Chapter 235: Disappeared Completely

"BOOM! RUMBLE..."

"CRACKLE! CRASH... BOOM..."

It was still that same pale golden world, but this time, a patch of darkness had appeared, consuming a third of the sky.

Thick, viscous black clouds roiled, carrying an ominous aura that promised world-ending destruction.

At the border where black and gold met, lightning flashed and thunder roared, the sound deafening.

Gold and black collided relentlessly. The boundary was a chaotic blur of darkness and light, flickering with electrical sparks. Long bolts of lightning ripped across the sky, their immense power making the very heavens and earth tremble.

It was like two armies locked in battle, fighting desperately in a struggle to the death.

As the only living person in this realm, Xiao Li lay calmly on the ground.

It wasn’t that she was unconcerned with her dignity; she had simply been standing for a long time, then sitting for a long time. Now she was just too exhausted and could only lie down.

She’d even taken a nap at one point. When she woke up, she found the thunder was still rumbling overhead.

The gold was this world’s consciousness, while the darkness was the invader.

The golden consciousness fought to annihilate it, while the darkness attacked with desperate ferocity. It was obvious both sides were enraged.

Xiao Li was on the side of the gold. The golden world consciousness was clearly protecting her, while the dark consciousness relentlessly crept in her direction.

’Is this because the male and female leads died, and now it’s come for revenge?’

Xiao Li stared at the border. Here, she didn’t need to eat or drink, and she wasn’t actually sleepy. She just slept out of boredom to pass the time.

There was no sun or moon here, no cycle of day and night. She had no idea how long she’d been here.

But as she watched them fight, the constant flashes of lightning threatened to blind her.

’Xiao Li really wanted to break up the fight. It was a rare opportunity, after all. Both parties... er, both *world consciousnesses* involved were present.’

’Couldn’t they just lift a finger and toss a little lackey like her, who’d just gotten caught in the crossfire, back to her own world?’

’Mistakes aren’t scary. What’s scary is refusing to fix them.’

’Besides, she was just one insignificant human. Either kill her or get rid of her. What was the big deal? Couldn’t they just get it over with?’

But it wasn’t as if Xiao Li hadn’t tried shouting. When she first arrived and found both sides present, she’d thought she could finally resolve the matter. Hoping to negotiate, she had yelled at the top of her lungs several times.

But neither of them paid her any mind.

They were world consciousnesses, incarnations of supreme deities.

One wanted her alive to protect the world; the other wanted her dead to obtain the world’s power.

She seemed important, but in reality, she was just a tool—a tool with absolutely no say in the matter.

Xiao Li accepted her reality and stopped shouting.

But waiting around was unbearably boring, so she started to study this small corner of existence.

The golden expanse was clear at a glance; there was nothing to it, so her research yielded nothing.

The blackness was just a mass of fog. She didn’t need to guess; it would be so dark inside you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. She’d likely die the instant she stepped into it.

Suddenly, Xiao Li’s gaze fell on the place where gold and black intertwined.

As the two forces battled amidst the flashing lightning and roaring thunder, golden motes of light would fall. They didn’t vanish right away; instead, they would bounce once on the ground before gradually fading.

Xiao Li watched for a long while, her curiosity piqued.

She glanced up at the lightning bolts, each as thick as a barrel. A single strike would be enough to obliterate her, but her intuition told her to go and see.

After a moment’s hesitation, she slowly edged her way over.

After inching forward several meters and confirming that neither entity was paying her any mind, she stood up and broke into a run toward the border.

The thundering might overhead and the heavy atmospheric pressure bent her back, making it impossible to stand straight.

Her steps grew heavier the closer she got.

She stumbled and fell to her knees, still a considerable distance from the confluence of gold and black.

Xiao Li began to crawl, but she could get no closer.

Just then, however, the dark power seemed to notice her. Seeing that she had approached of her own volition, it suddenly surged toward her.

The golden power fought desperately to block it, and the two forces clashed right before her eyes.

"Aargh!"

A bolt of lightning suddenly struck Xiao Li. In that instant, she thought she was truly dead.

’A death more complete than her own suicide. It felt as if she had been instantly annihilated, her very soul scattered to the winds.’

Xiao Li lay on the ground, unmoving. After what felt like an eternity, she slowly regained consciousness, but her body was paralyzed. She couldn’t even move a finger. The simple act of opening her eyes took every last ounce of her strength.

A single golden mote of light fell, landed on the flat ground, and bounced.

Everything seemed to slow down, as if time had been stretched tenfold. She saw the mote of golden light was like a liquid-gold droplet, translucent and fluid, constantly changing shape. And within it, she could faintly see a wisp of black fog.

But as the golden mote landed again, the black fog within was annihilated, and the light re-merged with the golden ground below.

Xiao Li couldn’t move, so she lay there and just watched. And watched.

Countless motes bounced and fell, as bolts of lightning crashed down all around her.

Suddenly, a falling mote of light bounced right into her eye. In that instant, an explosion of black and gold light erupted.

Xiao Li saw a vision: Liu Xueyin, dressed in a phoenix robe, sat in a garden, a gentle smile on her face as she watched two children before her.

Xiao Li froze. In a flash, she seemed to understand something.

She looked at the place about ten feet away—the border where light and dark met. It had been torn open by the Thunder, creating a bottomless chasm. It was an impossibly deep abyss, filled with flashing lightning and roaring thunder, that seemed capable of devouring everything in existence.

And within this immense abyss, it was filled entirely with those golden motes of light.

Xiao Li felt that going down there meant certain death. What existed here wasn’t a physical body, wasn’t Xiao Xuanyang, but her own soul—the soul of Xiao Li.

To go down there meant not physical death, but the complete dissipation of her soul. She would no longer have to worry about being trapped in this world, but she could also forget about ever returning home.

’Annihilation? What was there to fear in that?’

Not knowing where she found the strength, Xiao Li began to inch her way toward the edge of the abyss.

Her gaze was focused, her efforts all-consuming. By the end, she no longer felt the crushing pressure on her body, nor the slightest hint of pain. The only thing in her sight was the chasm.

She finally reached the edge of the chasm.

The golden power tried to pull her back; the dark power tried to devour her. But here, where the two forces converged, they canceled each other out. Neither could touch her.

"Heh."

She suddenly laughed. Here, in this place, neither of them could control her any longer.

Even if they were gods, they could no longer decide her fate.

Whether she lived or died was now her decision alone.

She crawled forward again, ignoring the world-ending lightning, and plunged headfirst into the abyss without a shred of hesitation.

The instant Xiao Li fell, she was blasted apart, losing her human form completely.

She seemed to vanish, disappearing completely.

The two world consciousnesses overhead froze. Neither attacked again. They simply watched as the abyss their powers had torn open slowly sealed itself shut.

After some time, the darkness retreated, and the entire realm returned to its pale golden hue.

A moment later, ripples spread through the space, and a pale golden figure slowly materialized. Its pupil-less eyes stared at the spot where Xiao Li had vanished.

There were no traces, no unexpected phenomena, nothing out of place.

The soul that had arrived by accident had been utterly obliterated by the blast.

Certain that there would be no repercussions for its world, the pale golden figure slowly faded away.

It had protected Xiao Li only because it feared her death would open a gateway between worlds, attracting other world consciousnesses who coveted its power.

Now, she had vanished in the clash, and because the power of the two forces was so immense, not a single trace was left behind.

This way, there was no need for any further trouble.

A while after it had departed, a tiny mote of light that had already merged with the world slowly re-emerged. It rolled in place a couple of times, seemed dazed for a moment, and then slowly sank back down.

Going dark...