# Chapter 4231: Atonement
Yinchen Star, over thirty thousand years ago, had migrated to the North Marsh Great Wall along with over a thousand major worlds and countless millions of life-bearing planets, forming this corner of the Sword Realm's universe.
This life-bearing planet was far from the core region of the Wuding Divine Sea, the heart of the Sword Realm, belonging to the frontier of the star sea.
But in the great era of cosmic upheaval, what place could be spared?
A single grain of sand from the era, when it falls upon a person, becomes a mountain.
The construction of the Heaven and Earth Altars had conscripted all cultivators above the Fish-Dragon Realm from the planet—this was the "Altar Corvée." Those who served often left the planet in the prime of their youth and only returned with white hair in their twilight years.
Or, they returned as a corpse.
Some were buried in foreign lands.
Those who reached the Half-Saint realm had to enter the Sacred Army, guarding war cities and doomsday fortresses in the starry sky, ready to participate at any time in battles against terrifying divine-level existences.
As for martial artists below the Fish-Dragon Realm, they had to serve in the "Mine Corvée," excavating various ores for the construction of the Heaven and Earth Altars.
Building one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred Heaven and Earth Altars had drained the resources of the entire universe. To Divine Kings, Divine Venerables, and the Twenty Heavens, it was merely a helpless and sorrowful lament.
But to the living beings of the entire universe, it was a tangible ordeal.
No matter what class one belonged to, no matter what cultivation level, all suffered unbearably, with countless deaths and injuries.
These altars were not only built from the most precious resources and materials in the universe but also forged from the blood, tears, and bones of countless people.
Medicine Master City was an ancient city that had existed for over ten thousand years on Yinchen Star, renowned across the entire planet for its extraordinary medical arts that could revive the dead and restore life to withered bones.
Thus, every day, thousands of sick and injured people flocked to seek treatment.
Many were wounded soldiers transported back from the starry sky.
The city was already overcrowded.
Outside the city, rows of shantytowns had been erected, all waiting for treatment.
Yan Jing and Qin Yi, filled with worry, flew swiftly and arrived at Star Dust Valley, where the Divine Physician Medicine Mother resided.
The former reported, "Teacher, another ship of wounded has been transported back from the starry sky. Most are at the Heavenly Extreme Realm and Earth Extreme Realm. The Eon Ancient Mine on Jingshi Realm collapsed due to spatial turbulence. It is said that tens of thousands of corpses have already been dug out, and millions of mine laborers are still trapped inside."
Then, Qin Yi added, "In the past three years, the number of people suffering from premature aging syndrome has increased more than tenfold. Some are only sixteen years old, yet their physical condition is no different from a sixty-year-old—white hair taking root, faces covered in wrinkles. The world is becoming increasingly difficult. Heaven is unjust, giving ordinary people no way to survive."
The teacher they referred to, revered by all cultivators on Yinchen Star as the "Divine Physician Medicine Mother," was none other than Mu Lingxi, who had been missing for nearly thirty thousand years.
In the fields.
Mu Lingxi was dressed very plainly. Though still beautiful, traces of white hair could be seen at her temples.
No matter how high a cultivator's cultivation, once they stop caring about their appearance, it naturally becomes difficult to maintain its peak state.
Maintaining a youthful appearance consumes cultivation and blood qi.
Over thirty thousand years ago, first her only son Zhang Xingchen had his divine bone and divine source severed, and then Zhang Ruochen fell.
One catastrophe after another dealt heavy blows to Mu Lingxi's mind and spirit, causing her to lose her spiritual anchor.
Let alone mere appearance—she had even stopped cultivating for many years.
Thirty thousand years ago, Zhang Ruochen reversing his Dao technique and self-destructing was a major event that shook the universe.
Mu Lingxi knew that Zhang Ruochen had experienced life and death many times, so she could not accept this fact. She personally went to that shattered starry sky, searching everywhere, but could not even find a single relic.
Later, persuaded by her master Feng Tian, she numbly returned to the Sword Realm.
During that time, Mu Lingxi's emotions nearly collapsed. It felt as if she had lost everything, and life had no more meaning. Her only remaining concern was Zhang Xingchen, who had been cast down into the mortal world to undergo tribulation.
For the next thousand years, Mu Lingxi searched everywhere for Zhang Xingchen, searching for her child.
Like a lonely, pitiful puppet, she traveled through all the major worlds of the Sword Realm, the Heavenly Court Universe, and the Yellow Spring Star River, searching many, many planets, but found nothing.
