Chapter 114: Heaven and Earth

The sky at the top of the mountain is still black, and a dense mist lingers around. There was no sign of vegetation on the jagged black rocks, and the environment seemed completely different from that below, full of a stern smell. The torch in Lu Qingjiu's hand had gone out, so he turned on his torch again and groped his way forward. It was so dark, and the fog so thick, that the torch in his hand was like the light of a glowing fire, and he was forced to slow down.

But Lu Qingjiu could already faintly hear some strange sounds coming from afar, sounds that sounded like the roar of a giant beast, piercing through the thick fog, and Lu Qingjiu followed them. Lu Qingjiu remembered that the mountain top was surrounded by steep cliffs, so he took every step with extreme caution, but even so, when he reached the edge of the mountain top, he almost stepped on it, but fortunately he reacted in time and sat down on the ground before he slipped off the edge.

Cold sweat broke out on Lu Qingjiu's forehead and he hurried a little further away from the edge of the cliff. He remembered having seen some strange sights here before, but now the fog was too thick to see anything. Lu Qingjiu heard another dragon's roar and a strong feeling of unease rose up in him, trying to see what was going on in the mist.

As Lu Qingjiu was thinking this, there was a loud cracking sound in his ears, which seemed to be coming from above his head.

There is a golden glow coming from the blank end of the sky, the light piercing the barrier of the sky and spilling in rays onto the ground, where it appears as dappled patches of light.

The golden light gradually dispersed the fog and the scene around him began to become clear. Lu Qingjiu finally saw Bai Yuehu, and several dragons who were fighting with him. There were seven or eight of them, most of them red candle dragons, and Bai Yuehu was chasing and biting them in the distance, so fast that Lu Qingjiu could only barely make out their tracks.

Lu Qingjiu's mind was a little worried, filled with fears that Bai Yuehu had been injured. He noticed that the dragons were fighting on top of a lonely peak he had seen earlier, the outer wall of which was as smooth as a mirror and plunged into the clouds, as if supporting heaven and earth between them. Lu Qingjiu remembered that when he had been here before, he had seen a black dragon swimming around the lonely peak, could that be Bai Yuehu's true form?

Lu Qingjiu was relieved that Bai Yuehu did not appear to be in a disadvantageous position under the siege of several candle dragons, and kept praying in his heart that Bai Yuehu could beat them. But soon Lu Qingjiu realised something was different. The candle dragons did not seem to be heading for Bai Yuehu, but were aiming at the lonely peak behind him.

The candle dragons flew in mid-air, hovered and watched, and when they found the right moment, they charged up towards the lonely peak, slamming into it with great speed. Their huge size left one crack after another on the cliff face of the mountain, and their scales broke off, Lu Qingjiu even saw a candle dragon that had broken off its own horn.

Bai Yuehu was still being harassed by several other candle dragons, and he obviously tried to stop them, but the ones that were wrapped around him seemed to not want to live at all, and blocked Bai Yuehu with their own bodies, not caring about his injuries.

"Lu Qingjiu watched as a candle dragon crashed to its death on top of the lonely peak, its originally graceful body twisted, its bright red blood blossoming into a beautiful flower on the black stone wall. Then it began to slide slowly down, falling straight down into an abyss with no end in sight.

"Bang," Bai Yuehu was able to dispose of a few of the candle dragons around him in response to the candle dragon's suicide attack, but at that moment a large, icy blue snowflake fell from the sky, these snowflakes seemed to float from the other side of the gap and only fell around Lone Peak, Lu Qingjiu could clearly see that those Bai Yuehu's originally athletic stance became a little slower as a result. Seeing another candle dragon intending to hit Lone Peak, Bai Yuehu gritted his teeth and flew forward, using his body to resist the dragon's attack.

He was knocked out of the way and his claws were twisted out of shape, obviously broken. Lu Qingjiu's heart ached as he watched. He couldn't bear to see the black dragon he usually coaxed and pampered suffer such a thing. But what could he do? With a quarter of his dragon blood inside him, he could do nothing at all, he was just an impotent mortal who could only watch as his beloved was killed by those monsters.

