The Brink of Oblivion

Xiao Chen knew that no miracle would come. He was doomed.

After all, he was only twenty-one years old. Gifted as he might be, he was powerless before the erosion of time. Time could wear away everything, yet also forge everything. The old experts, tempered by the years, possessed a depth of cultivation that no youth could match.

The four quarters were sealed. The sky was besieged. No fewer than six half-gods surrounded him. How could he possibly escape?

“I will tear out two of your souls and seven of your spirits, leaving only one soul behind to stand eternal vigil before the White Tiger Tomb!” The Tiger Servant had already landed and was walking toward him step by step. The chill on her face was as unyielding as ten-thousand-year-old ice. Her voice was as cold as if it came from the deepest pits of the underworld: “Do you have anything to say before you die?”

“Nothing to say.” Facing death, Xiao Chen was calm.

Divine light blazed all around, illuminating the entire street. Over a hundred experts of the Hai family had the place surrounded, and beyond them, more watchers from other great families lurked in the shadows.

Hai Yuntian stood in darkness, his expression unreadable—cold, nearly numb. Hai Yunxue was serene and composed from start to finish, as if watching a play that had nothing to do with her.

The old crone, the Tiger Servant, laughed coldly. “How pathetic. To die like this in the end, without even a single word of longing for this world!”

“Why waste words when death is certain? Do you want me to beg you, to satisfy your twisted mind? I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.” Xiao Chen spoke with the lightness of drifting clouds, as if the one about to die were not himself.

“I am already content. My parents gave me life, let me grow up happily. In the twenty years past, I was blessed. Besides my parents’ love, I had many true friends, and a girl who liked me. In this life, I have known family, friendship, and love. What more could I ask for? I am not a greedy man. This simple, plain life is enough. Of course, to you, this is all too ordinary. Every one of you here dreams of climbing to high positions, looking down on the world, even sweeping away all the experts under heaven. You will never understand this simple joy.”

Hai Yunxue gave a soft laugh. In the bright moonlight, she looked like a celestial maiden descending to the mortal world, ethereal and otherworldly. “I always thought you were a decisive and fearsome man. I never imagined you had such an innocent, endearing side. I once thought you might become my most formidable rival… I never expected this. What a pity. Your family, your friends, the girl who likes you—they will never see you again.”

Facing all this, Xiao Chen felt no sorrow. His words were flat and calm. “Who in this world can have forever? What matters is that at the moment my life ends, I can still feel satisfaction. My parents have friends to care for them. True friendship, even if it ends because of me, will not fade with time. The girl I once liked—even if I have missed her forever, even if she no longer belongs to me—I feel no regret before death. The feelings we once shared will forever rest in my heart.”

“Then die!” The Tiger Servant pressed forward. She had not seen a plea for mercy, but instead Xiao Chen’s composure and calm. This left the crone deeply disappointed.

Against all expectations, Xiao Chen did not choose suicide. Instead, he held his long blade before him.

“Ha ha… Do you still want to fight me? How utterly foolish!”

“No matter what I do, I never give up until the very last moment. Do you expect me to kill myself? That would be an insult to me. I, Xiao Chen, can only die in battle. I will not die a coward’s death by my own hand!”

His calm, serene demeanor had vanished. The Xiao Chen now revealed a different side—the unyielding strength of a man. His eyes blazed with divine light. Even facing a half-god, he showed not a trace of fear.

Disdained by Xiao Chen, fury rose in the old crone’s heart. She wished she could crush him to pulp with a single slap, but then she changed her mind. Killing him outright would be too merciful. She would torment him slowly to death.

Leaving only an afterimage, the old crone appeared before Xiao Chen in an instant. Her hand, like a ghost’s claw, tore down with a speed beyond most observers’ ability to track.

Xiao Chen raised his blade to block. With a crack, the long blade shattered, scattering like shooting stars across the sky in trails of brilliant light.

A second claw tore at him. His blade was gone, but the sword-intent in his heart blazed fiercely. He himself became a heavenly blade. A dazzling sword-light cut through the night, slashing toward the crone.

Thud.

His palm-blade met the crone’s ghost claw with a dull sound. Xiao Chen was sent flying backward. The old crone did not move an inch. She smiled coldly and pressed forward.

Wiping the blood from his mouth, Xiao Chen faced her coldly. The divine ability of melting weapons into his body had dissipated most of the surging power, but it still could not resist the crone’s wild claw force, which was like a surging great river.

Shrill sounds of air being rent came as the crone’s hands moved. Several pitch-black ghost claws seemed to tear the void itself, carving out terrible trajectories. In that instant, they sealed the space around him, trapping Xiao Chen in a domain.

“I’ll slice you one cut at a time!”

