Chapter 1078 - 163: Born Together, Die Together (5 Updates)

Chapter 1078: Chapter 163: Born Together, Die Together (5 Updates)

At the dawn of heaven and earth, all was Chaos—that was Wuji. From Wuji arises Taiji, from Taiji arise the Two Modes, and the Two Modes are Yin and Yang.

Yin and Yang can also be understood as Life and Death!

Mu Qingge’s eyes were fixed on the fire before her; the black-and-white flames were something she had never seen before.

She could not feel any heat at all, as if these flames both existed and did not exist.

Standing within them, Mu Qingge’s thoughts seemed wholly drawn in by the fire before her; she even completely forgot about that certain something hidden in the clouds and mist above the sky.

In a trance, she walked toward the black-and-white flames, while Yin Chen and Yuanyuan remained standing where they were, as if pinned in place, utterly unresponsive.

...

"What’s going on, why did a great fire suddenly break out!" Tong Teng kept waving his hands, unable to advance even an inch.

Before him and Qian Shui, a wall of fire blocked the way, preventing them from taking even a single step closer. This fire wall flickered with orange-red light, constantly spewing tongues of flame, extremely ferocious.

Qian Shui also raised his hand; his wide sleeves hung down, covering his mouth and nose, blocking the invasion of poisonous fire and smoke.

His brows knit tightly as he said to Tong Teng, "We’ll go around."

Tong Teng nodded and ran to the left, and Qian Shui followed, heading left as well.

Yet, after they ran for a while, they discovered that the fire wall seemed to extend without end; they could not see its limits at all, and it was as if they had been marching in place the whole time.

"There’s something strange about this fire!" Qian Shui grabbed Tong Teng and said to him.

Tong Teng said anxiously, "I know it’s strange too, but the boss and the others are still inside—we can’t just leave them!"

Qian Shui said, "I know. Don’t panic yet, let me think of a way."

With that, he pressed his lips together and, with a wave of his hand, summoned the surrounding Water Law. Yet in this area everything was scorched by the flames, so the Water Law he could gather was extremely scarce.

The Water Law rapidly condensed around Qian Shui into a Barrier. He gritted his teeth and charged toward the fire wall.

His original plan was to rely on the Water Law’s protection to rush through the fire wall, then find Mu Qingge and the others and use the same method to bring them out.

But when he used all his strength and slammed into the fire wall, he found himself ruthlessly bounced back by a vast force.

Qian Shui flew backward before Tong Teng’s eyes and crashed into the large tree behind him.

The thick trunk was snapped clean by the impact, toppling to the ground and kicking up a layer of dust. The Water Law condensed around Qian Shui’s body also shattered and dispersed, vanishing into nothing.

Tong Teng was startled and hurried over to Qian Shui, asking, "Are you okay?"

Qian Shui shook his head; his face was pale as he stood up with Tong Teng’s support, the look in his eyes toward the fire wall filled with helplessness.

"It seems we can’t force our way through this fire wall. We’ll have to come up with a workable plan." Qian Shui covered his chest with one hand as he spoke to Tong Teng.

Tong Teng had also seen what had just happened and knew they could not charge through. Naturally, he would not act recklessly. He nodded, helped Qian Shui sit to the side, and said to him, "Rest first. I’ll see if there’s any way to get past this fire wall."

Qian Shui nodded lightly and warned him, "All right. Don’t be rash. There’s something strange about this fire wall; it’s no ordinary wall of flame. Within it, there seems to be a Barrier further blocking our way."

Tong Teng nodded.

Suddenly, he turned and said to Qian Shui, "We don’t really know what’s going on, but those few fellows we beat down should know, shouldn’t they!" As he spoke, his eyes grew brighter.

Qian Shui was taken aback, then laughed. "I actually forgot about that."

Tong Teng immediately said, "You rest here and keep an eye on what’s happening inside. I’ll haul them over."

With that, he vanished from Qian Shui’s sight in an instant.

...

Within the fire wall, all was still. There was not the slightest hint of heat, only the pitch-black sky, the rolling clouds and mist, and upon that eerie sea of grass, the black-and-white flames.

Yin Chen and Yuanyuan stood in a row, the empty space between them the place where Mu Qingge had stood earlier.

Only now, she seemed to be drawn by some kind of force, or to have fallen into a subtle and mysterious state, unknowingly walking into that uncanny sea of grass.

She happened to stand between the black and white flames; the boundary line between those two extreme fires passed right through her body, perfectly half and half.

Standing in the middle, she still felt no heat from the flames—only that on the side that had just been filled with vitality, under the white flames, half her body was brimming with energy. On the other half, within the black flames, she felt that side of her body rapidly withering, shrinking, falling away.

This was no illusion!

Mu Qingge woke from her daze and instinctively lifted her right hand.

Her right half was the side immersed in the black flames. She watched, eyes wide open, as the skin on her hand began to dehydrate, age, and wither, gradually becoming only flesh and then starting to rot, until at last it became bare bone. Half her body was the same...

It was as if one half of her had already stepped into death, while the other half still teemed with life.

Shock burst forth in Mu Qingge’s eyes as she watched the aged bones of her fingers slough off, yet felt no pain at all. In that instant she could no longer distinguish whether this was reality or a dream.

"Yin and Yang... Life and Death... Life and Death intertwined... One Thought Finger... one thought of life, one thought of death... within a single thought..." Mu Qingge muttered intermittently. A certain insight in her heart, within these eerie flames, suddenly gained a piercing clarity.

Yet this feeling was exceedingly vague, making it hard for her to seize.

She thought for a moment, then turned around to face the direction where Yin Chen and Yuanyuan were, her body shifting as well so that the withered half stepped into the white flames and felt vitality returning.

Seeing Yin Chen and Yuanyuan motionless like statues, she observed them closely. Only after confirming that they were in no danger did Mu Qingge sit cross-legged in the very center of the black-and-white flames.

She sat cross-legged and slowly closed her eyes.

At this moment, the half of her that had withered, decayed, even dispersed, actually began to recover its vitality. Those loosened bones regained their hardness, and the broken parts began to grow back anew.

Then, upon the bones, flesh began to grow, followed by flawless skin. Everything returned to how it had been, and even the robes that had rotted to ash were restored brand-new, their colors vivid.

Meanwhile, the half that had just been nourished within the white light once again began, as before, to gradually shrivel, rot, and finally turn into nothingness...

The changes in her body seemed to leave Mu Qingge entirely unfazed.

She was immersed in a new insight, and this insight was closely, inseparably linked to the One Thought Finger she had cultivated before...