Chapter 455: Lost and Forsaken

Deep within Beiming, mountain ranges stretched across the vast ocean.

Between countless fractured and volcanic ridges, dark peaks rose like the fins of colossal sharks breaching the surface. In the rift valleys encircled by these mountains, magma, named Xuanzeyan, continuously erupted.

The ocean floor began to tremble, water churned, and sediment scattered, creating immense chaos on the seabed. In the center of the peaks, a spherical object expanded – a divine realm shaped like a transparent bubble.

The massive divine realm emerged atop the peaks, like a brilliant pearl held in the hand of a giant. Within the turbulent, murky waters, on the pitch-black wall of the divine realm, a pair of long, triangular eyes suddenly lit up, accompanied by a chilling growl!

All around Beiming were rugged black cliffs where ocean waves crashed. Above the sea, a fierce gale raged, brewing a torrential storm.

At the mouth of the Luo River where it met Beiming, Shao Xiaoli stood on a black cliff. Before her, the ocean awaited a furious storm, and in her ears roared the Luo River as it rushed to the sea. Her red dress flapped wildly like a banner in the wind.

Si Li stood nearby, listening to the roars from the sea. Filtered by the wind as they traveled across the ocean, the sounds reached her ears like the haunting, moving song of a mermaid.

In Si Li's memory, scenes from her previous life's decisive battle with the Water God suddenly came flooding back.

Then too, there was a vast ocean and black cliffs. She stood on a lava-spewing volcano, gazing at Gonggong, whose body was made of seawater. Streams of fire and torrential rain danced together in the sky, evaporating upon contact and generating immense white mist. Along the coastline, two figures, both divine and demonic, confronted each other from afar amidst the mist.

Si Li immediately drew her sword, its hum clearing her mind and severing the memories of her past.

She turned her head and glanced at Shao Xiaoli, who was also gazing at the raging sea. Amidst her dark, windswept hair, the girl's eyes grew paler — a sign of the awakening power of rivers.

They had traveled all the way from the Northern Kingdom to this place, now staring together at the boundless ocean. At this moment, the demon lord lurked at the bottom of the sea, and disaster was still being chanted into existence.

"I sense it! It's there!" Shao Xiaoli's red lips moved slightly, and her finger pointed towards a specific area of the sea.

Having trained together for months, the two were already in perfect sync. Si Li stepped onto a black rock, leapt into the air, drew a long spear from her weapon case, and hurled it towards the ocean.

As the spear plunged into the sea, the ground shook and mountains swayed instantly. A furious gale and massive waves parted from its center.

Deep within the ocean, the long, triangular pupils also stared at the sudden arrival on the surface.

Ming Zheng hadn't expected them to arrive so quickly.

Fortunately, it wasn't the reincarnation of Yi and Chang'e, but merely an incomplete Fire God.

Ming Zheng knew his divine realm was suppressed by Qitian and that he couldn't possibly win alone in this world. Therefore, he sought a chance at victory: abandoning his physical body to become disaster itself. As long as disaster persisted in the human world, he would be immortal and indestructible!

He watched the long spear, submerged in the water and spinning rapidly as it charged, and formed a barrier of water with his divine sense to block it.

The spear struck the water barrier, and a massive amount of foam scattered at the point of impact. Although countless cracks snaked across the barrier, the spear was firmly held back. Simultaneously, two dark figures shot out from the divine realm like arrows.

They were the Divine Official and the Heavenly Sovereign.

Waves of shockwaves formed above the ocean.

On the turbulent surface of the sea, Si Li and Shao Xiaoli, resembling figures of fire, were forced back by the two dark shadows before they could dive deep into the water.

Shao Xiaoli gripped a sword condensed from water, while Si Li held a whip formed from fire. They intently watched the figures standing on the sea surface.

The Divine Official of Ming Zheng's realm was a woman in a feather robe, beautiful in appearance yet with crossed eyes. The Heavenly Sovereign was a man dressed as a scholar, appearing somewhat frail.

"They are..." Si Li searched her mind for legends related to Ming Zheng's divine realm.

Shao Xiaoli, however, reacted smartly: "They are a chicken and a human. As the saying goes, 'when one dog attains enlightenment, humans and chickens ascend to heaven!' So Ming Zheng's true form must be a vicious dog."

Si Li nodded, finding it quite logical.

The longer Ming Zheng chanted, the more terrifying the disaster he would unleash. They had to quickly defeat the Divine Official and the Heavenly Sovereign, then strike directly at the divine realm to stop the disaster from occurring!

