Chapter 63: The Golden Crow’s Sacrifice

Shen Zhaoqing found herself utterly at a loss for words.

‘What the hell is going on?!’ she thought.

‘At a time like this, are you still arguing over ownership of a “prey”?’

“Are you insane? Get out of the way! You’ll die!” Shen Zhaoqing exclaimed, her panic rising as she instinctively reached out to push Yuange.

Yet, Yuange’s body remained rooted to the spot, unmoving.

“Silence,” Yuange’s voice turned cold, imbued with an undeniable authority. “Whether I live or die is hardly for you to fret over.”

Slowly, she lifted her head, her gaze fixed on the fiery orb of death that now consumed her entire field of vision.

The pretty face, usually adorned with a playful smile, was now etched with profound solemnity.

Her amber-gold eyes held not a trace of their usual jest, replaced instead by the wild desperation and fierce pride of one driven to the brink.

It was the pride of royalty.

It was also… Yuange’s unique obstinacy.

She could lose, she could fail, she could even die.

But she would never permit her own person to be destroyed by another, right before her very eyes!

From that bright, sun-drenched afternoon in Qingzhou City, this perpetually lazy, liquor-scented woman had been marked as ‘Yuange’s exclusive property.’

She could tease her, she could imprison her, she could pursue her.

But all of it had to be done by her own hands.

What was this old turkey, emerging from some forgotten corner of the world, to think it could lay a hand on her person?

“Heh…”

A grim, crazed arc slowly formed on Yuange’s lips.

In her beautiful amber-gold eyes, the left remained clear, while the right suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, dazzling golden light.

This radiance was no longer scattered feather-blades, but coalesced into a single, pure, primordial beam.

It was like a tiny, golden sun, rising slowly within her eye socket.

“Golden Crow Incinerating Sky Eye!”

In the distance, Yuanchao, who had been preparing to enjoy the spectacle, froze, his smile vanishing as he cried out in shock.

He recognized this technique!

This was the most core and powerful innate divine ability of the Di Jun bloodline!

It used one’s own essence blood and Divine Soul as fuel, pushing the power of the Golden Crow Divine Flame to its absolute peak to incinerate all phenomena in the world.

However, the burden this technique placed on the caster was unimaginably immense. For Yuange, in her current cultivation and heavily injured state, to forcefully use this technique…

It was nothing short of suicide!

This madwoman! She was actually throwing her life away for a mere human!

“Caw—!”

A high-pitched, piercing cry, like that of a phoenix, erupted from deep within Yuange’s throat.

Behind her, a massive, three-legged Golden Crow phantom, composed of pure golden flames, flashed into existence and then vanished.

Immediately after, that intensely condensed golden beam shot forth from her right eye like a divine punishment cleaving through creation, fearlessly soaring to meet the descending azure-blue meteor.

Silence.

The moment they collided, the entire world plunged into an eerie, absolute stillness.

Everyone’s hearing was temporarily stripped away by the terrifying clash of energies.

Shen Zhaoqing could only watch as a golden pillar of light, like a divine spear piercing against the heavens, fiercely impaled the azure-blue star of death.

Two vastly different, yet equally domineering flames, began their most primitive and brutal dance of mutual consumption and annihilation.

The sky was cleaved in two.

Along the boundary of gold and azure, space shattered inch by inch like fragile glass, revealing the heart-stopping spatial turbulence beneath.

Innumerable mountains crumbled, countless trees turned to ash.

Even the Black Feather Army’s demon guards in the distance, who had believed themselves safe, were swept by the overflowing energy aftermath, turning into charred remains and ice sculptures in swathes.

Shen Zhaoqing stared blankly at Yuange, who stood before her.

The golden divine light outlined her back, making it impossibly dazzling.

Shen Zhaoqing could not discern her expression, yet she could distinctly feel that Yuange’s already precarious body was being drained of all its life force at a terrifying speed.

Her hair rapidly lost its luster.

Her skin grew withered and ashen.

The ornate feather robe was turning into mundane ash, piece by piece.

She was burning.

Shen Zhaoqing’s mind had completely dissolved into chaos.

‘Was it worth it?’

Time seemed to stretch for an eternity, yet also felt like a mere instant.

Finally—

Boom!!!!!!!

A deafening explosion, powerful enough to shatter eardrums, violently ripped through the air.

The azure-blue fireball, which had been locked in a stalemate mid-air for so long, ultimately failed to withstand the tyrannical power of the Golden Crow Divine Flame. It began to collapse from its core, finally erupting completely amidst an unwilling shriek.

Innumerable fragments of azure-blue flame splattered in all directions, like fireworks.

The sky regained its clarity.

The shadow of death that had hung over everyone’s heads dispersed.

“It… it was blocked?”

“Her Royal Highness… she… she won?”

Won?

No.

No one won.

Under everyone’s gaze, the golden pillar of light in the sky, having fulfilled its mission, dimmed and vanished.

And the figure who had unleashed that earth-shattering blow, as if all her bones had been pulled out, plummeted weakly from mid-air.

“Ah—!!!”

A shriek, so piercing it sounded inhuman, finally erupted from Yuange’s mouth.

The sound was filled with an unspeakable agony that made one’s scalp crawl.

Shen Zhaoqing’s pupils contracted sharply. Almost instinctively, she surged forward, catching the falling body in her arms the instant it was about to hit the ground.

What met her touch was a bewildering mix of searing heat and icy cold.

The person in her arms was incredibly light, as light as a feather.

Shen Zhaoqing lowered her head.

Then, she saw the face.

That face, which had once always worn a cunning, mischievous smile that both annoyed and angered her, was now nothing but a gruesome, bloody mess.

Yuange’s left half of her face was relatively intact, merely pallid and devoid of color.

But her right half of her face…

Or rather, where her right eye should have been, was now only a bottomless, bloody cavity!

Azure-blue flames, like maggots clinging to bone, continued to burn at the edges of the wound, preventing it from healing and ceaselessly scorching her flesh and Divine Soul.

Blood, mixed with charred fragments of flesh, continuously gushed from the horrific wound, instantly staining Shen Zhaoqing’s entire front.

Those golden eyes, once like the most brilliant amber, now only one remained.

And even that surviving left eye had lost all its vitality.

She looked at Shen Zhaoqing, her lips moving, as if trying to speak.

But only a hoarse, rattling sound, like a broken bellows, emerged, followed by another gush of blood from her mouth.

Then, her head lolled to the side, and she completely lost consciousness.

“Little Princess?” Shen Zhaoqing held the person in her arms, whose breath was so faint it was almost gone, frozen in place.

A cold, unfamiliar emotion, like a bursting dam, instantly flooded her heart.

What was it?

Was it anger? Was it fear? Or… something else entirely?

She didn’t know.

She only knew that, holding this body, both scorching and icy, her hands trembled.

They trembled more violently than ever before.