Venerated Venomous Consort

Perplexed, none of them knew anything about the existence of such a gate, except for Di Fuyi and the Emperor Immortal. However, the Emperor Immortal only knew very little about it.

He remembered reading about the gate in a very ancient book, which stated that the Posuo Gate was a gate of purification that was established by the Creation Deity as an act of compassion. It was created as an independent space for cleansing and purification. That was all he knew. He did not even know how the gate worked.

“You are the only one who can open the gate, right?” The Emperor Immortal was rather straightforward with Fan Qianshi.

Fan Qianshi answered nonchalantly, “I am incapable of opening the gate.”

It was a surprising piece of information to the crowd.

“I know that the Creation Deity first established the Posuo Gate and that only the Creation Deity can open it. Since you address yourself as the Creation Deity, I see no reason why you are incapable of opening the gate,” the Emperor Immortal argued.

Fan Qianshi took a look at his own hands before laughing out loud. “The Pusuo Gate is the ultimate symbol of kindness and compassion, so one must have the purest intention in order to open the gate. I have committed unforgivable sins, and many people have died because of me. Why should you be surprised by my incapability of opening the gate?”

Everyone was aghast at his brutal honesty. They had never seen any deity with such audacity to be so upright about his own sins. Was the arrogant Creation Deity finally reaping what he sowed?

Meanwhile, the Emperor Immortal continued, “You worked with the demon to create the desert. You said that everything you did was to get the six worlds to bow before your superiority by destroying the desert that you created in the first place. You proposed that the Pusuo Gate was the only way to cleanse the spirits, and yet you also admitted that you were incapable of opening the gate. How did you plan to destroy the desert in the first place?”

“Plans change all the time. What is the point of talking about my initial plan?” Fan Qianshi said nonchalantly.

When he first made the plan with the demon, he never wanted to kill the demon. In order to gain her trust, he had to place a special spell within the structure of the ferocious desert.

As long as the demon was alive, these spirits would merely be filled with resentment and grudge. They would not be infected by the demon’s ancient evil aura. When all of his plans finally succeeded, he would then take the time to cleanse the spirits by using an ordinary purification method. At least he was confident that they could be contained.

However, because the demon was destroyed, her ancient evil aura was widespread to every corner of the desert, thus infecting every resentful spirit with the evilest form of ancient powers and preventing them from being cleansed. Opening the Pusuo Gate remained the most effective way.

Fan Qianshi had committed unforgivable sins, so there was no way he could open the Pusuo Gate, which was why the demon agreed to work with him.

Back in the present, Fan Qianshi continued to speak in an arrogant and opinionated manner. His truculent and uncooperative behavior was especially repulsive. Nevertheless, his aura remained unquestionably powerful. Otherwise, he would have been beaten up by the group of people that were offended by his attitude.

Even though they did not beat him up physically, they did not hold back on their articulate assault on all the sins that he had committed. They were fearless, for Di Fuyi was there to protect them. Among the crowd were also those that refused to join the assault. They only distanced themselves from him.

Fan Qianshi stood alone on a rock, with no one around to stand by him. He seemed rather secluded. Perplexed, the group of people had only one question in mind. Why would a Creation Deity commit such great sins?

Someone asked if Fan Qianshi regretted any of his decisions, but he acted as if none of the accusations mattered and even had the audacity to laugh out loud. He never felt obligated to answer anyone’s questions about his decisions. Also, no amount of remorse and shame could turn the situation around.

At that point, he looked at Gu Xijiu with a weak smile and said, “Master, there is only one thing that I regret.”

Even without any memories from her past, Gu Xijiu still acknowledged him as a disciple that she once had. “What is the matter?” She gave him a rather confused look.

“You used to care deeply about me.” With a bitter smile, he hoarsely continued, “It is a shame that you no longer remember me or the connection that we used to share.”

“What?” Gu Xijiu felt as though her heart was stabbed.

Fan Qianshi continued to laugh out loud with derision. “Master, how I wish you were still the same. I am the one who started the mess, so I should be the one to end it. However, this is not something that I can accomplish alone, so please finish it off for me.”

Gu Xijiu’s heart sank. “You…”

Fan Qianshi started walking towards the desert, and everyone else was shocked.

Gu Xijiu knew that something bad was about to happen. “Fan Qianshi, what are you trying to do?”

Fan Qianshi said nothing back. He continued to walk towards the desert with effortless grace, and with every step, crimson red lotuses blossomed beneath his feet. As soon as these lotuses were in full bloom, they rose into the air and danced lightly in the gusts. Instantly, he became surrounded by blood-red petals.

These petals in the air served as a trigger for the resentful spirits. Almost instantaneously, the masses of spirits were drawn towards Fan Qianshi in heavy circles.

Needless to say, Hua Yan panicked. The wizardry barrier that shielded the desert was transparent, allowing her to see everything that happened in there. The red petals were actually extractions of Fan Qianshi’s very own blood. His blood attracted the resentful spirits, prompting them to bite and tear his flesh apart.

However, the man did not defend himself or run away. He just stood and allowed the spirit to consume his body, turning his body into glimpses of red light. It was an obvious suicide.

