VGAB Chapter 55

The overwhelmingly dominant sword intent directly shattered the colossal creature’s power, splitting it in two. In the blink of an eye, the creature, formed from spiritual energy, dissipated on the spot.

Qi Heng withdrew his hand, and the demonic energy he had unleashed, no longer met with resistance, and landed not far away, creating a crater.

“Senior brother!” Xiao Mo, carrying his sword, ran to Qi Heng’s side and immediately noticed Qi Heng’s pale complexion.

“Senior brother, are you injured?”

“I’m fine,” Qi Heng shook his head. “How did you happen to come here at the right time?”

Xiao Mo raised his hand, showing Qi Heng the ring on his finger. “It was the spirit of the Qiankun Ring that told me.”

At that time, Xiao Mo was challenging an eighth-level monster inside the secret realm. If it weren’t for the ring spirit suddenly warning about the wrath of the Heavenly Dao and the descent of the Nine Skies Divine Thunder, he wouldn’t have known that his senior brother was in danger.

After leaving the secret realm, Xiao Mo hurried to the Demon Realm. He didn’t need to inquire; upon seeing the towering Building Wood from afar, he immediately understood why the Heavenly Dao had gone mad.

So, after abducting a demon and learning that his senior brother had entered the Building Wood, Xiao Mo didn’t hesitate to fly into it.

Now, looking at Qi Heng’s slightly pale face, Xiao Mo was deeply relieved that he hadn’t hesitated. If he had arrived even a moment later, his senior brother would have suffered more severe injuries.

“Let’s go back into the celestial Wood,” Qi Heng said, raising his hand to retrieve the broken spiritual sword.

“Senior brother, your sword…” Xiao Mo’s face changed dramatically when he saw the broken sword. He was no longer the naive person he used to be and understood how precious a sword was to a swordsman.

“Don’t worry,” Qi Heng coughed. “After falling into the demonic path, I lost contact with my spiritual sword. I’m just attached to this sword because it has been with me for a long time. I can’t simply abandon it like this.”

Qi Heng planned to find a way to repair the short sword after everything was settled. Perhaps the cultivation world had some methods for restoring it.

Xiao Mo clenched his teeth and made a mental note of it against the Heavenly Dao. “Senior brother, I’ll take you back.”

The two of them flew back under the Celestial Wood, and Xiao Mo set up a barrier around it. Then, he stepped out of the barrier.

Qi Heng was taken aback. “Xiao Mo, what are you doing?”

“Just watch, senior brother,” Xiao Mo’s handsome face displayed a smile. “It dared to break your spiritual sword. Let me take revenge for you.”

“Such confidence,” a giant Yin-Yang eye appeared above them.

“I don’t know about my confidence,” Xiao Mo drew his Heartless Sword. “But it’s enough to deal with you.”

“Heartless Sword!” The Heavenly Dao, now incarnated as a Yin-Yang master, was shocked. “How is this possible?”

He had confirmed the demise of the last master of the Heartless Sword. How could someone, thousands of years later, still wield the Heartless Sword?

Xiao Mo had no intention of exchanging words with it. He brandished his sword and charged into the Yin-Yang eye. He could sense that the entity was hidden within this Yin-Yang eye.

“You dare come into my domain?” The Heavenly Dao seethed with anger. “Very well, what can a sword’s intent from the Heavenly Dao do to me? Since you’ve offered yourself, I’ll see how you’ll meet your end!”

The Yin-Yang eye, along with Xiao Mo, vanished into thin air. In the meantime, Qi Heng’s magical energy dispersed and reformed. The protective barrier was set up by Xiao Mo, and if he forcibly broke it, Xiao Mo would undoubtedly suffer backlash and injury.

After pondering for a while, Qi Heng returned to the base of the Wood of Ascension, using the wood’s spiritual energy to try to ascertain Xiao Mo’s fate. However, no matter how he calculated, the answer was always wordless.

Qi Heng furrowed his brows, and from above, he could hear the sounds of clashing swords. He looked up and saw Xiao Mo engaged in a battle with the same “Gray-Cloaked Figure.”

