Chapter 268 - 267: Divine Retribution (2)

Bai Qingyue let go of the railing. She raised her pale hands, her fingers blurring into a sequence of spiritual seals.

Her crystalline blue Golden Core, perfectly formed and brimming with energy, began to violently throb. She was tapping directly into her own life essence.

"Cousin, what are you doing?!" Bai Chen screamed, lunging forward as he felt the terrifying, self-destructive fluctuation in her aura. Su Yin gasped, recognizing the hand seals.

"She is forming Life Seals!" Su Yin cried out, her voice laced with absolute horror. "Lady Bai, stop! You cannot interfere with a Heavenly Tribulation!"

Bai Qingyue ignored them. Her eyes were locked onto the burning silhouette of her husband. She knew, as It was said in the texts of the ancient era that ten thousand Life Seals could project a barrier capable of defending against an Immortal Mountain’s attack. A single Life Seal equated to the exact sacrifice of one-tenth year of a cultivator’s lifespan. (10 Life seal = one year of lifespan)

With her newly formed cultivation at the Early Stage of Core Formation, Bai Qingyue’s total lifespan sat at exactly five hundred years.

She did not hesitate for a single fraction of a second.

I will burn two hundred and fifty years, Bai Qingyue resolved, her Dao Heart steeling itself against the impending loss. I will sacrifice exactly half of my existence. I will form two thousand five hundred Life Seals. It will not stop the tribulation, but it will project a barrier strong enough to buy him the time he needs to escape the focal point of the Fire Retribution!

The brilliant blue light radiating from her body began to turn a sickly, desperate shade of pale grey as her life force was forcefully extracted. Her black hair fluttered wildly, the sheer gravity of the sacrifice causing the air around her to weep.

Down in the inferno, despite the agonizing dissolution of his flesh, Lin Yuan’s newly forged Primordial Spirit sensed the massive, self-destructive fluctuation traveling down their karmic tether.

Lin Yuan’s deep purple eyes snapped open, blazing through the golden-crimson fire.

He saw her standing on the terrace, her hands glowing with the grey light of consumed lifespan.

"QINGYUE, STOP!" Lin Yuan roared.

His voice did not just carry over the roar of the Hellstorm; it violently struck her spiritual sea, a direct voice transmitted through their bond.

Bai Qingyue flinched, her hands freezing mid-seal. "Yuan! Let me do this! Let me save you!"

"Do not insult me!" Lin Yuan bellowed, his voice shaking with an anger far hotter than the Heavenly Fire consuming his body. The effort of shouting tore at the charred flesh of his throat, but he did not care. His eyes remained fixed on Bai Qingyue, burning with an intensity that even the flames could not suppress.

"Do you think I did all of this, defied the Heavens, and risked everything I had just to watch you throw your life away?!"

His fists clenched tightly, blood dripping from his burned palms.

"Do you think all the battles I fought, all the dangers I endured, and every step I took along the path of cultivation were for some meaningless pursuit of power?"

His voice trembled, not from weakness, but from the fear of losing the one person who had given meaning to his journey.

"No, Qingyue. You are the reason I became strong in the first place. Ever since I married you, my path of cultivation had drastically changed!"

He took a step toward her despite the Heavenly Fire devouring his flesh.

"Every time I stood against the Heavens, every time I refused to bow, every time I crawled back from the brink of death, I did it because of the strength you gave me."

His gaze softened, but the determination within it only grew stronger.

"If I lose you, then what exactly have I won?"

Lin Yuan shook his head.

"The Heavens can take my cultivation. They can destroy my body. They can shatter my Dao Heart and strip me of everything I possess."

"But if they take you from me, then they have already won."

His voice fell into a low, unwavering whisper.

"So don’t you dare call throwing your life away a sacrifice for me."

"You are not the price I am willing to pay for the Dao."

"You are the reason I am willing to walk the Dao itself."

"To save your life, I would gladly throw mine away!" Bai Qingyue screamed back, tears of desperation streaming down her face, instantly turning to steam in the superheated air.

"That is exactly what they want!" Lin Yuan roared, pointing a finger up at the bleeding sky. "This retribution is not happening because I forged a Primordial Spirit! It is happening because I refused to let the Heavens dictate the will of my heart! My obsession, my anchor is you!"

Lin Yuan dropped to one knee, the Rank 10 Ancient Beast Body finally beginning to give way, but his gaze remained fiercely, unconditionally locked onto her.

"If you throw away your lifespan now... if you mutilate your very foundation..... you are giving the Heavens another form of victory!" Lin Yuan commanded, his voice softening into a desperate, agonizing plea. "Do not give them that victory, Qingyue. Keep your life. Keep it all."

Bai Qingyue sobbed, her hands falling to her sides. The grey light of the forbidden seals dissipated, her lifespan returning to her Golden Core. She fell to her knees, entirely paralyzed by the sheer, crushing weight of his words and the depth of his love.

Lin Yuan offered her a final, bloody smile through the flames.

Then, the Fire Retribution surged to its absolute maximum.

A localized supernova of golden-crimson heavenly fire detonated within the crater.

Lin Yuan’s physical limits were finally breached. The Rank 10 Ancient Beast Body could no longer withstand the continuous, purifying wrath of the Heavenly fire.

His flesh turned to absolute ash. His bones, denser than star-iron, melted into glowing white slag. His meridians, which had channeled the Taiyi Divine Thunder, were completely eradicated.

The physical body of Lin Yuan collapsed. It was instantly destroyed, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

For a fraction of a second, his Primordial Spirit—a flawless manifestation of his true self—hung bare and exposed in the center of the inferno.

Without the physical vessel to act as a shield, the Heavenly Fire descended upon the spirit with merciless might.

The tri-colored light flickered violently. The Dao of Three Rebirths pulsed, attempting to establish an aura of reincarnation, but the sheer, overwhelming volume of the Hellstorm completely drowned it out.

With a silent shattering sound that echoed exclusively within the souls of the onlookers, Lin Yuan’s Primordial Spirit was annihilated.