Chapter 746: Extra Chapter 2: Yellow Springs and Azure Skies, I Will Accompany You

A five-colored little phoenix fluttered its wings, hovering above, and shouted loudly: "General Zhao, someone will come from above shortly to take you back to the heavenly court; come up."

It was Shan Shan.

Sure enough, as I expected, Zhao Zixun is leaving.

I avoided Zhao Zixun's deathly stare, raised my hand and patted the warhorse's nose, saying: "Good, send General Zhao up."

Shan Shan urged: "General Zhao, once the order from above is issued, any defiance will bring heavenly punishment, possibly implicating my Aunt Wan; Aunt Wan is being looked after by me and my mother, she'll be fine, you can go in peace."

Zhao Zixun still did not move.

He stared at my eyes, as if wanting to eat me.

He asked me in a low voice: "Fu Wan, do you really want me to leave? Once I go, return to above, sever love and affection, then we will have no possibility."

I stammered: "I... I am the heir of the Nine Nether Lord; once I take root in the Nine Nether, nurture my true form, cultivate well, perhaps I could ascend to the heavens someday..."

As I spoke, I suddenly felt guilty and couldn't continue.

Not to mention my unstable spirit form and exhausted essence blood; given the current state of the Nine Nether, without a thousand years of recovery, it cannot possibly breed any spirit-endowed medicinal spirits.

Even if I could do as I said, heal my body and cultivate well, I would still find it hard to ascend to the heavens.

After all, at the end of the day, plant cultivation and transformation merely become demons.

Still, demons born in the Nine Nether's yin realm wanting to ascend to the heavenly court is nothing but a foolish dream.

Of course, there are, certainly, but they are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

This is tantamount to giving Zhao Zixun a blank check that will never be cashed.

Zhao Zixun laughed angrily at me, he didn't argue, but looked up at Shan Shan and asked: "Where is your mother?"

Shan Shan replied: "My mother went chasing something into the Nether Realm; she specifically had me come remind you, do you have business with her?"

"Yes, there is." Zhao Zixun said: "Shan Shan, take everyone guarding outside and leave completely, then go tell your mother that the seven-day appointment hasn't ended, the transaction is still valid, I will personally go to her to fulfill it."

I stared blankly for a moment, my mind couldn't turn, I didn't understand the meaning of Zhao Zixun's words.

Shan Shan clicked her tongue twice, tilted her little head, speaking like a clever sprite: "Hey, my mother really is prophetic! Alright, I'm going up."

Having said that, she fluttered her wings and quickly flew out of my sight.

I opened my mouth and shouted: "Shan Shan!"

The little guy didn't hear it at all.

I inexplicably grew panicky and questioned Zhao Zixun: "What exactly do you want to do?! What seven-day period not yet over? What are you going to have Xiao Jiu cash in?"

Zhao Zixun stared at me steadily and said: "Xiao Jiu Zhanggui promised me that if I return in seven days, she will ask Yu Nian to ferry us across the Forgetting River."

I remembered.

This was the agreement Zhao Zixun made with Xiao Jiu and Yu Nian before becoming a coffin nail.

Within seven days, if he does not return, Yu Nian will ferry me across the Forgetting River; if he returns, Yu Nian will ferry both of us.

Zhao Zixun...

Zhao Zixun, what exactly are you trying to do?

I seemed to have a premonition of something, yet I dared not believe it.

Above, thunder rumbled, drawing nearer.

Zhao Zixun flipped off his horse, patted the warhorse's rump, and said: "Go find the Seven Halls Yama; from now on, you will follow him."

The warhorse neighed a few times with its head raised, very reluctant, yet it obediently left.

I became even more panicked, wishing I could immediately take root in the soil to hide.

At the same time, I instinctively reached out, wanting to stop something, but I didn't know how to do so.

Until Zhao Zixun took my hand with one hand and lifted his long sword with the other, walked a distance, and finally stood where the seven-leaf lingzhi was rooted.

At the moment the long sword plunged into the soil, Zhao Zixun shed his battle soul and poured all his merit into the long sword.

Golden light sank beneath the earth, permeating every inch of the Nine Nether's soil; his merit nourished each medicinal-spirit seed deeply buried in the Nine Nether's ground.

Repeatedly suffering heavy damage, the Nine Nether with exhausted spiritual power, under the immersion of Zhao Zixun's merit, came back to life.

The seeds quietly sprouted, showing their heads.

Each medicinal spirit, with vigorous vitality, greeted the rebirth of the Nine Nether.

I don't know when, the thunder above disappeared.

I also don't know when, a spore detached from my body and sank into the soil.

Blood trickled from the corner of Zhao Zixun's mouth.

His face turned deathly pale, and gradually corpse spots appeared.

When his hand left the long sword, his entire body's merit dissipated, his body turned icy cold, and he swayed on the verge of collapse.

I awoke as if from a dream, clutched Zhao Zixun in my arms, sat limp on the ground, tears streaming down my face.

This fool, perhaps he had already planned all this?

Otherwise, how could he so decisively give up everything just to stay and accompany me?

I held him, crying and scolding: "Zhao Zixun, are you stupid? You abandon a perfectly good heavenly realm war god, seek your own death—do you deserve all the suffering you've endured these years?!"

Zhao Zixun, however, laughed: "What's good about being a heavenly realm war god?"

"Fu Wan, I don't want to become again that sever-love-and-affection, only-knowing-how-to-fight heavenly realm war god, day after day, year after year, like a machine, a puppet, alive—what difference is there from being dead?"

"Fu Wan, only these years being with you have I felt truly alive."

"Only when fighting side by side with the people of the Wufu Town Pawnshop do I feel like a true war god."

"In my view, staying in the human realm, staying by your side, my life truly gains meaning; Fu Wan, I don't want to go back."

I choked up to the point of being unable to speak, tears falling patter-patter.

Zhao Zixun then said: "Perhaps this is my love tribulation; whether I keep you or keep myself, if one person is missing, it is not passed; Fu Wan, do you dare to undergo another lifetime of love tribulation with me?"

"Or perhaps, lifetime after lifetime?"

Zhao Zixun's hand was held in my hand.

I could feel that hand gradually growing cold, stiffening.

I was afraid.

I was very, very afraid of losing him.

So at this moment, all reason, all weighing of pros and cons, were shattered into dust.

All I know is that he needs me, so I will stay with him.

Whether for a lifetime or for endless reincarnations, it's fine.

Experiencing the love tribulation is acceptable; but also, it's fine.

In short, as long as we are together, it's good.

I nodded firmly: "Okay, Zhao Zixun, through mountains of knives and seas of fire, through the Yellow Springs and azure heavens, I, Fu Wan, will accompany you forever."

Zhao Zixun smiled contentedly.

The next moment, a powerful suction suddenly enveloped Zhao Zixun and me; I only felt my vision go dark, and instinctively I clung tightly to Zhao Zixun.

The heavens spun and the earth turned, the constellations shifted.

When we opened our eyes again, we found ourselves, carried by that suction, landing on a ship.

At the bow, Yu Nian's voice rang out: "Wanwan, hold on tight, I will ferry you across the river…"