"Heaven has eyes, my Grand Formation is complete!" Ji Chen chased closely all the way, his gaze blazing like fire.
He seemed to have been reborn, his vitality burning fiercely as his aura surged to its peak, sweeping outward like tidal waves, enveloping White Phoenix City with an invisible pressure.
Cultivators from outside gathered at the Phoenix Immortal Pavilion, watching the flames rising from the Ji Family residence from afar, when they suddenly felt waves of palpitations.
Ji Chen had every reason to rejoice—he had waited a hundred years for this.
Times had changed, stars had shifted—a mortal's entire life from birth to death spanned barely a century.
Song Qianji returned to Peach Blossom Creek and paused beneath the peach tree. Hearing Ji Chen call out for his sister, he nearly grabbed the man to pummel him again.
Having seen what Ji Xing looked like grown up, impersonating her wasn't difficult, but Ji Chen in this lifetime had never seen her adult form.
Ji Chen stared fixedly at "Ji Xing," as if afraid the person before him would vanish into a wisp of smoke scattered by the wind, and asked softly:
"Little Xing, is it really you?"
His voice trembled slightly, caught between sorrow and joy.
Night clouds drifted gently, the bright moon shifted branches.
Falling blossoms swirled like burning flames, their embers drifting to the ground.
"Ji Xing" averted her gaze, refusing to look at him.
Her face and the peach blossoms reflected each other's rosy hue, yet he feared this meeting was but a dream.
Ji Chen blinked, tears glistening: "You've grown taller, your hair has grown longer too. So good, so good."
As he spoke, he gestured clumsily with his hands.
Though they stood barely three meters apart, Ji Chen halted, as if separated by an impassable chasm or vast ocean, not daring to take half a step forward, letting the falling blossoms obscure his vision.
Nervous nearing home, torn between hope and fear.
Then "Ji Xing" spoke: "Your formation is complete now. There's no need to hunt down the remaining survivors."
Ji Chen seemed to revert to his youthful self, his smile radiating innocence as he eagerly agreed:
"Alright, alright, we'll do as you say. Little Xing, you haven't changed, you're still so kind! But I... I have changed..."
He lowered his head like a child who'd done wrong.
Song Qianji shook his head: "Those who live by the sword die by the sword. I only fear you've passed the point of no return, damaging your cultivation."
Whether in illusion or reality, the sensation left by killing with one's own hands was real. Excessive slaughter could easily drive one mad, just as he'd witnessed at Hua Wei Floating City.
Ji Chen smiled bitterly: "What cultivation do I have left? I drift alone through this world, without kin or home, wandering across the seas. Now that Ji Guang and Ji Ming are dead, and the Ji Family burned to ruins, what more could I seek?"
Seeing Song Qianji frown, Ji Chen immediately apologized:
"My fault, I shouldn't speak like this. Don't be upset. You used to tell me to focus wholeheartedly on the Great Path, to ascend and pluck a star for you..."
Song Qianji thought Ji Xing was truly remarkable—he'd cook noodles for her when he returned.
Aloud, he responded: "Indeed. Have you forgotten already?"
"I haven't forgotten!" Ji Chen gazed at the figure before him, his smile distant as if lost in memories. "You were only six then, but already so clever. Ji Guang showed you a glowing jade pendant, claiming it was a star from heaven. You ignored him, preferring to play stone-throwing and paper crane folding with me, and you wouldn't let them call me worthless. You said I'd surely achieve enlightenment and ascend someday, that I'd fly up and pick a real star for you. I've always remembered these things."
"You also said if you were ever gone, you'd become a star to light my path every night. But there are so many stars in the sky—which one is you? I'm too foolish, I could never find you."Song Qianji's emotions were complex, a mix of awkwardness and sorrow.
"You really are foolish!" he said angrily.
"I'm not foolish this time." Ji Chen spoke as if coaxing a child, eager to claim credit. "Look what this is!"
He slapped his Storage Bag and summoned a massive "Paper Crane" that knocked over two peach blossom trees.
The crane's body was broad enough to seat two people, its neck held high with an air of pride.
"On my sixteenth birthday, when Ji Guang broke the paper crane you made for me, you cried endlessly. I promised you then that I would fold the largest crane in the world for you—one that could spread its wings and fly, all the way to the ends of the earth."
Song Qianji didn't know whether to laugh or cry. No wonder you were randomly folding my talisman paper earlier—it turns out you and your sister have had this hobby since childhood.
He looked closely. Rare Mithril and Starfall Iron had been polished as thin as paper, pieced together into the shape of a paper crane toy, its wings spread unevenly.
The crane's body was carved with Runes, shimmering with a silvery glow under the moonlight.
"Do you like it?" Ji Chen asked excitedly.
"I..." Song Qianji forced a nod. "Like it."
Ugly as it was, the materials were solid.
What a pity—such materials could have been used to forge something far better.
"Then let's go!" Ji Chen laughed heartily and suddenly reached out to pull him.
Song Qianji's feet left the ground as he leaped onto the crane's back with him.
The giant Paper Crane flapped its wings, stirring up a whirlwind of falling blossoms.
"Where are we going?" Song Qianji asked, slightly startled.
Ji Chen shouted, "Hold on tight!"
The earth shook violently, a large swath of peach forest collapsing as the crane soared into the sky.
Fierce winds surged. Ji Chen sat in front of Song Qianji to block the wind: "Wraiths cannot bear sunlight, so we'll fly where the sun cannot reach. I don't want just one night of reunion—I want you to remain in this world forever!"
The crane spread its wings wide, like a drifting moon casting endless silver radiance over countless mountains and valleys.
Song Qianji laughed, "Where in this world could the sun not reach?"
