Chapter 1558 - 1554: The Power of the Soul

Ye Qiu shouted with all his might. While shouting, he resisted against the Demon King and the Absolute God.

It was just to save himself. Fang Wu, who loved to act spoiled and feared loneliness, could muster his willpower to break free from an impossibly numb state and throw himself into a Sword Move he could not intervene in. How could he do nothing and just be defeated?

Absolutely not.

Even if death was an unavoidable outcome—but before that—there was something he had to do—

Ye Qiu clenched his left hand tightly. Like connecting fine threads, he reclaimed his sense of touch. This revived the sensation of something still lingering in his hand. Fang Wushang's fine sword—now he could feel the willpower she invested into this sword. He could hear her encouraging him to keep it up.

Ye Qiu's left arm moved slowly beyond logic. With each upward lift, the contour distorted, as if his body was about to crumble. But the movement didn't stop. Bit by bit, he exhausted his soul to raise his hand.

He wondered if stubborn resistance demanded a price, as sharp pain pierced through Ye Qiu's entire body. Yet, Ye Qiu gritted his teeth and continued moving his arm. Just a few tens of centimeters felt so far away. His body seemed frozen, icy cold.

His whole body was now numb except for his left arm. But even this last part soon started to succumb to the biting cold. The body began to scatter like ice chips during sculpture.

Finally, the silver-glowing tip of the fine sword aimed at the center of Long Yijian's chest. Long Yijian didn't move at all. The astonished expression on his face vanished—a gentle smile emerged at the corner of his slightly parted lips.

Half of it was Ye Qiu's own consciousness, and half was guided by some mysterious force, his arm crossed that final distance. Long Yijian closed his eyes, enduring the silent piercing of the fine sword into his body. His breath seemed to vanish too.

For a moment, the two stood still in this pose of penetrating each other's bodies. Ye Qiu summoned all his strength and looked up to the sky.

"This should—be enough, right...?"

Though he couldn't hear Fang Wushang's response, Ye Qiu felt warmth tightly encircle his left hand for a moment. Instantly, the power connecting Ye Qiu's soon-to-shatter body was released.

In the consciousness sinking into darkness, he felt both his and Long Yijian's bodies fragment into thousands of pieces and scatter away.

The sound of familiar objects shattering echoed loudly twice. This time, all feelings left him for sure, rapidly accelerating outward. Hearing gentle calls of his name, Ye Qiu thought they must be from the owner of the general store and Kleek.

At this moment, the inorganic voice at Ye Qiu's ear rang out, as if to drown out other noise—

The tide was repelled, the tide was repelled, and when Ye Qiu awoke, he found himself in a wondrous place.

Here was a sunset that nearly set the entire sky on fire.

Underfoot was a thick crystal floor. Beneath the transparent floor, clouds stained red by the sunset slowly flowed. Looking up, the sky touched by the sunset stretched infinitely into the distance. The boundless sky shifted from bright vermilion to blood-red and then to purple. Additionally, there was a faint sound of the wind.

Except for clouds flashing golden-red light, there was nothing in the sky, except a small crystal disk floating, and he stood at the edge of that disk.

... Where is this place? His body should have shattered into countless pieces and disappeared. Was he still within this world... or had he entered the afterlife?

Ye Qiu tried looking at his body. His leather coat and long gloves were the same as when he died. But everything appeared a bit transparent. Not just the gear, even the parts of his body exposed outside the clothes became like colored glass, exuding red light under the sunset.

As Ye Qiu shrugged, suddenly, a voice sounded behind him.

"Ye Qiu..."

That euphonious voice pierced through his body like a shock.

He silently prayed that the voice he just heard wasn't an illusion and slowly turned around.

Turning away from the sky that seemed about to burn, she stood there.

Her long hair swayed in the breeze. Though her face radiating a gentle smile was within Ye Qiu's reach, he was completely unable to move.

It felt as if she'd vanish as soon as his gaze left her—so Ye Qiu silently stared at the girl. She, too, was the same as him, with her whole body in a dreamy semi-transparent state. Her silhouette glowing with sunset colors was more beautiful than anything in this world.

Ye Qiu held back the warm tears teeming in his eyes and forced a smile. He spoke to her in a murmured tone:

"I'm sorry. Ye Qiu died too..."

"Idiot..."

The girl laughed while large tears fell from her eyes. Ye Qiu opened his arms and gently called out her name.

"Wushang..."

Tightly embraced the tear-lit Fang Wushang who had thrown herself into Ye Qiu's chest. Ye Qiu vowed he'd never let go again. No matter what happens, he'd never loosen those arms that held her.

After a prolonged kiss, their faces finally parted, eyes fixed on each other. There were so many things about that final battle he wanted to tell her, apologize to her. But, Ye Qiu felt there was no need for words anymore. He shifted his gaze to the infinite sky, dyed red by the sunset, and spoke:

"Where... is this place after all?"

Fang Wushang lowered her gaze silently and then extended her finger. Ye Qiu looked in the direction she pointed.

In the distant sky from the small crystal plate they stood on—a thing could be seen floating. The object had a shape cut off at the tip of a cone. Entirely composed of countless overlapping layers. Upon closer inspection, you could see many mountains, forests, lakes, and towns between layers.

"That is... Aient City..."

After hearing his murmur, Fang Wushang nodded. No doubt, that was Aient City. The gigantic Floating Castle drifting in infinite skies. Ye Qiu had spent two years battling in that world of sword and conflict.

And now, it lay beneath their feet.

This was Ye Qiu's first time gazing at its entity from the outside. A feeling akin to awe filled his body, causing Ye Qiu to hold his breath.

This fortress of steel—now it was gradually collapsing. In Ye Qiu's silent observation, part of the bottom floors was decomposing into countless fragments, some scattered, others peeled downward. Straining to listen could pick up some heavy rumbling mixed in the wind.