Chapter 974: Collapsed Faith, Shattered Person

Xu Xiaoshou felt a pang of sadness. He thought back to the events in Bai Ku, where Shou Ye had endured immense pressure and offered him the famous sword Yan Mang as a gesture of goodwill.

He also remembered that rainy night in Wang Cheng, when he was in his invisible state and overheard Shou Ye's inner thoughts, seeing him stand by the railing, gazing into the distance.

More than that, even though they were on opposing sides, Shou Ye was nothing like those fanatical enforcers who only wanted to kill him or claim his head for merit.

From the very beginning, Shou Ye had always tried to guide him back onto the right path.

But alas...

What each of them considered the "right path" was vastly different in their eyes.

Looking at Shou Ye, now weakened and listless inside the water sphere, Xu Xiaoshou felt a deep sorrow.

Shou Ye might die, but surely not like this?

"You've run out of pills?"

Xu Xiaoshou wasn't sure how to start the conversation, so he brought up what he had just seen: "I saw Murong Ying up there—he's been drained dry and died..."

Shou Ye seemed to perk up for a moment, his pale face suddenly flushing with an ashen hue.

"Received curse, passive value, 1."

"Urgh!" Realizing he had started the topic all wrong, Xu Xiaoshou quickly stopped himself, feeling like slapping his own face.

Then, he remembered something and pulled out various bottles and jars from his Yuan Fu.

"I'm a Wangzuo-level alchemist, so I might be short on everything else, but not on pills. These..."

Staring at the honey jars in his hands, his expression froze for a second. He said awkwardly, "Uh, these are indeed low-grade pills, but there are plenty of them. Maybe they can help you hold on a bit longer?"

Through the water sphere, Xu Xiaoshou tried to hand them over.

But there was still the water sphere between them...

Though it wasn't easy to break, to pass something through, he would have to puncture it, right?

And if he punctured the sphere, the water pressure alone, given Shou Ye's current state, would crush him.

Of course, Xu Xiaoshou figured he would probably die on the spot from the pressure too.

The two water spheres continued their parallel descent...

Watching the young man in the opposite sphere, Shou Ye gave a bitter smile. "I appreciate your kindness, but if we break this sphere now, I'll be reduced to nothing but bones."

He glanced over his own body, shrugged slightly, and tried to sound casual. "At least this way, dying inside the sphere, I'll still have a whole corpse. As for the pills... you'll need them yourself. Keep them and good luck to you."

Xu Xiaoshou stopped his motion with the honey jars and silently watched the opposite sphere descend.

Without using the rebound force, his own sphere would soon overtake Shou Ye's and continue falling, so after hovering for a while, Xu Xiaoshou started kicking downward again to keep the two spheres level.

He wasn't giving up.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't want to see Shou Ye die in such a confused way. His mind raced for ideas.

"What if I use spatial attributes to teleport the honey jars over?

"But I'm not familiar with spatial attributes..."

As he thought this, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly remembered the spatial power Ye Xiaotian had used on Gu Yin Ya to escape.

The other man had simply used his ability to swap spaces, pulling someone in front of him as a shield.

What if he used that method to send the honey jars over?

No sooner thought than done!

Xu Xiaoshou only regretted that he had left the spatial source stone with Xu Xiaoji to avoid being tracked, so he didn't have it on him. Otherwise, he could quickly grasp Ye Xiaotian's spatial techniques.

But the source stone wasn't essential.

He had a backup plan—the imitator.

He didn't transform into Ye Xiaotian, as there was no need; he himself was a spatial attribute user.

Gripping the imitator in one hand, he extended his spiritual sense into the Yuan Fu world to connect with the "Dao Wen Chu Shi." In his mind, he replayed the scene of Ye Xiaotian's move, while holding a honey jar in each palm, and began to try.

"Qian Kun Nuo Yi!"

With a thought, the honey jar in his left hand vanished.

Xu Xiaoshou's face stiffened as he sensed from the spatial fluctuations that the jar had been swapped into a spatial turbulence and instantly shredded by the storm.

"Uh, using this could kill someone. If I accidentally swap Shou Ye's sphere into the spatial turbulence..."

Xu Xiaoshou glanced up at Shou Ye with a hint of guilt and said steadily, "Give me some time."

Shou Ye could see that Xu Xiaoshou was attempting something, but it gave him an inexplicable sense of unease, as if stopping now might let him live longer.

But if Xu Xiaoshou succeeded, he might die on the spot.

"You..."

Shou Ye opened his mouth slightly but couldn't finish his sentence.

Oh well, let him try. It was worth a shot, even if it was a desperate gamble.

On the other side, Xu Xiaoshou didn't stop. He kept sensing the spatial fluctuations, and the honey jars in his hands disappeared one after another.

Sometimes they just vanished, sometimes they appeared overhead, sometimes underfoot...

Before long, one of the honey jars finally appeared outside the sphere.

In exchange, a puddle of water appeared in his palm.

"Did it work?"

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up, but he saw the honey jar outside the sphere instantly crushed to powder by the deep-sea pressure. His face froze.

