Jing Yuan, who had been observing with his arms crossed, took in the entire scene.
He shook his head with an imperceptible movement, his silver-gray long hair fluttering in the night wind.
Bei Bei had completely fallen into this heavy love and the desperate choice forced upon him, unable to turn back, and beyond salvation.
"A lovesick fool..."
He sighed silently in his heart.
But this was, after all, the personal entanglement of others, the karma of this world.
He was merely a traveler passing through, a witness, not a judge.
Thus, Jing Yuan remained leaning against the rock, his eyes slightly closed, as if the surrounding killing intent and the wails of the undead had nothing to do with him, leaving only a transcendent silence.
When Huo Yuhao coldly uttered the word "Kill," the army of the undead surged toward Tang San's group like a tidal wave of death breaking a dam.
Skeletal warhorses galloped, and skeleton soldiers rushed forward like white waves. The low growls of zombies and the chanting of liches wove together a death symphony.
"Hold the formation!"
Dai Mubai roared, instantly activating his White Tiger Vajra Transformation. His body swelled, blocking the front. His tiger claws swiped out, shattering several skeletons into dust.
Zhu Zhuqing's figure was like a phantom, weaving through the gaps in the undead. Each swing of her sharp claws brought a shower of bone fragments.
"Nine Treasures: Shine Forth with Glazed Tile."
Ning Rongrong suppressed her fear, and the light from her Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda shone brightly.
"First: Strength, Second: Speed, Third: Soul Power."
The nine-colored light landed precisely on each partner, instantly boosting their strength, speed, and soul power.
"I've got a mushroom sausage."
Oscar swiftly produced his Flying Mushroom Sausages, trying to keep a sliver of hope for retreat alive for the group.
Tang San's expression was stern, but a frantic flame burned in his eyes.
His body moved like the wind. His Ghost Shadow Perplexing Steps made his figure appear erratic in the sea of undead, his hands moving into blurs.
"Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Needle."
"Peacock Plume."
"Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus."
Countless exquisite hidden weapons were sprayed out by Tang San, accurately and efficiently plunging into the undead's soul fires or joint connections.
For a moment, the sound of clanging steel was incessant. The vanguard of the undead fell like cut wheat, especially when the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus blossomed, the magnificent lotus petals wiping out a large section of skeletal riders.
However, the sheer number of the undead was too vast. As one batch fell, more rushed forward, seemingly endless.
"Mubai, Zhuqing!" Tang San shouted.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing exchanged a glance, their coordination flawless.
"Soul Fusion Skill—Hell White Tiger!"
A massive black-and-white striped phantom tiger materialized out of thin air. Carrying the might of the king of beasts and the chill of the netherworld, it let out an earth-shshaking roar and fiercely charged into the undead army.
Its tiger claws swept out, and the power of the netherworld erupted. Wherever it passed, skeletons shattered, zombies were sent flying, and a gap was forcibly torn in the tide of the undead.
But this powerful force also severely drained their soul power. After a period of charging and killing, the phantom of the Hell White Tiger began to dim.
"Golden Iron Triangle, Dance!"
Yu Xiaogang's hoarse yet determined voice rang out.
Flender's Fierce Flapping Owl, Liu Erlong's Fire Dragon, and the golden radiance released by Yu Xiaogang's mutated Luo San Pao instantly merged.
The colossal Golden Saint Dragon once again soared above the battlefield. Although its light was not as brilliant as in its peak state, its dragon might still caused some low-rank undead to move sluggishly.
The Saint Dragon breathed out scorching dragon breath, turning an area into a sea of fire, temporarily halting the undead's advance.
However, the appearance of the Golden Saint Dragon also attracted stronger undead.
Several Bone Dragons swooped down, intertwining in battle with the Golden Saint Dragon, and the Lich's cursed spells clung to the Saint Dragon like maggots, continuously weakening its power.
In the distance, atop an isolated peak.
Lu Jingming stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the fierce battle below, his eyes calm and still, as if watching a play that had nothing to do with him.
Firefly stood quietly by his side, while Castorice listlessly played with a withered leaf in her hand, showing little interest in the slaughter below.
As for Jingliu, she had silently disappeared sometime earlier.
On the edge of the battlefield, Jing Yuan seemed to sense something. He gave a profound look at Bei Bei, who was completely focused on the battle, his face a mix of pain and resolve.
He shook his head slightly, and his figure, as if merging with the moonlight, quietly retreated backward, vanishing into the shadows of the dense forest in an instant.
