Time in the Golden Lotus' world didn't follow the same rhythm as the mortal realm. Thus, while Lady Ziyun and the Lotus had been conversing for some time, on the White Immortal sect's battlefield, only one second had passed. Before the flabbergasted eyes of the White Immortal sect audience, Lady Ziyun stretched out her hands—executing the Mantra of Sacrifice. Her lips curled into a smile, her Nascent Soul broke into particles of golden light—sinking in the lotus underneath her feet alongside all that remained of her life essence. Hanxing didn't understand why Ziyun's body didn't break down as well, but frankly, he didn't care. As long as Soaring Crane became powerless, enabling him to absorb him, the rest was mostly irrelevant.
However, never in his wildest dreams did Hanxing expect the Golden Lotus' light to not only sweep Soaring Crane, but sweep Ziyun and him as well. With the destruction of Ziyun's soul, the soul possession fell. Yet something else replaced it, binding Hanxing to Ziyun's inert body.
Inert?
Ziyun turned heels, and to Hanxing's surprise, her skin grew rosier; the wrinkles brought forth by age vanished—replaced by the luster of youth and the beauty that once made even Yanzhou's spirit nobles salivate. That beauty now faced Hanxing with a gentle, self-deprecating smile. That smile was like a knife that stabbed into Hanxing's chest and twisted in his heart. Hanxing couldn't accept it, the smile oppressed him, and pressured by the emotions it revealed, the great elder stepped back.
'A'Jie, forgive me! I didn't know what I was doing. A'Jie, I'm confused! I will be better. I will change! But A'Jie, please…please don't leave me!' Centuries-old words that Hanxing had all but forgotten resurfaced, and his eyes went bloodshot.
"Silence! SILENCE!" Lord Hanxing roared and raised his right hand. Massive waves of Sword Force unfurled, attempting to tear the dazzling Ziyun to shreds. Alas, the Sword Force bounced against formless barriers—vanishing subsequently. In that instant, Hanxing had the firm belief that anything across could harm Ziyun…anything, except for him. His hand fell limp. The lotus' light absorbed Soaring Crane's explosion, suppressed his tyrannical cultivation, making a free meal for Hanxing to consume.
Yet, in spite of this premium dish standing several feet from him, Hanxing couldn't regain his composure. Gliding across the air, Ziyun walked back to her husband's side and lowered her head in submission.
Hanxing's heart drummed against his chest, his eyes grew moist. Ziyun wiped the tear off, her last conscious act before her arms fell limp, her eyes glazed over, and she became nothing more than a peak-tier Earth-grade puppet.
"No! This is all an illusion! A trick played by Soaring Crane to affect my Dao Heart! Foolishness! My Dao Heart is unshakable, and my rise immutable! Today, it is I, Hanxing, who seizes the Divine Transformation opportunity and ascends past the bottleneck. Centuries of accumulations…all for this day!"
[Soul Absorbing Law]
Breaking into a peal of frenzied laughter, Lord Hanxing aimed his right hand at Soaring Crane, unleashing formless suction forces that latched on the broken patriarch's Nascent Divinity. From the moment that Ziyun activated the Mantra of Sacrifice, Soaring Crane knew that no amount of bitterness could turn this one around. His willpower collapsed, and it was without hindrance that Hanxing's Soul Absorbing Law ground his Nascent Divinity into chunks of easily digestible soul blocks.
The chunks flew towards Hanxing, moving past his mortal body to merge with his Nascent Soul. Arcs of sword force flew out en masse, tearing Soaring Crane's mortal body to shreds, and beheading his three cranes along the way.
From a distance, Abbot Qingxin watched Ziyun's sacrifice, and he who grasped virtually all of Lianism' intricacies, saw through some of the events that likely went through within the Lotus' world. "How unfortunate. Looking back, these misunderstandings started with me. But were it not for me, would a man such as Hanxing not find a way to fault you all the same? Ziyun, from the start, the two of you were not on an equal standpoint. Hanxing was destined to go astray, and you to become his stepping stone. Now, you have entered the Bitter Sea, and will follow the Golden Lotus for the rest of eternity. For you, this might be the best result. Maybe one day I will join you too, and then I will ask you, was it worth it?" Abbot Qingxin said, glanced towards the Soaring Crane mountain where the winds of carnage blew out, then raised his eyes at the sky.
"This battle is over. We're going home." With these words, Qingxin snapped his fingers, teleporting himself and the Clear Heart monastery disciples back to their religious house.
From the sidelines, Guang Fanghu and Zi Yao watched Ziyun's demise and Lord Hanxing's rise. A breakthrough into Divine Transformation had become a foregone conclusion. And unlike other predecessors, Hanxing would likely use the shadow of Qingxin to ignore the Yanzhou Hegemon's summon and stay in the White Immortal sect. With him to guide the ship, although they still didn't have a good grasp of the Dark Moon cult's reserves, they should have nothing to fear from them.
And yet, Guang Fanghu wasn't pleased. Worse, as he stared at Lady Ziyun, and glanced in-between Zi Yao and Hanxing, the sect master felt…disheartened. "Ultimately, I have been deluding myself. Zi Yao, congratulations. The White Immortal sect not only has, but will keep its new Divine Transformation expert. I suppose that uncle will soon enter seclusion to make the final push and perfect his breakthrough. But Zi Yao, Lady Ziyun was…your elder. Your elder. What a shame. Is this what we've come to? Zi Yao, in the cultivation world, being ruthless isn't a sin. But having no boundaries whatsoever, now that…is a heart-wrenching tragedy." Guang Fanghu said and, no longer caring for the battle's results, for the White Immortal sect, turned heels.
In his words and the repeated "Zi Yao," Zi Yao felt a depth of disappointment and disgust, a divide that time might not be able to erase. A flurry of emotions flashed in her eyes. Yet as usual, her face betrayed nothing.
'Zuixian, you will lead a group of Nascent Soul elders to the Soaring Crane mountain and check on Xinzi's moves. I can sense that he has wiped them out already—a terrifying feat. I do not believe that the Funerary Rite alone explains this. Glean what you can and report to me.' Zi Yao ordered her nephew through a mental message.
Still shaken by Lady Ziyun's fate, Zi Zuixian, the drunken sloth, slapped himself, grimacing to no end. A spell of confusion then hit, and he arched one eyebrow. 'Lead a group of Nascent Soul elders? Aunt, please don't joke with me. Although I'm the core zone's prime disciple, I'm only at the peak of Pulse Condensation. On a scale of one to ten, twenty is still not enough to show how improper it is for me to lead a group of Nascent Soul elders.' Zi Zuixian shook his head, promptly rejecting the assignment.
Arms folded beneath her ample chest, Zi Yao cast her nephew a sidelong glance, making him shiver uncontrollably.
'Zuixian. You are my Zi clan's number one talent and successor. In the future, you will inherit the sect master position. For now, I allow you to idle your days away in drunken sloth. But it is imperative that, from time to time, we remind the White Immortal sect elders of your position. Don't worry, whenever necessary, I will beat that slovenly disposition out of you. Now go." Zi Yao's words sent a chill up Zuixian's spine. A hasty bow followed, after which the prime disciple left alongside a batch of six Nascent Soul elders to spy on Xinzi's results.
Right afterward, Zi Yao cast one last glance at Lord Hanxing, who cackled like mad at his massive gains. For the imperceptible split of a second, the matriarch's gaze hardened and her heartbeat sped up.
