Chapter 1698: Silently Bearing the Dao's Protection, Unaware of the Small One's Guardian Affection

“Xiao Xiao?”

“No! What… what’s happening to me?”

Through his divine sense, blurred scenes flashed by. Mountains, lakes, seas, and spatial fragments intertwined and vanished, overwhelming him.

Ai Cangsheng, moving through space at high speed, was completely disoriented during the journey.

He hadn’t left the Holy Mountain in thirty years!

He could see the scenery of the Five Domains from his home, but experiencing it firsthand was a completely different feeling.

Ai Cangsheng had imagined his life if he had taken a different path, and not just once.

“If you hadn’t died…”

If she hadn’t died, he might have spent a lifetime with her, leisurely traveling through the Five Domains.

Starting from the Sword Tomb, she loved the ethereal sword arts. They would go to the fragrant hometown in the Northern Domain to pick flowers, where the most vibrant Purple Night Sand Flowers bloomed. They would pass through the Great Desert, rent two camels, wear turbans under the scorching sun, and drink water continuously. Then they would go to the Land of Sin to be chivalrous heroes, fighting wanted criminals with swords and upgrading the color of their three-incense hunting bounty with their heads.

And finally, return to the Central Domain… to revisit old places.

“‘Revisiting old places’ would be a very different experience! For that, I’m going to many, many other places first. Let’s make a ‘Round-the-World Plan’!”

“Okay.”

“But when you revisit old places, sometimes you only see ruins; they’ve all been destroyed by those people. Hmph, when I become strong… Sigh, Senior Brother Da Ai, don’t you think ‘old places’ are like lonely, elderly people with no one to care for, and before you know it, they’re… gone?”

“Are they, really?”

“Absolutely! It’s a pity, but we still have to go, and we have to go together. We can’t just because… because of a… what was it?”

“Stop eating for fear of choking.”

“Ah, right, we can’t stop eating for fear of choking. Even if they’re gone, they’re still beautiful.”

Even if they’re gone, they’re still beautiful… Amidst the howling wind, Ai Cangsheng instinctively narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t find his eyes. He couldn’t even find the sensation of being able to control his own body.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The wind tore apart a voice as crisp as an oriole’s.

Ai Cangsheng finally realized his mind was being guided, clearly splitting into two paths, pointing towards different life trajectories.

Was it a technique of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man?

Ai Cangsheng wanted to reach out and grasp something. He again found his body pulverized into a bloody mess by the silver shield. He voluntarily stopped resisting. Thus, in his daze, he successfully saw the vibrant, beautiful girl leaping out of the dark cave.

“Clang-clang!”

At that moment, the world shone brightly.

She had a lively personality, yet she always loved to wear black long dresses, pretending to be profound in front of others. She had eyes so bright they could pierce the darkness of a cave, yet she always liked to squint them into slits, hiding them from outsiders.

When she didn’t smile, her eyes were crescent moons. When she smiled, her eyes were also crescent moons.

She reached out… Her hands were very fair and small. When they measured hands before interlacing fingers, hers was a knuckle shorter than his…

Ai Cangsheng struggled, trying to reach out and clasp her hand. He discovered yet again that his body was gone. He painfully closed his eyes, only to find his eyes weren’t there, but the image and sound persisted:

“Senior Brother Da Ai, you’re really like a quiet gourd!”

“Love.”

“Okay, Senior Brother Ai. But don’t you think ‘Da Ai Cangsheng’ (Great Love for All Beings) is a wonderful name with deep meaning? It sounds so tragically captivating, much better than ‘Xiao Xiao’!”

“Pity.”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Spatial fragments severed space-time. Space-time blades sliced through his thoughts.

Ai Cangsheng, a pile of mangled flesh, burst out of the spatial fragments, tearing through the barren mountain. Yet, his mind returned to the image of Lei Xiaoxiao leaning in, holding up that “Round-the-World Plan” chart.

“Where’s ‘Round’?”

“Visiting everywhere makes a ‘circle’, and a circle is ‘round’ (zhou), silly Senior Brother Ai!”

Wielding the Sinister Bow, Ai Cangsheng wouldn’t even need to be canonized as a Saint. When they leisurely traveled the continent, they would have no rivals, and there would be no need to worry about impossible dangers, hidden threats, or unknown vortexes during their journey.

Ai Cangsheng wanted to grasp the Sinister Bow, to show that he had become strong. He found yet again that his body had been pounded into a pulp by the Crushing Shield, like her, whose half-body was devoured by a vortex when the ruin collapsed.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Within his divine sense, sounds rumbled like thunder. In the dark imagery, there was also a roaring clamor.

