Inside the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation.
That river of time continued to spread like a rift, ultimately fracturing the entire world.
Before it swallowed everything, Shen Meinan saw Chen Kuang's figure disappear into the sea of blood.
Immediately after, starting from that single point, an infinite darkness rapidly expanded in a circular wave. Everything it passed over turned to absolute nothingness.
In an instant, the entire Floating Li Battlefield collapsed. Everything, whether person or object, peeled away like a torn-off layer of a painting.
Beneath that layer... was an entirely new world.
The surviving elites, who no longer belonged to this upper layer, began to plummet uncontrollably.
Just as Jiang Yunqing had predicted earlier, the entire Ancient Battlefield of Meditation had been reshaped by the Martial Saint's Domain of the Dao, they were now falling into the next battlefield.
For a moment, Shen Meinan felt a wave of panic, not for her own safety, but for the disappearance of Chen Kuang.
She could no longer sense his presence, at all.
Even when she pushed her divine sense to its limits and reached into that pitch-black void, she found only emptiness.
A surge of sour sorrow and helplessness welled up inside her chest. Before she could stop it, tears burst from her eyes, splintering midair under the forces of gravity and roaring winds like a fleeting summer rain.
So close!
Just a little bit more... and she could have touched that liar..
"Stop."
A soft, cool voice sounded in her mind:
"He's already gone."
Shen Meinan's eyes reddened. Choking with grievance, she shouted:
"I don't want to!"
The young girl snapped:
"I'm tired of listening to all of you! Whether it's Father, Mother, or you, you all just want me to behave and obey! None of you ever cared what I wanted!"
"I listened to you! I went home and inherited the Dao of 'Compassion' on your behalf, even gave up my body, all because he said he'd come find me in three years!"
"I only wanted you to agree to our marriage for that reason!"
"When I thought he'd been killed by the Martial Saint, I didn't want to live either! That's why I came to the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation for you!"
"And now, now, just when I saw him again..."
Shen Meinan burst into full sobs:
"He's dead again! Wuwuwuwuwawa!"
The voice fell silent for a moment.
Then calmly said:
"He's not dead."
"Wuwu... eh?" Shen Meinan hiccuped mid-cry, blinking in confusion.
The voice continued faintly:
"He was merely taken by the Great Dao of Time. I don't know where he's been sent... or whether he can return."
Shen Meinan let out a quiet "Oh," growing somewhat embarrassed as she thought about her outburst.
But soon she flared up again, eyebrows sharply angled as she puffed:
"Isn't that still life or death uncertain?!"
The voice replied:
"Since he survived an encounter with the Martial Saint, I'm beginning to believe... he's not someone who dies easily."
Shen Meinan narrowed her eyes suspiciously:
"Didn't you hate him?"
The voice chuckled softly.
"Hate?"
No... not exactly hate.
She merely wanted to kill him.
To kill this man who alone had glimpsed the secrets of her heart.
Now that her Dao had been inherited by Shen Meinan, and the seals placed on their souls since birth to create two distinct beings had been undone, the connection between their divine senses had begun to return.
Before, they had already experienced occasional shared emotions, though inconsistently.
Now, that sensation was growing clearer by the day.
Clear enough that, when Shen Meinan had thrown herself into Chen Kuang's arms earlier, Shen Xingzhu could faintly feel the warmth and firmness of his body herself.
Doing this had allowed the Shen Clan to retain an extraordinary genius.
At the same time, Shen Meinan, whose cultivation had long been sealed and suppressed, now experienced an explosive increase.
In just three days, she had grown strong enough for Shen Xingzhu to use her body to defeat Jiang Yunqing.
The price, however, was that they might be unable to return to their original bodies for a long time, until their consciousnesses fully merged.
Still, because of the fifteen years of forced separation, their established personalities wouldn't disappear, it was more like two separate rooms now connected into one larger space.
Shen Meinan heard her internal counterpart laughing and grew even more alarmed:
"You're not allowed to fall for that liar! He... he's a very bad man!"
Shen Xingzhu: "..."
So you know he's bad?
But he might be even worse than you think...
She recalled that moment outside the imperial capital, when Chen Kuang had detonated a fellow cultivator from Lingtai Mountain without hesitation, using the lives of all under heaven to construct an inescapable death trap for her.
Such ruthless decisiveness, even to kill his own people:
A man this vile to the bone, Shen Meinan defended as if she were a mother hen shielding her chick.
Utterly baffling.
Why fall for such a devil? Shen Meinan was still naive, deceived and manipulated... but she was not.
She had seen the true face of Chen Kuang.
Shen Xingzhu said faintly:
"First figure out how to get out of here. He won't die so easily. And, stop crying using my body."
She hadn't shed more than a few tears in her entire life. Even counting infancy, it probably wasn't as much as Shen Meinan had just cried in this one moment.
"Oh."
Shen Meinan landed on solid ground with a soft thud, responded dully, and vigorously wiped her tear-stained face. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
In front of her, the new battlefield... had already begun its slaughter.
...
Meanwhile, on the far eastern side, Chen Kuang arrived at the foot of Void Chamber Mountain after just three days.
The entire mountain rose to about three thousand zhang high. Though it didn't match the ten-thousand-zhang height of Xunmi Mountain, it was still an exceptionally rare peak in the mortal realm.
Its summit pierced the clouds, capped with snow. Lower down, thick mists curled around jagged, leaden rocks that jutted skyward like swords, exuding a perilous aura.
Chen Kuang had originally intended to fly directly to the summit, but halfway up, he felt a torrential Sword Intent pressing down from the peak.
A Dao Domain!
A Dao Domain of pure "Sword"!
As he neared, he could see that the ridge of Void Chamber Mountain was strewn with broken swords, countless of them, stabbed upright into the mountainside.
Inside Chen Kuang's mind, the Killing Sword was trembling with excitement, not in fear, but with eager anticipation...
In this domain, the Killing Sword felt not suppressed but completely at home, like a fish in water.
If Chen Kuang still had his previous level of cultivation, he would've been forced to the ground halfway up by the pressure, having no choice but to walk.
But now, he felt like he could fly all the way to the top without issue.
Still, this was the final resting place of the Sword Saint. Out of respect for this ancient predecessor, Chen Kuang decided to walk the rest of the way.
As he ascended, immersed in the domain, Chen Kuang could feel his comprehension of swordsmanship and Sword Intent increasing exponentially, as if he were receiving divine insight.
By the time he reached the mountaintop, he had fully mastered the Void-Slicing Sword.
If he were to strike now, he had the confidence to replicate that sword.
He came back to his senses, and froze.
Because at the summit, a middle-aged man sat cross-legged, covered in snow like a statue. But his breath puffed out in visible clouds, clearly, he was still alive.
Chen Kuang's heart jolted, and he suddenly remembered, two thousand and three hundred years ago... wasn't the Sword Saint still alive?!
While Chen Kuang stood stunned, the middle-aged man opened his eyes, shook the snow from his shoulders, revealing coarse linen garments, and a sword laid across his knees.
His clothes were plain, but that sword emitted an unconcealable, world-shaking brilliance.
A famed sword: Tai A.
This man, was the Sword Saint.
Meeting the man's gaze, Chen Kuang had no choice but to brace himself, cupped his fists respectfully, and said:
"This junior has come uninvited. I've long heard of the Sword Saint's name and came specifically to seek guidance."
The Sword Saint looked him over, and the first words he spoke made Chen Kuang's heart tremble:
"You cultivate... the Song of Weed-Cutting?"