Chapter 2056 - 80: Drifting Southward (2)

"I can give you a chance, a chance to live."

Bai Xiu said calmly, "If you’re willing to nod, you can even take back the fire seed that belongs to you."

"What’s the price?"

The traveller raised his head and spoke bluntly.

He didn’t believe that pies would fall from the sky for free.

"I want you to swear a Soul Oath and ascend the Source Tower with me."

Bai Xiu enunciated each word: "After you fuse the fire seed, join the Three-Continent Alliance and march together into the Divine War!"

"You want me dead?"

Hearing this, the traveller couldn’t help but laugh. "You think I don’t know who that guy at the top of the Source Tower is?"

Qinglong!

Back when he signed a contract with the Netherworld King, he had glimpsed a corner of the highest seat of the Five Continents!

He coveted this beautiful homeland of the Five Continents, but at the same time he was wary of the Fire Leaders of the Five Continents... especially that Sky Divine Throne sitting in the Source Tower!

Even at his peak, he had been unwilling to cross blades with Qinglong!

"Yes, you can understand it as me wanting you dead."

Bai Xiu said faintly, "You can make your choice right now—die now, or get the fire seed and die later."

The traveller choked for a moment.

He stared fixedly at the young man before him and said, "Do you even know what a ’Divine War’ means? On your side, you sent out both the War God and the Empress, two Divine Thrones, and for a full five years you still couldn’t win this Divine War... By now the battle in the Source Tower has probably already ended! You think if I fuse a fire seed and fight another round, I can change the outcome?"

"It won’t just be you."

Bai Xiu lowered his gaze and said softly, "I will enter the war as well, Meng Xizhou will also enter the war... and there are others. The Three-Continent Alliance will pour in all its strength to fight this battle."

"You? What makes you think you can enter the war?"

A trace of pitiful sympathy surfaced in the traveller’s eyes. He shook his head with a smile. "You think just because you’ve comprehended the origin, you can vie with a Divine Throne?"

Bai Xiu took a deep breath.

He no longer looked at the "Tomb Ghost" behind him, but turned instead toward that towering, sky-piercing black shadow!

He walked toward the Heavenly Sheath.

As if driven by some ghostly impulse, the traveller also began to move. Perhaps the Thunder Realm Domain was giving him an immense sense of oppression; under the constant booming detonations of thunder all around, he braced himself and followed beside Bai Xiu. In the end, the two of them arrived together before that monolithic boulder that stood upright like a sword!

Everything was exactly as in the scene Bai Xiu had seen in the Tomb Ghost Dream.

Bai Xiu tilted his head back, admiring this towering "Heavenly Sheath."

The traveller was forced to admire it alongside him.

"Where did you have the Crown Bearer hide[Extinguishing Candle]?"

Bai Xiu spoke softly, posing a question the traveller would never answer no matter what.

If he answered this question,

it would be tantamount to truly giving up[Extinguishing Candle].

However...

Bai Xiu had never expected to get an answer from the traveller’s mouth anyway. He had been searching for[Extinguishing Candle]for a very, very long time; no one knew how strong his resolve truly was.

Bai Xiu extended his palm.

This movement made the traveller’s pupils contract slightly.

"Hey—"

The traveller rasped, "Are you sure you want to touch the ’Heavenly Sheath’? This thing, if you touch it carelessly, you’ll lose your abilities..."

Touching the Heavenly Sheath would cause the Extraordinary Essence within one’s body to be suppressed!

Transcendents whose strength was insufficient might even lose all their abilities and turn back into ordinary people!

From this angle, the traveller shouldn’t have been stopping Bai Xiu.

Right now his life was in Bai Xiu’s hands.

If something happened to Bai Xiu, it would actually be good news for him.

Yet some intuition in the dark told him that if this monster Bai Xiu touched the Heavenly Sheath... there might really be "nothing wrong" at all.

He called out to halt Bai Xiu and spoke of the Heavenly Sheath’s terror, hoping that Bai Xiu’s movements would stop here.

He was afraid.

Afraid that Bai Xiu would actually draw out[Extinguishing Candle]from within the Heavenly Sheath!

"Heh..."

But this shout instead made Bai Xiu laugh.

Little Xiuzi did not hesitate.

He gently pressed his palm against the Heavenly Sheath.

Boom!

