Ling’er cried in happiness, her jade-white hands tightly hugged him, “Big Brother Yun Che, do you mean it? Is what you’re saying for real?”
“I’m serious. Every word I said was real. If anything I’ve said was false, may I be destroyed by the heavens.” Yun Che said every word with determination.
After saying these words, he closed his eyes; his expression was so peaceful and content. He felt a sharp cold object pierced deeply into his back. Blood franticly spurted out as his consciousness quickly dispersed amidst the heaviness…
The scene before his eyes distorted and disappeared as the world once again returned to darkness. Yun Che opened his eyes. To the front of his view, there were those two giant, golden eyes.
“I’ve failed.” Yun Che laughed self-deprecatingly, but steadily. “Originally, I’d thought that, with my state of mind, I’d be able to pass through the third stage easily. But I had thought too highly of myself. Heh heh, I must have disappointed you. My pursuit of strength isn’t that resolute after all.”
The phoenix spirit’s voice floated over, “Your soul’s response tells me that you already knew it was only an illusion from the very start, and that you had obviously seen the dagger beside the bed. You also clearly knew that if you were to hold up this dagger and stab the girl, you’d be able to escape the illusion and easily pass this test. Why would you rather stay in the illusion and even tricked yourself into believing that it was real? Unless, within your heart, the great strength that you can immediately obtain can’t even compare to that temporary illusion?”
“I could not do it.” Yun Che shook his head slowly, “This illusion came from the most precious memories in my soul. Even though it was merely an illusion, it’s deeply imprinted in my soul as what true happiness is. You won’t be able to understand how dear that girl is to me, nor will you understand how much I owe her. Even if that was only a dream, even if I have to lose my greatest strength as the price, I would never be willing to harm her.”
“Even if that is so, why did you not dodge, or even push her away when you obviously sensed her pick up the dagger to stab at you?” The phoenix’s spirit asked in a puzzled tone of voice.
Yun Che laughed; but it was a laugh of sadness, “I knew that it was an illusion you’d forcefully created based on my memories… My Ling’er, even if she had to die herself, she wouldn’t be willing to cause me any harm. However, I’m willing to die by her hands because what is a life compared to what I owe her? To be able to die in her hands, even though it was merely an illusion, it has allowed the guilt in my heart to ease just a little.”
The phoenix’s spirit was silent for a long time.
“I thirst for power, but in this world, there are many things that are much more important to me than strength. Me needing strength was also because I need to protect the things that are important to me. It seems I am neither fated, nor qualified to obtain the power of the phoenix… However, even though I have failed the trial, I’m already satisfied. Because this training has allowed me to see and hold her again. It has even allowed me to voice the promise that I’ve wanted to make to her even in my dreams…”
Yun Che laughed; he laughed very warmly, without any trace of unwillingness or regret.
“It seems that the girl whom you call Ling’er must have really been very important to you. And also because of her, your inner self holds heavy regret. However, you don’t have to suppress this regret in the depths of your soul. You have passed through the reincarnation cycle due to the Profound Heaven Treasure and it has tampered with this world’s causality. Under the butterfly effect, time, dimension, and planes will also change as well. Your regret and debt, you may have not yet lost your chance to make up for them.”
“You have passed through the reincarnation cycle due to the Heavenly Profound Treasure.” This sentence caused Yun Che’s heart to immensely lurch. He stared directly at the golden eye in front of him and was unable to say anything for a long time.
Heavenly Profound Treasure…Pass through reincarnations… Could it be, it had actually seen through that he had lived through two lives? And the reason why he had lived for two lives… Was due to the Heavenly Profound Treasure’s ability to pass through the reincarnation cycle?
Heavenly Profound Treasure… Jasmine had mentioned that the Sky Poison Pearl within his body had been one of these Heavenly Profound Treasures. But the abilities of the Sky Poison Pearl was centered around poison, medicine, purification and space. Above this discovery, where would the ability to pass through reincarnation come from?
As for the latter half of the words spoken after that sentence, he was completely unable to comprehend them. He probingly asked: “What do you mean by these words you’ve said?”
“Heh heh…” The phoenix’s spirit laughed mysteriously, “It’s fine for you to only understand half of it, but not the rest are heavenly secrets that aren’t to be disclosed. As you progress and as your strength continues to rise in this world, you will one day understand all of it.”
Yun Che fell into deep thought and then nodded his head, “Spirit of the Phoenix, although you have tampered with the illusions of my memories and made Ling’er stab me to death, which was rather unpleasant, I still have to thank you. But since I couldn’t pass through this stage of the training in the end, I should leave now.”
“No, it is not time for you to leave yet. Because you, have already successfully passed the third stage of the trial.”
“Congratulations, human who bears the Evil God’s strength. Within these countless years, you are the eighth practitioner who has chosen to give up your strength rather than hurt the illusion of your loved one. You have earned the right to inherit the Phoenix’s gift.”