LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 208
The following year, the battle between Lin Feng and Jiang Chen attracted much attention.
One was a prodigy who had made a name for himself in the Upper Domain, while the other was the infamous former young master of the Jiang family.
Accompanied by Xiao Hongyi’s cries, the surrounding cheers, and Lin Feng’s wild laughter, their fight didn’t last long.
As a bystander, the little fox in the void watched as Jiang Chen’s chest was pierced by the black blade.
“Jiang Chen!!”
It cried out in agony.
It ran to Jiang Chen’s side, cursing others while desperately trying to stop the blood seeping out of Jiang Chen.
But no one could hear it, and Jiang Chen’s life force was rapidly fading.
Seeing Jiang Chen looking around before dying, Lin Feng whispered:
“Don’t bother looking around, I ordered Bai Ling not to come. With your death, the personality named Jiushuang will completely disappear today. Jiang Chen, I must say, you’ve been quite the funny stepping stone.”Jiang Chen’s response to Lin Feng was, “Spare them…”
The little fox watched as Jiang Chen died, watched as his white clothes were soaked with blood.
The little fox collapsed in an instant.
Earlier, it guessed that this must be a memory from a past life. But it never expected such an ending.
It regretted even more, hated itself even more.
It questioned itself.
If it had been more resolute, if it had heeded Jiang Chen’s words and not advanced to become a Demon King, if it had been more ruthless and chose Jiang Chen when faced with a choice…
Would Jiang Chen still be alive?
At least, would he not have died so alone?
At this moment, as the person more important than its own life died, it too felt utterly desolate.
Watching Jiang Chen’s body being consumed by flames, the light blue ghostly fire between its brows rippled out like water waves.
In the light of the fire, it seemed to return to the Hengduan Mountain Range, back to where it first met Jiang Chen.
The man in white holding it, saying, “I’m destined with it.”
The man in white rubbing its head, saying, “A lifetime is too long, but as long as I live, I will surely protect her.”
The little fox gave a pale smile.
At this moment, it finally understood everything.
No wonder all cultivators and demon beasts steer clear of the Nine Heavens Mystic Fox.
It truly is a calamity.
It has no heart, always forgetting everything.
It has no emotions either.
Even after experiencing so much, it did not appear when Jiang Chen died.
The little fox regretted it.
It regretted knowing Jiang Chen, for it brought him too much harm.
Watching the figure in white amidst the flames, the little fox muttered softly.
“Jiang Chen, in the next life, I hope you never meet me again, for I am a little fox that specializes in wounding others’ hearts.”
It didn’t know how long it had stayed there.
All it knew was that when it came to its senses, Jiang Chen’s remains had long been incinerated, and it was alone.
The little fox did not linger there but floated towards the Central Domain.
It returned to the depths of the Hengduan Mountain Range, to where everything had begun.
……
Time continued to slip away rapidly.
The little fox lay where the Enlightenment Tree once stood, staring blankly around.
After an unknown amount of time, it saw a familiar face…
In its vision, a woman with six tails and a stunning visage arrived.
She looked around and then planted an Enlightenment Tree where the old one had been, nurturing it with her own blood.
In the blink of an eye, a hundred years had passed.
During that time, she never left.
Over the century, the Enlightenment Tree grew to the seventh rank, just like the previous one, with branches and leaves flourishing in a halo of light.
Throughout those hundred years, the little fox never spoke a word.
Its gaze was vacant, her movements mechanical and dull.
Only when looking at the Enlightenment Tree would a smile appear on her face.
“Am I Bai Ling, or am I Jiushuang?” the woman finally asked herself.
……
Lin Feng thought that, at least, with Jiang Chen’s death, Jiushuang’s personality would disappear.
But he hadn’t expected that even if Jiushuang might be gone, the events that had transpired couldn’t be erased.
Over the years, Bai Ling’s personality was also affected, and occasionally, the figure of a man in white would appear before her eyes.
It was following this figure in white that she returned to where it all began.
It was as if Jiushuang had reappeared.
“Am I Jiushuang, or am I Bai Ling?” the woman murmured to herself.
Her mind was a mess, and she seemed somewhat insane.
Memories of the past resurfaced in her mind.
Familiar places and scenes reminded her of the past and of that man who no longer existed in this world but still lived in her heart.
“Jiang Chen…”
The woman whispered his name.
A myriad of thoughts flooded her mind, and the past appeared before her eyes.
As if in a trance, she seemed to see herself on the Enlightenment Tree and Jiang Chen beneath it.
Her nose tingled, her heart ached.
The woman felt as if all her strength had been drained, and she collapsed to the ground.
A pale blue tear slid from her eye, tracing down her cheek.
She wiped her face, slightly startled.
She had always thought that if she could cry, it would feel better, and the pain would cease.
But now, these falling tears, like unlocking the shackles of her negative emotions, made her realize what it meant to prefer death to life…
She now understood that the Nine Heavens Mystic Fox doesn’t cry because it can’t. It can only cry when it is deeply moved and after Shape Transformation, but still, it mustn’t cry.
For her tears are the Nine Heavens Ghostly Fire.
The ghostly fire is like her life. If it runs dry, she will die.
Knowing all this, the woman still covered her face and wept uncontrollably.
Pale blue tears streamed down, falling to the ground and casting a pale blue hue over the world.
And with each tear that fell, the ghostly fire mark between her brows faded a bit more until the mark disappeared completely.
The woman could no longer maintain her human form and transformed into a six-tailed white fox, lying prostrate under the Enlightenment Tree.
Tears still flowed, but they were no longer pale blue.
They were clear tears.
This proved that the ghostly fire within her had been extinguished, and her life was nearing its end.
Feeling an overwhelming sense of fatigue.
But taking advantage of her remaining mobility and clarity, she used her sharp claws to carve two names into the trunk of the Enlightenment Tree.
【Jiang Chen】
【Jiushuang】
“Upon the Enlightenment Tree, the fox comprehends the Dao. Beneath the Enlightenment Tree, you and me.”
She whispered softly, “Grandma, Dad, Mom, I’m sorry. My heart has died, I can no longer grow into a nine-tailed fox to rescue you…”
Having said that, she finally closed her eyes, quietly feeling the ebbing away of her life force.
She thought she would die quietly like this.
Unexpectedly, Lin Feng arrived not long after and raised his black blade towards her.
Watching the scene where she died at the hands of Lin Feng, the little fox felt desolate inside.
It wished it could cry. Even if it would die all the same, it wanted to experience the feeling of having a ‘heart’.
But although it moved, it couldn’t transform anymore.
Without transformation, it couldn’t fully control the ghostly fire, and naturally, it couldn’t turn the ghostly fire into tears to truly cry for once.
“I haven’t forgotten Jiang Chen,” the little fox in the void sniffled.
It felt fortunate. Fortunate that when Jiang Chen died in the image, although it wasn’t there, in the end, it still remembered Jiang Chen once again.
It also felt very sad. Once, it was torn between saving its clansmen and staying by Jiang Chen’s side.
But now it finally understood.
Choice?
It never had one from the beginning.
Because if it chose Jiang Chen, given Lin Feng’s personality, he would still eventually kill Jiang Chen.
And if it chose its clansmen, the result would be what it is now…
The only thing it could do… perhaps was just like its own ending in the image, to decide the place of its death, whenever and wherever that may be.