No one present, including the highly focused Huo Yuhao, noticed his departure.
Only Xiao Wu from the parallel world, who stood beside Huo Yuhao, had her pink eyes move slightly, seeming to catch a faint ripple, but she did not speak up.
Deep in the forest, the moonlight shone through the gaps in the leaves, scattering mottled spots of light.
Jing Yuan stopped and looked at the white-haired woman who had appeared silently before him.
"Master."
Jing Yuan spoke, his voice carrying a subtle hint of emotion and sincere relief.
The Jingliu before him was purely cold and composed, without any trace of the madness and pain that had tormented her by the Mara-struck state in the past.
She existed here in a more complete form, unlike him, who was a body of negative emotions consolidated into a follower.
Jingliu turned around, her ice-blue eyes resting on Jing Yuan. A barely perceptible hint of warmth seemed to melt into her perennially frozen expression.
"Jing Yuan."
She softly replied.
"It seems you, too, have gained something in this world."
She could feel that the heavy burden on her disciple seemed to have lightened somewhat.
Old friends reuniting in a foreign world, though silent, they had already conveyed a thousand words.
Master and disciple began their reunion in the forest, far from the noise of the battle.
The situation on the battlefield below grew increasingly dire.
The Golden Saint Dragon, under the combined assault of several Bone Dragons and Liches, let out a cry of sorrow. Its energy was finally exhausted, and it dissipated in the air.
Yu Xiaogang, Flender, and Liu Erlong staggered back, their faces pale, their soul power nearly depleted.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing also disengaged from their fusion skill, panting heavily, their bodies covered in wounds.
Tang San's hidden weapons were finite. Facing the endless wave of the undead, despair began to surface in his eyes.
The light of Ning Rongrong's Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda grew faint, and Oscar's speed in making sausages slowed down.
Just then, the Xiao Wu from the parallel world, who had been standing silently beside Huo Yuhao, trembled slightly.
She looked down at the Xiao Wu below, who was struggling desperately in the sea of undead, repeatedly using her Soft Skills to protect her companions, and whose appearance resembled her own. An indescribable impulse and instinct, originating from the depths of her soul, compelled her to act—to kill her.
As a Goddess, her movement was lightning-fast.
A pink streak of light instantly flashed across the chaotic battlefield, ignoring all obstacles, and appeared directly in front of Xiao Wu, who had just used a Waist Bow to kick and shatter a zombie's skull.
The two Xiao Wus stood one step apart, their eyes locked.
The Xiao Wu from the parallel world had complex eyes, holding a trace of pity, and a trace of... an inexpressible sense of destiny.
The Xiao Wu beside Tang San, in the moment she saw the other's gaze, all her confusion and dread turned into comprehension.
She understood that this woman, who was overwhelmingly powerful and resembled her, had come for her life.
She looked at the other's god-like stance and felt Tang San's familiar, anxious aura frantically approaching behind her. A mournful, tragic smile appeared on her beautiful face.
She knew she couldn't escape, nor could she win.
"San-Ge..."
She murmured, a crystal tear rolling down her cheek, leaving a clean trail on her face stained with dust and blood.
She violently lifted her head, looking at the parallel world Xiao Wu, and used all her remaining strength to plead with a sobbing voice:
"Please... let San-Ge go... I beg you..."
The parallel world Xiao Wu, looking at this Xiao Wu crying and begging for her lover, trembled almost imperceptibly.
Something seemed to be trying to surge out of her mind, as if lost memories were about to return.
But at that very moment, a red light flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes, and then a red light also flashed in Xiao Wu's eyes. The wavering expression quickly calmed down.
Huo Yuhao sneered. Xiao Wu was so powerful, how could he not have a contingency plan?
If Xiao Wu didn't recover her memory, it was fine, but once she did, she would know she had been deceived. At that point, neither the Holy Spirit Cult nor he himself could withstand the wrath of a Goddess.
Therefore, Huo Yuhao had long placed a seal on Xiao Wu's spiritual sea. The seal would activate the moment Xiao Wu showed any tendency to recover her memory.
With his strength, he naturally couldn't seal a Goddess's memory, but Xiao Wu had been completely unguarded against him, coupled with the amplification from the Core of the Herrscher of Sentience, allowing him to seal Xiao Wu and prevent her memory recovery.
This was one of the reasons why Xiao Wu, as a Goddess with Divine Sense, had been unable to recover her memory.
"No—Xiao Wu—!!!"