With another roar, Bai Yuehu bit down on the neck of the candle dragon that had struck him, and then with a mighty slam, threw it straight down into the abyss. But although he had killed another candle dragon, it was only a drop in the bucket, as the surrounding candle dragons attacked again, and Bai Yuehu stopped them a few times before he was exhausted. If he had been given some time, he might have been able to defeat them, but none of them had any intention of surviving.

Lu Qingjiu did not understand at first why they were doing this, until he noticed that every time the Candle Dragon damaged the Lone Peak a little, the crack in the sky, became a little bigger.

The crack in the black sky became more and more visible, and a golden light illuminated the dark world, except that the light did not make anyone feel warm, but brought a white, eerie coldness to Lu Qingjiu, and by this light he saw the hideous wounds on Bai Yuehu's body, the scales on one side of his body had become bloody in order to block the candle dragon, the wounds were bone deep, and his originally slender and athletic His body was twisted, as if he had been hit in the spine. But even so, Bai Yuehu had no intention of retreating, his eyes burning with a strong battle spirit, protecting the inviolable ground behind him, refusing to take a step back even if his body were to die.

Unknowingly, Lu Qingjiu's eyes became wet and he looked at Bai Yuehu with fascination, clutching the wooden box in his arms with all the strength he could muster. He remembered Xuan Yu's words, and if he was the one who could end it all, he wanted to do it immediately, no matter what the cost.

With another violent impact, Bai Yuehu finally seemed to be on the verge of not being able to hold on, his body slammed heavily into the lonely peak due to inertia, and then began a slow slide.

"Bai Yuehu Bai Yuehu No, Ao Yue, Ao Yue" Lu Qingjiu called out Bai Yuehu's name tremblingly, watching Bai Yuehu's body falling down, calling out to his lover unceasingly. Bai Yuehu's head was hanging down, but his furry ears suddenly twitched, as if he had heard something, and he slowly raised his head and glanced in Lu Qingjiu's direction. Because of the distance between them, Lu Qingjiu was not sure if he was hallucinating, but he could see that Bai Yuehu had barely managed to control his body, stopping his descent and climbing lamely up the rock face of the lonely peak.

There were two more candle dragons around him, but Bai Yuehu had absolutely no strength left to block them. He tried to use his own body as a cushion to allow the candle dragons to crash into him, but they had already seen his intention and made a hard U-turn.

"His scales shattered, his body bent, and his white brains and red blood spilled into the air. But his death was not in vain. Lu Qingjiu clearly heard the sound of rocks crumbling and he watched as the lonely peak Bai Yuehu was protecting began to fall apart, chunks of black rock falling from the peak and the lonely peak becoming shaky.

"Get out of the way, Bai Yuehu ." Up in the sky floated an ice-blue figure with an icy coldness, and he said, "Your sacrifice is meaningless."

Bai Yuehu didn't answer, just let out an angry growl.

"Get out of the way." The man who spoke was a man Lu Qingjiu had not seen before, but his long ice-blue hair and resemblance to Xuan Yu made Lu Qingjiu realise that he was the fused God of Winter, and it was clear that the tainted soul had taken over, and the Xuan Yu Lu Qingjiu had seen before had completely disappeared.

Bai Yuehu glared at the god of winter with hatred, his voice hoarse with rage: "Get out"

The god of winter was indifferent, and he said, " Zhu Rong is dead, and no one can help you."

"If it wasn't for you, how could Zhu Rong have died." Bai Yuehu said, "I won't listen to your nonsense, I won't let you in, get lost", and with another dragon whistle the rocks fell from the lonely peak. With his body, he stood in front of the crack in the lonely peak, refusing to take a step back.

The God of Winter said coldly, "Then let it be as you wish." As he said this, more snowflakes fell from the sky, Bai Yuehu's body was frozen even more, and the most desperate thing of all was the appearance of many red eyes in the cracks of golden light shooting from the sky.

These eyes peered greedily into the human realm, and even through the rift, Lu Qingjiu could detect the tyranny and murder in their eyes.

Then a candle dragon began to try to break through the crack, first it stretched out a claw, then its head, then its body, but just as it tried to squeeze out, Bai Yuehu, who looked to be dying, turned back and flew into the sky, and before the candle dragon could come over, it took a vicious bite and bit the candle dragon's head off.

"Bai Yuehu was panting heavily, and it was clear that he was exhausted and could not sustain it any longer.

