Chapter 743

Zhao Zixun gripped the hilt, the tip of his long blade pressed to the ground; as he walked forward, the tip scraped the ground, bursting out dazzling sparks, leaving a thin, deep blade mark wherever he passed.

From this blade mark, black water slowly seeped out, flowing in all directions.

The long blade was swung, bringing up a chilling gleam; as the hand rose and the blade fell, a patch of black shadow instantly turned to nothing.

I have witnessed Zhao Zixun's decisive slaughter many times, and have fought beside him more than once, but never before has anything shocked me as much as now.

Not only that long blade, but Zhao Zixun's very body now seemed plated with a layer of golden light.

He bore the light, faced the darkness, and was invincible in all directions.

I sat cross-legged on the ground, my form swaying, somewhat unstable.

The black water slowly approached my side, probing.

I immediately formed a seal, trying to mobilize ghostly power to control the water as before, but found I could not do it at all.

And each attempt caused the remaining ghostly power within me to drain away; I watched helplessly as my near-corporeal body deteriorated into a spirit form.

This process of deterioration continued, for I had almost given all my essence and blood to Zhao Zixun, and I would ultimately degenerate back to the state of a seven-leaf spirit mushroom.

If Zhao Zixun wins this battle, then Xiao Jiu and the others above will also win, and the Nine Abyssal Depths will usher in a precious period of recovery.

I will, during this recovery period, strive to plant my spiritual roots in the soil of the Nine Abyssal Depths, and nurture my essence and blood back to wholeness.

By then, where will Zhao Zixun be?

My gaze kept following Zhao Zixun's silhouette, but my consciousness, as my spirit form deteriorated, grew gradually dull.

Later, perhaps because he was getting farther and farther away, I could no longer discern where Zhao Zixun's figure was; before me lay only blinding golden light.

I lifted my head and looked upward.

Above the Nine Abyssal Depths, firelight flickered.

That was Xiao Jiu and Shan Shan driving the Nirvana flames, guarding a patch of sky above us.

I thought, what virtue or ability do I, Fu Wan, possess in this life, to have met so many talented and extraordinary people who, without thought of reward, strive desperately to win back my territory for me.

Yet in this life I have nothing with which to repay them.

If there is a next life…

"He looks radiant all over."

Just as I was muddle-headedly thinking about these things, a large bird landed beside me.

It was a large-bodied gray hawk.

The moment she landed, she transformed into human form, looking down at me from above.

She was extremely beautiful, with a pointed face, high nose, and a pair of crimson hawk eyes that seemed to wield a soul‑capturing magic.

Looking at her, my mind suddenly flashed with some extremely ancient memory images.

This memory seemed both mine and yet as if someone else had forced it upon me, leaving it somewhat confused.

I stared at the woman's eyes for a good while before uttering three words from between my lips and teeth: "Feng Ying'er?"

The woman laughed: "Little Guy, you really do remember everything from back then; it's also my fault—my heart was too soft, I cut the grass but didn't pull the roots, and ended up bringing trouble upon myself."

I remembered it all; I remembered everything.

How could I possibly forget?

I and Feng Ying'er share a blood‑deep hatred that cannot coexist under the same sky!

Feng Ying'er soft‑hearted?

The soft‑hearted ones were originally my parents.

My father was a seven‑leaf Chonglou, the former lord of the Nine Abyssal Depths.

And my mother was a ten‑thousand‑year spirit mushroom growing right beside my father.

Their spiritual roots intertwined, supporting each other as they cultivated together.

When the first century arrived, the center of the seven‑leaf spirit mushroom burst forth with its first cluster of red flowers.

This cluster of red flowers was born from my parents expending most of their own spiritual power to nurture it, awaiting bloom, fall, and spore formation to leave descendants.

Nurturing the red flower takes a hundred years; from blooming to withering and spore production, another hundred years are required.

During these two hundred plus years, my parents will devote their whole heart and soul to this great act of reproduction, which will also be their weakest two hundred plus years.

All things possess spirit.

Wherever the Chonglou grows, a great snake must protect it.

At the root of the seven‑leaf spirit mushroom coils a black great python; if nothing unexpected happens, over these two hundred plus years this black python will guard my parents and welcome the birth of new life.

Just as the first century passed safely and the second century was about to reach its midpoint, a woman of unsurpassed beauty fell from above the Nine Abyssal Depths.

She lay on the ground, breathless, covered in wounds, nearly becoming the python's belly‑meal.

But a snake's nature is lustful.

In the end, the python not only did not swallow the woman, but instead gathered dew from the surface of the seven‑leaf spirit mushroom and fed it to her, helping her heal her wounds.

The woman day by day recovered, exchanging sweet words with the python, making mountain‑ocean vows.

But when their affection ran deep, a knife plunged into the python's body, extracting its gallbladder and inner elixir, which she swallowed raw.

The next moment, the woman revealed her true form—a female phoenix‑headed hawk!

Folklore says the phoenix‑headed hawk is the offspring of a phoenix and a gray hawk, but because its bloodline is impure, the main line of the Phoenix Clan never acknowledges it.

The phoenix‑headed hawk harbors great ambition, yet suffers repeated defeats, ultimately unable to establish a foothold in the Phoenix Clan.

Feng Ying'er must have been gravely wounded for this reason, falling to the Nine Abyssal Depths.

She ought to have died, but relying on her beauty and an un‑tiring three‑inch tongue, she gained new life in the Nine Abyssal Depths.

Yet she remains unsatisfied; she not only covets the python's gallbladder and inner elixir, but also has her eyes on the seven‑leaf spirit mushroom offspring, now at its weakest stage of reproduction.

It is her!

It is Feng Ying'er!

She lurked in the Nine Abyss Deep Abyss, taking advantage of the opportunity when the Nether Realm and the Feng Clan were fighting over territory, luring the wolf into the house, and single-handedly caused that catastrophe of living beings in the Nine Abyss Deep Abyss.

I was able to survive that destructive disaster, all because my parents, at the critical moment, exhausted their lifelong Xiūwéi and Spiritual Power, giving birth to me and bringing me into this world ahead of time.

A tiny spore fell into the black soil of the Nine Abyss Deep Abyss, silently and without a trace, hard to find.

During the time I was slowly developing deep underground, the Nine Abyss Deep Abyss had already become Feng Ying'er's territory……

Perhaps it was Feng Ying'er's bad luck, or perhaps it was due to her ambitious nature, but no matter how hard she tried, she could never gain any advantage from the Feng Clan.

She was always injured.

When injured, she would retreat into the Nine Abyss Deep Abyss, gathering the medicinal spirits there to heal and cultivate.

This also gave Zhan Jiao'e an opening to exploit.

However, she did indeed make progress; hiding in the Nine Abyss Deep Abyss these years, she endured hardship and finally awaited this best opportunity.

I weakly gave a self-mocking laugh.

My memory of Feng Ying'er still remains from my first spore stage, having lived two lives as a person; that faint memory has long been overshadowed by my hatred for Zhan Jiao'e.

Or perhaps, in my subconscious, I believed she had already died.

Feng Ying'er crossed her arms, bent at the waist, her delicate little face leaning against my ear, her eyes fixed ahead, and she whispered softly: "Poor thing, men are unreliable; you use your entire essence and blood to prop him up, while his battle soul returns to his body, and he is about to regain his divine status; from now on, he will be a lofty god, whereas you may not even have a chance to live—tsk tsk tsk, lovesick brain, that's absolutely unacceptable..."