Chapter 1664 - 223: Journey Against Destiny (Part 2)

Chapter 1664: Chapter 223: Journey Against Destiny (Part 2)

Facing this kind of siege.

Even with the [Space-Time Dao Realm], Lu Yuzhen would probably find it hard to withstand, right?

"..."

For a moment.

A faint sense of melancholy rose on the Heart Lake in Xie Xuanyi’s chest.

He looked at the endless sea stretching in all directions, not knowing where he should go.

"Fate really toys with people..."

Xie Xuanyi let out a self-mocking smile.

He had leapt into the end of the River of Destiny originally to force Lu Yuzhen to fight to the death with him in "Silent Annihilation."

He had never thought.

There was no so-called "fight to the death" at all.

He had simply, effortlessly shattered the Yang God Great Shackles and stepped into the Heavenly Human Realm.

However.

He seemed to be trapped on the other side of the Break Point.

"Is this the North Sea from a thousand years ago?"

Xie Xuanyi rose to his feet.

He tried to send out his Divine Thought; after promoting to Heavenly Human, his Divine Thought Realm was far stronger than before.

But even so.

He still could not see the end of this vast sea.

A thousand years ago.

Heaven and earth were vast, and the North Sea vaster still.

It was said that a thousand years ago, the Demon Country and the Human Race had yet to split, and that enormous continent was wrapped by an even broader, immense ocean.

Xie Xuanyi did not hesitate, casually chose a direction, stepped on the Golden Coffin, using it as a boat, and surged forward like that.

He silently examined the condition of his body.

"Chen Ke is gone."

"The Undying Spring Eye is gone."

"The Boundary Stele... is gone as well."

The disappearance of Chen Ke and the Undying Spring Eye should be due to crossing the River of Destiny—the former was frozen in that section of the River of Destiny, while the latter was likely consumed completely by him.

Xie Xuanyi was quite certain.

There was a break in his Divine Sea.

The process of crossing the River of Destiny must have been painful; flesh and blood would be constantly gouged away. In this world, those qualified to resist this Silent Annihilation as Great Divine Ability Users were likely only himself and Lu Yuzhen.

Both possessed the Undying Spring.

Besides that.

Their Taoist Intents were intimately connected to this "Silent Annihilation."

The destruction at the end of the River of Destiny was, in essence, [Time-Space Turbulence]; Lu Yuzhen’s Dao Domain could forcibly freeze the Deathly Silence, while his own [Life and Death] was of the same origin as this Deathly Silence.

"The Boundary Stele disappearing is only reasonable."

Xie Xuanyi let out a soft sigh.

This was a thousand years ago.

The Bai Ze Great Saint had yet to die and have his Dao vanish; the Yuan Swallowing Boundary Stele was still in the Holy Realm, waiting for heaven and earth to be destroyed and the Great Tribulation to descend.

If he was not mistaken.

At this moment, his Senior Brother Xuan Ming, as well as those few "senior brothers" in the Primordial Inheritance that he had never met, were all still alive.

Thinking of this.

Xie Xuanyi felt a little better.

"The only pity is the Immortal Tree."

Xie Xuanyi felt somewhat regretful.

The Immortal Tree he had spent tremendous effort cultivating had also vanished.

However.

He had already promoted to Heavenly Human; this Immortal Tree... seemed to have lost its purpose as well?

"I wonder what the outside world looks like now."

Xie Xuanyi gazed off into the distance.

A thousand years ago, Primordial Energy was extremely abundant. The area where the Golden Coffin was located should be the most remote "corner" of the North Sea, yet even so, the richness of Primordial Energy in this sea area already equaled that of the Great Chu Imperial City with its formations densely laid everywhere.

Though he did not know the direction.

As long as he sailed toward regions where the Primordial Energy density was higher, he should be able to see land soon.

With this thought in mind.

Xie Xuanyi urged the Golden Coffin forward, speeding across the sea like a small boat.

From sunrise to sunset.

The mighty great sun sank into the sea, and bright, clear radiance rose from the Sky Vault.

Xie Xuanyi finally caught a trace of Divine Thought aura.

"At last, a ’human shadow.’"

A hundred li away.

There were many scattered reefs gathered into islands; though they weren’t the mainland, they could be regarded as a "harbor" to dock at.

Xie Xuanyi slowed down.

"These reefs... look somewhat familiar?"

As he drew closer, his Divine Thought probed more thoroughly.

Xie Xuanyi faintly felt these scattered large reefs were familiar. There were several dozen of these reefs in total, all forming "land," in various sizes, from a few li to several dozen li across. Beams of formation light rose from the sea surface, intertwining with the moonlight.

