Chapter Fifty-Eight: Losing It All, Finale Part One

The old man spoke with excitement, as if Ye Ruyue and Ye Ruxue were destined to belong to him. Night Without End's violent aura had not yet dissipated when another elder arrived, the murderous intent in his eyes intensifying wildly.

First, he was buried for no reason; then Ye Ruyue and Ye Ruxue were injured and unconscious; now another elder appeared, demanding the two women. Night Without End was seething with anger, on the verge of erupting.

Everyone raised their heads to look at the sky. The elder stood there, suspended in mid-air, with not a hint of cultivation leaking from him. Everything seemed so natural, as if he was one with the entire sky.

Seeing Night Without End ignore him, the elder smiled awkwardly and said, “Young friend, please don’t misunderstand. These two women possess extraordinary physiques—their future achievements are limitless. Such divine bodies are wasted in the mortal world. Why not let me take them as disciples and give them boundless prospects on the path to immortality?”

“Since you are also a cultivator, you should know what the Immortal Path represents!” The elder continued incessantly.

Night Without End remained unmoved, digging at his ear and flicking away what he found, replying coldly, “No need.”

“We’re leaving.”

“Yes!” Chao Tianxiang and Shadow Slayer responded, flanking Night Without End, never more than two meters away, ready to react at a moment’s notice.

They had gotten themselves into serious trouble.

“Can you discern his cultivation?” Night Without End whispered, feigning calm.

Night Without End had no idea who this elder was, and he would never hand over the two women without knowing. He had promised them he would show them the world.

As for accepting disciples? Ha! That was a joke.

Night Without End asked himself: In this place, where he had no one else, who could he trust but himself?

“This person is terrifying. His cultivation surpasses mine—I can’t tell what realm he’s in,” Chao Tianxiang transmitted quietly to Night Without End, no longer daring to address him as Ancestor, all for his safety.

Night Without End’s expression grew darker. His greatest trump card was Chao Tianxiang, a Golden Core cultivator. If this man was stronger than her, events could spiral beyond his control.

Night Without End hated losing control.

“Can we escape?” he asked again.

“I fear not. If I can’t see through his cultivation, it only means his realm far exceeds mine—he’s likely reached the next stage. The higher a cultivator’s realm, the greater the gap,” Chao Tianxiang replied.

Hearing this, Night Without End’s heart sank even deeper.

He asked once more, “Will the Immortal Moon Tower intimidate him?”

“That’s hard to say. After your battles three thousand years ago, many factions outwardly defer to us, but secretly they covet us, hate us bitterly. If not for the deterrent of the nine Tower Masters, they’d have attacked long ago. If this man isn’t from one of the ancient sacred lands, he wouldn’t dare provoke us!” Chao Tianxiang explained.

“Hey, hey, hey, young friend, don’t rush off. Everything can be discussed—let’s negotiate,” the elder said, stepping forward to appear ten meters from Night Without End and his companions, speaking in an unhurried manner.

“They will never leave with you!” Night Without End said coldly.

“If I’m not mistaken, you must be their husband? You should understand how alluring the Immortal Path is for us cultivators.”

He gently stroked his long white beard and continued, “Even if you don’t consider yourself, you should think of them! Without opportunity, mortal cultivators only have a few decades of lifespan. Why not think it over carefully?”

“No need. Move aside!” Night Without End demanded coldly.

“Think it over again. Such excellent seedlings for immortality—letting them waste away in the mortal world would be a pity!” the elder persisted.

Chao Tianxiang noted Night Without End’s violent aura rising, fearing he might explode. Her task was to protect his safety; as for Ye Ruyue and Ye Ruxue, the Nine Tower Masters had only demanded they survive.

Now the Nine Tower Masters were away; the elder seemed genuinely intent on accepting disciples. If he harbored malice, with his cultivation, none here could stop him.

If Night Without End were not present, Chao Tianxiang, as the Tower Master of Immortal Moon Tower, would fear no one. In hundreds of years, she’d never seen anyone dare provoke the Tower.

“I am Chao Tianxiang, Tower Master of Immortal Moon Tower in Ling City. These divine bodies will not be buried in the mortal world—you worry too much, fellow cultivator. They are people of our Immortal Moon Tower, so you’d best return to whence you came. If you wish to take them, you’ll have to step over my corpse. Otherwise—leave!” Chao Tianxiang said coldly and imperiously. Immortal Moon Tower had stood for millennia and feared no one.

“So you’re the Tower Master of Ling City. My respects!” the elder cupped his fists to Chao Tianxiang. “But these two girls are very important to me. Tower Master Chao Tianxiang, might you be willing to part with them...”

“Either I die and you take them, or you leave!” Chao Tianxiang cut him off mercilessly.

“Such unreasonable behavior!”

