Chapter 27: Your Sunset, My Rebirth

Across the smelted earth, a figure staggered eastward with another tall figure on his back.

The ground was covered in scorching lava. The once-lush forest had been severed at the waist by some unknown immense force, like the legendary Tunguska Explosion.

Lin En walked across the lava. High temperatures and flames had never harmed him, while the smell of charred carbon flooded his nostrils.

"Uncle, that move just now was really cool."

"Can I learn it?"

Yu Mu'en lay on Lin En's back, moonlight concealing his pale cheeks.

"Learn it?"

"You don't have the Light Sacred Dragon Martial Soul, so you can't learn it. Master Sovereign Over All Under Heaven first."

"Did that guy die?"

Lin En laboriously carried Yu Mu'en over a mountain. In the distance, a vast plain could vaguely be seen. It was said to be the most prosperous place in the entire Heaven Dou Empire.

"One died. The other was rescued by Myriad Soul."

"You said before that I could only cheer while you went on a killing spree.

So? I'm not just dead weight, am I? Our output was about the same."

"Haha." Yu Mu'en chuckled. "You really are a genuine monster."

"I really want to see how far you'll go in the future."

"Did that explosion affect you at all?"

Lin En shook his head. "Just a little. After resting for a while, I'll be full of life again."

"Without that move, you wouldn't have lived until now."

After the Railgun pierced through Abomination Douluo, Yu Mu'en seized the opportunity to unleash the Dragon Emperor Shaking Domain Realm. Nether Thunder Douluo, having lost his defenses, was severely injured on the spot.

Meanwhile, Abomination Douluo turned to dust amid the light, leaving no possibility of resurrection.

Myriad Soul Douluo returned afterward, intending to finish things off at full strength. Better a dead fellow cultivator than a dead self—he understood that principle well.

Lin En overdrawn his physical strength and chanted the Word Spirit: Rhine with the authority of a Next-Generation Species of the Dragon Clan. The Dragon Clan's will controlled the elemental forces of heaven and earth, forcing all elements into turbulence.

The different elements pressed against one another. Once that pressure reached the level found on a stellar surface, it triggered elemental flash smelting—a chain reaction whose outward manifestation was an ultimate explosion.

After the explosion ended, an elemental vacuum formed at its center. Like taking a second breath, it drew in the elements from the surrounding space and detonated them again.

Once this vacuum reached a certain degree, it would continue exploding and form an elemental black hole. The blast point would approach a stellar core.

The Tunguska Explosion in the Dragon Clan worldview had been caused by this Word Spirit.

This was also the most powerful Word Spirit Lin En could directly use at present. Primordial Authority was the privilege of Dragon Kings, something he could not wield. He needed to simulate it beforehand with an alchemical matrix.

In theory, this Word Spirit required an extremely long preparation time—months to days, depending on the bloodline of the hybrid. Lin En was a Next-Generation Species; apart from Dragon Kings and one pathetic loser, no one possessed a stronger bloodline than him.

Strictly speaking, Lin En had not fully unleashed that Word Spirit just now. He had only released half of it, because Myriad Soul Douluo sensed that something was wrong and fled with the half-dead Nether Thunder Douluo.

If he had truly unleashed it, Lin En, whose Vector Manipulation was no longer supported by spiritual power, would not have withstood the attack either. He would have gone to the cocoon on Zhang Lexuan's side to be reborn.

Yu Mu'en's gaze was unfocused as he murmured, "This doesn't look like you're fine."

"By the way, didn't I leave that old story unfinished?"

"Let me continue it."

"After that, I worked hard and cultivated diligently. I accepted the extreme training personally designed by my great-grandfather and struggled through the Star Dou Great Forest for three years.

"To put pressure on me, he specially had Elder Xuan supervise me. That old man was famously unreliable. Having him watch over me was basically the same as having no one watching over me."

"In the forest, I met her again. At first, it was a bloody battle. She and her teammates were surrounded by Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. By then, I was already quite strong—probably at the level of a Soul King."

"A new story began there. It was terribly cliché. In that dense forest, she and I began a grand escape.

"Thinking back on it now, it really was exciting."

"I also learned her identity then. She was a direct descendant of Yu Xiaogang's ancestor. My family's ancestry could also be traced back to Yu Xiaogang. What a binding fate."

"At the time, enemies were everywhere throughout the mixed zone, and Elder Xuan had vanished without a trace. We could only keep running and running. We lived in a cave for several months before Elder Xuan finally rescued us."

"Another two years passed after we returned to the academy. I had become a peak Soul Emperor and officially took over as captain of the Shrek Team, bearing the title of foremost among the Shrek Seven Monsters.

"I was really handsome back then, full of vigor! I felt that the world was vast and that I could go anywhere."

"Among those my age, not a single one was my match. I openly challenged everyone.

