Chapter 243
Chapter 243
Xia Ximo looked out to see the scattered rocks in the cavern apparently drawn together by some force. Even the ground beneath her feet shook violently.
She could only stand and place herself in front of Ren Fengjue, watching their surroundings intently.
Then a voice drifted eerily from the depths of the cavern.
“Mogu, does my Nine Abysses Illusionary Realm satisfy you?”
Recognizing Xueyin’s voice, Xia Ximo immediately sneered, “Compared with the real Nine Abysses Prison, it falls very far short.”
Xueyin gave a cold laugh in return. “Even so, you may be able to endure it, but your young gentleman behind you may not.”
She added probingly, “Surely you could not bear to watch him die before you?”
Xia Ximo frowned. Hidden within her sleeve, her fingers quietly tried to summon her power, but it still did not work.
From the darkness, Xueyin saw that tiny movement perfectly clearly.
“Do not waste your effort. Your soul is locked inside your body. Until you leave this Illusionary Realm, you cannot use the Bone Art. You are no match for me.”
“But I can give you a chance.”
“Only one of you may live. Either you kill him, or he kills you.”
Xia Ximo’s face showed no reaction. “So you simply want to see us kill each other?”
“Exactly,” Xueyin replied. “I enjoy seeing the selfishness, greed, and hypocrisy hidden in human nature.”
“I also want to see whether Mogu, the Nine Abyss Soul Prisoner who once shook the Nether Capital with her name, will sacrifice herself to save someone in these circumstances.”
Xia Ximo said coldly, “Of course I will not. I have always been selfish and greedy.”
As she spoke, she bent down and took the longsword from beside Ren Fengjue.
Leaning against the rock wall, Ren Fengjue heard the blade leave its sheath and could not help opening his eyes.
In the sword’s reflected light, he was visibly dazed.
“Mo…”
He wanted to speak, but even making a sound was difficult.
Though his mind was clouded, he had heard their conversation clearly. His body was simply too stiff for him to speak.
Now Xia Ximo stood before him with the longsword drawn.
The blade’s cold gleam and her icy gaze gave him a small shock.
For that instant, he truly thought she would kill him.
Yet on reflection, even if she did, he did not think he would resent her…
Seeing Xia Ximo draw the sword, Xueyin laughed long and triumphantly.
“Very good. Kill him now, and I will let you out of the Illusionary Realm immediately.”
Xia Ximo looked down at Ren Fengjue. He no longer had any strength to fight back.
Even without her soul power, killing him would be effortless.
With his eyes half open, Ren Fengjue managed one glance at her, then soon lowered his eyelids again.
He said nothing, yet Xia Ximo instantly understood his thoughts.
But then she said calmly, “I hate threats and orders.”
Xueyin had still been waiting for her sword to pierce Ren Fengjue…
At these words, she knew it would not be so simple.
“At a time like this, do you think you still have a choice?”
“Of course I do.”
Xia Ximo slowly turned, putting her back to Ren Fengjue, and looked into the depths of the cavern.
“I may be selfish and greedy, but I am not a hypocrite. And I hate being controlled.”
“Every choice I make is because I want to make it, not because I am forced to.”
“What right have you to make me choose?”
Cold light flashed in her eyes. Without warning, she reversed the longsword and drove the blade mercilessly into herself…
Behind her, Ren Fengjue had never imagined she would do such a thing.
A rush of warmth spread from his heart. Feeling returned to his hands and feet in an instant, and even the pain in his shoulder disappeared.
He all but lunged forward to catch Xia Ximo, his voice trembling. “Why… would you do that?”
Xia Ximo pulled out the longsword without so much as a frown.
She did not even lower her head to inspect her wound. She merely said slowly, “When the body dies, the soul naturally leaves it.”
The instant she finished, a red figure shot out of her body, radiating oppressive Baleful Qi.
Xueyin had not expected her to resort to such a method.
She was willing to wound herself almost as badly as her enemy. She truly gave no thought to the consequences.
Freed from the flesh, her soul shot like an arrow into the depths of the cavern.
Before long, a thunderous crash rang out, and the piled rocks abruptly collapsed.
Two figures emerged, one red and one white.
Xueyin was no longer the Attendant of the Cold Abyss she had once been. Having also expended far too much spiritual essence over the years, she could not possibly match Mogu.
And Mogu had already resolved to kill. She showed no mercy.
Now she hovered in the air, red robes snapping around her, her bearing proud and her gaze imperious.
Under the control of the Bone Art, Xueyin had nowhere to hide.
Knowing she was no match for her, she still tried to provoke her. “Mogu, you would rather wound yourself than kill this man?”
Mogu snorted, her face full of contempt.
“Killing someone who has nothing to do with this to buy my own escape? I call that cowardice.”
Xueyin asked, “If this costs you your chance at reincarnation, will you not regret it?”
“The worst that can happen is another hundred years in this place.”
For all her indifference, Mogu still glanced back at Ren Fengjue nearby. The eyes of the man and the soul met in the dim space.
She soon looked away again and turned to Xueyin.
“And you? Did you truly steal the Book of Life and Death for a man?”
The question made Xueyin look momentarily stunned.
Then she smiled openly. “Yes.”
Mogu asked, “Do you regret it?”
“I would not call it regret,” Xueyin answered. “With an ending like this, I would regret it whether I had done it or not.”
She asked in return, “What? Do you want to know why I was in Mingyue Villa?”
“I have no wish to know things that do not concern me.”
But Xueyin said, “This is not entirely unconnected to you…”
Mogu frowned and gave her a cold look. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Xueyin smiled mysteriously. “I cannot tell you.”
Knowing she was being deliberately cryptic, Mogu did not take the bait.
“It does not matter if you refuse. Once I kill you and break this Illusionary Realm, the truth will come to light.”
The mark on her forehead appeared. Murderous intent surged in her eyes, and she abruptly curled the five fingers of her left hand…
Just as Xueyin was about to be shattered to pieces, a voice descended from above.
“Mogu, spare her.”
The moment she heard it, Mogu knew the Lord of the Netherworld had arrived.
Her gaze swept around. She said coldly, “Finally willing to come and clean up your mess?”
“…”
A yin wind swept past as the Ghost King arrived. Like clouds scattered before a gale, the cavern’s illusion vanished into nothing.
Xueyin felt her restraints disappear. In the dark mist, a ghost-king mask emerged. She immediately fell to her knees and said in a trembling voice, “Hanyuan pays her respects to the Earth Lord.”