Chapter 266: Sword Seals the Nether Realm (III)

Wang Sheng took a deep breath, leaped, and landed back where he had stood earlier, by the cave entrance.

Lady Meng, who had remained expressionless all this time, slightly furrowed her brow. With a pained expression, she reached out to grab Wang Sheng. However, before she could get close to him, over a dozen white figures appeared beside her and held her firmly in place.

Wang Sheng frowned. "What's happening to you, Senior Sister Shen?"

He then turned to glance at where Mu Wanxuan had landed. She was over a hundred meters away. Moreover, she could not use any enchanted power at the moment.

"Wang Sheng..." Shen Qianlin called softly, her eyes filled with agony. "You mustn't—"

Her expression returned to cold indifference.

"Senior Sister Shen, help me get my senior sister out of here later," Wang Sheng whispered. "The princess down there probably doubts we can accomplish this either."

The female corpse asked, "You know what I intend to do?"

Wang Sheng nodded slightly. As he tied back his long hair, he began to speak faster.

"You've been trying to bring my senior sister here, which can only mean two possibilities. First, she might be able to temporarily regain the cultivation she had in her past life, but that was clearly just ruled out. Second, you intend to temporarily possess someone else's body, releasing all your Celestial Immortal power in the shortest time possible to create a new seal.

"When we last met, your brow was shrouded in a death aura. You probably can't unleash your full strength in that corpse. My cultivation is too low for me to know if I'm right, but I believe you require someone to fully open their heart and soul to receive your divine soul. However, they won't survive your soul's power. Even if you do manage to seal the Earth Qi Seal, they'll still be reduced to ash."

Wang Sheng lightly brushed Spiritless with his fingers. He had considered leaving it behind, but since he had trained with it for ten years, he thought he might as well take it with him.

The female corpse said, "There's only a fifty percent chance it'll work."

"You have my full cooperation," Wang Sheng replied. "There's one thing I don't understand, though. Why must it be my senior sister? Can't you use someone else?"

Lady Meng said, "Your Highness, I'm willing to—"

The female corpse interrupted, "You're only a spiritual entity. If I fail, I'll still need you to clean up the mess. As for others, even a trace of doubt or hesitation in their hearts would make that fifty percent chance a joke.

"Wang Sheng, I know you can do it, just like Hua Qing, but you don't have to die for this. Go focus on your cultivation."

Wang Sheng frowned. "But my senior sister is allowed to die for this?"

The female corpse answered authoritatively, "This is our responsibility as immortals."

Wang Sheng calmly shook his head. "Then right now, it's I, a mere mortal, who has decided between myself and my senior sister."

The two quieted down into a deadlock. Eventually, however, the female corpse nodded slightly. She had agreed to let him risk his life alongside her in another attempt to reseal the Earth Qi Seal.

Wang Sheng exhaled slowly and longingly glanced one last time at his senior sister. He sighed softly. Fortunately, he hadn't confessed his feelings to her yet. It might just spare her some grief in the future.

With a gentle flick of his left hand, Flying Haze landed beside Mu Wanxuan. It was the only treasure he could leave her.

"Senior Sister, don't forget about me, okay? Reach immortality for me," Wang Sheng murmured. He then exhaled once more. Gripping Spiritless, he opened both arms and leaped into the cave.

"Don't!"

Mu Wanxuan reached forward, but the hundred-meter distance was too great. She couldn't grab him before he disappeared into the mountainside. She lunged forward, only to collapse to the ground.

"Ouch!

Ah—

"

To the side, Lady Meng's hand suddenly grabbed Wang Sheng's arm and yanked him around, causing him to twist in midair.

At that moment, Wang Sheng saw Shen Qianlin again. Her eyes were glowing faintly cyan. White figures had surrounded her, trying to restrain her movements.

Wang Sheng smiled faintly, shook his head at her, and drifted farther from her outstretched hand. Slowly, he closed his eyes.

He relaxed his mind and dispelled all enchanted power.

No more clinging to life, no more fear of death. What is there to fear? This life had been a gift from heaven anyway.

Together, my past and present lives added up to over forty years. Unlike my cowardly death in my past life, I'm trading my life for my senior sister's this time. It's worth it. Truly worth it.

This life had at least been eventful. At seventeen, I left home to become a disciple of the Wudang Mountains. I got to meet my master and my senior sister. I cultivated, studied swordsmanship, fought devils, made a name for myself...

Scenes with his senior sister and his master's constant nagging played in his mind.

My parents finally found peace in life, but Wang Xiaomiao is the most unexpected surprise of all. It is unfortunate that I will never get to watch her grow up, though.

Goodbye, Mistress, Junior Sister, Martial Aunt... to the people in the Wudang courtyard whom I promised to cause trouble with in Sakura Island...

Farewell, everyone.

If fate allows... Wait, no. I would be disintegrating with the female corpse soon. I won't get to be reborn a second time. Did the heavens bring me back just for this day?

If the Small Nether Realm collides with the Hua Republic, the casualties would easily surpass a hundred million. A disaster of that scale might justify the heavens giving me another shot at life. Well, at a time like this, giving myself a bit of credit doesn't seem like such a big deal.

Wang Sheng smiled bitterly. As the overwhelming light blurred his vision, he thought he heard distant calls.

