Chapter 49 Part 9

“Wait for the Cyan Wolf to join,” Mu Qingshan said. “Then we’ll have a better chance.”

“We can’t wait any longer,” Xiang Xian replied. “These days, whenever I close my eyes, I see Xiao Kun engulfed in flames inside Heavenly Demon Palace.”

“You’re the Grand Demon-Exorcist. You decide.” Mu Qingshan didn’t press.

“The hardest part is pinpointing Heavenly Demon Palace’s location. It’s in the fissures…” A stranger’s male voice came.

The scenery shifted again. Xiang Xian saw Xiao Kun once more, standing beneath the Demon King’s throne in Heavenly Demon Palace. He wore the armor of war dead corpse ghosts, utterly transformed.

“Xiang Xian.” One of Xiao Kun’s eyes was blind; the other blazed with indigo light. His skin was deathly pale, many parts of his body rotted, and the bones of his wrist gleamed white.

“Xiao Kun?” Xiang Xian turned and ran toward him.

Xiao Kun said lowly, “This is my last, only shred of sober will… Xiang Xian, listen to me.”

“I’ll definitely save you,” Xiang Xian blurted. “Don’t give up! Xiao Kun! Hold to your true heart! Don’t submit to King Mu!”

Xiao Kun: “No, listen to me…”

“Don’t give up!”

“Listen to me!” Xiao Kun barked. He turned sideways, as if unwilling to let Xiang Xian see his rotten face, and whispered, “I’ll open the entrance to Heavenly Demon Palace for you, connecting it to the mortal world.

“Prepare yourself, Xiang Xian. You’ll face the most powerful Demon King in history. You must stop him.”

“Xiao Kun—!” Xiang Xian rushed forward, but Xiao Kun dissolved into black smoke and reformed in another corner, unwilling even to touch him.

“I’ll wait for you here,” Xiao Kun said earnestly. “Brother.”

Xiang Xian halted and met Xiao Kun’s gaze. Xiao Kun’s remaining eye unleashed Nether Pupil Power. In that moment, Xiang Xian opened his sea of thoughts, allowing him to probe his heart.

Xiao Kun’s voice trembled. “Enough, Xiang Xian. That you think this way is sufficient.”

“I won’t let you die,” Xiang Xian said.

“From the day I was born, I was fated to be an ill omen.”

“No, you’re not!” Xiang Xian shouted.

“My parents, Master, my homeland—all perished because of me,” Xiao Kun said slowly. “Everyone I wanted to protect left me. I shouldn’t be alive in this world.”

“Don’t think that way, Xiao Kun!” Xiang Xian approached. This time, Xiao Kun didn’t turn to smoke. He whispered, “This is the last thing I can do for you, brother.”

Though Xiang Xian knew it was a dream, he still reached out to Xiao Kun. Xiao Kun didn’t respond, but Xiang Xian kept his hand extended.

It felt like millennia had passed. Finally, Xiao Kun moved. He extended his rotten hand toward Xiang Xian, the exposed finger bones trembling as if yearning to touch him.

“This is the red rope from when I was six, won for me by my dad at the earth god festival.” Xiang Xian offered a red rope and tied it around Xiao Kun’s wrist bone. Earnestly, he said, “I’ll come find you and bring you home. You haven’t seen Jiangnan yet.”

Xiao Kun fell silent, staring at the red rope.

Xiang Xian dissolved into green smoke in the wind and vanished. The red rope dropped into Xiao Kun’s hand.

The Heavenly Demon Palace appears, with numerous rays of light shooting toward the final battlefield. Demonic Qi erupts around Xiao Kun’s body, the Heart Lamp blooms, and the Demonic Qi is scattered by the hurricane of the Heart Lamp.

“Xiao Kun…” Xiang Xian said tremblingly, “I hate you.”

Xiao Kun’s hoarse and low voice replied: “I love you. Come, let me lend you my final helping hand.”

In the final moment of Xiang Xian’s standoff with King Mu, Xiao Kun pounces on King Mu, locking him in place and beginning to absorb the Demon King’s power. King Mu struggles ceaselessly as Xiang Xian’s tears flicker with golden light, drifting and scattering amid the storm of energy.

A ray of golden light transforms into an arrow, piercing both King Mu and Xiao Kun simultaneously. The golden light erupts, destroying the entire Heavenly Demon Palace.

The Golden Dragon flies out, carrying Xiang Xian and Xiao Kun, whose body is beginning to disintegrate. Xiang Xian expends his last strength—the Heart Lamp’s blaze and the final release of the Wisdom Sword’s divine power destroy his meridians. His body bursts with golden blood, sprinkling through the air like a sky full of gentle stars.

The Demonic Qi scatters across the earth. Unbeknownst at what point, the Wheel of Fate appears, beginning its irresistible reversal. The heavens and earth undergo another energy exchange, like a meteor shower blanketing the past, the present, and the distant, mist-shrouded future.

“This was your first life,” Mu Qingshan’s voice rings out again in the Dream Realm.

Xiang Xian stands in silence as Mu Qingshan withdraws the Dream Realm’s power. The vast visions retract, returning to the Ten Thousand Flowers Pool beside the White Jade Palace. Xiang Xian abruptly opens his eyes and asks: “What about the second life?”

“I’m tired. Even with abundant spiritual power here, I can’t sustain it any longer,” Mu Qingshan says, transforming into human form. “I’m going to sleep.”

Xiang Xian suddenly turns his head and sees Xiao Kun sitting beside him—has he returned again?

Xiao Kun: “I came to check on you.”

Xiang Xian sits up and meets Xiao Kun’s gaze. Everything from the dream feels especially real, after all, it was the life-and-death parting they once endured together.

Xiao Kun: “I was worried, so I came back. I saw you were still sleeping. What did you dream about?”

Xiang Xian says nothing, overwhelmed with emotions, staring into Xiao Kun’s indigo-blue eyes before tightly embracing him under the moonlight.

Xiao Kun remains silent for a long while, then lifts a trembling hand to hug Xiang Xian as well.

“It’s nothing,” Xiang Xian says, his voice shaking as he whispers, “This is good enough now. I have no further desires.”

The herd of deer vanishes by the Ten Thousand Flowers Pool, leaving only ripples across the water and Xiang Xian and Xiao Kun by the poolside. Moonlight fractures into billions of flowing glimmers on the waves, like their memories, drifting and sinking through the ages.