Chapter 243: Golden Crow Vermilion Bird

Fire spread. The entire city was ablaze.

It was an ethereal fire, like the fish in its void.

This was Zhao Xiang'er’s world. Her near-fatal injuries instantly healed here.

The white cat stood in the flames, its long fur swaying without wind.

“A Divine Kingdom?” The Fish King looked up at the girl at the temple entrance.

Zhao Xiang'er stood before the hall, her flowing wedding dress merging with the flames, burning wildly in the wind.

She said coldly, “You have only one hour left.”

After one hour, Zhao Xiang'er would return completely unscathed. No one could stop her unless the divine envoy of the White Tibetan Kingdom came in person.

After speaking, Zhao Xiang'er turned and re-entered the hall.

The magnificent divine hall then vanished into the sky.

The Fish King stepped onto the street.

The void silently ripped open, and a blade extended, striking at it.

The Fish King didn't even look at the ghost-like blades appearing, because for every blade that emerged, a fish would appear at its corresponding position. The fish's lips would open, swallowing the blades whole.

The Fish King crouched low and gracefully walked through the street.

A golden war chariot galloped towards it.

It reached out and directly pressed down on the six-hoofed steed. The golden warhorse reared its front hooves but could not budge the white cat in the slightest. The Fish King's sharp claws pierced its stone-like muscles, crushing its heart into a bloody mess.

The moment the golden warhorse died, the sound of hooves violently erupted from both sides of the street.

These galloping warhorses were ancient beasts ridden by divine envoys in the Divine Kingdom.

The Fish King casually killed several divine beasts as if tearing paper, then its cat eyes narrowed, evidently sensing a clue.

The Fish King looked at the high courtyard walls and nimbly climbed onto them.

Those warhorses and ancient beasts would not damage these walls.

It looked into the deep courtyards but did not enter rashly. Instead, it silently walked around the perimeter walls. Scenes of human tragedies unfolded within the courtyards, and it watched them calmly, with an indifferent expression.

This was a shared tragedy for all the courtyards.

Old men, women, and children, disheveled, crawled out of ancient wells, their rotting flesh scraping against the rough well walls, revealing their stark white bones.

But no matter how tragic these scenes, how could they compare to the cruelty it had endured a thousand years ago?

The Fish King remained unmoved.

It knew this was Zhao Xiang'er's world.

This world might pose an overwhelming terror to all cultivators of the Purple Court Realm, but Zhao Xiang'er's authority was incomplete. As a Five Paths Realm being, it could even ignore these ethereal flames.

But it had to drag Zhao Xiang'er out of this world.

Beings at the Fish King's level could more or less understand those Divine Kingdoms.

What Zhao Xiang'er's authority created was not a true Divine Kingdom, but this new world was intricately connected to Divine Kingdoms in its design and structure.

What conditions were needed to create a world?

The Fish King pondered as it walked.

A world is never created out of nothing; it needs to find its "Divine Pillars," which are its mythological logic.

And if these Divine Pillars are destroyed, the world will also perish.

So, where were the Divine Pillars of this world?

The white cat leapt into the sky.

Countless fire-phoenixes flew from the flames, obscuring its vision.

The white cat paid no heed, instead using the backs of the fire-phoenixes as steps, deftly leaping upwards. After a few bounds, it reached the highest point of the sky.

Looking down from above the imperial city, this world resembled a burning purgatory.

It looked higher.

The sky looked as if painted with pigment, a misty white, with an uneven but generally pale hue.

Its cat eyes glowed with bright white light, like ignited sword energy.

It casually tore apart the phoenixes and birds that lunged from the flames, its gaze sweeping across the imperial city.

“So that’s it.”

The Fish King muttered, then leapt down.

In a flash, it arrived in the Undying Forest.

Beyond the Undying Forest lay an ancient well and the adjacent Witch Lord's Hall.

The ancient well seemed to connect to hell itself; there was no water below, only surging Red Lotus Hellfire.

It arrived outside the Undying Forest.

Outside the Undying Forest, the ethereal figure of an old man stood guard, like a sentry.

That was the Witch Lord, who should have died long ago.

In this ethereal world, the Witch Lord's cultivation realm was also extremely high, truly heaven-defying.

But the Fish King was an outsider, an alien invading this world. Here, apart from Zhao Xiang'er, who was empowered by the world itself, no one could be its match.

The Witch Lord had died at the hands of the old fox in his lifetime.

After his death, he died again at the hands of the demon chief.

The Fish King killed the Witch Lord in just three strikes, but this still exceeded its estimation of this world's strength.

With the Witch Lord dead, it stepped into the hall and took the ancient book connected to the beam of light at the top of the Witch Lord's Hall.

