Chapter 2016: Ruthless and Absolute
The four major powers — Helian, Rock Mystery, Ten Thousand Ren, and Worship Qilin — each occupied a separate area, with clear boundaries.
Yun Che's spiritual sense swept over nine hundred and eighty-five people, not a single one missing.
The thunderous sound finally ceased, and only then did everyone realize that it was the sound of the storm created by his body piercing through space.
What followed was a suffocating silence. Because the oppressive force covering their bodies was so heavy that their heads felt like they would split and their spines like they would shatter.
"Close your eyes," Yun Che said softly.
Yun Xi ignored him.
Boom!
The sound of the storm shaking the air rang out again, but this time it exploded directly in their ears.
The Xuan practitioners of the Rock Mystery Sect were still dazed and hadn't come to their senses when the world before their eyes changed drastically, leaving only a golden sea of fire that annihilated all perception.
A single Nine Suns Heavenly Wrath would have been enough to burn them all to ashes, but it would undoubtedly cause a huge loss to Lin Shen's divine source, so he chose to use four instantaneous movements.
Using the bodies of all the Rock Mystery Xuan practitioners as kindling, he ignited the Yellow Springs Ashes.
The next moment, he had already teleported above the Ten Thousand Ren Sect… the tearing screams from the Rock Mystery Sect hadn't even had time to reach his ears.
One sword strike — the earth cracked, bones scattered everywhere; another sword strike — the sea of sand churned, mercilessly burying all.
The Ten Thousand Ren Sect was completely annihilated… they had no time to react, and didn't even know why.
Even the only terrified scream that managed to escape lasted only the briefest instant.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, without any warning, without a single word.
The Worship Qilin Alliance was lucky — at least they had time to show shock and fear on their faces… but that was all.
A red lotus bloomed above them, and after a moment of breathtaking beauty, came an eternal fiery burial.
Over three hundred Worship Qilin Alliance hall masters, branch leaders, and disciples were all enveloped by the fire lotus, not one escaping, until they turned into scattered patches of crimson ash mixed together.
The so-called Worship Qilin Young Master, the so-called son of an Abyss Knight… in Yun Che's sight, they were all like weeds, and the smoke and dust they became after being burned by Phoenix Flame were no different.
Three instantaneous movements, three moments, finally brought the Helian Xuan practitioners to their senses like awakening from a dream. They let out continuous terrified howls, then scrambled and crawled, fleeing frantically in any direction away from Yun Che… only at the very front, Helian Lingzhu stood alone, motionless, her eyes devoid of light, as if falling into a bottomless abyss.
Yun Che's body did not move. He raised the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword, summoned crimson lightning, and in an instant, the void shattered as hundreds of Heavenly Dao Calamity Thunders struck down together.
Crack!
The trembling sky of the secret realm instantly saw hundreds of crimson lightning scars pierce down, lasting for a long time without fading.
After the thunder that shook the sky, the world suddenly became quiet. All sounds of shock, screams, and running ceased.
Beneath each lightning scar was a figure that either fell from the air or collapsed straight down.
They were not severely burned, their bodies remained intact. But every sinew, meridian, and internal organ was destroyed and obliterated by the Heavenly Dao Calamity Thunder.
The sound of wind howling, sand flowing, fire burning… besides these, there was nothing else.
No, there was still one living breath below.
Helian Lingzhu.
"Wh…y……"
She still stood there blankly, her face drained of all color, her eyes devoid of all light, like a puppet without a soul.
There was no answer. The Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword disappeared from Yun Che's hand, and he raised his palm, slowly pointing it at Helian Lingzhu.
In the end, a moment of reluctance prevented him from destroying Helian Lingzhu as well.
But it was precisely this moment of reluctance that caused his soul to ache sharply.
Every warning from Chi Wuyue was like a heavy spike piercing his heart and soul.
……
"So, in the world of the Abyss, whether it's friendship, master-disciple affection, romantic love, or even the kindness of a benefactor… they can only be tools for you to use. You must never mix in even a shred of true emotion."
……
"In the Abyss, given your identity and your mission, not only is mercy a sin, but not being ruthless enough is also a sin. Even not being absolutely ruthless is a great sin!"
