As the giant swung its axe down, Ye Xuan suddenly took one step forward.
Swish!
A ten-thousand-zhang sword light slashed straight at the giant.
Boom!
The giant was forced back again and again.
While it retreated, countless strands of Mortal Sword Intent engulfed it completely.
Boom, boom, boom!
The giant staggered backwards once more. This time, it retreated a full thousand zhang.
When it finally stopped, countless cracks had appeared all over its body.
The giant froze.
It was actually injured?
In the distance, Ye Xuan halted. He glanced at the giant, rather surprised. This giant could really take a beating.
The giant suddenly stared at Ye Xuan and exclaimed in shock, “Your sword can actually wound me!”
Ye Xuan nodded. “Yes.”
The giant roared furiously. With a thunderous bellow, terrifying sound waves exploded outwards in all directions.
Boom!
The surrounding space-time shattered in an instant.
At that moment, the little elf suddenly spoke. “Big guy, he’s Big Sister Plain Skirt’s older brother!”
The giant froze. It stared at the little elf. “It’s you!”
The little elf said calmly, “He is Big Sister Plain Skirt’s brother. If you hit him, she’ll skin you alive later.”
A look of dread instantly appeared on the giant’s face.
Big Sister Plain Skirt!
That woman!
The giant glanced at the Qingxuan Sword in Ye Xuan’s hand and immediately hesitated.
What to do now?
Let this fellow pass?
But where would that leave its dignity?
Not let him pass?
If that woman really came looking for trouble, with its strength, the odds of winning weren’t great.
With that thought, the giant looked at Ye Xuan. “Human, how about a friendly spar?”
A spar!
If it won, it could let him through. If it lost, it could still let him in. That way it would save face.
No need to fight to the death, no karmic ties either.
A spar.
Hearing the giant’s words, Ye Xuan nodded slightly. “Sure.”
He also wanted to trade blows with this giant.
The giant stared at Ye Xuan. “I’m going all out, alright?”
Ye Xuan smiled. “Please do.”
With that, he spread his palm. In an instant, countless strands of Mortal Sword Intent soared skywards from his hand.
In a flash, millions of swords appeared above Ye Xuan’s head.
A veritable ocean of swords.
Seeing this, the giant narrowed its eyes. Without further ado, it opened its palm. The enormous axe in its hand shot into the sky. Instantly, a ten-thousand-zhang golden light formation appeared on the horizon, and the axe positioned itself right at the centre of the formation.
Ye Xuan suddenly uttered, “Slash!”
As the word fell, the Qingxuan Sword led millions of Mortal Swords streaking towards the giant.
In a heartbeat, millions of swords poured down like a torrential rain, utterly terrifying.
A ruthless glint flashed in the giant’s eyes. It stepped forward and swung its great hand downwards. “Slash!”
The moment the word left its mouth, the axe within the light formation brought down streaks of terrifying golden radiance.
Hiss!
One swing of the axe scattered countless Mortal Swords.
Seeing this, Ye Xuan narrowed his eyes. With a thought, every Mortal Sword instantly merged into Qingxuan Sword. The sword trembled violently, then turned into a streak of sword light that slashed directly onto the giant axe.
Bang!
A muffled explosion rang out. Sword and axe shuddered fiercely. All space-time within millions of li plunged into pitch darkness.
After the sword and axe locked for a few breaths, cracks suddenly appeared on the giant axe. The next instant, the axe shattered with a resounding boom. Qingxuan Sword pressed its advantage and slashed straight at the giant.
The giant’s eyes widened. It charged forward and threw a punch.
Boom!
A terrifying force forcibly blocked Qingxuan Sword, but in the next moment its right hand split open. Seeing this, the giant was horrified. It retracted its right hand and punched again.
Boom!
This time, the mighty force sent Qingxuan Sword flying backwards.
Far away, Ye Xuan was about to control the sword once more when the giant suddenly shouted, “I yield!”
Ye Xuan froze.
The giant added, “For the sake of your little sister, you may enter! I won’t make things difficult for you.”
Hearing this, Qin Guan shook her head. This giant truly had no shame.
The little elf glared furiously at the giant, seething.
Ye Xuan was also rather speechless.
Utterly shameless.
Yet the giant gave them no chance to speak and turned to leave.
Ye Xuan laughed. “Let’s go.”
With that, the three walked towards the distant gate of light.
The little elf suddenly said, “That big oaf has some seriously thick skin!”
Qin Guan nodded in agreement. “Indeed.”
The little elf suddenly looked at Ye Xuan. “Even thicker than yours.”
Ye Xuan’s face darkened. He lightly smacked the little elf. “Very well said. Don’t say it again.”
The little elf: “…”
After passing through the gate of light, their vision flickered. Soon the three arrived before a vast expanse of blood-coloured earth. The moment Ye Xuan stepped onto it, he frowned. There was not a trace of spiritual energy here. The ground was parched and cracked, stained crimson. It looked eerie at a glance.
Ye Xuan frowned slightly. “Xiao Xiao, where is this?”
The little elf said softly, “This is Burial Ground.”
Ye Xuan looked at her. “Burial Ground?”
The little elf nodded. “Long ago, a hundred billion living beings perished here after a universe restart. On that day, blood dyed the entire land. No, blood flooded the entire land. For hundreds of millions of years, this soil has remained blood-red and never faded.”
Ye Xuan said gravely, “So it restarts every hundred million years?”
The little elf nodded. “Yes.”
Ye Xuan continued, “And the time is almost up now, right?”
“Mhm.”
The little elf said, “Originally, the cosmic spirit wanted to restart the universe just when those gods were about to awaken, but Big Sister Plain Skirt stopped it. Now it has completely given up. It does nothing and just sleeps all day.”
Qin Guan suddenly remarked, “It’s throwing a tantrum.”
The little elf looked at Qin Guan. Qin Guan smiled. “It means giving up on itself completely.”
The little elf nodded. “Exactly.”
Ye Xuan asked, “Can’t everyone just coexist?”
The little elf shook her head. “Coexistence is fundamentally impossible. Or rather, coexistence is only possible for a limited time. Living beings exist within the universe, so they must continuously exploit its resources. The universe’s resources are not infinite. After a long enough, even the cosmic origin would be damaged. Therefore, to survive, the universe restarts itself periodically. This both resolves its own crisis and allows it to devour countless beings to strengthen itself. For it, two birds with one stone.”
Ye Xuan looked at the little elf. “If it restarts the universe, wouldn’t space-times like you be restarted as well?”
The little elf replied, “Our main bodies would not, but our intelligence would. Without intelligence we cannot absorb its spiritual energy. And regaining new intelligence would take an extremely long time.”
At this point she suddenly flashed a wide grin. “But now I’m not afraid of it. I’m on Big Sister Plain Skirt’s side. Even if it restarts the universe, it wouldn’t dare erase my intelligence. When it sees me, it has to give me some face! Not only that, who in the entire universe would dare disrespect Mirror Xiao Xiao now? Who would?”
Ye Xuan and Qin Guan fell silent.
The little elf looked at them, blinked, and asked, “Am I getting a little too full of myself?”