Then, sensing the world's aura, it covered several miles in an instant, arriving at the Imperial Advisor's Hall.

The old Imperial Advisor was reading in his study. He seemed oblivious to the burning room; the book he held was red, its pages licked by flames, every word burning.

The old Imperial Advisor read with great relish.

Then he slumped onto his desk and fell asleep.

He dissipated in his dream.

The Fish King watched him for a moment until his form completely vanished, then it seized the Imperial Seal.

Next, it descended into the depths of the underground palace through the well in the Imperial Advisor's Residence.

In the depths of the underground palace, it saw the cage constructed from several metal rings.

The cage was enormous, filling the entire underground palace, but it was now empty.

The Fish King gazed at it for a moment, nodded towards the cage, then turned and departed through another exit.

That was the back gate of the imperial palace.

No matter how vast, solemn, or magnificent this city was, its fundamental construction consisted only of those core elements. By dismantling the most crucial parts, it was destined to collapse with a roar.

It could sense the aura here.

The old fox, as Zhao Xiang'er had called it, had once engaged in an earth-shattering battle with her here.

The Fish King sighed.

In today's world, the strongest old demons were imprisoned beneath various imperial cities. The demon path had truly fallen to an unknown extent.

“Sages...”

The Sage had promised five hundred years.

Now that five hundred years had passed, would you reappear?

The Fish King looked at the fire-scorched sky.

That old demon fox lost here once; it would help it win it back.

The white cat raised its paw.

Its fur was very long, almost completely covering its paw pads.

When its claw descended, its body had already swelled tens of thousands of times, and the grand hall was only half its height.

It stepped down on the grand hall.

The Vermilion Bird Divine Formation was broken once more.

Inside the shattered hall, the Fish King lifted its paw, the Fire Brazier staff clutched in its palm.

At this moment, the entire royal city began to shake.

The white cat looked up at a certain spot in the sky and said indifferently, “Found you.”

Beside it, thousands of fish swam out from the void-like expanding caves.

They moved through the ruined palace, wagging their tails, slowly ascending towards the sky.

These were its myriad troops.

The white cat leaped up, placed its hands at its sides, elongated its body, and swam towards the sky.

It could name every single one of these fish.

They had long since died, now becoming ethereal constructs of spirit, immortal within its void.

In fact, while these fish made for a grand display, they had little destructive power. It kept them by its side merely as a remembrance.

In the sky, as the three pillars collapsed, the entire world trembled precariously.

The divine hall above revealed its original appearance.

It looked like a magnificent empty shell.

The great doors of the divine hall opened.

From the dim doorway, the girl slowly emerged.

Zhao Xiang'er wore the red men's wedding attire, her waist cinched, making her figure appear even more slender and tall. Her cloud-like beautiful hair was tied into a high, neat ponytail. Two swords were tied at her waist.

Her hands were crossed, resting on the hilts of the swords at her waist.

They were Shentu and Cangluan.

As these two peerless renowned swords were drawn from their scabbards, her sword-wielding hands drew a fluid arc across her chest. The water-like blades cut slender lines, reflecting the city's flames with sharp brilliance.

“You are the daughter of a god, yet the heart in your body is still as weak as a human’s,” the white cat said expressionlessly to the beautiful girl. “You should have appeared when I killed the Witch Lord. Back then, I might have had some reservations.”

Zhao Xiang'er said, “I don’t care.”

She was about to leave; she didn’t care about the world’s fate, whether it survived or was destroyed.

She only needed to stall for enough time until the Divine Sparrow descended after midnight. Then this white cat would surely die. And although she would be leaving, she could at least ensure the lives of Ning Changjiu and Lu Jiajia. Before she left, she might even have a chance to offer a blessing like “may you live happily ever after.”

She slowly descended the steps of the divine kingdom.

The girl seemed to want to test if the swords felt right, deftly cutting and slicing with her wrists, leaving behind hundreds of lingering afterimages.

“This is my world. I am the host, you are the guest. Even an animal is rude to usurp the host’s place,” Zhao Xiang'er said calmly, walking from the sea of fire, her clothes fluttering like butterflies.

The Fish King remained silent.

Its eyes narrowed bit by bit.

“Don’t die instantly like Master Yu did.”

The fish school, like a thousand-strong army, broke through the void and surged forward.

Shentu glowed blood-red, while Cangluan turned snow-white.

She leapt into the air, her figure tracing a spiritual arc, the blades of her dual swords trailing long lines as they sliced down from the sky.

The sword bodies vibrated.

The Fish King’s sharp claws collided with her blades.

It was suddenly startled.

