Chapter 2158: The Abyss of Obsession
When his mind relaxed and cold awareness brought rationality back, Yun Che immediately noticed a glaring inconsistency.
He propped his chin with his hand, fell into a brief contemplation, then suddenly asked in astonishment: “Since that ‘Mist Emperor’ is so powerful, his awakening ahead of time would undoubtedly pose a huge threat. Why are you so… unconcerned?”
The “Mist Emperor” was the true master of the Abyss, powerful enough to create the Mist Sea, powerful enough to repair and even “transform” two great demonic artifacts.
For such a terrifying existence to awaken from slumber, the Abyss Emperor should by no means be so indifferent… especially since, three million years ago, they had made mutual promises.
In Yun Che’s fixed gaze, Mo E’s expression showed no change, obviously aware that he would have this doubt. Instead of answering directly, he spoke slowly:
“Gathering the Abyss Dust and repairing the demonic artifacts could not be completed in a short time. Before everything was done, I had contact with Him many times, and I gradually discovered that as the Abyss Dust receded, the times He appeared grew farther and farther away from me.”
“Later, when the Mist Sea formed, He would only appear within it. From this, I confirmed one thing—He can only exist where the Abyss Dust is thick enough, and cannot exist where the Abyss Dust is thin, much less in a space without any Abyss Dust.”
He lifted his head slightly, his voice long and drawn: “Thus, this world gained its ‘Pure Land.’”
Yun Che’s gaze froze for a moment, then he said with some realization: “So, the original reason you created this Pure Land was to deal with the ‘Mist Emperor’?”
The Abyss Emperor neither confirmed nor denied, continuing: “He does possess powerful and strange abilities, but that power seems to be limited by the form of His existence. Otherwise, why would He need to borrow the hands of a being from another world to achieve His goals?”
“Later, He created the Mist Sea, repaired the demonic artifacts, and fell into a long slumber. But the world did not freeze because of the slumber of this master of the Abyss; instead, it underwent tremendous changes.”
He raised his hand, his fingertips gently brushing the aura around them: “The Abyss of that time, whether the Mist Sea or the living lands, had Abyss Dust far more terrifying than now. But after struggling to survive in the Abyss, I could vaguely sense that the surrounding Abyss Dust was slowly fading. Although only a slight change could be detected every ten thousand years, it was always present.”
“Only later did I understand that it was the ‘breath of life’ slowly seeping in from another world, which the Heaven-Slaying God Emperor mentioned when he told me about the origins of the Chaos.”
He called him “Heaven-Slaying God Emperor,” not “Father God,” and his tone carried no hint of closeness or distance, as if speaking of a stranger.
“Later, about a million years after arriving in the Abyss, the influx of ‘breath of life’ suddenly intensified, becoming several times the original amount, then dozens, hundreds of times, also bringing with it Primordial Qi and Elemental Divine Energy… Clearly, an anomaly had occurred in the other world.”
“Later, from the beings who fell down, I learned that it was the gods and demons finally breaking into a fierce war, resulting in the mass burial of gods and demons, the shattering of heaven and earth, and the collapse of order.”
Yun Che: “…”
“The anomaly in the other world also brought a simultaneous anomaly to the Abyss. The massive influx of life breath ‘neutralized’ the Abyss Dust, while the Primordial Qi and Elemental Divine Energy enriched the spiritual energy of the Abyss, greatly enhancing the speed and power of elemental profound cultivation.”
“This anomaly lasted for five hundred thousand years before gradually weakening, and only fully subsided after a million years.”
Yun Che knew that time marked the end of the war between gods and demons.
“Even now, the breath of life still seeps in slowly, but it has returned to its former subtle level. And the Abyss of today is far from what it was three million years ago.”
“I, too, am far from what I was three million years ago.”
“So…” Yun Che seemed to understand slightly: “Do you mean that even if the Mist Emperor awakens, He no longer poses a threat to you?”
Mo E still did not answer directly, or perhaps he simply did not care whether the “Mist Emperor” posed any threat to him. He said slowly: “Even if He were to release the Mist Sea and once again cover the entire Abyss in Abyss Dust, He could no longer truly interfere with me.”
“Moreover, His awakening is premature, so His power must be incomplete. As the facts show, although He sensed the ‘anomaly’ and broke His slumber early, He has only been able to hide in the Mist Sea and rant. Years have passed, and He still cannot take a single step out of the Mist Sea, much less approach the Pure Land.”
“And every time He appears, every roar, only reveals His impotence and helplessness. Since that is the case, with the Eternal Pure Land so close at hand, why should I waste my attention on Him? Does His current state even deserve my attention?”
Yun Che’s heartstrings seemed to sink slowly into an icy deep sea.
When Mo E spoke of “releasing the Mist Sea and once again covering the entire Abyss in Abyss Dust,” his expression was so calm and indifferent, without a trace of reluctance… not even coldness.
As if the countless beings of the Abyss who would inevitably suffer catastrophe were nothing in his eyes.
He wanted to ask: Are you sure that the “Mist Emperor” currently manifesting is the same master of the Abyss from back then? And what exactly is this “anomaly”?
