Chapter 1279: Growing Old Together

Upon seeing the turmoil in his heart, Di Hou spoke again, "Young man, if you sever the connection, even escaping on your own won't have any impact. Instead of dying here, you should go find some help."

Tianji looked at Di Hou suspiciously, his delicate face full of confusion. After thinking it over, he still felt that fleeing now was the best option. Even if it took ten seconds to run to Qing Long's room and tell him about this, it would be enough to turn the tide of the battle.

To fully dispel Tianji's wariness, Di Hou pulled out a cigarette and lit it on the spot.

"Go ahead, I won't stop you." Di Hou waved his hand and flicked some ash from the cigarette.

He found this assassination mission strangely bizarre. His and Di Ji's abilities, which seemed useless, had unexpectedly encountered targets they could counter.

These two "Tian Ji" twins, who needed to maintain a calm state of mind to uphold their "faith," were up against "provocation." Once they started arguing, all their complementary skills became unusable.

"Mao Mu" couldn't grow wildly after being activated, and "Qiao Wu" couldn't find the materials for the "Yuan Wu."

Now, not only were their Dao hearts in chaos, but their "Ling Shi" had also revealed a critical flaw.

If it had been other "Tian Ji," or if different "Di Ji" had entered, the difficulty of this battle would have skyrocketed.

After building up his resolve for a while, Tianji finally sighed and said to the one who was grappling,

"You're not curious about what my third ability is? ... I'll tell you now..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his entire body began to change in less than half a second. Not only did he grow half a head taller, but his body also started to expand.

In the blink of an eye, the handsome young Tianji transformed into a scruffy middle-aged man with a beard, even bearing some resemblance to Di Hou nearby.

His eyes took on a sleazy look, his face broke out in acne, and even his teeth protruded outward.

Tian Hou and Di Ji froze in place at the same time, their hands slowly releasing each other's hair.

"Hmm...?" Tian Hou blinked in disbelief, as if her eyes were playing tricks on her. "You... what... thing... are you..."

She felt a string in her mind snap, and the connection of their "Shuang Sheng Hua" vanished at that moment.

"I'm Tianji," the middle-aged man said. "My third ability is 'Hua Xing'."

Tian Hou fell silent for a long time before slowly saying, "You're joking... You said your third ability was your trump card, the one that secured your current 'Tian Ji' status..."

Tianji paused. "Isn't it?"

Tian Hou was momentarily speechless. She stared at the middle-aged man in front of her, suddenly feeling dizzy. For decades, she had been living and sleeping with a man in disguise. They had researched the unity of yin and yang together, and even bound their lives with "Shuang Sheng Hua."

Was this ridiculous and absurd situation unknown to any "Tian Ji"?

No... how could no one have noticed?

Qing Long had "Ru Meng," Qing Long and Tian Gou had "Ling Wen," Tian Shu had "Ling Xiu," Tian She had "Du Xin." Aside from herself... probably every "Tian Ji" knew.

"They're all playing me for a fool..." Tian Hou said, trembling. "They see me as a joke..."

Di Ji took the opportunity to step back and stand with Di Hou. The two of them noticed that Tian Hou seemed deeply shaken, her whole body trembling as her "faith" completely collapsed.

"See how that little girl looks now?" Di Ji whispered to Di Hou.

"I see. So what?"

"People like us react this way when we find out our partner is really ugly, just like I did..."

"Ah, enough already." Di Hou quickly cut him off. "Say less."

"But you know what..." Di Ji stared at Tianji and whispered, "A Jin was right. Compared to some people, you still have quite the manly vibe."

Revealing his true form, Tianji stepped forward, looked at Tian Hou, and shook his head. "What's there to be upset about? So many of us are willing to indulge your madness, and you're still complaining? If I didn't have 'Hua Xing,' would you have agreed to Qing Long's proposal for yin-yang unity? All these years, just to satisfy your childish vanity, I've forgotten my own appearance. And now you're ready to drag me down with you to die..."

"You..." Tian Hou grew even angrier after hearing this. "Why didn't you say that when we were sleeping together or bathing? Even though you were hurt earlier... I never thought about undoing the 'Shuang Sheng Hua'... But you've been toying with me the whole time..."

"You're young, I won't argue with you." Tianji waved his hand. "Let's focus on the important things. You stay here and hold them off. I'll go report to Qing Long."

With that, he turned and walked away, not even glancing at Di Ji and Di Hou.

As the two hesitated on what to do next, Tian Hou, blinded by rage, suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Tianji's arm.

Tianji was startled by her frantic action. "What are you doing?"

"Tianji... you've been deceiving my feelings all along..." Tian Hou said, trembling. "You said we'd grow old together, and die together..."

"You're not done with this, are you?" Tianji frowned. "I've always treated you like a child, so I go along with everything. I did it so that one day we could truly achieve yin-yang unity and take over Qing Long and Tian Long's positions. But now the situation has changed—we need to save ourselves first. If you want to argue, we can do it later."

"No!!" Tian Hou shouted angrily. "You're lying to me, aren't you...? Your current appearance is fake... You did this on purpose to make me undo the 'Shuang Sheng Hua' and trick me..."

"You're really losing it..."

Tianji tried to shake off Tian Hou's hand but found her grip incredibly tight. A sense of dread crept over him—he felt like he was being locked in by the "Shuang Sheng Hua" again.

"You... what are you trying to do?" Tianji glared. "Are you throwing your life away?!"

"Come on... let's grow old together..." Tian Hou stared back, laughing maniacally. "A deal's a deal, right?"

"You..."

An extraordinary surge of "faith," mixed with anger and despair, erupted from Tian Hou. She dug her fingers into Tianji's wrist and murmured,

"'Shuang Sheng · Feng Chang'—"

As the words left her lips, both their eyes went blank in an instant. Wrinkles spread across their faces, and their hair cascaded down like exploding fireworks.

"Damn!" Di Hou quickly pulled Di Ji behind him and backed away several steps.

Neither of them had anticipated this turn of events. They thought the best outcome would be the two fighting each other to the death, but now it seemed even stranger than that.

The bodies of the two "Tian Ji" twisted grotesquely, their bones cracking loudly, making them look like monsters.