Volume Two: The Mortal Realm - Chapter 136: Fire in the Bitter Winter

Amidst the night descending from the sky, Ye Mingke moved against the immense and blazing figure coming from the center of the city, gripping his sword and lowering his head as he advanced step by step.

The surging light ahead felt almost tangible, exerting a tremendous resistance that made every step a struggle. Reflected in the divine, colossal, and blindingly bright figure, he appeared as insignificant as an ant.

He slowly raised his head, and in a trance, he beheld the various deities and immortal soldiers amidst the sudden turmoil of the small town—yet this time, at last, he was not standing behind someone else.

This time, he chose to draw his sword himself.

As he leaned forward, his strides grew increasingly rapid. Beneath his coarse cloth garments, crimson and ferocious scales began to emerge across his skin, radiating a dark, brownish-red glow.

Within the darkness behind him and all around, he was the sole source of light.

The blazing figure from the center of the city also abruptly accelerated. Two figures—one large, one small, one dark, one bright—collided violently in mid-air.

With a deafening boom, they touched and immediately rebounded.

The brilliant figure paused only slightly before halting its momentum, while the other figure was sent flying backward, crashing deep into the thick city wall. Illuminated by the intense radiance of that figure, a scorched, deep, human-shaped void was visible where the wall had caved in.

Snap.

A hand covered in magma-like scales reached out from within the masonry and pressed against the wall, and a face covered by a crimson mask, majestic and terrifying, slowly emerged.

By this time, the others, having initially grown accustomed to the light, finally raised their heads to perceive the true visage of that blazing figure from the city center.

It was a silver-white armor standing dozens of zhang tall. The armor was completely sealed, without the slightest gap. Every inch of its surface was etched with writhing, earthworm-like golden runes that shifted and rotated, causing anyone who looked upon it to experience severe dizziness and overwhelming pressure, as sacred and awe-inspiring as an untouchable heavenly deity.

On the other side, the crimson figure embedded in the wall resembled a fiend draped in molten lava.

This scene felt momentarily as though time had flowed backward for thousands of years, returning to the era when immortals and demons vied for dominion over the mortal realm.

In that age, demons seduced mortals by satisfying desires and granting power, while immortals consolidated their following through protection and bestowals.

The mortal realm was thrown into turmoil by the strife between immortals and demons.

Demons roamed the mortal world, bringing calamity for tens of thousands of years, and no one would ever thank them. To pacify spirits and demons had been the heartfelt aspiration of the mortal world for millennia.

Yet when the demon realm was breached, and demonic power completely waned, withered, and vanished from the mortal world, people finally realized that in a world without demons, immortals no longer needed to compete for the allegiance of believers, for in the mortal world, they were already the sole supreme existence.

The world always holds two sides, light and darkness. When light utterly swallows darkness, it ceases to be light.

The helmet of the luminous armor turned aimlessly, "looking" in the direction of Ye Mingke. The radiance radiating from its body surged like a tide, and a fierce, boundless murderous intent flowed with the light, pressing down upon Ye Mingke.

The momentum between the two was primed to explode at the slightest touch.

Yet at that exact moment, thunderous rumblings seemed to rain down upon Yangjing one after another.

Everyone instinctively raised their heads to gaze toward the heights.

Pillars of fire soared into the sky from various locations within Yangjing, piercing and igniting the entire night. One deafening explosion after another echoed continuously across the city.

Those ear-splitting roars and soaring infernos were like divine retribution suddenly descending upon Yangjing.

The entire city shuddered violently amidst the thunderous crashes.

Following the explosions and flames, everyone on and around the Vermilion Bird Gate stood paralyzed, unable to react, much like moments before when they had witnessed the commoner youth slay the sovereign.

Yet soon, everyone beheld the towering, immense Ascension Platform—which had stood in Yangjing for hundreds of years—swaying amidst the flames, followed by a shockwave like a thunderbolt that every single person could feel.

That platform, which touched the heavens and the earth, tilted slowly before the unbelieving and shocked gazes of all present, and collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Everyone was gazing upward, and the entire city of Yangjing fell into a deathly stillness following that thunderbolt-like roar.