"Do you trust me?" Xu Xiaoshou looked at Shou Ye.

Shou Ye's mouth twitched, and without a word, he subtly backed away a little and pushed the bottles and jars in front of him farther off, pretending not to care as he asked, "When did you master spatial attributes? I don't recall seeing you use them before."

"This story is a long one, and if I shorten it, it's not worth telling." Xu Xiaoshou shook his head, cleverly avoiding the answer.

"Received curse, passive value, 1."

Shou Ye took a deep breath and decided to say no more.

"Qian Kun Nuo Yi!"

After several attempts, Xu Xiaoshou didn't wait any longer. Feeling he had a grasp on it, he trembled his hand and directed the spatial swap at Shou Ye in the opposite sphere.

With a soft whoosh.

This time, the honey jar vanished from his palm, replaced by a finger.

Xu Xiaoshou: ???

A finger?

Just a finger?

What the hell? Wasn't I aiming at the discarded pill bottle in front of Shou Ye?

Xu Xiaoshou tossed the finger away in shock and looked up, only to see Shou Ye in the opposite sphere staring back with a mix of bewilderment and horror.

The already weakened old man was clutching his right hand, blood seeping through his left fingers.

Clearly, losing the finger had worsened his frail condition.

But pain didn't make Shou Ye lose his senses and scream; his purple lips trembled, his eyes twitching wildly, as if he were saying this was so typical of Xu Xiaoshou but he didn't want to face it.

"Is that... your spatial attribute?" Shou Ye held back for a long time before managing to stammer that out.

"Received reprimand, passive value, 1."

"Received disdain, passive value, 1."

"Received doubt, passive value, 1."

Xu Xiaoshou took a deep breath: "Sorry, it wasn't on purpose. Don't worry, I'll teleport your finger right back."

"Don't!" Shou Ye's face turned deathly pale, his breathing uneven.

"It was just an accident..." Xu Xiaoshou tried to reassure him, explaining, "I calculated everything, but I didn't account for the fact that even though the spheres are relatively still, they're actually moving, which threw off the spatial positioning. Next time, I'll get it right!"

As he spoke, he looked up, fixing his gaze on Shou Ye's head, thinking thankfully that he had shifted it in time—otherwise, it might have been a head that swapped over...

Shou Ye took several heavy breaths, then broke into violent coughs.

He pressed himself tightly against the sphere's wall, not daring to move, trying to use his eyes to stop Xu Xiaoshou.

Xu Xiaoshou could tell Shou Ye meant, "I'm ready; go ahead."

This time, he factored in the sphere's movement, calmly locked onto the space, and performed the spatial swap.

"Qian Kun Nuo Yi!"

With another soft whoosh, the discarded pill bottle appeared in his hand, and in front of Shou Ye, his finger dropped.

"Success!" Xu Xiaoshou was thrilled—this meant Shou Ye could receive the aid.

But when he looked up, he saw Shou Ye in the opposite sphere holding his severed finger, trying to reattach it to the bloody stump, only for it to fail because he couldn't muster any Ling Yuan.

His face was a mix of green and white, as if suppressing some emotion.

"Received curse, passive value, 1."

Xu Xiaoshou gave an awkward laugh. "Losing a finger for a life—sounds like a fair trade, right?"

Shou Ye gritted his teeth: "Very fair!"

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled twice. With this success, he directly swapped over a large number of honey jars.

Inside were things like Refining Spirit Liquid and Red Gold Liquid, nearly filling Shou Ye's sphere.

Even if they were low-grade, they should help him hold on longer.

"I've done all I can."

Xu Xiaoshou nodded at Shou Ye, watching him struggle in the cramped sphere to open and lick the honey, finding the scene absurdly comical.

After swallowing a whole jar of honey, Shou Ye didn't devour more like a starving ghost.

With great willpower, he stopped eating and looked at Xu Xiaoshou: "You've given me all these pills—what about you?"

Xu Xiaoshou smirked: "Don't worry. Even if we have to go in order, with my age, I probably won't die before you do. Just focus on staying alive."

Shou Ye fell silent, feeling the Ling Yuan from what he had swallowed being drained away by the sphere. He said despondently, "It's just prolonging the inevitable. I'm... destined not to last much longer."

He pushed the honey jars forward: "Xu Xiaoshou, take them back. You need them more than I do."

Xu Xiaoshou shook his head slightly: "Every moment counts. Surviving by any means isn't shameful. Who knows? A turning point might come, and if the sphere stops draining everyone's Ling Yuan, those who didn't fight to live won't even get the chance to regret it."

Shou Ye closed his eyes heavily.

I've lived long enough...

He thought of his life, full of trials through wind and snow.

From white robes to red robes.

From an ordinary Refining Spirit Master, clawing his way to the Zhan Dao realm, and even gaining Taixu power at that stage.

The glory he had enjoyed in his earlier years was more than enough.

And the joys of his first half of life perhaps needed this helplessness and silence to draw a rough end to his later years.

A sense of death enveloped him...

