Chapter 1351: Zi Qing’s Path

Zi Qing, the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, perished. But he did not perish at the hands of the countless species. Instead, he sacrificed himself, and was melted by the gaze of Eminent Desolation. Left behind was a skull, imbued with all the defiance of a lifetime, which did not crumble into ashes. It fell down to the battlefield.

Others departed with him.... They included all of the souls of the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan, including Bai Xiaozhuo. The day they departed... it started raining in Revered Ancient. And that rain lasted for an entire month. Brilliant Heaven filled with a churning haze that also lasted for a month.

In the imperial capital of humankind, Emperor Mirrorcloud did not hold court. He just sat for days looking south, his gaze vacant. Eventually he sent someone to the continent of South Phoenix to retrieve Zi Qing’s skull. When he got it, he looked at it and let loose a complicated sigh filled with guilt. Then he erected a magnificent tomb for the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, and also issued an edict stating that he would be buried alongside Zi Qing in the same tomb.

And thus, the glorious story of the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan ended. The Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan became a thing of the past. The countless species did their best to bury the story, to the point where it became nothing but a legend. And then... it disappeared entirely. Even remote palaces attached to the kingdom turned into nothing but ruins that eventually were buried in the sands of time.

There were scattered commoners who had departed much earlier, who spread out through the lands and continued the bloodline of the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan. As a matter of fact, one of those groups was in South Phoenix.

Time passed. Eventually, Emperor Mirrorcloud perished, and a new emperor took the throne....

As nonhuman species continued to rise to prominence, humankind faced increasing difficulties.

The commoners in South Phoenix became many, and they worked hard generation after generation. Eventually, they started a new Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan.

Unfortunately... there seemed to be a curse at play. After a number of years passed, the Kingdom of Violet and Cyan and the continent of South Phoenix was overthrown by eight of the major clans that made it up. It ceased to exist. That was when the Violet Lands became a major faction in South Phoenix.[1]

The Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan had perished on the Peerless Plains. As time passed, it seemed that, because of that, the fate of that location was connected to the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan.... A city sprang up there, but it was destroyed in war. A scavenger basecamp appeared in that location, but it didn’t last very long.

Eventually, in the year 2871 of the Dark War calendar, a group of rogue cultivators established a simple settlement in the Peerless Plains. They used the place to work on their cultivation. At the same time, they felt pity for the commoners there who were ravaged by mutagen. That simple settlement began to grow until eventually it turned into a city.

When it came time to name it, they called it Peerless.

***

It was the year 2918 of the Dark War calendar, which was also the year 135 of Heavenly Wonder in the continent of South Phoenix. Doomsday approached.

Peerless City had been growing for decades and had earned a bit of a reputation. Of all the cities that filled the Peerless Plains, it was the biggest. It was an important day in Peerless City. People bustled about.

Zi Qing, clad in a rough spun robe, his hair tied into a ponytail, wandered the busy streets. He was holding a skewer of candied fruit, the glaze still hot from the oven. The sticky syrup covering the red hawthorn fruit glistened brightly in the noon light. Within the air swirled the smells of the candied fruit, sacrificial smote, human sweat, and freshly made onion flatbreads. All of it mixed together to create the unique aroma of the city called Peerless.

It was the day of the Prayer Festival. Because of the holiday, the city boiled like broth in a pot. Within the clamor of the crowd, Zi Qing’s expression was tranquil. He looked at the people, and he sensed the familiar atmosphere.

The cry of a vendor pierced through the hubbub. “Fresh candied fruit skewers! Crispy and sweet!”

An old woman bent under a basket of goods murmured, “Hopefully next year will be a good year....”

One of the city guards tried to maintain order, but his shouts went unheeded. “Maintain order, everyone! No crowding and jostling!”

The owner of a paper shop waved his wares at the crowd. “Passersby and fellow villagers, please come take a look at my shop! The sacrificial paper here actually burns with three-colored smoke!”

A cacophony of voices and sounds reached Zi Qing’s ears. He could feel the cold, rough surface of the bamboo skewer as he looked through the crowd at some familiar faces off in the distance. He saw his father and mother that he had in this life. And he saw his mother holding his lil’ bro in her arms. The little boy huddled against his mother like an ignorant little animal.

As he looked at them, a flash of reminiscence passed through Zi Qing’s eyes. However, that sensation was like smoke in the mortal world. As soon as it rose up, it was dispersed by the breeze.

