Chapter 521: I Will Never Love You Again!

That night descended with a cloak of darkness. Yet, the commotion from the disappearance of Lu Xiaolu earlier in the day still persisted within the Lu family estate. Alone in tranquility stood the courtyard of Arbiter Lu, a haven of serenity and warmth.

Around a modest hearth, three figures gathered for another evening meal. Having returned from the day's end, Miss Yu bustled about, her face alight with an unceasing smile. As the night deepened, she indulged in a rare sip of wine, mumbling wishfully, "On such a splendid day, if only your big brother were here."

"Where has that brother of yours gone?" Her words trailed off as she slipped into a wine-softened slumber, still smiling, a peace unknown before cradling her features.

Yun Xiao escorted her to her room, then returned to the courtyard. There, clad in celestial armor, he caught the gaze of a young lady in a white dress, her cheeks flushed with a sweet drunkenness, adoringly staring at him.

"Yun Xiao, you look so handsome in your armor," Lian Xi murmured with a giggle.

Having worn his armor since leaving the Skyruler Immortal Manor, Yun Xiao had forgotten to remove it. The townsfolk had addressed him with reverence, a detail Miss Yu greatly enjoyed.

"A lifetime might be lived for just one day, and today was worth a lifetime for her," Yun Xiao thought as she now slept.

Removing his armor, Yun Xiao proposed another drink to Lian Xi, who declined with a tipsy murmur. Sitting beside her, he pulled from his Bag of Holding a flask of liquor.

"Is that Tiger Rod Wine?" Lian Xi asked, her delicate nose twitching, her expression slightly uneasy.

"It's from the Primordial Ruins," Yun Xiao replied with a chuckle, popping open the flask and placing it in her delicate hands. "Today marks my official day as a Heavenly Officer. We're now people with status in the Celestial Court. Join me in celebrating a bit more."

"It's just a formal title; you don't really care about that," Lian Xi pouted, then playfully accused, "I still have no official status, hidden away in your golden house each day."

"Soon," Yun Xiao assured, clinking his flask against hers, smiling softly. "Lian Xi, here we are, strangers in a foreign land, bearing the silent burden of our crumbling homeland. At last, we've made some progress. Let's toast to that."

Having become an Arbiter, at the very least, Yun Xiao could commandeer the Skyruler Sword Vessel to traverse the Great Dao Celestial Realm and stealthily make a return to the myriad worlds.

This was the first step in securing the Boundary Stabilizing Divine Needle!

"Uh-huh!" Under the flickering firelight, Lian Xi's face glowed with a crystalline sheen as she and Yun Xiao finished off a flask. Her beautiful eyes grew misty, her lips curled into a dazed smile, lending her an air of delightful foolishness.

"Drink some more." Yun Xiao watched her with warm eyes, presenting flask after flask of Tiger Rod Wine.

"Keep drinking."

As the night deepened, the candles in the courtyard burned ever brighter.

"I can't drink anymore." Lian Xi nestled into his embrace, humming softly, her body and cheeks radiating heat.

"A flask of wine on the celestial path, mortal realms accompany the intimate soul," Yun Xiao whispered, brushing the stray hairs from her face, "In such a splendid moment, with a beauty in arms, dare you indulge further?"

"No more..." After these words, Lian Xi wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek against his stomach, and drifted off to sleep.

She slept sweetly for a short while, her lips curled in a smile, fingers tightly clutching Yun Xiao's white robe, laughing sweetly in her dreams.

Yun Xiao watched her, his gaze laden with an unprecedented solemnity.

Within that solemnity was a heart-wrenching struggle.

"You said if not now, then never again," Blue Star murmured softly.

"..." Yun Xiao closed his eyes. In the darkness before him, the vision of a white-clad figure on the dragon throne crashed into his mind.

With a thrust of his sword, he had pierced her heart! As she struggled, her dimming eyes looked at him and asked, "Will we meet again?"

It was the feeling of a heart breaking.

Every time he remembered, Yun Xiao's heart filled with endless regret and reluctance.

"They must be the same..."

With that resolve, Yun Xiao took a deep breath.

Where was the next incarnation of transcending calamity? He did not know. Perhaps he might never encounter it again. Even if he did, what if she were another Lian Xi? How could he bear to part them? Indecision brought chaos.

Amidst the dark night, Yun Xiao's inner turmoil roiled like fierce flames.

"Let's do it," he decided.

At once, Yun Xiao reached out and plucked the tiny white tiger from Lian Xi's arms.

"What are you trying!?" Pomelo demanded with wide eyes.

"Let these two brothers take you out for some fun," Yun Xiao replied as he set it before a small dark beast.

The dark beast extended a paw and embraced the little white tiger.

Red Moon opened its gaping maw and chuckled, "Don't be scared, little sister, brother will take you fishing."

"Catch your father, you fool!" The little white tiger shot back a glare, secretly delighted. The third time had finally come.

It was wise beyond its years. With a flick of its tail, it knocked the dark beast aside and ran off.

"The night is dark and the wind is high!" Blue Star called out eerily, then vanished into the night.

Now only Yun Xiao and Lian Xi remained in the courtyard.

"Lian Xi, I've always hoped, whether as Chen Xi or Lian Xi, that it's truly you, so..."

Without risk, there would never be answers!

