A Girl Dies Every Day in Her Dream Life 243

Chapter 243: The Truth of the Eternal Withering Body, The Mystery of the Primordial Chaos

Li Guijiao had been repairing the damaged Immortal Slaughter ships in the Imperial Capital and had already fixed several of the less damaged ones.

To test the repaired ships, Dugu Di personally led the Immortal Slaughter Army into the Primordial Chaos.

By chance, he detected an unusual area in the Primordial Chaos, recorded its location, and returned to the real world. He discovered that this place was a sea of blood, emanating a dense aura of withering.

Even just the recorded aura almost injured Dugu Di, showing how close they had come to death in the Primordial Chaos.

However, Dugu Di was calm. He knew the dangers of the Primordial Chaos, far more terrifying than the Sea of Withering. Even cultivators much stronger than him had perished there.

After receiving this news, Li Guijiao thought Luo Xue would be interested.

She didn’t think this Blood Sea in the Primordial Chaos was related to the nine provinces and four domains. If she could return that way, she would have done so long ago.

For over a thousand years, Li Guijiao had searched countless places, and she had realized that the nine provinces and four domains were protected by some kind of power, making it impossible to find a way back through ordinary means.

After hearing Li Guijiao’s story, Luo Xue pondered for a moment, looked at the small purple bird beside her, and nodded slightly.

“Okay, I understand.”

“Oh, right, Dugu Di asked me to tell you, if you enter the Primordial Chaos, don’t bring his daughter…”

“…He’s a bit late.” Luo Xue’s eyelid twitched.

Dugu Xue had already been to the Primordial Chaos several times.

“Huh?”

“It’s fine.” Luo Xue rubbed her temples. “I understand.”

“Okay.” Li Guijiao didn’t ask further. She was just relaying a message. “You’re busy, contact me if you need anything else.”

“…Okay.”

Luo Xue hesitated whether to tell Senior Sister Li about the teleportation formation, but Li Guijiao had already cut off the connection.

“Anyway, the Nangong clan isn’t ready yet, it’s fine to wait.”

Luo Xue composed herself and looked at the purple bird.

“Phoenix Emperor…”

“I know what you want to ask,” the Phoenix Emperor interrupted. She had heard Luo Xue’s conversation with Li Guijiao. “I can tell you, yes, that is indeed my body—or rather, a part of it.”

“…You died in the Primordial Chaos?”

“A part of me died in the Primordial Chaos.” The Phoenix Emperor said indifferently, as if talking about someone else. “In that battle, my body was torn into two parts, one taken away by her, the other drifting in the Primordial Chaos.”

Hearing this, Luo Xue should have felt sad, but the Phoenix Emperor’s tone and manner made her… want to laugh.

But she couldn’t, so her expression became a bit distorted.

“Life and death… should be put aside. I’m glad I truly died, instead of becoming a shadow of withering, lingering in this world.”

Unexpectedly, the Phoenix Emperor didn’t scold Luo Xue, but explained seriously,

“Your situation is similar to mine back then, so you will eventually understand… for a withering body, death is a release, immortality is true despair.”

Luo Xue was speechless. She suddenly realized that both withering and immortality belonged to the Law of Ending, and those who controlled them… couldn’t be understood with the worldview of ordinary beings.

Her expression turned serious, and she nodded slowly.

“However, although my body is useless to me now, it might be beneficial to you. Bring it back when you have the chance.” The Phoenix Emperor’s tone softened slightly. “Don’t you currently lack a suitable vessel? A body formed from the Sea of Withering is the most resistant to ‘immortality’.”

“Actually… I should still have one,” Luo Xue hesitated. “I still have an Eternal Withering Body, buried in… the other part of your remains…”

This sounded strange, although it was true.

“Oh?” The Phoenix Emperor perked up, looked at Luo Xue carefully, and said in surprise, “A consciousness can actually leave the Eternal Withering Body? I thought all Eternal Withering Bodies could only… until they become one with the Dao.”

“Uh… what do you mean?” Luo Xue was stunned.

“You said it yourself, the Eternal Withering Body, only the body is forged from withering, the consciousness is still that of a living being. To withering, ‘death’ is ‘life,’ but the death of consciousness is true death.” The Phoenix Emperor said faintly, “Didn’t she tell you that the Eternal Withering Body only needs time to become a Great Emperor?”

“Ah, Phoenix Venerable did say that.”

Luo Xue touched her nose, remembering that Phoenix Venerable’s expression had been hesitant when she said that, as if hiding something.

Considering that Su Yiyao was present, Luo Xue had thought it was something she was hiding from Su Yiyao, not her.

“Heh, she’s still as hypocritical and disgusting as ever,” the Phoenix Emperor snorted coldly, “What she didn’t tell you is that only the body of the Eternal Withering Body can become a Great Emperor, while your consciousness will be trapped within, gradually fading, until it becomes a part of withering.”

“In other words, your death is inevitable!”

Luo Xue was silent for a long time after hearing this.

She finally understood why, after falling dormant in the Blood Sea, her consciousness had returned to the post-apocalyptic world.

Because the moment she became dormant, she was already dead, completely merged with the will of withering. This was the truth.

Phoenix Venerable had lied, but she had lied to Su Yiyao.

She had given Xiao Yao false hope, not the cruel truth.

“She’s just a… a bad woman, full of pretty lies!” The Phoenix Emperor became agitated when mentioning her sister, her small wings flapping rapidly. “If not for her, I… would have already died!”

“…”

Luo Xue had been curious about the reason for the Phoenix Emperor’s resentment towards her sister, but these last words almost made her speechless.

What did she mean… already died?

So her earlier indifference when mentioning her own remains, and her later words, all stemmed from the belief that death was a release for her.

