After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 23

The Past Concluded

Her Life Tablet Shattered

If one looked carefully, they could see Wen Qiwu’s body trembling faintly. For a Demon Lord, that much observation was within his ability. He assumed Wen Qiwu was afraid—which was only natural. Facing his True Immortal Realm self with Void Refining cultivation should indeed inspire fear, even if his presence here was merely a dharma body with strength equivalent only to the Golden Immortal Realm. But the gap between the Golden Immortal Realm and the Void Refining Realm was not something a single formidable weapon could bridge.

            

Though the Demon Lord did not recognize the bow in Wen Qiwu’s hands, the fact that its arrow had pierced his demonic cauldron meant it was at least a top-grade Immortal Artifact. Yet someone who hadn’t even reached the Earth Immortal Realm could never unleash an Immortal Artifact’s true might, no matter how extraordinary the weapon.

What the Demon Lord did not know was that Wen Qiwu was not trembling from fear, nor from anger. She was perfectly calm.

It was simply that her body and soul both hurt terribly. Just as the Demon Lord had reasoned, her cultivation could not truly draw out the divine artifact’s power. She was suffering backlash from the Nine Tribulations World-Falling Bow’s own force—the stronger the arrow she loosed, the more pain she had to endure.

            

“A Void Refining cultivator in possession of such a top-grade Immortal Artifact… Who is she?” the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord asked the Demon Seed beside him.

The Demon Seed fell silent for a moment. “A lucky disciple who obtained a treasure.”

“Just luck, then. I thought…” He had thought she might be someone to Yun Heng. After all, few people could casually produce a top-grade Immortal Artifact to give away. The Demon Lord had instinctively suspected some connection to Yun Heng. If this woman were Yun Heng’s person, he could take her soul back and hang it on the outermost wall for all to see.

            

Since she had nothing to do with Yun Heng, she was of little use. The Demon Lord lost interest and did not question the Demon Seed’s answer.

“Hand this one over to you, then. Remember to bring back her bow—that’s a fine treasure.”

The Demon Seed neither nodded nor shook her head. She simply watched Wen Qiwu in silence, but the Demon Lord knew she had heard him.

            

He did not ask why the Demon Seed had failed to detect a leftover like Wen Qiwu—after all, he himself had not noticed her, so it was hardly surprising the Demon Seed had missed her too. Perhaps this female cultivator had some kind of treasure on her. They could search her thoroughly after capturing her.

Suddenly, array patterns flashed beneath Wen Qiwu’s feet. Several golden chains bound her waist and limbs. Wen Qiwu shifted—sure enough, she could barely move.

This was a high-grade array. With ordinary methods, Wen Qiwu would need at least an hour to break it, and she did not have that kind of time to waste. The Demon Lord had already produced another demonic cauldron, intent on refining the people of Wenshen Sect.

            

So Wen Qiwu released the seal on the power within her body.

Boom! Tribulation clouds suddenly churned across the sky. Purple-gold lightning flickered within them, carrying a pressure that made one tremble.

A spiritual energy storm erupted where Wen Qiwu stood. The vortex flattened the surrounding grass and trees, yet at the center of that rampaging power, the slender figure remained standing.

            

She was at the Void Refining Realm not because she could only cultivate to that level, but because her soul could not withstand a greater force. She had been forced to suppress her cultivation at Void Refining Great Perfection, not daring to advance further.

The moment Wen Qiwu released her suppression of spiritual energy, she could break through to the Dao Integration Realm. Tribulation lightning cleaved through the bindings on her body. Under the baptism of thunder, new wounds kept appearing, while her powerful self-healing ability closed them just as quickly.

Thunder and pain blurred her vision. Wen Qiwu saw the Demon Seed suddenly rushing toward her. Whether it was an illusion or not, she thought she glimpsed panic on that face.

            

Wasn’t the Demon Seed supposed to be heartless and devoid of emotion? She could show an expression like that? She must have seen wrong.

A trace of bitterness crossed Wen Qiwu’s heart. Then, without hesitation, she drew back the bowstring amidst the lightning.

The second tribulation at the birth of the Cangwang Realm had corresponded to lightning shattering the earth, splitting the whole of the Cangwang Realm into six domains. This arrow, carrying the force of heavenly lightning, flew past the Demon Seed’s form.

            

With her cultivation breaking through to the Dao Integration Realm, the second arrow’s power far exceeded the first. It chased straight after the Demon Lord. When the Demon Lord realized the arrow’s power was no small matter, he immediately raised demonic qi to resist.

An explosive blast rang out, and a crack actually appeared in the shield before the Demon Lord.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord stared at that crack for a long while before lifting his head, his expression ugly. He now had no choice but to take Wen Qiwu seriously.

            

But even if she broke through to the Dao Integration Realm, so what? As long as she hadn’t reached the Earth Immortal Realm, she was still a mortal. There was a fundamental difference in their power.

Just as he thought this, he noticed that the power on this human was climbing still higher! Dao Integration early stage, mid stage, late stage, great perfection…

She was attempting to break through to the Earth Immortal Realm!

            

Mad. Absolutely mad!

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord considered his own behavior sufficiently unhinged, yet compared to this human before him, he fell short by a margin!