Gu Xijiu clenched her fists in disbelief. She utterly disliked the man, so much so that she wished for his death. Even the fact that he used to be her disciple did not minimize the murderous hatred that she had for the wicked man.

However, seeing him getting torn apart by the masses of resentful spirits was not the ending that she had hoped for him now. She took a step forward in an attempt to help but was immediately stopped by Di Fuyi. “He is using the Red Lotus Disintegration Dharma. Once started, it can no longer be stopped,” Di Fuyi discouraged her.

“What will happen to him?”

“He is the one responsible for the development of the desert, so naturally, these spirits hold the strongest grudge against him. He is feeding his body to the spirits in order to minimize their resentment.”

“Master!” Hua Yan called out loud. She took a leap and rushed into the desert as well.

Long Siye failed to stop her and watched helplessly as she rushed to her death.

Shocked, Long Siye felt the need to go after her, but the Emperor Immortal held him back. “Don’t be reckless!”

Swiftly, Hua Yan leaped towards Fan Qianshi, but he was no more than a skeleton in the end. “Master!” She hugged him tightly, with no regard for her safety.

The resentful spirits were annoyed by her sudden interference. With a screech, they were determined to sink their teeth into her flesh and pull her out of their way.

Fortunately, Fan Qianshi was still conscious, so he gave Hua Yan a hard push to keep her away. “Get out of here!”

Hua Yan rolled across the ground for at least a hundred feet. She struggled to stand up but managed to witness Fan Qianshi’s final moments. His body exploded into flashes of red light that brightened up the entire sky, which soon turned into drops of blood that rained over the entire desert, staining every spirit with his blood.

Helplessly, Hua Yan stood in a daze while being soaked in his blood. Fan Qianshi was gone forever. There was no sign of him anywhere, and it felt like he never existed.

 Everyone else stood looking at one another in helpless confusion.

“Did he just make a sacrifice to atone for the sins? What about his soul? Where did it go?”

“His soul must have escaped. The mere sacrifice of his physical body means nothing to a mighty Creation Deity like him.”

“That is right.”

People started to discuss his act of sacrifice.

“No. His soul was shattered as well,” Di Fuyi made a loud announcement to cease the gossip.

Gu Xijiu’s face turned pale at once while the rest finally kept their mouths shut. They fixed their curious eyes on the desert and watched the blood rain pour down.

It did not take long for the rain to stop. They could finally see the spirits again and also caught a glimpse of Hua Yan, who was paralyzed in shock. Perhaps she had a natural defense against the spirits, or Fan Qianshi had cast a spell to protect her. The spirits surrounded her heavily, but could never get close enough to harm her.

“Mighty Immortal Hua Yan, please step out of the desert.”

Long Siye was still recovering from the shock of witnessing Fan Qianshi explode into bits. He, too, froze in horror.

Hua Yan seemed disheartened by the loss of her master. Soon, she started scorning her survival. She swayed to her feet but fell to the ground again and again. With a handful of sand filled with Fan Qianshi’s blood, she murmured to herself, “Master, you are the one I loved. You have always been the only one. Let me come with you.”

Glimpses of white light started to form on her palm before she pointed her palm to the top of her head.

“Master Hua Yan!” Long Siye desperately called out loud, but her body was soon covered in a blinding white light before it disappeared.

Long Siye knelt on the ground in disbelief. He did not have any affection towards Hua Yan as a man, but he truly respected her as his master. He never imagined that Hua Yan would kill herself for Fan Qianshi.

Dazed by her death, there were no tears left for him to cry. As for the others, they were equally stunned by her sudden and tragic death. None of them uttered another word.

“The one responsible for all this is now dead, but what about the desert? Who else here can open the Pusuo Gate? ” Finally, someone broke the silence.

There were no responses, but intuitively, all of them turned to Di Fuyi to look for an answer. The man, too, was shocked by the next event that was about to unfold before their eyes.

Di Fuyi did not change one bit. He stood as gracefully as always. As for Gu Xijiu, she was undergoing a sudden massive transformation.

Blinding lights started to scatter from her body as though she was the Sun! She sat peacefully with her eyes closed as if she had just reached a new form of enlightenment.

Kun Xueyi was the first one to realize the significance of her changes. “She is about to be awakened!”

“Could she… Could she be the next Creation Deity?” A sudden realization hit the Emperor Immortal.

Kun Xueyi snapped his finger in agreement. “That is right!”

The Emperor Immortal was shocked, and so was everyone else.

After a while, the blinding seven-colored rays finally faded away, and Gu Xijiu opened her eyes and slowly stood up. “I shall be the one who opens the Pusuo Gate. I will finish off what he started.”

Gu Xijiu shone in eternal light, indicating that she was a Deity – a superior identity that should be respected by all. Her looks remained the same, but her aura was very different. She looked almighty!

After a moment of shock, the crowd then leaped into joyful cheers of celebration for the return of the real Creation Deity who would bring salvation for all mankind.

Gu Xijiu looked away from the cheerful crowd and whispered to herself, “Qianshi, I will finish it off for you.” A tear rolled down a cheek and disappeared into the wind.