Couldn't find him...
Perhaps she would never find him.
Until one day, she came to Yinchen Star.
This planet had once suffered large-scale casualties of innocent people due to a sparring match between Zhang Xingchen and Zhang Hongchen.
She believed that all the tragedies of her life originated from this.
Since Zhang Ruochen, while alive, had refused to forgive Zhang Xingchen no matter what.
Now that both father and son were dead, she would atone for their sins.
This became the only thought that kept her alive. For nearly thirty thousand years, she had not used her cultivation at all, nor had she cultivated. She had no interest in the rights and wrongs of the outside world. Naturally, no one knew she was here.
Who would have thought that a physician on the most ordinary of planets was actually a formidable deity with an extraordinary past?
A few decades could erase the wounds that had once been inflicted on Yinchen Star.
After thirty thousand years, no one remembered that extraterrestrial sword qi had once fallen upon this planet, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of living beings.
Only Mu Lingxi remembered.
This was the sin she had to atone for on behalf of Zhang Xingchen.
The morning mist was thick, carrying a chill.
After hearing the reports from her two disciples, Mu Lingxi emerged from the fields filled with exotic flowers and medicinal herbs. Her cloth clothes were covered in dew, and the bamboo basket in her hand contained a type of purple medicinal flower. She sighed, "After the Entropy Epoch, space has become increasingly unstable, and it has now spread to the North Marsh Great Wall. In the universe, the Sword Realm Star Domain is already one of the most stable places in terms of space... Sigh..."
Qin Yi was Mu Lingxi's eighth disciple. She asked curiously, "Master actually knows about the Entropy Epoch? That happened in an extremely ancient era!"
Over the past thousand years, Mu Lingxi had taken on seventeen disciples, one after another.
However, she did not teach them profound cultivation scriptures, only medical arts and basic spiritual power cultivation methods, enough for them to refine pills.
Qin Yi's spiritual power had reached the forty-fourth rank, making her the oldest among Mu Lingxi's still-living disciples.
She was very old.
She appeared to be in her seventies or eighties, hunched over, leaning on a staff, extremely aged.
For cultivators at their level, things from tens of thousands of years ago were separated by countless eras.
Too long ago!
Although Yinchen Star was not completely isolated from the outside world, it took years, even decades, for news from the universe to reach here. And there was no conclusive news, only various legends.
The nearest Jingshi Realm was merely a mineral ruin realm, guarded by a Half-Saint-level strongman under the Yaksha Clan.
Mu Lingxi continued, "Premature aging syndrome is related to the Heaven and Earth Altars. It is the theft of lifespan. In recent years, something major must have happened in the universe, causing the Heaven and Earth Altars to accelerate the absorption of life essence from living beings."
"Cultivators have vigorous life force and can withstand it for now. But ordinary people cannot. In just a few years, they lose decades of lifespan, and the blood qi within their bodies withers."
Yan Jing asked worriedly, "Is it like this throughout the entire universe? If so, in another hundred years, mortals will be completely wiped out."
Qin Yi hesitated, then spoke in a hoarse voice, "Teacher, you must be a reclusive great cultivator. Do you have a way..."
Mu Lingxi interrupted her, "We are all just small figures. We cannot manage the great affairs of the universe. Managing the births, aging, illnesses, and deaths before our eyes is our limit. If doomsday truly comes, it is all fate. We will face it calmly."
"You had better not know too much. The more you know, the more despair you will become."
"Jing'er, go to the divine tree and fetch some Life Spring. Give one drop to each of the premature aging patients who have come to Medicine Master City. Hopefully, it can replenish some of their life essence."
"Qin Yi, take me to see the wounded transported back from Jingshi Realm."
The divine tree in Star Dust Valley had a trunk thicker than a mountain.
Its branches were lush, exhaling spiritual qi.
From the tree roots, glistening white Life Spring overflowed, forming a small stream that gathered into a pool.
There were hundreds of wounded transported back from Jingshi Realm, all of them martial arts experts from Yinchen Star.
Those with lighter injuries had only lost an arm or a calf.
Those with severe injuries had half their bodies reduced to bloody pulp, with who knows how many bones broken.
Some had even stopped breathing during the transport.
Mu Lingxi was, after all, no ordinary person. Even without using her divine-level cultivation, relying only on her Phoenix blood qi, she could save martial artists who had recently stopped breathing.
The reputation of "Divine Physician Medicine Mother" was not undeserved.
