The newly arrived Celestials who were farther away managed to escape the range of Spirit Absorption in time, but those who were closer found themselves unable to move, forced to watch helplessly as their spiritual energy was voraciously sucked away by that bizarrely spinning small horn.
The only silver lining was the sheer number of Celestials present here. To combat the Sea Fall, both the Mountain and Sea factions had mobilized almost their entire forces, with no fewer than fifty thousand Celestials gathered at the Eastern Sea. No matter how formidable Jiang Li Fei's ability to absorb spiritual energy was, she couldn't possibly drain tens of thousands of Celestials at once. It was during this brief respite that Sang Hua Jun, positioned closest to the front, suddenly noticed something—the spherical object enveloping Jiang Li Fei and the other person seemed to have shrunk slightly, and its earth-shattering power had also diminished somewhat.
Even if he didn't fully comprehend the situation, he could sense that the once-in-five-centuries Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea was inextricably linked to Jiang Li Fei. Whether it was a punishment for her or a trial from the heavens, one thing was certain: she could not be allowed to die here—at least not in the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, where her body would be utterly destroyed.
While the records on the Spirit Stele were novel and alluring, they offered no explanation for the greatest mystery of all: Jiang Li Fei's identity. These were people who had been starving and lost for centuries, terrified by the Sea Fall yet intoxicated by the unknown power it represented. Jiang Li Fei's appearance was as tantalizing as the scent of meat, and the Spirit Stele she left behind was but a drop of broth—not enough to quench their hunger and longing, only intensifying their desire.
She had to be saved.
Sang Hua Jun suddenly raised his voice and declared, "Fellow Daoists, I implore you all to step forward. Do not retreat."
Jiang Li Fei was absorbing spiritual energy, yet he was urging those who had successfully escaped to come forward and court death? Throughout this journey, the attitudes of Sang Hua Jun and the other founders of the Academy had remained ambiguous, and even the various sect leaders had held back their full strength. Cuixuan Xianren, who had endured until now, could no longer contain his fury and roared, "This is preposterous! To save the lives of two foreign anomalies, are you asking our fellow Daoists from the Central Land to sacrifice themselves?!"
Sang Hua Jun had no intention of arguing with him and continued, "You have all seen the Spirit Stele. This woman comes from beyond the sea, is deeply connected to the five-century Sea Fall, and possesses extraordinary abilities. This is our only chance—we cannot let her perish or escape. Step forward now, and the moment she emerges from the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, capture her alive!"
Cuixuan Xianren said coldly, "And what if we cannot capture her alive? Shall we stand by and watch her flee again?!"
Sang Hua Jun replied calmly, "If we cannot capture her alive, with thousands of Celestials gathered here, surely we can handle a woman severely wounded by the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea?"
Cuixuan Xianren sneered repeatedly. Finally, Sang Hua Jun glanced at him and slowly shook his head. "Fellow Daoist Cui Xuan, a narrow worldview of black and white is not conducive to cultivation."
Cuixuan Xianren laughed mockingly. "What a fine 'narrow worldview of black and white'! Have you all forgotten the tragedy of five hundred years ago? You may have forgotten, but I have not! Our hatred for those foreign anomalies is irreconcilable!"
Sang Hua Jun sighed. "The strong prey on the weak—this is the natural order. Precisely because of this, we must understand the situation beyond the sea. If we shut ourselves off, how are we any different from a blind man walking a night path? As the saying goes, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' If you wish to avenge past humiliations, killing two dying foreigners here will not achieve that. Fellow Daoist Cui Xuan, do you understand?"He didn’t understand, nor did he want to. But his "wanting" no longer held any meaning. Behind him, countless Celestials surged forward like a tide, and the rate at which Spiritual Qi was being absorbed suddenly slowed, allowing the previously immobilized Celestials to move again.
