Chapter 474: 逆命

The world was dim and hazy, as if it would never awaken.

Suzaku and Zhao Xiang'er stood at the edge of the Three Thousand Worlds, gazing eastward. The faint sliver of dawn in the east had been erased, replaced by a smooth, pale line. Above and below this line, the world was cloaked in oppressive darkness.

Darkness flowed like water, extinguishing the flames of the Three Thousand Worlds. The terrifying heat rapidly cooled, and their two phoenix-like dresses fluttered in the fluctuating winds of hot and cold.

Like them, Lu Jiajia, Siming, Shao Xiaoli, Ning Xiaoling, and people all over the world looked eastward, observing this unusual celestial phenomenon and realizing what it signified.

Even Tisheng, vast as a mountain range, strained until cracks appeared on his body. His gaze, full of weary ancientness, slipped through the fissures and fixed on the distant horizon.

"The Dark Sun is not a myth," Suzaku said with a sigh, looking at the sky. "The sovereign above the heavens is about to descend."

Zhao Xiang'er stared skyward. She could see the entire atmosphere seemingly sinking at a visible rate. They were like people inside a sandbag, and at that very moment, a fist swung down from above, slamming heavily onto it, causing the entire world to buckle and tremble.

Suzaku continued, "The battle eight years ago was indeed grand and fierce, and briefly expelling that sovereign was a great achievement. It's a pity, however, that such an act 'angered' it. It was supposed to permeate gently, not descend in such rage as it is now."

The flames in the Three Thousand Worlds and the Western Kingdom were completely extinguished, and dimness enveloped them.

The wind blew against them, stirring the girl's hair. Her knuckles, clenched tightly inside her sleeves, were white.

"It's all destruction anyway, what's the difference?" Zhao Xiang'er said. "What's the difference between destruction now and destruction decades later? This isn't a catastrophe for one person or one family; it's a misfortune for all living beings! If not for these past eight years, we would have had no chance of victory at all."

Suzaku smiled silently. "Those eight years are over," she said. "It's coming. What can you do now?"

"You..." Zhao Xiang'er looked at Suzaku, her sharp gaze softening. "Why not 'we'?"

Suzaku smiled happily. She didn't answer immediately, only gazed into the distance. "This battle has already begun, Xiang'er. You've always held yourself in high regard, but now that the great tide is upon us, what can you do?"

Zhao Xiang'er stared at her, saying coldly, "What exactly do you want?"

Suzaku smiled faintly. "I just said, didn't I? Mother wants to watch a sunrise with you."

Zhao Xiang'er clenched her teeth, faint blue veins appearing on her pale cheeks. Her umbrella-sword was gripped so tightly in her hand it seemed ready to be drawn at any moment.

Suzaku gently covered her hand, calming her. She said softly, "Don't rush, this has just begun. It will be a very beautiful sunrise."

Zhao Xiang'er could not, like Suzaku, simply watch the Dark Sun descend.

She knew that if she seized the authority of the world, she could open the Thunder Prison Divine Kingdom. This was the only key, and it was right beside her. *I am the only one with a chance to change all this,* she thought.

With the power of the Three Thousand Worlds activated, the girl instantly vanished from her spot.

Almost simultaneously, she appeared behind Suzaku, already leaping into the air like a bird spreading its wings. The blade, silent yet drawn, and the spirit of the Fire Phoenix erupted from her body, striking together in a decapitating blow towards Suzaku's slender neck.

A strong wind hit her face.

The flames on the blade were instantly scattered.

Zhao Xiang'er's umbrella-sword was barely half an inch from Suzaku's slender neck, but that half-inch remained impassable.

The sword continued its rapid horizontal cut, but it was as if it had entered a world of infinite distance, unable to reach its end.

This was the Western Kingdom, the domain of the Divine Lord Suzaku.

Over these eight years, divine lords were slaughtered one after another, and people gradually forgot the majesty and terror of the Divine Kingdoms. But now, with the Divine Kingdom reactivated, within this world of absolute laws built by the Dark Lord and supported by authority, the Divine Lord was invincible!

