Chapter 1243: Eternal parting

Night slowly fell.

In the room, Gu Qing Shan and Zhao Qiong sat across from one another.

“A unique Apocalypse? What would happen?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

Zhao Qiong gave him a piece of white bone.

“This is called the Motionless Armor, while you hold it, it will allow your soul vessel to remain completely still, which means your soul won’t be taken away by that Apocalypse” Zhao Qiong explained.

Gu Qing Shan received the piece of white bone, only to find it engraved full of tiny runes.

“From what I learnt in history class, we’ve managed to defeat quite a few Apocalypses and even seal a few of them away, so why are there still Apocalypses that can appear within the School so easily?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

Zhao Qiong replied: “Because this Apocalypse couldn’t be sealed, and it just happened to occur only within our Western Sea Grotto——- fortunately, it isn’t too powerful, so we tolerate its existence, keeping an eye out for its appearance every once in a while”

She then slowly explained:

“In half an hour, the Grudgeful Spirit Apocalypse will appear”

“This Apocalypse would select only your enemies among the dead living beings, allowing them to once again manifest in front of you”

“All of your enemies will come to attack you”

“For a powerful person, this Apocalypse is highly dangerous”

“But you’re only a child, so there shouldn’t be any issues, and with my piece of bone’s protection, there wouldn’t be any issues”

Gu Qing Shan paused for a bit, then smiled: “Senior Zhao, have you eaten yet?”

Zhao Qiong was surprised.

——-we were talking about the Apocalypse, why did the subject suddenly change to food?

“I… still haven’t eaten, since your cooking is nice, I was planning on relying on you for that” she casually replied.

Gu Qing Shan said: “There’s not much salt and vinegar left in the kitchen, and there’s still half an hour left, can you go to the front street and buy some for me? I’ll need them for cooking”

Zhao Qiong immediately stood up and said: “Alright, make sure to stay here and don’t run off, I’ll return in a bit”

She quickly returned with what he asked for, only to see Li San Lang holding the piece of bone in his hand, staring blankly at it.

“Here’s the salt and vinegar you wanted” Zhao Qiong said.

Li San Lang regained his senses and smiled: “Thanks, what does senior Zhao want to eat tonight?”

“Anything is fine, right, the noodles you made last time were quite nice”

“Alright, then we’ll have noodles”

The two of them talked as they got busy in the kitchen.

A cat sat at the corner of the room, silently watching this.

A few moments later, after confirming that there weren’t any issues, he leapt on the window and left.

This cat didn’t mind anything and simply ran through the city nightscape like a blurred orange image.

Very quickly, he reached the border of the School of Shan Hai, at which point the sea parted ways by itself to form a path that led into the ocean.

It went directly inside.

The orange cat hurriedly ran up along the sea path, finally reaching the surface after a long distance.

He started flying along the sea surface, sometimes abruptly vanishing and reappearing thousands of miles ahead, continuously running forward, forward, and further forward!

Until finally, this orange cat made it to a barren, desolate desert.

He sat down on a tall sand dune, slowly resting back up.

Shannu is disguised as me to eat with Zhao Qiong.

Under the shroud of night, I turned into the orange cat and used [Ghostly Shadow of Night] followed by [Spotless Jade] from Adorable.

Then I used the Chao Yin sword’s ability to control the ocean to traverse the large sea, heading to where no living being could see me.

Soon, the Grudgeful Spirit Apocalypse will arrive.

The orange cat sighed, then turned back into Gu Qing Shan.

——I’ve sent the quadrillions of dead people back to Primal Chaos, so they shouldn’t be able to manifest again.

Then, who would arrive?

Gu Qing Shan stood on top of the sand dune and silently waited.

Half an hour passed.

Heaven and earth gradually became faint and unclear.

It was as if a world from an unimaginably distant Space-Time was quickly approaching to overlap with the Western Sea Grotto——

From the fog, a certain figure slowly turned from faint to clear.

They once again faced Gu Qing Shan.

“How unexpected, this Apocalypse managed to summon you across the limit of Space-Time” Gu Qing Shan commented.

A female voice spoke: 『 I also did not expect for there to be a power that would awaken me from my slumber 』

After a pause, the female voice turned into a resounding male voice: 「 But this Apocalypse truly is weak, summoning me in the form of a grudgeful spirit, how would I fight you like this? 」

——-the Soul Shrieker.

It once again faced Gu Qing Shan, summoned by an Apocalypse.

If this had happened in the School of Shan Hai, it would have caused such a huge commotion that he wouldn’t know how to resolve it.

