Beastmaster of the Ages

The sight completely shocked Huiye Shi. How could Feiling's head reform after exploding? "Is she still human?"

There was a hint of fearful chatter in her voice. She watched as Feiling's smooth skin glowed a slight blue and her eyes shone like pearls. The nails on her slender fingers were perfect in shape and glowed like jewels. Her body itself was just like a vortex that sucked in the power of the stellunar source from beneath her nonstop.

In the next few moments, more of her body parts crumbled into crystal dust. Each time it happened, she wore an expression of pain. However, all of them reformed to become stronger and filled with more vigor than before. It was a transformation, no doubt, but one accompanied by searing pain. Not to mention, nobody could say for sure whether the exploded parts could reform like before. Though Lin Xiaoxiao and Huiye Shi were astonished at the sight, there was nothing they could do to help.

"Ling'er, are you feeling better now?" Lin Xiaoxiao said, seeing the glow dim slightly.

"Don't come here," Feiling said, raising her hand to stop her. Though the light in her eyes also dimmed, every single albus in her glowed piercingly. Then, her expression contorted to one of terror. She had an inkling of what was going to happen. Life and death would be decided in that instant, and the person she wanted to rely on the most was currently not by her side.

"Ling'er!" Lin Xiaoxiao cried.

At that moment, Feiling was surrounded by a strong glow. She forced a smile and her whole body, her hair included, scattered into countless motes of crystal dust that filled a radius of a kilometer around them. Her silhouette was no more, leaving only her clothes, spatial ring and a dark city of magic that glowed ominously under the moonlight behind.

Amidst the dust was a necklace that seemed covered entirely in very small dust fragments. The dust seemed to be her albi. That was the very same Ling'er's Love that Tianming had given her back in the Grand-Orient Realm.

All Lin Xiaoxiao could pay attention to was the glittering dust that filled the entire area. For a long while, she was speechless, but then she suddenly shrieked.

"Is... is she dead?" Huiye Shi said forebodingly, watching the glittering dust fly further and further away. It seemed like she would never return.

"Ling'er!" Lin Xiaoxiao yelled, desperately hoping that she could still hear her. "You can't die! Tianming doesn't know anything yet! At the very least, you have to tell him goodbye yourself! You know better than anyone how terrible he'd feel if you just up and leave on your own!"

She was already crying. Even though they didn't have much to do with each other back at Ignispolis, Feiling was someone nobody could really bring themselves to hate. She was sincere and caring. Not to mention, she had changed Lin Xiaoxiao's life completely by reining in the Archaionfiend using the Bloodrose Curse. The last thing she wanted was for her to vanish just like that.

"That's right! If you're gone, your man will be eaten up by that old vixen whore! Maybe I'll even manage to get a taste!" Huiye Shi yelled.

"Come back, Ling'er!"

They kept on yelling, not noticing that more and more dust was gathering at the necklace, rather than Perpetia City. Maybe that was the difference between Feiling and Xuanyuan Xi. Perpetia City might not necessarily cause Xuanyuan Xi to return; however, strong emotions like love and reluctance to let go were strong drivers of survival. They were sources of lively vigor that one could tap into.

As Lin Xiaoxiao cried, the dust fragments seemed to resonate with life. An unseen will seemed to gather, thanks to the courage that birthed from the girl's strong will.

"Xiaoxiao, look!" Huiye Shi said.

She turned and saw the purple necklace floating in mid air as the lights gathered around it. The lights gathered from all directions like fireflies. Then a jade-like neck began forming inside the necklace and spread out to become a head, body, and limbs. An impeccable beauty soon took form, her eyes completely closed. Then Perpetia City infused itself within her body once more.

Lin Xiaoxiao watched, clasping her hands over her mouth as tears flowed nonstop. She didn't know how painful that must have been, but she knew that Feiling had undergone an unimaginably traumatic experience that most people wouldn't even be able to imagine. What kind of courage did it take for someone to come back after all that?

"Wow, I didn't think her figure would be that amazing. It's too salacious to even look at," Huiye Shi said with envy. She had thought she at least had Feiling beat in the figure department, but now it wasn't that different.

"You're really extra, you know that?!" Lin Xiaoxiao hurried to bring her clothes back. As Feiling was still unconscious, she helped her dress. When the light fully gathered, the nature of her life itself seemed to have changed. Then, the light vanished and she slumped into Lin Xiaoxiao's arms.

Lin Xiaoxiao hugged her and felt her breath, warmth, and heartbeat. She was alive without a doubt. When the light scattered, everything returned to normal. Even the changes on her back were nowhere to be seen.

"It's fine now...." Lin Xiaoxiao sat down and let Feiling's head rest on her thighs while she waited for her to wake up.

However, Feiling's eyes snapped open and she gripped Lin Xiaoxiao tightly.

"Ling'er, it's fine now!" Feiling's fingers were drawing blood at her waist while she was pale and breathing heavily.

"I... I saw the sky turn into a vortex. Is that reincarnation?" Feiling took a look around at her surroundings and clutched her chest. Based on what she saw, she concluded that she was alive. She took the necklace in her hand, stared at it closely, and soon teared up. "Xiaoxiao, I heard what you said. Thank you. I don't want to leave without saying goodbye, or he'll always be living in pain. You were the one who gave me the courage to fight."

"What about me? You have to thank me too, right? You must be feeling more anxious after hearing that someone's gonna take your man, right?" Huiye Shi said.

"Yes, I owe you my thanks too, Shishi." Feiling chuckled at her easygoing nature.

"What's going on? Stop laughing. You make it seem like I'm the clown of the group! I'm a princess, alright?"

"Maybe after your hair grows back out," Lin Xiaoxiao said.

Huiye Shi subconsciously touched her scalp and freaked out, though she was still in a better mood than before. At the very least, they seemed to forget the terror that they had just experienced.

"Ling'er, what in the world happened?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked.

"What happened to my body is kind of similar to Tianming's Lifesbane, but it isn't quite the same either. It's hard to explain. Basically, if I don't overcome it, I die. While breaking Lifesbane is akin to breaking a seal on talent, mine is just for survival."

"Will something like that happen again?"

"It will. Ninety-nine more times."

"Really?!" Lin Xiaoxiao drew a cold breath. She had almost died in one time alone, yet there were many more to go. What Feiling didn't tell her was that the other ninety-nine times only counted as the first Perpetual Nirvana. She had no idea what the other two would entail.

"Living forever is the greatest sin in this universe. A huge price has to be paid because of it," Feiling said with a blank, ancient look.

"What did you say?" Lin Xiaoxiao didn't quite get it.

"What? Did I say something just now?" Feiling asked, tilting her head.

"You said something about living forever, sin, and some price. I didn't quite hear the whole thing."

"I see...." At this point, nothing was weird to her anymore.

"Ling'er, let's go back to the Flameyellow Continent, alright? Your situation makes people worry too much."

"I won't go back," she said, looking at the city. She wanted to be able to go to his aid as soon as possible if he ever needed it. Now that she had taken the place of Xuanyuan Xi, her life would be a perilous one. Every time she died and came back, something would change. This time around, many memories about cultivation came flooding back to her mind. Now that she had come back to life, she would do her best to change everything to protect the one she loved. "Let's cultivate, Xiaoxiao."

"Right here?"

"Yes. I want to see who's faster. Him, or me?"

"You're a couple that's a little off in the head, huh?" Huiye Shi said.

"What do you mean?"

"People usually compete to see who lasts longer, not who's faster," she said with a mischievous smile.

The other two were speechless.