Chapter 322: Totem

“I, I don’t want to watch you die.”

Ding Ning heard what she said and replied vaguely, not sure what to say. Looking into her bright eyes, he felt his heart skip a beat.

Naturally, he would not have any untoward feelings toward Xuan Ji. However, she looked too similar to the demon and he could not help but love everything connected to her. It filled his heart with tenderness and he did not want to watch her die.

Hearing his answer, Xuan Ji smiled with satisfaction. A flower called happiness bloomed in her heart and her voice was even gentler as she said, “I made a big mistake back then and implicated my tribe, death is too good for me. You don’t need to be hurt and don’t take my resurrection as a burden. You have to know, for me, death is a liberation.”

Speaking of this, Xuan Ji’s expression grew sorrowful. “A great crisis befell my tribe back then, who knows if any of my bloodlines remains in the world. I will pass the inheritance of the Xuan Nv tribe to you. If you meet descendants of my tribe, please pass it on to her. If you do not meet any, find an inheritor for me. Don’t let the inheritance of my tribe end like this, alright?”

“Alright, I promise you I will not steal the inheritance of your tribe!”

For those on the brink of death, their words come from their heart. Since death was a liberation for her, Ding Ning no longer hesitated and replied with resolution.

“Idiot, since I am passing the inheritance of my tribe to you, naturally, I will not limit your learning. However, one’s time and energy are limited and arrays are a wide and deep field that will consume much energy to learn. I am afraid that your learning will be too disorderly and it will delay your cultivation. If you have the extra power to learn, then do so. I don’t even know if there are descendants of the Xuan Nv tribe. I have already caused my tribe to suffer because of me, I can’t have the inheritance of my tribe die in my hands.”

Xuan Ji spoke delicately, her gentle voice sending ripples through Ding Ning’s heart. He coughed unnaturally and promised, “I will definitely pass down the inheritance of the Xuan Nv tribe. I will do my best to find a descendant and if I cannot, I will find an appropriate person to pass it on to.”

“I trust you. Come here, take my hand.”

Xuan Ji looked at Ding Ning deeply and said with some shyness.

Ding Ning started and approached her. He stretched out a hand and held her icy ones.

Xuan Ji closed her eyes and a vast amount of spiritual power entered Ding Ning’s consciousness. The spiritual strength he had always been so proud of was nothing but a drop in the ocean compared to her spiritual power. This realization startled him and he only now understood how powerful and focused Xuan Ji’s spiritual power was.

First was the sword technique. At this stage, Ding Ning could use the sword-control technique. The strength of it would increase alongside his spiritual power.

Next was the god-tier sealing technique. It morphed into a mysterious character and entered his head. It settled deep in his memory so that he would never forget it. He was regretful that given his current cultivation, he could not even use the simplest seal technique.

Perhaps worried that it would burst Ding Ning’s pitiful consciousness, Xuan Ji packed and sealed the final Xuan Nv tribe’s array inheritance into Ding Ning’s mind.

If Ding Ning wanted to learn it, he only had to focus and he could learn step by step from the foundations of array. This made him feel very touched—Xuan Ji had truly held nothing back. This made him even more unwilling to see her die and boundless sorrow rose in his heart.

“Calm the Qi and focus the spirit; hold the origin, totem to me!”

As Xuan Ji’s voice suddenly rang out in Ding Ning’s mind, there was a boom and it seemed that the entire secret space trembled.

Clang!

The clanging of chains rang out. Ding Ning just felt the world spin. The mermaid, Luoxue, and the Air Force Wings suddenly appeared in front of him.

Just as Ding Ning realized that Luoxue and the Air Force Wings were unconscious, and he was about to ask Xuan Ji about it, the mermaid suddenly screamed. An illusory mermaid shadow flew out of her body and landed on his left arm, morphing into a mermaid tattoo. As the illusory shadow left, the mermaid immediately crumpled to the ground and dissolved into ash.

Ding Ning was shocked and angry. He was just about to ask Xuan Ji why she had done this when he raised his head and saw that Xuan Ji’s face was like gold leaf and black blood flowed out of her seven orifices. Her crystal clear and jade-white skin burned with a strange white fire.

“Quick, pull out the flowing light and drop blood on it to claim it.”

Xuan Ji’s weak but anxious voice rang out in Ding Ning’s mind.

Ding Ning’s body trembled and he did not have time to ask more questions. Stretching out a hand, he grasped the flowing light and pulled hard. Xuan Ji screamed and blood surged out of the wound in her chest.

“Are you alright? Is it bad?”

Ding Ning’s heart throbbed and he asked anxiously. The flowing light struggled like it had soul in his hands. If not for his tight grip, it would have flown away already.

“Don’t mind me, I won’t die yet. Quickly claim it. I will help you conquer it otherwise, it will escape on its own.”

Xuan Ji’s voice grew weaker but it carried a resolution that was not to be questioned.

Ding Ning’s eyes were rimmed with red. Forcefully resisting the sorrow in his heart, he gripped the struggling flowing light tightly and sliced it across his palm.

Fresh blood stained the flowing light and it struggled even more violently. The terrifying power lifted Ding Ning into the air and pulsed as it hovered there. As it was just about the escape, Xuan Ji opened her mouth and spat out a tiny shadow of herself, complete with chains, and it flew into the flowing light.

Ding Ning felt his hand grow light and his feet landed on solid ground. The flowing light stopped struggling and sat quietly in his hand.

