The petals touched the ground and melted into the earth.
What spread out with them was a breath of pure, cleansing qi between heaven and earth.
The mountains and rivers that had been corroded by Rakshasa divine power began to regain vitality under this nourishment.
Upon the scorched land, patches of tender green sprouts emerged at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The withered spiritual veins began to flow once more, emitting gentle, gurgling sounds.
Between heaven and earth,
the grief had not yet dispersed.
Yet it was overlaid by the sky filled with crimson blossoms and the rebirth of life,
dyeing the world in a beauty that was both devastatingly tragic and magnificently grand.
Zhu Zhuqing knelt upon the ground, her eyes trembling as she extended a slender hand.
Petals like red plum blossoms circled her longing, fluttering in slow spirals.
Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, Yu Tianheng, and the others lifted their faces to the sky.
Petal rain fell endlessly—
Yet the boy was nowhere to be seen.
A streak of golden light staggered in from the distant horizon.
Qian Renxue flapped her angel wings in disarray.
She plunged into the drifting sea of tragic red petals, which clung to her feathers like bloodshed.
Tears had long since streamed unchecked across her exquisite face, washing away her former nobility and cold pride, leaving only boundless confusion and shattered grief.
Her vision blurred by tears, she could scarcely see the path ahead, moving only by instinct toward the place where the boy's final presence had dissipated.
At last,
she arrived at that empty stretch of space.
"Li… Li Zhexian…"
All her strength drained away in that instant.
Qian Renxue slowly—slowly—crouched in midair.
Then, no longer able to restrain herself,
she cried silently, her entire body trembling, shoulders heaving violently, like a child who had lost her only treasure.
"Li… Li Zhexian… you promised me…"
"You… you promised me…"
"That you wouldn't abandon me…"
In a daze—
She subconsciously sensed, searched…
It was gone.
The angel auspicious feather she had given Li Zhexian was gone.
Not a trace remained, as though it had followed him, turning into these countless crimson petals, never to be found again.
Qian Renxue broke into anguished sobs.
"Li Zhexian… cough… cough…"
Heart's blood spilled from the corner of her lips, staining the light-attribute Spirit Power enveloping her body a vivid red.
Grief burned like karmic fire—
Incinerating her final shred of reason and hesitation.
"Ah—!"
A piercing scream tore through the sky.
Her divine power ignited in an unprecedented way,
transforming into a blood-colored streak of light that carried boundless hatred, shooting straight toward the smoke-filled giant crater.
As she flew,
divine light gathered in her palm, and the Angel God Sword instantly took form.
The blade shone brilliantly, yet its edge was soaked in her heart's blood, turning an eerie, savage crimson.
Holiness and slaughter—
merged at this moment.
Her grandfather's disappearance, her lover's death—scene after scene of unbearable pain replayed wildly before her eyes!
All of it—
because of that woman!
Mother?
The word now sounded absurdly ironic.
She had no mother!
Never had!
What she had was only an enemy who hated her to the bone, who stripped away everything she loved and destroyed her entire life!
Qian Renxue reached the air above the crater.
She halted for a single instant, gripping the sword hilt with both hands, her arm bones creaking under the immense force.
All her Spirit Power, all her hatred, endless sorrow, and years of buried anguish poured madly into the sword's tip.
She stabbed viciously toward Bibi Dong's head.
"Die for me!"
Crimson flames erupted from the sword tip, like a molten star plummeting downward.
The overwhelming might caused the crater's rocky edges to collapse once more, the earth shuddering with deep, violent tremors.
"Xue'er, stop!"
At the instant the blade was about to pierce Bibi Dong's head, three figures suddenly interposed themselves between Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong.
They were the three great Worship Hall Elders: Golden Crocodile, Azure Luan, and Lion.
Daring not to slacken in the slightest, they gathered all their Spirit Power before them, forming an indestructible barrier to meet Qian Renxue's hatred-filled strike.
Boom—!
The divine sword slammed into the barrier, erupting with a deafening roar.
At the moment of contact,
the three elders' expressions changed drastically.
What came from the sword edge was a destructive, overwhelming Spirit Power far beyond their expectations!
"Urgh—!"
The three let out muffled groans as the condensed Spirit-Power barrier shattered instantly.
The terrifying impact hurled them from midair like meteors, smashing them deep into the ground below and kicking up clouds of dust.
