Gu Qing Shan didn’t pay much attention to what was happening.
When Xiao Die was standing next to him, his four swords also appeared from the void of space and stood guard around him.
With this level of protection he was able to temporarily ignore everything on the outside world and focus completely on invading the wraith’s Thought Sea to analyze the soul-reaping Life Talisman in his head.
The world had been completely erased, turned into emptiness by the wind.
And then, the Hitman Guild’s master broke through the barrier and fell among the enemy ranks, causing them to also go insane.
None of it affected Gu Qing Shan.
But that wouldn’t be the same for everyone else.
A golden glow appeared on the body of Fei Yue’s father, Hong Yi Jue.
“Move away!”
He shouted, then took out a Life Talisman from his sleeve and tossed it forward.
The Life Talisman turned into a flare and was quickly burnt away.
Pop pop pop pop pop pop——–
The heads of the big shots who went insane abruptly exploded at the same time, killing them all.
There weren’t many people left on their side.
After a few moments, the Head of the Grand Library rushed forward, clutched Hong Yi Jue’s collar, and angrily shouted:
“Hong Yi Jue, we had the formation, why did our side still suffer heavy casualties!?”
Hong Yi Jue coldly looked at him, answering: “He was carrying the power of an Unlivable Apocalypse on his body, no formation could defend against that. Also, do you want to die as well?”
The big shot hesitantly loosened his hand and slowly backed down.
The Bounty Hunter Guild’s master stared blankly at the headless corpses around him.
“Dead… they’re all dead…”
He muttered in shock.
Originally, he thought that by joining the old City Lord’s side, combined with the Wraith realm’s support, they would be able to defeat their opponents without much trouble.
And yet, it was their side that suffered the great casualties before anything even began.
If he didn’t happen to stand a bit further away, his head would have exploded from Hong Yi Jue triggering the Life Talisman inside his soul.
Is this the outcome of pledging our allegiance to the wraiths?
The wraiths are actually just using us as fodders, aren’t they?
…Laughable.
How laughable!
Suddenly, the Bounty Hunter Guild’s master felt immense regret.
Hong Yi Jue breathed heavily for a bit, then suddenly turned towards the void of space and shouted at Fei Yue: “Daughter, do you still not understand? Do you want everyone here to die before you agree to get married to the wraiths?”
Fei Yue witnessed everything that happened through the screen of light, staring blankly at the scenery outside Void City and muttering to herself: “That’s impossible, so many expert Combatants of the void, there’s no way that the wraiths don’t care about them at all”
Hong Yi Jue coldly scoffed, then shouted: “Expert Combatants? We are indeed a bit powerful, but you don’t know the truth of this world at all”
Fei Yue paused.
She looked closely at Hong Yi Jue, seeing a clear sense of fear that flashed through his expression.
He’s afraid.
Afraid of what?
For the very first time, Fei Yue felt uncertainty.
The situation was truly too mysterious and confusing, normal people wouldn’t be able to understand what was happening at all.
The blind nun stood by Fei Yue and spoke to her in a whisper: “It seems the situation is much more complicated than what we had imagined. Fei Yue, can you tell us something that we don’t know about yet? I might be able to use my [Living Beings Clear Mind] technique to help you see through the origin of this problem”
While she spoke, an eye opened above her head that stared into the void of space, while her closed eyes began to weep tears of blood.
—–at a time like this, the blind nun was no longer worried about conserving her strength and fully unleashed a clear mind technique that surpassed even Space and Time.
Seeing that, Fei Yue answered: “Before my mother died, she used her soul to place a Destiny Shackle on my body—- until the day I get married, as soon as anyone tries to force me to use my Fate techniques or steal my Fate abilities, they will die with me”
The blind nun was startled and asked: “Why did she do that?”
Fei Yue blankly replied: “Because she was also helpless to win against those enemies, having no choice but to use this method to temporarily guarantee my safety”
The blind nun remained silent for a short moment before continuing: “I understand now, the wraiths need this power of yours—— they’re in a desperate need to use your Fate abilities to complete a certain thing”
“No one else is able to achieve this, only your Fate abilities could complete this feat”
Everyone was shocked, unable to help themselves turning towards the blind nun.
The blind nun wiped the tears below her eyes and continued: “After so many years, the wraiths can no longer remain patient, so they brought your father here in order to force you to make the final decision”
Fei Yue didn’t say anything.
She seemed to have understood everything.
The Ominous Demon Tower’s master couldn’t help but ask: 「 What choice? 」
The blind nun replied: “To let everything in Void City be destroyed, as well as for Fei Yue to witness her father and everyone else die in front of her eyes”
“Or what?”
