Chapter 386: Chapter 386
386: Chapter 374: The Person is Gone 386: Chapter 374: The Person is Gone Baili An didn’t know what expression should be on his face, his eyes firmly closed, his long eyelashes overlapping, his thoughts almost a jumbled mess.
The Xu Seal fell into place, and Hongying gave a slight smile, speaking softly to him, “You are uniquely noble, unmatched in this world.
Hongying wishes you to wear flowers on your lapel, enjoy peaceful years, and fear nothing in the future.”
Gifted with the Xu Seal as a token of loyalty, he traveled with his lord as a distant guest.
United in both prosperity and decay, they journeyed side by side.
Baili An clenched his fist, slowly opened his eyes, and looked at her as he softly asked, “Second River mentioned that opening the Bronze Gate would let Feng Qing see his ancestral home once more, Hongying…
do you still know the way back home?”
Hongying was slightly startled, then smiled and said, “Yes.”
People lie to hide the fragility of their hearts.
Snowflakes withered and danced, and Hongying was gone.
Within the Xu Seal, he glimpsed a long-forgotten memory.
That year, the mountain flowers were vibrant as jade.
Feng Qing was a young prodigy of the Taoist Sect, who left his hometown at a young age to travel the Heavenly Mountain Road alone.
The Taoist Sect’s technique severed mundane ties once one entered their fold, requiring acolytes to cut all worldly connections.
Those who failed to break through the Spirit Formation couldn’t return home to visit.
This was the first rule of the Taoist Sect.
Twenty-five years from home, he eventually mastered Spirit Formation, becoming an illustrious figure.
Proud beyond measure, his mentor Chang Hui promised him that once he descended the mountain to eliminate demons and protect the Tao, he could return home to honor his parents.
However, when he returned home after vanquishing demons, he found his village had been massacred by bandits, seeding a Heart Demon within him, bringing immense suffering.
After years of seclusion, nearly consumed by the Heart Demon, thankfully, his resolve was strong.
He pursued the Tao with a single-minded focus, cleansing his mind of demonic thoughts, rectifying his heart.
The following year, descending the mountain to eliminate chaotic demons, he met Hongying, a childhood friend from his hometown.
By then, Hongying was just a mortal, combating in the military, becoming a famed general.
That same year, she avenged her personal enemies by killing the bandits and displaying their heads on stakes for three months, not seeking revenge by virtue but through pure retribution.
Seeking only the gratification of personal grievances, living life at her will.
Then, she said to him, “Living in the mortal world, how can we not see the Mortal World?
Cultivation amidst the chaos of the world, avoiding this turmoil—what is there to cultivate such a path for?”
Feng Qing had an epiphany, his mind suddenly enlightened, and the demonic thoughts in his heart were completely extinguished.
Eventually, the two wandered the pugilist world together, sharing a life united in marriage.
Such beautiful memories stop here, whether because Hongying was unwilling to touch past events again or because the past was too dark, now sealed away.
Her story with Feng Qing thus ended.
And so did her life, whether as a person or a ghost.
The wind blew over the cold remains, and the person was gone.
Ying Xiu stood in the wind, his pallor so stark he resembled a corpse.
He looked down at his empty palms, then raised his head to look at Baili An, his gaze filled with confusion and a slowly burgeoning dark emotion.
He could not understand why his ghostly servant would give the Xu Seal, symbolizing all her significance, to a stranger.
At that moment, he suddenly felt as if the whole world was opposing him.
The crowd had scattered in their escape.
Su Jing arrived gracefully, her gaze deeply fixed on Hongying under the bronze sword.
She said lightly, “Heroic Spirit Hongying used her blood as a sacrifice, indeed delaying the opening of the Bronze Gate.
Yet once the gate opens, even though it consumes her entire ghostly essence, the gate will still continue to open.
To break this calamity, the only way is to find the true method to close the Bronze Gate…”
Her tone suddenly paused, her gaze shifting to Baili An, she calmly asked, “What are you looking at me for?”