But after a brief weighing, he decided not to ask.
“I understand,” Yun Che nodded slightly. “As you said before, your life now only has room for one thing.”
Mo E glanced at him, a faint smile on his lips: “Exactly.”
All his thoughts now were focused on one thing. Everything else—even the awakening of the “Mist Emperor,” even the collapse of heaven and earth, even the destruction of the Abyss—as long as it did not interfere with that one thing, he did not care at all.
His light reply was spoken while facing Yun Che, looking straight into his eyes. He was telling him without any pretense that although he was the successor of Ni Xuan, although he was a brother he was willing to acknowledge and a gift from heaven… he could never surpass the sole occupant of his heart.
Even if Ni Xuan were alive again, he could not.
The two stared at each other for a few breaths. Then Yun Che spoke, his eyes full of seriousness: “When you were able to create a complete small world with just a trace of Creation Divine Power, you must have realized that you had successfully touched the boundary of the Creation God level.”
“Although the Creation God is a special existence personally created by the Primordial Divine, and living beings can only approach but never achieve it, the fact that you successfully touched the boundary of Creation Divine Power also means that your power and your height have far surpassed all living beings, including the other eleven true gods of the Abyss. There cannot be any being in the ‘Eternal Pure Land’ you seek to enter that can match you.”
“In other words, across the entire Chaos, you are without question the most powerful existence, so powerful that even the awakening ‘Mist Emperor’ does not earn a second glance. A being as powerful as you should have been the most unfettered person in the world. No matter what you want to do, no one can stop you, no one dares oppose you, nothing is unobtainable, nothing is unachievable.”
“But why… are you so stubbornly imprisoning yourself in a cage, denying yourself freedom, even breathing room, when you stand at the pinnacle of the world?”
“I believe you yourself must know that with your power, while fully pursuing your goal, you certainly have the spare energy for other things.”
Mortals pursue power, but pure obsession with the profound path is ultimately a rarity. The vast majority seek strength to stand higher, to enjoy the adoration of others, to look down upon and manipulate the fates of the weak, to indulge their desires.
But Mo E, the most powerful being in the entire Chaos, so powerful as to approach a Creation God, had woven himself an endless cage of misery and loneliness, never leaving it for a single step.
Mo E smiled, then looked away, once again staring into the emptiness ahead.
“If Brother Ni Xuan saw me now, he would surely try to advise me as you do. But how full one’s heart is, only oneself knows. I am not qualified.”
“What do you mean by not qualified?” Yun Che asked.
Mo E closed his eyes slowly, hiding the light within them. After a moment, he opened them again and spoke calmly:
“Back then, if Xiao Die had not shielded me with her body, I would have perished in body and soul three million years ago. There would be no Mo E today, no Abyss Emperor, no world of the Abyss.”
“The protection of the two demonic artifacts allowed Xiao Die to retain a sliver of life force, but that sliver was far from enough to overcome her death wish.”
“Because she could not forgive herself.”
Speaking of those days, Mo E’s words and expression were so calm—no tremor in his voice, no ripple in his emotions.
Yet from the depths of his soul, Yun Che felt an inexplicable sorrow spreading silently through his sea of consciousness, lingering long.
“The Panming Void-Breaking Mirror was the core artifact of the Panming Demon Clan, containing the clan’s most powerful spatial force. The Panming Demon Emperor doted on Xiao Die the most, even placing the clan’s most important artifact on her person, just to ensure her safety and guard against any accident.”
“The Niemo Inverse Wheel Pearl was the core artifact of the Nirvana Wheel Demon Clan, possessing the clan’s most powerful temporal force, enough to rival the Divine Clan’s Zhou Tian Pearl. At that time, everyone thought the Nie Mo Inverse Wheel Pearl must be in the hands of the Nirvana Wheel Demon Emperor. In truth, even among the vast demon clans, fewer than ten knew that the Nie Mo Inverse Wheel Pearl had always been with the Nirvana Wheel Crown Prince—and Xiao Die was one of them.”
“Because although she and the Nirvana Wheel Crown Prince belonged to different demon clans, they had grown up together, very close, even closer than siblings. She often said he was the one who treated her best in the world.”
Then Mo E’s account took a sharp turn.
“Back then, the Heaven-Slaying God Emperor deliberately leaked the news that he intended to execute me personally at the Tai Chu Divine Realm, specifically to lure Xiao Die. Because with the spatial power of the Panming Void-Breaking Mirror, there was a great hope of rescuing me, even in the face of the Heaven-Slaying God Emperor.”
“At that time, the Heaven-Slaying God Emperor had his own reasons, which he considered unavoidable, for executing me. But toward Xiao Die, he felt intense hatred. He wanted to kill her, and perhaps also seize the Panming Void-Breaking Mirror.”
“Xiao Die was clever—how could she not know?”
“But she still came. She brought not only the Panming Void-Breaking Mirror but also the Nie Mo Inverse Wheel Pearl.”
Yun Che had already learned some of this from Ni Xuan’s memory fragments, but hearing Mo E recount it now gave him a completely different feeling.
