Half-kneeling on the ground, his voice weak, the flower stamens still floating in his chest, he heard the sword spirit say this, his face full of disbelief.
He transmitted his voice, his voice trembling:
"Why!"
"Aren't we friends? We've been together day and night for almost twenty years, with a common goal, and I promised to help you find Fuxi's successor!"
Yan Yu roared out in pain, and the Gan Jiang sword in his hand finally slipped from his grip, falling to the ground with a clang.
"Friend?"
The sword spirit, lying within the sword, shook its head and smiled:
"You are too naive."
"Do you really think that my guiding your cultivation all along was for the purpose of finding Fuxi's successor? That was all fake."
As the sword spirit spoke, its tone was sly.
Yan Yu felt even more pain upon hearing this, but due to the other shore flower, his skin was rapidly shriveling, and he also lost the strength for divine soul communication.
The sword spirit realized this and continued:
"To tell you the truth, I am not a Celestial Venerable at all."
"And I have absolutely no connection to Fuxi."
"Just like here, in my era, Fuxi was already a legend, and I was merely a Celestial Venerable in that era, one of the magic artifacts refined."
The sword spirit recalled past events and then thought of what Yan Yu had told him, finding it even more amusing:
"If I were you, I wouldn't bother with the melted wife, why try to resurrect her?"
"Back then, I followed Immortal Venerable Xiaoyao and don't know how many women's yin essence I collected. Why should you be troubled by this... It's useless to tell you this anyway, you're dying soon."
"To die twice because of an obsession, what a waste of your fortunate reincarnation as a human!"
As the sword spirit spoke, there was a hint of melancholy in its voice. Reincarnating as a human was such a happy thing.
In its original world, both humans and demons could comprehend the Great Dao, cultivate with spiritual energy, and achieve immortality.
After awakening its spiritual intelligence, it personally witnessed its master cultivate, fight enemies, and dominate a region.
Drinking and feasting, absorbing yin to supplement yang, how joyous!
And from then on, it wanted to become a human, not just a shell that could transform into a human form.
It wanted to become a true human, through reincarnation.
Because humans possessed cultivation talent envied by all races.
And only humans could ascend to the position of ruler.
This point had been proven countless times throughout historical cycles!
But if it wanted to reincarnate as a human again, it had to transcend the cycle of reincarnation.
And the only thing in the world that could help it achieve this was the other shore flower.
The sword spirit thought of the matters of that world, its mood heavy.
Legend had it that the other shore flower grew by the River of Forgetfulness. It transcended the rules of life and death. The peerless human cultivator Xuanyuan, in order to save his mother, had once descended to the River of Forgetfulness to search for an other shore flower.
This was the earliest and only recorded instance of the other shore flower in the world, hence its legendary status.
After Xuanyuan, no one had ever seen the other shore flower again.
Countless peerless powerhouses had wished to enter the River of Forgetfulness to search, but all had ultimately become piles of white bones. Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao could not risk venturing there for his own illusory fantasies.
After all, it was merely a magic artifact in the hands of a Heavenly Venerable, nothing more. But now, things were different.
The sword spirit's eyes blazed with passion. After Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao was killed by the heavenly tribulation, it naturally fell into a deep slumber. After an unknown number of years, a ray of light awakened it.
It had transmigrated, residing within the head of an infant.
But what shocked it was that this infant was born with knowledge, not crying or fussing, and could speak.
Thus, the family named him Yan Yu.
Later, it learned that Yan Yu was also a transmigrator from Blue Star.
Upon comparison, the two discovered they were from the same planet, but separated by an unknown number of eons. Human culture was vastly different; in Yan Yu's era, humans could no longer cultivate.
But that light, perhaps due to similar obsessions, had brought them to this world simultaneously across time and space, binding them together.
"It took me great effort to finally gain your trust and become the sword spirit of this sword, giving me the opportunity to use the other shore flower."
The sword spirit's voice was wild:
"But I thank you for fulfilling my wish. When I reincarnate as a human with the help of the other shore flower and dominate this Great Primordial Realm, I will erect the world's largest tombstone for you!"
Its voice echoed in Yan Yu's mind, causing him even more pain.
Yan Yu regretted his easy trust in others.
Not only was he facing death, but the hope of resurrecting his wife, Mo Xie, was also gone. Such a miraculous opportunity for resurrection and transmigration would likely never come again.
As if sensing its master's impending death, the Gan Jiang sword trembled slightly.
It was mourning for its wielder.
The sword spirit was somewhat surprised:
"It's about to sprout a congenital sword spirit. Your sword is indeed forged well."
"If it were in our era, you would certainly be a highly respected artifact refiner."
The Gan Jiang sword's body turned white, frost condensing. It was silently accumulating its power.
Yan Yu's figure became increasingly hunched, his hair turning as pale as frost.
His life was nearing its end. He believed he was about to die, so he closed his eyes.
But at that moment, Qiong Qi appeared.
*Swish!*
*Sss!*
Using spatial dao techniques, it instantly appeared before Yan Yu and then, with one claw, tore off and pulled out the flower stamen.
Yan Yu opened his eyes and saw a white-browed, fierce-eyed tiger.