Yun Xiao chose not to look at her endearingly simple face. He laid out three items on the table—a translucent, razor-sharp magic dagger, a crystal-clear transcending calamity crystal, and a vial of Jade Condensing Celestial Ointment purchased in Sky Soaring City.

With the Jade Condensing Celestial Ointment at hand, if Yun Xiao were to inflict but a shallow wound upon her heart, her martial vitality would need only a few days of rest to fully recover.

Such were the benefits of operating within the Celestial Court. Here, life-saving treasures were plentiful! After arranging these items, though Yun Xiao's eyes flickered in the dark, they were filled predominantly with a resolute obsession.

Yun Xiao held Lian Xi close, his hand gripping the magical dagger, poised over her heart as he sought a spot where he could strike without causing harm through the pulsing of her blood.

This was the hardest action Yun Xiao had ever taken in his life; his hands trembled. Because Lian Xi trusted him so completely, sleeping so peacefully and sweetly in his arms.

The blade slid over her heart! Sweat beaded finely on his forehead. He closed his eyes, envisioning Chen Xi's spirit severed atop the dragon throne. When he opened them again, he saw the young woman dreaming sweetly in his arms.

He gambled this time, hoping to have both—the ideal and the real. Was it possible to have it all, to sacrifice one for the other, or to end up with nothing at all? Without making the cut, there would never be an answer!

"I'm sorry!" Yun Xiao’s eyes trembled tremendously, his lips parted slightly, veins bulging on his hands. As his mind was engulfed in a fiery haze, his blade delicately pricked and sliced into the tender flesh of Lian Xi’s heart.

"Ah!" Lian Xi jolted awake from her drunken dream, trembling all over. She opened her eyes to see the man who held her, staring blankly as the knife pierced her heart.

"Yun Xiao..." Lian Xi shook in pain, thinking it a terrible nightmare, hurriedly closing her eyes in hopes of waking from the horror.

For Yun Xiao, the moment was utterly nerve-racking. He did not understand their fate—why, despite their love, despite being seen as a perfect couple, they had to come to this point of conflict.

"Quick! Quick!"

Amidst immense pain, a remaining shred of consciousness urged him on!

In that moment, Yun Xiao held his breath, his eyes wide as he swiftly withdrew the blade and threw it aside. He then seized the transcending calamity crystal, pressing it violently into the wound.

Almost instantly, he grabbed the Jade Condensing Celestial Ointment with his other hand, dripping it onto the bloody wound. The ointment flowed like a green spring into her heart, sealing the breach and nourishing the flesh to regenerate.

Throughout the ordeal, Yun Xiao's breath halted, and under severe emotional strain, he executed everything swiftly and fluidly.

As the Jade Condensing Celestial Ointment took effect, he felt as if waking from a profound dream, drained and pale, breathing heavily.

"Yun Xiao, it hurts so much!" Lian Xi opened her eyes again, her gaze incredulous yet immensely vulnerable, tears streaming.

"It's alright now! It's alright... I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Yun Xiao hurriedly held her close, very tightly, as if trying to meld her into himself.

"Why...?" Lian Xi's face was a mask of bewilderment. She realized now, this was no dream, but harsh reality.

"I just wanted to have you forever," Yun Xiao's voice shook as he spoke.

"Forever... seems there is no forever anymore." Lian Xi's eyes, filled with pain and confusion, slowly dropped her grip on Yun Xiao's robe.

"No, no, no…!" Yun Xiao felt her life force ebbing away, as if his organs were being shredded by thousands of knives. His eyes turned blood red as he grasped her shoulders.

He didn't understand the changes occurring within her. But she couldn't die...

With a sudden gasp, as her eyelids drooped, Lian Xi's eyes snapped open, fixing Yun Xiao with a deathly stare. Her lips parted, and with a voice of thundering rage, she cried out, "Primordial Mother of the Dao, savior of the suffering, dispeller of calamity, protector of the Dao in the human world!"

She chanted these words eight times! With each repetition, her gaze grew fiercer by degrees, and her life force began to return, bolstered by an invisible primordial force gathering around her.

"She's not dead, she's not dead!" Yun Xiao's tense heart finally relaxed, overwhelmed by relief.

He embraced Lian Xi tightly, his voice choked with emotion.

Just then, Lian Xi's gaze, at times confused, at times resolute, suddenly trembled.

BUZZ!

Her eyes transformed into two white vortexes!

One vortex spun outward, the other inward, both eerily unsettling—one seeming to be the origin of the world, the other its end!

From these swirling forces, a vast power erupted, blasting Yun Xiao away.

BOOM!

She rose into the air, her white dress fluttering as if floating, while Yun Xiao crashed to the ground.

"Lian Xi, you're not..."

"Yun Xiao!" She cut him off mid-sentence with a voice of utter resolve, "I will never love you again!"

"What…!?" Yun Xiao stared at her, dumbstruck.

"Let's never meet again!" The girl in the white dress uttered these words, a white storm swirling around her as she prepared to ascend into the sky.

"Wait!" Yun Xiao took a deep breath, his lips quivering, "Who are you now? Chen Xi or Lian Xi?"

The girl in the white dress paused in mid-air, then turned to look at him calmly, "From the Forbidden Tower to this Sky Soaring City in the Celestial Court, I have always had but one name."

With that, she no longer lingered. Her dress swirling, she shot upwards into the sky.