Chu He stared blankly at Zhou Hui, as if he hadn’t registered what he was saying.
“But…” he murmured after a long moment, his expression dazed and lost. “But how could you… how could you…”
How could you not want me?
The him that had been armed over the long years, the him encased in hard ice, the him weighed down by countless secrets until his spine was rigid, ready to snap at the slightest bend—all of that suddenly vanished.
The lonely, solitary little phoenix, hidden deep within, who yearned for a little warmth and faith, was now crying desperately from the softest part of his soul.
Large chunks of the mountain collapsed, and earth slid down like a torrent. The underground river channel had completely caved in. The tremors of the earth made the stones beside them tremble. In the chaos, a piece of rubble hit Phoenix’s forehead, but he didn’t dodge, didn’t even react.
In the dim light, blood flowed from his temple down his cheek. Zhou Hui reached out a trembling hand to wipe away the blood, only to see Phoenix suddenly grab him as if he were the last straw in a desperate situation. “But if you don’t want me anymore… where else can I go? If I come back, if I come back alive… where else can I go?…”
From the distant rumbling came the shrieks of thousands of demons. It was the Demon Lord’s Dharma-form, struggling to its feet from under the pile of rubble.
“Phoenix, you tell me,” Zhou Hui’s hand, stained with his blood, cupped his cold, beautiful cheek. He stared intently into Phoenix’s eyes. “—You tell me, what on earth are you going to do? If it’s a lightning tribulation, I’ll block it for you. It’s fine. I’m willing. It doesn’t even matter if you want to achieve Buddhahood, as long as you tell me yourself, let me know…”
But Phoenix looked at him desperately and shook his head.
“I can’t… Zhou Hui, I can’t tell you…”
“You are a Great Demon. If I do certain things, I might not die, but if you know… you… will surely die…”
The earth, amidst the tremors, developed a dense web of cracks, which then converged into fissures and, with a terrifying creaking sound, trembled and broke into several pieces.
Countless fragments of rock and earth fell into the abyss. The entire mountain was about to collapse.
“If I come back alive, I will definitely find you… It’s useless even if you try to drive me away. I will follow you forever and ever…” Phoenix panted heavily, the excessive pressure making his words repetitive and unclear. “—I will definitely come back, if I can come back…”
He staggered to his feet, leaning on the Buddha Bone Sword as he stood in the center of the cracking earth, his expression as dazed and blank as if he had been abandoned.
That expression suddenly reminded Zhou Hui of a memory, of the moment the little Phoenix had watched Sakyamuni walk towards the lotus throne in the Buddhist hall. That was the first time he had been abandoned. He had cried so heartbreakingly that even Zhou Hui, watching from the void thousands of years later, felt a bone-deep sorrow.
—Yet, those heart-wrenching sobs and tears were nothing compared to this moment.
Nothing compared to Phoenix’s face now, tear-streaked yet blank and bewildered.
“…It’s for Sakyamuni, isn’t it?” Zhou Hui finally couldn’t hold back and asked, making a final, desperate gamble. “You’re doing all this for that Sakyamuni, aren’t you?!”
But Phoenix, as if suddenly waking from a nightmare, looked at him and, after a long moment, slowly nodded.
“…Yes,” he said hoarsely, his voice weak but firm.
“I must go…”
The last few words were drowned out by the earth-shattering tremor, but Zhou Hui saw the shape of his lips.
In that instant, he was stunned, unable to even believe his own eyes.
·
The ground suddenly shook violently once, then again. In the swirling dust and smoke, the Demon Lord’s Dharma-form, like a giant, pushed aside countless piles of rocks and stood up, dragging his bloody feet as he walked over.
Phoenix’s blade had shattered the gates of Hell, and it had also inflicted no small amount of damage on the Demon Lord’s Dharma-form. In the smoke, his ferocious, giant face was a mess of torn flesh. He was holding the blood-soaked Wu Bei—Wu Bei was considered sturdy, but compared to the Demon Lord’s giant Asura King form, he was like a little chick.
“Are you done with the sentimentalities? If so, it’s time to go,” the Demon Lord said coldly. “I’ve learned my lesson from last time and came to welcome you personally. There are many things waiting for us in the Four Evil Paths—”
Chu He took one last, deep look at Zhou Hui.
In that gaze was an indescribable emotion and a helpless sense of parting. After a long moment, he closed his eyes, and all weakness and attachment vanished in that instant.
The fully armed, flawless him was back on the never-ending battlefield.
Chu He turned to face the Demon Lord and took a step forward. Zhou Hui let out a choked roar, “Phoenix!”
But in the next second, the Demon Lord’s charred hand opened in the air. A hurricane formed a vortex that became a black hole, which in the blink of an eye, suddenly stretched and lengthened, forming a spatial rift a zhang wide and long in the void.