Two arrows had already come chasing after him in succession. The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord sensed danger—there were too many uncontrollable elements about Wen Qiwu. He wanted to kill her directly! He didn’t even want her soul anymore. Just erase it.

            

After breaking through to the Dao Integration Realm, blood kept surging from Wen Qiwu’s mouth. Normally, after the heavenly lightning tribulation came a Heart-Contemplation Trial, but that trial arrived slightly later. She exploited this gap to charge directly at the Earth Immortal Realm. She needed immortal power to control the fifth arrow.

“Wait—this bow… is the Nine Tribulations World-Falling Bow! How could the Demon Emperor’s weapon end up in this human’s hands!” Certain images from his inherited memories made the Demon Lord’s mind ache faintly; as the divine artifact’s power gradually accumulated, those images resonated with that force.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord finally recognized the bow’s origin. It had once been the Demon Emperor’s weapon. Tens of thousands of years ago, the Demon Emperor had shattered the Demon Realm’s ambitions with nine arrows. She had slain True Demons and ground the demon lords’ fighting spirit into the dirt. Even though the Demon Emperor had perished in that battle, the demons of that era had not dared set foot outside the Demon Realm until their dying breaths.

            

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord had not personally lived through that war, but the inherited memories he had seized from the previous Demon Lord contained key fragments. Seeing Wen Qiwu raise the silver-white divine bow toward him, he felt an inexplicable shiver run through his entire body.

This person had to die!

But… she couldn’t survive this way either.

            

The Demon Seed stood rooted, stunned. No one knew Wen Qiwu’s physical condition better than she did. Wen Qiwu was burning the last of her life in exchange for power.

Why? Why not stay safely at the Cliff of Reflection?

What hung above Wenshen Sect was merely a half-finished version of the Heavenly Cover Array. The true Heavenly Cover Array was actually at the Cliff of Reflection. If she hid there, no one would ever find her.

            

But she had come out. She had even severed her own path of survival.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord wanted only to kill the Nine Tribulations World-Falling Bow’s new master as quickly as possible, as if that were the only way to bury the shadow that had loomed over the Demon Realm for tens of thousands of years.

“Once you reach the Earth Immortal Realm, you should know that the gap between the Earth Immortal Realm and the True Immortal Realm is greater than that between the Qi Condensation Realm and the Dao Integration Realm! You cannot possibly unleash the divine artifact’s power. You think you can kill my dharma body with it? Ridiculous!” The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord’s voice carried a bluster that even he did not realize masked his own dread. And the next second, his voice caught in his throat.

            

Wen Qiwu produced a jade pendant and wound it around the arrow. The pendant dissolved into a streak of light and merged with the arrow.

This jade pendant had been left by Yun Heng for Wen Qiwu’s protection. It contained three of her attacks.

The power of the True Immortal Realm briefly and fully awakened the divine artifact. The power Wen Qiwu had forcibly raised barely allowed her to maintain her grip on the divine bow.

            

This power could perhaps truly shoot down the sun.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord’s attack was nullified outright by the divine artifact, so he planned to dodge. He figured this cultivator could barely manage one arrow, perhaps two, but could never sustain a third. As long as he dodged—

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord suddenly discovered a hand resting on his right shoulder.

            

He tried to move. He couldn’t.

He looked back in shock and found that the one restraining him was the Demon Seed—the very being he had believed would absolutely never betray him.

A Demon Seed that was supposed to be heartless, knowing nothing but executing orders—why would she do such a thing?

            

The Demon Seed did not answer him. She only watched the distant figure of Wen Qiwu, whose gaze was growing vacant—and a trace of despondency seemed to settle between the Demon Seed’s own brows.

Was the Demon Seed truly heartless? She did not know. She only knew that when she first gained consciousness, a faint obsession had taken root in her heart.

[Find a way to cure Xiao Que’er. Save her.]

            

Who was Xiao Que’er?

That was the first question the Demon Seed had asked upon coming into this world. Then, in the memories, she saw a sweet, pretty child—one who would hug [her] leg and call out “Elder” with a bright smile. But that child was gravely ill, and [she] had wanted to cure her.

She wanted to cure her too.

            

This impulse had been born long before the Demon Lord issued his commands. In the Demon Seed’s heart, the scales had long tipped toward Wen Qiwu. She did not care about the lives of others. She only wanted this child to live.

Wen Qiwu could barely control the divine artifact anymore. Through sheer will, she released the bowstring. Only at the very last moment did she seem to see something in the distance. She paused for an instant, almost instinctively adjusting the arrow’s course by a fraction. This arrow burned away nearly everything she had left.

Chirp. At the very end, she thought she heard Qingtuan’s voice.

            

That day, it was as if another sun had fallen upon Wenshen Sect.

And in the distant borderlands, the jade pendant Yun Heng had never once parted with shattered.

Life tablet fragments fell from the sky. The stunned Immortal Venerable vomited a mouthful of blood.

            

Pure-white jade shards drifted past her. She instinctively reached for those fragments, but the ever-shifting battlefield allowed no distraction. Her lapse had exposed an opening to the enemy. Blades and swords pierced her body—yet she felt no pain.

Perhaps the pain in her heart had already eclipsed everything else.

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