Jiang Huai turned his head and looked at the crystal coffin lying quietly to the side.
Ji Xi’s expression was still peaceful, her face like snow, as if what had just happened had nothing to do with her.
Jiang Huai apologized repeatedly in his heart:
‘Sorry, Senior, but when it comes down to it, I still have to use you as a shield.’
‘But you’re just too useful.’
Otherwise, he would be the one suffering and crushed up there right now.
“What am I trying to do? What are you trying to do here?”
Jiang Huai moved his sore body, barely managed to climb up, and sat down beside Cang Jing.
Cang Jing lay on the ground, motionless. Her clothes were completely torn, revealing various places.
Her shoulders were bare, her collarbones deeply set, two graceful arcs shimmering faintly.
Her hills rose and fell slightly with her rapid breathing. The curve of her waist was sleek, her muscles firm, without an ounce of excess fat.
She seemed to realize this. She wanted to raise her hand, to cover the skin exposed to the air, but her hand only lifted halfway before falling limply.
Her hand could no longer do it.
Ao Yao only then realized this.
She quickly stepped forward, her small hand turning over and glowing with green light that flowed slowly through the air.
The green light condensed, turning into dense, fine azure dragon scales that covered Cang Jing’s body.
“Even though you two are husband and wife…” Ao Yao muttered, her voice small and soft, the roots of her ears turning slightly red, “I think you should still maintain some decency.”
“Husband and wife?”
Cang Jing’s eyes stirred, as if she remembered something.
She remembered a dream.
That dream was very strange.
In the dream, the world was huge—mountains, rivers, towns, villages, cultivators, mortals—all present.
In the dream, the Yellow Dragon Clan was very prosperous. She and Cang Ling stood at the highest place, receiving the worship of ten thousand races.
She dreamed that her little sister was marrying Jiang Huai.
She dreamed that on the night of the wedding, the one wearing the wedding dress was herself.
Normal dreams should be forgotten.
After waking up, all that remains are blurry shadows, fragmented pieces, vague feelings.
But that dream was too real.
So real that after waking up, Cang Jing even felt it was true.
So real that she could remember every detail: the arrangement of the wedding room, the flickering candlelight, and… and his size.
“What? Do you remember something?” Jiang Huai quickly asked.
Cang Jing did not answer.
She just stared at him, those amber eyes motionless, her lips tightly pressed, saying nothing.
“Where is your sister?” Jiang Huai asked again.
“Not here.” Cang Jing’s voice was very soft. “Outside.”
“You’re in so much pain here…” Jiang Huai pressed, frowning. “Doesn’t she feel it?”
“Aren’t you torturing your sister?”
Hearing this, Cang Jing’s expression suddenly became devout.
“Not here.”
Her voice carried a kind of piety.
“This is the most ancient place of our Yellow Dragon Clan.”
“Our ancestors were born here.”
She lifted her head, her gaze passing Jiang Huai and landing on that vast, chaotic deep yellow.
There was nothing to see there, only endless, thick, directionless ochre.
“In this great place, the origin land of the Dragon Clan.”
“My sister’s and my senses separate.”
Her voice trembled.
“The pain I feel here, my sister does not perceive.”
Jiang Huai’s heart clenched tightly.
“I came here…” Cang Jing continued, her voice growing softer, “in order to separate from my sister.”
“To give back the part that belongs to her.”
“Even if…”
She didn’t finish.
But the implication was clear to everyone.
Even if her life had already faded.
Even if her future no longer existed.
Because in her flesh, in her soul, from the very beginning, a part belonged to Cang Ling.
They shared everything: blood, spiritual power, sensation, even their souls.
They couldn’t tell which parts were their own and which were the other’s.
Cang Jing thought that if she could just strip away the part of herself that belonged to her sister, then her sister would no longer feel her sensations.
They would achieve some kind of separation.
Even in the worst case, she would simply die.
But in this Dragon Origin Land, in this place where their ancestors were born, her death would not affect her sister.
That was what she wanted.
Jiang Huai frowned deeply, shaking her shoulders.
“According to your logic…”
“Even if you survive.”
“Your sister still has your soul and flesh inside her, doesn’t she?”
“Whatever she does, wouldn’t you still be able to feel it?”
Cang Jing shook her head indifferently.
“I just want my sister to be free.”
“I know how painful it is to not be free.”
“So I only want her to be free.”
As long as her sister could be unaffected, it didn’t matter if she herself continued to be affected. She didn’t care what she would become after losing part of her sister’s soul and flesh.
Jiang Huai fell silent.
He looked at her, at this Dragon Lady sitting on the stone platform, tattered and trembling all over, and sighed.
He more or less understood now.
In Cang Ling’s illusion realm, what had she been doing?
She must have been doing the same thing—in a similar place, under painful pressure of flesh and blood, thinking only of saving her elder sister, thinking only of fulfilling her sister’s wish to separate.
In the end, she walked toward her own Nirvanic Extinction. In the last moment of death, she was still thinking that she could finally set her sister free.
He understood one more thing.
The illusions the Extraterrestrial Demons conjured for people were not as beautiful as he had imagined.
He felt he had been thinking too highly of them.
How could they let people die in a happy environment? What they sought was extinction, deathly silence, the return of all things to nothingness.
How could they be merciful enough to let people leave in a beautiful dream?
They made people sink, not for their happiness.
Like Cang Ling.
In the illusion, she thought she was saving her sister, thought she was fulfilling her sister’s wish.
She thought that as long as she disappeared, her sister would be free, so she willingly walked toward death.
In the last moment of death, her heart still thought that she could finally let her sister go free.
She thought she had grasped hope, but she had actually grasped death.
“Don’t be foolish.” Jiang Huai touched Cang Jing’s cheek.
“Can you realize now that this is an illusion?” he asked softly.
Cang Jing was stunned.
“Don’t you find it strange?” Jiang Huai continued. “You two have never been separated since you were young.”
“Why would a situation suddenly appear that could help you separate?”
“If such a place truly existed, you should have come here to avoid each other from time to time when you were young. Why would it only let you come now?”
Cang Jing was frozen.
Her eyes were wide open, those amber eyes staring straight at Jiang Huai, her pupils slightly contracting. An explosion seemed to go off in her head, as if something had shattered.
“I… my little sister.”
Those dreams she had thought were illusions transformed into real memories, and then the soul and body that were connected to Cang Ling’s flesh and blood surged into Cang Jing’s mind.