Yet no one moved. Most of the Celestials here, driven by curiosity and longing for the unknown lands beyond the sea, willingly stepped forward to let Jiang Li Fei draw their Spiritual Qi, ensuring she wouldn’t perish on the spot.
Cuixuan Xianren felt a silent rage, mingled with an indescribable weariness. He couldn’t forget his colleagues who had died tragically at the hands of the Yaksa five hundred years ago. Their spilled blood was still scalding, their wails still echoed in his ears, and the shadow of the Central Land Immortals’ suffering lingered. Was he the only one who remembered? Had they all forgotten?
The Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea gradually diminished. The scorching wind no longer suffocated, and the oppressive thunder no longer tortured their minds. Would Jiang Li Fei emerge unscathed now? Perhaps she’d even be pampered and revered for centuries, all to satisfy these people’s curiosity.
Cuixuan Xianren turned and flew far away. Though countless Central Land Immortals were present, it felt as if he alone had been fighting a solitary battle from the start. As he soared over the vast sea of people, he suddenly spotted a youth in white robes hovering on his sword in the distance, unlike the others who had drawn near.
The youth seemed lost in thought, staring at something. He, too, had changed greatly. The once-frightened yet hopeful child he had first met had now become a blade that couldn’t be sheathed—a blade that killed indiscriminately. Perhaps in the long years to come, this bloodstained blade would be stained with even more blood. And among those stains, Cuixuan Xianren’s own hand had played a part.
Gazing at the youth’s pale, indifferent face, Cuixuan Xianren felt an inexplicable sense of loss. Unable to define it, he simply stood there in a daze, listening as the Heavenly Thunder behind him grew fainter and fainter.
An unending stream of Spiritual Qi poured into Li Fei’s body. The surging, boundless energy transformed into trickles of Source Spiritual Qi within her Eight Extraordinary Meridians, then slowly seeped from her palms, released onto the snow-white Spiritual Qi Net.
Again and again, the Heavenly Thunder and flames tried to tear the net apart, and again and again, she focused solely on mending it. Inside lay Lei Xiuyuan, covered in blood, nearly shattered by the Heavenly Thunder, one of his horns broken. She had to protect him.
How long had it been? An hour? A day? Or just a fleeting moment?
Perhaps she had already died, her body reduced to ashes by the Heavenly Thunder and flames, leaving only a stubborn instinct to persist. Everything in her vision was distorted—an endless darkness, a suffocating crimson. Countless bolts of Heavenly Thunder had struck, their dull impacts reverberating through every bone in her body.
Li Fei could only see Lei Xiuyuan’s face clearly. The deep, mottled cracks on his skin were slowly healing—thanks to the Source Spiritual Qi. As long as she was here, no matter how grievously wounded the Yaksa were, they could rise again. She was a treasure, but also a curse—the root of madness that had plagued the entire Yaksa tribe.
Earlier, he had said, "It’s not a curse." That abrupt statement suddenly made sense to her now.He wanted to say, wasn't everything he did for her because of the curse? She had known all along—the boy whose eyes only ever watched her, whose face remained perpetually cold and proud, protecting her in his own way, leaving no gaps. How could that be because of a curse?
Lei Xiuyuan had been fighting desperately for her, as if in an unending battle—against demons, Celestials, natural perils, and finally, against himself. Yet his expression now showed no pain, only a hint of relief and even a touch of childish triumph, as if victorious.
Had he defeated the Yaksa driven mad by the curse within him? Was he exhausted? For a woman like her—neither gentle nor considerate, who couldn’t even utter sweet words—he had chosen in that moment to abandon his own life to protect her. Was a victory over the curse, bought with death, worth it?
Why did he always apologize? The one troubled by the curse was himself, torn between love and possession, trapped in this vicious cycle with no escape. But even if it was a curse, so what? Let him be unable to leave her! Seize her, monopolize her—because he was Lei Xiuyuan, and so she was willing to be his alone forever.