This was reality. Xiao Chen might have few rivals among the younger generation, but compared to a half-god, the gap was too vast. He simply could not withstand it.

With difficulty, he moved his fingers. Blood trickled from his mouth as he pushed out the Collapse strike with unbearable pain. Radiant light illuminated all directions, and waves of energy pulsed through the domain.

The old crone gave a soft exclamation, tore open the domain, and stepped inside.

Boom!

Like a volcanic eruption, brilliant light turned the entire night sky bright. Xiao Chen struck with all four of his ultimate techniques—Collapse, Suppress Demon, Reverse Chaos, and Slay God—in rapid succession. Whatever the outcome, he had tried his best.

Light blazed, dazzling and eye-catching, as if countless stars were pouring down, illuminating the whole street. The old crone was forced back half a step, but Xiao Chen himself was drenched in blood. Every capillary in his body had burst.

Yet the divine light did not fade. It burned even more fiercely, like heavenly fire blazing into the clouds. The entire sky trembled; the entire earth shook.

The whole street collapsed and was destroyed. The surrounding ancient, decaying mansions instantly turned to dust.

Battle intent shot to the heavens. Though he knew he would die, Xiao Chen still resisted without yielding, without submitting. He wanted to unleash the flame of rage in his heart completely, paying the price of his life to clash head-on with the old crone. And to clash with fate itself.

In the blazing life-glow, this entire region shattered and was obliterated. The long-abandoned houses disintegrated to nothing, as if they had never existed—leveled, crushed flat.

The light of his life dimmed. Xiao Chen had been thoroughly defeated. But the unyielding look in his eyes was undeniable. His tall figure stood silently there, his gaze like the edge of a heavenly blade, coldly staring at all his enemies before him.

Death. Was not frightening. It was merely a transformation of the form of life. Xiao Chen felt as if his soul was about to float away from his body. He had no regrets. No matter the outcome, he had struggled.

From afar, a flute sound drifted over, mournful and long, like the soul-summoning melody of the underworld, guiding Xiao Chen’s spirit away.

The scene was cold and desolate. Everyone had witnessed what had just happened. If not for a half-god stepping forward to fight, even a Spirit-Treasury realm cultivator would have fallen. That undying divine flame of life, that unyielding, soaring battle intent, made every heart tremble. Even the old crone had been driven back, half her sleeve turned to ashes.

“Death. I do not fear it!” Xiao Chen glared at the sky. His blade-sharp gaze slowly dimmed.

No one knew why, but although the one being killed was merely a young man of the Spirit-Treasury realm, everyone felt a weight in their hearts. Even if Xiao Chen was killed, they still felt a chill. A Spirit-Treasury realm expert making them feel this way made many hearts pound with oppressive fear. Fortunately, this young man would really be completely killed!

“Ha ha…” Loud laughter came from a distance. Several young men from the great families who had been watching strode forward.

The old crone did not stop them. She was silently pondering the four techniques—Slay God, Reverse Chaos, Suppress Demon, Collapse—and felt something was off. She could hardly imagine how Xiao Chen had come to master the legendary incomplete arts.

“Xiao Chen, look at you now!” Hoffman laughed as he walked over first, followed by Zhuge Kun, Li Dongbo, Luo Guao, and a crowd of other noble sons.

As if responding to their mockery, Xiao Chen’s already dimming eyes suddenly shot forth two sharp beams like lightning, straight at Hoffman and the others.

“He’s not dead…”

“How is he still alive…”

Hoffman and Zhuge Kun stumbled back in fright. The two sons behind them were even more pathetic, collapsing directly to the ground.

“Ha ha… It’s just a last flash before death,” Hoffman said, relieved that it was a false alarm. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he composed himself and bowed deeply to the Tiger Servant beside him. “Senior, may I step forward to let off some steam? After this, I will tear his three souls and seven spirits apart.”

The Tiger Servant nodded silently. Hoffman, Zhuge Kun, and the others slowly advanced, watching Xiao Chen’s gaze fade. They laughed without restraint.

“Xiao Chen, what do you have to contend with us?”

“You’re just a small cultivator from the mortal world. How dare you struggle against us?”

“Today, I won’t even let you die peacefully!” Hoffman laughed viciously and wildly. “In the end, you’re still trampled under my feet!”

Zhuge Kun, plucking up his courage, gave Xiao Chen a light shove, and he fell into a pool of blood. Hoffman and the others laughed and stepped forward.

Hoffman planted a foot on Xiao Chen’s chest and said viciously, “I tread on you. What can you do?”

Zhuge Kun also kicked him hard. “I swore long ago that one day I would repay you a hundredfold!”

Xiao Chen’s mind was already blurring. Scenes from the mortal world, warm and comforting, replayed in his heart.

