Chapter 442: Chapter 442
442: Chapter 428: Dreams and Reality 442: Chapter 428: Dreams and Reality Blood Butterflies that had sprouted from Arao’s body encased her like cocoons, burning within the thunderous flames for several days.
The three Black Flood Dragons had long been torn apart and were now scattered across the surface of the lake; the Barrier that loomed over the lakewater finally dissipated.
Beyond the lakeshore, outside the mountains, lay a thousand forests, desolate and sere.
Arao felt as though she had been trapped in an interminably long dream, filled with numerous bizarre and grotesque scenes of the mortal world lunging at her with bared fangs and claws.
Countless inexplicable, cacophonous voices scolded her in her mind, violently jostling her thoughts before swiftly shattering and sinking into the endless depths of the sea.
Her world appeared to have ruptured into a massive hole, from which blood as thick as ink surged forth, drowning her completely.
She raised her hands in struggle, thick blood continually spilling from her fingertips.
Under the oppressive black clouds, there were scattered corpses everywhere.
Set against Arao’s blood-soaked body, the fragmented limbs and bodies seemed even more ghastly and lurid red.
Arao was extremely fearful of this horrific nightmare and instinctively summoned the golden willow leaves floating aimlessly around her to form a sword, using it to cleave through the luxurious, blood-soaked death beneath her.
She wandered the heavy blood-coloured rivers for a very long time until, in an instant, she suddenly saw reflected upon the sword’s willow blade a pair of enchanting yet cold eyes, whose icy chill seemed to crush frost, few drops of deep red Blood Pearls trailing from their corners.
Murderous intent was pervasive.
Arao was bewildered for a long time before she realized that these were her own eyes.
A thick mist of blood rose slowly, and the vague figure of a girl became gradually clear.
Barefoot upon the blood-rivers of the earth, the girl’s sickly and weary face was slowly lifted, and she suddenly turned to Arao with an eerie smile.
Arao felt an inexplicable surge of annoyance and, raising her hand, she thrust her sword forward.
Blood splattered in all directions.
The warmly scattering Blood Pearls dotted her enchanting, indifferent face.
The feeling was extraordinarily cathartic.
The strange smile on Shu Ci’s face finally vanished, her gaze became tranquil, and her body slowly fell.
Arao flicked all the blood off her sword, and then the entire world began to burn.
Thunderous fire fell from above her head, like the roaring sounds of battle brought by thousands of iron-clad cavalry.
She suddenly opened her eyes, her consciousness snapping back to reality.
Arao felt an intense vacuum of cold emptiness deep within her body, her bones filled only with chilling cold.
It was as if all her vitality had been consumed during these past several days, yet her skin felt scaldingly hot, as though she had just rolled through the flames of Karma Fire and Purgatory.
The alternating assault of cold and heat was unbearable, a particular kind of torment.
But she was still alive!
She looked incredulously at her own hands, marred by patches of red fissures; even the slightest twitch of her fingers caused a heartrending pain.
Yet, she couldn’t help feeling overjoyed.
Not only was she still alive, but she had not reverted to her original form.
Arao felt lost and amazed, as if she were in a dream beyond belief.
But soon, her heart sank.
Was the seal completely successful?
Or did it mean that because her Killing Curse had not been fully executed due to her coma, the backlash it caused to her body was not as severe, to the extent that she had not even reverted to her original form?
Arao didn’t quite believe there could be such a bargain in this world.
Forcing herself to ignore the excruciating pain, she tried to get up.
To her astonishment, she found that the lake water beneath her had already dried up in the thunderous fire.
She lay on the cracked and parched lakebed where intense flames erupted sporadically; her legs were as if grown into the earth, numerous roots extended from the ground, penetrating her skin, rendering her utterly immobile.
She remained dazed for a long time, finally forcing a bitter smile.
It dawned on her that Yihe Shu Ci had truly been sealed away by her hand forever; the immense dark presence of the Demon World at the lakebed had completely vanished.
The murky breath of the entire world was gradually diminishing, and it seemed that before long, this part of the Demon Realm would be assimilated into a second realm of the mortal world.
She had thought she had the advantage of not having reverted to human form, but instead, she had lost her freedom forever, becoming the anchor point for the seal containing the Chaotic darkness.
Arao felt a touch of confusion.
Did this mean…she could no longer go to her master?
The Longsword that he had personally given her had lost its Spiritual Radiance amidst the thunderous fire, scattered on the ground like loose cotton.
A dim piece of the willow-leaf sword lay before her fingertips.
Her finger moved slightly, ready to pick it up.
Suddenly, that dim and lusterless shard emitted a faint golden glow, slipping away from her fingertips.
The quiet shards soared upwards, reunited into a golden Longsword that lightly landed in the palm of an elegant hand, as fluttering as the wind.
Chuyang coincided with the dawn cresting the mountaintop, the shallow morning light warming his bright eyes and pallid lips, his sword robe fluttering, Zong Yu trailing.
Looking at the man standing not far away, the blankness in Arao’s eyes faded instantly.
She opened her mouth in sheer surprise, yet a painful throat prevented her from speaking.
He merely glanced at her quietly and did not speak; instead, he raised his arm and placed the willow sword between his sleeve’s folds, wiping away the bloodstains little by little.
Arao was taken aback for a moment, not sure if it was just her imagination.
Just now, the way her master looked at her seemed somewhat…
By then, people had begun to gather around in succession.
Among them were the power brokers of the Immortal Sect’s Righteous Path, such as Tianxi and the Thirteen Swords, Cangwu Ten Hidden Palaces, Taixuan Nine Classics, leading their ranks.
And there were disciples from various large and small Immortal Sects, crowded behind, a dense sea of people.
All these people, without exception, directed their gaze toward her at the lakebed as they followed his line of sight.
In the silent multitude of thousands, not a single voice stirred.
Even the air was thick with stillness.
For a moment, Arao couldn’t decipher the emotionless look in her master’s eyes, but saw in the eyes of the crowd behind him, a mixture of apprehension, terror, shock, suspicion, and unease.
It was somewhat ironic; there she was in such a pitiful state, unable to even make a sound, like a flayed fish laid out to dry on parched soil, posing no threat at all.
Yet these people looked at her as though they had seen a ghost that had crawled out of a cold and damp Hell.
Arao found it hard to understand such gazes.
She had never foolishly imagined that personally sealing Shu Ci, ending the revival of the Six Rivers, halting the expansion of the Demon Realm’s territory, and putting an end to the millennia-long war between Immortals and Demons would earn her special regard from these people.
She had never imagined herself to be a heroic savior.
But why did they look at her as if she were something dreadful?
She had not hurt anyone.
Arao struggled to prop herself up on her arms, when suddenly, a tingling pain spread across her back, an uncontrollable force converged between her shoulder blades.
Abruptly, a terrifying gale replete with destructive intent swept across the ground.
A pair of golden wings unfurled behind her, stealing all the sunlight with their brilliant shine, their majestic aura instantly dominating the skies.
The thirteen feathered wings stretched out like branches and leaves, soaked in dark hues like ink, burned with pitch-black demon flames, supremely and imperiously on display before everyone’s eyes.