Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-286

It was a pity that even until the end, the image on the Fated Star Plate remained a blur, just like the Garden of Zhou before her eyes.

She could not see her own fate; not even the smallest direction could be seen. However, in a certain area in the image, she saw a few gray trajectories.

Seeing someone else’s fate was slightly easier than seeing your own fate after all.

She once again looked at the unconscious Chen Changsheng. Somewhat confused, she wondered what connection she had with this person, just because she had saved him. This person’s trajectory of fate was so dull, and almost no life could be seen, just like how it was confirmed in the patch of reeds before. If there were no accidents, this person would definitely die.

“As long as you have not died, I will do my best to make you live. But… if you are destined to die, is it possible to ask for you to go die a little earlier by yourself, and not pull me down with you?”

That was what she thought when she looked at Chen Changsheng.

Retreating into the mountain cave, she found it to be a dead end. Her true essence had basically been entirely exhausted, the spirit of the phoenix had fallen asleep again, and it was impossible for the Tong Bow to last forever.

On the verdant wutong tree, more and more gray patches had already begun to appear. Those were all signs of miasma.

She lowered her head, and brought the tips of her index fingers together. She muttered to herself, “It’s fine, it’s fine, Rong’er will definitely be fine.”

At this moment, she was just like an ordinary girl. She felt somewhat wronged and hurt, and rather worried.

Her weakness only lasted for a moment, and so did her feeling of being wronged.

A while later, she calmed down.

She had never been an ordinary girl.

She was Xu Yourong.

She raised her head. Her eyes were bright.

She decided to take the risk and kill this person.

Time continued to flow. Before she had walked too far, the tree grown from the Tong Bow, which should have been able to last even longer, suddenly transformed into glimmers of light. It disappeared from the mouth of the cave.

She extended both of her arms out of the cave, and drew two lines of fire in the air, attacking Bai Hai.

Under the circumstance that she was clearly losing, she personally removed her final defense and attacked before the opponent could. This was a very brave and unexpected choice, and obviously also extremely sudden. However, Bai Hai, who had made an almost insane decision the night before to get the phoenix blood, was always in his greatest condition—indeed, even he who was perhaps judged as cold-hearted and bloodthirsty also felt that this matter was very insane. This allowed him to feel excitement and nervousness at a level which he had never felt before, which caused him to maintain his peak condition at all times. Only due to this could he find Xu Yourong’s tracks, and also receive his opponent’s counterattack very firmly.

The wutong tree disappeared, and the miasma coating it turned to dust, dispersing at the mouth of the cave.

Bai Hai’s firm yet powerful palm burst through the dust, directly meeting the two lines of fire that carried a sacred feeling.

With a bang, even more dust rose into the air both inside and outside the cave. Afterwards, there was an extremely loud shrill sound. The two shadows constantly flared with sparks, causing the temperature to rise sharply.

The two lines of fire suddenly disappeared, and the gust created from the palm whistled wildly. A person retreated back into the depths of the cave at great speed. The person was unable to keep their footing, and crashed heavily on the stone, giving out a muffled sound of impact.

The person who was forced back was Xu Yourong. She did not care about the pain brought from the impact, and extended her hand to the side of her body.

How would Bai Hai give her the opportunity to rest and set up her defense again? Transforming into a gray shadow, he arrived in front of her, and the magical artifact in his hand suddenly gave out a bright light. It knocked away the Tong Bow that she had just grasped again. At the same time, he rushed forwards, and his skinny hand shot out like a lightning bolt, firmly choking Xu Yourong by the throat.

The battle ended very quickly.

Xu Yourong no longer made any futile resistance and only furrowed her brows slightly. She did not spit any blood, and her complexion became even paler. She seemed very weak.

Even during ordinary times, Bai Hai, who had spent over two hundred years of hard cultivating to reach peak level Ethereal Opening, would have been a match for her in a fight for a while, let alone the fact that she was currently suffering from heavy injuries, and all of her true essence was already consumed.

There were no surprises in the final outcome.

However, Bai Hai himself found that it was an unbelievable result.

“You have lost,” he said tremulously, looking at Xu Yourong. His old face revealed an abnormal flush.

That was the product of excitement and agitation, as well as some fear and worry.

The reincarnation of a Heavenly Phoenix just lost to him like this? He actually won so easily?

He said with slight disbelief, “Just who was it that could injure you so heavily?”

Naturally, Xu Yourong did not reply to his question. Her expression remained calm, as if the opponent was not holding her by the neck and controlling her fate at all.