That Lei Xiaoxiao, with a face full of blood, eyes tightly shut, small hands trembling with fear, yet still holding something high, trying to hand it over…

She said it was ugly, not to look.

Ai Cangsheng obediently closed his eyes. The moment he closed his eyes, he could always hear their voices under the moonlight, nestled together, imagining a beautiful future:

“When that time comes, you’ll wield the Sinister Bow.”

“You absolutely must get the Sinister Bow. I heard it’s the foremost divine artifact, capable of shooting across all Five Domains; it’s incredibly powerful.”

“As for me, I’ll reluctantly put in some effort to open your eyes.”

“The Eyes of the Grand Dao, combined with the Sinister Bow—wherever I point, you shoot… Hehe, it feels a bit like a ‘match made in heaven,’ doesn’t it? It is a match made in heaven, right?”

“Yes.”

“What about us, then?”

“…Also.”

Ai Cangsheng crashed through the deep mountain, splattering onto a pile of rocks and startling the birds and beasts in the forest. A golden light swept from the distant sky, accompanied by a dragon’s roar, transforming into a winding giant dragon that charged straight towards him.

Yet, just at that moment of rapidly diminishing momentum, Ai Cangsheng, as if experiencing a final burst of vitality, unleashed a vast amount of evil god power from his body. The sealed patterns of the Limit-Confining Art around his body suddenly reappeared, three inner circles and three outer circles. The moment the patterns dissolved, Ai Cangsheng’s lower body had not yet returned, but his upper body rapidly reformed.

His first subconscious act was to open his eyes. He yearned to see more, grasp more, reclaim more.

The Eyes of the Grand Dao reappeared; naturally, no worldly Dao technique could hide from them. That golden light was originally the Golden Dragon. That Golden Dragon was originally the Dragon-Drawing Halberd. Even the second Xu Xiaoshou, who had followed from the Central Domain and manifested in the Western Domain, could not hide.

But…

The Eyes of the Grand Dao saw light, breaking through the control of the Disorienting Spirit Art. Yet, she, who was in the darkness, vanished.

“No—”

Under the gaze of the Five Domains, the world was shocked that Emperor Cangsheng could still rapidly re-form half of his shattered body after such severe injuries. But Ai Cangsheng, like those previously blasted by Master Shou, let out a heart-wrenching cry of pain that greatly diminished his dignity.

“For me…”

Lei Xiaoxiao disappeared. Her voice had never truly appeared. Even in that final moment, she hadn’t been able to finish what she was saying. Ai Cangsheng knew what she wanted to say. After being together for so long, how could he not understand her heart?

He closed his eyes and murmured silently:

“I have, for you, been truly seeing the world, and taking care of it.”

From his deathbed, he suddenly sat upright in shock!

The Five Domains were startled, and even Jin Ren, who had been following, was shocked. No one could have imagined that the moment he landed in the Eastern Domain, Ai Cangsheng would instantly re-form half his body, springing back like a coil.

“Limit-Confining Art: Second Stage Unseal?”

It was as if he had temporarily isolated the damage he had just sustained… No, he must have “confined” all the recent damage into his lower half. After the Second Stage Unseal, he barely managed to re-form his upper body, his mighty, bull-leg-like arms extending and crossing defensively in front of his face.

“Boom!”

The Dragon-Drawing Halberd crossed an entire domain, its momentum undiminished. Yet, the instant of this impact, mountains, rivers, and lakes spanning ten thousand miles were directly shattered. But Ai Cangsheng seemed to have poured all his strength into his palms. The Dragon-Drawing Halberd was so heavy it could shatter heaven and earth. Yet, it could only push Ai Cangsheng’s palms to his face, pressing against his Eyes of the Grand Dao… After that, it couldn’t advance an inch!

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Emperor Cangsheng, with only half a body remaining, starting from the back of his head, was repeatedly smashed through layers of soil and rock, as if the Dragon-Drawing Halberd had blasted him straight into the Nine Netherworld.

“Rise!”

Jin Ren stomped the ground, activating spatial profoundness, and directly moved the bloodied half of Ai Cangsheng, who had been smashed into unfathomable depths, back into mid-air.

The Five Domains’ view paused. Everyone clearly saw that Ai Cangsheng’s arms were completely broken off at the shoulder blades. Yet, his palms were crossed, pressed against his face, as if welded to his eyelids, preemptively thwarting the Dragon-Drawing Halberd’s attempt to pierce his skull.

“Is your head so precious?”