After the silence, a roaring commotion, like boiling water, swept across the entirety of Yangjing.

This is what I wanted.

The corners of Ye Mingke's lips beneath the crimson mask curved into an escalating arc, and he laughed heartily and unreservedly.

The luminous armor glanced at Ye Mingke and turned in mid-air, preparing to rush toward the partially collapsed and still-burning Ascension Platform.

Ye Mingke gripped the Jijing sword tightly. The deep red glow flowing like magma across his body plated the ancient sword, followed by a surge of pale cyan vital Qi erupting from within him.

His waist and back bowed slightly, and Yang Qi rose from his spine like a soaring great dragon, passing the Weilü and Jiaji points, reaching the final Yuzhen barrier at the back of his head—these are the Three Barriers. Furthermore, Yang Qi was born from his lower dantian, surging mightily along the Conception Vessel from the Guanyuan, Qihai, and Shenque acupoints, converging with the Yang Qi in the middle dantian's Jiuwei, Jianggong, and Huangting acupoints. Then, continuing along the Conception Vessel, it combined with the Yang Qi that broke through the three barriers at the back of the head and traveled along the Caoxi directly to the Yuzhen, together assaulting the Mintang barrier.

He was at the Ninth Storey of Martial Dao.

Because of his formidable constitution, even before he truly practiced martial arts, he possessed a profound martial foundation, and the six years of training in the nameless town had pushed his innate talent to an extraordinary extreme. That was why, even before the old beggar had formally taught him martial arts cultivation, he could achieve the Innate realm overnight in the snow.

From Li Han's mountain cabin all the way to Yangjing, pursued by wave after wave of immortals over ten thousand miles, he evolved from someone who had never fought a cultivator head-on, progressing through the Spirit Aperture realm, the Wheel Sea realm, and into the Origin Penetration realm. Under this multi-layered pressure, the training results that had been suppressed for years rapidly transformed into skyrocketing combat power.

Yet digestion time had always been insufficient. It was only after the battle at the Dragon Neck Fire Grotto that he welcomed nearly a month of relatively quiet days. The dozen days spent in the small courtyard were the critical period during which he simultaneously comprehended the martial laws within the Mortal Sword and fully digested the results of his previous battles.

By the time he stepped out of the courtyard gates, he was already a ninth-storey martial cultivator. Moreover, owing to the extreme potency of his innate constitution, when paired with the "Bulin" sword, he even caused an Origin Penetration cultivator to mistake him for a thirteenth-storey martial artist, directly summoning down the war machine that suppressed the entire city of Yangjing.

And that was precisely what Ye Mingke desired.

The Jijing sword, doubly coated with fire elemental Qi and vital Qi, vibrated. This ancient weapon, which had lain dormant for decades ever since he left the old beggar, emitted a tremor resembling the roar of a dragon.

With a sharp bang, the city wall fractured, and Ye Mingke, encased in red armor and united with his sword, slashed once more toward the blindingly bright figure ahead.

The sword was named Bulin (Yield Not).

Brighter and more dazzling than the stroke that had severed the head of the Great Xia sovereign, this sword slashed toward the luminous armor that sought to break away. A crimson sword light, like a fiery meteor, bore down upon the radiant armor—a power surpassing the Origin Penetration realm.

The luminous armor, having already turned away, spun back as if enraged. The radiance enveloping its entire body surged violently, as though a blazing sun had risen in the night sky of Yangjing. Its armor emitted the clanging sound of metal and iron as it furiously threw a punch toward the dazzling crimson sword light.

Boom!

The red light incarnated by Ye Mingke rebounded at an even greater speed than it had approached, crashing into the thick city wall behind him. Amidst shattered earth and stone, as he turned his head, he could see the panicked refugees sheltering beneath the wall.

The luminous armor prepared to turn away once more.

Ye Mingke thrust the Jijing sword inverted into the ground, unhooked the Mortal Sword from his back—which had been awakened by the blood of the Human Emperor's physique—and exhaled deeply.

The vast disparity in strength left him no possibility of maneuvering; every sword strike had to be an all-out, self-sacrificing blow.