“Or Fei Yue must immediately agree to the marriage, then use her Fate abilities for the sake of the Wraith realm”
“——-only then, would the wraiths let everyone here go”
Everyone was completely speechless.
It was only now that they understood the wraith’s intentions.
To make Fei Yue see her father and the Void City that she had personally built up to this point be completely destroyed.
Extreme cruelty and ruthlessness.
But this was the wraith’s ultimatum, they were forcing Fei Yue to make a choice.
The blind nun appeared sympathetic and continued: “If they cannot have Fei Yue, the wraiths are willing to let her die, rather than letting her powers serve others”
The blind nun lightly touched Fei Yue’s shoulder and said: “Child, you have suffered”
Suddenly.
Two more black dots appeared out of the empty void of space.
These black dots only stayed in the air for a second before they dropped down in front of everyone’s eyes.
They then jumped, one of them landing at the foot of the man who carried a 50-meter blade on his shoulder.
The other landed in front of a beast-headed human-bodied Combatant standing next to him.
As everyone looked at them, they saw the two dots open up, turning into a pair of small green snakes.
These green snakes were smaller than the black snake from before, but they each had five heads.
The man with the blade couldn’t help but speak: “A strange snake?”
The beast-headed Combatant next to him also couldn’t help but wonder: 「 How did these things appear here? 」
The man didn’t move at all, but a series of blurred images suddenly appeared from the blade on his shoulder.
The beast-headed Combatant also casually threw a punch.
The two small green snakes instantly disappeared just as they were struck.
A split second later——
The snakes reappeared on their bodies, lightly bit them, then vanished again.
A sense of indiscernible terror descended upon them.
“Damn it!”
The man abruptly snapped out of it and cursed in regret.
「 AARRRGHH—– 」
The beast-headed Combatant had already begun shouting in madness.
He had gone insane.
Seeing that, the man’s gaze displayed the resolution to die, he suddenly tossed his blade away and rushed forward to grab the beast-headed Combatant.
“Everyone, farewell!”
The man shouted.
At the very next moment, their figures disappeared in front of everyone.
It all happened in the mere blink of an eye.
Before the rest could even react, the two of them had already been bitten and disappeared.
The blind nun appeared full of sorrow and muttered:
“They… to not spread death and madness to us, have died”
「 Where did Cracked Blade take Tree Beast? 」the Ominous Demon Tower’s master asked.
Fei Yue took out a small glowing stone.
The glow of the stone slowly faded away, then suddenly broke.
“Cracked Blade had a personal world”
Fei Yue looked at the stone and answered without changing her expression: “That world had just been destroyed”
Everyone was completely silent.
The mere omen of the Great Flood had easily eradicated two Combatants, and casually destroyed an entire world.
The blind nun took out a white handkerchief and wiped the blood tears from her eyes.
Her eyes then scowled, as if she was suffering some sort of pain.
The group then heard her explain: “I’ve seen through a bit of this Apocalypse—– it uses the power of Causality to trigger destruction. As soon as it falls into our vicinity, it will trigger a Causality ability to force us to attack it, then fall into madness”
A male voice refuted: “That isn’t the case”
Everyone looked back, only to see that it was Crow.
His eyes were reddened: “You’ve all forgotten, this is merely the omens before the Great Flood, the preliminary fluctuations of an Unlivable Apocalypse. Once it fully erupts, it would not be as weak as this”
——you call this weak?
Everyone couldn’t help but think that.
But they certainly couldn’t refute the fact that this was indeed only an omen of the Great Flood.
The wraiths are somehow able to manipulate the Great Flood.
If they had the ability to manipulate an Apocalypse, is there anything that the wraiths cannot do?
Which world within this infinite void would be able to go against them?
Everyone slowly fell into despair.
In the screen of light hovering in the void of space, Hong Yi Jue opened his eyes wide, looked at Fei Yue, then shouted:
“Daughter, do you still not get it? This is irresistible power!”
“My daughter, I no longer have another death-immunity talisman——–”
Hong Yi Jue was practically begging as he shouted:
“It’s merely working for the wraiths; can’t you see that clearly? Or do you want us all to die within this Apocalypse?”
Fei Yue coldly replied: “Mother had already predicted the results of me working for the wraiths, and you know full well what that is!”
“Results…”
Everyone heard Hong Yi Jue’s weak voice filled with nothing but stifled emotions: “Regardless of the results, even getting to enjoy life one more day as a wraith is still better than dying immediately!”
He threw the talisman in his hand away, his complexion completely ashen:
“Over the past years, I’ve enjoyed a lot of things, but all of them come with a certain price. I need to marry you into the Wraith realm, if I fail to do that, the wraiths will definitely take my life”
“This is already the last chance, daughter”
“Whether everyone dies together, or live another day as you become a female ruler of the Wraith realm, everything depends on your decision”
“Even if you hate me, you cannot simply watch as everyone in Void City loses their life in this Apocalypse!”