“The appearance of the Nie Mo Inverse Wheel Pearl caught the Heaven-Slaying God Emperor off guard. The overlapping eruption of space and time power briefly sealed even his Creation Divine Power. But just as we were about to escape, he used the Primordial Sword to shatter all hope.”
Mo E’s gaze lifted slightly, as if piercing through an even more distant time and space: “Thinking back to my youth, I once had an endless longing for supreme power. I asked him once: Under what circumstances would the radiance of the Primordial Sword be unleashed upon the world?”
“He said: Only when there is no other choice. He said: He hoped he would never have to use the power of the Primordial Sword in his lifetime.”
“That day, I finally witnessed him manifest the Ancestral Heaven-Slaying Sword and release a might capable of destroying the Heavenly Dao.”
“It was aimed at me.”
No one in the world could truly comprehend Mo E’s feelings at that moment.
“The might of the Primordial Sword shattered the seal of space and time, damaged the Panming Void-Breaking Mirror and the Nie Mo Inverse Wheel Pearl, and sent me and Xiao Die, along with the two artifacts, into the Abyss of Nothingness.”
“During that hopeless fall, I learned that she had fled her mother clan with the Panming Void-Breaking Mirror, and that she had obtained the Nie Mo Inverse Wheel Pearl by exploiting the Nirvana Wheel Crown Prince’s affection and trust, deceiving him into giving it to her.”
“She betrayed her mother clan, hurt the Nirvana Wheel Crown Prince who had been so good to her, caused the demon clans to lose two vital artifacts, and became the greatest sinner in the history of the Panming Demon Clan, and indeed the entire demon race.”
“And all of this—for me.”
His words, his voice, remained so calm.
Because those images, those sounds, all that pain and despair, had cut and ground against his heart and soul countless times over these millions of years.
No one could know just how many wounds were etched upon his soul—the most powerful soul in the world. Every wound was bloody, every one would never heal.
“I asked her: Was it worth it?”
“She said: For me, she had no regrets. She also said: She no longer had the face to live. Even if she fell into reincarnation and endured ten thousand lifetimes of purgatory, she would still be ashamed to face anyone from the demon clan.”
Yun Che took a deep breath, but his chest remained suffocatingly tight.
“The father of my blood, for the righteousness he believed in, did not hesitate to use the Primordial Sword against me. And my Xiao Die, for me…”
His voice paused. He turned his gaze, and still there was no emotion in his eyes: “So, what do I mean by not qualified? Do you understand now?”
Yun Che was silent for a moment.
“What use is supreme power?” Mo E’s voice grew soft, as if speaking to Yun Che, but more to himself: “What I seek is something that to any mortal is easily within reach.”
“If I could make her wake up safely, I would give up everything—power, lifespan, status… this body, all of it can be abandoned and sacrificed.”
Yun Che sighed in his heart and said calmly: “There is no true empathy in this world. So there is only one person in all the realms who can console you… and for your sake, even if she is reluctant to leave her slumber, she will surely wake.”
Mo E smiled, and this time it was infinitely warm: “Of course.”
He raised his right hand, gently touching the black bracelet on his left wrist, every finger tracing endless attachment and tenderness.
Then, a crimson light suddenly appeared before Mo E.
It was a blazing flame, shaping the silhouette of a red bird, which vanished in an instant.
“A divine fairy is about to visit—quite rare,” Mo E said with a soft sigh. “I thought she would never set foot in this hall again in her lifetime.”
Divine fairy… a Divine Official?
Yun Che seized the opportunity: “In that case, I should take my leave. If I stay much longer, I’m afraid my Cai Li will start worrying.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Yun Che regretted them—they were a direct stab at Mo E’s deepest wound.
But Mo E only smiled: “That’s fine. Cai Li grew up under my watch. Her heart is pure. Since she has taken a liking to you, she will never waver. You must never betray her faith.”
“Of course,” Yun Che said, turning around with a smile.
Mo E reached out and touched Yun Che’s shoulder. Instantly, the space before them contracted sharply, and in a daze, Yun Che found himself standing before the hall’s gate.
Mo E did not stop but walked out of the Garden of Eden with Yun Che.
Dugu Zhu Yuan, who had been guarding the gate, was stunned for several breaths when he saw Yun Che and the Abyss Emperor walking out side by side. He finally bowed, but a storm of shock surged within him.
Even a Great Divine Official would never dare to walk shoulder to shoulder with the Abyss Emperor.
Just as Yun Che was about to take his leave, Mo E suddenly said: “As your elder brother, there is one thing I must warn you about.”
“…!?” Dugu Zhu Yuan’s body trembled violently, and his single-knee bow nearly turned into a full prostration on the ground.
“Please speak, elder brother.”
The just-stabilized Dugu Zhu Yuan almost tipped over again.
As the First Abyss Knight, Dugu Zhu Yuan was also the Abyss Emperor’s close attendant, holding a special position at his side. Although the Abyss Emperor had agreed to Yun Che’s request not to publicly announce their sworn brotherhood, it was not necessary to hide it from Dugu Zhu Yuan.
Mo E’s expression remained unchanged, and he said flatly: “Shen Wu Yanye has set her mind on killing you.”
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