The elder snorted coldly. He truly did not dare attack Chao Tianxiang; every Tower Master of Immortal Moon Tower bore a mark—unless they died naturally, if slain, the event would be transmitted to the Tower’s headquarters.

Once, an imperial family of a divine dynasty accidentally killed a Tower Master, and those above intervened. Overnight, hundreds of billions perished, reduced to ashes. The land became a dead zone; not a blade of grass grew.

Ignoring Chao Tianxiang, he smiled at Night Without End.

“How about this, young friend? Name your price—whatever you say, even if you demand the Golden Crow from the heavens, I’ll fetch it for you!” The elder pointed at the sun.

The threat was unspoken, yet unmistakable.

If Night Without End did not grasp the meaning, he was truly a fool.

Chao Tianxiang had already made herself clear...

“Split up!” Night Without End shouted, tossing the two women to Chao Tianxiang and Shadow Slayer.

The two understood—the elder’s strength surpassed theirs, but since he hadn’t attacked, he wasn’t bloodthirsty. Chao Tianxiang’s identity now firmly established, the elder would not dare act against them.

Yet the elder refused to leave, unwilling to give up on Ye Ruyue and Ye Ruxue.

“Silence!”

As the two prepared to depart, the elder softly uttered a single word.

It seemed to invoke some profound cosmic law, a sound of the Dao itself. The entire world fell silent.

The sky was utterly still—the falling leaves hung motionless in midair, the flowing river stopped, even the heartbeat of every person present ceased.

The entire world was as if frozen by a petrifying spell.

Night Without End realized he could not move, all because of a single word from the elder.

“Sigh,” the elder murmured to himself, “No emperor emerges, Saints rule supreme, forbidden zones stir, the Five Desolations converge, immortal sources reappear, the path to immortality opens! Within the next century, chaos will erupt across the wilderness; bones will pile high throughout the heavens, blood will stain the sky crimson!”

As he spoke, the elder slowly walked toward Night Without End and his companions.

Night Without End’s heart raced—the elder’s footsteps seemed to trample his very soul.

“What should I do?”

Deep within, Night Without End’s violent rage surged wildly, but found nowhere to vent.

The elder’s footsteps drew closer and closer...

He stopped before Night Without End, and, surprised, remarked, “Your spiritual sense is quite strong, young friend—you can still think! But struggle as you might, it’s useless. Under my words of power, you cannot move. Rest assured, you will age, die, and fade away, eventually becoming nothing but a skeleton. They are different—a fully matured divine body will live at least seven thousand years! To ensure their peace in cultivation, I will make them forget you.”

“Forget you!”

Those words echoed endlessly in Night Without End’s mind as the elder walked toward Ye Ruyue.

“Forget me? Impossible, absolutely impossible! Damn you, stop! Halt! Don’t touch them!”

Night Without End’s soul was in turmoil, roaring madly, his heart thunderous with rage.

“I, Night Without End, swear: if anyone ever seeks to harm you, they must first step over my corpse...”

His mind was haunted by the vow he once made.

Tears blurred his vision, slowly trailing down his cheeks.

His hair began to stain red.

Boundless regret, pain, unwillingness, fury, violence, madness, and murderous intent erupted at that moment.

“Old bastard! I told you to stop—don’t touch them!”

A frenzied howl reverberated across the heavens.

The elder’s hand, reaching for Ye Ruyue, paused. He slowly turned to look at Night Without End.

A twisted, enraged, crazed visage—his long white hair had turned a blood-red hue.

A wicked smile curled his lips; sharp fangs protruded, like a fierce beast.

Two clouds of black mist seeped from Night Without End’s eyes—demonic and ghostly, a sense of ancient desolation spreading outward. An unseen force stirred awake in the world.

“Entering demonic momentum?” the elder mused inwardly as he gazed at Night Without End.

Night Without End, wielding a wild and unrestrained power, threw a punch at the elder.

The elder calmly raised his palm, extended his forefinger, and tapped—an invisible wall appeared before Night Without End.

A thunderous crash rang out, as if striking a lake’s surface, sending ripples through the unseen barrier.

Boom, boom, boom!

Fists rained down like a storm upon the invisible wall, but no matter how fiercely Night Without End struck, he could not break it.

The elder no longer looked at Night Without End, heading toward Ye Ruyue.

“Power—I need power!”

“Aaaah!”

A mad roar erupted.

The Forbidden Corpse Technique surged furiously—within a ten-mile radius, spiritual energy swelled, violently drawn into Night Without End.

Wild spiritual power coalesced around Night Without End’s fists.

“Old bastard, I said, don’t touch them!”

Boom!

Harnessing the spiritual energy of ten miles, he unleashed a punch like a rampaging torrent—the light wall shattered with a deafening crash...