In an instant, the entire Tundra Prison, with the Heavenly Sheath monolith as its center, surged with a mighty snow gale unseen in a hundred years!

Above the overcast clouds, a snow-white bolt of lightning descended, slamming down with unerring precision upon the sword tip of the Heavenly Sheath!

This snow-white bolt of lightning turned into a dragon, and in an instant it washed the darkness for a hundred li around into daylight—

Bai Xiu’s palm was pressed firmly against the wall of the Heavenly Sheath. He was not repelled by the Heavenly Sheath Power, but rather "accepted."

The process did not even have the slightest ripple.

The traveller’s face went pale, and he collapsed to the ground.

...

...

"I don’t know why, but these last few days, my mind has been constantly ill at ease."

Inside the Jade Dojo on the Initial Number.

Gu Xiaoman had been unable to enter a state of seclusion for a long time; for a Spiritual prodigy like her, who had long ago comprehended Heart Flow, this was very abnormal.

Under the teachings of several masters, no matter when or where, Gu Xiaoman had always been able to quickly enter tranquility.

Alf floated in circles around Gu Xiaoman.

It was always extraordinarily lenient with the little one. "Maybe you’re tired, or maybe you’ve hit a bottleneck after your Breakthrough? Even a genius needs rest sometimes, right? You’ve been cultivating arduously for years now; taking a break for a while isn’t such a big deal—"

Unfortunately.

Its comforting words had no effect.

"No, it’s not because of those."

Gu Xiaoman shook her head, her little face written with seriousness.

The most basic quality of a Spiritual Transcendent was self-perception.

She glanced at Red Shadow, who was bowing in a corner of the dojo, quietly waiting for orders to serve. A thought rose in her mind, and she asked, "Have we received any useful signals from outside the[Old World]?"

"You mean... Gu Shen’s messages?"

Alf said regretfully, "That guy has vanished without a trace. The probes I’ve sent out haven’t picked up the slightest signal."

Gu Xiaoman felt a bit disappointed.

Wasn’t it Gu Shen?

She suddenly thought of something else, and took from her bosom an envelope that had once been opened... This envelope was a "gift" Mr. Gu had given her. After receiving it, Gu Xiaoman had never opened it to read.

On the surface, it was just a simple letter.

But if one probed with spiritual power, one would discover that the letter contained a very powerful energy.

If one touched it with spiritual power, it might trigger an unknown chain reaction!

This was a letter Mr. Gu Changzhi had left for Mr. Gu.

Gu Xiaoman didn’t know why Mr. Gu had handed such a precious envelope over to her, but she knew this thing was extremely, extremely valuable. Once it was truly "used," probably only a Divine Throne-level Transcendent could withstand the Spiritual pressure left behind by Gu Changzhi!

During this time, Gu Xiaoman had always kept the envelope over her heart.

"Thump."

The moment she took out the envelope, Gu Xiaoman finally realized where the unease in her heart came from.

The envelope exuded a faint sandalwood fragrance.

This was the scent of Mr. Gu’s body. After Gu Changzhi infused it with Spirit, this ordinary envelope had become a high-quality "sealed item." The previous bearer of this sealed item had poured his heart’s blood, time, and Extraordinary Essence into it. Thus, even without being actively used, this letter could still transmit certain things.

Gu Xiaoman’s "unease" came from this letter.

Only now did Gu Xiaoman belatedly realize what it meant that a few days ago, Mr. Gu had secretly chosen to hand this envelope over to her.

This was an envelope Mr. Gu had worn close to his person for more than ten years.

It should have been the keepsake that accompanied Gu Qilin to his death.

Yet now, it had been given away.

Gu Xiaoman’s lips were a bit dry, and the fingers holding the envelope were trembling slightly.

She cautiously poured her Spirit into the envelope, and from the seams of the gilt-edged letter paper there seeped a faint glow—the "Spiritual Radiance" belonging to the former owner, Gu Qilin. At this moment that resplendent glow was dimming, bit by bit seeping out from the envelope, dispersing, drifting toward the sky.

Gu Xiaoman’s expression turned dazed. Cradling the envelope, she walked out of the Jade Dojo. Chasing after the light that flew out of the envelope, she stumbled her way onto the Snowfield, where the cold wind howled.

Those soul-lights, scattered like fireflies, swept southward.

Speck by speck, they ultimately dissolved into the wind.

That was the direction of the East Continent.

It was also the direction of Changye.