Baili An’s eyes were deep, fixing on her, “Ghostly essence?
Does Young Sect Master Su really believe that Heroic Spirit Hongying’s death was to demonstrate some so-called ‘value’?”
Her eyes seemed to hold inexplicable fluctuations for a moment but quickly returned to being unfazed.
“In the Tianyao Continent, the battle between righteousness and evil has lasted over ten thousand years.
Plots, calamities, and deaths—every moment, on every battlefield, someone is sacrificed.
Only those who are alive have the right to pursue value.”
Fang Geyu angrily said, “The Ghost Mountain is now sealed, and countless people from the Demon Sect have infiltrated.
The time that Hongying painstakingly fought for isn’t meant for your idle chit-chat!”
Baili An rubbed his dry eyes, his gaze suddenly shifted as he saw Meng Zifei, severely wounded and unconscious, uncontrollably sliding into a crevice.
He reluctantly stepped forward, lifting him onto his shoulder, saying, “Let’s leave this place first, then figure out how to close the Bronze Gate.”
“Wait!” Ying Xiu snapped out of his daze, blocking their path, his eyes harboring barely contained murderous intent.
He spoke sternly, “The Xu Seal is a possession of the Central Netherworld’s Eastern Palace, not for an outsider like you to meddle with!”
Fang Geyu scoffed, facing the Crown Prince of the Central Netherworld without giving any face.
She rolled her eyes lightly, her small hand on her narrow waist, retorting coldly, “Crown Prince Ying indeed lives up to the name with such a fine appearance, but inside, it seems he’s no better than the uninhibited Fan Wuhai of the Central Netherworld.
That mask is really bigger than any other.”
“The Xu Seal, formed from the Source of Spirit Formation, akin to a mortal’s Spirit Root or the Demon Clan’s Demon Core, is indeed unique.
Historically, only Deceit Cultivators from the You Imperial Family could command it.
But to whom the holder of the Xu Seal submits, and to whom she gives the seal, has always been at the discretion of the Heroic Spirits themselves.
How has it become in His Highness’s words, something you were granting to Heroic Spirit Hongying?”
Ying Xiu did not glance at her, his gaze dark and deep as he stared at Baili An.
Even though Fang Geyu spoke the undeniable truth, accepting that truth was another matter entirely.
As she said, although the Xu Seal is indeed an autonomous artifact of the Heroic Spirits, only the Heroic Spirits can choose their master, and the tamer of the Xu Seal has always been the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace of the Central Netherworld.
No one had ever disrupted this balance.
Now, Baili An, emerging abruptly, had broken this balance.
What position was this placing him, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace?
As the direct eldest son of Empress Ying Ji of the Central Netherworld, Ying Xiu could not stand by and watch as a foreigner claimed the Xu Seal and then walked away triumphantly.
Baili An concealed his clenched fist within his sleeve.
He looked impassively at Hongying lying lifeless beneath the bronze sword without saying much.
Raising his sleeve slightly, the ‘Xu’ character seal drifted out, encircling around Ying Xiu before lingering.
Ying Xiu’s expression softened slightly as he reached out to grasp it.
But as soon as he barely captured the swirling Xu Seal, it instantly shattered into countless tiny flecks like sand slipping through his fingers.
The fragments regathered, returning to the palm of Baili An, flickering faintly.
Ying Xiu’s eyes widened, a surge of murderous intent rising to his brow.
He slowly lowered his hand, his robe trembling.
Baili An gathered his sleeves.
The Xu Seal completely vanished from Ying Xiu’s sight.
His gaze clear as a mirror, he said, “The item you desire, Your Highness, I am capable of giving.
But you, Your Highness,” he paused, his tone soft yet his gaze unwavering, “cannot endure it.”
Those three light words utterly shattered Ying Xiu’s pride.
Scowling, he advanced a step, looking at Baili An as if staring at a corpse.