The Fourth Martial Sister, standing at the pinnacle of martial arts, unleashed all her weapons at once, each blade burning with iron fire. Shao Xiaoli, too, held her breath in concentration, silently reciting the core principles of the Rhapsody of the Luo God. Using the momentum of the sea, she leapt with her sword and struck down through the air.

Four figures clashed on the surface of the sea.

Ming Zheng's divine realm exuded an ancient aura.

It was a world predominantly deep brown, with earthy clouds streaking across the sky, and enormous Kun-like creatures, resembling whales, drifting within the divine realm.

Ming Zheng had already unfurled his mythical form.

It was a grayish-green shadow, appearing like a malevolent ghost with extremely long fangs. Unlike other ancient demons, its figure was not majestic like a mountain; it seemed rather gaunt and elongated, like a stone eroded by wind and rain for ten thousand years.

It stood in the temple, its throat continuously emitting roars.

The divine realm had lost its power. The Divine Official and Heavenly Sovereign's cultivation had fallen from legend back to the Fifth Dao. Though his authority could still be wielded, it was much more difficult than before.

Before this, Ming Zheng had never imagined that the era of divine realms would end so abruptly.

Over three hundred eighty years ago, it was still a wild dog, scavenging like a rat for residual inner cores from the Qi Sea and Purple Mansion of corpses amidst the ruins of countless divine battles, using them to increase its demonic power.

At that time, it had no great ambition. Though a powerful ancient demon, it ultimately seemed weak in an era dominated by demon gods.

Its truly great opportunity arose from the death of the Underworld Lord.

One day, as it habitually searched for lost inner cores among the stench-ridden, plague-infested corpse fields, a gigantic black serpent suddenly plummeted from the sky. The serpent was covered in blood, its conical face ferocious, yet its pair of feathered wings were pure white and sacred.

It was the first time Ming Zheng had seen a creature of such eerie beauty.

The feathered serpent struggled and gasped in the ruins. After barely propping itself up, pursuers descended from the sky again, pinning the deity firmly to the ground.

Hidden within the skeleton of a giant beast, Ming Zheng witnessed the great battle that would change its fate.

The battle lasted for a long time. Fortunately, it was hidden deep within the piles of corpses and was not affected by the lethal forces.

When the feathered serpent escaped, most of its scales and flesh had been stripped from its bones, leaving half its body as bare skeleton.

The pursuers would not let the feathered serpent escape.

After they left, Ming Zheng quietly crawled out from under the pile of corpses. Seeing the divine flesh and blood strewn across the ground, it ravenously began to devour it before other ancient demons could arrive.

It consumed all the severed flesh and blood of the feathered serpent, leaving not a single trace. However, the Underworld Lord's core power was not in the flesh; instead, the divinity contained within the flesh nearly killed it.

At that time, Ming Zheng found it difficult to resist the intrusion of this divinity. Its mind was filled with the delirious whispers of the Underworld Lord, driving it to madness; it even wished to tear out its own brain with its claws.

To suppress this madness, it began to kill relentlessly.

It no longer scrounged among the corpses on battlefields but instead challenged beings more powerful than itself.

Those were Ming Zheng's most frenzied years. It constantly walked the line between life and death, rapidly rising through one perilous situation after another.

It killed humans, demons, and monsters, devouring everything it could consume and seizing everything it could take.

But the path to becoming an unparalleled powerhouse was never smooth. Such a mad dog quickly became infamous, an existence to be hunted by everyone. The switch between killing and being killed was rapid, and it soon began thrilling years of escape.

At the end of its escape, silence reigned. It limped along, trailing blood.

At that time, it couldn't even tell if it was still alive.

A raggedly dressed little girl adopted it.

The little girl carried it back to her village, to a human settlement, where it licked its wounds and recuperated.

It sheathed its claws, guarded the home, and accompanied the little girl to catch wild rabbits. When held in her arms, it could even naturally resist the whispers of the underworld. It spent a long, peaceful time, even feeling that it would be good to live out its entire life this way.

The little girl was killed by a group of bandits.

That day, it was dozing in the courtyard while the little girl went out to gather firewood. By the time it sensed danger, it was too late. Firewood was scattered everywhere, and the little girl lay in a pool of blood.

Bandits stormed the village. The little girl's father, unaware of his daughter's death, was still preparing to routinely slaughter chickens and cattle to entertain them and beg them to spare the village. The scholar-like man chased the only hen in the courtyard, which flapped its wings, flying frantically, driven by an immense will to survive.

