INE Chapter 116: Radiance

Who was she?

Though Ji Rong’s expression remained calm, she felt deep down like a sinner of the ages, like the cremation flames were already rising behind her.

After a long silence, she decided to speak the truth.

“Although I don’t quite know how to explain it to you... in a certain sense, she really is Chu Changli.”

Ji Rong hesitated. She wasn’t sure whether to call Gong Yu A-Yu or Elder Gong.

After a long internal debate, she finally settled on using a pronoun, it would make the truth easier to say.

As for what kind of expression Gong Yu had, Ji Rong didn’t dare look up to see.

After all, any normal person’s worldview would probably be shattered by now. Not to mention, Gong Yu had never liked Gu Baiyi in the first place, and had even kicked her when she was down.

But surprisingly, after hearing Ji Rong’s words, Gong Yu didn’t look shaken. Instead, she began to think calmly.

Now that she knew Gu Baiyi was Chu Changli, a memory suddenly surfaced.

A hundred years ago, she had jumped into the Ghost Tomb, intending to die alongside her master. Just when she was about to fall into the abyss with him, a stream of pure spiritual energy had enveloped her and thrown her back out.

At that time, she had seen a single phoenix feather, its mark crimson as blood.

She had assumed it was a phoenix summoned by Yue Qianqiu. She had thought her master had saved her.

But now, seeing the phoenix totem on Gu Baiyi’s neck and the blood-red feather on her earlobe, many things suddenly clicked.

Wanting to confirm her suspicion, Gong Yu turned to Ji Rong and asked, “Master… back then, when I fell into the Ghost Tomb, the one who used spiritual power to push me out wasn’t you. It was Changli, wasn’t it?”

Hearing this soul-piercing question, Ji Rong felt her head throb.

You’re all innocent, it’s all my fault. My fault and my sister’s.

At this moment, Ji Rong didn’t expect to explain anything clearly. She only hoped Gong Yu wouldn’t break down.

So Ji Rong looked at her and chose silence. Saying “yes” would be bad. Saying “no” would also be bad.

After a long while, she finally heard a soft voice.

“I understand now. So that’s how it is.”

On the other side, though Mei Lixue didn’t quite understand what the two of them were talking about, she could clearly see that Gong Yu had now completely sided with Ji Rong.

Seeing an ally become an enemy, with Feng He nowhere in sight, the “slaying of evil” suddenly felt like empty words.

She felt lost. Could it be that Gu Baiyi really doesn't deserve to die?

Could the Heavenly Dao be wrong?

Mei Lixue recalled the countless nights she had stood on the Star-Gazing Platform, looking up at the stars.

And then she remembered what the High Priest once told her:

“Little Saintess, the fates of this world are determined by the heavens. We are merely their messengers. Our role is to defend the Dao, not to decide others’ destinies.”

But the Heavenly Dao had issued its decree.

It declared that the Demon Seed had no place in this world.

Mei Lixue had always believed that the Dao could never be wrong.

But if that were true, then why was Gu Baiyi still alive?

Her brow furrowed. Her expression grew vacant as her hand rose to grasp the pocket watch around her neck.

It was a gift from her mother, and also a relic bestowed by the Dao to the Divine Sect, a symbol of order.

She gently brushed her fingers over the dark golden surface. The cold metal met her skin, and she paused.

Then, she remembered.

Her mother once told her: this relic from the Dao must only be opened at the most critical moment.

Recalling her mother’s words, Mei Lixue’s expression slowly turned blank.

To vanquish demons and uphold the Dao, that was the most critical moment.

So Mei Lixue unclasped the dark metal watch and stared at it in her palm.

It was a treasure granted by the Dao. Its case always shimmered with divine light.

She pressed her fingers against the metal latch, and, as if praying, said devoutly:

“Please… eliminate the evil.”

So when Ji Rong finally looked up, she didn’t see Gong Yu’s face.

She saw a beam of light.

That beam was so dazzling, it could bring tears to anyone’s eyes.

The clouds churned violently. The sky split open with golden cracks.

That light resembled the sun.

No, it came from the sun.

It pierced through the clouds and bathed the mountains and rivers.

Kongji and Gu Baiyi stopped fighting. The radiance was so blinding they couldn’t open their eyes.

No living being could look directly at the sun, only the dead.

That beam of light, bursting from the rift in the clouds, shone across every inch of land.

Even Jiang Fei, far away on Bixue Peak, saw the golden brilliance clearly.

She only glanced once, yet nearly went blind.

And in that single glance, she saw it.

The colossal eye she had once glimpsed decades ago in the far north, staring down from the edge of the heavens.

She was certain that at this very moment, that eye was gazing at someone.

Everyone was forced to shut their eyes against the piercing light.

Everyone, except Ji Rong.

She opened her eyes wide and stared straight at the light.

Amid the radiance, she clearly saw the pocket watch hanging from Mei Lixue’s neck.

It seemed to be the source.

And it was because of the light radiating from that watch that the golden beams were able to pierce through the sky.

The pocket watch opened.

Inside, there were no hour or minute hands.

Only a beam of light.

But unlike the light that bathed the world after the clouds parted, this light was not generous.

It was selective. Almost… stingy.

Because it shone on only one person.

As Gu Baiyi closed her eyes, she felt death looming.

It was nothing like the killing intent of an enemy, it was something far more immediate.

The threat of death was suffocating, pressing in closer than ever before. She had Doubtless, if she didn’t move now, she would be reduced to dust in the next instant.