Jin Ren roared, his fury burning even brighter, “What about mine then!” He hadn’t forgotten how miserably he had died in his previous life. The Wing-Breaking Arrow of the Sinister Bow had directly pinned him, in his ultimate giant form, from head to groin, humiliatingly nailing him to the Holy Mountain!

“I’ve been reborn. In this life, I will completely avenge all the humiliation I suffered in the last!”

“Roar—”

Jin Ren threw his head back and roared. From the shattered barren mountain, a colossal, mountain-like ultimate giant rose from the waist up. Seizing the moment when Ai Cangsheng was teleported into the air and temporarily unable to move, the giant clapped its hands together, striking Ai Cangsheng, who was self-protectively shielding his eyes at his chest, with full force, as if swatting a fly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Before his palms fully met, space crackled and burst everywhere they passed. Just as they were about to clap shut, at an abrupt, seemingly conjured moment, Ai Cangsheng’s hands, which had been shielding his eyes, fell away, and the Eyes of the Grand Dao suddenly opened:

“Forbidden: Limit-Confining Art, Third Stage Unseal!”

Unseal? He can unseal again?

The people of the Five Domains leaned forward, their minds almost entirely drawn into the main battlefield, unable to believe that in such a short span of time… Emperor Cangsheng could still react? How resilient must his life force be? And how could he possibly block out the pain he was enduring? He had been battered and pierced to such an extent, his lower body was beyond describing as mere pulp—did he feel no pain?

“Where’s Master Shou?!”

Feng Zhongzui’s speed simply couldn’t keep up with the pace of the main battlefield. As he spoke, he didn’t even see Master Shou, in his ultimate giant form, make any reaction; in the scene he witnessed… Emperor Cangsheng, with only half his body left, certainly had three inner and three outer circles of sealing patterns, representing the Limit-Confining Art, appear around him.

But! He suddenly floated up.

“It’s like he’s treading water!”

Feng Zhongzui vaguely felt that phrase was familiar; he seemed to have heard something similar somewhere before. He couldn’t believe that Ai Cangsheng, with only half a body, still enjoyed treading water so much, mid-fight, with the unsealing only halfway done… Was he using the Void Treading Water Art?

“Wait!”

Feng Zhongzui’s eyes suddenly widened as he remembered something. Just then, a belated voice echoed in the ears of the Five Domains’ spectators:

“Liguo… Blade-Wielder!”

—It was that Treading Water Spirit Skill!

At that instant, everyone’s minds flashed back to the battle at the Xuanyue Ash Palace, to the “treading water” spectacle of Wei Feng and Moonless Sword Immortal. Could Master Shou’s sinister art control even Emperor Cangsheng, and even interrupt the unsealing of the Limit-Confining Art?

“One person can create thousands of derivatives, so never mind.”

“It’s hard to tell if his art is righteous or evil, but right now I can tell you with certainty… it’s evil!” Feng Zhongzui screamed, “Master Shou is evil! More evil than us Southern Domain evil cultivators!”

The moment the Second Awakening’s Blade-Wielder of Liguo activated, Ai Cangsheng was clearly out of control again. At this moment, the ultimate giant’s palms clapped together, directly crushing Ai Cangsheng within them.

“Boom!”

Vertical shockwaves burst from the gaps between the palms, forming circular ripples that shattered the sky above the barren mountain. That slap… The ultimate giant was too large, Emperor Cangsheng too small; no one could hear the sound of bones being crushed, but each imagined a phrase…

“Splat!”

Dead? Emperor Cangsheng, completely shattered?

“Stew!”

Without any hesitation, Grand Master Shou’s small combo was highly practiced. After his palms clapped together, completely crushing Emperor Cangsheng’s physical body, he, as if delivering a finishing blow, uttered a single word that ignited all the Dao techniques within his palms.

“Boom!”

The power of that instant explosion even blew the ultimate giant’s palms apart, causing the giant itself to slightly recoil. The giant’s massive foot nearly stepped from the uninhabited mountains into a bustling city in the Eastern Domain.

“Damn, damn, damn!”

When gods fight, mortals are terrified. The Central Domain’s Spirit Refiners experienced for the first time the nightmare that the Spirit Refiners of the Qilin and Zhongyuan Worlds had once endured. Too big! Truly too big! Even an accidental step could cause fatal destruction; it was hard to imagine how Emperor Cangsheng could withstand Master Shou.

But…

“Is he really gone just like that?”

After the physical body was crushed, the Gates of Hell suddenly descended from the sky. Master Shou had clearly gotten carried away with killing, bringing out the same tactics he used against Wei Feng. But just as the Transmitting Mirror switched to spectator-soul mode…

Everyone was shocked!