A smile curved across his ferocious visage. He stamped heavily, and the city wall, already trembling from multiple heavy impacts, shook even more violently, causing a small section of it to collapse in a continuous rumble.

Leveraging the tremendous rebound force, he transformed into a crimson streak of light and shot forward. The thousand-jun sword Qi boiling within the heavy sword in his hand remained the "Bulin Sword." He slashed down at the luminous armor with a blow as heavy as a mountain and as fierce as an unyielding torrent.

The luminous armor, eager to depart, did not turn back this time; instead, it directly extended a massive hand flowing with viscous light, clawing backward at the streak of light into which Ye Mingke had transformed.

Yet it had not anticipated that the "Bulin" sword, now replaced with the Mortal Sword, possessed far greater might than the previous strike.

All the armor plates of the radiant figure vibrated simultaneously, scattering light that materialized into substance. The hand grasping at Ye Mingke was hacked backward, several tiny armor fragments shattering and scattering in all directions. The sword light pressed relentlessly forward.

The luminous armor swayed slightly, then abruptly whipped around, unleashing a thunderous roar as its other hand, clenched into a massive fist, smashed down furiously.

The sword light shattered and disintegrated.

Ye Mingke's body was sent flying like a discarded stone, crashing heavily deep into the city wall.

This time, the luminous armor chose not to leave. Instead, treading upon the light in the void, it pursued fiercely to the spot where Ye Mingke had fallen.

Within the collapsed wall, Ye Mingke panted heavily, covered in blood. The crimson scales on the exterior of his body shrank back one by one as they reached their limit.

Watching the blazing figure rapidly approaching within his field of vision, countless thoughts flowed through his mind. He knew that he had... reached his limit.

The first "Bulin" strike had exhausted all the martial vital Qi within his body; the second "Bulin" strike, executed with the Mortal Sword, had drained his soul power—the inevitable price for driving the sword within the sword. It was a rule he had discovered after multiple uses of the Mortal Sword.

Boom!

In the distance, fires flared once more across Yangjing, accompanied by continuous tremors.

What lay beyond the limit? What lay beyond death?

He did not know whether, upon perishing this time, his body would once again undergo transformation and resurrect. But he was unwilling to stand by powerlessly and watch this world he loathed, unwilling to watch his friends depart while he remained helpless.

Having resisted intense urges to feed since childhood, he had learned restraint; he had always been an extremely restrained person, except when driven time and again to desperate gambles in moments of absolute peril.

Yet this time, no one forced him. He had chosen to step forward of his own accord.

Uncle, am I being very willful? I cannot be certain of the meaning behind what I do, but this is what I wish to do. I believe you would not wish for the me who carries your hopes to live on as a coward.

Furthermore, what I am doing is not without meaning.

Turning his head, he could see beyond the collapsed city wall the refugees trapped in the wind and snow outside. Following their initial fear and panic, these people, struggling for survival, swarmed into Yangjing in droves.

They were terrified and fearful, yet they clung desperately to the faintest glimmer of hope before them.

In truth, we are all the same.

Beneath the raging fires, more sections of Yangjing's walls collapsed amid thunderous explosions. The Ascension Platform tumbled down within the soaring inferno, and the majestic imperial palace caved in amidst cascading flames.

This ancient city, slumbering for so long, awoke amid the raging fires that pierced the sky.

Tonight's Yangjing was ignited by the fires of mortals themselves, bestowing upon themselves a brightness akin to midday.

And there were the mortal chivalric heroes clad in coarse cloth, stepping onto the historical stage for the first time in centuries. Bearing black banners emblazoned with red flames upon their shoulders, they mounted the city ramparts amidst the towering inferno and the bitter winter night, proclaiming to the entire Central Plains:

"The Great Xia is dead, and the bitter winter has arrived."

They were the mortal realm's first army to resist immortal cultivators—the Winter Army.

The mortal realm no longer possessed the Great Xia, but in the freezing winter night, countless individuals would raise their own torches.

Boom!

Amidst his swirling thoughts, Ye Mingke calmly turned his head.

The colossal armor had closed in upon Ye Mingke, who was half-submerged in the collapsed wall. A giant fist of light descended from the sky, swallowing and occupying his entire field of vision.