Chapter 150: How Does It Feel to Fall Short at the Last Step?—Immortality Elixir.

Chapter 150: How Does It Feel to Fall Short at the Last Step?—Immortality Elixir.

That unfamiliar aura emitted a soft white glow from Fu Yu's palm.

It came from a jade pendant.

Yun You'er's jade pendant. The Foxtail Grass Spirit had found it during the Grand Burial of gods and demons and traveled thousands of miles to deliver it.

Fu Yu chuckled softly, and with a press of the back of her hand, she pressed the white glow into the cracked forehead of Qiu Qianyue's Dharma Form.

Whoosh!

"Ah, my lord. My lord."

From the depths of a pitch-black, silent consciousness, a distant voice came faintly.

Yun You'er instinctively wanted to cover his ears.

'Stop it.'

"Ah, my lord. My lord."

The voice grew closer. It was a woman's voice, achingly familiar, yet felt as strange as if millennia had passed.

Yun You'er suddenly shuddered.

The sensation struck him like a thunderbolt.

'That... bitch!'

The bitch who betrayed him! The bitch who died in battle for Jun Bu Du!

His childhood sweetheart... his wife.

How dare she still call out to him?!

Clenching his fists, Yun You'er glared angrily in the direction of the voice, but before his eyes was only boundless darkness.

He frowned, reaching out to wave in front of him. The darkness was thick as ink, impenetrable.

He stomped his foot and found there was nothing beneath him either.

He spun around, flailing his arms.

He was suspended in a dark void without sky or earth.

"Wha... what? What's going on?"

And from the direction of that voice, a faint white light gradually appeared.

He frowned, pursed his lips, and waited in silence.

Closer, closer.

The soft white glow was very gentle, but to his eyes accustomed to darkness, it was blindingly bright.

He instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes.

He suddenly stopped moving.

In the glow, there was an image.

It was a face—a face he had forgotten for thousands of years, yet felt completely familiar upon seeing it again.

A peach-blossom face with a faint smile, dazzling white under the sunlight.

So... so glaring!

Yun You'er's eyes stung, his vision blurring. He strained to open his eyes wide, staring intently at the graceful figure in the image.

"Ah, my lord."

She raised her hand to drape a cloak on the man about to leave.

Yun You'er looked at his former self—the dazzling glare of the dark silver armor made his eyes even more uncomfortable.

That "self" stepped out, and for a long time, his wife remained at the door.

"Ah, my lord..." Her curved brows were like crescent moons, and she softly said to his back, "My lord is heroic, radiating brilliance like a deity."

Yun You'er gritted his teeth: "And you still betrayed—"

She said, "This time, you will surely return safely too."

Yun You'er fell silent.

He stubbornly stiffened his body, glaring at her hatefully, refusing to reach out and wipe away the worried tears tinged with a smile at the corners of her eyes.

When the image disappeared, he snapped back to reality and reached out urgently.

He grasped at nothing.

"Xuechun—Song Xuechun!"

Coming to his senses, he paced furiously in the darkness.

"Come out! Song Xuechun!"

His mind seemed muddled by the darkness. He couldn't recall his situation or where he was. Only the obsession in his heart remained clear.

"Ah, my lord."

Finally, her voice came from behind him again.

Yun You'er pursed his lips and slowly turned around: "I just want to know when this woman became so fickle."

These glowing clusters were clearly her perspective, her memories.

She sat by the table, helping Yun Duo'er organize battle reports. Though she was smiling, there was a lingering worry that wouldn't dissipate deep in her eyes.

"Ah, my lord sees the people suffering and has been too troubled, always weighed down with cares lately," she said. "But you know, whenever he talks about the Sect Master's achievements on the battlefield, his eyes—you should have seen them—would light up instantly, and he'd become much more spirited."

She looked at Yun Duo'er and made a rare joke: "My mother always said you should never marry a Sword Cultivator—their minds are never on their wives, only on their sword and another powerful Sword Cultivator."

Yun Duo'er burst out laughing: "That's exactly how my brother was. As a child, he always had to sleep hugging a stick. Later, when he got a Sword Cultivator master, he'd mumble about him all day!"

She laughed too: "Then I'll see what he likes and cater to his interests."

