Transcendence IV

In this Inclined Space, every night, countless clouds above formed an enormous funnel-shaped vortex.

Looking into the depths of the vortex, there was no end in sight. Only a tiny black dot could be seen at its farthest reaches, as though it stretched endlessly into infinity.

Golden Beetle Keke Sai flew along the right side of the ship. The enormous white flying serpent was also on the ship's right, wrapped in faint clouds, vaguely showing signs of transforming into a flood dragon from legend.

"Because the Sand Time Demon Demonic Embryo is at your side, the severance can be brought forward. Its stability and safety have also been greatly ensured, so the chance of success should be very high," Duan Wei explained cautiously.

"So that purple egg brought out of the Sand Time Divine Palace has played a major role for me as well?" Lin Xin asked through their mental link.

"Indeed." Duan Wei paused. "Because of the Demonic Embryo, the rules of space and time around you have undergone subtle but fundamental changes. This is more conducive to first blocking the transmission and descent of the Nether Prefecture's will. That should raise the success rate by thirty percent."

"That is not bad." Lin Xin took a deep breath. At this point, if he could truly break free from the Nether Prefecture's control, then the greatest trouble he had faced since descending into this world would vanish completely.

From then on, the sky would be high enough for birds to fly, the sea wide enough for fish to leap. In this life, he would gain complete and utter freedom.

"Where is Senior Hong Ye?" he asked softly.

"He is already preparing." Duan Wei replied respectfully. "Let us hope everything goes smoothly..."

"Let us hope so."

Lin Xin nodded.

Neither spoke again. They merely waited quietly for the final moment to arrive.

Lin Xin sat cross-legged on the deck. As he waited, he recalled scene after scene from all that he had experienced since coming to this world.

From an ordinary person who had not been entirely ordinary, he had gradually grown until he had become a supreme expert comparable to Yuan Jing.

Every scene along the way, every one of the myriad experiences he had gone through, replayed endlessly before his eyes like passing clouds and drifting smoke.

"If this fails, what will happen?"

Lin Xin suddenly asked.

"You will die." Duan Wei did not speak. Instead, Hong Ye's voice rang out.

His figure slowly appeared before Lin Xin, half-transparent as he sat cross-legged as well. A long, slightly curved blade rested flat across his knees. The entire blade glowed with pale silver moonlight, as though it was not a sword at all, but a bright moon fallen into the mortal world.

"Are you ready?" Hong Ye looked calmly at Lin Xin.

"More or less." Lin Xin looked at him and smiled. "Whether I am ready or not, the result is not in my hands anyway, right?"

Hong Ye did not answer. He removed his wine gourd and took a light sip.

"There are ten thousand great paths in this world. But who can know what cultivation is truly for?"

"Cultivation is cultivation. It is for living better, I suppose," Lin Xin answered casually.

That had always been his greatest wish. In truth, he was an extremely indifferent person. From first entering the Nether Prefecture, to later leaving his homeland far behind; from Xiao Lingling's death in the beginning, to having nothing left to care about now, all alone.

When all was said and done, from beginning to end, he had only struggled relentlessly in order to live well.

"To live on... do you hate death that much?" Hong Ye smiled.

"I do not know. But nobody wants to die, do they?" Lin Xin did not know how to answer either.

"Wrong. I want to die." Hong Ye gazed blandly at the sky overhead. "Unfortunately, no one can kill me. Other than myself."

"Uh..." Lin Xin dearly wanted to praise him. Those words were domineering enough. He wanted to ask just who was stronger, Huang Yuerong or Hong Ye.

"Do you know Huang Yuerong?" In the end, he could not resist asking.

"Of course." Hong Ye unexpectedly smiled. "A person upon whom ten thousand calamities descend without destroying her—the strongest person in your world. Once one reaches our level, one's very existence occupies a portion of the world's laws and principles. When one grasps space and time, there is nothing that can remain hidden."

"What does that mean? Merging one's body with the Dao?" Lin Xin pressed.

"You may learn someday, if you can reach this level." Hong Ye said lightly. "Though there is little hope. Your aptitude is poor."

"Then are you stronger, or is she?" Lin Xin continued asking.

"I have not encountered her. But no living thing can kill me." Hong Ye could not help smiling. "Satisfied with that answer?"

"More or less. I was only curious." Lin Xin said casually.

Hong Ye shook his head and lightly tossed something out. It flew on its own before Lin Xin.

"Take this. After the severance, the Lord Mark given to you by the Nether Prefecture will continuously produce side effects. So long as you kill living beings, it will devour power and generate Lord Power. Without the Nether Prefecture to digest it afterward, you can only find a way to dissolve that power yourself."

Lin Xin lightly pinched the object, which looked like an ordinary dead branch. If Hong Ye had not thrown it to him, Lin Xin might have thought someone was playing a malicious joke on him.

"This can help guide and dissolve the Lord Power. Do not lose it," Hong Ye reminded him.