Why was he still treating Ji Xing like a child?
"Then we'll just keep flying." Ji Chen laughed joyfully. "Xiao Xing, do you remember your thirteenth birthday? You said the medicine was too bitter and refused to drink it, asking me to find some sugar pills. I brought the wrong ones—I brought you especially bitter elixirs instead. You beat me up so badly back then... Your health was still good then, and you hit hard..."
He didn't seem to expect a response from the person behind him, lost in his own memories as if he had endless stories to tell.
Song Qianji had no chance to interject, so he simply listened quietly.
Flying past the sun was just momentary madness—Ji Chen would stop when he grew tired.
Unconsciously, the Paper Crane soared on, leaving Peach Blossom Creek and White Phoenix County behind, crossing rivers and mountains.
And Ji Chen showed no intention of stopping.
"Ahead is the Dead Sea," Song Qianji said. "We can't cross it. Let's stop."
The sea raged with waves, dark as ink.
Beneath the waves came the roars of sea beasts, rolling like thunder.
"Hold on tight, Xiao Xing!" Ji Chen suddenly gathered his energy, urging the crane forward at full speed, chasing the waning moon in the western sky.
Behind them, the faint light of dawn spilled slowly from the eastern sky like a shadow of death.
"Ji Chen, what are you trying to do? Are you serious?" Song Qianji looked back. "You can't outfly the sun!"
The boundary between dawn and dusk stretched behind them, rapidly closing in.
The sun rises in the east, illuminating the four seas—where in heaven and earth is not bathed in light?
But Ji Chen stubbornly flew toward the edge of the continent, seeking a land of polar night without sun.
The setting of the moon and rising of the sun is the fairest thing in this world.Whether you ride a flying sword, flying shuttle, flying boat, flying swallow, or any other peculiar flying magical artifacts, no matter how fast you fly or how high your cultivation, you can never outpace time.
The alternation of day and night, the cycles of heavenly law—how can you break free from fate?
The interplay of yin and yang, the inevitability of birth, aging, sickness, and death—how can you retain departed souls?
Ji Chen refused to accept defeat. His sleeves billowed wildly, his eyes bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead:
"Faster! Go even faster!"
He recklessly channeled spirit qi, driving the paper crane onward.
"Creak!"
The giant paper crane tore through the night fog, its wings groaning under the strain, emitting faint cracking sounds.
The moon's reflection in the western sky was obscured by thick clouds. The Dead Sea stretched vast and boundless, like a black desert.
Suddenly, Ji Chen swayed and nearly fell from the flying crane.
Song Qianji quickly steadied him from behind: "You're overdrafting your spirit qi! You can't keep flying!"
Ji Chen turned his head, grinning as if to say he was fine, but instead vomited copious amounts of blood.
Shocked, Song Qianji grasped his vital point and transferred spirit qi: "Why is your spirit qi so chaotic, your life force fading? When did this happen?"
Furious and alarmed, Song Qianji found Ji Chen staring blankly: "You're not Xiao Xing."
Song Qianji froze: "I..."
Unexpectedly, Ji Chen didn't descend into madness or rage, only showing disappointment in his eyes.
He whispered softly: "She never had such profound spirit qi."
"When were you injured?" Song Qianji resignedly wiped off his disguise.
"Yin-Yang Inversion, Karma Fire Incineration—once the arrow leaves the bow, it cannot return. Once the formation activates, it must absorb the life force of the living. Either the lives of those in the formation, or the life of the formation master."
With every word Ji Chen spoke, fresh blood gushed from his mouth. In mere moments, he had become drenched in blood.
Song Qianji scolded with frustrated concern: "How dare you use such sinister, damaging forbidden arts?!"
He tried to feed Ji Chen spiritual medicine, but Ji Chen turned his head, letting the pills fall into the Dead Sea.
"I wanted to try." The man's luxurious purple-gold robes were already soaked through with blood, his speech beginning to falter: "Thank you. You let me see her one more time. So in this world, there is someone who genuinely remembers her, just like me."
His gaze grew distant, as if drifting to the edge of the continent:
"I remember our first meeting at Phoenix Immortal Pavilion—your solitary sword stirred the world, what a hero you were. And now, to fulfill my wish, you pretended to be my younger sister... After I die, go to White Phoenix Mountain. Follow the marks I left, and you'll find my Formation Dao inheritance, magical artifacts, and treasures."
The first faint light of dawn finally spread, illuminating Ji Chen's pale cheeks.
They sat on the precarious flying crane, exposed to the rising morning sun, like two dying fish gasping for breath.
Song Qianji spoke with difficulty: "I can make you see Ji Xing again. Just trust me."
"I don't believe you." Ji Chen shook his head. "I'm about to die. There's no need to deceive me anymore."
Song Qianji's eyes reddened slightly: "You don't believe I'm your friend? From beginning to end, you never trusted me at all?"
If Ji Chen didn't believe him, how could he save him?
Was he supposed to just watch his life extinguish?
"Brother Song, I did believe you originally. But not anymore. When Xiao Xing was alive, I was useless, completely worthless. After Xiao Xing died, only hatred remained in my heart." Ji Chen could barely speak now, only emitting thread-like whispers."Look at my life—muddled, foolish, and deranged. I've never been a good person, nor have I done a single good deed. How, how could I deserve a friend as wonderful as you? Could it be..." He curled his lips, "that my ancestors accumulated virtue?"
Song Qianji's eyes grew warm, Ji Chen's face blurred before him, and he only heard him murmur:
"I don't believe it, I don't believe it..."
"Believe it or not!" Song Qianji gritted his teeth, a talisman flying out, "Come back to me!"
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