Suzaku turned unhurriedly. Her etiquette seemed truly cultivated in deep palaces, meticulous, with every gesture exuding elegant beauty.

She looked at Zhao Xiang'er, who held her blade mid-air. The girl's phoenix-like dress billowed, revealing a tight black suit underneath, like an assassin's attire. Her brows were like swords, her thin lips like swords, every feature reflecting sharp killing intent. Yet, in Suzaku's eyes, there was not the slightest displeasure towards this killing intent; instead, her gaze grew even softer, as if appreciating a perfectly crafted porcelain doll.

"Now, all of us are birds in a cage," Suzaku said softly, recalling her appearance when she first came to the human world.

At that time, she didn't have a concrete form. She traveled throughout the human world, seeking a body suitable for herself.

Later, in a desert, she witnessed a hunt.

It was a large red nine-tailed bird that had been chased for a long time, fleeing all the way to the desert. Without food or water for several months, its body finally reached its limit. It collapsed in the desert, and then, the pursuing demonic cultivators plunged a sword into its heart, live-dissecting and extracting its demon core.

The large bird's cultivation was impressive; even without its demon core, it had not died.

Its body was invaluable, but the desert was too remote for transport, so the demonic cultivators had to abandon it. They watched the dying bird, flipped it over, and nailed its wings to a rock with their swords, preventing it from struggling free. It could only helplessly watch the unreachable sky as it was slowly exposed to the scorching sun until it died.

That bird looked at the sky until its death.

Although Suzaku found it incredible, she still clearly remembered that when she probed the red bird's sea of consciousness, she discovered that for it, being unable to spread its wings and soar seemed more painful than death.

At that time, Suzaku believed that flight was the eternal aspiration of all birds.

But later, she discovered that this was not the case.

Many birds, caged since birth, had no concept of flight. Even when the cage was opened, they would only flap their wings a few times, or even walk on their slender feet, forgetting that they were meant to be spirits of the sky.

Suzaku belatedly realized that only by having been to the sky could one truly comprehend its beauty and freedom.

But later, another small bird changed her.

While traveling in the human world, she met a bird-keeper who liked to raise various fierce demonic and monstrous birds. But one day, the bird-keeper changed his habit and kept a lovely canary. The canary was kept in a cage, watched daily by pairs of ugly and ferocious eyes.

The little canary grew up trembling with fear in this environment, never leaving its cage, because if it did, it would very likely be pecked to death by the other evil birds.

One day, a hawk spoke to the canary, and the canary said, "I envy you."

The hawk took it for granted. "What do you envy about us?" it asked. "Our sharp talons and beaks? Our immense demonic power? Our killing methods?"

The canary, however, shook its head. "I envy that you can fly."

The hawk was startled, then burst into laughter. Its laughter attracted many other birds, who gathered around and mocked it together.

"How could a little bird raised in a cage like you understand the terror of the sky?" one said. "In this world, survival is the eternal necessity. Flight is merely one means of survival. Only through killing can we stay alive!"

"Indeed," another added, "otherwise, you'd be killed by something else within an hour."

"There's an old saying outside," a third chimed in, "'How can a sparrow know the aspirations of a swan?' That saying certainly makes sense, hahaha..."

The canary listened to their words, trembling with fear, but its longing for the sky only grew stronger.

Sparrows might not know the aspirations of swans, but swans also cannot understand the wishes of sparrows.

It had never been to the sky, yet that did not prevent it from longing for the beauty of the sky.

She didn't come from the sky.

She came from the more boundless Grand Void.

What humans perceived as the boundless sky was, to the entire Grand Void, merely an infinitesimally thin slice.

If birds longed for the sky because they longed for freedom, then what should she long for?

That night, the Milky Way was dazzling. Suzaku lay on the desert where the red bird had died, gazing up at the starry sky. The soft sand began to flow, gradually engulfing her body.

Just as she was about to be completely buried by the sand, she extended her hand, seemingly pointing at a star in the night sky, or perhaps the entire night sky.

"I want to go there."

When she crawled out of the sand again, she was already the Arid River Dragon Finch.

She came from a star called 'Saturn' fifteen billion years ago. Earth was her destiny, but she longed for the sky, longed for that dust-free world.

