Sundering Nature

Original and most updated translations are from volare. Please don’t read elsewhere and stop supporting theft.

TL: Zhao

Editing: Krisaia

"If you get the chance to meet her later... Tell her... That I really love her..." Li Yiming said into Liu Meng’s ears with a dying voice.

"You knew?" Liu Meng’s question was choked halfway through by a sob.

"None of that matters. I was almost about to live on without ever have known how much pain you went through... Even after we met, I’ve only caused trouble for you. I’ll forever remember when you burned everything you had just to..."

Li Yiming tightened his grasp onto Liu Meng as the sharp pain in his chest worsened, which caused the knife to be buried even deeper in his chest.

Liu Meng’s body shook violently as she began sobbing, her tears mixing with Li Yiming’s blood before soaking her dress.

"I realized that we really came back to the past after seeing that guardian. Maybe your life will be different without me, maybe you’re finally going to be able to live a peaceful life..."

"I don’t care about the world anymore... If I can’t protect the person I love, then what good is all of it?" Li Yiming strugglingly pushed Liu Meng away from him, and began wiping away her tears with his finger.

"I’m sad we won’t be together after I die... But if it weren’t for this, then the true you would never come back. I’ve been pushed and pulled toward different directions for too long now. It’s time for me to make a choice, and I choose to love you. I’m not scared of death, I’m just scared of not being able to spend time with you..."

Liu Meng opened her mouth, and let out a scream so loud it resonated throughout the earth and pierced the clouds.

"I knew it... Forget me... Live a happy life..." When Li Yiming saw Liu Meng’s countenance shift, he knew that he had succeeded. He forced a smile and finally closed his eyes after this tremendous effort, and his body went limp.

"Nooo!" A small flame was suddenly seen lighting up within Liu Meng’s irises. It was shrouded by a layer of black smoke which was instantly burned away. Liu Meng’s expression became contorted, as if her body became a battlefield for two different beings.

A puff of black smoke gathered above Liu Meng’s head and formed a monster which brought down its claws onto Liu Meng. Before it could reach Liu Meng, a small blaze ignited on her chest underneath her blood stained dress and transformed into a miniature phoenix.

"The Fruit of Nirvana? That’s impossible!" The black monster shrieked in disbelief.

A pair of wings appeared behind Liu Meng’s back. Unlike the many times before, the wings were made of flesh and feathers rather than fire — the wings of a real phoenix.

"I’ll make you pay!" Liu Meng’s voice came as the fire around her quickly gathered and compressed before turning from a scarlet red color to purple, and then to a menacing cool blue.

"Cold Flame? You..." The monster in the sky yelled in terror and flew away.

Boom!

The blue flame around Liu Meng expanded and covered nearly half of the horizon. Trapped within the area of her attack, the monster emitted shrieks of pain. The fire then condensed until it turned into a blue gem which fell into Liu Meng’s palm.

The gem’s shape resembled that of a pearl, only it was colored with blues of all tones. A small black shadow could be seen struggling with the stone. Liu Meng stared at Li Yiming’s corpse and clasped her fist around the gem.

"I’ll bury the whole world with you..." Liu Meng exclaimed in a frenzied rage. Flapping her wings, she turned and flew straight toward the city.

* * *

Back in the sports stadium, the guardians continued to wait patiently. Qing Linglong’s group sank into a collective silence and focused on recuperating, while Mr. Xie’s followers looked left and right in anticipation for their master’s breakthrough. The surviving guardians tried their best to mend their wounds and help each other survive until the end of the domain.

Mr. Xie sat down in a meditative stance, like an old Buddhist monk, his faint smile revealing his euphoric happiness. He had been stuck at the last step for more than thirty years now, and his life was about to reach its end until Li Yiming suddenly showed up and gave him one last opportunity.

Mr. Xie had noticed the sages who collectively ascended to a place beyond the clouds but chose to diligently mind his own business. Becoming a sage was to reach the apex of one’s existence as a guardian, but it was also the first step in perceiving the world’s true nature.

Although Mr. Xie’s thoughts raced faster than a galloping horse, he still maintained a facade of calmness. Nonetheless, he wished for the domain ton conclude so he could reap the benefits of his hard work.

Instead of the end of the domain that he was expecting, a light appeared in the distance. Its intensity was felt before it even reached the stadium, and it targeted Mr. Xie specifically.

"Yun Yiyuan?" Mr. Xie stood up in anger. ’Is he trying to intimidate me? You’ll have a taste of my illusion when I’m a sage.’

Qing Linglong opened her eyes for a quick glance and closed them again.

"Tailor Xie, I don’t care what you did. Bring Li Yiming back right now!" Yun Yiyuan’s face was contorted by anger and panic.

"Mr. Yun, what do you mean? To kill him was an order from Heaven’s Laws..." Mr. Xie repressed his fury and answered as calmly as he could, but he was interrupted by yet another flash of light.

The light came from a blade which sliced through the ground right in front of Mr. Xie, leaving an abyss which went as deep as one could see. Right at its end stood a factory worker who held something resembling a machete.

"Wu Yun’s blade?" Mr. Xie recognized the weapon instantly.

"Do as he says. You don’t understand. You messed up," Wu Yun said coldly as he pointed his weapon at Mr. Xie.

"But..." Mr. Xie was baffled. He had thought Yun Yiyuan’s intervention to be influenced by Ying Mei, but Wu Yun had no stake at all in Li Yiming’s life.

Mr. Xie finally started to hesitate. Being able to stand his ground against Yun Yiyuan for a while was one thing, but he knew that he would not last more than three strikes facing Wu Yun, even if he did become a sage.

"Three..." Yun Yiyuan said as his spear lit up.

"Two..." Wu Yun turned his blade around, and the temperature around him sank by a few degrees.

"Spacetime Illusion!" Mr. Xie finally decided and delivered a strike to his own chest. He spat out a mouthful of blood, which instantly formed a crimson character in front of him. The rainbow of light appeared before forming a vortex.

"There, I did it ... Could you tell me why?" Mr. Xie said with a countenance as white as paper: he paid a hefty price for recalling his technique.

"I can sense the Heavens... This world is collapsing, and the source of that collapse is in the past. You sent Li Yiming to the past," Wu Yun said as he lowered his weapon.