"Any trace of reluctance or leniency could cause you, your loved ones waiting for your return, the countless beings under your rule, and this world to fall into eternal ruin!"
……
"When you feel hesitation, remember my words: Every bit of pity you show to the beings of the Abyss could become a butcher's knife hanging over the heads of the beings of this world."
……
"Don't be afraid," he said calmly. "It won't hurt."
Ding!
With a soft ring, Helian Lingzhu's body was instantly sealed, and then, with an extremely light shattering sound, it turned into scattered, mournful, cold ice dust.
From then on, of the thousand people who entered the Lin Divine Realm, except for Yun Che and Long Jiang, all were killed to silence them.
Apart from them, no one else would ever know what had happened here.
And their deaths would be attributed to the collapse of the Lin Divine Realm.
The Divine Ashes state was deactivated, and the Lin Shen Divine Power attached to the Evil God Seed was barely thirty percent remaining.
A heavy burden and massive backlash struck. Yun Che's bones and body trembled involuntarily, and uncontrolled blood surged from his cracked body and ruptured blood vessels.
Yun Che remained silent and motionless, fiercely gathering his breath and silently sealing the blood flow. In the world of the Abyss, he had to be ruthless and absolute; once forced to show his fangs, he couldn't leave even the slightest leeway or future trouble. But stripped of the cloak of the Cloud Emperor, his true nature… still needed to silently dissolve the rather unpleasant sense of sin and heaviness.
Sin… aren't my sins already many enough…
Thinking back to when he first arrived in the Northern Divine Region, his heart filled with nothing but hatred… this was just the beginning. He would get used to it, and he had to get used to it.
His breathing gradually calmed, and he lowered his eyes to look at the woman in his arms…
Her gaze was as flat as a pool of stagnant water.
There was no trace of reluctance, discomfort, or even the slightest shock or confusion.
As if what Yun Che had just annihilated was truly just a patch of weeds.
At the Lin Divine Gathering, everyone could instantly perceive his closeness to Helian Lingzhu, and later, it became clear that the Helian delegation was led by Helian Lingzhu simply because of him.
Afterwards, Helian's attitude was such that he couldn't wait to shove Helian Lingzhu into Yun Che's arms in front of everyone.
The biggest obstacle to killing Helian Lingzhu immediately was not himself, but Yun Xi.
But…
When he recalled turning Helian Lingzhu into ice dust, there was no emotional fluctuation from her at all.
After the shock, his heart suddenly palpitated.
What had she gone through all these years?
The spatial tremors grew more violent, and cracks in space rapidly split and spread right before Yun Che's eyes.
Lin Shen had said that this realm would inevitably collapse within three hours of its death. But exactly when within those three hours was impossible to determine. Yun Che hesitated for a few breaths between healing Yun Xi and leaving as soon as possible, and finally chose the latter.
"Let's go out… just pretend to be unconscious."
"..." As expected, no response.
He moved his arm back, shifting Yun Xi onto his back, while releasing the seal on all his wounds, letting blood spurt out, then transformed into a streak of light, charging straight towards the exit.
The hot wind howled in her ears, the sea of sand behind was sinking, and streaks of blood flowed from the man in front of her, touching her fingertips, bringing a strange… yet extremely distant warmth.
For a moment, a flicker of confusion passed through her eyes.
…………
"Mother, in the 'knowledge' you taught me, you mentioned that every living being not only has a mother but also a father. And mother and father would be together forever. But why is mother alone? Don't I have a father?"
…………
"Then… what does father look like? Is he as gentle and as beautiful as mother?"
"That you must see with your own eyes and heart."
…………
"Father doesn't love mother, so… will father love me?"
"Of course he will… He would be willing to do anything for you, even if it means going against the entire world. Because you are not only your mother's daughter, but also his daughter."
…………
Suddenly, there was a different kind of warmth on her fingertip… She stared blankly and saw that beside the blood droplet on her fingertip, a water droplet had fallen without her noticing when.
The blood droplet and the water droplet touched and, as if attracted to each other, slowly merged, until on her fingertip they became a single drop of blood, the same temperature… impossible to separate.
