Volume One: Cloud-Obscured Immortal Palace Arc Chapter Ninety-Five: A Beauty's Kindness Is the Hardest to Bear

The blue dragon’s head let out a shrill, furious roar. The entire dark sky shuddered under the impact of the sound waves, splitting with cracks that spread all the way beyond the cavern world. For the first time, it truly felt death so close at hand. Its whole body grew cold at terrifying speed; the originally crimson glow in its eyes, once like blood-red suns, now dimmed like dying candles.

Beneath its jaw, a dark blue reverse scale was pierced through by a black stone sword, and it was on the verge of collapse.

“You despicable rogue... you have such skill. You did this on purpose—you wanted me to swallow your successor!” The blue dragon’s head grew weaker and weaker, until it finally took human form. It was the girl in blue, Luo Tianyi. Blood streamed from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; her face was haggard, a dying woman’s face.

“This method was not devised by the senior. It was my doing,” Zhou Hao said calmly, standing still in the void.

“You?” Luo Tianyi froze.

“Indeed. As the saying goes, the younger generation will surpass the older. Zhou Hao, you did very well.” Suddenly, Zhou Hao’s voice changed again into Deng Tulang’s, and the voice was robust and forceful, no trace of the weakness from before.

“You... your...” Upon hearing Deng Tulang’s voice, Luo Tianyi was even more shocked.

“Do not worry. I really am about to vanish completely. What remains now is only my final flicker of light.” Deng Tulang’s voice explained. “Do you know why I deliberately let you swallow Zhou Hao? It is because only then could I deliver a fatal blow from within. Zhou Hao had only just obtained power at the Great Immortal level, and to control the Yellow Gourd and unleash a void dimensional slash was indeed extremely difficult for an Immortal at the Golden Immortal level. It was like a child taking a sharp dagger to assassinate a veteran killer whose hands and feet had already been severed. Even a tiger without fangs is difficult to subdue. So Zhou Hao came up with the strategy of entering the tiger’s den to seize the tiger’s cub. He resolutely let you swallow him, so that by breaking through from inside, you would have absolutely no chance of victory.”

“Heh... hah, hah, hah... I, once an Immortal King, have today been turned upside down in some nameless ditch, defeated by a cultivator at the Golden Immortal stage...” After hearing Deng Tulang’s words, Luo Tianyi suddenly laughed.

“Today, I can finally avenge Xue Nu. Xue Nu, are you well? I am coming to see you!” Zhou Hao tilted his head upward, his tone actually trembling with excitement.

“To think that even as you die, you wretched man are still thinking of another woman. If there is another life, I will kill you again!” Luo Tianyi’s curse grew fainter and fainter until it vanished entirely. Her body then burst apart into a blaze of light, and after a brief moment, even that was extinguished by the violent winds of the dark sky.

The younger sister of the Dragon King of Luo Sea in the Heluo Sect star domain, an Immortal Queen of the dragon race, had fallen.

“Luo Tianyi, you do not understand love...” At the very moment the flame formed from Luo Tianyi’s body was blown out, Zhou Hao’s body trembled. Deng Tulang’s immortal consciousness had completely dispersed.

“Senior, rest in peace... Ugh...” Zhou Hao murmured. Then it felt as though every ounce of vitality in his body had been drawn away; he shriveled instantly, like a round balloon losing all its air.

“Ah! Zhou Hao... Zhou Hao, what is wrong with you? Don’t scare me.” Nearby, the heavily injured Su Qing’s eyes turned red with panic. Supporting her weakened body, she lifted Zhou Hao and flew beneath the heavens.

At first, she had felt joy and relief when she saw Zhou Hao burst out of the dragon’s body unharmed. But only now did Su Qing realize that Zhou Hao had truly sacrificed everything for this battle. Facing Luo Tianyi, who had once been an Immortal King, the outcome had always been either nearly impossible or utterly hopeless. Yet Zhou Hao had not feared. He had left the path to survival to Huahuo and her, and alone borne the storm of blood and slaughter.

Now he was like a candle in the wind, in mortal danger of dissolving into the Dao at any moment. She had to save him by every means possible, with all her strength.

Above the sea in the cavern world, all traces of red had faded, and the waves struck the empty air.

