Chapter 632: Chapter 481: Ambition and Humiliation

Mirror World.

Emei Mountain.

As the residence of the Emei Sect among the original nine major sects, this place was once considered the Sword Tao Holy Land in the hearts of countless swordsmen and Sword Heroes.

However, ever since the swordswoman ascended the mountain and killed all the Emei inheritors, this place, after successive waves of strong people came searching and exploring, gradually became a gathering place for numerous refugees and bandits.

The original pavilions and towers had either been dismantled and moved away long ago or had gradually cracked and collapsed under the sun and wind.

The Sect Leader’s Broken Sword traced a graceful trajectory in midair as he flew very slowly, as if observing the current state of Emei Mountain, until he finally gently stopped on a cliff in the back mountain.

At that moment, a voice arose beside him.

“Do you decide not to walk with us anymore?”

“With your original talent and my current power, it’s not difficult to restore your body or even your cultivation.”

Listening to the newcomer’s voice, Broken Sword let out a light chuckle and slowly said, “Not going anymore.”

He was the founder of the Emei Sect and one of the most exceptionally talented and brilliant strong individuals in the past thousand years.

In the past, he had great ambitions and the desire to ascend to Immortal, standing proudly at the apex of all realms.

But his disappearance after his first attempt at ascension gradually sunk his heart into the abyss.

He wanted to figure out what had happened, but he knew better than to become an enemy of the Immortal Court.

In the end… he found that he just couldn’t do it.

No matter how he pondered and as the years passed, he, who knew well the strength of the Immortal Court, simply could not bring himself to act against it as an imagined enemy.

“The real me might have died at the moment of ascension.”

“Looking for inheritors, finding a qualified reincarnated shell over these thousand years… in the end, it was just self-deception.”

“Now, I’m nothing but a remnant soul, a shell devoid of any ambition.”

After his original body disappeared following the ascension, his years of deep sleep gradually weakened his ambitions and desires.

Then, during the battle on the Moon, seeing his own body become like a puppet-like monster, controlled by Tian Xuzi to fight like a wild beast,

This shattered his fighting spirit even more.

And what finally devoured his ambition was the decisive battle between Lin Xing and Tian Xuzi, the power and intent of Lin Xing that eventually suppressed the whole world.

At this moment, Broken Sword slowly inserted into the rock, seemingly merging with Emei Mountain as one.

“Lin Xing, even if I could restore my cultivation, so what?”

“Without the fighting spirit, without the domineering will… I can no longer keep up with you.”

Broken Sword’s voice carried a hint of helplessness: “I want to keep up, I want to reach the peak again, but… I just can’t.”

“My heart has died, no longer possessing… nor can I muster the vigor I had in my youth to ascend to the higher realms and stand at the pinnacle of all realms.”

“And my last remnant of dignity makes me unwilling to become a burden.”

Although he had fought alongside Lin Xing in the Moon battle and had spent six years together inside the Moon, Broken Sword and Lin Xing had formed a deep bond.

But for that reason, he was even more reluctant to gradually change from a comrade-in-arms into a dispensable accessory who could only ascend to the higher realms with Lin Xing’s help, under an increasingly unequal relation of strength.

Feeling the determination in Broken Sword’s words, a light sigh came.

“I understand.”

“Then… let us part ways.”

“My old friend.”

As Broken Sword spoke his mind at this moment, he seemed to completely let go of the burden in his heart and smiled, “Go ahead with confidence.”

“My old bones may not be strong enough to ascend, but I can still keep an eye on the lower realms for you.”

Days passed, day by day, and Broken Sword’s senses gradually extended throughout the entire Emei Mountain range, watching the refugees hidden in the mountains rise with the sun and rest with the sunset.

As most of the malevolent energies dissipated, Broken Sword could feel the malice in the hearts of people in the Mirror World steadily melting away, as the chaos, malevolence, and aggression that existed between people were also rapidly transforming.

Especially when he witnessed robbers also joining the village of refugees on the mountain and working together to clear land and dig channels, he understood that the chaos in Mirror World of many years was probably about to end.

As time passed, the village on the mountain moved to the foothills and gradually transformed from a village into a town.

The originally ragged and gaunt villagers had slowly fed their bellies and donned new clothes.

And at some unknown time, some modern-day people with strikingly different attire arrived in the village.

They began teaching the villagers how to farm better and traded modern-day goods with them.

Soon thereafter, some bold villagers followed these modern-day people through the Immortal Court…

Sect Leader’s Broken Sword quietly watched all of this, watching the traces of Emei Sect gradually vanish, observing the village below the mountain becoming ever more prosperous.

Until one day, he was surprised to find a young girl standing in front of the dilapidated great hall of Emei, practicing swordsmanship in front of a mural that was barely half intact.

The small twig was forcefully swung in her tender hands, producing a crisp snapping sound.

Sect Leader’s Broken Sword watched her clumsy practice with interest.

Though it was merely the awkward attempts of a stubborn child, though every movement was extremely naive and not even the weakest swordsmanship in the martial arts world could match it.

Yet it was this clumsiness, this naivety, that incited an uncontrollable idea in his heart, a feeling similar to when he first founded Emei Sect.

Finally one day, his voice appeared in the young girl’s mind.

“Little girl, do you want to learn swordsmanship?”

…

Present-day.

Gu She Fairy was quietly floating above the ocean.

And in her mind, she was still recalling the outcome of her ultimate battle with Jing Shiyu.

In that battle, whether it was the earth shattering or the apocalypse, the two combatants seemed to have cared for nothing in the world at that moment, their eyes only bearing each other.

Either to blow the other’s head apart or to be crushed by the opponent.

And as the power of both sides was continuously depleted, the battle also entered the moment of the final decision.

With the last strike, Gu She Fairy had gambled all her strength and exhausted all substitutes.

But in the final clash with Jing Shiyu, she found that the opponent had burst forth all her goodwill and even didn’t reserve a sliver of self-preserving strength.

At that moment, Gu She Fairy felt from the opponent’s intentions a kind of absolute trust towards Lin Xing.

“Jing Shiyu, this woman truly believes that Lin Xing will definitely win.”

“She believes that even if the world is falling apart and entering apocalypse, she doesn’t need to reserve any strength for herself after this battle.”

In Gu She Fairy’s mind, once again the vision of her body being mostly shattered by the opponent emerged.

“I lost.”

“I lost to this woman I detest the most, lost to her absolute trust in Lin Xing…”

“Whether it was strength or her love for Lin Xing… I lost to her.”

This feeling caused Gu She Fairy an immense humiliation and pain.

And what caused her even more pain was that she survived that final battle.

“Why… Why did I survive, and why did you die?”

With the final strike, Jing Shiyu, just before completely destroying her Primordial Spirit… suddenly stopped.

And Gu She Fairy, in a desperate counter-attack, didn’t manage to hold back in time.

She smashed Jing Shiyu, who hadn’t retained any strength in her body, to pieces.

“Jing Shiyu, you could have killed me completely before my counter-attack succeeded.”

“Why did you stop? Why did you spare my life?”

To this moment, Gu She Fairy could not be sure why Jing Shiyu had stopped under the final hit, nor why she allowed her to live.

She only felt an absolute insult from it and felt that she could no longer face Lin Xing in this lifetime, nor could she face the self that had scrounged a survivial.