The flames gnawed at her body. Li Fei watched silently as patches of snow-white skin shattered and fell into the void of black and red. Her hands split apart rapidly in the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, the skin peeling away like petals, revealing flesh and blood beneath. Soon, new skin grew over the wounds, only to crack and crumble again moments later.
Was she dying? Not at the hands of the Central Plains Immortals, as she had once feared, but inexplicably in this Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea.
Strangely, she didn’t feel much sorrow. It was said cultivators sought to transcend the cycle of life and death, yet the boundary between the two was stark and unyielding. The living could never know where the dead wandered. After her Master’s death, he had never once appeared in her dreams. Would she see him after she died? Would he wait for this unfilial disciple of his?
She had failed her Master’s hopes, achieving nothing great. But at least she had erected the Spirit Stele. The legacy he had painstakingly left behind—she would ensure it endured forever. Those who saw this stele in the future, who read its inscriptions, might come to understand the world beyond the seas a little better. Would their fear lessen then?
Her body burned, as if tearing apart from within. Li Fei no longer felt pain. The roar of the Heavenly Thunder faded, vanishing entirely. The terrifying force of the fire sea waned, as though it had shifted inside her, ravaging her body from within.
Suddenly, the world cleared, vast and bright. The Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea vanished in an instant. Li Fei, clutching Lei Xiuyuan tightly wrapped in the Spiritual Qi Net, plummeted straight into the abyss of the sea. The spinning Horn of the Rhinoceros shot out like lightning, expanding swiftly to catch them, then continued flying relentlessly toward the distant seas.
The Celestials, long prepared, would never let her escape so easily. The Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea had been exhausted by her. Even if she possessed extraordinary abilities and hadn’t died immediately, she was surely gravely injured, on the brink of death. The power with which she had drawn Spiritual Qi grew weaker by the moment. Capturing her alive would be no difficult task.Guiyuan Zhangmen exerted all his strength to hurl his horsetail whisk, its countless soft strands blooming like a flower once more, effortlessly enveloping Jiang Li Fei and the other who were flying slowly. Sang Hua Jun swiftly followed by casting a cage technique, forming a massive prison of Five Elements Aura that trapped both of them along with the whisk.
Li Fei felt utterly exhausted, her mind hazy and her body devoid of strength. It was as if every organ inside her was exploding and every bone shattering into dust. Her hand rested on the whisk, absorbing only a trace of spiritual energy before she could move no more, collapsing limply within the cage. Then, from somewhere deep within, a surge of strength suddenly emerged. She flipped her body over, pressing down on Lei Xiuyuan—just as he had done before—this time shielding him with her own body.
The Celestials erupted in cheers, countless figures swaying outside the cage. Some laughed, some sighed in awe, while others watched with curiosity and confusion. The bizarre sky, split between day and night, was gradually clearing. The long-lost scent of seawater drifted in with the wind—the waters of the Eastern Sea, swallowed by Guixu, were about to return to their rightful place, signaling that this Sea Fall was nearing its end.
Unlike any previous Sea Fall, this one had arrived swiftly and violently, and its departure was just as rapid. Casualties were remarkably few, and with the capture of Jiang Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan, it was nothing short of a joyous surprise.
Li Fei’s face rested weakly against Lei Xiuyuan’s chest. His heartbeat was intermittent, so faint it was nearly inaudible. The waters of the Eastern Sea were rapidly receding, the violent gales churned by the waves making it impossible to keep one’s eyes open.
Gritting her teeth, she was about to recklessly unleash Spirit Absorption when suddenly, a familiar, aged voice roared from afar: "Get the hell out of my way!"
A terrifying shockwave, like a giant hand, slammed forward, sending the Celestials around the cage flying backward. The prison of Five Elements Aura and the whisk shattered instantly under the impact. Li Fei’s vision blurred as her body tumbled into a thick, fragrant mass of snow-white fur. Above her, Ri Yan’s furious voice exploded once more: "Useless fools! Watch as I slaughter every last one of them!"
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