"BOOM——!!!"
The ultimate collision between the blood-colored dragon and the purple thunder dragon erupted into a devastating energy storm!
The cliff could no longer withstand this terrifying force and split apart from the middle, with massive boulders raining down like droplets into the bottomless miasma abyss below.
Zhan Wuji and Xiao Chen's figures were sent flying like kites with severed strings, hurled away by the explosion's shockwave, tumbling into the abyss alongside countless fragments of stone!
Both men tried to steady themselves midair, but their spiritual energy had long been exhausted in that ultimate clash.
Add to that their grievous wounds, and they could only barely protect their vital points as they fell.
"Splash!" "Splash!"
Two muffled sounds of impact rang out as both men plunged into the freezing mire at the bottom of the abyss, its surface churning with dark green toxic miasma.
Bone-piercing cold and venomous miasma instantly corroded their bodies, but neither could afford to care.
A fierce will to survive drove them to struggle out of the mire and stumble onto a relatively solid black rock nearby.
"Cough, cough, cough..." Zhan Wuji dropped to one knee, using the Heaven-Splitting Spear to barely support his body as he hacked up black blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
He was drenched in blood, his battle robes torn to shreds, his aura diminished to the extreme.
Those eyes, once filled with murderous intent, had dimmed considerably, yet they still locked onto his opponent with an unyielding glare.
Xiao Chen was in even worse shape.
He could barely stand, half-leaning against the slick rock wall, his long sword having slipped from his grasp and fallen nearby.
Blood seeped from countless wounds across his body, especially the nearly piercing injury on his left shoulder, which was ghastly to behold.
His face was so pale it lacked any trace of color, his breathing faint, as though his life would extinguish at any moment.
Both had reached the brink of exhaustion, unable to even maintain the most basic protective aura, leaving their bodies exposed to the corrosive miasma.
Zhan Wuji looked at Xiao Chen's wretched state, a complex and indescribable light flashing through his eyes.
There was grim satisfaction, there was respect, and there was also a trace of... regret.
He panted, his voice hoarse as he spoke:
"Xiao Chen... were it not for this great calamity of heaven and earth... with your talent and temperament, a seat among the Immortal Sovereigns of the Upper Realm would surely have been yours!"
This was his sincere assessment.
A day and night of desperate battle had made him fully acknowledge Xiao Chen's strength and willpower.
This was an opponent worthy of respect.
Xiao Chen heard this and with difficulty raised his head.
On his blood-stained face, an incredibly weak yet incomparably proud and resolute smile appeared.
His voice was faint, but every word was clear:
"Whether or not... there is a great calamity... I, Xiao Chen... will inevitably... ascend to the pinnacle!"
His words were filled with unshakable conviction.
It was a conqueror's heart that sprang from the very marrow of his bones, transcending death, transcending all adversity!
Zhan Wuji froze for a moment, then cracked a grin, wanting to laugh, but the motion pulled at his wounds and sent him into a violent coughing fit.
Just then—
Everything changed in an instant!
High above in the sky over the abyss, without any warning, four dazzling streaks of light suddenly blazed forth!
These were no ordinary spell lights.
They manifested in a holy, profoundly mystical form, like four shooting stars trailing long tails of flame, moving at a speed that transcended the very rules of the Spirit Realm.
In an instant, they pierced through the thick miasma and clouds, shooting straight toward the heavens, disappearing into the firmament as though merging into a higher plane of law!
The moment Zhan Wuji saw those four streaks of light, his expression instantly froze.
His pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks, filled with disbelief, horror, and rage!
"No... Impossible!!!"
He screamed in a hoarse voice, distorted by extreme shock!
He recognized those lights!
That was the unique phenomenon produced when the incarnations or representatives of Upper Realm Immortal Sovereigns perished in the Spirit Realm and departed!
Each streak of light represented one Divine Son's "death" and "departure"!
Four streaks of light!
This meant... just now, four Divine Sons had simultaneously fallen within this Cloud Dream Marsh!
"How is that possible?!"
"Who was it? Feng Wuhen? Shi Potian?"
"Canglanzi? Jue Dao Ke? How could they..."
Even Zhan Wuji's mind went completely blank at this moment, utterly unable to comprehend what was happening before his eyes.
Those four Divine Sons, while not as strong as him, were by no means easy targets.
How could they have been slain simultaneously by the remnants of Immortal Spirit Valley in such a short time?
This was completely beyond the scope of his understanding!
What right did Immortal Spirit Valley have to accomplish such a thing?!
Just as Zhan Wuji's mind was reeling, nearly suspecting that his severe injuries were causing hallucinations—
A paper crane, glowing faintly with a pearlescent white light, seemed to possess a spirit of its own as it silently threaded through layer upon layer of toxic miasma.
It flew precisely into the depths of the abyss and landed gently on Xiao Chen's shoulder as he leaned against the rock wall.
Xiao Chen seemed to have anticipated this.
Using the last of his strength, he raised his hand and lightly touched the paper crane.
The paper crane trembled slightly, and from within came a woman's voice, weak beyond measure yet carrying a trace of release and resolve from a mission completed.
It was Chen Xingcai:
"Senior Brother... I... did not fail the mission... four... have been slain... we... will go on ahead..."