The god of winter didn't mind, and with a wave of his hand, the candle dragon at the end of the rift began to continue to push its way inside.

This time it came straight to two, and Bai Yuehu said angrily, "You dream"

But the god of winter laughed faintly, and he said, "Are you forgetting something"

Bai Yuehu is stunned.

The God of Winter said, "There is another one." As soon as his words fell, a fiery red figure appeared beside him. That figure was clearly the grandfather who had just handed Lu Qingjiu a torch; the grandfather had red hair and was obviously in a contaminated state; neither Lu Qingjiu nor Bai Yuehu reacted before they saw him flicker and change back into his dragon form, slamming hard towards the already shaky Lone Peak.

"Grandpa" Lu Qingjiu let out a terrified cry, but it was too late.

Although he no longer had his dragon horns, his huge body and tremendous strength instantly shattered the already broken Lone Peak.

After a loud bang, the mountain began to tilt slowly, making an earth-shattering sound as the rocks from above continued to fall into the endless abyss. Along with the peak, Ao Run, with a contented smile on his face, chased the rocks and fell into a sea of clouds with no visible bottom.

With the break of the lonely peak, the golden rift in front of Lu Qingjiu began to widen, and the rift that could only accommodate one candle dragon became a passage for them to pass through at will. The red candle dragons, like flames, rushed towards the human world, but they did not attack Bai Yuehu as if they were not interested in him, but began to swim around the God of Winter, like dancing butterflies.

The dark sky began to crack piece by piece, the golden light extended from the cracks and eventually spread throughout the sky, Lu Qingjiu's head, as if it had become a fragile piece of porcelain, the black night, little by little, was encroached upon by the golden light.

Lu Qingjiu looked at Bai Yuehu, and Bai Yuehu looked at Lu Qingjiu, and they looked at each other, both seeing tenderness in each other's eyes. Bai Yuehu began to fly towards Lu Qingjiu, his body was in a terrible state, but he still wanted to use his last strength to meet Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu also looked expectant, but just as Bai Yuehu was slowly approaching Lu Qingjiu, debris fell from the sky and hit him hard. Bai Yuehu was struck by the shard, which seemed to be extremely heavy, and Bai Yuehu let out a whimper as he was struck, then lost consciousness and fell straight down into the abyss.

Lu Qingjiu was lost to him in this way.

"No, no, no" Lu Qingjiu screamed, kneeling on the edge of the cliff and reaching out towards Bai Yuehu, trying to grab his beloved black dragon with his hands, but all in vain, Bai Yuehu simply disappeared before his eyes, into the abyss enveloped by a sea of clouds.

" Bai Yuehu, Bai Yuehu " Lu Qingjiu called Bai Yuehu's name mournfully, but there was no longer an answer.

Ice-blue snowflakes began to spread from the top of the lonely peak towards the surrounding area, falling on Lu Qingjiu's head and shoulders, but he did not feel the cold, all his attention was focused on the bottomless abyss before him.

The crack in the sky, which had spread completely as far as the eye could see, was followed by countless pairs of colourful eyes peering into the world, eyes that were greedy, brutal, and curious and puzzled, the curiosity of one world for another, and which began to try to squeeze themselves out of the crack, making it even bigger.

Are the two worlds about to merge?

Lu Qingjiu was dumbfounded, Bai Yuehu had still failed.

No, he must be able to do something about it.

Lu Qingjiu was thinking about this when he suddenly felt a subtle change in the wooden box he was holding in his arms, and when he looked down, he realised that a faint red mist had emerged from the text lock on the wooden box. Lu Qingjiu immediately remembered that Bai Yuehu had once said that the text lock on the wooden box was special and that one had to enter a specific text at a specific time in order to open it.

"The answer, what is the answer?" Lu Qingjiu flipped through the text lock, but found nothing, there were so many alternative answers to the text lock at this point, he didn't even make it to the end after fifty or so, the sky was about to collapse

He didn't have time to guess the answers one by one.

"Calm down, calm down." Lu Qingjiu kept reassuring himself in his mind as he began to try to recall all the information, trying to find out the answer to the text lock, which could only be three words, and all the answers were also three words, so what exactly was it?