The Sinister Bow, at some unknown moment, had actively appeared, shielding its master’s soul forced out after his physical demise. Ai Cangsheng’s soul body was also as robust as a bull, even more so than his physical body.

“No weaknesses!” Feng Zhongzui shrieked. Indeed, how could Emperor Cangsheng have any weaknesses? Wei Feng never truly mastered the soul body; he only specialized in his blade path. If Ai Cangsheng hadn’t cultivated his soul body, back with the Ten Honored Ones, even the Night Owl might not have been able to handle him, right? And one of the Ten Honored Ones’ “side-studies” was even more terrifying than a normal person’s “main cultivation”!

“You’re too slow.”

The Sinister Bow was drawn into a full moon. Ai Cangsheng, however, did not hold the bow. His soul body simply rested between the bow’s frame and string, letting the divine artifact protect him, actively shielding himself, and boldly reforming his physical body:

“Even a god summons the Gates of Hell simultaneously, but you, you do it sequentially. You’re more than one step slower than him.”

Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang!—

No sooner had he spoken than the Sinister Bow vibrated nine times consecutively, firing nine compressed, condensed, dark iron arrows. Targeting the head, the throat, the heart, the dantian, the shoulders, the knees… every single shot aimed at a vital point!

“I, slow?”

Jin Ren had activated Divine Agility! He was truly bewildered; he knew he wasn’t slow. He had inherited his true self’s combat awareness, and throughout the fights, his pace had even been too fast. He had no problem fighting Yi, Yan, Rao, or even Sui Yin this way. Everyone else was slow. Because no matter how fast they were, they couldn’t surpass Divine Agility. Even Sui Yin had been dazed, adhering to their three-sword pact.

Jin Ren had never expected that simply failing to seize this fleeting opportunity, this transition point between spirit and physical combat modes, at the very first instant… He *had* seized it immediately. He hadn’t managed to *create* this opportunity in advance and utilize it—just this one “delay” that wasn’t even a delay… Ai Cangsheng had turned the tables in a desperate situation?

This, was the combat awareness of a Ten Honored One?

Nine spiritual dark iron arrows whistled as they shot forth. For an instant, despair flashed through Jin Ren’s mind: *So, I’m neither the true self nor the protagonist; ultimately, can I not defy fate…?* He gave up resisting. He also had no Ancestral Source power to block Ai Cangsheng’s output. He could only pray…

“Who said I’m slow?”

With a thunderous roar, a silver light plunged from the sky. Jin Ren’s prayer seemed to work; another ultimate giant, like his twin brother, descended directly before him, carrying a massive silver shield.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!—”

The Crushing Shield blocked obliquely, not directly absorbing the force. The nine dark iron arrows grazed past, their trajectories completely altered by the subtle tremor of the Crushing Shield. Having taken one arrow before, Xu Xiaoshou was clearly more attuned to the Crushing Shield, and his shield techniques were self-taught masterpieces. He slightly tilted the shield’s body, and the dark iron arrows either ricocheted into the sky or bounced towards the ground… His ultimate giant incarnation even chose to actively retreat, using the method of force dissipation, enduring these nine arrows even if it meant being pushed back.

But as he was repeatedly forced back, his perception caught sight of the faint smile on Ai Cangsheng’s lips, and Xu Xiaoshou immediately felt a sense of foreboding.

A miscalculation! He shouldn’t have saved this useless Jin Ren! Ai Cangsheng had completely recovered; his physical body was reshaped!

‘Shhh…’

‘Hmph…’

‘Tsk…’

Mind Scavenge was still active, but it was one of the few techniques that was failing. Was there really someone who didn’t ‘dialogue’ in their mind? Did his mind not even need to think during combat? From the moment he landed in the Eastern Domain until now, no “battle plans” had appeared in Ai Cangsheng’s mind. All his actions were purely muscle memory from countless battles! Even forcing Xu Xiaoshou back with the dark iron arrows seemed to be an intuitive, spontaneous act. His mind was completely silent. Actually, it wasn’t silent, but rather silent concerning combat.

‘Sorry…’

‘Xiaoxiao…’

‘Eyes of the Grand Dao…’

Xu Xiaoshou could indeed scavenge these intermittent thoughts, but he had no idea what they meant.

Just then.

Just as Ai Cangsheng’s physical body fully reformed.

Mind Scavenge gleaned an unexpected voice! It was like a thought clinging to Ai Cangsheng, not his own, because it was a female voice. The voice was hoarse and pained, filled with helplessness and trembling, hidden where mortal ears could never hear, audible only through Mind Scavenge, yet stubbornly repeating:

“For me… live on…”