Chapter 1980: Yun Che Falls into the Abyss
Upon hearing Shen Wuqing's words, Shen Wuyi said coldly: "Divine Mother poured a thousand years of effort into you, yet you still failed to set foot in the Divine Annihilation Realm, causing other nations to despise you!"
"To disappoint Divine Mother's expectations and disgrace Divine Mother's divine name—how can such a crime be forgiven? Besides... do you truly think Divine Mother is unaware of your secret affair with that 'abandoned son'?"
"Divine Mother not annihilating your entire clan is already divine grace!"
Her heart and soul trembled violently, and it took a long time to slowly calm down. Shen Wuqing slowly raised her head, her dull eyes beneath disheveled hair staring straight into Shen Wuyi's pupils... one breath, two breaths, three breaths... yet she could detect no ripples at all.
So similar to those eyes that she hated and feared the most!
"She is a demon," she murmured lowly. "She was hurt by a man, and now she treats all males as nothing. She is denied heavenly light for her entire life, and she hates everyone who is whole!"
"Including me, including you!!"
Her voice suddenly turned shrill.
"I was once the Divine Maiden she personally chose, the one closest to her. Yet just because you appeared, I ended up like this!"
"Have you never thought that I am your future now?!"
Shen Wuyi's jade fingers flipped, and the profound light in the ruined hall dimmed instantly, making it impossible for Shen Wuqing, whose spiritual senses were nearly crippled, to see her eyes: "I am different from you."
"I have no memories, no past. My life was saved by Divine Mother, my power was granted by Divine Mother, my understanding was shaped by Divine Mother, my destiny was built by Divine Mother."
"Every drop, every bit is Divine Mother's heavenly grace. To Divine Mother, I am flawless and pure, without any impurity!"
"Therefore, Divine Mother will never need to worry about me harboring rebellious thoughts, and I can never develop divergent intentions toward Divine Mother. Even if Divine Mother were to destroy everything I have today, it would merely be taking back heavenly grace. I have no regrets, no resentment—only regret that I have disappointed her, unable to repay even a ten-thousandth of her grace."
"..." Shen Wuqing stood frozen, motionless for a long time. Her numb eyes under the dim light were like those staring at a pitiful, pathetic puppet.
Even though she herself was now more pitiful and pathetic than anyone.
"And you—you cannot even truly achieve the simplest concept of 'ruthlessness,' wasting the name 'Ruthless' that Divine Mother bestowed upon you."
Her eyes never showed the slightest ripple, and her words never overflowed with any emotion belonging to the living. Compared to Shen Wuqing, who bore the name "Ruthless," she seemed to be the one who had truly severed all seven emotions.
"If it weren't for the difficulty in finding other Divine Successors, you would have long since lost the qualification to follow by Divine Mother's side. Today's outcome is the fate you deserve!"
The profound light between her fingers suddenly turned cold, and a chilling murderous intent descended fiercely.
Shen Wuqing's entire cultivation was crippled, and just the aura alone nearly crushed her internal organs. She had been curled up on the ground, collapsed, and her remaining life force was rapidly fading.
"Heh... hehe... hahaha..."
With her head pressed against the cold floor, she actually let out a low laugh. The laughter held no fear, no attachment—only desolation... and pity.
Pity for Shen Wuyi.
"Shen Wuyi." She called out her name for the last time: "I have followed Shen Wuyanye for a thousand years, and I know far better than you what kind of madwoman and demon she is!"
"Whether in heaven or hell, I will wait to see what kind of end you eventually fall into... hahaha..."
In the dimness, a pair of slender brows slightly furrowed. Shen Wuyi's expression finally cracked. She seemed angered, and the killing intent on her body surged sharply.
"How dare you speak the Divine Mother's name directly! A crime worthy of ten thousand deaths!"
The profound light in her palm exploded, transforming into a merciless, annihilating radiance that instantly shattered Shen Wuqing's body along with her final vestiges of life.
Then, she flipped her hand back. As she turned around, Shen Wuqing's broken remains were already destroyed into fine dust, merging into the gray mist filling the ruined hall.
The hall doors opened, and Shen Wuyi walked slowly past two bowed old women, the doors closing behind her.
"I intended to leave her corpse intact and send it back to her maternal clan. But she dared to speak words of great disrespect toward Divine Mother, so she deserves only to become residue."
"Send word to Shen Wuqing's maternal clan: Shen Wuqing possessed a Divine Rank but was incompetent and utterly stupid. She repaid not a shred of Divine Mother's great grace, instead harboring rebellious thoughts. She has been destroyed in body and soul, buried into the Abyssal Dust. Her maternal clan is also no longer worthy of enjoying divine grace."
"Order the entire clan to roll out of the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom within twelve hours, never to set foot here again for life. If they disobey, the entire clan shall be annihilated!"
A Divine Maiden of a Divine Kingdom—an existence like a distant star in the sky. No one would believe that the death of a Divine Maiden could be so easy, so tragic and desolate.
Unless it happened in the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom.
Though it also existed under the same heavenly light, this Divine Kingdom that towered over the Abyss seemed forever shrouded in an inescapable eternal night, never seeing the light of day.
Even though its Divine Venerable was named "Yanye."
Inside the sealed ruined hall, faint, barely audible soul sounds drifted:
Brother Pan...
I'm sorry...
I ultimately... cannot escape...
And I no longer have the chance to respond to your gaze and expectations...
But I... never regret...
At least... when I think of your name... I truly live...
I'm sorry...
The faint lament, piercing the heart and wounding the soul, dissipated in an instant.
…………
…………
This was an immensely desolate and barren land. The sky was dim, visibility was murky, and wind and sand stirred the loneliness, like an eternal ghostly wail.
