Side Story 5

The news spread rapidly, sweeping across the entire continent in a single day. Everyone felt a sense of impending doom and panic. The terrifying reputation of the Emperor Defying Heaven was something everyone learned from their parents when they were still children. Even when a child cried incessantly, mothers only needed to say that the Emperor Defying Heaven would come to eat them, and the child would instantly stop crying.

Rumors had it that the Emperor Defying Heaven had lived for over a millennium, and some even claimed he had mastered the art of immortality. Ever since his decisive battle against the Heavens a thousand years ago, where he was severely wounded by five Heavenly Sword Gods acting in concert, he had never shown himself again. Even twenty-two years ago, when he took the traitorous Heavenly Swordsman Yang Xuanxiao as his disciple and sent the King Lord to execute missions, he had never personally intervened.

No one knew what realm this Emperor had attained after a thousand years!

"The catastrophe has arrived. We must do our human utmost and leave the rest to the will of Heaven!"

In Lingzhou, upon the Canglang River, a solitary flat-bottomed boat drifted with the currents. On the boat, a hoary-headed elder leaned on a staff and sighed, his turbid eyes gradually growing brilliant and piercing, like candles burning in the pitch-black night.

"To the death!"

In Mingzhou, the boundless snowy mountains were remote and untrod by human feet. At the peak of a mountain lay a lake frozen solid year-round. Yet on this day, the ice lake shattered, and a figure emerged from the depths, the chill and killing intent intertwining and surging straight into the firmament.

In Tianxingzhou, a giant towering one hundred thousand li high stood in confrontation with a young Heavenly Swordsman no larger than an ant. After a brief exchange of blows, the two sides paused momentarily.

"I must admit I underestimated you. Back then, I held a special fondness for this sword, but unfortunately your father handed it to you, denying me the chance to gaze upon it. Seeing you wield this sword today, it is truly extraordinary, fully deserving of the four characters 'Dayang Lunque'. Even now, I wish to know the origins of this sword; perhaps it holds a secret that even I cannot overlook. It might even possess the power to slay me!" The Emperor Defying Heaven's gaze was like torches as he stared at the Dayang Lunque sword once more grasped in Jiuyun's hands, appearing almost mesmerized.

"Heh, you guessed right. I intend to use this sword to sever your head, as a sacrifice to the innocent lives you have slaughtered," Jiuyun sneered coldly.

"How about this? I appreciate talent. Since your father is already dead, one of the two Laws has vanished. As long as you nod, I can appoint you as the new King Lord Defying Heaven. You won't have to throw your life away for nothing like these ants. What do you say?" The Emperor Defying Heaven suddenly looked straight into Jiuyun's eyes and asked.

"Hahahaha, ridiculous! You think far too highly of yourself. What of the True God realm? Whatever realm you can reach, I can reach as well. Even if it means perishing together with you, I will not hesitate!" Jiuyun gripped his sword even tighter.

"Life is fleeting; even those with immensely powerful profound strength cannot achieve immortality. I am offering you a chance to live, yet you are utterly blind to the times!" The giant's voice grew cold, clearly showing his disappointment.

"A true man knows what not to do, and what must be done! What is mere life and death? Where the Dao lies, though tens of millions block my way, I shall proceed!" Jiuyun raised his sword, pointing it directly at the giant's eyes.

"Stubborn and irredeemable! Then die!"

The armored giant, resembling a dark general, threw another punch. The firmament immediately quaked incessantly as heavenly thunder rolled down. At this moment, the Emperor Defying Heaven unleashed his Divine Domain.

Jiuyun noticed it instantly. Just like when Tianxingzhou was sealed earlier, he was now imprisoned by this Divine Domain. Intense electrical currents washed over his physical body, leaving him utterly unable to dodge. His profound strength could no longer be channeled, reducing him to a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Thud!

The next second, Jiuyun soared into the air, blasted away by the punch. His entire chest collapsed and shattered, every bone in his body fractured. His body pierced through the clouds, surging into the vast azure at a forty-five-degree upward angle. He slowed down only when he reached a height of one million li, and then, inevitably, began to arc downward along a parabolic trajectory into the world below, plunging either onto the continent or into the boundless ocean, his fate unknown.

"Jiuyun!" Yan Ji roared at the top of her lungs. Her straight and slender legs transformed into fox hind legs, and her frost-white, lotus-like arms turned into fox forepaws. Her entire body underwent complete beastification, her nine tails stretching for a hundred li, capable of shattering mountains and splitting stones.

The fiery-red Nine-Tailed Flame Demonic Fox soared into the sky, treading upon fiery clouds as she galloped through the void. Her speed was as swift as the wind and as rapid as lightning! Looking up from the ground, she resembled a streak of fire flashing horizontally across the sky.