Zhao Xiang'er's sharp blade was still cutting within her world.

In Suzaku's eyes, the faint reflection of the starry sky from that year appeared.

Everything was like a dream, like lightning. The human world changed many times, but her Taoist heart remained unchanged.

Suzaku's lips curved into a smile.

She looked at Zhao Xiang'er and pressed a slender finger against the incoming sword edge, slowly pushing her out of her own world.

She said, "Why is my daughter so disobedient? Can't you even fulfill Mother's wish to watch a sunrise? Oh, with such arrogance, it will be truly difficult for you to get married."

Suzaku pinched the sword edge, and the world's elemental laws, like shackles, pressed down on Zhao Xiang'er's body, gradually sapping her strength.

Zhao Xiang'er used the authority of the Three Thousand Worlds to leap out of the shackles' range, but was quickly caught up by Suzaku.

"No more hiding, little Xiang'er. If you keep being disobedient like this, Mother will have to spank your bottom."

Suzaku's hand reached into Zhao Xiang'er's hair, grabbing a handful of her beautiful long locks. This scene was reminiscent of Madam Bai's actions in Linhe City, except that now, in Suzaku's eyes, there was only gentle reproach, no trace of hatred or resentment.

Zhao Xiang'er was like a small bird, lifted by her with one hand.

Zhao Xiang'er stared coldly at her, without any hint of compromise or yielding.

Suzaku smiled gently, showing a kind of satisfaction as if seeing her own daughter return famous and successful. This absurd scene, unfolding in an absurd dawn without a sunrise, presented a strange harmony.

Suzaku held her long hair and turned her head towards the east.

"Look at the sky," Suzaku said. "The Dark Lord is enraged. It's frantically absorbing spiritual energy from the Spirit Devourers. Once the spiritual energy in them is drained, it will start on the innate spirits it planted... I must say, cultivating a Dark Lord was a good plan. It's just a pity that Ning Changjiu should have been drawing his bow and arrow by now, but without the Thunder Prison Divine Kingdom opened, he's probably still just a butterfly."

Suzaku said with a smile, "Eight years of effort, ruined in an instant. Xiang'er, what do you think?"

Their conversation in the Three Thousand Worlds was brief.

The gears of time would not stop turning because of their exchange.

In the Northern Kingdom, Lu Jiajia and Siming had already taken to the sky on their swords, reaching a high altitude.

Countless cracks appeared between the boundary of the Ruined Sea and the Void Realm, with black and red ripples surging. Each 'ripple' was tens of thousands of miles long.

The Senior Sister, Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, and the other disciples of Unobservable gradually arrived.

They all stood at the forefront, watching the churning black waves in the sky, their brows tightly furrowed.

"Where's Master? Where's Junior Brother? Haven't they come out yet?" the Senior Sister looked at Lu Jiajia and Siming, asking urgently.

"No," Siming shook her head and asked, "Isn't it still three months until eight years?"

The Senior Sister bit her lip, looked around, and finally fixed her gaze on the west.

*Suzaku...*

"I'll hold them off here first!" the Senior Sister declared immediately. "You go to the Western Kingdom, find Suzaku, find Zhao Xiang'er! The Thunder Prison Divine Kingdom must be opened today, or everything will be over!"

The Senior Sister's words were like thunder, and only then did everyone realize that the final moment had arrived unexpectedly.

The Senior Sister gave them no chance to retort. She exchanged a glance with her two junior brothers, then flicked her whisk and soared into the sky.

Siming, Lu Jiajia, and Shao Xiaoli also didn't hesitate, rushing at full speed towards the Western Kingdom.

In the Sword Pavilion, Liu Junzhuo also emerged, holding Kunlun.

Liu Xiewan was still nearby, attempting to connect with Ning Changjiu's consciousness, but Liu Junzhuo had already unhesitatingly pulled out the Sword Pavilion's Sword Token.

When Ning Changjiu left, he had entrusted this Pavilion Master's token to her, instructing that if the dark night ever arrived, he hoped she would command all the swords in the human world.

Liu Junzhuo didn't know if this was the 'dark night' he spoke of, but as she looked at the pressing sky, she could no longer suppress the urge to draw her sword.