Little Sheng...

Fei Yu!

Junior Brother Wang!

Brother Sheng!

Daoist Master Wang!

Senior brother!

Bro...

Wang Sheng...

"Junior Brother!"

Wait, did I actually hear that?

Wang Sheng opened his eyes, finding Mu Wanxuan standing right at the edge of the cave. She was about to leap down, but Lady Meng pulled her back just in time. With a cyan flash, they soared into the sky.

Wang Sheng sighed in relief. As he felt himself nearing the bottom and about to crash into the female corpse, he cleared his thoughts, discarded all hesitation, and let go of his ego. He surrendered himself completely.

Up above, two pairs of eyes watched his descent.

Bathed in the radiant light, the young Daoist in blue robes smiled gently and tightened his grip on his longsword. His long hair flowed to one side behind him, giving him a serene look.

As the light surged, the seated female corpse stood up. A golden phantasm flashed from her forehead and shot directly into Wang Sheng. Primal qi surged violently from below, but the burst of dazzling light from Wang Sheng proved faster.

The brilliance was so intense that even Lady Meng couldn't look directly at it.

Sensing Mu Wanxuan's yin-yang qi about to spiral out of control, Lady Meng calmly tapped her forehead and abdomen, instantly rendering her unconscious.

Looking down, it seemed Wang Sheng and the female corpse had succeeded. The primal qi they had feared so much no longer erupted.

It had all come down to that single moment.

The stone mountain had vanished, and all the trees within ten

li

had been wiped out. In the mountain's place, a jade statue, several dozen

zhang

tall, stood silently. The Earth Qi Seal seemed to be suppressed beneath it.

Looking closely, the jade statue was likely the physical body that the female corpse had left behind after releasing her Primordial Spirit. In what little time they had, she had refined it into a plug with all her strength, resealing the Earth Qi Seal with it.

At the statue's base, massive rainbow-colored celestial crystals began to grow. Soon, they covered everything within a radius of ten

li

. They also quickly engulfed the statue and formed a new mountain.

Half an hour later, the small world finally stabilized.

Wang Sheng and the female corpse's aura had completely disappeared.

Lady Meng looked down at the unconscious Mu Wanxuan in her arms, wiped away her tears, and vanished in a flash of cyan.

***

That same day, a green light swept across the Small Nether Realm, ejecting all equipment and personnel that had entered the Nether Gate. Lady Meng then reappeared but did not impose her will on the cultivation world. She simply summoned the clan members of the Hidden Earth Sect and instructed them to relay the events in the Small Nether Realm to the world.

Fei Yu, one of the cultivation world's rising stars and ranked first on the Earthly Rankings, had sacrificed his life alongside the "lunar corpse" to close off the Earth Qi Seal again, saving countless lives.

Two days later, the Nether Gate sank back into the earth, and the Small Nether Realm vanished once more. The Hidden Earth Sect relocated to Mount Pingdu.

In the following days, people came to mourn at Mount Pingdu. Through them, the Hidden Earth Sect learned that the severely wounded Qing Yanzi had fallen ill and remained unconscious.

Mu Wanxuan had not spoken a single word since she woke up. On the seventh day, she appeared at the foot of Mount Pingdu in mourning clothes. She knelt where the Nether Gate had been for three days and three nights. No one could persuade her to leave. When Lady Meng appeared once more, Mu Wanxuan disappeared from the cultivation world.

Of the two rising stars who were supposed to amaze the cultivation world of the Hua Republic, one ended up dead, and the other went missing.

Later, the Hidden Earth Sect revealed that Mu Wanxuan had built a hut near the Earth Qi Seal. She spent each day sitting silently in meditation, staring at the seal.

The Righteous-Qi Alliance featured Wang Sheng's deeds at the top of their official website for a month, calling on young cultivators to follow his spirit of noble sacrifice. The youths responded by asking the authorities to first assign them a few adorable senior or junior sisters before talking about sacrifice.

Two full months after the Nether Gate disappeared, although Wang Sheng's name was still mentioned, it became less frequent.

***

Three months after the Earth Qi Seal was resealed.

Beneath the eighteenth level of Hell, in the hidden world.

Amid a sea of rainbow celestial crystals, the graceful Lady Meng quietly gazed at the mountain of crystals at the center. Though once dazed, she now furrowed her brow slightly. She sighed and continued staring into the distance.

Even though she could not see it, several dozen

zhang

under the mountain's core was a sealed crystal cavern that stretched ten

zhang

in every direction. Formed by crisscrossing rainbow celestial crystals, the prison blocked all divine sense and spiritual consciousness.

A sea of primal qi was inside it, so thick that it was almost liquid. At the center of it all was an upright longsword radiating waves of immortal light. Its blade was fully embedded in the crystal below, within which lay dozens of overlapping layers of sealing formations.

Ting—

The sword emitted a soft chime. The phantasm of a three-inch-tall little fairy appeared on the hilt.

Looking at the charred figure in the corner, she muttered, "Three months and still asleep. Just how weak is this guy..."

Shaking her head, she vanished into the sword's hilt with a flash.

The moment she disappeared, the eyelid of the charred corpse twitched. A few flakes of black ash slowly fell away...