"Thank you, Medicine Mother... for saving our lives..."
"I knew that as long as I had a breath left and made it back to Yinchen Star, I would definitely survive. Medicine Mother is our second parent!"
After finally treating all the wounded, Mu Lingxi had no time to rest.
Qin Yi hurried over and said, "Teacher, Sixth Senior Sister is back..."
Mu Lingxi noticed the strange look in her eyes and asked, "Your Sixth Senior Sister left Yinchen Star over a hundred years ago. Her return should be a cause for joy. Why are you crying?"
"Go and see for yourself!"
Qin Yi was weeping, unable to speak clearly.
Mu Lingxi's sixth disciple, Yin Shuangxia, had very high cultivation talent. After achieving success in her cultivation, she had left Yinchen Star to travel and study in the star sea.
Mu Lingxi followed Qin Yi to the city gate of Medicine Master City, where on both sides knelt the old, weak, sick, and disabled, all kowtowing. In their eyes, "Medicine Mother" was a bodhisattva who saved them from suffering.
From afar, she saw Yin Shuangxia with disheveled hair.
She jumped off a sacred chariot, rushed forward, and knelt before Mu Lingxi, her lips trembling: "Teacher, please save them. Disciple begs you. Only you can save them... You definitely can save them..."
Mu Lingxi helped her up, using her fingers to brush aside the messy hair covering her face. She could not believe this was the Yin Shuangxia who had left Yinchen Star over a hundred years ago.
Back then, she was beautiful and moving, full of youthful vitality, with cultivation talent that surpassed all her peers on Yinchen Star.
Mu Lingxi's assessment of her was that even if she did not teach her advanced cultivation methods, relying only on basic spiritual power enlightenment diagrams, she would one day, through her own comprehension, become a spiritual power saint.
Over the years, Mu Lingxi had not cultivated herself, believing that the level of cultivation could not change the joys and sorrows of life.
On the contrary, the higher the cultivation, the more truths one knew, the more pain one became.
No matter how high one's cultivation, could it be higher than Imperial Dust? No matter how strong one's cultivation, could it be stronger than Hao Tian?
Even they had returned to dust, unable to resist the great terrors between heaven and earth.
Therefore, Mu Lingxi did not personally teach cultivation methods, allowing Yin Shuangxia to go to the star sea to seek masters and practice. Her path, she would walk herself.
When they met again, the former most beautiful woman on Yinchen Star was now so wretched, almost as old as Qin Yi. Who knows what setbacks and hardships she had endured over the past hundred years?
Mu Lingxi was, after all, a woman of rich emotions. Seeing her like this, her heart was filled with bitterness. She somewhat regretted not personally teaching her techniques back then, leaving a young woman to drift alone in a foreign land.
However.
Since she had returned alive, then nothing was a problem.
No matter how severe the injury, no matter what she had encountered, she, as the teacher, could definitely make her better.
Then, she would teach her techniques.
Use the best resources to nurture her. It was only a delay of a hundred years, which was nothing.
Mu Lingxi had this confidence.
"Don't rush. Speak slowly."
Mu Lingxi gently comforted her, like a mother showing affection.
Yin Shuangxia pulled Mu Lingxi forward and soon arrived beside the sacred chariot.
With her somewhat withered hand, she pulled open the curtain of the sacred chariot.
Immediately, accompanied by a foul stench, a horrifying scene appeared before Mu Lingxi's eyes.
"Teacher, please save them... He is my eldest son, named Han Qi. He had such high talent. In less than a hundred years, he reached the Saint realm..."
"This is my second son, named Han Yue..."
"This is my husband. He was a Saint King, but he died. They are all dead. Teacher, you can do it. You can save them... You definitely can..."
Suddenly, Yin Shuangxia seemed frightened by something, screaming hysterically, then crying.
Mu Lingxi looked at the several rotting corpses in the sacred chariot, then suddenly observed Yin Shuangxia again, discovering that her pupils could not focus at all, her gaze wandering aimlessly.
She had clearly... gone mad long ago!
Her husband and children were all dead, her family destroyed. For a woman drifting alone in the vast starry sky, what a collapse and pain this was.
Yin Shuangxia had used her last shred of rationality to bring the corpses to Yinchen Star, only because she knew her teacher had the medical skill to bring the dead back to life—her last glimmer of hope.
But the journey from the Heaven and Earth Altar to Yinchen Star was too far, and the corpses had already rotted.