Then, a torrential rain suddenly began. When the scholar finally caught the hen, he turned around to find silence all around him, and thick blood seeping out from under the doors.

Inside the house, all seven bandits had been decapitated. Outside, a guard dog was missing.

After that day, Ming Zheng finally understood that warmth was merely a meticulously woven lie of mortals, and slaughter was what would always accompany it.

It would shatter this false tranquility!

Ming Zheng's grayish-green form continuously grew within the divine realm, pushing the power of its authority to its limits. It intended to unleash a disaster, one unprecedented in its own history!

The ocean sensed its emotions, trembling in fear.

The towering walls of water resembled Ming Zheng's outstretched claws, ready to crush every defiant ant.

On the furious ocean, the rain poured down.

However, the battle there concluded swiftly.

Without the support of a true divine realm, the Divine Official and Heavenly Sovereign were merely puppets of the ordinary Fifth Dao realm. They suffered continuous defeats under the pincer attack of Si Li and Shao Xiaoli. However, Ming Zheng had issued a death order, meaning both advance and retreat would lead to their demise.

Ming Zheng was a stray dog abandoned by the Dark Lord, and they, in turn, were stray dogs abandoned by Ming Zheng.

Shao Xiaoli hadn't felt this way in a long time. This was her first time fully unleashing her newly cultivated martial physique. It was a completely new sensation; her body felt no sluggishness at all, and her bloodline surged forward like a river of melting ice, coursing relentlessly with the pulsation of her Qi Sea.

Was this the martial body?

Shao Xiaoli felt no more loneliness. She felt a beast hidden within her body, or rather, that she was to transform into a beast to destroy this monstrous beast called Heaven and Earth!

Shao Xiaoli gripped her water-condensed sword tightly, darting through the tumultuous waves. She unleashed immense sword intent upon the Divine Official and the Heavenly Sovereign, repeatedly crushing them into the seawater.

Si Li also discovered that the foundation of the Divine Official and Heavenly Sovereign was seawater.

So she decisively unleashed her "mythical form." Flames erupted from her roots, instantly covering her entire body. The girl's face appeared aloof amidst the blaze, like a true celestial deity.

She wielded her weapons casually, each strike carrying the power to split mountains and sever seas.

She pulled her favored long spear from the seawater. Her fiery body pierced the Divine Official's defensive formation, and the spear ran through her, forcibly pulling her from the sea.

Shao Xiaoli immediately understood. A pale, crescent-shaped sword light slashed from her hand, sweeping across the sea surface and severing the Divine Official's connection to the water.

The Divine Official let out a mournful cry.

Si Li casually grabbed a narrow blade that flew to her hand. With a swing, she cleaved the Divine Official's body in two.

The Heavenly Sovereign was momentarily distracted, but Shao Xiaoli was already ascending with her sword, slashing diagonally from below.

In an instant, seawater sprayed along the sword's high-speed horizontal trajectory. Shao Xiaoli stopped behind the Heavenly Sovereign, and the scholar-like Heavenly Sovereign was already decapitated!

Si Li's fiery spear was pulled from the Divine Official's shattered body and then thrust into the Heavenly Sovereign's remains.

Waves exploded on the water's surface.

With both the Divine Official and Heavenly Sovereign slain, they paused only to catch their breath, having no time for words, and together cleaved the seawater, swiftly rushing towards Ming Zheng's divine realm.

Shao Xiaoli felt the boiling blood within her.

Suddenly, she felt she had found the meaning and value of life. She had always imagined herself as a character in a story, but now, she had finally stepped off the stage, shed her costume, washed off her makeup, and begun her own life.

At this moment, countless emotions accumulated in her heart. These emotions were like intricate cocoons, both a cage and the embryonic chamber for her transformation.

Shao Xiaoli stopped thinking about anything else. The core principles of the Rhapsody of the Luo God surged through her body, her blood and spiritual energy flowing at their absolute maximum!

Si Li joined her, cleaving the seawater and crashing towards the divine realm on the colossal undersea peak.

Shao Xiaoli saw those triangular eyes.

She struck at Ming Zheng's divine realm with all her might.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Ming Zheng's sinister laugh echoed in Shao Xiaoli's mind.

Her sword struck the wall of the divine realm.

The divine realm was unscathed.

Simultaneously, tusk-like entities, accompanied by raging waves, thrust out from the darkness.

Shao Xiaoli raised her sword horizontally to block.

