Chapter 151: Killing in a Single Breath
Infinite Green collapsed into the puddles on the ground.
Her Daoist robe was burned through, her face pale, her body drenched, looking utterly miserable.
Yet she paid no heed to any of this, screaming desperately.
She knew that her husband had used the Little Red Flower to save her life, and that he must have paid a tremendous price.
The situation was now clear: the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress had never intended to kill her, but rather… him.
Another Red heard his wife’s words, and of course he understood the situation even better. The destruction of the Little Red Flower had left him at his weakest moment.
But he could not leave, because the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress had already arrived.
A black phoenix wing appeared in the night, like the shadow of death itself.
Nothing could be faster than her—neither Infinite Green’s warning nor Another Red’s thoughts.
A white, somewhat delicate-looking fist appeared before Another Red.
This fist seemed to contain all the power of heaven and earth, directly enveloping the entire surroundings.
Another Red felt that no matter where he fled, he could not evade it, unless he could ascend to the heavens or burrow into the earth.
But the earth was solid, and the restrictions of the Heavenly Book Mound prevented even Sacred Domain experts from flying. How could he dodge?
His pinky finger flicked lightly, and the string that had once held the Little Red Flower began to sway.
In the night, it seemed as if an invisible rope hung from the starry sky all the way down to the Heavenly Book Mound, tied to his body.
His body rose into the air in a manner that defied understanding.
Just as his feet left the ground, the white fist arrived.
It seemed he had gained nothing, but in truth, this was crucial—because the fist did not strike his face, but landed on his chest.
At that moment, the thin string on his pinky also swung to his chest.
A thunderous roar exploded within the Heavenly Book Mound. Countless cracks appeared on the stone platform, and all the water in the channels evaporated into a mist.
Within the mist, a clear path appeared, stretching toward the night forest of the Heavenly Book Mound.
In the night forest, another clear path emerged, the ground littered with fallen trees.
The path’s end extended to the river outside the Heavenly Book Mound. At the bottom of the long-dry riverbed was a large pit, and in the pit lay a replica Heavenly Book Stele, broken into several pieces.
Another Red lay before those broken steles, his chest caved in, his body covered in blood.
The black phoenix wing swept away the night, and the white fist appeared again in the night sky, hurtling toward Another Red, clearly intent on giving him no chance to catch his breath.
Infinite Green let out a shriek and lunged wildly toward that spot.
At the end of the Divine Path, the blizzard and the meteors were still locked in confrontation. The Stargazer’s ordinarily plain face now bore a fierce expression.
He had not expected that even with Another Red’s level of cultivation, he could not withstand a single punch from the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress.
He could not allow the situation to develop like this. If the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress truly killed Another Red in one blow, then he himself would surely be next.
Countless tiny meteors abruptly changed course in the night sky, carrying a cascade of starlight as they surged toward the river outside the Heavenly Book Mound, striking directly at the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress’s back!
The blizzard swept in, and in an instant, countless cracks appeared on the Stargazer’s body—wounds carved by sword intent.
Between the stars, there were faint connections—that was fate. Within the star domains, there were natural pathways—that was change.
In the blink of an eye, the countless meteors that had enveloped the riverbank and were hurtling toward the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress seemed impossibly dense, but they were not a true star sea, and of course, they had gaps.
No one could find the gaps between those meteors in such a short time.
The Stargazer was confident in this, so he firmly believed that the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress would have to turn around and receive his full-force strike.
He chose to use his formidable cultivation to withstand Han Qing’s blizzard sword, letting the meteors fall toward that direction, all to preserve a thread of life for Another Red.
From any angle, this choice was brave and wise. Yet in hindsight, it would prove to be the greatest mistake he made in this battle of Sacred Domain experts.
Because the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress’s target had always been… him.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Empress did not turn around. Instead, she continued flying into the night sky, then vanished without a trace.
Two streaks of black light suddenly appeared among the countless meteors—traces of the phoenix wings tearing through space.
Between the stars, there were pathways; even fate could be reversed. How could she fail to see through the gaps between these meteors?
A clear, supremely proud phoenix cry rang out before the Heavenly Book Mound.
A true phoenix split open a path through the stars and arrived before the Stargazer.
It was a black phoenix, enormous, as if it could cover half the sky.
The Stargazer let out a fierce shout. He no longer cared about the sword intent within the blizzard. His right palm turned over and pressed toward the night sky.
As his palm struck, countless stars in the night sky blazed brightly—stars he had watched for countless years by the Western Sea, his companions.
But alas, the black phoenix spread its wings, blocking his eyes and those stars.
The night, representing death, descended from the heavens.
A soft crack sounded.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Empress’s palm landed on the Stargazer’s palm.
Silence.
The Stargazer’s palm was intact, but his wrist bones were shattered.
As a Sacred Domain expert who had observed the stars for centuries, his flesh and bones had long since turned to jade, their toughness comparable to ordinary divine artifacts.
Yet now, they shattered like rotten wood.
Then, the Stargazer’s arm shattered, followed by his shoulder.
Crystal-like flesh, jade-like bones, star-dust-like blood sprayed in all directions through the night sky.
The Stargazer’s body kept shrinking, kept breaking apart.
With a thunderous boom!
The hand suspended in the night finally shattered as well.
The Stargazer became a pile of debris on the ground.
The night wind howled, sweeping the debris in all directions, up into the night sky, vanishing to who knows where.
In the night sky, the enormous black phoenix gradually faded away.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Empress returned to the top of the Heavenly Book Mound.
She stood at the edge of the Divine Path, slowly clasping her hands behind her back.
She closed her eyes, then opened them, once again gazing upon her world.
She was calm, as if nothing had happened.
And so, the entire world fell silent.
At the moment the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress closed and opened her eyes, her divine soul once again traveled ten thousand miles away, arriving at the small stream behind the old temple in Xining Town.
The treetops still swayed gently under the caress of the night breeze.
The blood lotus on the stream’s surface drifted aimlessly.
The monk still sat by the stream, his bare feet still in the water, not withdrawn.
“This is my world,” the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress said, looking at him. “Once you come, you cannot leave again.”
“And I,” she continued, “can come and go as I please.”
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(Arrived in Shanghai. See you tomorrow at Fuzhou Road, Shanghai Book City.)