ffsc_44.2

Chapter 44.2: Dragon-Slaying Blade

In the imperial garden, a figure hurried along, hiding behind a rockery, glancing anxiously left and right—it was none other than Yao Kingdom's Crown Prince.

Suddenly a hand reached out from behind the rocks, seizing his wrist. The Crown Prince startled violently, but upon seeing the face of the person before him, he froze once more in surprise.

The blue-robed youth stood before him and said, "Come with me!"

"Yao'er! What are you doing here!" The Crown Prince gripped the youth's arm tightly, his expression urgent. "It's dangerous here! Prince Ning has brought several cultivators, and they've killed Father Emperor! You need to leave, quickly—"

"You're a mortal, I'm a cultivator, I can protect you!" The blue-robed youth cut him off at once. "Don't say anything else, just follow me, quickly!"

He grabbed the Crown Prince's hand and ran off with him. The Crown Prince stared fixedly at their fingers, intertwined together, as he was pulled running along the palace's stone paths, his expression shifting several times, until at last he broke into a slow smile.

"Alright, then stay with me and…"

A soft, wet sound.

The sound of living flesh being pierced through.

The fleeing blue-robed youth came to a stop, his pupils fixed, and he slowly lowered his head—to see a ghastly pale hand thrust through his chest from behind, gripping a heart still beating, thump by thump.

"At last... a seven-aperture, exquisite heart..." A low laugh rose up behind him, the Crown Prince's voice. "With this, I can surpass Prince Ning, surpass Father Emperor... let them know that I alone am the one destined by Heaven!"

"Yao'er, my dear Yao'er, all my years of careful, painstaking effort, pouring my heart into you, weren't wasted after all, I've finally obtained your heart..."

The Crown Prince laughed softly, low in his throat, gripping tight that heart wreathed faintly in golden light, and was just about to withdraw his hand—when suddenly, it stopped short, frozen midair, caught in a grip that would not let go.

The Crown Prince's eyes trembled. He watched as the youth, who should have already breathed his last, turned his head slowly, bit by bit, those cold, dark eyes fixing on him with unwavering intent.

Only then did the Crown Prince realize something—the person before him was no ordinary mortal, but a cultivator! Body reforged through cultivation, a shattered heart alone would not bring instant death!

"Yao, Yao'er……"

"Go to the underworld!"

Within the rockery, a flash of sharp, keen light streaked past, and the Crown Prince and the blue-robed youth both collapsed to the ground at once, one with his heart torn out, the other with his chest pierced through by a blade—the very same manner of death.

The seven-aperture, exquisite heart, still glowing faintly gold, fell to the ground, gathering a scattering of grass and dirt.

"What a pair of star-crossed lovers, dying together for love."

Another figure approached without hurry. Prince Ning brushed off the hem of his robe, then bent down and picked up that heart in his hands.

"If not for that immortal appearing out of nowhere, if not for the Ji family sticking their noses where they didn't belong, this king could have taken his time with this plan, no need to rush things so... Fortunately, years of careful scheming have finally come together, and the net closes in a single stroke."

Blood still splattered across his body, he raised the heart high, and smiled slowly: "Older brother, dear older brother. Back then you took my rightful place—but so what... In the end, it is I who has claimed the throne after all!"

He laughed loudly, his laughter piercing through the rockery, echoing across the entire palace, as though he wished the whole world to hear his voice.

The next instant, a flash of silver light streaked past, illuminating his eyes.

Prince Ning's laughter cut off abruptly.

He saw that he had suddenly been moved to the plaza before the main palace hall, saw his older brother, whom he had killed with his own hands, and the Crown Prince and blue-robed youth who had just "died together for love" moments before—all of them standing before him, perfectly unharmed.

Beneath their feet, a great silver-white array flickered and pulsed, now solid, now faint, appearing and disappearing by turns. The longer one stared at it, the more it stirred a sense of illusion, as unclear and elusive as a flower in a mirror, the moon on water—impossible to tell what was real from what was not.

Were they alive, or dead?

Everything that had just happened—had it been real, or only a dream?

Four pairs of eyes stared at one another, each cloaked in a creeping sense of dread.

The great silver-white array rose up from the ground, enveloping the imperial capital, its brilliant silver light like a vast sea of stars in the Milky Way, and the young cultivator, his dark hair bound high, came treading across the stars.

A great dream of floating life, an illusion within a dream.

In that instant, everyone within the palace jolted awake as though from a dream, breaking free from the bloody illusion of rebellion and murder, and saw beneath the heavens above, the figure of the immortal who could reach up and pluck stars from the sky with a single hand.

Chen Moqing hovered high above, his dark, deep eyes tinted with silver light, calmly and impassively reflecting the full range of human nature laid bare within the palace below.

On the open ground before the palace hall, perfectly unharmed—the Crown Prince, the blue-robed youth, Yao Kingdom's ruler, and Prince Ning—all four stood staring at one another, utterly speechless.