She held the Sword Token in one hand and Kunlun in the other.

Liu Junzhuo couldn't help but recall her first time drawing a sword. Back then, she watched the water-like blade slide from its ancient scabbard, as if witnessing the most beautiful art in the human world. She was completely engrossed, like a drunkard reaching out to touch it, only realizing after her finger was cut and bleeding.

"Draw your swords!"

Two short words.

Liu Junzhuo suddenly roared, raising the Sword Token.

The Sword Token also seemed like a symbol of authority.

Liu Junzhuo's roar was amplified by the Sword Token, echoing across the land.

After a brief moment of panic, the cultivators all drew their swords.

What they cultivated were all the heart sutras Ning Changjiu had written for them. This was a shared destiny. Even if they usually disagreed or looked down on each other, with a great enemy before them, the seemingly countless cracks between people naturally mended. On the ground, beams of sword light soared up like tall buildings, connecting to form an indestructible steel plate.

Beams of sword light shot into the sky.

Before many cultivators at the peak of the five paths, faint, ethereal stone tablets appeared.

Those were Heaven Tablets. Over these eight years, they had listened to hundreds of lectures from Mr. Unobservable's Five Disciples, each finding their own unique path and painstakingly writing their own Heaven Tablets.

They were all waiting for the final moment to complete their respective Heaven Tablets together.

And at this moment, in the sea of dark clouds, Quanshu, whose body was half-shattered, rose from the water. She wanted to crawl out, to transform into human form and hide, but as soon as she straightened her ruined body from the sea, she saw a figure with snow-white hair and a silver dress standing in the wind on the side of the stormy Sea of Fate.

"Quanshu, do you have a lot you want to say to me?"

Baizang stared coldly at her, her eyes like snow.

Quanshu felt an inexpressible fear. Normally, she would certainly have the confidence to fight Baizang, but at this moment, her body had just been ravaged by a meteorite, and much of her strength was depleted. How could she be a match for Baizang?

"Now that the Dark Lord is descending, you should prioritize the greater good!" Quanshu's voice was sharp.

Baizang, however, shook her head. "You just said I was an impulsive and enraged cat. Since you said that, of course I can't disappoint you. Also, I'd like to see if the Divine Lord Quanshu, who claims never to be a servant and never to bow to anyone, truly has such hard bones."

Quanshu looked at her in terror. She knew Baizang intended to kill her.

She made a swift decision, diving into the seawater and frantically fleeing towards the seabed.

But how could she escape?

Baizang had already unleashed her mythical form, transforming into a true White Tiger. She pounced into the great river, her sharp claws like knives, tearing open Quanshu's scales as if scraping fish scales, holding her body tightly and pressing her all the way to the bottom of the sea.

Blood stained the seawater red.

The two divine lords battled fiercely at the bottom of the sea. The seabed fractured, and the ocean was churned into chaos.

Baizang won quickly.

The heavily wounded Quanshu gradually stopped struggling. She was pinned to the fractured seabed by a sealed authority.

"Spare me, I am willing to follow you!" Quanshu pleaded. "You can make me do anything—be a slave or a maid, even your mount... just... don't kill me..." The same Quanshu who had been boasting wildly in the Void Realm earlier now resembled a dog wagging its head and begging for mercy.

Baizang listened to her words, humble to the bone, and recalled the scene when Heng'e tortured her. Back then, she had been suppressed for several months, finally unable to endure it, she spoke, calling her mistress, allowing her to place the chains of shame around her neck.

But for some reason, there was not much hatred in her heart.

"If you had begged Ning Changjiu for mercy earlier, he might have been swayed by your appearance and taken you as a maid," Baizang said blandly, raising her sharp claws. "But I won't."

"No! No! No!" Quanshu screamed heartbrokenly. She came from the Yellow Springs, but she feared death more than anyone. "Yes! Ning Changjiu... present me to him as a maid. He will surely accept... That way, that counts as your achievement, right?"

*Ning Changjiu's reputation is indeed universally consistent...* Baizang mused inwardly.

Baizang asked, "When you were in the Void Realm, did you ever think of this moment?"