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Ding Ning let out a long breath and opened his hand. The flowing light suddenly flashed and as he feared that it was about the escape, the flowing light abruptly appeared in his consciousness and formed a spiritual bond with him. He felt that he could use it as easily as his arm.

Before he had time to appreciate the magic of the flowing light, he quickly turned to look at Xuan Ji and the joy in his heart immediately disappeared. Deep sorrow flickered through his eyes.

“Ding Ning, goodbye. Hopefully, we will see each other again.”

At this moment, Xuan Ji’s face was twisted in pain. Her entire body was consumed by a white flame and a sliver of soul struggled desperately among the flames. It tossed and turned endlessly and screamed silently as if enduring the worst torture in the world. It wanted to escape but there was no way to escape the embrace of the underworld fire. The scene was indescribably tragic.

“Xuan Ji, I will resurrect you for sure.”

Ding Ning’s heart was filled with grief as he yelled out loudly, his fists clenched and his eyes rimmed with red. He knew that if not for the fact that he did not want to personally kill Xuan Ji, she would not need to endure such pain. This made him feel very unhappy.

The white flame did not appear to have any warmth but it felt very dangerous to him and he did not dare to get close. If he did, he would immediately turn into ash.

The trace of a liberating smile appeared on Xuan Ji’s twisted face. Her beautiful eyes stared unblinkingly at Ding Ning as if to remember him firmly. Her eyes held a deep reluctance. “After I die, the Fire of the Underworld will also disappear. Don’t forget to use the soul-severing knife to cut through the demon-sealing chains. Even broken, the chains are the best materials for creating god-tier weapons. Once you’ve learned how to craft tools, they will be the best materials to use.”

“Xuan Ji, I… Ah!”

Ding Ning fell to his knees with a thud and tears streamed down his face.

He had never felt so pained and helpless as he did right now. He watched as Xuan Ji died painfully yet was unable to do anything. Even as she faced death, Xuan Ji did not forget to help him. How could he not feel heart-broken?

“Be good, don’t cry. Turn away, alright? I don’t want you to see me at my worst. Remember, you must sever the demon-sealing chain otherwise, the Fire of the Underworld will seal away the sliver of my soul in the flowing light. If that happens, I will never be resurrected. Goodbye… my love.”

Xuan Ji wore a smile on her face as she mumbled to herself. Her final words were already indistinct.

Ding Ning could not refuse her and lowered his head sadly. Sorrow filled his heart and his tears flowed like a fountain.

Once he felt the seals around him disappear and his body relaxed, he could not resist raising his head to look around tearfully.

But at this moment, her soul had completely disappeared and the white flame had disappeared without a trace. Her body had become nothing but bones and they appeared particularly desolate in the ice coffin.

“Ah…”

Ding Ning felt as if a large stone sat heavy in his chest, pressing down on him and preventing him from releasing his emotions. His fists were tightly clenched and blood dripped down from where he had unknowingly dug his nails into his hands. He let out a roar like an injured beast.

In all his life, he had never personally experienced life and death. Although he had only known Xuan Ji for a short amount of time, the self-less help she provided to him made him feel like she was a close family and friend. The sorrow in watching a family member pass away brought him the unhappiness such as he had never felt before.

After letting out his emotions through his roar, Ding Ning sat desolately in front of the ice coffin. His eyes stared, unfocused, on the bones inside the ice coffin. The disappointment and loss he felt made him feel empty and he could not find the energy to do anything.

After an indeterminable length of time, Ding Ning roused himself. No matter what, the dead were gone and life had to continue. Besides, Xuan Ji had said that as long as he obtained the highest inheritance in Wu Shen Palace, there was a chance she could be resurrected.

“Xuan Ji, wait for me. Hell or high water, I will resurrect you.”

Ding Ning clenched his fists, looked at the flowing light in front of him controlled by sword technique, and spoke resolutely.

The sliver of Xuan Ji’s soul sealed within the flowing light seemed to hear his promise and let out a cheerful cry. It danced around his body and drew streaks of light in the air as if expression her joy.

A soft smile appeared on Ding Ning’s face. The flowing light obediently landed in his hand and only now revealed its true form.

It was a weapon that radiated a dream-like light and it was impossible to see its shape clearly. It seemed real and illusory. There was no weight at all, like a beam of light. Bright and eye-catching yet it did not seem to exist in this world.

Ding Ning examined it for a moment and could not understand its mysterious. Putting it away, he turned toward the ice coffin with a trace of sadness in his eyes. “Xuan Ji, I will bury you in a good place.”

However, he had nothing on him at the moment in which to place Xuan Ji’s bones. This troubled him greatly, surely he could not carry the ice coffin out?

“Huff huff!”

As if feeling Ding Ning’s unhappiness, the mermaid tattoo on his left shoulder moved. A fist-sized shadow of the mermaid appeared. She continuously blew bubbles and seemed to be trying to tell him something.

Unfortunately, Ding Ning had no idea what she wanted to saw. The mermaid seemed to realize that he could not understand and could only use actions to express herself. Under Ding Ning’s confused gaze, she flew to the side of the ice coffin. She abruptly opened her mouth and bit toward the ice coffin.

Ding Ning was shocked but as he was about to call out for her to stop, the words disappeared on his tongue as he witnessed an unbelievable scene.

As the mermaid’s little mouth reached the edge of the ice coffin, it grew and she swallowed the entire ice coffin in one gulp.

Swaying with pride, she returned to Ding Ning’s side. She batted her large eyes at Ding Ning and Ding Ning’s heart almost melted from the cuteness. Only then did she twist in satisfaction and became a tattoo again before falling on his left arm.