Yun You'er was stunned, looking left, then right.

With the two women closest to him in the world right there, what were they talking about?

What's this all about?

Yun You'er trembled, body and soul. In terror, he covered his ears, stumbling backward.

"No, no, no!"

He shook his head repeatedly, turning his face aside, his eyes darting wildly in their sockets.

He didn't want to think. He couldn't let himself think…

He retreated desperately, moving far, far from the light, until he was completely swallowed by the ink-black darkness.

Suddenly, a voice whispered past his ear, soft and eerie.

Yun You'er jolted violently, body and mind. Horrified, he slowly turned his head.

He almost collided with her.

He saw her speak, a smile on her face. "I heard that the Sword Master slew another few hundred thousand Evil Spirits in this battle. Ah-lang, what about your end…"

Yun You'er stared at her like she was a ghost.

When he was no longer blinded by his own prejudices, he could see at a glance that his wife had never admired Jun Bu Du. When she spoke of that man, her expression was like she was talking about a legendary sword, or a powerful elder.

She just wanted to talk about something he'd like.

Yun You'er's lips trembled.

He was about to murmur something when a voice, seething with rage, exploded in his ear, cutting her off: "You think that was all him?!"

Yun You'er looked at his former self.

In his wife's memory, he was still that tall, that heroic, radiating brilliance in every direction.

She didn't even catch the hostility in his tone. She was amused by his sudden "youthful spirit" outburst and laughed: "Of course Ah-lang's role in cutting off the Evil Spirits' reinforcements was crucial! Ah-lang and the Sword Master are both among the greatest Sword Cultivators!"

He was blinded by prejudice, and she, in turn, by love.

She smiled, gazing at the dazzling hero she saw before her.

Yun You'er reached out a trembling hand to cover her eyes, a moan escaped his throat: "Don't look at him. Don't. Don't look."

He knew how twisted his own expression was.

How foolish and blind had he been, to mistake honey for arsenic?

He covered his face with one hand and waved the other hand defensively in front of him.

He gasped for breath, his heart feeling as if it would explode.

He heard himself let out a cold, mocking laugh: "He has the Divine Shaman. The Divine Shaman can wipe out a hundred thousand Evil Spirits in the River of Forgetfulness. Why don't you learn to do that? Go to the battlefield yourself and try it!"

She was stunned: "But I'm just a Medicine Cultivator…"

The former Yun You'er spoke with malice: "Medicine Cultivators can do it too—at a critical moment, you might even save your beloved's life!"

She paused, her ears quickly turning red, her eyes shimmering, her face full of bashfulness as she chided: "You!"

Yun You'er was thunderstruck.

A low roar erupted from his throat: "Don't—don't listen to this jealous fool consumed by rage!"

An abyssal terror seized him.

"Xuechun, Xuechun!" In an instant, his vision blurred completely. He stumbled forward, reaching out to cover her eyes and ears, moaning as he begged her, "Don't believe him, don't believe him, don't believe him!"

Tears and snot streamed down his face, but he didn't bother wiping them away. "Xuechun, don't go! Don't go! Don't die, you can't die! Ah—ahhhhhhh!"

In the completely blurred vision, only a jade pendant remained clear.

He saw her tie it onto him.

Yun You'er dazedly touched his waist. There was nothing there—oh, right, he remembered. That day, during the Great Burial of Gods and Demons, he had lost it.

He never went back for it.

After all, it was just something from a faithless woman.

And so, he had lost her true heart.

"Ah… ah… ah!"

Yun You'er clutched his head, dropping heavily to his knees, wailing like a wild beast in agony.

"Crack."

Yun You'er's eyes snapped wide open.

He looked up abruptly, only to see that jade pendant engulfed in flames, shattering inch by inch into ash.

"No, no, no, no!"

That was the last thing his wife had left him.

He staggered forward, reaching out to snatch the burning jade.

"Hiss!"

A searing pain struck him, as if thousands of needles had pierced deep into his brain.

He didn't retreat but pressed forward, bringing his other trembling hand together with it, grabbing it firmly with both hands.

It hurt!

The pain sharpened his mind.

The thick darkness before his eyes began to recede. The excruciating pain came crashing down like a towering wave, engulfing him completely.