Quanshu said in a sobbing voice, "I was wrong, I... I'll never dare again..."

Baizang asked, "You are willing to surrender?"

"Willing!" Quanshu said decisively.

Before her words finished, a scream rang out, and blood spread through the water like blooming flowers.

Quanshu's alluring face slowly stiffened and turned cold in the icy seawater. Her neck was broken, and her face was distorted with pain and shock.

*But I clearly surrendered...* she seemed to be thinking.

Baizang said, "This is the fate of surrender."

"Xiang'er, do you see those sword lights? Those are the sword lights you forged over eight years. I must say, they are beautiful and powerful. Such a magnificent sight is already glorious enough." Suzaku's voice held sorrow. "It's just a pity that even the most beautiful flower is still just a flower. Even if it can escape the harsh autumn frost and winter snow, it will be mercilessly destroyed by time, scattering into mud. The more magnificent they are now, the more tragic it will be when they are destroyed and annihilated."

Suzaku continued, "The Dark Sun has not yet risen, and the only key is in my hand. There's still a chance to change all of this. Now, I give this chance to you."

Suzaku lifted Zhao Xiang'er by her long hair and drew very close to her. She looked at the girl softly and said, "Xiang'er, as long as you kneel before me now and beg for mercy, and properly call me 'Mother' three times, I will open the Thunder Prison Divine Kingdom for you. After that, whether you succeed or not will depend on your own destiny."

Zhao Xiang'er stared at her, looking at the woman's dignified face, and ground out through clenched teeth, "Dream on!"

Suzaku laughed, shaking with mirth. "Xiang'er, all you have to give is a little dignity. Think about how Ning Changjiu treated you, how Heng'e treated you, and your sisters—they truly treated you as their own kin. Now, they are going to die, everyone is going to die, and only you can save them."

Suzaku said softly, "There's no one else here besides me who will witness your humiliation. Kneel and call me 'Mother', and they will have a chance to be saved. Is their love and kinship for you not worth your small, insignificant dignity?"

Zhao Xiang'er looked up at Suzaku, a hint of confusion flashing in her eyes.

"What... what exactly do you want?!" Zhao Xiang'er's voice was a little hoarse.

"I don't want anything. I'm leaving. Everything in the human world will be irrelevant to me. I just want to hear you obediently call me 'Mother', because that way..." Suzaku paused, seeming a little shy. Her face slightly flushed, she said, "Because that way, you will truly be *our* daughter..."

*Our daughter...*

*Our?*

Zhao Xiang'er quickly realized that she was referring to herself and her Master!

Her divine soul came from Suzaku, and her resurrection depended on her Master's authority. In a sense, she was created by both of them together.

Zhao Xiang'er looked at Suzaku, her eyes shining with an unusual light.

Since her descent, Suzaku had never truly won against Ye Chan Palace. Throughout the long years, Ye Chan Palace was the one she 'thought of' day and night, and this complex emotion gradually became twisted and distorted over time. Her one-sided feelings for Heng'e also grew increasingly intense.

"Oh, little Xiang'er, do you think Mother is very shameful?" Suzaku smiled faintly. "Kneel down. You are my daughter after all. Before you were sixteen, didn't you kneel to me many times? One more time won't hurt, will it? Or are you truly valuing your so-called illusory dignity more than the lives of your loved ones?"

Suzaku held her hair, making her look towards the distant horizon.

Zhao Xiang'er's pupils constricted.

"Look, they are rushing to the Western Kingdom, on their way to save you," Suzaku said. "But they are all coming to their deaths. I will kill them one by one right before your eyes. Oh, you should also thank me. Once they are all gone, Ning Changjiu will only be able to love you. He can't blame you, because you are being held hostage by me, after all. Xiang'er, my obedient daughter, aren't you secretly thinking this too?"

Zhao Xiang'er trembled all over. She stared at Suzaku, biting her lip fiercely. Her lips, already thin and slightly upturned, tender as flower petals, were now bitten until they bled profusely.

Suzaku's words, like a spell, echoed in her ears, slowly taking effect.

