Chapter 92: One Day, the Heavens Shall Be Sliced Open

Jiang Qin's soul lingered dazed on the spot.

If he had truly crossed time to reach the Cangling Jie of the past, then why had Cangling deceived him? What exactly was she planning?

The Ren Dao Sword was actually a weapon he himself had indirectly created.

Cangling's mysterious Slash ability—why did it share the same power as the Slash Domain? …Because it was the power of the Slash Domain all along!

It had been peeled away from his present self and attached to the Ren Dao Sword.

From the very beginning, Cangling had known everything, so letting him participate in the trial and return to the past was precisely so the timeline could be completed at this moment. If he had not returned to the past, the future would have veered toward an unpredictable direction.

In a brief yet endless wait, the sky cleared!

"Jiang Qin-gege, I've come to play with you!"

As usual, Ya Ya took the chance to slack off while foraging and came to find Jiang Qin.

But when she pushed open the door of the wooden cabin, she did not find Jiang Qin's figure.

Drawn by an inexplicable pull, Ya Ya walked into the room beside it and stopped before the radiant Ren Dao Sword. She instinctively crouched down and reached out to touch the blade.

In an instant, an endless flood of memories surged toward her.

The fortune of the Human Race was now drawn forth, and the sky radiated waves of golden light, simultaneously attracting the gaze of countless gods. They stared at the golden light shooting into the clouds, trembling from the depths of their hearts.

This feeling was like a lamb encountering a wild wolf, pinned under the stare of its natural predator.

Those who sensed this threat were not only the gods, but also 【Heaven】.

It could not understand why the Human Dao's fortune, already weakened to the extreme, had suddenly flourished.

Heaven, Earth, and Man—the three Daos maintained a balance with one another.

Now, as the Human Dao rose once more, the fortune that had once been plundered by the Heavenly Dao returned to the Human Dao and was channeled into the one named Ya Ya… no, now she should be called by her true name—Cangling!

Cangling, the last 【Hero】 of the Human Race, has taken her place!

The Heavenly Dao could not endure having its power taken away, so it recklessly manipulated the gods to launch an attack.

This battle raged until heaven and earth grew dark.

A hundred years of time.

Thousands of gods fell, the greater half of them, and divine blood soaked the earth.

In the end, under the joint assault of the four great god leaders, Cangling's body crumbled inch by inch. But at this critical moment, a power that did not belong to the rules of either of the two worlds surged forth and shielded Cangling's soul.

What Jiang Qin lost was not only the Slash Domain and the Dharma Image, but also a wisp of rule-power that did not belong to Lanxing or the Cangling Jie.

This wisp of rule-power pried open a crack in the barrier between the two worlds, then carried Cangling away from the Cangling Jie and toward Lanxing.

The timeline closed.

…

The present-day timeline.

Beside the wooden cabin by the stream.

Cangling watched Jiang Qin's soul merge bit by bit into the sword, and at last a smile appeared on her face—pure and innocent, just as it had been hundreds of years ago.

"Jiang Qin-gege, I'm returning this sword to its rightful owner."

"We just met not long ago and now we have to part again. I really can't bear it. You must remember me—remember Ya Ya. The time I spent with you was the happiest time of my life, but now, we have no choice but to say goodbye."

"Don't blame me for not telling you the truth. If I had told you the whole truth, you definitely wouldn't have gone back to the past…"

Cangling existed in the world as a soul; it was only the rule-power that made her no different from an ordinary person.

Now, as the Ren Dao Sword acknowledged Jiang Qin as its master once more.

That wisp of rule-power was reclaimed, and naturally Cangling's existence could no longer be sustained.

Her figure grew increasingly illusory. With a gentle expression, she stroked the blade and said softly, "Jiang Qin-gege, just as you said, some things always have to be done by someone. I believe that one day you will slash open the heavens and let the power of freedom… belong to all living beings!"

The Human Dao's fortune in the Cangling Jie was gradually weakening.

Cangling used the last trace of Human Dao fortune she could command to tear open a Rift in Space.

On the other side of the Rift was Lanxing.

As Cangling wielded the power of fortune, 【Heaven】 finally detected her location.

In an instant, thunderbolts fell from the sky!

"Boom—!"

Endless lightning flickered across the heavens.

【Heaven】 sensed what Cangling was about to do and moved to stop her, unwilling to let a threat return to Lanxing.

But it was still a step too late.

The instant the Rift appeared, the Ren Dao Sword had already shot into it, and the Rift snapped shut.

At the same time, Cangling's soul completely dissipated.

Just before she vanished entirely, she turned and gave 【Heaven】 a smile.

"So it turns out you can feel fear too."

"Heh."

Jiang Qin-gege, even after I die,

I will always be with you.

……

The world of Lanxing.

Two years had passed since the outbreak of the war between Fierce Beasts and humanity.

The situation in Huaguo had initially stabilized—from the original seven hundred cities down to only one hundred and eight Jidi Shi remaining.

At this moment, within Dongxing Jidi Shi.

In the conference room of one of the buildings.

"—Yesterday, the North City Third Defense Line repelled a wave of beast tide. The traces of Fourth-tier Fierce Beasts have increased by thirty percent compared to last month. The consumption of stored Spirit Energy Cannons—"

The one giving the report was the deputy commander of the City Defense Battalion, just over thirty, with an old scar running from his brow bone to his cheekbone on his face.

He stood before the projection screen, his finger tapping on the data chart, his voice steady and even.

More than a dozen people sat on either side of the conference table—some taking notes, some flipping through the materials in their hands, some frowning at the numbers on the projection screen.

Chen Xiaohu sat in the main seat. He wasn't looking at the projection screen; he was looking out the window.

After two years of tempering, he had now reached the mid-stage of the Divine Image Realm Realm. Under the muddled recommendations of his subordinates, he had become the mayor of Dongxing Jidi Shi, the hope of the people of this city.

Just then, a streak of light swept past outside the window.

First white, then transforming into a dazzling golden light.

The landing point of that trajectory was in the city's core district.

The reporting voice stopped.

The deputy commander's finger was still pointing at the projection screen, but his head had already turned toward the window.

At the end of the table, the pen in Su Lingwei's hand dropped onto the table, rolled twice with a clatter, and stopped beside a teacup.

She didn't pick it up, her gaze fixed dead on the dissipating tail trail outside the window.

"That location is…"

The small island at the very center of the city.

There was nothing there, only a wooden box containing minced meat buried.

That was something Yue Beishan had entrusted to Chen Xiaohu two years ago before setting out for the Frontier—a top-secret mission.

Su Lingwei also knew about it.

Both of them had once been that person's teammates. Since that person had once chosen to trust them, Yue Beishan had handed that wooden box to the two of them.

"He's coming back!"

Tears glimmered in Su Lingwei's eyes. She immediately turned and ran toward the office door.

Chen Xiaohu was also visibly agitated. He leaped out the window, stepped on air, and sped toward the island in the center of the city lake at extreme velocity.

Although the other base city administrators in the conference room were baffled.

From the sudden behavior of the two, they knew this matter was certainly not simple, so they all followed after them.