“It’s almost time! We have to hurry!” A few kids jogged along shouldering a wooden statue together. They ran past Zi Qing toward the coffin-shaped altar in the middle of the city.

Zi Qing closed his eyes. When he opened them, it seemed that his parents had noticed his gaze upon them. His mother, arms still wrapped around Zi Qing’s lil’ bro, saw him through the crowd and noticed the skewer of candied fruit. Her expression was so calm it was almost eerie. Smiling warmly, she looked at Zi Qing and lifted her chin slightly.

The child in her arms looked over his shoulder. He was only seven, and his face was clean and pure. His eyes seemed to reflect the glistening candied fruit, but also glimmered with a bit of resentment. When he spotted his big brother and the candied fruit, his eyes lit up. But only a moment later, those eyes filled with tears, turning red. His lips tightened into a pout.

Grinning a bit helplessly, his father said, “Aww, kid, why are your eyes so red and puffy?”

Then his mother spoke. “You’re a tough guy, Qing’er! You can’t start crying the moment your big brother leaves! Come here... let mommy give you a hug. Look over there, the sacrifice is about to begin.”

When Zi Qing heard those words, his gaze took in his mother’s kindness and his father’s broad shoulders. He looked at the anticipation in his younger brother’s tear-stained face. Then he looked at the altar, and finally, the cold, broken face high in the sky.

“The time has come,” Zi Qing murmured softly.

Gripping the candied fruit skewer, he walked forward quietly like someone just there to watch the ceremony. He walked toward his family from this life, and he walked toward... the altar that he himself had chosen.

Atop the altar was a priest in a red robe, his arms outstretched as he cried out in a voice that could pierce the bones and marrow. It was like a trumpet call announcing the end of days as his voice drowned out the clamor of the crowds.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“It is the year 135 of Heavenly Wonder, a date aligned with South Phoenix, with the moon traversing the Ghost Constellation in the night sky! We lot are like ants, prostrating here in Peerless City, offering this gory gift to send a message to the god of the broken face!”

As Zi Qing calmly walked forward, he looked up. His gaze passed by the red-robed priest, the hundred prisoners awaiting death, and all the way to that massive face. That face... was as cold and brutal as ever.

But Zi Qing knew that an agreement had been made, and it was binding. When he sacrificed himself, he had agreed that, on the day he returned in the future, he would sacrifice everything to the broken face. All of the words being spoken seemed to thrum with karma.

“In ancient times, when azure jade fell to the lands, when the xuanwu turtle’s leg was broken, your eyes first opened, melting the crimson sun into iron slag, boiling the five lakes and shattering myriad stars into arrows that pierced the nine wilds.”

Under the influence of karma, the priest’s chant grew louder and more frantic.

Zi Qing’s gaze fell upon his dad and mom, as well as his little brother.

His father seemed to have sensed something unusual, as he frowned and stepped protectively in front of his wife and child. He looked at his mother holding his little brother. The tender look she had given her son moments ago was now mixed with unease because of the priest’s voice. His little brother looked scared, and was huddling deep in his mother’s embrace.

Zi Qing looked at all that, but his heart was absolutely still and calm, without a ripple of emotion. All he felt was the cold reality that he was living up to his agreement. The heat in the candied skewer he held was slowly retreating, leaving it cold like his heart.

“Now the ruined walls flicker with ghostfire,” howled the priest, “living beings devour the dirt of graves, and the blood congealed on your lashes reveal the remaining gasps of living things!

“Oh, god!

“We hereby pray that the faint breath escaping your lips might be the kindling that stokes our survival; we pray that the shadow cast by your brow be the shelter for the commoners to persist in life!”

The priest then slashed his arms down toward the prisoners, like a blade descending onto the executioner's block.

“Oh, god, may your eyes remain closed!

“Oh, god, may you sleep forever!

“Oh, god, we pray... that you not open your eyes!”

“Do not open your eyes!!!”

As his voice crashed like waves, Zi Qing looked up from within the crowd.

“I’m back,” he said softly. “Take all that you see to fulfill the agreement made in that past life.”

The moment he spoke those words... the eyes above which always remained closed... suddenly twitched! They... opened by a crack! There was no light or emotion in the eyes. There was only pure, cold indifference. The deal... was complete.

