Chapter 34: Xiaoyaozi

**Chapter 34: Xiaoyaozi**

###**Act I: Fishing in Chaos, Drunken Eyes Watching the Heavens**

Deep in the Sea of Chaos, Xiaoyaozi sat barefoot on the edge of a bamboo raft. His fishing rod had no bait and no line, yet nine flickering stars hung from the tip. Each star reflected the wars of the heavens—Lin Jin's silver flames burning the Dragon Clan, Ling Yue's blood-coughing peach wood talisman, the Immortal Sect's collapsing Burial Fire Puppets...

"Fished for one hundred thousand years, finally a fish has taken the bait."

He drunkenly lifted the rod, the stars forming a beaded chain around his waist. The chaotic seawater suddenly boiled, and a sword Qi spanning three thousand worlds split the mist—

Ling Wuji arrived, stepping on the shattered Immortal Sect battle flags, the Zhanxian Sword in his hand dripping with the black blood of the Burial Fire Puppets: "Old thing! You plotted against me!"

Xiaoyaozi casually took off his wine gourd, the spilled wine condensing into a cage: "Sect Master Ling, the joy of raising a Gu... isn't it in the surprise of being bitten back?"

####**Drunkenly Imprisoning the Immortal Emperor**

The moment the wine cage contracted, Ling Wuji's immortal robes ignited with Chaos Fire. He realized with horror that the brand of the Burial Fire Puppets within him was resonating with the scent of wine, his limbs feeling as if they were being gnawed by ten thousand ants: "You tampered with it back when I was refining the puppets?!"

"More than that?" Xiaoyaozi shook his empty gourd, and ten thousand ice coffins rose from the Sea of Chaos, "From the moment you stole Xuan Su's Burial Fire secret technique... this game was already set."

###**Act II: The Master-Disciple Endgame, Old Vows on the Snowy Peak**

The surface of the Sea of Chaos froze into a mirror, reflecting a scene from a snowy peak ten thousand years ago.

The young girl Xuan Su knelt before Xiaoyaozi, holding the dying Ao Zhan in her arms: "Shi Fu, I beg you to save him! Even if... you use my Ice Coffin Body!"

Xiaoyaozi tossed his wine gourd, his gaze piercing through time to look at the present: "Girl, the price of saving him... is that your grand-disciple Jin'er will have to pay it for you."

The mirror surface suddenly shattered, the scene jumping to the Burial Dao Furnace where Lin Jin was in seclusion—the dark patterns on the furnace walls were of the same origin as the snowy peak array diagram Xuan Su had knelt before!

"Xuan Su died thinking she had realized the Burial Fire herself." Xiaoyaozi flicked his finger, shattering Ling Wuji's protective immortal light, "In truth, it was a... shackle I tailored for her."

###**Act III: The Eternal Wine Game, The Heavens as Stakes**

The chaotic bamboo raft suddenly expanded, transforming into a chessboard spanning the past and present.

Xiaoyaozi played with black pieces, and where he placed them, the Return to Ruins collapsed; Ling Wuji was forced to play with white pieces, the pieces being the nine Burial Fire Puppets.

"First move, sever the Dragon Clan's fortune." A black piece smashed into the wine gourd where Ao Tian was held, the dragon's roar turning into a mournful cry.

"Second move, burn the Immortal Sect's foundation." Another piece pierced Ling Wuji's brow, the Immortal Emperor's blood staining the red and white chess pieces.

When a black piece hovered over the square representing Lin Jin, the Sea of Chaos suddenly surged with wild waves—

Lin Jin broke through the air, stepping on silver-white Burial Fire, the "Lin" character on his black robe burning through the chessboard: "Shi Fu, this game... it's time to change players."

###**Act IV: Drunken Sword Heart Inquiry, True and False Xiaoyao**

For the first time, Xiaoyaozi withdrew his playfulness, the chaotic scent of wine condensing into a heavy, edge-less sword: "Little Lin, do you know why the Xuan Su lineage can never escape its fate?"

Where the sword edge passed, the final ends of past Coffin Keepers appeared:

-Lin Xuan Su frozen, Burial Fire extinguished;

-Ling Yue's soul scattered to the Return to Ruins, Void Poison devouring her heart;

-And Lin Jin at this moment, his black robe being eroded by blood-colored Burial Fire...

"Because you are too much like her." Xiaoyaozi pointed his sword at Lin Jin's heart, "Those who are overly emotional cannot hold the sword that slays the heavens."

Lin Jin's Burial Fire suddenly went out of control, the image of Ling Yue being tortured by the Chaos Brand appearing in the silver flames. He roared and slashed through the wine-scented sword, but only struck a phantom—Xiaoyaozi was already sitting on the bamboo raft drinking, as if the duel had just been an illusion.

"Your Shi Fu Xuan Su gambled her life for a chance at Ao Zhan's survival, your mother Ling Yue burned her soul to help you break through your tribulation..."

He tilted his head and drank the remaining wine in the gourd, his drunken eyes reflecting the wars of the heavens: "And what I gambled on was... whether a true 'carefree' state could be brewed in this dead game."

###**Act V: Wine Finished, Game Over, The Chaotic Answer**

The Sea of Chaos suddenly went silent. Xiaoyaozi tossed the empty gourd. Amidst the roar of the gourd shattering, ten thousand ice coffins opened simultaneously, and the residual souls of past Coffin Keepers turned into a torrential rain of wine.

"I never save people, I only brew wine."

He stepped through the rain of wine toward the depths of the chaos, his back fading, "Xuan Su's obsession brewed into 'attachment,' Ling Yue's tenderness brewed into 'compassion,' and you..."

The rain of wine drenched Lin Jin's Burial Fire, the blood color fading away, the silver flames returning to clarity. The Chaos Brand on Ling Yue's chest quietly dissipated, and the Void Poison curled up as if encountering a natural enemy.

"Shi Fu!" Ling Yue screamed at the void, "What exactly do you want?!"

A laughing sigh drifted from the end of the chaos:

"I want a moment of clarity where there is no difference between drunk and sober... I want these heavens to be worthy of my grand-disciple's 'Lin'."

###**Finale: New Fire Ignited, Old Debts Unpaid**

On the ruins of the Immortal Sect, the Chaos Brand on the foreheads of the nine Burial Fire Puppets turned into the character "Lin." Ling Wuji sat paralyzed in a pool of blood, the half-chess piece clutched in his hand engraved with Xiaoyaozi's wine stains—

"So... you and I were both just wine dregs."

And the Profound Heaven flags of the Supervision Hall had been planted across the Thirty-Three Heavens. Lin Jin stroked his newborn silver-white Burial Fire, and Ling Yue's relieved laughter came from the peach wood talisman.

On the Sea of Chaos, a new bamboo raft drifted away with the waves. An empty gourd hung from the bow, and the inner walls faintly revealed the opening chapter of the next game:

**"Three thousand years after the calamity, I fish for the Carefree Guest once more."**