"Do we begin now?" Lin Xin glanced around. It was about time.

Hong Ye nodded, his expression gradually turning solemn.

He stretched out a hand and lightly tapped the space before him.

Ssh.

A flash of black light swept through the area, and everything around them abruptly froze.

Everything—the empty ship, the beetle, the giant serpent, the clouds, the sky, everything—turned gray in an instant, stripped of all color.

Time seemed to have stopped completely.

Only Lin Xin and Hong Ye remained seated facing one another.

"Do you see it?" Hong Ye asked softly.

Lin Xin was slightly stunned. Following his gaze, he lowered his head to look at his own chest.

To his horror, he discovered that at some unknown point, his body had become half-transparent like Hong Ye's.

Within his chest cavity floated a pitch-black sphere formed from countless black insects.

The sphere seemed to be made of innumerable fly-like bugs gathered together. Faint black qi emanated from it, while a dim pale-green glow seemed to pierce out from its core, making it mysterious and bizarre.

"What is this?" Lin Xin asked in a low voice.

Hong Ye smiled without answering.

He lifted the longsword from his knees and stabbed it fiercely, straight into Lin Xin's chest.

Ssh!

The moonlight-like blade easily pierced Lin Xin's chest, as though it met no resistance whatsoever.

Lin Xin did not feel any pain. He merely stared blankly at the sword thrust into his body, watching it lightly carve out that black sphere along with flesh and bone as though it were a scalpel.

"This is the Nether Prefecture's will." Hong Ye pinched the black sphere before finally answering softly.

"It has been dug out just like that?"

"Yes." Hong Ye nodded. "Digging it out is easy. The difficult part is preventing it from returning to you."

"What do you mean?" Lin Xin did not understand.

"The Nether Prefecture's will itself is controlled by the gaze cast down from the Nether Prefecture's main body. I can temporarily sever the aura and things it has cast upon you, but I cannot stop it from continuing to watch you, control you, and influence you. Thus, the key to severance lies in making the Nether Prefecture stop paying attention to you."

Hong Ye lightly squeezed, crushing the black sphere in his hand.

"There is only one way to accomplish that."

"What?" For some reason, Lin Xin's heart tightened.

"That is..." Hong Ye suddenly smiled faintly at him. "Kill you!"

Ssh!!

As his words fell, the moonlight-like sword blade stabbed into Lin Xin's body once more.

This time, however, it was not his chest.

It was... between his brows!

*********************

"Where... is this?"

Black petals slowly drifted down from the sky.

Lin Xin floated in midair. Above him were densely packed dark clouds stretching as far as the eye could see.

Below him lay a boundless black ocean. In the middle of that ocean was a colossal pair of black lips.

Lin Xin reached out and caught a black petal, watching with his own eyes as it melted in his palm and turned into a small pool of black blood.

"This is the place Hong Ye brought me to last time." He remembered.

Suddenly, his vision swayed. He hurriedly raised his head, only to see that countless people and creatures of all kinds had appeared around him at some unknown point.

Most of them stared at him with crazed eyes. Some were venomous, some desirous, some pained, some jealous...

Yet all of them shared one thing in common.

Their feet were bound by pitch-black chains without even the slightest luster.

Clatter.

Lin Xin suddenly lowered his head and saw that his own feet were also bound by a chain, which rattled with his movements.

The other end of that chain connected to the enormous black lips far below.

"Are you ready?" Hong Ye's voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Lin Xin abruptly turned around and looked behind him.

Hong Ye still looked like a drunkard, but he too was bound in chains.

Not black chains, but blood-red scarlet ones, exceptionally conspicuous among all the chains.

"More or less."

Two other voices answered at the same time.

Lin Xin looked around himself and only then discovered that two more figures floated at either side of him, both bound by red chains.

They were shrouded in gray mist. Even their size and shape could not be seen. Only the red chains could not be concealed, glaringly conspicuous.

Like Hong Ye, the two surrounded him, forming a triangular formation.

"This is an attempt. If it succeeds, it will prove this path is viable," one gray figure said softly.

"It will not fail." Hong Ye smiled.

He lightly raised a hand. In an instant, an incalculable number of terrifying silver sword blades appeared around them.

Countless blades surrounded Lin Xin and the three others, spinning madly like a storm.

Boom!!

In an instant, the enormous mouth at the center of the black ocean below burst violently from the sea. Its lips puckered in a horrifying manner, approaching the four of them as though a child was acting coy.

Hee hee hee...

The enormous, piercing laughter made Lin Xin's entire body go numb. He could not summon even a trace of strength.

He could only watch helplessly as that incomparably enormous mouth below rapidly drew near.

The black lips grew longer and higher, actually rising from the sea like rubber clay. As they released that terrifying, shrill laughter, they stretched out and bit viciously toward the four of them.

It seemed to intend to devour them along with the countless silver sword blades around them.