Memories of the past rushed in like a tidal wave, uncontrollable and surging into the mind.
Dead Star Region, black coffin, death energy, lost souls...
Lord of Dead Star!
Memories from thousands of years ago suddenly pierced Li Yue's mind. She couldn't forget, nor was it possible to forget; they were just clearer now.
Yes.
This was the Lord of Dead Star.
Chen Xia was the Lord of Dead Star!
As Li Yue shouted this realization, Li Yang also came to his senses. His eyes flashed with intense light, as if there were dazzling sunlight within them, too bright to look at directly.
The great sun behind her suddenly expanded, and with its light alone, it illuminated the entire southeastern part of the star region as if it were daylight!
At the same time, several gazes from the star region turned towards them. It was the attention of a few Great Saints, watching the battle here with surprise and doubt.
They knew of Li Yang, this Great Saint, but who was this powerful Chen Xia? He was clearly using Great Saint techniques, yet they had never heard of him before. How strange!
Emperor Capital and Qiu Li exchanged glances, nodding in rare agreement. It was as they had guessed: Chen Xia's external incarnation was indeed the Lord of Dead Star!
Chi Yu showed no reaction, coolly standing to the side with his arms crossed, perfectly playing the role of a bodyguard. If Chen Xia were in danger, he would surely be the first to rush in.
The battle continued.
Li Yang waved a hand at Chen Xia, and the great sun behind her suddenly crashed down. The divine light of the sun alone was filled with killing intent, crushing the uninhabited stars around it. Its pressure reached thousands of miles away, pressing down on the cultivators within, making them unable to lift their heads!
This was the power of a Saint, able to destroy an entire galaxy with a wave of the hand!
Chen Xia's face remained expressionless as his left hand suddenly grasped upward.
The universe paused, and the galaxy stopped rotating.
Boom!
The great sun trembled.
Two enormous black hands appeared between the heavens and earth, holding the great sun as if it were a bead.
The great sun stopped moving, confined within the hands.
"Do you still want to fight?" Chen Xia asked.
"Fight!" A furious shout came, not from Li Yang, but from Li Yue behind her.
Behind the great sun.
Moonlight suddenly appeared in the universe, gentle as if descending upon the world, vast and boundless, spreading across millions of realms.
Li Yue gritted her teeth, as if extremely angry, her hands trembling with spiritual energy. The great Dao manifested to its extreme, and her divine abilities operated at their strongest.
Chen Xia felt somewhat troubled. After all, they had some friendship, so he couldn't really use lethal force.
Emperor Capital, however, suddenly became excited and said happily,
"Outnumbering the enemy, this I'm familiar with. Let's join in!"
Qiu Li didn't agree, shaking his head and saying, "Looking at Chen Xia's intention, he wants to fight them one-on-two. Let's not interfere for now."
Chi Yu still stood with his arms crossed, not saying a word, looking cool on the sidelines.
Seeing this, Emperor Capital could only give up and continue watching the battle.
The reason Li Yang and Li Yue working together could be called invincible below the Great Saint level in the star region was that their Daos complemented each other. Moreover, being blood relatives, their combined strength was even more formidable.
The sun and moon shone together, becoming the only light in this universe. Just a speck of their radiance falling could kill a great master of the Heaven Mending Realm!
Li Yue gritted her teeth, tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't understand. If the Lord of Dead Star was Chen Xia, why didn't he tell her directly? Why did he deliberately avoid their karmic connection and pretend to be strangers?!
Did he think her talent was too low, that she wasn't worthy of walking the same path as him?
These three questions showed the depth of Li Yue's resentment.
The matters of the heart from a cultivator's youth can become obsessions when they reach great achievements.
"Do you remember me?!"
Li Yue shouted angrily, and the bright moon, carrying the sun, actually broke free from the restraint of the two black hands and smashed towards Chen Xia's body!
She was truly angry.
Two rivers of time flowed in Chen Xia's eyes. His left hand flicked forward, hitting the void, causing a slight tremor.
Hum.
The void became The River of Time, and The River of Time became a sword.
His right hand pinched downward, and the black hand grasped the sword of The River of Time.