Tang San's eyes were splitting with rage, and he let out a heart-rending, agonizing roar. He rushed toward Xiao Wu's direction regardless of the danger, his Purple Demon Eyes pushed to the extreme, attempting to kill the person threatening his beloved with his gaze.
However, the gulf between god and man was insurmountable.
Under Tang San's desperate gaze, under the horrified eyes of Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, and the others, and under Yu Xiaogang's suddenly constricted pupils and Flender's and Liu Erlong's expressions of disbelief—
The parallel world Xiao Wu's arm, wreathed in blue divine power, pierced through Xiao Wu's chest with cold, precise ruthlessness, as if passing through a veil.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The noisy battlefield and the wails of the undead seemed to instantly fade away.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the pink figure, whose body slumped softly, penetrated by the divine arm.
Xiao Wu looked at the frantically charging Tang San, her lips moving as if she wanted to call out "San-Ge" one last time, but she couldn't make a sound. Only her eyes, filled with endless love and reluctance, slowly closed.
"Xiao Wu—!!!"
Tang San's scream turned into a cry of utter despair, and the entire world lost its color in his eyes.
When the parallel world Xiao Wu pulled her arm out of Xiao Wu's chest, the lifeless body did not fall. Instead, like shattered glazed tile, it dissolved into countless light specks of pink and gold, which, as if drawn by an invisible force, rushed into the body of the parallel world Xiao Wu.
As un-coexistable counterparts, one side devouring the other was the cruel path toward achieving "uniqueness."
As the light specks were completely absorbed, the divine power fluctuations around the parallel world Xiao Wu noticeably strengthened a few degrees, and her aura became more harmonious and profound, as if some innate flaw had been corrected, evolving one step closer to a more perfect, unique existence.
On the distant peak, Lu Jingming, who had witnessed everything, subtly raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself, "Just as I thought."
Every world was different. In some worlds, counterparts could coexist as independent beings, such as in the Honkai worlds.
However, in other worlds, counterparts clearly could not coexist. One side devouring the other would lead to greater perfection and evolution towards uniqueness.
For instance, the Xiao Wu now. However, this method had little use for him, as he had no counterpart in this world. Otherwise, he could use the Thousand Realms Cycle to travel to countless parallel worlds and quickly become stronger by killing his own counterparts.
If anyone could successfully devour all of their counterparts across all parallel worlds, that person would be unimaginably powerful.
But unfortunately, it was doubtful if anyone in this world could travel to parallel worlds. If Lu Jingming didn't have the Thousand Realms Cycle, he wouldn't be able to travel either, and without him opening the parallel world channel and connecting the two universes, Sparkle couldn't have shattered the spacetime channel.
Moreover, that was only possible because of Vita's ability to observe parallel worlds with her Aeon-Eye, accurately locating the weakest point. Therefore, no other existence in this world should be able to travel to parallel worlds.
He shifted his gaze back to the completely insane Tang San below, whose beloved had just vanished, and shook his head slightly.
The Tang San of this world was ruined. It was better for him to die, lest he accidentally end up in the world of his counterpart and be devoured by the Sea God Tang San there, unnecessarily bolstering the enemy's strength.
Having lost interest in the fate of Tang San and the others, he turned away indifferently. "Let's go."
Firefly and Castorice followed silently. Jingliu, who had returned at some point, also walked in quiet attendance.
Amidst flashing light and shadow, the peak was empty.
Below, having watched Xiao Wu dissolve into light specks and be absorbed, Tang San's sanity completely shattered. His bloodshot eyes held only the dark figure and the desire for revenge.
"G-give—Xiao—Wu—back to me!!!"
He roared, recklessly burning all his remaining soul power, and even his life force. Like a meteor dragging a tragic tail, he wildly lunged at the parallel world Xiao Wu, his Eight Spider Lances flailing as if trying to tear her apart.
However, god and man were worlds apart.
Facing this disorganized charge, which was nothing but madness, Xiao Wu, whose aura had not yet fully stabilized after absorbing her counterpart, showed a flicker of disgust in her eyes. She merely raised her foot and delivered a seemingly casual kick.
"Bang—!"
A dull thud.
Tang San's charging body was abruptly halted, as if struck by an invisible sledgehammer, and then... burst apart.
He turned into a horrifying mist of blood, dispersing into the air, without a single piece of intact flesh remaining.
Tang San, the head of the Shrek Seven Devils, the control-system genius who once harbored the ambition of the Tang Sect and ascending to godhood, had perished, leaving no corpse behind.