This type of disregard caused Bai Hai to grow mad once again. He yelled loudly, “Right now, I just need to move a finger, and you will die like that. Even in such a situation, you refuse to speak to me?”

Xu Yourong shot a glance at him quietly. She remained silent, and used her silence to express her feelings.

Bai Hai laughed out of anger, and his voice became slightly strange. “Don’t think that that is enough to trigger me to kill you. Don’t worry, I will definitely let you live. Watch as I suck all the blood out of you.”

Xu Yourong finally revealed an expression that carried a sliver of hatred.

It was not dread, nor was it fear. There was only hatred.

Bai Hai leaned forwards and looked at her face. With a slightly trembling voice, he said emotionally, “Your face… how do you do it? It’s actually so realistic.”

Xu Yourong looked at the sinister, old face, and suddenly felt slightly regretful.

“I have never thought that there would actually be a day where I am so close to you.”

Bai Hai looked at her eyes which were bright like autumn water. He gave out a horrid laugh. “Hahahaha, this really is an honor.”

After saying that, he leaned in once again, and the distance between the two of them decreased even more.

Xu Yourong looked at him quietly. Although she did not say anything, it gave him the feeling of a sacred presence that should not be offended.

For some unknown reason, Bai Hai suddenly lost all interest in making fun of his opponent after gazing into her eyes. It had even made him feel slightly disturbed. With a slightly agitated voice, he said, “Don’t worry, I will let my lady die with some dignity… so even if my lady has some final attack, I hope my lady will not use it. Otherwise, I really don’t know what resentful thing I might do once all hope has been lost.”

Xu Yourong turned her head with some difficulty, and no longer looked at him. Afterwards, she closed her eyes.

Bai Hai stared blankly at that, before lowering his head to her neck.

He had never done something like this, so he was slightly anxious. He became even more anxious, especially when thinking about the fact that she was the true Holy Maiden, a reincarnation of a Heavenly Phoenix that was holy and should not be assaulted. As a result, his actions became slightly clumsy.

In the next moment, Xu Yourong furrowed her brows again, as if she was in some pain.

Bai Hai’s pupils became extremely constricted.

He felt that this was the most delicious nectar he had ever had in his life.

But… why was there so little?

In the next moment, he forgot about that question. The liquid that flowed through his mouth seemed to hide a vast and limitless amount of flame, as if it was the essence of the actual sun. It was countless times purer than the earthfire in the Setting Sun Sect. How could the legendary earthfire crystal even be compared to it?

Although it was just a moment, he felt that there was an infinite amount of energy being channeled into his body.

With only a mouthful, he became drunk. His white eyebrows rose, and he constantly blinked. In the throes of intoxication, he presented an extremely bizarre figure.

Xu Yourong could not see his face, and he could not see Xu Yourong’s face. As a result, he did not realize that Xu Yourong had opened her eyes.

She looked at the walls of the cave quietly.

For some reason, although she had already arrived in front of the abyss of death, and currently suffered such humiliation and cruelty, her expression remained very calm, as if she was thinking of other matters.

Time flowed slowly, and yet so steadfastly that it could inspire fear.

Suddenly, Xu Yourong’s eyebrows were furrowed slightly again, because she had discovered that she seemed to have calculated wrongly.

Even if she was able to kill that evil old bastard, all of the blood in her body would also be sucked dry by him.

This time, she revealed a real regretfulness in her eyes. Although it was very little, it was still some regret.

She did not want to die like this, and did not want to die at this moment even more. The old bastard’s torso was still on top of her body.

However, just like the trajectories of fate in the starry sky, once it began, it was unstoppable.

This was the decision she had made. This was her plan. Once it began, she became a component of the plan, no longer able to stop the arrival of the end result.

Was this her fate?

She thought silently.

Fate was unchangeable.

No matter if it was the south or the north of the Orthodoxy, they all believed so.

However, some people did not believe that.

For example, Wang Zhice, for example, those people who absolutely needed to change their fates.

Xu Yourong believed that her own fate was unchangeable and that she could only die together with that old bastard. In the end, she would become a corpse that would not be discovered by anyone in the cave. However, she had forgotten that there was someone else in the cave.

A hand was raised in front of her eyes. With her gaze, it slowly moved towards her neck.

The hand was not big. Its nails were cut very cleanly, and its fingers were long. Normally, it was very warm, but now it was very cold instead. There was even some remaining frost between the fingers.

That hand seemed somewhat exhausted and powerless, however, it was firm. It passed through her black hair, brushed past her ear lobe and landed on her neck...

That hand slowly but firmly grabbed Bai Hai’s face, and then pushed away.