Chapter 71: I... I killed the teacher?

The golden huge sword blade swept across the sky, all his divine power poured out, turning into an immensely brilliant golden sword light that slashed at the giant whale!

At that moment, the golden sword light was brighter than the blazing sun!

Boom!!!

The sword light instantly pierced the giant beast's body, as if splitting space, scorching light madly spraying outward, reaching light-years away in an instant!

"Ang!!!!"

With the angry roar of the deep-space giant whale coming, a ferocious golden sword scar appeared on its huge beast face, and the massive beast body lurched aside from the pain.

But the next moment, an even angrier roar transmitted to the planet, shaking and making ears ache.

The beast's maw came covering at greater speed; this time, it was truly provoked.

"As expected...."

"Is the power still not enough..."

Under the golden dharma appearance, Zhang Jie looked at his hands covered in golden cracks, and sighed.

"Then... again!"

Crack...

Zhang Jie again circulated his full gleaming golden qi-blood, but suddenly a cracking sound rang out; seeing one of the overloaded beast king engines behind him already covered in cracks, it could shatter at any moment...

"Can't go on..."

As if answering Zhang Jie's words, the eight-faced Han sword he had long held shattered with a boom, ending its long life.

Zhang Jie looked toward the quiet Weiniya behind him and gave a bitter smile.

He did all this not to save the world, nor to save the city sinking into hopeless sickness, nor even for Weiniya.

He merely wanted to go on living...

Wanting to witness the true divine power realm, to see the endpoint of martial dao, martial dao divine power...

At this very moment, his wish was fulfilled in an unexpected way—he witnessed the divine power realm and also felt the legendary heaven-earth dharma, but...

Now he could not even risk everything for Weiniya's sake to stay alive.

He had lost the chance to press his life into the gun chamber.

Behind him, the overloaded beast king engines suddenly began to shatter one by one.

One... two... then all of them.

With each engine that shattered, the dharma manifestation behind him grew smaller and dimmer, until all engines broke and his entire aura waned.

"Someone like me... can I really achieve greatness..."

Perhaps to others, Zhang Jie is an unparalleled monster who became a Martial Dao Grandmaster at 24, the benefactor who dragged Weiniya out of the abyss, and a carefree martial arts gym owner.

But to Zhang Jie himself, his life is undoubtedly a failure.

Upon careful reflection, every step he took seemed to have landed in the wrong place...

Father... Weiniya... and himself

Everything, everything, filled with regret...

"How lamentable... how lamentable"

"Insignificant mortal, why do you think a miracle would appear again upon you?"

"What can happen repeatedly is only disaster; can something that happens a second time still be called a miracle?"

"Another mysterious being asks you, sorrow descends upon it, yet you only think this is your own inner fantasy, a doubt before death."

Cracks covered his body surface, large amounts of qi-blood continually seeping out through the cracks...

Zhang Jie's body could no longer retain qi-blood; now he was like a cracked porcelain vessel, his whole body rapidly shrinking.

In just a few breaths, a young man in his twenties became a white-haired, wrinkled old man on the brink of the grave.

"Really... not lived enough..."

In his mind, countless memories surfaced: his father's death, meeting Weiniya, and the days they traveled together outside the walls.

Unbeknownst to him, the Xiaoanchun had already occupied in his heart the same place as his father.

The old man hunched his body, laboriously moving to the side of the young girl peacefully asleep on the ground, gazing at the abyss maw like a black hole, and sat cross-legged for the last time.

His withered palm gently stroked the girl's smooth silver-white hair; even though his skin had lost all feeling, he could still recall from countless past caresses that smooth sensation.

"Sorry... Weiniya... Teacher I... still couldn't do it..."

No last flicker of light; though his heart held reluctance, he remained quite calm.

As if sensing Zhang Jie's caress, the girl's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed, the corners of her mouth slightly lifted, as if she were having a pleasant dream.

"You little thing..."

The old man's hoarse voice with a hint of smile sounded, his strength gradually draining, his eyelids growing heavy.

"Seems... a bit... sleepy..."

"Weiniya... let Teacher... sleep a while..."

"Just a while..."

"Life Entry—Premature Death—Activated"

"Simulation ended"

A faint sense of reassurance came; Weiniya dreamed she was sitting on a cruise ship, together with Teacher and her little sister.

At that moment, they were heading toward another continent they had never traveled to.

The sea stretched boundlessly, waves grand, often huge whales leapt into the air, and the surface often saw colorful giant dolphins swimming by; everything was so harmonious and tranquil.

Only see Teacher pulling from the sea a goldfinch tuna over ten meters long, cutting two fresh meat chunks from its huge body and releasing it.

They happily ate the exceedingly fresh fish meat, while imagining what else might lie in the other side of the ocean.

But the next moment, the calm sea suddenly surged with huge waves, the sky covered in dark clouds, and a storm swept in.

A huge whale suddenly lifted its head and, in one bite, took a chunk out of that tiny cruise ship.

Thunder and lightning roared as she clung to her sister, shrinking to the other side of the cruise ship, watching the teacher unleash a martial arts phantom to battle the whale.

The waves surged, slamming the teacher into the sea; many sharks came, and scarlet blood stained the water...

"No!!!"

Weiniya jolted awake, sitting up from the city Ruins, helplessly looking around.

Limbs torn, screams, and Ruins, with a huge maw constantly looming in the sky.

Memories from reality washed away all the beauty in the Dream Realm, and Weiniya recalled everything before.

The memory lingered on her driving a short sword fiercely into the teacher's chest.

"Where is the teacher?"

"Teacher!"

"Old... teacher?"

Weiniya rose, shouting in panic; in the blink of an eye, a desiccated corpse sat cross-legged, its right hand slowly raised behind her, as if stroking something.

Its clothing, familiar and glaring...

"Teacher...?"

Weiniya whispered a call, her pupils trembling, unable to believe the sight before her.

The broken Han sword, countless strange fragments, the corpse's waist-hung sword sheath...

"No... it's not like this..."

"Impossible..."

"Teacher... teacher!"

Weiniya kept denying, her eyes scanning the surroundings, as if trying to find something, but her mind relentlessly replayed the final scene from her memory...

"No... it's not real..."

"I... I killed the teacher? I killed the teacher! It was me who killed the teacher...."

"I... what did I do... what did I do..."