Perhaps it was because of this that Phoenix Venerable had stopped her sister, leading to her resentment.

However, the Phoenix Emperor also seemed to realize that she had lost her composure and calmed down, continuing,

“You don’t need to know too much about my affairs. In short, if you’re looking for a vessel for your consciousness, you might as well use my remains.”

“Why?” Luo Xue asked curiously. She had already told the Phoenix Emperor about her Eternal Withering Body, why did she still suggest this?

“Do you think that a soul with the will of immortality can resist the influence of the Eternal Withering Body?” The Phoenix Emperor didn’t answer directly, but asked in return, “Or… achieve some kind of balance?”

“…Is it impossible?”

“It’s not entirely impossible, there’s a slim chance of achieving balance,” the Phoenix Emperor said softly, “but the result will likely be the same as mine.”

“Death…?” Luo Xue’s pupils constricted.

“Otherwise, how do you think I could die while possessing the will of withering?” The Phoenix Emperor sneered. “She kept deceiving me, not letting me know about this method. If not for an accident… I would still be alive!”

These words sounded very strange. Luo Xue could only understand them by replacing “death” with “life” in the Phoenix Emperor’s mind.

However, she was still puzzled.

“So for you, this outcome was what you wanted… but why did you warn me, try to stop me?”

“Do you also want to die?”

The Phoenix Emperor asked strangely.

“I… don’t, for now.”

“Then why would you ask such a question?” The Phoenix Emperor spread her small wings. “I’m seeking my own death, not worshipping death itself. If you want to die, I can help. If you don’t want to die, why would I make you? There’s nothing wrong with my brain…”

“But what you said is confusing, let me think…”

Luo Xue rubbed her temples, confused by the Phoenix Emperor’s logic.

To be precise, the Phoenix Emperor thought death was a good thing, but she also knew that it wasn’t necessarily a good thing for others.

“In short, if you want to die, you can do so. If you don’t, you can use my remains.”

The Phoenix Emperor reached her final conclusion. She was satisfied with her current state, so she didn’t care about her remains and offered them to Luo Xue.

Luo Xue couldn’t help but smile wryly. But thinking about it carefully, her soul did need a suitable vessel.

If her Eternal Withering Body couldn’t be used, she could only use the Sea of Withering.

“In that case… Phoenix Emperor, I’ll… accept your offer.”

Luo Xue stood up and bowed respectfully to the purple bird.

“There’s no need for such formality, it’s just an external object.”

The purple bird made a human-like expression and scoffed.

However, Luo Xue’s attitude still pleased her, and she couldn’t help but raise her head slightly.

Her personality was indeed quite different from her sister, Phoenix Venerable…

…

Several days passed.

The Beiming Clan received their first visitors after the devastating battle: the envoy group from the Nangong Sacred Land, led by Nangong Ling.

When Luo Xue had asked Nangong Ling and the others to leave, she had told them to return to the Nangong clan and assess the situation.

If they failed, the Nangong clan could use their understanding of Yudu Cheng, now an otherworldly demon, to prepare countermeasures.

If they succeeded… they could send an envoy group before the other ancient clans and bring the Beiming Clan under their control.

Indeed, this was the inevitable outcome.

Having lost the Beiming Calamity-Averting Formation, and with the small world of their residence severely damaged, the Beiming Clan no longer had the qualifications to be an independent ancient clan.

In this situation, they could only choose to become a vassal of another power.

Therefore, whoever negotiated with the Beiming Clan first would gain the upper hand.

Even weakened, the Beiming Clan was still a considerable force, a valuable asset in the eyes of all factions.

Luo Xue’s arrangement gave the Nangong clan the greatest advantage, and with her influence, the Beiming Clan quickly reached an agreement with the Nangong clan.

Of course, the contents of this agreement… were practically selling themselves out.

However, in this era of survival of the fittest, such an outcome was already fortunate.

Dugu Xue and Nangong Mian also returned to the Beiming Clan with the envoy group, but not on Immortal Slaughter. They took the Nangong clan’s celestial boat with the other members of the envoy group.

Dugu Xue had wanted to use Immortal Slaughter to reach Luo Xue quickly, but Nangong Mian and Nangong Ling refused to board, and it wasn’t safe for her to travel alone.

Therefore, they didn’t use Immortal Slaughter.

After several days, they finally saw Luo Xue again, seeing that her soul was intact, seemingly unharmed, and they were relieved.

However, Luo Xue had used up all her other puppet bodies and could only appear before them with Nangong’s appearance, which felt a bit awkward for the Nangong sisters, who often saw the ancestor’s portrait in the ancestral hall.

But when they heard that Luo Xue planned to enter the Primordial Chaos alone with Immortal Slaughter, Dugu Xue was the first to object.

“Master, if you’re just entering the Primordial Chaos to hide, then it’s fine, but you can’t go there with the intention of finding something, it’s too dangerous.”

Dugu Xue said seriously. As a member of the imperial family, she knew more about the Primordial Chaos than the others.

Her words weren’t just out of concern for Luo Xue, but a practical warning.

“Is it because… it’s impossible to find anything?” Luo Xue asked with confusion.

“No, it’s because you’ll find too many things.” Dugu Xue looked into Luo Xue’s eyes and said softly, “The Primordial Chaos will deceive you, it will tell you… that what you seek is just ahead, and every step you take… is towards a bottomless abyss.”

Luo Xue’s expression turned serious. If that was the case… it was truly dangerous.

“But Master, I’m curious, what exactly are you looking for, that requires you to enter the Primordial Chaos?” Dugu Xue asked.

Luo Xue thought for a moment. She couldn’t reveal the Phoenix Emperor’s matters, nor her current predicament, so after some consideration, she replied,

“The remains of a bird.”