Before the words had fully faded, the paper crane dissolved into scattered points of light and vanished.
And almost at the same moment Chen Xingcai's voice fell—
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
Four more streaks of equally dazzling and holy light shot up from different directions across the Cloud Dream Marsh, cleaving through the sky and vanishing into the firmament!
This meant that Chen Xingcai, Lu Xiaoluo, Li Hanzhou, and Han Yu... these four core pawns of the Lower Realm had also, after completing their assassination missions, fought to their "deaths," their divine souls departing the Spirit Realm!
Zhan Wuji was completely petrified!
Eight streaks of light!
Four Divine Sons, four Lower Realm geniuses, all perished together!
Immortal Spirit Valley... had actually used this mutual destruction approach to accomplish their seemingly impossible and insane objective!
After the immense shock came a tidal wave of fury and a seething rage at having been played for a fool!
He stared fixedly at the dying Xiao Chen, his mind racing with countless thoughts like lightning.
A preposterous yet perfectly explanatory conjecture slithered into his mind like a venomous snake!
"Impossible! You were clearly the weaker side! Why would you employ such a doomed strategy?!"
"Unless... unless you had a reason you had to do this! Unless... you knew that even 'dying' here was not the end!"
Zhan Wuji's eyes suddenly blazed with a terrifying light.
He glared at Xiao Chen, his voice trembling with agitation and fury:
"Ye Fan! It's Ye Fan, isn't it?! He was on your side from the very beginning!"
"The so-called betrayal! The so-called soul-searching!"
"The so-called unwavering loyalty! It was all an elaborate ruse!"
"Right?! Everything was coordinated between him and you! Right!!!"
The more he thought about it, the more sense it made!
Only Ye Fan, this "mole" who had earned Qin Ao's deep trust and held great power, could have set up such a precise trap.
Only he could have allowed Immortal Spirit Valley to accomplish this earth-shaking assassination at the minimal cost!
Only this could explain why Immortal Spirit Valley, knowing death was certain, still marched resolutely toward it!
Facing Zhan Wuji's near-frantic interrogation, Xiao Chen slowly raised his head with difficulty.
There was no expression on his face.
He only shook his head, slowly, extremely slowly, his voice faint yet clear:
"You... guessed wrong."
Guessed wrong?
Zhan Wuji froze, then erupted in fury. "Impossible! What other explanation could there be besides—"
His words cut off abruptly.
Because he saw that Xiao Chen's eyes had changed.
Those eyes, previously dimmed by grievous wounds and exhaustion, now blazed with fire once more!
It was the ultimate flame of resolve, of abandoning everything, of perishing together with one's enemy!
Xiao Chen used the very last of his strength to forcefully straighten his nearly collapsing body!
His hands shakily formed an ancient and complex hand seal.
The faint thunderlight around his body, like a final surge before death, suddenly erupted into blinding purple brilliance!
A destructive aura, far exceeding what his current state should have been capable of, surged madly from his broken body!
He was burning!
Burning his final life essence!
Burning all his vital blood!
Burning the remnants of his divine soul!
"It's a pity... you won't have that chance..."
Xiao Chen's voice seemed to come from the deepest abyss, cold and absolute.
Zhan Wuji's face drastically changed as he sensed the lethal threat!
He wanted to flee, wanted to stop it, but his wounded body and the massive shock he had just experienced made him slow by a single instant!
In that single instant, Xiao Chen completed his final charge.
He threw his head back and let out a roar that seemed to come from the very depths of his soul:
"Nine Heavens Thunder—Divine—Thunder—!"
"BOOM!!!!!"
It was no longer a thunder dragon, nor a thunder pillar!
It was a sea of purple lightning, containing the most primal destructive power between heaven and earth!
Centered on Xiao Chen, it erupted violently!
In an instant, it devoured the entire bottom of the abyss!
Its brilliance was so intense that it temporarily dispelled the miasma that had lingered here for eons!
Zhan Wuji only had time to let out one final roar of defiance before being completely swallowed by this destructive sea of thunder.
His protective aura shattered like paper, the Heaven-Splitting Spear wailed in lament, and his powerful demonic body disintegrated inch by inch, annihilated in the endless lightning!
The sea of thunder lasted for several breaths before slowly dissipating.
At the bottom of the abyss, deathly silence returned.
Only the rolling miasma crept back in.
Where they had been, there was nothing.
Whether Xiao Chen or Zhan Wuji, both had completely vanished, not even leaving behind a trace of ash.
A moment later, high above the abyss, at the very zenith of the firmament where the eight streaks of light had disappeared, two unprecedented, dazzlingly brilliant stars suddenly flared to life!
They looked as though they could illuminate the entire Spirit Realm!
The light of these two stars was brighter and grander than the eight streaks of light combined!
They rose side by side, their radiance intertwining, carrying a resolute, tragic, yet incomparably magnificent momentum as they cleaved through the sky, ultimately vanishing together into the depths of the boundless cosmos.
They represented the two most powerful Heavenly Human Realm peak experts in this realm—Xiao Chen and Zhan Wuji—perishing together, their divine souls returning to their origin.
The Cloud Dream Marsh, this land of death that had devoured countless lives, once again fell into eternal silence.
Only now, within this silence, there was an added measure of soul-stirring tragedy and legend.
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