Then, she found her strength utterly overwhelmed.

Hot blood and courage were ultimately not true cultivation. No matter how strong she was, she was only in the Fifth Dao, how could she be a match for Ming Zheng?

Si Li also sensed trouble.

All eighteen types of weapons were unleashed, forming a shield of steel, attempting to halt the fangs erupting from the divine realm. The sound of weapons breaking echoed continuously in the waves, as a tremendous, piercing impact surged forward, unstoppable.

"Luo God, will you fight to your death alone in the Luo River again, just like in your last life?"

"Hahaha... you're actually just like me, nothing more than a stray dog that's been abandoned!"

The eerie voice resonated in her mind, causing Shao Xiaoli's spirit to waver. Then, a piercing pain shot through her, instantly paralyzing her body.

"Shut up!"

Shao Xiaoli roared in anger, reformed her water sword, and recklessly slashed forward.

"Xiaoli, be careful!" Si Li's cry rang in her ears.

But Shao Xiaoli could no longer control her own body.

She collided with the blade in the darkness.

Shao Xiaoli belatedly lowered her head.

Blood had already bloomed on the seabed.

Amidst the chanting of the Authority of Disaster, the surging seawater propelled Shao Xiaoli's body out of the ocean. A blade was impaled in her abdomen—it was the divine blade from Ming Zheng's realm!

Her vision blurred, and she couldn't tell where Senior Sister Si Li was. She was simply forced out of the water by the impact, arcing through the stormy sea, soaring over the wide mouth of the Luo River, and plummeting into the swift current, sinking beneath the surface.

Am I... going to die?

Shao Xiaoli sank towards the bottom of the Luo River.

She stared blankly at the surface of the water receding further and further away. Her body, impaled by the blade, could not muster even a speck of strength.

To valiantly fight her way to the demon lord's doorstep, only to be overwhelmingly defeated... Was her life going to end in such a ridiculous manner?

Boss...

Cough, cough... Master...

Shao Xiaoli's consciousness grew increasingly hazy. She could feel the oppressive weight of the blade but no longer the weight of her own body.

In a daze, she opened her eyes and found herself transported many years back in time.

At that time, Yi was still young and elegant.

In the dim pavilion, her long dress trailed on the floor, a sash loosely tied at her waist. She held a burnt-tail zither in her arms, her enchanting face tilted slightly upward, gazing at the faint light passing through the window lattice... The scene seemed to freeze there.

"What have the other teachers taught you recently?"

The Luo God knelt before the table, gently plucking the zither strings to tune them.

The boy sat opposite her, not daring to look at the female teacher's face. He said, "I learned mountain-moving techniques, void-leaping techniques, and talisman arts."

"Talisman arts?" The Luo God seemed intrigued and asked, "What talismans did you learn?"

The boy replied, "I learned the art of conjuring objects from talismans."

As if to prove his proficiency, the boy took out a talisman paper, spread it on the table, and with spiritual energy condensed at his fingertip, began to write on it with fluid strokes.

The boy picked up the talisman and gently shook it.

Flames ignited from the edge of the paper, instantly consuming the talisman.

The talisman activated simultaneously, transforming into a peach blossom as it burned.

The character the boy had just written was 'peach'.

"For you, teacher." The boy picked up the peach blossom and offered it to her.

The Luo God paused, her vermilion lips pursed. She took the flower between her fingers, sniffed it, then smiled sweetly and tucked it into her long, dark hair.

"So young, and already capable of such techniques?" The Luo God smiled faintly. "A promising future awaits, young man."

The white-clad boy lowered his head slightly, placing a hand on the zither strings. He said, "I was just trying out the talisman art, nothing else meant by it."

The Luo God's lips curved upward. "This peach blossom isn't just any flower you can give to other girls, you know. Your fiancée wouldn't be happy if she found out."

At the mention of his fiancée, the boy seemed a little shy. He whispered, "If you don't want it, please give it back to me."

The Luo God laughed. "I won't give it back."

With that, she began to play the zither. The enchanting music echoed through the dim room, and the woman, immersed in her playing, had a look of rapture on her face.

When the music ended.

"Is something on your mind?" The Luo God glanced at him.

The boy said, "I'll be getting married soon."

"Hmm."

"Will you come then?"

"Whether I come depends mainly on whether you invite me."

"Of course, I'll invite you, teacher... You can come anytime," the boy said softly, lowering his head.

"Anytime?" The Luo God burst into laughter, shaking with mirth.