Swish! Sword hums rang out like metal clashing, their sound shaking the long sky. The Emperor Defying Heaven frowned; the precious sword in front of him had actually recognized its master and completely ignored his commands. If not for his profound cultivation sealing it, the Dayang Lunque would likely have followed Jiuyun away just then.

"Since it cannot be used by me, then be destroyed!" The giant extended his palm and made a virtual grasping motion. The precious sword immediately trembled violently, yet aside from that, it refused to be snapped as the Emperor Defying Heaven intended.

"Hahahaha, truly an unparalleled supreme sword! Very well, let me test your might myself." The Emperor Defying Heaven did not force it further, though the depths of his eyes harbored a profound and chilling indifference.

"Perish!"

The next moment, the Emperor Defying Heaven struck downward with the sword. The Dayang Lunque transformed into a ten-thousand-li-long blade, carrying an overwhelming, supreme profound strength to crash down upon the earth below.

Tianxingzhou trembled, rapidly sinking. Volcanoes erupted, spewing magma onto the surface of the earth. Vegetation and all living beings were utterly annihilated. Blood flowed like rivers, turning the realm into a purgatory...

A heaven-shaking explosion rang out. The continent shuddered, rocking violently as towering waves surged across the surrounding seas. Hundreds of millions of living creatures turned to dust in the blink of an eye, and the eight desolate realms of heaven and earth seemed on the verge of being torn apart.

With a single sword strike, Tianxingzhou was thoroughly obliterated, reduced to a dark wasteland of calamity. A pitch-black crater measuring several million li in diameter now occupied the original center of the Twin-Sun Continent, and an aura of death permeated every corner.

"Why go to such lengths?" Suddenly, an elder's voice, sounding both near and far, echoed from all directions, seeming as close as right beside the ear yet as distant as the ends of the earth.

"Oh? An old friend has actually come to see me. This world isn't as boring as I thought after all," the giant said with pleasant surprise, as if hearing joyous news.

In the void, a decrepit old man leaning on a staff appeared. His face was as aged as the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, bearing the unmistakable visage of a longevity sage.

"Then do you still remember me, you fiend?" Sword light flashed like a fire snake as a figure rode upon divine fire, the profound light sword in his hand blazing as it writhed like a dragon and snake.

"Huo Yanyan!" The Emperor Defying Heaven continued to laugh. "Very good, very good. Today, old friends are reunited; I am truly overjoyed. Hahahaha..."

"Emperor Defying Heaven, you have destroyed the entire territory of Tianxingzhou, causing the deaths of hundreds of millions of living beings. Such monstrous sins cannot be redeemed even by dying ten thousand deaths!" The elder with the staff shook his head and sighed.

"Why waste any more breath on this fiend? A thousand years ago we could defeat him, and a thousand years later we will never allow him to run amok." The one holding the longsword was a white-haired elder with delicate, thin facial features. Yet his temper was exceptionally fiery, and he harbored a bone-deep hatred toward the Emperor Defying Heaven.

"Huo Yanyan, all these years have passed, and your temper truly hasn't changed at all. Hahahaha, but I like your fiery temper—so straightforward!" The Emperor Defying Heaven cared not at all about their opinions of him.

"Draw your sword!" The elder with the staff lightly tapped his wooden cane. With a loud *bang*, the staff exploded, and a cyan-green profound light sword flew out from within. The elder grasped it firmly, and instantly, sword intent filled the air, thick with killing intent.

"Burn the Fiend!" Huo Yanyan held his longsword reverse-grip as flames spewed from the tip of the blade, a serpentine tongue of fire slithering through the long sky with its tail connected to the sword tip.

"A thousand years of time, passing in the snap of a finger. It seems only the two of you managed to survive. Very well, let this Emperor bring our old grievances to an end once and for all. From this day forth, there shall be no more Heavenly Sword Gods in this world!" the giant proclaimed loudly. Immediately, his body slowly shrank until he was finally no different in size from an ordinary human.

The great battle broke out instantly. The former Heavenly Sword Gods were now elderly men; one held a dragon-and-snake fiery sword, while the other wielded a cyan-steel wooden sword. Pincer-attacking from left to right, they assaulted the Emperor Defying Heaven. The latter unleashed his fists, punching with tremendous force that caused the air to detonate repeatedly. A single punch was enough to cause the void to collapse and the clouds to shatter.

The battle grew increasingly rapid. The three figures entered a state of shifting light, fighting their way from the earth into mid-air, and then plunging into the clouds. Reaching for the highest extremes of the heavens, they pursued the very limits of the sky, ascending ever higher. Along the way, they watched as the drifting white clouds remarkably transformed into "dark hounds."

Heavenly thunder rolled and dark clouds gathered. This was a zone of thunder-cloud tribulations where the three engaged in fierce combat, bathing in lightning without sustaining the slightest injury.

