Gao Wu: You have science, and I have magic!

The Qing Emperor seemed to be thinking about something, his gaze cast towards the still burning Tianjian Bureau headquarters in the distance.

"So, they deliberately let Ye Qingzhou destroy the Tianjian Bureau?"

Emperor Mie laughed softly, "The Sky Sword Bureau has expanded too fast in recent years, and it has threatened their interests. One-Eyed Nick thinks he is in control of the overall situation, but he doesn't know that he is just a discarded piece on the chessboard."

"The Golden Council wants to plunge the world into turmoil, the Eagle's Nest wants to regain military dominance, the Department of Science and Strategy covets the supernatural technology of the S.W.O.R.D., and the Scarlet Templar... ah, they just want to see the demise of the Blasphemer."

"So, they tacitly chose to watch."

The Qing Emperor shook his head and sighed with a hint of sarcasm:

"It's really sad that a giant that could have ruled the world destroyed itself because of internal strife."

Emperor Mie raised his glass, a cold light flashing in his eyes:
“That’s why our plan can go smoothly.”

"Ye Qingzhou's death is just the beginning."

"Next, the real game begins."

The two men smiled at each other and clinked their glasses. The crisp sound was like the bell of fate, echoing over the burning Xinxiang.

At this moment, the war finally came to an end, and the Tianjian Bureau of the Xiji Country no longer existed from then on.

The death domain in Ye Qingzhou's body could finally no longer be suppressed, and was only one step away from completely devouring Ye Qingzhou's essence, energy, and spirit.

The Green Emperor Fuxi looked from afar towards the area where Ye Qingzhou was. A complex look flashed in his eyes, but he quickly regained his calm.

"He's dying."

Emperor Mie said, his tone without mercy, only an almost cold observation.

"I know."

Qingdi said softly.

Emperor Mie looked at him sideways, his lips slightly raised: "Does Ye Qingzhou know that you lied to him?"

The Qing Emperor was silent for a moment and shook his head: "I just didn't tell the whole truth, it's not considered a lie."

Emperor Mie chuckled, seeming to be satisfied with the answer. He raised his glass again, his eyes gleaming with a deep light: "It doesn't matter, our plan is about to succeed anyway, how about celebrating?"

The Green Emperor looked at the wine in the cup, looked at the Mie Emperor meaningfully, and said slowly: "Yes, the end is imminent, victory or defeat depends on who is more skilled."

The two men clinked their glasses again, and the wine rippled in the glasses, reflecting the burning Xinxiang city in the distance.

In the center of the battlefield, Ye Qingzhou's sword light was still shining, but it was getting weaker and weaker.

His death was already predetermined.

And all this is just one step in the long chess game between the two supreme beings.

…………

"It's time to leave..."

Ye Qingzhou sheathed his sword and without looking at the corpses on the ground behind him, he disappeared in a flash.

In the dim morning light, on the coastline of Dongji Kingdom, the waves gently hit the rocks, like the gentlest sigh between heaven and earth.

Ye Qingzhou leaned in Xu Yuebing's arms, his white clothes stained with blood, and golden lines had spread to his eyebrows. His life was like a candle in the wind, which could be extinguished at any time.

Xu Yuebing hugged him tightly, her fingertips trembling, and tears silently slid down and dripped onto his cheeks.

"Don't cry..."

Ye Qingzhou raised his hand and gently wiped away her tears. His voice was weak but gentle: "It is a gift from God to come back and see you for the last time."

Xu Yuebing shook her head and choked up, "You promised to stay with me forever..."

Ye Qingzhou looked at the sun gradually rising at the end of the sea level, and a smile appeared on his pale face.

"Look, what a beautiful sunrise."

Golden light sprinkled on the sea, making the waves sparkle, as if a road to heaven was paved with countless pieces of gold.

Xu Yuebing hugged him tightly and said in a trembling voice: "If you leave, what meaning will the most beautiful sunrise in the world have to me?"

Ye Qingzhou did not answer, but just looked into the distance quietly, his eyes gradually becoming dull.

"Yue Bing..."

He whispered, "After I die, bury my sword... back in Linjiang..."

Before he finished speaking, his hands slowly dropped, and the light in his eyes went out like a candle.

"Ye Qingzhou...?"

Xu Yuebing's voice trembled as she shook him gently: "Don't sleep...look at me again...look at the sunrise again..."

But the person in my arms no longer responded.

The morning breeze blew, the waves whimpered, and a long sword sound seemed to echo between heaven and earth, sad and desolate.

When the Sword Master dies, all swords mourn.

At the same time, the five magical weapons rang without wind, clanging as if mourning the death of their master.

Xu Yuebing hugged Ye Qingzhou's gradually cooling body tightly. Tears blurred her vision, but she still stared stubbornly at the rising sun.

"Look... the sun is rising..."

"But my sun...will never rise again..."

The sea breeze was howling and the waves were surging, as if the heaven and earth were also mourning the departure of this generation of Sword Master.

Ye Qingzhou's funeral was held at the Xu family's ancestral home in Linjiang.

The Xu family is a thousand-year-old family in Dongji Kingdom. Their land is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and ancient trees are towering.