Zhou Hui roared, “Stop—” and lunged forward!
“Ah, I forgot,” the Demon Lord said lightly at that moment, looking at Wu Bei in his hand.
He grabbed Wu Bei’s arms and pulled them in opposite directions, like a beast tearing apart helpless prey. With a sudden exertion of force, he was about to easily rip Wu Bei in two—
Zhou Hui’s face changed dramatically. He lunged forward like a lightning bolt, but in that flash of time, Chu He, who was closer, was even faster. In the blink of an eye, he leaped in front of the Demon Lord!
The Demon Lord had no time to dodge. Phoenix flipped his wrist and swung the Buddha Bone Blade horizontally. The blade emitted a dazzling golden light and slashed directly at his face!
The Demon Lord retreated in the intense energy hurricane, his heavy steps causing tremors. He then shrank back to his human form. The sharp, fan-shaped golden light grazed the top of his head, went on to slice through countless boulders without losing speed, and instantly disappeared into the mountain wall!
Wu Bei fell from mid-air and was caught by Phoenix, who then turned and threw him aside.
—He must have done it on purpose. The direction he threw Wu Bei in was a pile of sharp, giant rocks. If no one caught him, his body would likely have been smashed into several pieces.
Zhou Hui had no time for any other reaction. He instantly disappeared from where he stood and, in the next moment, appeared in front of the pile of giant rocks. With a loud “BANG!”, he heavily blocked Wu Bei’s falling body!
Then he looked up. In the wild wind, Chu He turned around and walked towards the spatial rift.
“Phoenix—!”
The voice seemed to echo in the depths of his soul. Chu He’s heart felt as if it were being gripped by a giant, invisible hand and viciously twisted into a mangled pulp of flesh and blood.
He panted, his fingers spasming, trembling as he gripped the Buddha Bone Blade. He swung his wrist in a backhand slash.
—BOOM!
A golden light pierced the void, pulverizing countless mountain rocks into dust, which rained down, instantly blocking Zhou Hui’s path!
“The mountain is collapsing…” Phoenix said softly, without turning his head. “Go back… I love you.”
Zhou Hui’s pupils constricted. He trembled slightly, his limbs nearly numb.
Phoenix took a step forward and was swallowed by the endless darkness.
—This scene was so similar. When the Sixth Division besieged the Hell Path, Phoenix had betrayed him just like this, abandoned him, gave him one last look, and then resolutely left with the Demon Lord Fan Luo.
That final gaze seemed to hide many words, yet it also seemed to be just a simple, meaningless glance. That scene had appeared in Zhou Hui’s nightmares countless times, making him toss and turn in pain. He had searched for Phoenix’s possible footprints in the vast sea of people countless times, trying to chase after the impossible words in that gaze, but no matter where he went, over mountains and across seas, he could not find the soft, light answer from his midnight dreams.
Now he finally knew.
It was just saying, Go back, I love you.
·
Wangjia Snow Mountain let out a long, sharp, distant cry, and then, in the silence, it collapsed with a roar.
In that moment, the area for a hundred li around shook violently. The earth cracked, avalanches slid, and the frozen earth shattered into countless pieces. Mountain rocks weighing thousands of pounds fell into the abyss one after another, making sharp, whistling sounds in the wild wind.
A demonic prohibition barrier carried Zhou Hui and Wu Bei straight up, through the chaotic earth, into the dust-filled, gray sky.
Zhou Hui gripped the edge of the barrier tightly, looking down at the ground, watching as the black cave entrance was crushed and filled, and tens of li of land sank in unison. The veins on his hands bulged from the excessive force. If anyone had seen his face at that moment, it would have been a very terrifying sight.
—He knew it was too late.
The Demon Lord Fan Luo’s spatial gate had closed. By now, Phoenix must have reached the end of the boundary between the human realm and hell.
Zhou Hui took a deep, trembling breath, feeling his lungs fill with air mixed with blood, dust, and rust. It was so scalding that he clutched his chest, where the flesh was turned inside out, as if his internal organs were curling into a ball in intense pain.
He should hate Phoenix. This person had abandoned him again, without a word, and left with another man right in front of him.
But whenever Zhou Hui closed his eyes, what arose from the depths of his heart was not hatred, but the image of Phoenix standing there, pale and dazed, as if in a chaotic and absurd nightmare, looking at him across the tumultuous situation and the collapsing earth, silently saying those words—
Yes, it’s because of Sakyamuni.
I must go… kill him.
·
In the void, at the boundary between the human realm and hell.
The Human Realm Boundary Stone, like a gray, smooth stone tower, stood quietly in the center of the path of the six realms. Phoenix walked up and looked up at it, stopping a few meters away.
