628 Sacrifices

[POV: Da Wei]

I had to make it right.

That was the only thought left in my mind as I slowly lost control of the Dark Veil.

The Hollow Star and the Dark Veil were the two greatest symbols of my ownership over the Hollowed World. Through them, I could exert my authority as this world’s sole sovereign. Losing one would have been bad enough, but losing both would strip away the tangible authority that made me the de facto and unquestionable head of this world.

Politically, I probably had nothing to worry about. My clout was strong enough that no one would suddenly challenge my position simply because I had lost control of two of my greatest authorities.

But the people were another matter.

The Hollow Star was more than a crown. It served as an enormous reservoir of qi, allowing the Hollowed World to become healthier and richer in resources while producing enough excess to help stabilize the rest of the world despite the ecological chaos caused by the displaced worlds.

The Dark Veil was even more important.

It was the foundation that allowed the Underworld to coexist with the native Mortal Plane. I couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if I completely lost control over it.

I raced toward the ocean, letting Red Hare lead the way.

Starshroud manifested beside me as a mirage of a woman, her robes fluttering despite the absence of wind.

"You should be resting right now, Master! No, Da Wei! Listen to me!"

"Not now, Star."

I mentally pushed her away, but even as her image began to disperse, I heard myself speaking.

"I... I can't let them down. This is too much. More lives would be lost..."

I didn't even know what I was saying anymore.

The prayers were becoming louder.

Across the Hollowed World, countless voices were calling my name, their desperation bleeding into the very fabric of the Dark Veil. Strange celestial phenomena began appearing in the distant skies, spreading farther and farther as the world trembled beneath my faltering control.

It wasn't long ago that this world had nearly been annihilated by that apocalyptic beast.

Now, because of me, it might as well end anyway.

"It's not your fault," Starshroud's voice echoed within my mind. "Don't blame yourself. This is the work of your enemy, the Supreme Heart!"

I didn't answer.

Red Hare suddenly dove into the ocean. The world disappeared beneath a crushing mass of water, and then I saw it. A pulsating light beneath the ocean floor. It called to me. No, it screamed my name.

"DA WEI!"

The voice shook my soul.

"DA WEI! YOU HAVE TO PROMISE! PURGE THE UNIVERSE!"

You fucking unruly crown.

I released Red Hare and plunged toward the ocean floor. My knees struck the ground, and I reached for the bloody crown buried beneath the darkness. I grabbed the Hollow Star and forced it onto my head.

Pain exploded through my skull.

With gritted teeth, I seized the authority of the crown and forcibly reclaimed my control over the Dark Veil. The resistance was immense, as though the entire world had suddenly become something foreign that I was desperately trying to drag back under my command.

The Hollow Star screamed. The Dark Veil screamed. And their voices merged until I felt as though my skull was being split apart from within.

I endured it.

Slowly, painfully, the Dark Veil obeyed.

The screaming subsided.

I floated back toward the surface of the ocean. The inky blackness spreading across the water had stopped. The strange celestial phenomena disappeared from the sky, and the world finally grew quiet again.

Red Hare surfaced beside me and immediately nuzzled its head against my face.

Spectral skeletons trailed along its mane, their empty sockets glaring at me with what could only be described as anger.

"Hah."

I rubbed Red Hare's head.

"This really sucks."

I couldn't risk the Hollow Star attempting to take over my body again.

It had probably learned the trick from watching Jue Bu. Worse, Heart had nearly done the same thing to me not long ago. I needed a solution. So I summoned Silver Steel from my pocket dimension and beheaded myself.

The sword flashed.

My body collapsed into the ocean while I caught my severed head in one hand.

I rode Red Hare toward the nearest mountain.

When we reached the summit, I made my body sit down and stabbed Silver Steel into the ground beside it. Finally, I mounted my own head onto the sword's hilt, leaving myself staring down at my body from several feet away.

"Starshroud, take care of my body for a moment."

Her mirage appeared beside me again.

"And Red Hare, secure the perimeter."

Red Hare gave an irritated snort before galloping away.