Fei Yue’s figure was slightly trembling.
Void City…
She clenched both her fist and her teeth tightly: “In the past, Mother was able to fight against the wraiths for an entire day without losing, but you insisted on not leading Void City against the wraiths—–”
“Father, you used to be a renowned great Combatant within the void, why do you not have even a little bit of desire to resist them? Is it because you already knew that the wraiths had an Unlivable Apocalypse in their hands?”
She loudly questioned him.
Hong Yi Jue paused for a bit, then showed a strange expression.
In front of everyone, he opened his mouth, then slowly closed it, then abruptly opened it again.
His appearance looked a bit laughable, but Hong Yi Jue’s expression was filled with despair as he was breathing heavily, not at all trying to make fun or joking.
It was as if he had something stuck in his throat, unable to speak.
Fei Yue was confused by that.
Everyone else also felt it was strange.
Regardless if he did or not, couldn’t he just answer straight?
If the old City Lord was truly bending to the hidden strength of the wraiths, that would only better help the wraiths strike fear into them without resulting in any other consequences, so why is Hong Yi Jue so hesitant to speak?
The blind nun suddenly said: “Even as a top Combatant of the void, he has become extremely frightful”
This comment caused everyone to fall silent.
Carefully observing the old City Lord, they were indeed able to see that his body was trembling nonstop.
At that moment, both sides fell into an unusual stalemate.
…what exactly is a Combatant of his caliber afraid of?
Under such circumstances, what choice will Fei Yue make?
Everyone had such thoughts, then couldn’t help but pull their gazes back to look at Fei Yue.
At this point.
This extremely pivotal moment, only a single person wasn’t paying any attention to Fei Yue.
Gu Qing Shan.
——if Gu Qing Shan had been constantly paying close attention to the situation, he might have been able to notice something from Hong Yi Jue’s expressions just now.
This wasn’t related to any sort of Thaumaturgy or his level of power.
In reality, Gu Qing Shan had already fought against the wraiths in many worlds, he had witnessed the wraiths taking over a Huang Quan realm fragment, he had seen the Divine Skill [Lead The People][1], and he knew about the fact that the wraiths had planned for countless years in order to enter the Inner Plane.
He had fought against Cang Wu Zhang, personally faced Red Wraith in the Saint Spirit world, and even saw through the Sacrificial Dance how the Wraith Lord fought against the Eternal Abyss, then desperately ran away.
——if Gu Qing Shan was able to see Hong Yi Jue’s unusual expression and committed his full attention to ponder these matters, he might have been able to reach one or more unbelievable conclusions.
Unfortunately, Gu Qing Shan was currently in a state of absolute focus.
——-he had both his eyes closed, currently doing everything he could to reverse-engineer the structure of this Life Talisman.
And so, everyone only saw a flare talisman flying in front of Hong Yi Jue from an extremely far distance.
Hong Yi Jue received the talisman, then his expression became completely bitter.
“What authority, what treasure, what bullshit power, they’re all nothing but fireflies that can’t compare to the shine of moonlight, and it’s time for us to face our final destiny”
He waved the talisman and infused his power into it.
The talisman suddenly lit up.
An old voice resounded from within the talisman:
[City Lord Fei Yue, we recognize your power, and as long as you are willing to work for the Wraith realm, everything can be negotiated]
[We have waited for you for a very long time, which cannot continue any longer, because… certain events are about to occur]
[We cannot allow your power to exist outside of the Wraith realm’s grasp, I hope you can understand]
[In consideration of your father and daughter’s deep relationship, I will give you one last incense’s worth of time]
[After this incense burns out, you will choose to either get married or to face the Unlivable Apocalypse]
[City Lord Fei Yue, I hope you will make the proper choice]
The talisman burst into flame, then quickly burnt away.
Silence.
There was nothing else but the absolute silence within this void.
Fei Yue’s gaze passed through everyone.
The entire Void City is about to be destroyed… and the only outcome for everyone is death.
Countless years of preparations, and this is the result?
Fei Yue rubbed away her tears at the corners of her eyes.
She took a deep breath, then resolutely spoke: “I… am willing…”
Suddenly, a voice cut her off.
“Ah? Seems like a lot has happened—— Fei Yue, first undo your Fate technique!”
Gu Qing Shan opened his eyes and shouted in a low voice.
[1] [Lead The People] was a puppeteering skill that gave perfect control over corpses up to Deific King level, part of the Divine Skill combination that summoned a bunch of coffins full of corpses