It was evident that Xiao Mo was not lacking in confidence. After several clashes, he had even managed to wound the Gray-Cloaked Figure with a sword, while he remained unscathed.

The injured “Gray-Cloaked Figure” was, in fact, an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao. Its gaze turned incredibly malevolent. “Indeed, it’s the sword intent created by the Heavenly Dao. It can even wound me.”

The Gray-Cloaked Figure released the aura of the Heavenly Dao, and with five clawed fingers, it condensed a massive spiritual energy sphere in the palm of its hand. Then, it thrust it in Xiao Mo’s direction.

Xiao Mo raised his hand, unaffected by the pressure. Without evading or dodging, he struck with his sword. The ruthless sword intent of the “Heartless Sword” cut through the spiritual energy sphere like a hot knife through butter, splitting it in half.

The Gray-Cloaked Figure’s attack failed, and it staggered back, clutching its chest. “Who are you?”

“I’m your daddy,” Xiao Mo replied with a calm and playful demeanor. Seizing the advantage, he continued to press his attack, inflicting more wounds on the Gray-Cloaked Figure. Because it was a sword intent created by the Heavenly Dao, the wounds caused by it couldn’t heal instantly.

Fueled by humiliation, the Gray-Cloaked Figure could no longer contain itself. It gathered the surrounding spiritual energy, transforming into a colossal creature, and charged at Xiao Mo.

At the same time, the countless bolts of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder rained down.

Xiao Mo continued to defend against attacks from the Heavenly Dao while evading the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder. However, when it became clear that the Heavenly Dao couldn’t directly harm him, it directed the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder to strike the barrier around the Great Wood.

After several strikes, the barrier around the Great Wood shattered, and Xiao Mo was struck by the backlash, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Seizing this moment when Xiao Mo was vulnerable, the Heavenly Dao unleashed another palm strike.

Qi Heng flew out of the Great Wood and intercepted the Heavenly Dao, shielding Xiao Mo from this attack.

The Heavenly Dao had finally realized that it had been deceived. It had focused on Qi Heng for so long, not suspecting that the prophesied swordsman was, in fact, an inexperienced young fellow it had never noticed before.

“Senior brother!” Xiao Mo shouted nervously, concerned that his senior’s intervention might worsen his injuries.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Qi Heng reassured him swiftly.

However, the berserk Heavenly Dao was relentless. In a moment of distraction, Xiao Mo was caught by the massive hand formed by the Heavenly Dao’s transformation.

But Xiao Mo had a clever trick up his sleeve. He turned himself into a pendant, taking the Heavenly Dao by surprise and allowing him to break free.

Xiao Mo didn’t revert to his original form. Instead, he relied on his smaller transformed size and went straight for the head of the massive creature. He then raised the merciless sword and thrust it directly into the creature’s eye, which was as large as a boulder.

With all his might, Xiao Mo pushed the merciless sword deeper into the eye socket, and he even managed to squeeze his own body inside the massive creature’s eye.

The creature roared in agony, and with Xiao Mo inside, it disappeared once again.

Qi Heng landed on the ground, and he quickly performed calculations. However, the result was ominous. He was then struck by a backlash, and he coughed up blood.

The surroundings plunged into darkness, with visibility reduced to nothing. The heavenly realm fell eerily silent. After an unknown amount of time, a humanoid figure engulfed in flames plummeted from the sky.

Qi Heng sensed trouble and quickly moved about a hundred meters away. The fiery explosion erupted with a resounding “boom,” creating wave after wave of spiritual shockwaves.

Qi Heng maneuvered to avoid the shockwaves and flew to the massive crater. His intuition told him that this was created by Xiao Mo, but the pit was empty, with no sign of either Xiao Mo or the heavenly Dao.

However, Qi Heng unmistakably felt Xiao Mo’s presence right here. Perhaps it was the darkness that made him overlook something, so he tentatively called out.

“Xiao Mo!”

