The Shattered Hope

The Grand Xia world. An island in the North Sea.

Ji Ning was taking in the scenery before him. Though it was winter, the heat within this island kept it warm like spring, and flowers were in full bloom, beautiful indeed.

"Senior apprentice-sister."

"We're going to meet soon. Our family will be reunited." Ji Ning still remembered the scene of his senior apprentice-sister stroking her belly while watching him practice his sword. That warm scene had vanished the moment he crushed the Divine Farmer's medicine and her soul had scattered. Ji Ning had fought with all his might for it, racked his brains for a solution. Fortunately, he had the karmic opportunity to train in the Lightning-Serpent Teleportation, fortunately his Heartforce was formidable, fortunately Fuxi had created the Rahu Formation for him, forcing the Seamless Gate to lower their heads.

Finally, he had the chance to reunite with his senior apprentice-sister and his daughter Brightmoon. A family reunited.

"Wooom~" A ripple descended.

Ji Ning started. He immediately turned his head to look.

At the end of the winding path in the distance stood a black-robed man. The Godking of the Seamless Gate was strolling over leisurely, a smile on his face. "This island is quite nice, very beautiful. Your Primaltwin is still in the Great Battleworld of Zhuolu, yet you appear here in person. It seems you've emerged from the Moon Underwater Abyss."

"Yes," Ji Ning nodded.

"Impressive, impressive." The Godking nodded in praise. "To be honest, Ji Ning, even though we are on opposing sides, the fact that you managed to come out of the Moon Underwater Abyss in a mere six hundred years still surprises me. That fellow Jue Ming was trapped there since ancient times and only got out during the era of the Three Realms."

Ji Ning said, "I've emerged. Will you keep your promise, now?"

"Have you brought all the treasures I requested?" The Godking laughed. "As I said before, you give me the treasures. I return your senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei's soul to you."

"I brought them."

Ji Ning's heartbeat quickened involuntarily, though he maintained his calm on the surface.

"I trust you on the other two treasures. What about the Iceheart Leaf?" the Godking said.

Ji Ning flipped his hand, and a crystalline, nearly translucent Iceheart Leaf appeared hovering above his palm.

"It truly is the Iceheart Leaf." The Godking stared at it carefully, a hint of fascination in his gaze. "So beautiful. Just like the legends say. This is the first time I've seen an Iceheart Leaf with my own eyes. Mm. Alright. You can destroy it now."

"Destroy it?" Ji Ning's heart sank.

Destroy the Iceheart Leaf? What did he mean?

"I've seen it now. It's of no further use to me." The Godking looked at Ji Ning. "I merely wished to see what it looked like."

"I have brought the treasures. Please return my senior apprentice-sister's soul," Ji Ning pressed.

"Ha... hahaha..." The Godking let out a piercing laugh, throwing his head back, laughing madly, laughing as if tears were about to come out. His body shook with laughter as he pointed at Ji Ning. "Ji Ning, oh, Ji Ning. You think yourself a peerless genius of your generation. Haven't you understood by now? All those years ago, when I demanded you bring the Iceheart Leaf, it was only to force you into the Moon Underwater Abyss! As for that single Iceheart Leaf, those other treasures? What do such treasures mean to me, a Daofather? What do they mean to the entire Seamless Gate? Nothing at all! Did you truly believe I cared about those three treasures?"

"All I wanted was to send you into that abyss!"

"Though you emerged in a mere six hundred years, it was enough, enough! The infiltration of the Three Realms is complete. Our Seamless Gate and Nuwa's camp are already locked in battle on the Great Battleworld of Zhuolu. The struggle for the fate of the Realm will be decided before long. There's no need for infiltration anymore." The Godking laughed. "If you had emerged in just a hundred or two hundred years, I might have had to think of other plans. But six hundred years... you are no longer a threat."

"Not the slightest threat."

"Now that war has begun for my Seamless Gate, we send out vast armies, armies of boundless scale and power! What are you, a mere Empyrean God and True Immortal, with that broken-down Rahu Formation of yours, against such a force?" The Godking cackled like a madman.

The humiliation he had suffered years ago, when Ji Ning forced him to bow his head, had long festered into a burning hatred. Though he could not openly make a move, watching Ji Ning consumed by despair and rage—that was a pleasure even sweeter than killing him.