At the moment of impact, Zhao Xiang'er shed all her leisurely expressions, and her blade shone brightly.

This sword intent, within her world, instantly reached the peak of the Purple Court Realm.

And then... it surpassed it.

Blood bloomed in the firelight.

The myriad void fish shattered one after another, like a display of pure black fireworks.

In the outside world, fire also burned.

What was burning there was snow.

The entire icy river was ablaze.

Lu Jiajia’s pale sword body bore many fine wounds, which healed at a visible speed. She and Ning Changjiu stood hand in hand, side by side, healing each other’s injuries.

All the spiritual energy of the Zhao Kingdom surged towards this place.

A single strike from a Five Paths Realm being had caused injuries in their bodies that could not heal in a short time.

But Xue Yuan also did not launch an attack.

She seemed determined to defend steadfastly. The icy river surrounding her was like an impregnable fortress, composed of one domain after another. Even if they combined forces, they couldn’t break through any of them in a short time.

“Is younger sister Xiang’er still a maiden?” Lu Jiajia suddenly asked.

Ning Changjiu, who had been exuding murderous intent, heard this question and his aura dropped by half. He asked, “Why are you asking this at a time like this?”

Lu Jiajia said, “I just wanted to know... if we lose, we won’t have the chance to know.”

Ning Changjiu held her cool hand and gently shook his head: “No.”

Lu Jiajia hummed, neither happy nor disappointed.

She looked straight ahead, all emotion fading from her face. Her body grew colder, as if she were about to transform into a true sword.

“Kill her,” Lu Jiajia whispered.

As Ning Changjiu nodded, Lu Jiajia had already released his hand. She became the sword herself and plunged into the icy, snow-covered city walls.

Outside her snow-white sword robes, crimson sword fire burned, and she carved into the icy river created by Xue Yuan, like a large ship crashing into a vast iceberg.

The tip of the blade pierced into it.

Dozens of snow mountains trembled simultaneously.

The rest of the pure white sword energy seemed to transform into fiery waves of sword qi, pushing forward with Lu Jiajia’s figure.

In the frigid domain, Xue Yuan placed her hand on her saber hilt. She hesitated for a moment but still chose not to act rashly.

Because she knew that at Lu Jiajia’s ice-breaking speed, it would take at least two more hours to cross more than ten domains and get close.

And what she truly feared was the young man hovering in the distance.

She could barely feel the killing intent emanating from him, but the less she felt, the more terrifying it was.

They stared at each other for a while.

Golden flames ignited in Ning Changjiu’s pupils.

Xue Yuan’s heart stirred as she looked into his eyes.

Suddenly, she understood. When Zhao Xiang'er and the Fish King entered the city together, she had already lost to Zhao Xiang'er.

At this moment, her dao heart was unstable.

This was fundamentally different from her former self, who had fought and killed in the cold northern country.

Unconsciously, she found herself changed, becoming cowardly. She even understood the source of this cowardice: because there was now a Five Paths Realm white cat behind her. When it was by her side, she could be fearless, but when it disappeared, her confidence vanished, and fear naturally sprouted in her heart.

A snow fell within Xue Yuan’s heart.

The cold snow temporarily suppressed the cowardice buried deep within.

An icy bird flew from her robes, soaring into the sky.

The Divine Sparrow’s tail feathers unfurled distinctly like swords. The short dagger-like head crest on its head grew several times longer. Its tail feathers, soft as silk, hung down like a winding waterfall, or a brand new Milky Way.

This was her lifelong faith.

The Divine Sparrow spread its wings, hovering high above.

Xue Yuan finally regained that fearless conviction of pressing forward.

Ning Changjiu looked at the snow bird, his face devoid of any expression.

“How could someone like you be Xiang’er’s sister?” Ning Changjiu said flatly.

Xue Yuan did not back down, her voice cutting through the wind and snow: “Someone like you is indeed fit to marry Zhao Xiang’er, a pair of adulterers...”

Ning Changjiu looked at the majestic Xue Yuan bird flying towards him, and raised one hand high.

Then, the Divine Sparrow’s flight slowed.

Xue Yuan’s heartstrings tightened.

She looked up, at the sky where Ning Changjiu’s arm was pointing.

In his palm, he held a sun.

It was a blazing red sun.

At the very center of the sun, a black silhouette seemed to be coiled.

That was...

Before Xue Yuan could guess, a terrifying cry suddenly rang out, cutting through the night like a blade.

That sound!

This damned bird cry...

Xue Yuan also felt fear.

Within the icy river, Lu Jiajia’s advancing figure was covered in a golden light.

Her sword body shimmered in conjunction with the red sun, emitting a dazzling radiance. With a slight wave of her arm, hundreds of countless ice fangs were instantly cut down.