The scene grew unbearably awkward in an instant.

"Nothing to say now?" they heard the immortal's calm, unhurried voice. "Just a moment ago, all of you were so joyful together, treating one another with such courtesy and respect."

Prince Ning took a step back: "…When did the immortal elder first realize?"

Chen Moqing ran his fingers through the little snow-white beast's fur, and said only: "The array beneath the palace is incomplete."

"…So that's it. The moment you arrived at the palace, you already sensed something was off here." Prince Ning said, his voice low. "I miscalculated, I misjudged your true strength. You're not merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator—might I ask, immortal elder, just what level of cultivation do you hold? Peak Foundation Establishment? Golden Core?"

Chen Moqing said nothing, only calmly stroking his hand along the little snow-white beast's back, again and again, letting that slender tail wind itself around his wrist.

"…Things have come to this. It seems the immortal elder won't let us go."

Yao Kingdom's ruler spoke slowly, his gaze shifting bit by bit toward Prince Ning.

"The painstaking work of generations of our ancestors cannot be allowed to end with us."

"You've always been ahead of me, ever since we were young. Now, go on and carry that work forward in my place."

"Father Emperor!" the Crown Prince cried out.

Yao Kingdom's ruler didn't so much as glance at him, his spine straight, his eyes fixed straight through the palace hall, toward the golden dragon throne beyond: "Rather than fall short with only one step remaining, rather than have our nation's foundations destroyed by an outsider, better to gamble everything and help you ascend to the heavens!"

No sooner had he spoken than, without any visible movement on his part, crimson patterns suddenly spread out beneath his feet, and the glowing array sprouted countless thorns, wrapping around and swallowing him whole—in an instant, Yao Kingdom's ruler dissolved into a pool of bloody pulp.

A chill flickered through Chen Moqing's eyes.

The very first instant the array had risen, he had already seen that this great array was connected to the entire imperial capital—connected to the whole of Yao Kingdom.

The fated fortunes of Yao Kingdom's countless subjects, woven together into innumerable threads, formed this vast, intricate array. The accumulated dragon-aura of generations of the royal line, layered atop lifetime after lifetime of the common people's fates—the karma involved was immense, tangled and interlaced, already fused into a single whole.

The Crown Prince took a step back, then two, then three—and broke into a desperate run.

The blue-robed youth watched his retreating figure with cold indifference, his fingers twitching slightly.

A soft, wet sound.

A blade of light pierced straight through the Crown Prince's heart. He crumpled to his knees, struggling to twist his head around, staring fixedly at the blue-robed youth, his lips trembling as though he wanted to say something—and died like that, eyes wide open, refusing to close even in death.

Fresh thorns surged forth, wrapping around the Crown Prince, dragging him into the crimson array.

Prince Ning laughed softly: "No matter that we lost the seven-aperture, exquisite heart—thanks to my dear brother's willing self-sacrifice, along with your own pure bloodline as rightful heir apparent... it's more than enough!"

He spread his arms wide. The crimson array beneath his feet rose three inches off the ground, spreading once more to cover the entire imperial capital, countless streams of crimson energy flowing forth, coalescing into a vast crimson cloud, converging toward him from all directions.

"Immortal elder, do you think this array is indestructible, beyond any solution?"

Prince Ning smiled slowly.

"What can the strength of a single person do against five hundred years of my Yao Kingdom's royal dragon aura, against five hundred years of my Yao Kingdom's common people, lifetime after lifetime?"

Chen Moqing stood perfectly still.

The array's core was bound to Prince Ning himself—he could kill him with a single raised hand.

But the instant Prince Ning died, the great array would collapse at once, and the backlash of fate would strike every one of Yao Kingdom's subjects—in no more than a moment, an entire nation would be wiped out.

This array was no scheme laid over mere years or decades, but one spanning five hundred years—a game laid down by Yao Kingdom's very first ruler, reinforced over five hundred years' passage of time, every single thread of the array bound inextricably, inseparably, to every single subject of Yao Kingdom.

Prince Ning smiled: "The immortal elder isn't a demonic cultivator, is he? If some demonic cultivator had wandered in here today instead, this whole scheme could be undone easily enough. Kill me, kill an entire nation's worth of people—what would that matter to one like that?"

Chen Moqing: "What is it you're after?"

"Me? No, it's my Yao Kingdom's royal house, it's the wish left behind by our founding ancestor—" Prince Ning declared, each word ringing out with conviction. "To cultivate immortality, to become an immortal ourselves, to ascend to the heavens in a single step!"

Standing atop the blood and bone of his own flesh and kin, Prince Ning's grand royal robes billowed wide, rolling with a pattern of moon-white dragon scales—the accumulated dragon-aura of generations concentrated at the crown of his head. In this moment, he himself was Yao Kingdom's ruler!