"A thousand years of time, and it seems the two of you have made very limited progress. After all, you are already decrepit, whereas I alone remain at the zenith of my prime!" The Emperor Defying Heaven, clad in black armor, stood upright like a general amid the thunder clouds, crossing his arms over his chest as he spoke to the two elders opposite him.

Huo Yanyan and Mu Linsen gripped the hilts of their swords even tighter. They were once two of the Nine Great Sword Gods of the Heavenly Sword Tower. Back then, they had traversed the realm wielding their swords, subduing demons and vanquishing fiends, upholding justice and doing all manner of good. Together with three other Heavenly Sword Gods, they had joined forces to defeat the Emperor Defying Heaven, inflicting severe wounds upon him and granting the Twin-Sun Continent a millennium of peace.

Yet, to their utter dismay, a traitor named Yang Xuanxiao had emerged within the Heavens. Blinded by hatred and seduced by the Emperor Defying Heaven, he had become a King Lord Defying Heaven, single-handedly destroying the lineage of Heavenly Sword Socialites that had endured for ten thousand years. When the two elders received the news, they initially wished to purge their sect, but out of fear for the Emperor Defying Heaven, they ultimately never intervened. Besides, as long as Bai Xuan remained in the Heavens, the lineage would never be extinguished, and the sparks of hope would always rise again one day.

Yet now, everything had reached a moment of life-or-death crisis. The Emperor Defying Heaven intended to carry out an extermination of the world; if he was not stopped, the Twin-Sun Continent would vanish in an instant, just like Tianxingzhou!

"To the bitter end!"

Both swords slashed out simultaneously, their sword qi surging across a hundred thousand li and slicing the lightning itself apart. The dragon-and-snake fiery sword materialized tangible forms: a dragon and a snake breathed fire as they coiled around the Emperor Defying Heaven, while the cyan-steel wooden sword transformed into tens of thousands of blade edges, hacking toward the Emperor Defying Heaven's vulnerable zones.

"Too weak. I have no more interest in wasting time with you." Letting the two elders unleash their moves, the Emperor Defying Heaven remained completely motionless. Those magnificent waves of sword intent, upon coming within three zhang of him, melted like snow meeting a blazing fire and dissolved into nothingness. Finally, the Emperor Defying Heaven's physique trembled, and his profound strength surged outward in all directions, causing the surrounding void to rumble and roar like a mechanical beast.

Crack! Snap!

The Emperor Defying Heaven's erupting profound strength disrupted the dark, cloudy firmament. Huo Yanyan and Mu Linsen were sent flying backward thousands of li as if struck by a heavy blow on the spot. Simultaneously, the Emperor Defying Heaven's figure vanished from the spot in an instant. Within the span of a single breath, he had appeared directly behind the two retreating former Sword Gods. Then came two crisp sounds of metal snapping; those two indestructible profound light swords had been cleanly broken in two by the Emperor Defying Heaven using merely his index and middle fingers.

The scene froze. The two veteran Sword Gods had intended to use their backward momentum to swiftly slash and slay the Emperor Defying Heaven who had suddenly appeared behind them, failing to anticipate that the latter had already planned ahead. Furthermore, his strength was despair-inducing: he had merely casually extended both hands and easily snapped the two divine swords with just his index and middle fingers.

Seeing this, Mu Linsen and Huo Yanyan had no time to mourn their broken treasures. Steadying their postures, they exchanged glances and said, "May profound strength be with you!"

"Oh? Want to use self-detonation to kill me? That seems a bit too naive!" the Emperor Defying Heaven sneered derisively.

The two veteran Sword Gods ignored him. Each extended one palm and pressed it against the other's. Instantly, lightning cascaded down from the higher heavens, enveloping the two of them. Dark clouds gathered as fierce, howling winds blew, and a gigantic, immensely thick tornado formed, turning the spot where the two stood into its eye.

The tornado connected the upper and lower poles, and intense electrical currents were sucked into the wind walls, making it appear like a roaring dragon of lightning in the void, eager to destroy the mortal world. The terrifying energy it contained continued to escalate, surging and boiling over. Fortunately, no living creatures were present here, or they would have been instantly drained dry, for the two veteran Sword Gods were not only condensing their own profound strength, but also drawing upon the natural profound strength of this cloudy void.

They were not merely self-detonating; they intended to turn this place into a firecracker, detonating space and time to destroy all tangible matter. Without a doubt, this was far more terrifying than a mere self-detonation, and most importantly, it left the enemy with nowhere to run.

Boom!

Visible to any observer, a scene appeared in the space above the planet of the Twin-Sun Continent: tens of millions of li high above the continent, a black-and-red mushroom cloud rose into the air. The powerful shockwave caused that stretch of cosmic space to distort and blur, though fortunately, this impact did not affect the planet below—doubtless because the two Sword Gods had intentionally shielded it.