For the inhabitants of the Four Divine Regions, this was a rare sight of wasteland.
But here, it was the norm seen everywhere in this world.
This world was called the Abyss.
The calamitous force named "Abyssal Dust" was omnipresent in this world, eternally corroding all living and dead beings.
Just like the air that all creatures in another world breathed without pause.
A single verdant blade of grass, a flower that didn't need to be very beautiful—these were miracles that mortal beings could hardly see in a lifetime in this world.
Because they existed only in Divine Kingdoms where true gods resided, and in that supreme place called the "Pure Land."
For them, the most common things were decay, premature death, demise, bleached bones... and the Abyssal Dust, Abyssal Beasts, and Abyssal Ghosts they had to face.
Whoosh—
The wind howled as terrifyingly as the roar of an Abyssal Beast, sand and dust blotting out the sky in an instant.
This was a vast desert, where terrifying dust storms could sweep up at any time. And here, near the edge of the "Mist Sea," Abyssal Beasts far more frightening than dust storms occasionally appeared, so human presence was extremely rare.
But as the sand and dust temporarily settled, two figures swiftly passed through the air.
The two figures were a man and a woman. The man was tall, with a firm, chiseled face and sharp eyes. Half his body was stained with blood, his left arm half-bent in front of him, with shocking wounds on his arm and left ribs. Upon closer inspection, faint gray mist was visibly seeping out from the wounds.
The man clenched his teeth slightly, but not a trace of pain showed on his face. The yellow profound light continuously emanating from his body kept suppressing his injuries.
The woman beside him was dressed in light yellow robes, her figure especially petite and delicate. Her face was bright and beautiful, her eyes filled with urgency and worry, but they did not conceal her striking heroic spirit.
Her long hair was tightly tied behind her, and over her hair was a light golden cloak. The cloak was interwoven with profound patterns, and the patterns emitted a rich yellow profound light. Clearly, it was a protective profound garment imbued with high-level earth profound force, possessing great defensive power.
"Another three hours and we'll reach the royal city," the woman said, her gaze shifting back and forth between the road ahead and the man's injuries. "Ninth Senior Brother, you must hold on."
"Don't worry, Junior Sister Lingzhu," the man replied. Though his injuries were horrifying, his gaze was as resolute as a heavy sword. "These wounds are all external. They look scary, but they're actually inconsequential."
"But..." The worry in the woman's eyes did not diminish. After hesitating for a moment, she lowered her voice and said, "I'm afraid it might affect the upcoming..."
"It won't." Before she could finish, the man gave a firm response as solid as rock. He diverted from what she was about to say and continued, "Although this trip was dangerous, at least you are safe and sound. Otherwise, even if I died a thousand times, I wouldn't have the face to face the Nation Lord and our sect."
The woman shook her head, placing her hand gently on the man's right arm. "Senior Brother, you don't have to do this for me. I would rather you always put your own safety first, no matter what. Not just for me—for our Helian Dynasty and for our sect, your safety is far more important than mine. In the future, never risk your life like this again."
"Don't forget, you are Mo Cangying, the future and hope of the Helian Dynasty!"
"There is nothing in this world more important than your safety." Mo Cangying's voice was calm and brooked no argument.
Hearing the expected reply, Helian Lingzhu said nothing more. She shifted her gaze, staring thoughtfully ahead through the wind and sand. "Though it was dangerous, at least we gained something. But these gains are still far from enough... Huh?"
Both their gazes fixed simultaneously.
Beneath the shifting, overlapping veils of sand, a human figure faintly appeared.
They became alert instantly, focusing their spiritual senses as the figure rapidly became clearer in their sight.
It was a man, tattered and blood-soaked.
Mo Cangying's injuries were already horrifying enough, but compared to this man, they seemed like "minor wounds."
Blood covered his entire body, and cracks spread across every corner of his flesh. Visible to the eye were turned-out flesh and emerging white bones... every inch, every part was shockingly gruesome.
They had seen countless wounded people, but they had never seen anyone injured so severely.
Yet he was still walking.
The wind and sand howled, his figure staggering, each step seeming to be supported by sheer life force. Yet he stubbornly dragged himself forward step by step, refusing to fall.
"How did this man get so badly injured?" Helian Lingzhu exclaimed in surprise.
"Don't bother with him. Let's go." Mo Cangying directly withdrew his gaze.
In the Abyssal World, sympathy for outsiders was the cheapest and most foolish thing. This was a basic survival rule that everyone learned from childhood and kept in mind.
Helian Lingzhu also withdrew her gaze without hesitation. At the same time, both of them sensed his extremely weak profound force aura.
Peak Level 10 of the Divine Sovereign Realm.
A peak Divine Sovereign stuck at the breakthrough bottleneck... what a pity...
They flew far away. Perhaps out of curiosity, Helian Lingzhu quietly looked back at the injured, staggering man in the wind and sand.
At that moment, the man also slightly raised his head...
Helian Lingzhu's vision met his eyes.
In that instant, her soul felt as if it had been violently yanked.
Because she seemed to see a dark, deep starry lake.
Congealed blood and cracks covered his face. He should have looked as terrifying as a ghoul, but that chiseled outline, along with those eyes that seemed to pull at her soul...
Under her gaze, the man's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something. But then his eyes slowly closed.
After taking one last arduous step, his body slowly pitched forward, crashing heavily to the ground, motionless.
His figure quickly blurred in the receding wind and sand.
Her body seemed yanked just like her soul, and she abruptly halted.
"He..." A clearly dazed murmur escaped Helian Lingzhu's lips. Then she turned sharply and exclaimed, "No, we have to save him!"
Mo Cangying was startled, but before he could react, Helian Lingzhu had already flown back, landing directly where the severely wounded man lay.