"One misstep, and the whole game is lost—you can't kill me now!" Prince Ning laughed, head thrown back, a white dragon coiling around his body. "I am the emperor of the mortal realm, cultivators are forbidden from slaying a king!"

Dragon-aura upon his body, the fate of an entire nation, all concentrated in a single man!

By the laws of Heavenly Dao, cultivators could not raise a hand against a mortal sovereign—to act against one would surely bring down heaven's own wrath!

Chen Moqing smiled faintly. Beneath the overwhelming tide of blood, his voice remained as clear and calm as ever: "I know of one thing in this world that can slay a mortal sovereign—its name is the Dragon-Slaying Blade."

Prince Ning's smile turned scornful: "The Dragon-Slaying Blade—if it can slay a dragon, then naturally it can slay an emperor too! But do you have it? The Dragon-Slaying Blade has been lost to this world for who knows how many thousand years!"

Chen Moqing said nothing, only laughed softly.

Cang Shun lifted his eyes, gazing at that smile, bright and clear as moonlit wind.

Ever since he had awakened, he had walked mountains and rivers alongside this person, taken in the mortal world together with him, and had heard, too, from others' mouths, many tales of this person's past deeds.

Chen Moqing had made a name for himself while still young, leaving his sect alone at fifteen to temper himself in the mortal world, venturing alone into countless hidden realms and places of extreme danger, and through numberless life-and-death battles, had long since forged himself into a blade that astonished the world.

His sword, Chenjie, had been cast from a piece of immortal-forged iron, a relic left behind by an immortal of ages past. In its original form, it had not been a sword at all, but a sentient piece of immortal iron—once it had recognized Chen Moqing as its master, it had spontaneously melted and reforged itself in accordance with the sword path he practiced, remade into a blade.

Before it had been forged into a sword, that piece of immortal iron had been a blade.

A blade of matchless sharpness, capable of cutting through anything in this world—the Dragon-Slaying Blade!

The illusory silver-white array suddenly solidified, its brilliant silver light seeming as though it would tear apart all the bloody darkness around it—the Great Dream of Floating Life array dissolved, replaced by another array entirely.

——Unseen Dawn!

Cang Shun smiled faintly, watching Chen Moqing stand at the array's core, his dark hair drifting alongside his white robes, like the beating wings of a pure white crane.

This time, what he returned to was not the self of his days at Void Refinement, but something far more distant still—a self from long before, in some place of extreme danger, having endured dozens of cycles of blood-soaked trials, staking everything on a single desperate gamble—and at last, on the very brink of death, having seized the fated opportunity of the Great Dao.

Though it was still broad daylight over Yao Kingdom's imperial capital, a bright, full moon rose all the same, its pure light shining down over the darkened earth, the falling moonlight condensing into a blade of snow-white steel.

A long blade forged from the bright moon hung suspended before him. Chen Moqing raised his hand and gripped the hilt, the cold, clear blade flashing with light like snow, illuminating his sharp, matchless eyes.

In this moment, he met once more the self of days past—met once more the self who, in that hidden realm, had fought with everything he had for the fated opportunity of heaven and earth, who had burned himself to ash to ascend the Great Dao!

Prince Ning's straight-backed posture suddenly crumpled. Beneath his wildly billowing robes, his body seemed to tremble uncontrollably as well.

It was a terror rising from the very depths of his bloodline, the fear that every true dragon in this world held toward the Dragon-Slaying Blade!

"…Impossible! Impossible! I am the emperor of the mortal realm, bearing Heaven's Mandate, carrying Heaven's fortune, no one in this world can slay me! Not even an immortal!"

"The moment I die, the backlash of fate will strike, all thirty million subjects of Yao Kingdom will be buried alongside me! You cannot bear that karma!"

Chen Moqing held the Dragon-Slaying Blade, his voice clear, cold, and sharp as an edict of law, descending upon Yao Kingdom's imperial capital: "By Heaven's Mandate, in accordance with Heaven's Fortune—"

Four words of truth, piercing through heaven and earth, where the word was spoken, so it was done!

The Dragon-Slaying Blade, in accordance with Heaven's eternal law, bearing the weight of Heaven's fortune, in a single stroke—slew the dragon!

A single flash of blade-light split apart a thousand zhang of azure sky, illuminating Yao Kingdom's imperial capital, proclaiming the Great Dao of heaven and earth to all.

Prince Ning froze in place, his billowing robes and sleeves falling limp and lifeless, the moon-white dragon-aura upon his body dissolving away bit by bit, collapsing into a pool of bloody pulp.

Within those fixed, unmoving pupils, there stood a single figure, holding the Dragon-Slaying Blade, standing beneath the stern, brilliant full moon, his eyes bright and fierce with authority, like the rising sun itself.

He said—

"The karma of Yao Kingdom's people, I will bear it."

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