It was as if his external incarnation wielded two Daos.
In countless moments of time, no matter which time period one looked at, all that could be seen was sword intent, sword light, and sword qi.
This was the Time Sword Dao.
What did it matter if the sun and moon shone together?
It was but one sword strike to cleave them.
The black hand raised this most unique sword in the world, swinging it from the universe. Thousands of moments in time struck simultaneously with the sword, and a "hum" of the sword's cry was heard.
The sun and moon dimmed first, then were cut through the middle with a clean slice.
The great Dao was severed.
Naturally, the sun and moon couldn't maintain their form and dissipated into nothingness in the universe.
But the sword of time didn't dissipate. Instead, it stopped between Li Yang's brows.
This meant Chen Xia had held back; otherwise, this one sword strike would have killed Li Yang as well.
"Excellent!" A cheer rang out as Emperor Capital started applauding. "What a great sword indeed! As expected of my brother Chen!"
"Astonishing," Qiu Li commented.
"Mm." Chi Yu was still as sparing with words as ever, but a rare smile appeared on his face.
Clang!
Li Yue actually stepped forward, brushing aside the sword of time with her hand, then ignoring the blood on her hand, she shouted at Chen Xia.
"Strike! If you have the guts, then strike me down!"
"This is a sparring match, not a battle to the death," Chen Xia frowned as he replied.
"What does it matter if it's sparring or a battle to the death? Aren't you very arrogant? Wanting to walk alone, why do you now want us to join you?" Li Yue asked again.
Li Yang stood to the side, sighing softly.
Emperor Capital and the others also began to speculate.
"There's a story here."
"Not a small one."
"It's quite big."
"What are you referring to?"
"?"
Below, the argument continued as Li Yue went on.
"Now that you see we've become Saints and are useful, you come to curry favor. Don't you feel sick looking at your own attitude?"
Chen Xia frowned, touching his cheek, and curiously asked Emperor Capital and the others.
"Do I look sickening?"
"No, you look quite handsome."
"A divine appearance."
"Cool."
"You all shut up!" Li Yue angrily shouted at the three of them, then glared at Chen Xia, gritting her teeth as she said.
"If you want me to join, fine. I'll ask you this: Ten thousand years ago, in the Dead Star Region, did you ever truly consider me a friend? Was there any real friendship between us?!"
"Don't misunderstand. I don't want you to join, I only want Li Yang," Chen Xia waved his hand in response, then feeling it was inappropriate, he gave a dry laugh, "Haha."
The scene fell silent.
Well, this was awkward.
Li Yue clenched and unclenched her fists, her teeth grinding audibly as she raged.
"So according to you, I'm the one who doesn't know what's good for me, sticking to you like a leech, is that it?!"
"That's right," Chen Xia gave her a thumbs up, embodying sincerity in his words.
The scene fell silent once again.
Li Yue's brows tightened, then suddenly relaxed after a while. She sighed, shaking her head and said.
"Now that you put it that way, I actually feel relieved. I'm almost two thousand years old, how can I let the memories of my youth become an obsession?"
"I've been dwelling on this for so many years, just wanting an answer. That year, outside the Dead Star Region, I wanted to become your disciple, but you always refused. I kept wondering, was I not good enough?"
"Now I see, I'm not lacking, and you're not all that great either."
"It's good that the dream of my youth shatters now."
Chen Xia nodded. It was great that Li Yue could come to terms with it. He immediately replied.
"Perhaps we were friends. It's just that I have too many friends to manage. Too many karmic ties, it's better to have a couple less. It's more peaceful that way."
The fragile stars in the universe shattered, sinking to the very bottom.
Li Yue looked at Chen Xia with sorrowful eyes, asking softly.
"So am I one of the two you decided to have less of?"
Chen Xia tilted his head, grinning as he shook his head and said.
"No."
He had never said Li Yue didn't count as a friend.
Li Yue was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head, shaking it slightly, secretly rejoicing. Then she raised her head with a bright smile and nodded, saying cheerfully.
"I've decided to join you all!"
Chen Xia shook his head.
"What are you smiling about? I didn't say I wanted you to join."
The Azure Sky Sword Sea Team was all about strict rules.