A man and two women sat cross-legged on the sea’s surface. The man had his eyes closed, his entire body as withered as a corpse, gaunt and skeletal, his face pale and exhausted. Behind him stood a woman in white with white hair; her complexion was equally poor, bloodless and wan, and her white robe was stained with large patches of dark red blood. Beside the woman in white was a loli-like girl with a delicate, adorable doll face, but at that moment her little face was full of tension, her pair of crimson eyes fixed tightly on the skin-and-bones youth.

“Big Sister Su, how is Zhou Hao exactly? How are we supposed to save him?” Huahuo asked Su Qing, her voice thick with tears.

Su Qing remained calm. “Because the immortal consciousness of Senior Deng was compatible with him, it drew out all of Zhou Hao’s potential for battle. So when that immortal consciousness dispersed, Zhou Hao was left half crippled all over, and his dao foundation was injured.”

“What? His dao foundation is damaged? That is the very root of cultivation! Once the dao foundation is harmed, it means the road of immortality is finished. He will forever be a crippled immortal. How can Zhou Hao bear such a blow?” Huahuo exclaimed in shock. She knew all too well what a dao foundation meant.

A dao foundation is the root of the great Dao, the foundation of cultivation. If immortals are like trees, then the dao foundation is the root. It was easy to imagine that if Zhou Hao’s dao foundation was destroyed, it meant he could never cultivate again, and might even die.

“Why? Why did things turn out this way? That damned gourd old man clearly knew Zhou Hao would become a crippled immortal, yet he still dragged Zhou Hao into a decisive battle with that evil dragon.” Huahuo stared blankly, her lovely face full of bewilderment, while she also vented her resentment on Deng Tulang.

“This cannot all be blamed on Senior Deng. We all know how dangerous the situation was. Even if Zhou Hao had not gone to fight, the three of us would still have been slaughtered by Luo Tianyi. Zhou Hao became like this in order to protect us. We must save him, do you understand?” Su Qing reached out with her left hand and gently patted the agitated, grief-stricken Huahuo. Their eyes met, and a flash of determination crossed Su Qing’s gaze.

Huahuo nodded. “Mm! As long as Zhou Hao can be saved, even if I have to fall back into slumber, it does not matter. I am willing to sacrifice everything I have now to save him.”

Su Qing turned around and placed both hands against Zhou Hao’s back. “Little Huahuo, you do not need to sacrifice yourself. Just protect me while I work. Zhou Hao’s dao foundation was ruined because it was fused with the immortal consciousness of a Great Immortal. Only I, who am also at the Great Immortal realm, have the ability to heal him!”

Time passed minute by minute until a sharp cracking sound rang out from the sky above the cavern world. Then a white light, wrapped around two figures, shot toward the vortex gate that had appeared in the void. In the next instant, heaven collapsed and the sea dried up. The entire cavern world fractured apart. Black void cracks filled the sky and the earth; surging bolts of thunder shattered space, and blood-red heavenly fire burned the small world to ash...

For a full seven days and seven nights, the cold, dark cosmos was like a field of fireworks bursting open, and thus a cavern world came to a magnificent end.

Far from the cavern world, on an uninhabited star, a man and a woman suddenly appeared upon the barren ground.

The man looked like a youth of seventeen or eighteen, with a refined face. Though not tall, he was lean and solidly built. He wore white clothes and white trousers, lying quietly in the arms of a loli-like girl.

And yet the girl at that moment was weeping as though rain were falling from her eyes, a true tear-stained figure. She kept calling for Big Sister Su, her watery eyes swollen red from crying.

“Huahuo? Why are you crying?” After a long while, the white-robed youth awoke. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the loli girl still sobbing uncontrollably.

“Zhou Hao, you finally woke up. Do you know? Big Sister Su Qing exchanged her own life for your rebirth in order to save you!” Huahuo did not stop crying when she saw Zhou Hao awake. On the contrary, the more she said, the more she cried, and the more she cried, the more heartbroken she became.

“What did you say? Su Qing is dead? Are you joking? How could she possibly die?”

Zhou Hao’s whole body stiffened, and he shouted that it was impossible, unable to believe it. How could he, just awakened, believe such a thing was real?