"I told you to be careful, why didn't you listen!"
Qiong Qi picked up Yan Yu's body in its mouth, intending to escape. It immediately ran up the uneven walls of the mine shaft.
As it ran, it grumbled mentally:
"Why did you have to rush? What opportunity is more important than your own life!"
"If only you could instantly comprehend the Great Dao of Space like Brother Hao Han, then we could directly teleport to the cave entrance."
"I left a mark there, but because you can't, if I brought you directly into space, you'd be ripped apart by the turbulent currents!"
Qiong Qi paused mid-sentence, then continued:
"Oh no, if it were Brother Hao Han, he'd probably just draw his sword and cut down that other shore flower. That's someone who uses the broken horn of a demon god as a weapon! Speaking of which, your sword just now was quite powerful... By the way, where's your sword?!"
Qiong Qi's incessant babbling made Yan Yu dizzy, and he was on the verge of passing out.
Too much vital energy and power had been drained from him; he could only barely hold on and was unable to communicate with Qiong Qi. If he could speak, he would tell Qiong Qi to abandon him here.
Because he knew he no longer had any hope of obtaining the other shore flower. It was better to die and reunite with his deceased beloved in the underworld than to cling to a futile existence.
But Qiong Qi didn't think that way.
Its rambling was actually intended to attract Yan Yu's attention.
It wanted to keep his weak nerves aware of his surroundings, lest he pass out.
After all, in such a situation, passing out could mean never waking up again!
Lying on the ground, the Gan Jiang sword spirit stared in astonishment at the retreating figures of Qiong Qi and Yan Yu, then smiled indifferently.
Whether Yan Yu lived or died was of no consequence to it.
Now that it had become a sword spirit, it possessed the ability and power to act independently, needing only to wait for maturity to pluck the flower.
But the other shore flower did not think so; it was furious.
Because Yan Yu was a human, his vital energy was the most refined.
It was what it liked to consume the most.
Even though he was almost drained, there was still some left, and at this moment, the flower stamen was suddenly severed by Qiong Qi. How could it not be enraged?
Thus, the other shore flower let out a shrill cry, as eerie as the collective clamor of endless vengeful souls in the River of Forgetfulness.
Its hundreds of snake-headed tendrils writhed upwards in pursuit, piercing countless great demons attempting to flee in the process, and then continued to chase Qiong Qi.
Sensing the danger from behind, the bloody aura of death also enveloped Qiong Qi's heart.
It ran vertically on the walls, dodging and weaving, leaping into the air and spitting flames, skillfully evading all the tendrils and falling rocks from above, instantly covering nearly a thousand meters.
Seeing this, the other shore flower went berserk.
"RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!"
It revealed its entire body rooted underground. The ancient trees usually seen were mere slender blades of grass compared to its massive and thick roots!
The other shore flower stared at the great demons surging upwards to escape. It mercilessly plunged its myriad tendrils into the surrounding mine shaft, hundreds of thousands of meters deep, and then lifted with force.
"CRACK!"
Immense power surged, and the earth's crust shifted.
The entire mine shaft, like an overturned mountain peak, cracked open from bottom to top.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!
Endless ores condensed together and collapsed downwards, appearing as if the sky was falling.
And the other shore flower, at this moment, began to bloom slowly. It greedily absorbed everything around it. Life and death could both be its sustenance!
"This is bad!"
Qiong Qi, clinging to the surface of the wall and running, felt its heart sink.
Under such dense collapse, it could not possibly protect Yan Yu.
Moreover, if it delayed any longer, it might also perish here, unable to use its spatial dao techniques!
"I'm sorry, although you are Brother Hao Han's friend, I cannot sacrifice my life for you. My clan still needs me."
"If you are fortunate enough to survive, please do not blame me."
With that, Qiong Qi prepared to abandon Yan Yu and flee.
But at that very moment, a familiar sword intent erupted from below. It was extremely cold, causing its body to sting. Frost spontaneously condensed in the air, just like Yan Yu's sword had before.
However, the power of the two was vastly different.
"CRACKLE!"
The sword moved, a white light flashed, carrying boundless frost.
Qiong Qi, using its keen spatial perception, dodged the sword energy, and then used its Samadhi True Fire to isolate the frost. Thus, it survived. But other great demons were not so fortunate; they were either cut down by the sword or frozen solid.
Who wielded this sword?
Qiong Qi was confused. It stood on a half-collapsed, frozen rock and turned its head to scan its surroundings.
Then, it was shocked to discover that the entire mine shaft, hundreds of thousands of meters deep and on the verge of collapse, was directly frozen after that sword energy flashed through it, including the other shore flower on the ground.
It had just begun to bloom. Within it, there was a swaying small flower, extremely ordinary in appearance, looking like a wildflower by the roadside.
But that was the true body of the other shore flower.
Qiong Qi stared at the flower, a flicker of greed in its eyes, but it quickly restrained itself because it saw a familiar sword.
That sword was engraved with a tortoise pattern and was covered in frost.
Qiong Qi recognized it as Yan Yu's sword, but it was now floating on its own.
It moved to the center of the bud and gently cut off the small flower, born between death and life.