For a long, long time, the black-and-red mushroom cloud refused to disperse, hovering persistently in the cosmic space above the planet, looking exceptionally glaring. Until a familiar figure walked out from within the mushroom cloud. The next instant, the black-and-red mushroom cloud miraculously shrank at a rapid pace, smaller and smaller, until that million-li-wide cloud ultimately transformed into a "marble," resting quietly in the palm of the figure's outstretched hand.

With a slurp, the "marble" was tossed into the person's mouth and swallowed straight down into their belly!

"Not a bad taste." The Emperor Defying Heaven licked his lips, a deeply wicked smile blooming across his face.

On a beach of the Twin-Sun Continent.

Azure seas, blue skies, white sands, and swaying coconut groves—this place had originally been a resort destination, a premier choice for summer cooling and leisure. It had always bustled with crowds, and highly intelligent life forms of all races loved to catch the sea breeze on the beach or swim in the shallow waters.

Unfortunately, today two uninvited guests had arrived. A fiery-red demonic fox beast with nine tails descended onto the beach, bearing upon its back a young man covered in bloodstains. The man possessed exceptionally handsome features, a rare beauty in this world, yet at this moment he was unconscious and in mortal peril!

As soon as the fox appeared, the crowd naturally scattered in a mad panic to flee for their lives. Who would dare to continue sunbathing with their life on the line?

"You won't... you'll be fine, you will definitely... be fine." Yan Ji transformed back into human form, cradling the limp form of Jiuyun in her arms. Her voice was trembling.

At this moment, Yan Ji wept tears like falling rain. She channeled profound strength into Jiuyun without pause, but his aura had grown so faint it was practically nonexistent, resembling a blown-out candle with only a tiny spark of fiery red lingering on the wick. That tiny red spark lacked even less than a second before a breeze would extinguish it, or perhaps it would dissipate on its own without even a breeze.

Such was Jiuyun's state. He had suffered the fatal blow dealt by the Emperor Defying Heaven; all his internal organs were shattered, and blood continuously flowed from his seven orifices, staining the white sand beach red.

"Don't die, please don't die! You said it yourself, you were going to marry me. If you die, how will you marry me?" Yan Ji was normally a stunning and captivating femme fatale, but now, moved by true emotion, she could no longer hold back her tears and sobbing.

What could make a cold-blooded, merciless king of demons weep bitterly? What could make a heartless and ruthless flame demon fox mourn with such agony?

The answer was love! It was Jiuyun!

From the time he was born until the present, the two of them had accompanied each other for over twenty years, their hearts long since attuned. Human and demon were originally from different worlds, but walking this path together, they had supported, understood, and trusted one another. Finally, they had found a chance to achieve a proper union, but in the end, would it all amount to nothing—one in the netherworld and the other in the realm of the living?

"Before I met you, Yan Ji, I never knew what fondness or love meant. I never cherished anything; in my eyes, all things were merely fleeting smoke. I looked down upon everything and felt no attachment, hating the entire world. But ever since I met you, everything changed. Even though you were so foolish and clumsy, whenever danger and difficulties arose, you always rushed to the front, always finding a way to turn misfortune into fortune by your own methods. You taught me what kindness is, what attitude toward life should be. You told me that what distinguishes humans from plants and beasts is simply the word 'affection', and all decisions in this world come down to emotion, reason, and law—yet emotion is placed above all else. You told me I am also human, that I too can understand emotion. Emotion is like profound strength; it can connect the hearts of all people, and only emotion can resolve hatred, bringing peace and love!" Yan Ji hugged Jiuyun and sobbed uncontrollably.

"Do you know? No one had ever told me I was human before. They only feared me, hated me, called me a monster, and labeled me the source of evil. Even in the demonic world, the so-called dignity I attained was built solely upon my formidable power. But only you were different. You truly treated me as a human, as a friend, as an equal. You taught me how to be human, how to do good, and how to do the things I truly loved."

"Meeting you is the greatest happiness of my life!"

"I am willing to give everything for you! As long as... you can open your eyes one more time."

Having said these words, Yan Ji smiled, tears still hanging upon her exquisitely beautiful face. Both her tears and her smiles were for the unconscious man before her, whose fire of life was about to be thoroughly extinguished.

Gazing at him, Yan Ji stopped weeping, instead looking infatuatedly at his handsome facial features, wishing to engrave this face into her memory forever. Finally, she leaned close to the face she had known for over twenty years, lowered her head, and kissed his lips.

Four lips touched, coolness and heat intermingling. Yan Ji and the completely unconscious Jiuyun kissed deeply, and for a long, long time, neither pulled away.