Behind him was still the human realm; before him was hell.
The air carried the nauseating smell of burnt, rotting flesh, and the distant, wavering, and indistinct cries of vengeful ghosts. Phoenix stood there motionless, his gaze slightly vacant, his beautiful and pale face devoid of any expression. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
The Demon Lord Fan Luo’s footsteps came from behind and stopped behind Phoenix after a long moment.
“—What, standing here reminiscing about Zhou Hui?”
Phoenix retracted his gaze and did not answer.
“I saw you were quite sentimental just now, didn’t seem to care at all about the feelings of me, the one taking over. How did you switch back to ice-cold mode in the blink of an eye? Hey, I don’t even know if I should be jealous now. So, do you still have feelings for…”
“Stop pretending, Fan Luo,” Phoenix said softly. “You need me in your plan to attack the human realm, that’s all.”
The Demon Lord’s expression changed, his eerie pupils instantly narrowing.
However, before he could say anything, he heard Phoenix say, “Step back.”
“…What did you say—”
“Step back. The golden ring lock on my spine will detonate my physical body the moment I cross the Human Realm Boundary Stone, leaving only my soul to enter hell.”
The Demon Lord stopped in his tracks, stunned.
Phoenix took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward.
He didn’t know if it was an illusion or some other reason, but he once again felt a faint, heavy pain from the golden ring lock that pierced his spinal cord, as if silently foretelling the tragic scene that was about to happen. In truth, this pain should have disappeared long ago. It was just that it had been truly unbearable when it was first inserted. He still remembered it was when he had just been captured in H City. Zhou Hui had locked him in a barrier and, ignoring his resistance, had forcibly pierced this lock through his spine. The intense pain that spread through every nerve in his body had made him, even while being held down by Zhou Hui, almost scream and bite off his own hand…
But the pain soon disappeared, probably because that part of his nerves had been numbed. Instead, whenever it was cloudy or late at night, the place where the bone marrow and the golden ring lock met would feel cold, making him tremble even in his sleep, unconsciously pressing closer to Zhou Hui’s heat-radiating body, so that every morning he would wake up curled tightly in that man’s arms.
In a soul state, he probably wouldn’t feel cold anymore…
Phoenix closed his eyes.
It must be because it was too cold that even his tears were frozen, not a single one could fall.
He walked to the side of the Human Realm Boundary Stone, paused, and stood there, slowly exhaling the air from his lungs, as if to completely expel all the cold and fear from his body. Then he lifted his foot again and stepped across the Human Realm Boundary Stone—
The moment his foot landed, the sound of an explosion did not ring out.
At the same time, a bright arc of light flew out from under his collar—it was the ring on his neck!
The diamond on the ring emitted a dazzling silver light, and the micro-carving inside it was reflected, projecting into the mid-air an image of a phoenix with its wings spread, about to take flight, brilliant and magnificent!
—Then, a clear cry echoed from all directions in the void. The light and shadow of the phoenix, as if instantly endowed with life, danced gracefully in the splendid light, sending out captivating ripples.
The Demon Lord said, stunned, “Wh-what is this?!”
The phoenix light and shadow slowly descended around Chu He’s body. Its thousands of tail feathers were like gentle waves in a sea of light, drooping and gathering one by one, as if laying out a brilliant river of silver falling from the nine heavens.
The next second, the light and shadow rapidly shrank and brightened, becoming the shape of the phoenix carved inside the ring lock, its feathers and wings perfectly matching. It was then accurately absorbed into the golden ring lock behind his spine.
—In an instant, the original phoenix pattern in the lock and the phoenix light and shadow that had entered it completely overlapped, like a key fitting precisely into a lock core. The golden ring lock made a crisp cracking sound, pulled out from his spinal cord, and fell to the ground with a clatter, stained with blood!
The Demon Lord said, stunned, “How can this be?!”
Phoenix’s expression was indescribable. He looked down at the ring on his chest and, after a long moment, raised his hand and grasped it.
So this is…
So this was the key to the golden ring lock!
—Phoenix clutched the ring deeply, tightly in his palm. He gritted his teeth so hard that his face became somewhat rigid, at the end of its strength. He remembered the ten-thousand-li frozen earth under the starry sky, he remembered the wedding ring Zhou Hui had offered when he knelt on one knee. It turned out that at that moment, he had already personally handed him the key to unlock the golden ring lock!
“I will… I will definitely come back…”
Phoenix thought, over and over, the voice in his mind trembling and clear, as if to carve this thought deep into his heart.
“Even if I am burned to ashes by fierce flames, I… will definitely return to your side…”
Volume Four: The Long Frozen Night