"This is... Wangyou Island and Xuanwei Island?"

Xie Xuanyi recognized them, and his heart stirred.

These big reefs were much larger than Wangyou Island and Xuanwei Island of a thousand years later.

Yet the aura of the formations was essentially the same.

Lady Duan had said that the names of these two islands were given by Heavenly Humans from a thousand years ago.

When the Great Tribulation descended back then.

These two Heavenly People had chosen to leave the main continent and come overseas to live in seclusion, thus there came to be "Forget Sorrows" and "Xuanwei."

At this moment Xie Xuanyi’s feelings were quite complicated.

It felt very much like meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign land, encountering a familiar face from a thousand li away.

He and Wangyou and Xuanwei were bound by deep karmic ties.

"Splash, splash!"

Standing on the Golden Coffin, he came to a halt far outside the formation on the big reef; under the washing of emerald waves, the reef shone brightly under the moonlight.

Out of courtesy.

Xie Xuanyi did not enter the formation directly; he sent out Divine Thought and called out loudly, "I am a loose cultivator from overseas, wandering till I arrived here... I wonder if Fellow Daoist would find it convenient to let me stay for the night?"

His voice surged and spread layer upon layer.

Before long.

The Great Array slowly opened.

Several child attendants walked out from the big reef.

"Tsk."

Xie Xuanyi raised his brows.

These children looked quite tender of face, but their Realms were remarkably high, the weakest being the Yin God Realm!

His Divine Thought swept over them; their bone age was only forty or fifty at most.

At such an age, to have such a Realm was truly shocking...

So this was the flourishing age of a thousand years ago?

Born at the right time, even if you only joined an overseas Immortal Island, you could easily obtain the Great Dao.

"Our Island Master invites, sir, please ascend the island and meet her in person for a talk."

Among these children there were ranks as well: those in green robes were at the Initial Stage of Yin God, those in red at the Yin God Middle Realm, and those in purple at the Yin God Late Stage.

There were also two children, a boy and a girl, who were the most special.

These two children wore silver robes.

Though only sixty years of age, they actually possessed Yang God bodies!

At this moment.

The two leading Yang God children stood at the very front of the big reef and spoke softly, their voices sonorous, carrying for dozens of li.

"Many thanks."

Xie Xuanyi noticed that the expressions of the two children were calm.

The other few children, however, kept looking at him, their expressions strange...

Xie Xuanyi gave a light leap and landed atop the reef.

With a casual gesture he put the "Golden Coffin" away into his Grotto Heaven, and under the guidance of the two children he headed toward the main island. The layout here did not differ much from the "Xuanwei Island" in his memory; along the way, those child attendants kept secretly sizing him up and whispering among themselves, speaking in obscure and cryptic encrypted Ancient Text.

Even though Xie Xuanyi could "hear" them, he could not quite understand.

"My apologies."

The golden-robed boy holding the lantern noticed this and said, "My junior brothers have stayed overseas too long and have not seen strangers."

"It’s fine."

Xie Xuanyi reached up to touch his own face, feeling a vague sense of strangeness in his heart.

His Heart Lake already harbored an ominous premonition.

Xie Xuanyi sent out his Divine Thought; this Immortal Island had restrictions everywhere. Because its master’s Realm had reached Heavenly Human, many restrictions blocked his Divine Thought from probing, but that did not stop Xie Xuanyi from remembering the path he had taken here.

"We’re here."

The golden-robed boy and girl finally led Xie Xuanyi to the main mansion of Xuanwei Island.

Just as in his impression.

The main mansion was hidden in the belly of the mountain, where Primordial Energy was especially abundant, nearly to the point of overflowing.

All the boys and girls quickly dispersed, like fish returning to the sea.

"Master Xuanwei?"

Standing before the mountain mansion, Xie Xuanyi took the lantern left by the boy and called out.

"..."

From within the mountain mansion slowly walked out a slender figure in purple robes; countless lights and flames swayed out with her, illuminating several hundred zhang around as bright as day.

The legendary Master Xuanwei was a young woman.

She gazed at Xie Xuanyi, looking for a long time.

"You look younger than the rumors say."

Master Xuanwei fixed her gaze on Xie Xuanyi. After a long while she tilted her head and said, "You are... Dao One?"

...

...

(PS: This is the final arc of Sword Cinders. In order to tell the story clearly, I’ll be using a lot of flashbacks and scene switches, so it’ll feel rather fragmented and foggy, but once you finish it everything will make sense. I’ll try to finish writing it all in the next few days. If you have tickets, you can vote for me. Mwah.)