“Before, when you fought that... female evil dragon... your dao foundation was destroyed. Big Sister Su knew that once your dao foundation was ruined... your path of immortality would be severed, so... so she exhausted everything she had to mend it.” Huahuo was drowning in tears, her voice choking.

“But injuries to the dao foundation are no small matter; they must be treated with the source essence of immortal roots. In the end, Big Sister Su thought of refining herself into an immortal pill for you to take. She said that the immortal body is itself a medicinal ingredient, and that refining the great medicine of an immortal body could temper every ounce of potential in the body, bringing the power of the immortal root’s essence to its utmost limit!” Huahuo forcefully held back her tears and told him the final thing Su Qing had done for Zhou Hao.

“Su... Qing, why were you so foolish? Even if I became a crippled immortal, I would never want to see you die. Why did you save me? Why? Aaaaaah...”

On the nameless star, the youth roared like a wounded beast. He raged, he grieved, he cried, and his heart bled!

Unending pain hammered at his heart. Zhou Hao could not help clutching his chest and covering his face with his left hand.

With a heavy thud, the ground caved in, revealing two large pits. Zhou Hao dropped heavily to his knees. His tortured face was tightly covered by his left hand, while his right hand clutched his chest as he sank into deep self-reproach.

“Because she loved you, she had to save you. She did not want you to remain a crippled immortal forever. She did not want your life to pass in mediocrity. She did not want to see you later, grown despondent and broken...” Huahuo walked over to where Zhou Hao knelt and reached out her delicate pink hand to gently stroke his hair.

“Su Qing... loved me?” Zhou Hao froze. Then, in his mind, all of his memories of Su Qing began to play out like a film.

Their first meeting—she had been too dazzling in his eyes, like a figure straight out of a painting. He offered her tea, and she accepted it with a faint smile...

Their next meeting—Yu Nan, who had always been hostile toward Master Yun Fang, made things difficult for him as the disciple, and she stepped in to clear the way for him...

Later, because he had been late in sword practice, Elder Cheng Bing seized the chance to make trouble, though in truth he was merely venting for his son Cheng Yan. Once again, she stepped forward to bear the fury of a Golden Immortal on his behalf...

And today, in order to give him a beautiful future, she had even offered up her own life. Such affection, such righteousness, was truly heavy as a mountain and deep as the northern sea, impossible to erase for all eternity.

“Su Qing, Su Qing, Su Qing...” These were the only words left in Zhou Hao’s mouth. As he recalled everything that had come before, he felt that he owed this beautiful senior sister far too much, far, far too much, and now there was no chance of repayment at all.

Whoosh!

A flash of golden light, and Zhou Hao soared into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he had arrived in the cosmic space outside the nameless star.

He looked around at the heavens, then sped off in one direction. With his current Golden Immortal cultivation, one could not say he was truly roaming the stars, but he could still traverse the shifting constellations in a single step.

High above the ink-dark expanse, Zhou Hao’s lonely back looked utterly desolate. He gazed downward. This had once been the place where Deng Tulang’s Great Immortal cavern abode had opened. Back then, a pink heavenly mark had streaked across the sky, and the masters of the Hall of All Immortals together with the upper immortals of the four great powers had sent Zhou Hao and the others into the cavern world.

Yet in this brief span of time, everything had changed beyond recognition. Most of all, Zhou Hao’s state of mind now held guilt and anger, but above all sorrow. The woman who had silently given him everything was dead—she had died for him.

“The last thing Su Qing said was this: she blamed herself for never having the courage to reveal her feelings to you. She had been quietly watching over you, liking you. From the very first time she saw you, she had felt an indescribable fondness. Later, that fondness slowly grew into liking, until now it had become selfless love for you. She said that every time she saw you, she became so nervous, so nervous, that she could only use a smile to ease the tension. In the beginning, she never smiled in front of a crowd, but whenever she saw you, that nervousness forced her to smile before she could speak to you with composure...” At this moment Huahuo caught up to Zhou Hao and told him the words Su Qing had said to her before she died.

Two lines of clear tears slid down his cheeks. The youth stood there like a wooden statue, unable for a long time to recover his senses. It felt as though his heart were being hammered by iron blows, yet he could no longer feel the pain.

A hero may drink the moon from the river in a single cup, but the kindness of beauty is the hardest burden to bear.