C3 Autumn Tree
Chen Yuan was acutely aware of the agony caused by the Frostbreath's rampage within him. His entire being was engulfed in a chilling pain that seemed to penetrate his bones. Despite several attempts, he couldn't manage to stand up again.
The two specters had tactfully positioned themselves behind him.
Yu Bai, noticing Chen Yuan's persistent attempts to rise, waved his hand in impatience. A piercing whistle filled his ears as two raindrops, the size of beans and sharpened by the wind, broke through the multilayered curtain of rain.
Puff, puff!
The sounds were dull, like a chisel striking damp, heavy wood. Bloody holes had formed on Chen Yuan's left leg and arm.
Instead of blood, dark purple, almost black, stains appeared around the wounds.
Yu Bai was now less than thirty paces from Chen Yuan.
Chen Yuan remained half-kneeling on the ground, his head bowed, his face obscured. The two gaping wounds stood out starkly against his wet and muddy form.
"Is the Frostbreath that powerful?" Chen Yuan asked, his head still lowered, teeth clenched, his voice defiant. Suddenly, a bright blue glow enveloped him!
Yu Bai was quick to react.
He sensed the danger instantly and halted his advance, contorting his body into an odd evasive maneuver to the left.
Regrettably, at that very moment, Chen Yuan, who had been restraining Liu Xiaoxiao's right hand, lifted his arm. A forceful blast, accompanied by a fierce wind, roared towards them.
Yu Bai's white hair was whipped into chaos by the gust, his face contorted as if it were a lump of white dough.
"How can this be!" Yu Bai's eyes bulged in shock as he stared at the newly empowered Chen Yuan, as if he were witnessing his worst fears come to life. His body froze, completely forgetting how to defend.
It was as if he had seen the ocean itself, and something even more dreadful than the ocean!
Yu Bai staggered backward several steps from the force of the counterattack before he could regain his composure, his face flushed as though he were intoxicated.
The Tidewatcher's Grimoire! It had to be the Tidewatcher's Grimoire! He was certain of it. This was the elusive Divine Scroll he had scoured the entire Vast Sea Nation to find but to no avail.
Within this young man resided the Tidewatcher's Grimoire, a relic of the Vast Sea Nation!
When Yu Bai finally snapped out of his shock, Chen Yuan had already whisked Liu Xiaoxiao away, increasing the distance between them once more.
"Lord Spiritual Sage, shall we not pursue them?" Two specters caught up from behind. Though they were mere ordinary warriors and quite distant, the magnitude of the power they witnessed had left them deeply shaken.
Yu Bai's complexion had lost its previous steadiness, now fluctuating between dark and ashen.
"Continue the pursuit. I must report some matters first."
With that, Yu Bai departed without a backward glance at the two shadows.
The thought of the Vast Sea Nation's remnants possessing the Tidewatcher's Grimoire, one of the three Divine Scrolls, and their alliance with the Celestial Archives' master's daughter, turned Yu Bai's face even paler.
...
"What spell did you use just now? I've never seen it before, and its potency is frightening." Having escaped from a Shadowmancer, Liu Xiaoxiao momentarily shed her aloof demeanor. Gazing back at the increasingly distant Yu Bai and the ghosts, she couldn't help but marvel.
She then turned her attention to Chen Yuan, noticing a streak of purple-red.
"You!" Liu Xiaoxiao gasped in alarm, "You're bleeding! Chen Yuan, you're bleeding!"
"There's no need to shout; speaking isn't easy for me right now." Chen Yuan's attempt to speak only caused more blood to trickle from the corner of his mouth, quickly staining the area before him.
His speech was muffled and unclear due to the blood in his mouth.
"You... you didn't neutralize the Frostbreath? Are you just forcing yourself?" Liu Xiaoxiao was quick-witted; seeing Chen Yuan's condition made it clear he had been putting on a brave front.
The Tidewatcher's Grimoire was indeed a counter to the Frostbreath, but sadly, Chen Yuan's cultivation level was no match for Yu Bai's.
"Stop! Don't run anymore!" Liu Xiaoxiao's hand tightly gripped Chen Yuan's arm, her tone laced with urgency.
Yu Bai had mentioned that Frostbreath would wreak havoc along the pathways of circulating energy within the body.
Chen Yuan shook his head with unwavering certainty, his pace quickening even more.
What would be the final outcome? There was no time to ponder that now. Sunsetwood Grove was within sight. As long as Liu Xiaoxiao was safe, he would have fulfilled his promise to the Pavilion Master of the Celestial Archives. And then, the things he desired in exchange would also come to fruition.
With this thought, Chen Yuan's previously distant gaze sharpened with renewed focus.
"The agreement... the conditions..." Chen Yuan's voice grew increasingly urgent, his words coming out in staccato bursts. Liu Xiaoxiao grasped his meaning.
"Rest assured, the Celestial Archives may cease to exist, but the promises made by the Celestial Archives will certainly be honored!"
Liu Xiaoxiao's assurance seemed to infuse Chen Yuan with newfound strength, steadying his faltering body.
"You!" Seeing that he still refused to halt, Liu Xiaoxiao realized that no amount of persuasion would change his mind, so she chose to remain silent. At this juncture, there was little else she could do.
Liu Xiaoxiao's silence allowed Chen Yuan to breathe a sigh of relief.
From the breach of the Celestial Archives to the moment Chen Yuan took on the mission of carrying Liu Xiaoxiao to safety, no stretch of the journey had been as challenging as this last leg.
The last thing Chen Yuan remembered before losing consciousness was the sight of an enormous Sunsetwood Tree, standing like a colossal golden umbrella, towering and sheltering the sky above. Each leaf on the tree was as large as three or four palms, rustling in the breeze.
Chen Yuan marveled inwardly: What an immense Sunsetwood Tree.
And then he succumbed to darkness.
...
Within Sunsetwood Grove, an elderly man lay quietly on a wicker chair. He was very old, his body etched with as many wrinkles as the massive, gnarled Sunsetwood Tree beside him.
His roots were also in Sunsetwood Grove.
The sunlight filtered through the Sunsetwood trees, piercing the dense layers of leaves with its unique brilliance, illuminating the area and the cloudy eyes of the old man. It was as if, through the leaves and the strands of sunlight, he could see an even more dazzling future.
The old man smiled, and in the blink of an eye, his figure appeared outside Sunsetwood Grove, standing before the man and woman.
"Fate may be wondrous, but it is far too obstinate. I've decided to play a little prank on it."
"The future may hold darkness, but it will also hold light. To the youth of tomorrow, do not fear injury. Persist in your pursuit of that elusive freedom."
"This is a small token I offer you, as an apology for my impetuousness."
With those words, two beams of light burst forth from the old man's sleeves. A green ray of light entered Chen Yuan's body, while the other settled into Liu Xiaoxiao's hand.
"Then, I shall take my leave." The wrinkles on the old man's body deepened, and as dark yellow lines enveloped him completely, he transformed into a Sunsetwood tree, much smaller than the one behind him.