Gu Qing Shan said: “You have the ability to absorb souls, victory and defeat is still questionable”

The Soul Shrieker didn’t seem to want to fight at all, simply shaking its head: 『「 You have the Devil King’s scepter of Huang Quan 』」

This statement accurately portrayed the status quo.

——as a dead person, the only outcome for those who opposed the Devil King Warden Rod was a destroyed soul.

The Soul Shrieker stared closely at Gu Qing Shan, then slowly retreated.

『 I’m leaving, Gu Qing Shan 』it spoke again with its female voice, 『 I shall never enter reincarnation, nor remain under your dominance, we shall never meet again 』

“Wait a minute, I have something I want to ask you” Gu Qing Shan said.

『Speak 』

“I originally thought that you came from the Abyss, an Abyssal monster, but your allegiance to [Chaos] confused me, leaving me clueless on where you came from” Gu Qing Shan stated.

「『 From the Abyss? No, the Eternal Abyss had always been an unparalleled entity that resides in the space vortex, we were merely its dependants 」』the Soul Shrieker replied as it walked away.

Its body was becoming transparent, almost to the point of invisibility.

“Then what exactly were you after? What was your ultimate goal?” Gu Qing Shan pursued the question.

The Soul Shrieker paused, then said:

『「 Even insignificant insects like yourselves are constantly doing everything in your power to grow stronger, can we entities of the void not also strive towards that very same goal? 』」

「『 Ever since I first gained sentience, I’ve already understood a certain principle 」』

『「 For void entities like ourselves, only by becoming as powerful as the Eternal Abyss would we truly be able to obtain freedom 』」

「『 To achieve this goal, I can pledge my allegiance to anyone and anything, doing whatever it is I need to do, whether it is creation or destruction. As long as I can gain the great power similar to that of the Eternal Abyss, I will spare no efforts to do it 」』

『「 Regretfully, I did not think that you had relations to the Dusty World, and that was my only mistake 』」

Gu Qing Shan silently listened, then suddenly asked: “Exactly what kind of place is the Dusty World?”

The Soul Shrieker suddenly laughed.

「『 Do you really think I’m going to tell you? 」』it spoke with a voice full of grudge.

『「 Gu Qing Shan, there are countless secrets in the void, each of which can and will determine the fate of all. And I. Will never reveal the truth of the space vortex to you 』」

Gu Qing Shan’s expression remained completely the same as he continued: “Then let’s not talk about that, I’m just going to ask a single thing, since you’ve now awakened—— if you won’t go into reincarnation, where is your soul planning to go?”

The Soul Shrieker continued walking forward, slowly melding into the boundless void.

It spoke with its male voice: 「 I’ve strived for countless long years, eliminating living beings of numerous worlds, but in the end, I was still so feeble and weak, showing just how meaningless my entire life had been 」

「 Whenever I think of that, I can’t help but become filled with unspeakable rage 」

It abruptly looked up and shouted: 「『 Primal Chaos! I am a living being that has given up on the cycle of life and death, please allow me to return to nothingness! 」』

A boundless golden waterfall descended from above to envelop the Soul Shrieker.

Its body gradually melted into this waterfall manifested by Primal Chaos.

Primal Chaos was the origin of everything, for living beings, all things, and reality itself, it was the deepest mystic of the Laws themselves, that which created everything.

It does not exist in the realm of life, or the realm of death, nor was it nothingness; it was the beginning of reality, the most primal state of all.

Once the Soul Shrieker entered Primal Chaos, its soul would no longer exist, its everything becoming assimilated into Primal Chaos.

The Lord of the Space-Time Mystery Nest was the same, even if it had innumerable preparations and means that it had yet to utilize, since it was slain by Gu Qing Shan’s strike, it could only return to Primal Chaos, from then on helpless to return to any part of Space or Time.

A female voice resounded:

『 Goodbye, Gu Qing Shan, I wish to never see your face, struggling for survival ever again 』

The female voice then turned into the male voice:

「 Remember well, I did not lose to you 」

「 I lost to fate 」

The waterfall receded into the sky and disappeared without a trace.

All the supernatural phenomena disappeared, leaving Gu Qing Shan alone on the sand dune.

He stood still for a long while.

It was only after the Apocalypse had also faded away that he slowly spoke: “In truth, besides winning and losing, there are still many interesting and meaningful things in life. To protect these things, living beings are capable of feats beyond any of your imaginations”

“If you do not understand this, you do not understand living beings”

“When the funeral bell tolls, it does not simply toll for living beings, as everything that has a beginning will have an end, and it also tolls for you——– but you who do not even understand living beings would be helpless to even understand the restraints of karma, thus you couldn’t win against fate”

“That is the true reason why you lost”