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I continuously cast Cure and Cleanse upon both my body and my head, maintaining what little semblance of sanity I had left while I prepared for what came next. Then I drew upon my full strength or what was left of it.

The Dark Veil responded.

I reached through it and seized the world that had served as the arena for the contest between me and Supreme Heart. I had no intention of abandoning that world. I had already intended to bring it into the Hollowed World and resurrect its people there. With my Supremacy Trait, doing so would have been almost effortless.

Now, without it, I finally understood just how absurdly difficult controlling the Dark Veil actually was. My authority strained against the vastness of the world. I gritted my teeth and pulled.

The Dark Veil shifted.

"How the hell did Yuan Shen manage this?"

He had wielded the Dark Veil as though it were nothing more than an extension of his own hand.

Now that I had lost my Supremacy Trait, I finally understood what that actually meant.

Yuan Shen hadn't merely possessed immense authority. He had mastered something I had always taken for granted. And now I was being forced to learn it the hard way.

Through my Ophanim, I somehow managed to pull the entire world into the Hollowed World without tearing it apart.

The world itself was a single supercontinent surrounded by ocean, and its civilization had originally been comparable to a world of martial artists and developing feudal nations. But after the arrival of my champions and Supreme Heart's champions, its culture had changed drastically, and so had its military.

I could only hope they wouldn't immediately start a war with my people.

I watched as the enormous supercontinent rose from beneath the ocean, its landmass emerging from the Dark Veil as though the world itself were being born anew. The Hollowed World was enormous and constantly expanding, so accommodating an entire world wasn't particularly difficult.

I couldn't say the same for the people who had been displaced.

My vision blurred.

"Master," Starshroud said quietly. "You're crying blood."

I hadn't even noticed.

My body raised a hand and gently dabbed the blood away from my eyes while I focused my attention on something else.

"Ding Cai."

I extended my hand toward the distant land and gathered what remained of my strength.

"Divine Word: Raise."

The power of resurrection crossed the vast distance. Far away, Ding Cai's soul stirred.

I connected to her through Qi Speech.

"Bring the others back to life. Everyone you can."

I paused, struggling to breathe.

"You have to make it right, even if it's already too late. The mortals and everyone else affected by this contest deserve compensation. They deserve the chance to heal and rebuild their lives. Help them, Ding Cai."

The moment I finished speaking, I felt the connection between us suddenly snap. My expression tightened. That was my limit.

Was wielding the Hollow Star and the Dark Veil really too much for me? Was merely moving an entire world into the Hollowed World enough to push me this far?

Yes.

It was.

The realization was almost laughable.

I had spent so long treating these authorities as extensions of myself that I had forgotten what it meant to actually wield them. But I wasn't done yet. While chasing Heart like a madman, that bastard had tossed planets in my path.

Some of those planets had civilizations on them.

That madman!

In the middle of our battle, I had used the Hollowed World like a mace, allowing the Dark Veil to swallow the worlds that collided with it. Every world I absorbed made the Hollowed World larger, and now I reached through the Dark Veil and pulled even more of them toward me.

I couldn't simply leave them behind.

So I suspended the worlds I had absorbed along the shallow border between the Dark Veil and the Underworld, holding them in place as though time itself had stopped around them.

It was crude and inefficient, but it kept them alive.

I coughed.

Blood splattered across the blade of Silver Steel supporting my head. I coughed again, and more blood spilled from my mouth. My vision darkened. I tried to keep going. I had to. There were still people out there. There were still worlds that needed saving. There were still things I had to make right.

But my consciousness finally gave out.

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I was naked. The second was that I no longer had the Hollow Star on my head. The third was that I was mounted on Red Hare.

I groaned and slowly opened my eyes.

Starshroud was beside me in her humanoid form, though she looked different from the last time I had seen her. Her current appearance was far more human. She had dark skin, curly hair, and wore a simple one-piece garment.

"What happened?"

"I sealed away the Hollow Star and severed your connection with the Dark Veil," she answered. "It's for the best. You are not in good shape."

Damn you, Heart.