It was as if he were being flayed alive, his tendons ripped out, his marrow sucked dry.

Alongside this unbearable agony came hellish memories.

He remembered!

He was Yun Shan Luan. He had died. He had been… chewed up and swallowed alive by Qiu Qianyue.

In an instant, the sheer terror of life and death nearly drove him mad. His eyes burned red like glowing embers, and the darkness around him turned crimson.

He saw...

His last remnant of consciousness slept deep within the dharma form of Qiu Qianyue. It was the jade pendant that awakened him, forcing him to endure this torture of being hacked and chiseled, a torment of living death worse than death.

He screamed and trembled, wanting to shrink back.

Yet that faint white glow remained.

It floated in his vision blurred with blood and tears, gently swaying as if calling to him.

“A-lang, A-lang.”

It enveloped him like refreshing rain, shielding him from the all-encompassing agony.

“No, no, no! Xuechun, Xuechun!” Yun You'er screamed wildly, “How could I let you suffer pain for me!”

He struggled desperately, lurching forward, grasping it with all his strength and clutching it tightly to his chest.

“A-lang, A-lang, don't stop, keep moving forward, forward.”

Yun You'er wailed, losing all semblance of dignity.

He stumbled forward.

Before her, how could he possibly say no again?

Even if it were a mountain of blades or a cauldron of boiling oil.

If he were to show pain and shrink back before her, then his lifelong self-professed unwavering will would become the biggest joke.

Forward, keep moving forward.

Things had come to this; regret was meaningless.

He could only move forward, toward an elusive fate or outcome.

Close, closer.

In his burning, bloodshot eyes, nearly blind from pain, fragmented images appeared faintly.

Qiu Qianyue's dharma form was broken and bloated, covered in wounds, oozing foul-smelling black-green putrid liquid, on the brink of self-destruction.

‘This is...’

His blood-red vision suddenly trembled.

He saw the Evil Demon God.

That thing occupied almost all of the void; he had suffered greatly from it in the past and knew well that its will was abyssally terrifying.

He trembled slightly, following the path of his wife's aura.

Two figures stood there.

The Divine Shaman still wore her trademark lazy, nonchalant expression, and the strikingly tall figure beside her... even with a different appearance, Yun You'er recognized her at a glance.

“You two...”

These two were actually holding back the Evil Demon God!

“Ah, you're here.” Fu Yu looked at Yun You'er's remnant consciousness with satisfaction, “A man who has slain so many evil spirits indeed has some steadfast will.”

Yun You'er was silent for a moment, holding the white glow, and spoke hoarsely: “Qiu Qianyue is about to die, why wake me?”

Mockery? Judgment?

Fu Yu brazenly said: “Oh, I'm a good person, helping you and your wife reunite.”

Yun You'er sneered coldly.

Before he could rant, Fu Yu continued: “So it's not too much for me to ask you for a small favor, right? There's something wrong with Qiu Qianyue—she's not afraid of death. Why?”

Yun You'er's eyes flickered sharply.

He was devoured by Qiu Qianyue; in other words, he had merged with her.

When he clearly realized this, an even more terrifying destructive agony instantly overwhelmed him!

“AHHHHH!”

This remnant consciousness nearly burst apart in an instant.

“Hold on, find the answer.” Fu Yu seemed tiny before the dharma form, yet her posture was unmistakably commanding, “To bring comfort to Song Xuechun's spirit.”

Yun You'er's body and mind shook violently!

“Ah—ah—ah!”

Suddenly, the remnant quaked in sheer terror.

“No, no, no! Don't kill her! Never kill her! She is—”

Abruptly cut off.

Qiu Qianyue crushed this remnant will, slowly rotating one blood-red eye: “Heh... how does it feel to fail just short of the goal, Divine Shaman?”

She deliberately allowed Yun You'er's remnant to speak until the critical point, to make Fu Yu savor the bitterness of failure on the threshold of success.

Fu Yu smiled.

“Well, I've already figured out the answer: the Undying Pill.”

For an instant, time seemed to freeze around Qiu Qianyue.

“Your true trump card is yourself. Once you die, you can go back to the past and break the deadlock. Am I right?”

Fu Yu smiled as she spoke; though it was a question, she was already utterly certain.