Xu Xiaoshou saw Shou Ye's face suddenly grow gaunt, his muscles sagging.

It wasn't just his face—his whole body was the same.

The sphere's draining force had strengthened again!

"Eat them!"

After a moment of silence, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly roared: "I've given you my stuff—what's with not eating? Are you looking down on me?"

Shou Ye struggled to open his eyes, his eyelids heavy, and said weakly:

"Deeper into the sea, it's only more dangerous. Me eating these is just a waste.

"You were right; everyone's waiting for a turning point... Maybe at the very end, these pills you gave me will become your last lifeline."

"And I..."

Shou Ye gave a bitter smile: "Even if I couldn't steer you back to the right path, I won't be the straw that breaks you."

"Bullshit!" Xu Xiaoshou cursed in anger. He desperately wanted to use spatial teleportation to get over there, grab Shou Ye's head, and slap some sense into him.

But he knew this old man was already stubbornly set in his ways.

His anger was pointless; he had to find a solution.

A solution...

A turning point...

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly thought of Shou Ye's deepest obsession. He chuckled coldly: "Old man, do you know why I never accepted your offer to join the Red Yi?"

Sure enough, at those words, Shou Ye's body trembled, and a flicker of light appeared in his murky eyes.

He grabbed a jar of honey, scooped some out with his finger, and stuffed it into his mouth, his eyes wide as he asked: "Why?"

Xu Xiaoshou snorted derisively and said coldly: "I laugh at you for being trapped in your own world without realizing it, so I won't follow you. Do you know that the Red Yi organization you revere, that Sheng Shen Dian Tang you're willing to give your life for, is full of hypocrites?"

Shou Ye froze, anger flashing across his face, but he didn't retort.

Xu Xiaoshou raised an eyebrow and teased: "Looks like you're starting to glimpse the truth. But when your lifelong faith turns out to be wrong, you'd just choose to ignore it and pretend you saw nothing, right?"

Shou Ye was so angry he laughed, though weakly: "Xu Xiaoshou, I'm about to die, and you're still provoking me?"

"I'm not provoking you—everything I'm saying is the plain truth!" Xu Xiaoshou didn't elaborate further and stated bluntly, "In Bai Ku, I saw it with my own eyes: your junior, that young Red Yi, Lü Ke, lost control of his emotions and ghost energy leaked from his body!"

Ghost energy?

Shou Ye's eyes went blank, and he tilted his head: "What did you say?"

"I said!"

Xu Xiaoshou emphasized heavily:

"Lü Ke! Red Yi! Ghost beast host!

"Your higher-ups preach justice while doing filthy deeds.

"I don't know the secrets behind it, but I trust what I saw with my own eyes. That's why, no matter how much you invited me, I never chose to join you, because I'm afraid!"

Xu Xiaoshou caught his breath, his voice softening suddenly:

"I'm afraid I'd end up like you—a fool led around in circles, blind to the truth.

"I've said it before: I want to see the world for myself.

"And the real truth of this world, along with those who 'write' that truth, can never be seen clearly just by being a 'Red Yi member'!"

Shou Ye's mind went blank with a buzz.

These words hit him like thunder from a clear sky.

"Received doubt, passive value, 1."

"Impossible...

"You're lying to me...

"Lü Ke is Wu Yue Jian Xian's disciple; he's a Red Yi reserve, a famous sword holder—how could he be a ghost beast host?

"Does Wu Yue Jian Xian know about this?

"Impossible! Wu Yue Jian Xian couldn't know; he's so uncompromising against evil. If he did, how could he join Sheng Shen Dian Tang?

"But he's the White Yi leader, one of the higher-ups, a rule-maker. If he chose to join Sheng Shen Dian Tang, then it can't be wrong—so you're lying to me..."

Shou Ye muttered to himself like a madman, desperately analyzing the truth in Xu Xiaoshou's words.

He was terrified of being deceived!

But before his delusional rambling could continue, Xu Xiaoshou coldly interrupted:

"Shou Ye, wake up!

"Your Wu Yue Jian Xian is now in Sheng Shan Prison, in the Dead Sea! I heard he's even lost an arm?

"Use your head—would Sheng Shen Dian Tang treat one of their own like that?!"

Shou Ye's mind exploded with a boom, all his thoughts collapsing.

His lifelong faith seemed to crumble in an instant, making his entire body stagger violently in the sphere.

With his emaciated, skeletal face lifted in shock, he stared blankly at Xu Xiaoshou and murmured unconsciously: "What... what did you say?"

Xu Xiaoshou took a deep breath and said firmly:

"I said, live on!

"Use your own eyes to see the answers you want.

"Trust me, it'll be more thrilling than any 'truth' others give you!"

With that, Xu Xiaoshou didn't wait. He pushed upward with his hand, using the rebound force to send his sphere plummeting downward.

He didn't take back the honey jars he'd given Shou Ye.

Because he believed that a broken person would either perish or rise from the ashes, gnawing away at the darkness bit by bit, and then walk toward the dawn on their own!