On this day, white banners were lowered, the mourning hall was solemn, and a black ice jade coffin was placed in the main hall. Ye Qingzhou lay peacefully inside, his face looked lifelike, his white clothes were whiter than snow, and only the golden line between his eyebrows showed that he had been hit by a golden arrow that could destroy the law, and he fought to the last moment.

Xu Yuebing was dressed in plain clothes, kneeling in front of the coffin, with a wooden expression and no tears in her eyes.

Xu Wanqing gently stroked her daughter's hair and said softly, "Yuebing, he passed away peacefully. You don't have to blame yourself."

Xu Yunxi also knelt beside her sister, holding her cold hand, and whispered: "If Qingzhou is still alive, he would definitely not want to see you like this."

Xu Yuebing did not respond, but just stared quietly at the person in the coffin, as if he wanted to carve his appearance into his soul.

Classmates and old friends mourn the sword master

At the funeral, Ye Qingzhou's former classmates and friends came to pay their respects.

Huang Liwen, the always smiling deskmate back then, now had a heavy face. He bowed deeply three times in front of the coffin and whispered, "Old Ye, you said you would treat me to your wedding wine, but now... I'm the one seeing you off."

Zhu Jinfeng's eyes were red. She poured a pot of strong liquor in front of the coffin and choked up, "Ye Qingzhou, I was thinking of discussing swordsmanship with you again after I became a martial saint..."

Leon remained silent, but placed a war medal in front of the coffin - it was the highest honor he received in an operation after secretly joining the army.

Li Yan'er gently put down a jade flute and whispered, "Back then you said you wanted to hear me play the song "Sword Soul". Today... I will play it for you one last time."

The flute sounded mournful and plaintive, echoing in the mourning hall, and everyone who heard it shed tears.

Senior Lu Yifan and Miao Yi stood side by side. Both of them had become excellent martial artists and even joined the army and joined the Shen Ce Army. But at this moment, they took off their military uniforms, knelt on one knee with the etiquette of a warrior, and said in a deep voice: "Junior brother Ye, have a safe journey."

Martial arts masters, paying tribute to the heroic soul

The funeral was going on until noon when several important figures arrived.

Gu Minghui, the divine fortune teller, represented the Tianji Research Institute. He held the Book of Mysterious Destiny in his hand, calculated for a moment in front of the spirit, and sighed: "The death of the Sword Saint has disturbed the destiny of the heavens. This is a sign of a great catastrophe."

The divine general Qinglong, representing the Shen Ce Army, was wearing black armor and had a sword hanging from his waist. He bowed deeply in front of the spirit and said solemnly: "Ye Qingzhou shook the Western hegemony with his own strength. This is the glory of our Eastern martial arts. The Shen Ce Army will remember this battle forever!"

Qi Shengtian, the Nine Dragon Fist Saint, is the leading figure in the martial arts world. His hair and beard are all white, but he is in good spirits. He stared at Ye Qingzhou's remains and said slowly: "The Wuji Sword Saint is worthy of his reputation. I thought that no one could reach the highest level of martial arts, but today I know that there is always someone better than you." The previous generation of Tianjian Sikong Jingming was once the leader of the Dongji Kingdom's sword world. Although he has retired now, his status is still noble.

He stood in front of the spirit, silent for a long time, and finally left only one sentence: "It's a pity, the future of Dongji Country's martial arts world should have belonged to you."

final farewell
The funeral ended at sunset.

Xu Yuebing stayed alone in the mourning hall, gently stroking the jade coffin, and whispered: "Qingzhou, don't worry, I will live well..."

She leaned over and gently kissed Ye Qingzhou on his cold lips, then turned and left, her back looking resolute and lonely.

That night, from the back mountain of Xu's ancestral land, a sword light shot up into the sky, and frost condensed into a lotus that lingered for a long time. In the midst of the ice and snow, it seemed as if a fairy phoenix spread its wings and sang loudly.

…………

Ye Qingzhou's soul sank and floated in nothingness, his five senses were all lost, and only his consciousness drifted in eternal darkness.

There was no light, no sound, no passage of time, only endless falling.

"Am I... dead?"

His mind was still functioning, but he could not feel his own existence, as if he had been thrown into the deepest crevice of the universe. Even death itself became a vague concept.

After an unknown amount of time—perhaps a moment, perhaps a thousand years—his "vision" suddenly became clear.

The darkness faded, and in its place was a world of only black and white.

The desolate earth, the gray sky, no sun, moon, no stars, only a giant tree that reaches the sky in the distance, standing between heaven and earth, with a trunk as black as ink and branches as white as snow, so majestic that it is breathtaking.

Ye Qingzhou lowered his head and found that he actually had a "body". He was still wearing the same white clothes, but his body was almost transparent, as if it was made of mist.

He walked forward, there was no sound, no dust under his feet, as if he was walking in a dream.

"Where is this?" he muttered to himself, his voice echoing in the empty world, but no one answered.

He walked towards the huge tree.

Every step seemed to cover thousands of miles, but the tree was always out of reach, as if it could never be approached.