“Senior brother.” The thumbnail-sized Xiao Mo immediately responded upon hearing the voice. He pushed aside the object covering him and crawled out from a tiny pit.

“I’m right here.”

Qi Heng squinted his eyes and searched for a while before finally spotting him. He raised his hand slightly, and Xiao Mo flew up, landing directly in the palm of his hand.

Lying in his senior brother’s hand, Xiao Mo felt a bit embarrassed as he spoke, “Senior brother, I can’t change back.”

“…” Qi Heng remained silent for a moment. “Aside from that, you didn’t suffer any other injuries, did you?”

“Of course not.” Xiao Mo quickly shook his head, but the next moment, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Xiao Mo quickly wiped off his own blood on his tattered sleeves while explaining, “It’s an internal injury. Spitting out the congested blood actually helps me recover faster.”

“It’s dead. In the future, Senior brother won’t need to…” Xiao Mo’s words were cut short as his body suddenly transformed into a wisp of spiritual energy and dispersed into Qi Heng’s palm.

Qi Heng was taken aback, “Xiao Mo!”

However, it seemed that Xiao Mo’s soul had also disappeared along with his body, turning into pure spiritual energy. Qi Heng instinctively calculated Xiao Mo’s fate, but all he got were unknown outcomes.

But none of them were ominous.

A moment later, the light returned to the Immortal Realm, and an auspicious atmosphere descended. Countless beams of merit and golden light showered upon Qi Heng. The Immortal Realm, which had been damaged during the conflict, was restored to its original state.

“Senior brother!” The transparent figure appeared in front of Qi Heng, and Xiao Mo, now with black hair and a black robe, stood before him.

Qi Heng stopped his calculations. “I couldn’t foresee your fate.”

“Senior brother.” Xiao Mo smiled and walked up to Qi Heng. He gently waved his hand in front of Qi Heng, and the dark markings on Qi Heng’s forehead gradually faded.

“Senior brother shouldn’t have been pushed into becoming a demon. I told you, I’ll make you return to being an immortal.”

Qi Heng felt something incredibly mysterious had entered his body. “What did you give me?”

Xiao Mo smiled slightly, “It’s my one thread of vitality. A good person like you, senior brother, shouldn’t be trapped in the past. I hope you can find a better world and meet better people.”

“You—” Qi Heng was shocked, and Xiao Mo lightly embraced him before leaving promptly.

“I came back to give you another chance at this thread of vitality, Senior brother. It’s a pity that losing your memories delayed it until now and pushed you into the path of darkness.”

“Again?” Qi Heng grasped onto that word.

Xiao Mo smiled, “The first time was to help you break free from control and gain a chance at rebirth. This time is to give you the right to choose your own freedom.”

Qi Heng pursed his lips, realizing that his escape from the curse wasn’t solely due to his merits.

“Compared to the close friends I had before, I prefer calling you ‘Senior brother,'” Xiao Mo smiled warmly. “Senior brother, you’re so good. I don’t want you to keep cycling through the past, so I came back.”

Qi Heng shook his head, “I don’t think I’ve been good to you.”

“It’s alright; I think it is.” Xiao Mo raised his hand, helping Qi Heng integrate the one-line vitality within.

After doing all of this, Xiao Mo spoke with a hint of melancholy, “Senior brother, you’re about to leave.”

“Senior brother, will you remember me in the future?”

Qi Heng looked at his expectant gaze and nodded silently. With one-line vitality and the actions he took, it was nearly certain that Xiao Mo had become the new Dao.

But thinking about the shower of merit gold light that seemed to be given away freely just now, Qi Heng felt that Xiao Mo had clearly shown favoritism.

Xiao Mo noticed his thoughts and quickly explained, “Senior brother saved the world and rebuilt the path to immortality. This is an immeasurable act of merit and a blessing to all beings. When I showered with merit just now, I was already very restrained.”

As a Dao now, he could hear the thoughts of anyone, including his senior brother. There was no way to hide anything from him.

Qi Heng: “…”

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