The exit of the Lin Divine Realm came into view. Yun Che did not slow down at all, plunging straight down and passing through in one go.
Bang!!
The space shifted, and the world before them changed abruptly. As if unable to stop his momentum, Yun Che crashed to the ground after exiting the Lin Divine Realm, dragging Yun Xi along as he slid for a long distance before coming to a messy halt.
Ximen Boyun, who was extremely agitated, suddenly turned his head and immediately saw Yun Che and Long Jiang. He was about to speak, but Yun Che beat him to it with a shocked roar: "Ximen Boyun! The Lin Divine Realm is collapsing… everything is breaking apart! Hurry and—"
In his panic and urgency, he directly called out "Ximen Boyun" by name.
Ximen Boyun had no time to care about how he was addressed, and urgently shouted: "Where are the others? How did you escape? Is the exit damaged? Worship Qilin—"
Yun Che gasped heavily and cut him off: "There were spatial turbulence everywhere! Everyone was swept into the spatial turbulence. Some were directly torn apart, and those who weren't torn apart were swept away to who knows where!"
Yun Che's words, along with the wounds on his body, shocked Ximen Boyun… Long Jiang was half covered in blood, making it impossible to distinguish his injuries. But Yun Che's body was covered in lacerations, clearly torn by distorted space.
"Long Jiang and I were swept to a place near the exit. We only escaped through desperate struggle and sheer luck!"
Ximen Boyun's entire body turned cold. His mouth hung open, unable to make a sound for a long time… Spatial turbulence! This was far worse than he had imagined—no, it was basically the worst possible situation.
After all, it was a space created by the Abyss Emperor, so its spatial level must be extremely high. Once it collapsed and triggered spatial turbulence and storms, it would be terrifying beyond ordinary imagination. Yun Che gasped with every word, his face full of lingering fear and after-shock. Suddenly, he seemed to think of something and shouted up: "Ximen Boyun, what are you standing around for?! Hurry up and tear open the secret realm space! The Eldest Princess and the others are still inside!"
Ximen Boyun said in a deep voice: "If I could tear open the Lin Divine Realm… you wouldn't need to remind me!"
"But you're an Abyss Knight!"
"This is a secret realm created by the Abyss Emperor!" Ximen Boyun roared, his black hair standing on end in extreme agitation.
Yun Che was even more furious: "If it weren't for the name 'Abyss Emperor,' would Long Jiang and I have deigned to attend some damned Lin Divine Gathering?! And in the end—we nearly lost our lives in there!"
Ximen Boyun glared and said in a low voice: "Yun Che, I don't care what your background is. If you dare to speak disrespectfully of the Abyss Emperor again…"
"You should think more about how to save the Worship Qilin Alliance people!" Yun Che interrupted him without courtesy, then forcefully sealed his wounds: "Long Jiang and I saw with our own eyes that even someone as strong as the Ten Thousand Ren Sect Master was torn into several pieces by the spatial turbulence!"
"If your Worship Qilin Alliance people want to live, they would have to be swept near the exit like we were… but even if they come out, they'd be half dead! Your clansmen are almost all dead, and instead of thinking how to tear this secret realm open, you have the mind to defend the Abyss Emperor's dignity!"
These words caused Ximen Boyun's mentality to explode. His gaze immediately turned back to the violently shaking entrance of the Lin Divine Realm, his hands and feet trembling violently.
Yun Che lifted Yun Xi and said bitterly: "A mere Linyuan Realm nearly cost me my life… I will never come within half a step of this damned place again!"
"Let's go!"
Bang!!
In his anxiety, Ximen Boyun suddenly slammed a palm strike onto the entrance's profound formation.
Unsurprisingly, he was once again blasted back by the enormous repulsive force, his entire right arm numb for a long time, followed by waves of piercing pain.
As for the angrily departing Yun Che and Long Jiang, he had no mind to care about them.
And the final result was predictable.
After nearly an hour of futile rage, the entrance profound formation of the Lin Divine Realm twisted and shattered like a whining lightning bolt, vanishing without a trace… before that, not a single person had escaped alive.
In the center of the Qilin Divine Region, a terrifying spatial storm erupted, accompanied by the howls of a certain Abyss Knight venting his frustration.