Chapter 144: Scheming and Backstabbing, Why Do People Always Make the Same Mistakes…

Chapter 144: Scheming and Backstabbing, Why Do People Always Make the Same Mistakes...

Fu Yu's displacement arrays across the void were being shattered in large swaths.

Her figure flickered in and out, one afterimage after another was struck, then divine light flooded out, and the arrays across the whole region exploded all at once, like a sky full of fireworks.

Once all the arrays were taken out, she would have nowhere to hide.

Golden blossoms exploded before her eyes, cluster after cluster, strand after strand, their glowing mist hanging in the air like a mortal New Year's celebration.

Qiu Qianyue cocked her head slightly, constantly predicting where Fu Yu would be, cutting off her exits, setting off one dazzling golden explosion after another.

Qiu Qianyue was focused on killing, not on admiring the view.

Fu Yu laughed: "The east wind at night sets a thousand trees on fire—what a blazing show of silver flowers! At a time like this, I should call up a friend, eat some meat, and drink from big bowls!"

Qiu Qianyue sneered: "Smooth talk won't save you, Divine Shaman."

With a move of her Dharma Form, she made the whole space rumble and shake.

This cat-and-mouse chase happened in a flash; the exploding arrays were like fireworks that hadn't gone out yet, wrapping the area in patches of golden mist. In an instant, only one last patch of empty, dark void was left.

Fu Yu was cornered!

Without hesitating, Qiu Qianyue swung her sleeve and struck.

"Boom!"

The force that could shatter the void surged forward, and the arrays exploded in unison, forcing Fu Yu to show herself.

Before her form could fully take shape, a killing light followed right after.

Fu Yu only managed to avoid a fatal hit.

"Chi."

Divine light pierced through her body, a sharp pain shot through her as a gush of shimmering blood sprayed from her mouth, splattering across the golden light and painting the brilliant scene with a mess of bright red.

For a moment, time and space seemed to freeze like a painting.

Until Fu Yu moved.

She hunched over a bit, messily wiped her mouth with her sleeve, then looked up, laughing while panting: "In the martial world, you're bound to get cut sooner or later."

A streak of blood at her lips looked like a smile line.

Her voice was shaky, her eyes red from the burning pain. She didn't bother to stand up straight, but her casual, laughing attitude had an indescribable dignity—only death could break it.

She smiled, pressed her bloody fingers together, and gave a little wave: "Again."

"Then just die." Qiu Qianyue's killing intent was absolute. Her Dharma Form's arm shook, dropping the two empty, sack-like bodies, then shot out like a dragon, hitting Fu Yu right in the chest with a thunderous boom!

The difference in their strength was way too big, and Fu Yu was already wounded—there was no way she could dodge this killing blow.

"Boom!"

Under the heavy blow, her flesh, bones, and organs couldn't take it and instantly turned to dust.

Threat neutralized.

At that same moment, a terrifying noise erupted from the vortex behind Qiu Qianyue.

Qiu Qianyue's gaze sharpened as she spun around!

"Roar—hum—hum!"

The already shaky flaw in the Heavenly Dao, drained for millennia by the bugs inside and now torn open by outside invaders, attacked from both sides, finally gave out, exploding with a deafening crash.

The collapse of a world was a grand, epic spectacle.

Time and space almost stopped existing in that instant. The sky shattered, the earth split, and the world was like a lonely island, crumbling in a vast ocean.

Piece by piece.

The earth-shattering roar came a moment later.

Heaven and earth wailed in sorrow, and the living beings of the world became like ants, desperately clinging to whatever they could hold onto on the broken ground.

"Heavens above…"

But at this point, even heaven and earth could not save themselves—how could they ferry others?

The sky was no longer sky, and the earth was no longer earth.

The ocean hung suspended above the heads of the people.

Just as the surging, torrential waters were about to crash down, someone finally stepped forward to take charge.