He saw his white-haired parents. He saw a group of childhood friends. He saw the girl he had missed forever… He felt a glistening teardrop threaten to spill from the corner of his eye. He must not cry. He had never cried. How could he do so now?

“I thought the World of Immortality was a pure and transcendent realm. I thought it was a peaceful, blessed land where immortals spread their light… But that was only the land of my ideals. Dreams can never manifest in reality.” In the moments before his life ran out, Xiao Chen’s thoughts were in chaos.

The cruel World of Immortality was even more treacherous and realistic than the martial world of the mortal realm. Strength and background represented everything. In his final instant, Xiao Chen thought of the Little Defiant Dragon and Keke. In this world, he was, all in all, alone. Only these two little beasts had weathered the storms with him, accompanying him along the way.

Lan Nuo, Liu Mu, Yizhen, Niu Ren, Liu Ruyan… Since parting on Dragon Island, where were they now? The friends who had faced life and death together in this world—he had not had time to be with them, and now he would never have the chance.

“Ha ha… Is this guy feeling pain?” Hoffman laughed loudly, grabbing Xiao Chen by the collar and pulling him up from the blood. “At the moment of death, a tear is actually flowing from the corner of his left eye. Ha ha…”

In the distance, Hai Yuntian was expressionless. Hai Yunxue paid attention. They knew that Xiao Chen would not shed tears because of humiliation by a few petty nobles. This man, who did not even fear death—what had made him leave a tear at the final moment?

“Ya ya…” A mournful whimper sounded in the distance. A streak of white light flickered and flashed across the sky, vanishing and reappearing. A snow-white little beast was tearing through space toward them.

“Wuwu…” Sorrowful cries, like a dirge at dusk in the underworld, made all who heard them feel heartbroken. Keke had fled back from the deepest Southern Wastes.

Before being taken away, it had known of Xiao Chen’s predicament. In the end, Keke forced its way out of the Southern Wastes and rushed toward Heavenly Emperor City. A little beast with such deep loyalty moved some of the onlookers.

“Wuwu…”

Seeing Xiao Chen lying in a pool of blood, Keke turned into a beam of divine light and appeared in the arena. It fiercely swung its little paws, and seven-colored light burst forth, sending Hoffman, Zhuge Kun, and the others flying away.

“Ya ya… wuwu…” The snow-white little beast cried in panic, shaking Xiao Chen’s head vigorously. Beam after beam of seven-colored light poured into Xiao Chen’s body. It did everything it could to save this fading life.

The little beast, always mischievous and playful, was now sobbing. For the first time, it showed such fear and dismay, afraid that Xiao Chen would die.

“Excellent. I was just thinking of killing you, little thing. Now you deliver yourself to my door.” The Tiger Servant smiled coldly.

The half-god experts moved together, sealing the four directions and blocking all escape routes.

“Wuwu…” The little beast cried miserably, shaking Xiao Chen vigorously.

Beneath the seven-colored light, Xiao Chen opened his eyes. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and silently surveyed the four quarters. With bloodstained hands, he fondly patted Keke’s head and said weakly, “Go quickly… you cannot save me… When you are strong enough… come back…”

“Ya ya… wuwu…” Keke shook its head stubbornly, crying. Its large, once-spiritual eyes were now full of tears. It trapped Xiao Chen in a seven-colored divine light and, with its frail body, carried him as it shot into the sky.

But with a bang, a divine light struck them heavily to the ground.

The four quarters were sealed. Six half-god experts had cut off all paths of retreat.

“Put me down… escape quickly. In the future, avenge me. Remember the faces of everyone here…” Here, Xiao Chen paused. Everyone present felt a chill. The potential of the snow-white little beast was plain to see—if it remembered them… the prospect was unthinkable.

Xiao Chen stopped because he was thinking of another problem. The little beast was far too young. If he burdened it with a blood-deep hatred now, he could hardly imagine what it would become when it grew up. Though he desperately wanted to kill everyone who had besieged him today, he held back for the sake of the little beast’s future. He sighed. “I do not want… my adorable little beast to become a twisted murderer… Do not let hatred cloud your wisdom. In the future, kill two of the old ones here… and those few young ones for me. Do not shed too much blood, or I will not forgive you.”

Keke was still very young. It could not understand how much thought Xiao Chen was giving to its future even at the point of death. But the onlookers could see a trace of his intention.

“Wuwu…” Keke cried and shook its head with effort. It carried Xiao Chen and surged into the sky again, tearing through space and appearing abruptly elsewhere.

But the six half-gods had sealed all directions. They still accurately judged its movement and swept divine light down, sending them crashing hard to the ground.

“Let go… remember what I said…”

The Tiger Servant sneered coldly. “Neither of you can escape this place. You both will die!”

“Escape. You must escape!”