As the Godking laughed wildly, he watched Ji Ning closely, studying every flicker of expression on his face, hoping to find 'rage, desperation' to satisfy his own inner demon. Other cultivators feared inner demons, but the Godking, who cultivated the Dao of the Heart Demon, was himself the incarnation of the Heart Demon! And his master was the Lord of All Demons.

He was disappointed.

Ji Ning simply stood there, without any reaction at all.

Snap.

Something inside his heart shattered.

The woman who always stood quietly to the side, watching him practice his sword with a happy smile... she was not coming back.

It hurt!

Ji Ning felt his heart aching, hurt so badly he felt like he was going mad. He wanted to laugh, wanted to roar. But no sound could escape his lips. Though karmic hellfire had clung to him for so many years, he had never cared. But the pain he felt now was a thousand times, a million times more terrible than the burning of karmic fire.

"Hah... hah..."

A hoarse laugh finally escaped Ji Ning's throat.

Like a child learning to speak for the first time.

"Hahaha... hahaha..." Ji Ning burst into wild laughter. The tears finally came streaming down his face.

The Godking watched, finally satisfied. This was right. This was the normal reaction. Strange that it had taken him so long to react at all.

"Haha, I knew all along you were not to be trusted." Ji Ning's eyes were bloodshot, the whites completely suffused with red. "I knew it. You, Godking, play with people's hearts and sow chaos across the Three Realms. What worth has a promise from you? And yet I believed. I still entered the Moon Underwater Abyss. I still struggled with everything I had to emerge as quickly as possible."

"I still came here, clutching those three treasures like a fool. I knew full well that your promises were almost worthless. But I came anyway, because I held on to hope. A sliver of hope... hoping... hoping that my senior apprentice-sister could come back."

"Hoping she could come back."

"Brightmoon and I, we missed her. We just wanted to be a family. A family, reunited."

"And you have finally shattered that last sliver of hope. Shattered it completely." Ji Ning laughed, his body trembling with mirth that was closer to madness. "Haha. I was so naive. So naive. I have been deceiving myself all along, deceiving myself into believing that I could still be with my senior apprentice-sister. How absurd. What a fool I am. A fool."

The Godking could feel the heartbreak of the young man before him, his pain, his despair—the despair of having even the last shred of hope extinguished.

The Godking was satisfied.

At ease.

This was right. This was called pain. This was called a broken heart.

"You should understand by now. At a time like this, with the great calamity upon us, a mere Empyrean God and True Immortal like you can no longer influence the overall situation. What matters now is the combined power of many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. Still, I do have an appreciation for talent." The Godking looked at Ji Ning. "I invite you once again to join the Seamless Gate. If you are willing to join, you can be together with your senior apprentice-sister immediately! Isn't that what you want? To be together with her? To be reunited with your daughter, your family? Join the Seamless Gate, and it will be done. Once you become one of us, there will be no reason for me to scheme against you. I will treat you well. After all, you are a true genius and expert among Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. Though you may not influence the final struggle for fortune, you can still be of some use."

"If you join the Seamless Gate now, you can be reunited with your senior apprentice-sister. But if you refuse... she will be of no further value to me. I will kill her. Wipe her soul from existence, hahaha..."

"You have no other choice." The Godking stared at Ji Ning.

Ji Ning, however, was still bent over, laughing. "A fool. I've been such a fool."

"Thank you." Ji Ning straightened up. He lifted his head and stared directly at the Godking.

The Godking's heart skipped a beat.

What kind of gaze was this? The stronger one's Heartforce, the more terrifying their gaze usually was. The Godking would not be concerned if an ordinary mortal stared at him like that, no matter how mad they were. But Ji Ning's Heartforce had reached the fourth level, and the gaze he now turned on the Godking carried a hatred and murderous intent so vast that even all the water in the Three Realms could not wash it clean.

It was a killing intent that had sunk into the very depths of his soul and truesoul.

"Thank you for shattering my hope. Thank you for destroying my foolish illusions. Thank you for leaving me with no further hesitation." Ji Ning spoke. "We will take this slowly. There are still many days ahead. I will repay you properly." Having said this, he turned and left, transforming into a streak of light that flew away.

"If you don't agree, your senior apprentice-sister will be useless to me. I will kill her!" the Godking roared after him.

"Senior apprentice-sister is already dead. I am the one who killed her!" Ji Ning's voice echoed through heaven and earth before he vanished from the Grand Xia world.