Chapter 481 - Realm in Chaos (VII)

Chapter 481

Realm in Chaos (VII)

It was all perfect--everything was in place, playing out as it was meant to, and she could feel the sweet nectar of immortality within her grasp... and then it stopped. It was as abrupt as dying from a stab wound to the heart from nowhere; she felt her connection to Life Qi be completely cut, as though someone had taken a knife to the thread binding them.

Try as she may, she could not reestablish it--it had all turned murky, dark, and sluggish. She was so close, just another hour or two, perhaps, and now...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A scream tore through her throat so violently that blood sprayed out from between her lips, shredding her vocal cords; she immediately jumped on her feet and whipped a maelstrom of Qi underneath her, tearing open through the void and shuttling forward by two miles.

Though she heard cries from behind, she ignored them; she had to get there as quickly as possible and rip open the world itself to find out who dared to do it. Who dared disrupt her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

She kept ripping through the void, bounding over a mile with each step and arriving at the destination in less than thirty seconds.

... but there was nobody there. Only strewn bits and pieces of the bodies lying about the hollow sand.

Blood-red tears streamed from her eyes as she glanced over at the fading cracks of the void, catching a glimpse of the destroyed array. No... it wasn't even destroyed; only one of its many nodes was disrupted, but that annihilated it.

She wasn't well-versed in the formation but was warned repeatedly about its weak points--and this one was mentioned the most, especially in the past few days as it weakened even more.

And yet... and yet...

"... if you are here," she growled like a maddened beast through her teeth. "If you are listening... good. I will find you. And once I do, I will peel your skin bit by bit and make you live a life of pain and suffering for all eternity. You will never know peace for as long as I am alive. I will kill everyone you've ever loved and make you watch them suffer a thousandfold. I will flay your skin and make of it a mantle that I will use to suffocate everyone and everything who has ever so much learned your name. Mark my words, you pathetic vermin—I will decimate you."

"..." there was no response, however. Whether that was because the perpetrator had left or was mocking her from the shadows... she didn't know.

No--she did. As soon as that man appeared, she knew that the perpetrator had left.

"What happened?" If at all possible, he had an even worse expression than her.

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"... I don't know," she replied. "One moment, it was all... normal. The next..."

"Who did it?"

"..."

"Ah, Wuh'ye," the man mumbled, his voice draped in rage. "Wuh'ye, dear Wuh'ye." He went down and pulled together strewn bits and pieces of a body.

Once 'assembled', she did notice it roughly resembled the image of the boy that used to accompany the man.

"Who did this to you, boy? Who?" strange, black runes began to arise around the man--like shadow and smoke weaving into eerie, macabre letters.

They began to dance like little puppets around as shadows stirred from the sand, surrounding the two like a strange curtain. The air began to suffocate as she felt Qi trying to leave her body, as though called by a force beyond her own; she rapidly pulled back, creating about a mile of distance.

Even then, she still felt the residual effects of suffocation. A mere moment later, what was the tiny mote of shadow in the distance turned into a world-devouring pillar. Jet-black plumes shot upward violently and rapidly, a resonating cry akin to that of a wounded beast rippling outward.

She felt her skin begin to melt and was forced to pull back another mile, just barely escaping the effects.

Darkness was so thick and overwhelming that the day turned into night; there was no light that could even flicker against it, and no sound that could be heard besides the distant humming of the shadows.

The pillar of darkness diverged near the top, fluttering out into plumes that then attempted to converge back--they made a somewhat humanoid face for a brief moment before it collapsed. Then it happened again and again and again... dozens upon dozens of attempts later, a roar ripped out like a screech of thunder.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! YOU BASTARD!!! HOW DARE YOU?!!!"

It was so violent that the wind, which followed, knocked the air out of her lungs for a moment as she stared aghast.

... was it possible? That the man was unable to discern who had done it? No... he was in the Imperial Realm. He was a god among mortals. The one who showed her the truth behind the curtain. The one who promised her the crown.

And there was somebody in this godforsaken place capable of hiding themselves from him?!

She shuddered, conviction leaving her bones. She'd abandoned everything, including her own Dao, in pursuit of this last chance, her last chance at immortality. She forsook her friends, her sect, everything she stood for, all because she dutifully believed the man and his ilk had no equal; that the Sages came from above, that their ranks were filled with Emperors, that there was nobody in this world who could best them.

And yet...

The darkness subsided and faded, the world returning to its original colors as though nothing had ever happened. However, the sight of the night that seemed to swallow life itself would never leave her mind, in part because it was so overcoming she'd never seen anything like it, and in part... because it failed.

The man emerged from over the dune, floating forward like a sparrow without wings. His expression could not be seen as shadows covered it, though if it was anything like his Qi--which was jumbled to the point of decoherence--it must have been a hundred times worse than hers.

"Kill them," he ordered as he walked past her. "Kill them all. Leave none alive. Destroy the realm."

"What about my--"

"--do it," His voice was low and quiet, yet it sent chills to her very soul. "Before the day's end, I want this place to burn. If you fail... you will burn in its stead."

Shadows wrapped around his figure for a moment before he vanished, disappearing into the void, leaving her silent and despondent.

... that was her chance. Her one opportunity. But it was gone; she knew well enough. Even if she did exactly as he asked, she would not be offered another chance.

But... she would still have to do it. She'd sooner fight all Holy Lands together than face the death that man would offer her if she failed. As he ordered... by the day's end, this realm would burn, as would all those in it.

Come tomorrow, there'd no longer be the Hidden Phoenix Realm... and there'd no longer be the Arch-Maiden of the Mountain, Stormed Season.

There would only be ashes and silence, where her aspirations would rest alongside the dead.

Gone and quickly forgotten.