Finally, he stopped and looked up at the existence that penetrated the heaven and earth. An inexplicable thought emerged in his mind -

This tree is the "root" of the world.

At this moment, an old voice sounded behind him:

"When the Scale Clan ruled the Three Realms, this place was called 'Guixu'."

Ye Qingzhou turned his head suddenly and saw the Golden Crow Prince standing quietly in the void, wearing black feathers, with a haggard face, but his eyes were as deep as the starry sky, as if he had seen through the ages: "This is the destination of all souls, and it is also a space-time layer between the world and the spirit world. In different ethnic groups and civilizations, Guixu has many different names, such as the underworld, the underworld, hell..."

"Prince Jinwu?"

Ye Qingzhou interrupted the old man's chattering. It was obvious that his death had brought Prince Jinwu into Guixu as well.

Prince Jinwu smiled and nodded, then lightly tapped his skinny fingers, and the sky in the black and white world suddenly twisted, and countless images emerged.

Ye Qingzhou saw Xu Yuebing kneeling in front of his spirit, crying silently.

Later, we see that on the ruins of the Tianjian Bureau, the Xiji Kingdom is engaged in a fierce internal struggle to divide up the power left by the Tianjian Bureau.

Then he saw Qing Emperor and Mie Emperor sitting opposite each other drinking, with smiles on their faces, as if they were planning something.

In the end, he even saw... his body buried on the top of Wudang Mountain, and under the sword tomb, there was a faint golden light flowing...

"Your death is inevitable."

Prince Jinwu slowly revealed a shocking secret: "The Golden Arrow of Destruction is not a killing weapon, but a 'key'."

Ye Qingzhou's pupils shrank: "Key?"

Prince Jinwu did not answer directly, but just looked up at the giant tree and said quietly: "This tree is called 'Heavenly Way'."

"And you, the destined one."

Before he finished speaking, the branches of the giant tree suddenly moved without wind, and a snow-white leaf fell and slowly flew towards Ye Qingzhou.

Ye Qingzhou reached out to catch it, and in an instant——

Boom~~
His soul was struck by lightning, and countless fragments of memories flooded into his consciousness!
He saw himself slashing the sky with a sword!
He saw Xu Yuebing walking alone in the sea of ​​blood!

He saw Qing Emperor and Mie Emperor standing at the end of the world, swinging their swords together to slash at the void, cutting the entire world!

Finally... he saw the true purpose of the golden arrow that could destroy the Dharma -

It is not designed to kill people.

It is used to...

It makes people realize the true meaning of "death".

"What on earth is going on?"

Ye Qingzhou had mixed feelings. Although he had long guessed that the Green Emperor was holding back, he never expected that the man with thick eyebrows and big eyes would actually kill his savior.

Prince Jinwu laughed softly and said, "Haven't you seen it? When you want to know the truth, you often don't get an answer if you ask questions."

Ye Qingzhou fell into deep thought, and then slowly said what he was thinking: "The Green Emperor and the Mie Emperor have joined forces? Was the Mie Emperor's death intentional?"

"good."

Prince Jinwu nodded with great satisfaction.

Ye Qingzhou then looked at the giant tree in the distance, staring at the giant tree that penetrated the sky and the earth.

Between the black and white branches and leaves, a crystal clear fruit was slowly taking shape, emitting a hazy halo. The colorful light was neither blazing nor dazzling, but it made his soul involuntarily want to get closer.

"Tao fruit..."

The voice of the Golden Crow Prince once again rang in Ye Qingzhou's ears: "Only one is formed in each era. The one who devours it can obtain the authority of the Heavenly Dao and reshape the laws of the Three Realms."

Ye Qingzhou suddenly felt a sharp pain - he saw familiar patterns emerging on the surface of the fruit, which were a large number of golden secret texts. The powerful torrent of information hit his mind and will!
"Those who have not become emperors cannot look directly at the fruits of the Tao."

Prince Jinwu gave a reminder.

Ye Qingzhou quickly closed his eyes and turned his face away: "The conspiracy of the Green Emperor and the Destroyed Emperor is for the Dao Fruit, right?"

"Yes and no."

Prince Jinwu shook his head: "In order to save the world, the Green Emperor can sacrifice everything, even himself. The Dao Fruit is a bet between him and the Mie Emperor."

"gambling?"

"Well, with the world as the chessboard and all living beings as chess pieces, we are betting on a victory or defeat. However, regardless of victory or defeat, as long as the bet between the two is completed, the Taixu Divine Dynasty will undoubtedly be destroyed."

At this point, Prince Jinwu looked at Ye Qingzhou and said, "And you are the bait deliberately released by the Green Emperor and the Destroying Emperor."

"Who are you trying to catch by using me as bait?"

"Emperor of Hades."

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingzhou immediately understood the plan of Qing Emperor and Mie Emperor. His identity as the savior was real, but no one had ever said that the savior could not be sacrificed.

Even salvation itself means sacrifice.

"This is really a bummer..."

Ye Qingzhou was speechless.

"This is too disrespectful. If you really want to sacrifice me, you should have told me in advance."

"Would I not agree?"

"Well, I really won't agree to that." (End of this chapter)