Countless white-robed priests emerged from the shattered temple, chanting incantations, their ritual tools gleaming with golden light, pointing toward the heavens beyond.

There, faintly visible, stood a towering deity.

It stood apart from the world, gazing down upon mortals.

The priests chanted in unison: "Kneel—beg the Supreme God for forgiveness. Our lord will lead you lost souls to a new era free of suffering."

People, weeping and sniffling, prostrated themselves, kowtowing frantically.

But some voices of resistance rose—

"Don't kneel! Don't kneel! Don't run! Have you forgotten the crimes of the Divine Court? They framed the innocent, they twisted right and wrong, they brought calamity to the world! This disaster is all their doing! Don't fall for it!"

"Don't trust the Divine Court! They lie! They want to destroy this world and send us to hell—have you forgotten the Divine Court Saintess? The Divine Court devours people! Don't believe their schemes!"

"Get up! Don't kneel! Get up! Hurry!"

"Think of the Dao Ancestor, think of the Divine Shaman! Think of those who risked their lives to fight them!"

The resisters ran and shouted.

From the crowd, piercing screams erupted: "The Dao Ancestor is dead, the Divine Shaman is dead! They're dead! They're all dead! Now only the Divine Court can save us! If you want to die, go die alone—don't drag us down!"

In their despair, people instinctively clung to the last straw, refusing to let go.

The priests nodded, satisfied, with creepy smiles: "Blasphemers are heretics—eliminate them, and the Supreme God will forgive all your sins."

The prostrate people slowly raised their eyes.

One pair after another, their eyes ignited with a crimson, fanatical blaze.

"Heretic... die!"

"Heretic, die!"

"Heretic die! Die! Die! Die!"

"Ah... just like that..."

A choked, almost sobbing breath.

Qiu Qianyue's throat worked as she inhaled deeply with satisfaction, greedily inhaling the sweet, bloody power of faith.

"Divine Shaman, is your true form still in this world? That's wonderful."

"Open your eyes wide and see—these mortals you pinned your hopes on, how shortsighted, ignorant, and greedy they are."

"They're cowards who cling to life, they'd sell their souls for profit, they can't tell right from wrong, they're not fit for great responsibility!"

"You'll never wake them up!"

"This world has been rotten for ages! It's beyond saving! Even if you stood before them now, you'd just be reviled as a 'heretic' by the masses."

"History's always written by the winners. Your noble principles, your mercy and justice—given your failure—are worth nothing!"

"Heh, hahaha!"

"Burn, burn! A world like this deserves to be destroyed! The new era will be mine—"

Her excited, fervent words cut off abruptly.

Her Dharma Form was too vast, and though she had stopped speaking, the sound waves she had triggered still hummed and reverberated through the void.

In an instant, waves of sound crashed layer upon layer into the suddenly silent Dharma Form, creating a strange mix of noise and silence.

No. Something's off.

The Heavenly Dao is dead, so where's the power?

Why didn't she feel the surge of new power into her divine body?

"No... no."

A faint tremor flickered in her eyes, and they snapped wide open!

That's how dreams work.

The second the dreamer realizes, the dream starts to fall apart.

Qiu Qianyue was too powerful; the instant she sensed something amiss, she effortlessly shattered the dream spell.

The illusion dissolved, revealing a dazzling golden-red scene before her.

It turned out the arrays exploding in the void were not merely for teleportation. They had been intricately designed, using Qiu Qianyue's own divine power to weave a dream that catered to her every wish.

Qiu Qianyue laughed, furious.

"Di-vine Sha-man!"

Her gaze swept sharply, locking onto Fu Yu in an instant.

Fu Yu's injuries were real; the blood she spat out was the final stroke completing the dream array.

Everything after that was an illusion.

Sensing the sudden shift in aura behind her, Fu Yu's hair stood on end, and she knew Qiu Qianyue had broken the dream. She stopped, lowered her head, smiling faintly, and slowly turned around.