She felt that her persistence was humble, and dignity insignificant in the face of such a great power. She wanted to give in, but a raging fire burned within her body, urging her not to surrender to this demon, no matter what.

Suzaku saw her still resisting and smiled faintly.

She looked at the human world and said, "It won't be long before the Dark Lord starts extracting spirits, and those sword lights will be destroyed one by one. In other words, they will also be killed by you."

Zhao Xiang'er could hear her heart pounding.

In her mind, images of human cultivators painfully exploding flashed uncontrollably, including both strangers and people she knew.

Suzaku released the hand that was gripping her hair.

Zhao Xiang'er stood on the ground, swaying, as if about to fall to her knees at any moment.

Suzaku said, "I just want to get some pleasure from it, that's all. The common people of the world mean nothing to me. Mother will count to three. If you don't choose by then, Mother won't indulge you anymore."

"One."

She held up one finger, then quickly a second. "Two."

"Three!"

This sound, however, came from Zhao Xiang'er.

Her lips didn't move; the sound burst almost from her throat.

She didn't kneel.

A scorching sun burned within her body, and the suppressed Fire Phoenix spread its wings with all its might. She drew her umbrella-sword at the fastest speed, then activated the power of the Three Thousand Worlds, leaping out of the small world that imprisoned her.

The distance between them instantly widened.

"Resisting stubbornly," Suzaku said softly.

She extended her hand.

But soon, Suzaku's movement also stopped.

A sword pierced a body, and blood splattered.

What was pierced was not Suzaku's body, but Zhao Xiang'er's own.

Zhao Xiang'er plunged the sword into her own chest, piercing her heart.

Suzaku's expression slightly changed. "What are you doing?"

Zhao Xiang'er watched her smile disappear and, in turn, laughed. "Suzaku, I was almost fooled by you..."

Suzaku remained silent.

Zhao Xiang'er's petite figure looked frail, yet her pale face bloomed with a flower-like smile. "All that talk about pathological attachment to Heng'e, about pleasing, about mother-daughter affection... In the end, it was all lies to disguise your true objective. You merely wanted my complete surrender, body and mind, and then to seize the power of my Three Thousand Worlds! You've craved it for thousands of years, never succeeding. Just now, perhaps, was the closest you ever came to that power, what a pity... cough, cough..."

Suzaku indeed no longer smiled.

Because she could feel that with just a slight movement of Zhao Xiang'er's sword, she could kill herself. At that point, Zhao Xiang'er's remnant soul would be enveloped by the Fire Phoenix, and the power of the Three Thousand Worlds, which had been so painstakingly activated, would also shut down, rendering years of effort useless.

She had to obtain that power before the Dark Lord truly descended.

"Without that power, you will also die. You will never get out," Zhao Xiang'er continued. "You said you had long prepared for the disillusionment of your ideals, but actually... you are more obsessive than anyone, aren't you, Lady Suzaku?"

Blood soaked her clothes, and her heart pounded against the sword edge, each beat a tearing pain.

Zhao Xiang'er trembled all over, but the hand gripping the sword, ready for suicide at any moment, did not waver in the slightest.

Suzaku looked at her and said calmly, "If you kill yourself, although I will die, Ning Changjiu will also die. Can you bear that?"

"I don't trust you, so how can I place my fate in your hands?" Zhao Xiang'er's body twitched ceaselessly from the pain, yet a difficult smile appeared on her pale face. "Many years ago, Ning Changjiu and I signed an Oath Against Fate. There are four words in that oath: Death before surrender!"

Initially, this was a joke between them, meaning she wouldn't surrender even if Ning Changjiu died. But now, it seemed to have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Zhao Xiang'er was covered in blood. She had given up all spiritual energy for healing, rushing towards death as if spurred on by a galloping horse.

"Stop!" Suzaku was the first to lose her composure.

She couldn't watch thousands of years of effort go to waste.

"Stop, we can talk!" Suzaku exclaimed sharply.

Zhao Xiang'er said calmly, "No need to talk. We only have one path now. I'll give you three breaths to think about whether you agree or not."

"What path?" Suzaku asked.

Zhao Xiang'er said, "We... exchange Divine Kingdoms!"