All of Mu Lingxi's disciples had come. Seeing Yin Shuangxia like this, they sobbed quietly, while some stepped forward to hold her and comfort her.
Mu Lingxi's long-sealed memories were awakened.
Had she herself not experienced such pain? Had she not collapsed?
It was only her powerful cultivation and mental state that had allowed her to endure.
Suppressing the grief in her heart, Mu Lingxi extended two fingers and pressed them to Yin Shuangxia's brow, deducing her past.
Then, Mu Lingxi examined the corpses in the sacred chariot, her expression growing increasingly solemn. She muttered to herself, "There is indeed a problem! The Heaven and Earth Altar is too terrifying. Not only does it take away the Divine Martial Mark, but it also absorbs the sacred substance within cultivators' bodies."
This was why the corpses of Saints and Saint Kings rotted so quickly.
Yin Shuangxia's husband and children had all died in the chaos triggered by the activation of the Heaven and Earth Altar.
These corpses could not be saved. Even soul-summoning would be useless.
Because their souls had also been absorbed by the Heaven and Earth Altar.
Now, what troubled Mu Lingxi was whether she should help Yin Shuangxia restore her mental state.
She could cure her madness. But after curing her?
This kind of pain would surely accompany her for life.
"Sigh!"
In the end, Mu Lingxi used her spiritual power to reassemble Yin Shuangxia's spiritual will, but she sealed away some memories.
Some disciples went to settle Yin Shuangxia, while others went to bury the corpses in the sacred chariot.
Only Mu Lingxi remained alone, exhausted, mentally and physically drained, sitting on a stone bench as if her soul had been lost. Her mind was filled with many beautiful memories from the past.
She, too, had once been as naive and carefree as a young girl, optimistic in the face of events, acting without restraint.
The leisurely days at the Western Courtyard of the Martial Market Academy, the dangers of the Five Elements Ruins Realm and the Wood Essence Ruins Realm, the thrilling excitement of the Fallen God Mountain Range and the Realm Son Banquet.
On the day she was forced into marriage, Zhang Ruochen, for the sake of a promise, led thousands of troops to attack the Demon Sect's Wuding Mountain. The smoke and dust of battle seemed still before her eyes—how moved she had been.
On that day, he was valiant and spirited, passionate and singing, acting for one person and not for the world, leaving Mu Lingxi with a memory she would never forget.
Those years held too many beautiful and joyful memories worth recalling. She could lie in a coffin, giving Zhang Ruochen surprises or scares.
She could also stubbornly chase Zhang Ruochen to Liangyi Sect, to the Fallen God Tomb Forest, to the Underworld, to Guanghan Realm, to the Merit Battlefield, to the Ancestral Spirit Realm, to the Hell Realm...
Putting life and death aside, what was danger?
Wherever Zhang Ruochen went, she followed. Zhang Ruochen was her home, her everything.
But later, the gap between her cultivation and Zhang Ruochen's grew larger and larger, and she could no longer keep up with his pace. Although she tried, she struggled with all her might, she still could not catch up.
He flew higher!
The things he did grew bigger, his opponents more terrifying.
If she continued to chase, she would become his burden.
Sometimes, she could not see him even for tens of thousands of years.
Fortunately, later there was Xingchen. That kid had been mischievous since childhood, too similar to her younger self!
Although mischievous, his heart was not bad. He was very filial. Whether in seclusion or going out, every year on her birthday, he would suddenly appear before her with a smile, finding ways to make her happy, bringing back all kinds of strange delicacies and exotic treasures.
But Xingchen eventually caused trouble!
His divine source and divine bone were shaved off, he was cast into the mortal world to undergo tribulation, disappearing into the vast universe, never to be found.
Even his father, not long after, fell in the universe, turning to dust.
This journey of life often starts with the most joy and interest, but everyone is moving toward the most desolate ending. They will send off their dearest family and friends, watch themselves grow old, lose youth and vitality, lose beauty and ambition.
Finally, they depart in old age and reminiscence.
How many years had it been? Mu Lingxi dared not recall the past.
Yin Shuangxia's return stirred up endless thoughts.
She sat numbly on the stone bench, her figure incredibly thin. Longing surged uncontrollably like a tide. Zhang Ruochen, who had already passed away, and Xingchen, who could not be found, made her tears flow uncontrollably, blurring her vision.
"Mother!"
A faint voice sounded in her ears. A figure flickered before her eyes!
"Mother! It's me, it's Xingchen... Xingchen!"