Qian Renxue hovered in the air, the blood-colored Angel God Sword in her hand humming incessantly.
Only she herself knew—
that in the final instant before the blade struck the three elders, she had forcibly withdrawn most of its power.
Otherwise,
that single strike—
even with the three elders joining forces—
would have meant certain death.
"Why are you stopping me?!"
Qian Renxue spoke coldly.
Those once-brilliant golden eyes were now veiled in crimson, surging with hatred so dense it was nearly tangible.
"Xue'er…"
Golden Crocodile and the other two struggled awkwardly back into the air.
At that moment,
another ice arrow tore through the air, shooting straight toward Bibi Dong in the crater.
"Glowing Feather, stop fooling around!"
Golden Crocodile forcibly suppressed his injuries, shattering the ice arrow with a single palm strike. He then clutched his violently heaving chest and said in a low voice:
"Xue'er, the Grand Worship is still in Bibi Dong's hands."
"If she dies now, the Grand Worship's whereabouts may become an eternal mystery."
There was one sentence he ultimately could not bring himself to say…
Even if Bibi Dong deserved death a thousand times over, she was still Xue'er's biological mother.
Anyone could kill Bibi Dong—
except Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue could not bear the karmic sin of matricide.
"Xue'er."
At that moment,
Zhu Zhuqing, who had been standing motionless like a statue, spoke in a hoarse voice.
She staggered to her feet, blood still staining her lips, making her complexion look even paler.
When Qian Renxue saw Zhu Zhuqing,
the blood-red ferocity in her eyes faded slightly.
Her figure flashed.
She caught Zhu Zhuqing, who was on the verge of collapse.
"Xue'er…"
Zhu Zhuqing's voice was faint, yet every word was clear.
"When Zhexian left… he asked me to tell you…"
"Believe in him… one year from now… he will definitely return…"
As those words fell,
tears burst forth from Qian Renxue's eyes once more.
She looked around miserably.
In a heart that was nearly dead,
a tiny spark—on the verge of extinguishing—was rekindled.
"Zhuqing."
Her voice choked.
"I… I will wait for him… together with you."
After speaking—
Qian Renxue abruptly turned back.
She extended her palm toward the crater from afar.
Golden-red light-attribute Spirit Power erupted forth, restraining Bibi Dong firmly in midair.
With a flicker of thought—
The Angel God Sword suddenly pierced into Bibi Dong's shoulder and ribs.
Holy power surged through her limbs and bones, not only cutting off any recovery of Spirit Power, but locking every inch of her injuries at the brink of collapse.
"Hraaahhh!"
Bibi Dong lowered her head and screamed hoarsely in agony. Yet within her eyes, hidden behind disheveled hair, flashed a trace of twisted, manic delight.
No matter what, Li Zhexian had ultimately fallen.
A damaged god position could be cultivated again. As long as Qian Daoliu was still under her control, Qian Renxue and the Worship Hall Elders would not dare take her life.
"I haven't lost yet… there's still a chance…"
She muttered madly to herself.
Qian Renxue did not spare her another glance.
"Return to the Spirit Hall."
"Conduct a thorough investigation into Grandfather's whereabouts."
After issuing the command,
she turned back and met Zhu Zhuqing's gaze.
"Zhuqing, once I finish handling matters within the Hall, I will come to find you."
As her words fell,
she carried the restrained Bibi Dong and swept off toward the direction of the Spirit Hall.
The succession of earth-shattering events finally came to a temporary close.
Heaven and earth returned to silence.
Only the grief that could not be dispelled continued to linger.
A Spirit Master struggled out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Clenching his teeth—
He shielded the stack of papers in his arms, burdened with the weight of history.
Tearing off the last clean scrap from his clothing, he trembled as he dipped his finger into the blood petals falling from the sky.
Upon the white cloth, he wrote slowly, word by word:
— In the 686th year of the Spirit Hall Calendar, Sword Wine Douluo Li Zhexian defended Heaven Dou alone, battled two Limit Douluo beings, and slew one. He then fought the newly ascended God Pope Bibi Dong; Pope Bibi Dong's god position was severed, and Sword Wine Douluo returned to heaven and earth.
— Yet the story is not finished. Let us wait and see… one year hence.
...
Divine Realm.
Ji Dong and the Asura God stood in silence…
..
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