The sound of shattering snow mountains roared like thunder.

Xue Yuan had no time to look that way anymore.

“Golden Crow... Golden Crow! How is this possible? How is this possible!” She suddenly shrieked uncontrollably.

She finally understood the source of this terror.

That golden silhouette was actually the legendary Golden Crow.

No wonder it could suppress Xue Yuan’s bloodline.

But... wasn’t the last Golden Crow also extinguished a thousand years ago?

What was this then?

Why was this ancient divine bird of the Sun Kingdom still alive in the world?

In historical records, the "Xiang," the ruler of the Sun Divine Kingdom back then, was a terrifying existence capable of directly confronting the Vermilion Bird God!

Xue Yuan felt her beliefs shattered.

But at this moment, even if the Vermilion Bird itself appeared, she would have to grit her teeth and fight...

She forced herself to overcome the fear in her heart, controlling the snow bird, pushing the wind and snow to their extreme, trying to obscure the light of the red sun.

Ning Changjiu, with the red sun hovering above his head, charged directly into the wind and snow.

Blazing firelight exploded.

The snow... burned.

The red sun and the snow collided, tumbling with fragmented golden light.

Ning Changjiu plucked a feather from the Golden Crow. The feather elongated in his hand, transforming into the shape of a command arrow.

That was his sword.

The Golden Crow’s appearance illuminated the darkness but could not immediately penetrate the flying snow.

The previous battle of the Golden Crow in Zhao Xiang'er’s world had caused irreparable damage.

They eroded each other, fought each other, snow collided with snow, light merged with light.

Half an hour passed in the standoff.

Lu Jiajia assaulted her domain.

Ning Changjiu, meanwhile, exhausted himself in the wind and snow above, attempting to pierce the thick snow curtain with this Golden Crow feather-sword.

“Heheheh...” Xue Yuan looked at the Golden Crow, her eyes regaining their sparkle. She laughed, “So it’s a young crow, merely a young crow... A Golden Crow not even twenty years old, what grand authority can it wield?”

“You’re clearly a snow bird, yet you caw like a crow...” Ning Changjiu said coldly.

His sword pushed inch by inch through the heavy wind and snow.

“Hah, a crow cawing, are you insulting yourself? A Fire Phoenix and a Golden Crow, a perfect match, aren’t you...” Xue Yuan sneered.

“Fire Phoenix? You really are blind,” Ning Changjiu stated.

“Hm? What do you mean?” Xue Yuan dismissed it, thinking he was just trying to provoke her.

“Do you think a Fire Phoenix could wield world authority, capable of creating a kingdom like this?” Ning Changjiu asked.

Xue Yuan narrowed her eyes: “If she’s not a Fire Phoenix, then what could she be?”

Ning Changjiu said: “Xiang’er told me long ago, what we see as a Fire Phoenix, in her eyes is a Vermilion Bird. You and she... are simply not in the same world.”

“Vermilion Bird? How is that possible?!” Xue Yuan knew she needed to calm down, but she couldn’t help but shriek, “Don’t try to scare me!”

Ning Changjiu said: “In the earliest ages, the first phoenix to achieve nirvana through fire transformed into the Vermilion Bird... That was the only god of the Three Thousand Divine Kingdoms, and Xiang’er is the god’s sole, true inheritor. You’ve been kept in the dark all this time. You’re a pawn of the White Tibetan Divine Kingdom, and an abandoned piece of the Queen Mother!”

“Think carefully, think about the elements and powers Zhao Xiang’er has displayed. Can those powers truly belong to a young Fire Phoenix?”

“It’s too late now, don’t lie to yourself...”

Ning Changjiu’s words exploded around her like thunder.

“Nonsense!” Xue Yuan raged, “You won’t trick me... White Tibetan, how do you know it’s...”

She stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing he was indeed trying to trick her.

Her mental state was pushed to its breaking point.

When the moon is full, it begins to wane.

It was also at this moment that a crack appeared in the wind and snow.

Ning Changjiu had waited for this moment for a long time.

The tip of his sword plunged into the opening.

The snow curtain was finally torn open, and dazzling light illuminated the wind and snow.

His sword thrust out.

This sword carried no killing intent whatsoever, like the reflection of a white cloud casually gliding over a lake.

This was the sword from the lower volume of the Heavenly Oracle Sword Scripture.

Since the sword spirit left his body, this was the first time he truly wielded this sword.

The sword aimed at Xue Yuan’s throat.

At the same time, within the concentric domains, Lu Jiajia came, crushing ice and treading snow.

Wherever her figure passed, ice collapsed and snow sank, creating successive thunderous crashes.