You should have fought me fair and square. I wheezed as pain spread through my chest. I tried to muster some quintessence and weave myself a set of clothes, but nothing happened.

"Don't force yourself," Starshroud said. "You've been unconscious for a few months already."

"A few months?"

I stared at her.

"Where are we?"

We were surrounded by forests and occasional stretches of rocky terrain. The area seemed peaceful, almost unnaturally so after everything I had been through.

"Here to heal," Starshroud replied.

We eventually stopped beside a small manor. Seemingly indigenous people were coming and going from the building, carrying supplies and tending to the surrounding grounds.

Then a woman stepped outside. She had rosy pink hair, but she looked very different from the last time I had seen her. Her eyes widened when she saw me. "David, what happened to you?"

"Alice," I muttered.

I had no idea how to answer that question.

"He got his ass kicked," Starshroud said.

I immediately protested. "That's not how it happened."

Alice crossed her arms. "Probably more like that's not how you remember it."

"No, really. I promise." I felt genuinely wronged by the accusation. "Heart is a fraud, damn it."

"And you are not?"

I froze.

Gu Jie stepped out from one of the houses, arms crossed as she stared at me with an expression of deep annoyance. My daughter had apparently heard everything. I stared at her. She stared back.

I suddenly wished I had remained unconscious.

I waited for the scolding, but it never came.

Instead, tender hands caught me.

It was Alice.

Oh, how much I had missed her touch.

Unfortunately, I was still kind of angry at her. This woman had ghosted me without so much as an explanation, and now that I was half-dead and barely capable of standing, she decided to show up again.

"I can stand by myself just fine."

Alice released me.

I immediately fell face-first onto the ground.

Silence descended over the manor.

The indigenous people stared at me without saying a word. Gu Jie was visibly struggling to suppress her laughter, while Alice covered her face with one hand, looking utterly embarrassed on my behalf.

"Need a hand?" Alice asked.

"I am fine," I replied, probably with far too much pride. "The mileage might not be good, but I can crawl just fine."

I actually tried crawling. I got about two feet before realizing the problem. I was dragging myself forward with my shoulders, but the position meant my dick kept rubbing against the ground.

I stopped immediately.

Gu Jie finally spoke. "Father, you do know that the masculine bravery you're trying to project right now is just silly and foolish, right?"

"Yeah, you're totally right."

I sighed.

"Actually, I do need a hand."

I might have been a Ruler of Laws, but this was becoming deeply undignified.

Gu Jie scoffed as she turned away.

"Yeah, I know. Help her, Mother."

Alice helped me up and guided me into the left wing of the manor, where she found some clothes for me. My entire body felt numb, and I hated how much I had to rely on her just to walk.

"This sucks," I muttered. "I feel like a cripple."

Gu Jie appeared again, drinking liquor from a gourd despite how early it was.

"I actually lived much of my early life as a cripple. You should know that, Father. So trust me when I tell you that you got off lightly. Knowing you, a regression in cultivation should be part of the course."

"Believe me, it is."

I sat down heavily.

"There's actually a realm above Ruler of Laws. Something I believe all life in the universe should eventually be capable of reaching, but never got there because the prerequisites are unknown. One of them is the Supremacy Trait, which was a part of me that I always thought was innate."

I looked down at my hands.

"Now that part is gone. Heart stole it from me, of all people."

Gu Jie grimaced. "It's that bad, huh?" She raised the gourd. "Want a sip?"

I looked at it. I recognized that gourd. It was the same one Jue Bu had drunk from before he had 'perished' and returned my original physical body to me. I took it from Gu Jie and drank.

The liquor burned its way down my throat.

For a moment, I said nothing.

"Jue Bu was a good friend."

My fingers tightened around the gourd.

"He had a complicated relationship with us. At times, he was our enemy, and at times, we were his. But he was also a victim of fate. Someone I found myself sympathizing with more often than not."

I stared into the gourd.

"He was..."

My voice faltered.

"He was a good friend."

I took another drink.

"I wish I could pour him a glass right now and tell him that."