She walked behind the boy, gently sat down, took the peach blossom from her hair, and placed it in a porcelain vase nearby.

The boy, not understanding, wanted to ask further, but he saw her walk out with the zither, her figure graceful.

Shao Xiaoli didn't know why she was recalling this. She just felt like the boy sitting there, watching herself drift further and further away.

The sensation of falling vanished.

She sank to the lightless bottom of the Luo River.

Shao Xiaoli slowly reached out to pull the blade impaled in her abdomen. Her consciousness was already hazy, but her body's instinct seemed unwilling to die. She trembled as she gripped the hilt, trying to pull it out, but the posture looked like suicide.

The girl's mouth and nose were open, and cold water poured in.

Even coughing became difficult for her.

"Xiaoli."

A faint female voice echoed in her ear.

Shao Xiaoli subconsciously responded.

She wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but she saw a graceful female figure surrounding her, appearing both like a god and a ghost.

"Xiaoli, in your previous life, you slew three thousand gods and demons, never falling even when your strength was spent. What? In this life, you've become such a frail little girl?" It was the woman's mocking voice.

"Who are you?" Shao Xiaoli asked.

"Heh, who am I? I live at the bottom of the river, so of course, I'm a river ghost, and I'm a vengeful spirit formed from those you killed back then." The woman chuckled, saying, "I'm very happy to see you dying. Soon I can eat you."

"Why aren't you eating me now?" Shao Xiaoli wondered, 'Do water ghosts only eat corpses? I'm learning new things...'

"Because I like watching you die bit by bit. Enjoying your demise is the happiest thing," the female ghost laughed incessantly.

Listening to her laughter, Shao Xiaoli felt increasingly lonely.

But loneliness was never strength.

Unconsciously, she recalled the end of her previous life. How exactly had she killed three thousand gods and demons? Was it loneliness, or...

Only then did Shao Xiaoli remember: it was because she was waiting for him!

She always believed he would come. So she held fast by the Luo River, waiting and waiting, fighting bathed in blood, slaying all the demons blocking her path until she died from exhaustion. Just like Weisheng in the story, who stubbornly waited in the torrential rain for the woman to arrive for their rendezvous, or for the floodwaters to engulf him.

Was this also why she hadn't died yet...?

She was still waiting for him to come.

"You're not a water ghost," Shao Xiaoli suddenly said.

The endlessly laughing woman suddenly fell silent.

The river bottom was utterly silent.

Shao Xiaoli said, "You are my lingering soul, aren't you?"

The woman still did not speak.

Shao Xiaoli laboriously turned her head. A dark current surged past her.

There was no woman, no lingering soul; it was all just an illusion she saw while near death.

Yet, a light ignited in Shao Xiaoli's eyes, and she seized that dark current.

How could I die in the Luo River... This would be like the Luo River drowning the Luo God, something people would turn into a proverb or a joke...

The obsession buried deep in her heart burst forth completely at this moment. She no longer pretended to be carefree, nor was she a delicate, weak girl. The core principles of the Rhapsody of the Luo God exploded in her mind, and the entire long river gave her a profound response!

I must save the world, and I must wait for him to arrive!

"Senior Sister, since you taught me how to use a whip, when can I actually hold one?"

"Of course, when you are able to wield it."

Yesterday's conversation echoed in her mind...

Senior Sister, I'm holding it.

In Beiming, Si Li, wielding burning weapons, charged wildly through the darkness, trying to break through Ming Zheng's blockade.

Xiaoli had just been pierced by the Nation-Suppressing Blade thrown by Ming Zheng and had been flung out of the sea, her fate unknown. Though Si Li was immensely worried, she couldn't break free in the short term.

Si Li pressed the Fire God's mark on her brow, no longer intending to wait for others to arrive, and prepared for a desperate struggle with Ming Zheng.

Just then, a tremor came from behind her.

Si Li's expression shifted slightly, and she glanced back.

Her fiery gaze pierced the ocean's gloom, saw the figure on the surface, and instantly contracted.

Shao Xiaoli had, at some unknown point, climbed out of the Luo River.

She hovered on the sea surface, head bowed, hair unbound, river water dripping from her long locks like a ghostly white maiden.

Her left hand gripped the blade plunged into her lower abdomen, slowly pulling it out.

And in her right hand, she held a 'long whip'.

One end of the whip was the rushing mouth of the Luo River where it met the sea, and the body of the whip was the Luo River's winding, lengthy course.

Shao Xiaoli had grasped the entire Luo River; she was wielding the Luo River as a whip!