RUMBLE!!

A soundless voice of annihilation echoed within Zi Qing’s soul. It was the voice from the agreement. The world in front of him had reached its foreordained conclusion.

It melted! Because of that gaze, the bricks, beams, and roads of Peerless City, as well as all other material objects... lost their foundation. Things began to crumble into endless bits of dust, which were then picked up as if by an invisible wind to be carried into the sky. It was as if a massive, unseen hand were erasing the entire city!

“Th-that... that....”

“The god’s eyes opened!”

“Nooo....”

Countless screams of grief broke the silence and filled Peerless City.

Living beings, even ones right next to Zi Qing, screamed as they transformed! A woman’s skin cracked open as her bones exploded! A child grew into a mountain of flesh covered with pus-filled pustules and sharp claws! An old man’s head split open to reveal a pair of compound eyes! A burly man’s skin became covered with scales, and he grew fangs!

The moment Zi Qing completed the deal, the peaceful Peerless City turned into a millstone of flesh and blood! Those who did not experience mutation had it even worse. They exploded into clouds of blood that rose into the air and then began to fall as a blood rain!

As had been agreed upon, life faded away.

Zi Qing looked coldly through the ash and blood to his parents and brother. He saw his father trying to protect his wife and child. But even as he tried to crouch over them, the mixture of astonishment and determination on his face froze... and starting from the tips of his fingers, he collapsed like dust in the wind! There was no scream. There was no long, drawn-out process. He turned into ashes that the wind swallowed up, and then he was gone.

His mother still held his brother. The kindness on her face had been replaced by astonishment and terror. Before she could even look at the spot where her husband had disappeared, she went still.... And then, like a candle thrown into an oven, she melted, starting from her head....

Zi Qing watched as the long black hair, fair skin, and tender eyes that were everything of his “mother” became viscous, red fluid that splashed all over his lil’ bro. He watched as his younger brother wailed in terror. He tumbled out of his melting mother’s arms, and then landed onto the sticky red ground. There, his tiny form lay trembling in the blood that was all that remained of his mother.

The ashy dust in the air became like ritual money burned for the dead, mixing with the blood rain that fell everywhere. Death had come. Even those who had mutated... began to explode. The blood rain fell harder.

Zi Qing walked through the hot, red blood, step by step, toward the huddled figure of his younger brother. He stopped right in front of him. He looked down at his lil’ bro.

His little shoulders trembled. His clothes were soaked in blood. He looked like an abandoned animal, filled only with raw terror and blankness.

When Zi Qing looked down, his brother slowly looked up. Blood and tears streaked his face. His eyes had glistened, but now they were full of terror. They looked like two pits of despair. Then he spoke in a fragile, whimpering voice.

“Brother... dad and mom, they....”

Zi Qing’s lips quivered. The bamboo skewer that held the candied fruit had, at some point, stabbed into his flesh. Hot blood dripped down the skewer and splashed onto the ground, mixing with his mother’s blood, and the blood of the rest of the city. He felt no pain. He only felt the cold thrum of the agreement having been fulfilled.

He offered no explanation. Any words spoken to explain the destruction he had wrought would be nothing more than profane. He had stuck to the deal. That was all.

In the end, he coldly extended his blood-soaked hand until it was right over his younger brother’s head. He moved with grave purpose, as if it were an important ceremony. At the same time, he put the blood-soaked candied fruit down in front of his lil’ bro. Then he spoke, his voice calm, as if he were reading the final portion of a sacrificial sutra.

Looking down into those terrified eyes, he said, “Lil’ bro... don’t cry.”

His hand fell!

However, the moment his hand was about to strike his younger brother’s head, a heaven-rending, earth-crushing sound filled the air! It was an intense sound, like time itself being ripped asunder! It shone through the canopy of heaven, covered all the lands, and illuminated the blood rain!

It was daybreak light! It covered everything, far and wide, like a sea, replacing and covering the whole world. Zi Qing was within it as well.

Within that stupefying, spectacular daybreak light was a hand.... The hand latched onto Zi Qing’s wrist. It gripped hard! Then it jerked to the side.

Astonishing force sent Zi Qing flying off into the distance. His eyes shone brightly as he looked at the new arrival.

“You’re finally here.”

1. The story of the South Phoenix version of the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan was told in

chapter 207

. In

chapter 262

, we learned about the real version. ☜