Ziye pondered for a moment, then gave a low, grating laugh. "Cough, cough... You'll help me?"

"Mm."

"Cough, cough... There is a girl I wanted to pursue, but what would it count for if you pursued her for me?"

"The chief disciple of Piaomiao Palace? I can deliver a message."

"But I'm about to die." Li Ziye's tone was rather relaxed. "If she receives it, what use would it have beyond earning a bit of pity... It would only add to her worries..."

A secret crush ruins a lifetime...

Wang Qi sighed inwardly, then asked, "Anything besides that?"

Li Ziye said, "Thinking carefully, I actually do not have many... Cough, cough... How should I put it? I have no thoughts that would leave me unable to die in peace if they went unrealized. This life of mine has been rather free and easy. There are still things I want to do, but those things... I only want to do them myself. If you did them in my place... they would mean nothing to me."

"Do you have regrets?"

"Quite a few... This heaven and earth, no matter how I looked at it, I could never see enough... And that supreme Great Dao... To die without hearing the Dao at dawn..."

"Do you regret coming to save me?"

"I actually regret it quite a bit." Li Ziye's voice grew softer and softer. "I really don't want to die. I truly don't want to die. Actually... if I had known... I would die, I might not have saved you. But who told me my arithmetic was so poor..."

"Stop joking. The Myriad Dharma Sect established its Dao through mathematics. How could your arithmetic be poor?"

"I just can't calculate it clearly... I couldn't calculate whether I could win... Nor could I calculate which would hurt more—watching you get taken away, or dying here..."

Both of them fell silent for a moment.

Li Ziye continued, "Actually, you needn't treat my affairs as a burden... If this gives rise to a heart obstruction in you... then wouldn't I have saved you for... for nothing... Hehe."

Wang Qi tried to keep his voice steady. "Actually, I live just to seek something marvelous and enjoy myself. Cultivating immortality is the same."

"That's good..."

"If I feel that I owe too much to others, then there's no way I can enjoy myself."

Li Ziye smiled one last time. "If you truly want to do something for me... If someone solves Xi's Twenty-Three Calculations in the future... burn a copy for me. Oh, my Martial Uncle, the sect leader, will probably soon solve the 'Question of the Pearl' and attain perfect mastery, ascending to the Unfettered Realm... By then..."

"I'll remember. Burn you a copy, right?"

Another moment of silence passed.

"How much longer until dawn?"

Wang Qi looked at the sky. "Soon."

"I've been unconscious for long enough... I really want to bask in the sun before I die."

"You'll make it. The sun will rise very soon."

Wang Qi said this as he looked at the sky, thick with dark clouds.