Her instincts screamed. She immediately used Phantom Flowers, Hidden Moon .

In the blink of an eye, her figure flickered and reappeared some distance away.

But when she opened her eyes again, the piercing brilliance was still there.

That beam of light had become a giant net, trapping her within.

And she had nowhere to run.

Very soon, that beam of light would strike Gu Baiyi.

But the pressure carried by the light pinned her in place, she couldn’t move. She could only stand rooted to the spot, catching a glimpse of Ji Rong from the corner of her eye.

She saw her Senior Sister, face pale, running toward her.

But in the end, she still wasn’t fast enough.

Ji Rong’s spiritual power was already depleted, how could she outrun light?

Gu Baiyi couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, Senior Sister’s spiritual power was gone. She couldn’t have reached her in time.

Gu Baiyi thought she was probably going to die.

But before she died, she could see the person she most wanted to see. Somehow, that left her with no regrets.

She closed her eyes.

This was her second time experiencing the feeling of death, but she hadn’t known, death could be so warm.

She felt herself being held, those arms were so gentle, so light.

She thought it was the light embracing her.

But when she opened her eyes, she saw a brilliant crimson and ink-black hair fluttering in the wind.

Gu Baiyi's eyes widened. She saw Gong Yu open her mouth, as if to say something to her.

But the light caught up and struck her crimson robes.

Death was always heavy. Always loud.

But at this moment, Gu Baiyi saw Gong Yu smiling at her.

The light shimmered like golden fireflies, dancing along her silhouette. Then it scattered, becoming stardust, turning into flecks of light that floated far, far away.

Gu Baiyi reached out, dazed, trying to hold onto something.

But all she touched were fragments of broken light.

Gong Yu disappeared, yet the beam of light remained.

And as the edge of her red robes crumbled to ashes, Ji Rong’s vision went black.

She couldn’t remember whether she screamed.

Because the light hadn’t disappeared, it shone once more upon Gu Baiyi.

Perhaps because Gu Baiyi was a child of the Heavenly Demon bloodline, blessed with an immortal body. Perhaps because Gong Yu had shielded her from part of the light. But she didn’t vanish right away.

Ji Rong saw a flower bloom on Gu Baiyi’s body, a beautiful red lotus.

Like a glass bottle shattering, her begonia-like face was stained with brilliant crimson.

Her spiritual power was completely drained. She didn’t even know how she managed to catch that falling, blood-drenched figure, or how she herself collapsed to the ground.

Ji Rong heard Mei Lixue laughing. What was she laughing at?

Ah. She said, “The will of Heaven truly never errs.”

But as Ji Rong reached out to embrace the blood-soaked girl in her arms, she no longer knew what was right and what was wrong.

She didn’t even think about killing Mei Lixue anymore, about making her live in torment and die without peace.

She simply, numbly, reached out and wiped the blood from Gu Baiyi’s face over and over.

The little fox seemed to be crying, using its demon core to try to heal Gu Baiyi.

But the bottle was already broken. The begonia flower had already withered.

A moment later, Ji Rong heard Bai Yushuang’s voice.

Bai Yushuang seemed to be crying, and laughing.

Then came the sound of a sword leaving its sheath. Someone collapsed to the ground. There was the clatter of metal striking stone.

Mei Lixue had been stabbed ten times? Twenty? Maybe more. Ji Rong no longer cared. She didn’t care what the Saintess of the Divine Sect had been thinking in her final moments. She didn’t care if this meant war between the Divine and Demon Sects.

Gradually, all sound faded away. All she could feel was a pair of hands cupping her face.

Had she cried? Ji Rong didn’t know.

All she could do was grasp those hands with trembling fingers. “A-Yu is gone… Don’t disappear too, please?”

“There’s still the Gu poison… With the mother Gu dead, how can the child Gu survive?”

Gu Baiyi opened her mouth, and a flood of blood poured out.

She tried to smile. Tried to speak. But more blood welled up, choking her words.

Ji Rong heard her voice.

“Senior Sister, don’t be afraid. What you swallowed… was the mother Gu.”

Ji Rong shook all over. She kept wiping the blood from Gu Baiyi’s lips. “Okay… I know. I know you love me. I love you too. Please don’t leave…”

Gu Baiyi looked at Ji Rong, as if she had so much more to say.

But before the warmth faded from her hands, she swallowed the blood in her throat and forced out her final words.

“Senior Sister… live on.”

Ji Rong stared in a daze as Gu Baiyi’s hand slipped from her face, falling to the ground with a sickening splash into a pool of blood.

Kneeling, she held the girl tightly in her arms.

In that instant, she felt no pain, almost unsure if she was still alive.

But when she saw Gu Baiyi’s face, her mind drifted back to a moonlit night, someone pushing open the window, lifting off a mask, smiling as they said, “Senior Sister, you locked the windows and doors. How utterly heartbreaking for me.”

And then, grief crushed her heart.

Overwhelming pain surged through her, pounding through every bone and limb, nearly stealing her breath.

She held the lifeless body tighter, feeling the warmth slip away. Her throat was hoarse with screams, but no sound came out.

Just then, a familiar electronic voice rang out:

[Gu Baiyi detected dead. Player must use the item “Mountains and Rivers Chessboard” immediately to preserve her soul.]

[Countdown: 10 seconds]

[Timer begins]

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Note: There's a twist coming!!

No spoilers, but I promise no one in this story will truly die (wild hinting here!)