The voice became clear. Mu Lingxi felt a pair of hands gently shaking her shoulders.
Like a dream, like an illusion—it had happened countless times in her dreams.
But this time, it was the most real.
Mu Lingxi wiped away her tears and saw that Zhang Xingchen was actually standing before her. Although his appearance had changed somewhat, she would never mistake him.
This was her child, Xingchen.
"Xingchen... Xingchen... How did you find your way here? You're back, you've finally returned! Mother... really, really missed you..."
Mu Lingxi cupped Zhang Xingchen's face with both hands, grinning, not at all like a deity, venting the emotions she had suppressed for years through tears, her body trembling uncontrollably.
She held his face tightly, as if afraid that Zhang Xingchen would disappear again.
The white robe on Zhang Xingchen's body was embroidered by Mu Lingxi herself.
He knelt on the ground, his eyes red, gripping Mu Lingxi's hands tightly, able to truly feel his mother's pain and longing over the past tens of thousands of years, his heart filled with self-blame and shame.
If not for the trouble he had caused back then, how could his mother have suffered for thirty thousand years?
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mother... Xingchen knows he was wrong, truly knows he was wrong..."
Zhang Xingchen kowtowed repeatedly, thudding loudly.
Finally, Mu Lingxi helped him up, unable to bear her beloved son continuing to torment himself like this: "Know your mistakes and correct them. Coming back is good. Everything will be fine."
"Mother, actually, I'm not the only one who came to Yinchen Star..." Zhang Xingchen looked toward the door.
Mu Lingxi turned to look and saw Bore standing at the door with tears in her eyes. She was both surprised and delighted: "Chen Jie!"
"Do you know how hard I have searched for you all these years? Did you not sense my divine thought exploring this star sea? You didn't even respond?"
Bore was not a woman who easily showed her emotions, but her relationship with Mu Lingxi was the closest. How could she bear to see her like this today?
Mu Lingxi shook her head: "I have long sealed my divine thoughts, not wanting to contact the outside world. I'm sorry, Chen Jie!"
Zhang Ruochen walked out from behind Bore and said, "It's my fault, Lingxi... You have suffered all these years. Let's go home!"
Seeing Zhang Ruochen, Mu Lingxi's body trembled as if struck by lightning, her eyes staring blankly.
Zhang Xingchen quickly supported his mother, who seemed about to fall, and said in a low voice, "Mother, you have completely isolated yourself from the outside world, both inside and out, heart and body! Father never actually died. He returned long ago. He is now an Ancestor, the Heavenly Venerable of the entire universe."
Mu Lingxi pushed Zhang Xingchen away, staring straight at Zhang Ruochen, both fierce and tearful: "So what if you're an Ancestor? If you didn't die, why did you only come to find me now?"
"This is not Father's fault. You hid yourself," Zhang Xingchen said.
Mu Lingxi said, "This has nothing to do with you! He is an Ancestor. Would he not know where I was hiding? He deliberately did not come to find me, wanting to see me make a fool of myself..."
Zhang Ruochen walked up to Mu Lingxi, looking at her weathered face, then spread his arms and tightly embraced her.
Just as in their youth.
Mu Lingxi could not struggle free at all, crying and muttering, "It's fake, isn't it? You're all colluding to deceive me!"
"Fake? How could I be this real?"
Zhang Ruochen said in her ear, extremely seriously, "From now on, I will only be the real Zhang Ruochen. I will never deceive anyone again, and I will never deceive you."
"What is the real Zhang Ruochen like..."
Mu Lingxi asked while secretly circulating the Phoenix blood qi within her body. The strands of white hair in her head turned green, and even her skin emitted a luster like immortal jade.
Zhang Ruochen said, "The real Zhang Ruochen will not make Mu Lingxi sad, nor will he make Senior Sister Duanmu sad."
……………………………………
PS: Xiaoyu knows very well that the stories of many characters should not be written into the main text at the ending stage. They would be more suitable to be briefly mentioned in side stories later.
But for the early female leads like Bore, Ling Feiyu, and Mu Lingxi, whose stories have not been written for millions of words, I ultimately decided to write a short segment in the main text. Not seeking brilliance, only seeking to give a small closure to readers who like these female leads.
Originally planned were also Shengshu Cainü, Kong Lanyou, and Luo Ji, but I ultimately vetoed them. That would be too dragging!
Mu Lingxi is the last female lead to be given focused treatment in the main text.