" Bai Yuehu Lu Qingjiu No, no, no" Lu Qingjiu thought of Xuan Yu who had found himself earlier on purpose and who had said something like, "Someone has already given you the answer, you are the only one who can save this. "

Lu Qingjiu thought, what does it mean that someone has already given him the answer, what is the answer? He was really anxious and chewed off half of his nails in a hard attempt to calm himself down, he looked to the sky that was about to shatter, and then to the bottomless abyss, and suddenly something came to him.

Lu Qingjiu thought of the trigrams that Da Shu had once read for him.

"When the water runs out in a poor mountain, it is hard to keep the flowers bright in a village where the willow is dark; if you do not enter the water, it is hard to avoid the circumstance, and it is hard to restore the mountain and the water." When Lu Qingjiu reached the last three lines, his body suddenly shivered and he repeated, "If you do not enter the water, it is difficult to avoid the circumstance, and it is difficult to restore the mountain and the water." Da Shu once said that if the first two lines were Lu Qingjiu's situation, the last three lines were The way to break it.

"If you don't enter the water, you will not be able to avoid the circumstance, and you will not be able to recover the mountain and the water." As Lu Qingjiu recited it, he suddenly smiled. He finally understood the meaning of Xuan Yu's words.

"Bu Zhou Mountain." Slowly entering these three words into the text lock, Lu Qingjiu's body tensed up, and then, a pleasant soft sound was heard.

"Barf." The text lock opened.

Lu Qingjiu saw what was inside, a white fragment that emanated a warm glow. He reached out and picked it up, feeling the glow slowly spread throughout his body.

Unlike the piercing golden light that shoots down from his head, the light from his body is full of tolerance and gentleness, as if he were a god-buddha in compassion.

Lu Qingjiu was also infected by this scent and felt his body becoming lighter and lighter, as if he was free from the bonds of flesh.

In the distance, the God of Winter, who had been waiting quietly for the result, noticed the movement over here, and when he saw the change in Lu Qingjiu's body, his face changed dramatically and he said, "Stop him!"

The candle dragons at their sides moved at the sound of the sound and rushed towards Lu Qingjiu, but before they could get close to Lu Qingjiu, they were stopped by a white light shield, which was not hard but very soft, and the candle dragons were trapped in it, but it was as if they were stuck in a mud puddle, unable to move at all.

The God of Winter's expression, which had been so bland, began to crumble as he tried to stop Lu Qingjiu, but he couldn't even get close. It was only at this point, facing a truly powerful force, that he realised the difference between himself and the ancient gods. It was just a fragment, and he couldn't even get close enough.

The white light began to rise slowly towards the sky, and Lu Qingjiu was wrapped in it, watching himself get further and further away from the ground. Although surrounded by angry candle dragons, he was in an exceptionally calm mood, like a sunken lake where even the wind could not blow up the ripples.

He did not know where he was going, but knew that he was going, where he was supposed to go. It was an indescribable metaphysical feeling, the first time Lu Qingjiu had tasted such peace in his soul. He was rising, rising and rising, until he reached the top of the vault of heaven and was compared to the clouds.

When the sky reached its extreme point, the light from Lu Qingjiu's body began to spread around him, and everywhere he went, the golden light was covered with white light, and the sky once again returned to pure blackness. The non-humans who attempted to rush from behind the golden light into the human world began to fade away after touching the white light, turning into a speck of dust in this world.

Lu Qingjiu saw the endless mountains and rivers, the endless oceans, the emerald green of spring, the fiery red of summer, the golden autumn and the glittering white of winter. He felt a wonderful change in his body, all distractions disappeared, all consciousness seemed to merge with the world, he no longer felt pain, nor did he grieve anymore.

Is this the end of it? Lu Qingjiu thought blankly, he could no longer feel his body, as if only his soul still existed at this moment, and his physical body had become a heavy bondage.

Lu Qingjiu closed his eyes when he heard someone calling him, and just as he was about to immerse himself in this peaceful atmosphere, the name Bai Yuehu suddenly appeared in his heart.

Bai Yuehu Lu Qingjiu's heart ached violently as he thought of his beloved false vixen, and a tear fell involuntarily, but this pain was soon soothed by calmness, and he closed his eyes and fell into a permanent, restful sleep.

Lu Qingjiu didn't know anything about what happened next.