Qiu Qianyue stared at her without blinking.

Even battered from battle, Fu Yu still wore that lazy, carefree demeanor.

The blood at the corner of her mouth kept smearing no matter how many times she wiped it, so she gave up and let it be. Her dark eyes lifted lazily from below, and she stood like a bamboo shoot with a hidden sharp edge.

Strangely enough, though she didn't stand straight and looked ragged from spitting blood, clearly at the end of her rope, there was an inexplicable, unyielding spirit about her.

Fu Yu sighed, genuinely regretful. "Why didn't you sleep a little longer?"

Qiu Qianyue's gaze turned icy.

"Divine Shaman," she said, each word deliberate. "You should be out of trump cards by now, shouldn't you?"

Talking to distract Fu Yu, Qiu Qianyue suddenly swept her sleeve, unleashing a towering wave of divine light.

"Boom—hum—hum—"

Fu Yu, already wounded, couldn't dodge in time.

She hastily used her Bone Hairpin to draw a talisman in the void before her, sketching a crude "Defend" symbol.

The final stroke had barely finished when the divine wave crashed into it.

"Clang-boom!"

The "Defend" symbol shattered at a visible pace.

Though it deflected much of the force, the residual divine impact still struck her like a charging rhino.

"Bam!"

Fu Yu covered the gaping wound in her abdomen with one hand, while bracing her other arm in front of her.

Blood sprayed from her mouth as her body flew backward, crashing into the already shattered bronze passage, scraping over the debris.

She struggled a couple of times but couldn't get up.

Fu Yu was still smiling, though.

She carelessly wiped the fresh blood from her lips, then slapped her bloodstained hand onto the broken remnant foot of a nearby False God statue, using it to prop herself up. She sat, leaning back against the false deity's image.

Her eyes half-lidded, her vision slightly blurred, she gazed at Qiu Qianyue's towering Dharma Form and curled her lips in a smile.

Fu Yu said, coughing, "I've realized something—people always make the same mistakes. Why do you think that is?"

Qiu Qianyue had no interest in idle chatter now.

She glanced back hastily at the vortex.

It was still raging, still teetering on the brink of collapse. The Evil Demon God had already invaded, yet it showed no signs of destruction.

Qiu Qianyue's cold gaze fell on Fu Yu.

"It's you. You're manipulating Nine Dust, obstructing my great endeavor."

She wouldn't forget how Fu Yu hurled the Divine Sword into the vortex.

The smile at the corner of Fu Yu's lips froze for a moment, then he feigned nonchalance: "I'm asking you a question—you haven't answered yet. Why do people always make the same mistakes?"

Qiu Qianyue saw right through him: "You're afraid. You're dodging the subject. Good."

This Divine Shaman had to die, no matter what.

She raised her hand, conjuring divine light, ready to strike, but her eyes narrowed slightly—Fu Yu, stumbling as he fled, had already put far too much distance between them.

If one strike failed to kill, it would instead let him use that momentum to escape far away, causing more trouble.

This person must be eliminated quickly, or complications would surely arise.

With a firm resolve, Qiu Qianyue withdrew from the vortex with a thunderous roar, shifting her position.

In an instant, a massive shadow completely engulfed Fu Yu and the half-statue of the False God he leaned against.

Qiu Qianyue raised her palm, her eyes cast down.

"Prepare to die."

The shadow descended, dark as the abyss.

But when Fu Yu lifted his gaze, his eyes shone like two stars in the night.

Fu Yu seemed unaware of the descending giant hand.

He casually brought up another matter: "If Yu Xiao hadn't been battle-worn, if he hadn't been pushed to the brink, you would never have left Tianshi Dam, would you, Little Yuqing?"

"You tell me..." Fu Yu, smiling, looked at Qiu Qianyue, who had left the vortex, and asked for the third time with feigned humility, "Why do people always make the same mistakes?"