"Even during the finals against the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, I boldly declared that if anyone could defeat me in an individual match, Shrek Academy would surrender on the spot."

"Later, I won. I won everything and became the tallest mountain among my peers, the standard-bearer of the younger generation.

"Afterward, I followed my great-grandfather's example and traveled the continent, befriending heroes from every side."

"That was the first year. I swept through the Star Luo Empire without defeat, and my Sovereign Over All Under Heaven fully matured that year. In the second and third years, I challenged sects across the Heaven Dou Empire. Haha, thinking about it now, I offended quite a few people back then.

"If you ever want to make a name for yourself in the Heaven Dou Empire, don't say you're my student. You'll definitely get beaten up."

Lin En said nothing. His brilliant Golden Eyes illuminated the pitch-black path ahead. Dense Blue Silver Grass tickled his calves, the moonlight gradually dimmed, and Uncle's voice became increasingly soft and murmured.

He did not have Lu Mingfei's "Don't die," nor was he some strange-looking biologist. Even though he had given Yu Mu'en the blood of a Next-Generation Species, he still could not restore that Sea of Spirit which had burned out.

Burning one's spiritual origin meant burning one's soul as well. In the original story, the only one with a confirmed survival record was Huo Yuhao, and even he had relied on the sacrifice of the Auspicious Beast.

Repairing something was far more difficult than destroying it.

To accomplish this, he would likely need Life Creation, one of alchemy's Seven Great Kingdoms.

Uncle's murmuring gradually weakened, seeming to merge with the light breeze around them. A faint smile appeared on his pale face.

"In the Dou Ling Empire, I was no longer alone. I could travel alongside her. She was not as strong as me, yet she was willing to accompany me into every perilous place.

"Many years later, we married. There were not many witnesses—her family, my great-grandfather, Elder Xuan, and several other elderly elders."

"I truly loved her. In Shrek's inner courtyard, we spent the best years of our lives together."

"Ha, but our family seemed to bear some kind of curse. Every descendant who found true love would lose it."

"My father and mother were like that. During their happiest days, they died one after another in beast tides. My grandfather and grandmother were the same.

"I never expected it to be my turn in the end. When my wife gave birth, her life origin began pouring out like floodwaters through an opened gate. Nothing could stop it..."

"I... I watched her moan in pain with my own eyes, yet there was nothing I could do."

Yu Mu'en's voice trembled. This man, who had always been so strong, revealed fear. Lin En pressed his lips together and continued forward through the Blue Silver Grass.

Ahead of them, an ocean of light appeared. It was made up of countless fluttering fireflies.

"I was terrified... more terrified than I had ever been. I invited Elder Zhuang, but it was useless. I searched through all the treasures of Sea God Pavilion, but not one could save her.

"My great-grandfather said that perhaps only the legendary immortal herb, the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, could save her. I went mad searching for immortal herbs and grabbed the Tang Sect's leader at the time, demanding to know about the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."

"But I searched through every Tang Sect record. There was no record at all of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. That Treasure Basin had been lost long ago."

"For the first time, I felt so useless. No matter how strong I was, I could not protect the one I loved. I really was a complete and utter failure."

"In the end, I returned to Shrek and saw only that cold corpse.

"I finally understood what it felt like for life force to drain away. It really was so cold."

"I am a failure. I let down so many people—my wife, my child, and my great-grandfather. I disappointed them all."

"But thankfully, at the end of my life, I truly protected something."

Lin En stepped into that place of light. The faint glow of the fireflies made it feel as though he had entered a starry sky.

Yu Mu'en's murmurs gradually dispersed into that sea of light, calming along with his breathing until only a few faint echoes remained.

"Child, remember this. There will always be people who cry for you. Never... never let those people be hurt."

"I still have four soul bones. One is a hundred-thousand-year soul bone. Don't waste them. There are also some resources in my storage ring. They're all yours now."

"Promise me you won't die in a cold grave. You must ascend amid warm embraces. I don't ask you to become extraordinarily strong. Live well, uphold the path you should walk, and see tomorrow's sunlight for me—the sunlight of the tomorrow after next."

Silence. At some point, the space around them had become still. No matter how his spiritual power probed, the cold air showed not a trace of movement, like a land of death.

No one knew how long passed before a new sound gave color to this land.

Chirp, chirp~

Gentle birdsong awakened the sleeping earth. The darkness behind him had already faded. Purple-tinged light rose over the eastern horizon, and the sun dyed the clouds gold like a field of wheat.

Looking back, he realized this was a sea of flowers with Blue Silver Grass as its base. The golden sea of light was concealed by petals filling the sky, while dew slipping from the leaves moistened the cool soil.

Warm sunlight edged a small gravestone in gold. Its long shadow stretched westward. The flowers offered it their beauty, while birds sang its epitaph like wandering bards.

Lin En turned around and stepped out of the gravestone's shadow. His Golden Eyes faded, revealing black pupils. He was free.