Chapter 117-2: The Final Long-cherished Wish (2) |
Colorful Mist Coast, Great Flame homeland.
At first light, Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng were already awake.
Standing before the old house that enshrined a deity, they began stretching exercises, mentally prepared to welcome a new round of torment from Ascetic.
After days of bitter cultivation, they had already trained the Pain Inherited Soul bestowed by Ascetic to level 12, their strength rising with explosive speed.
Next was body tempering level. Under the infusion of wealth Ascetic had accumulated, their body tempering levels had both reached level 5, the speed of improvement comparable to riding a rocket.
The only drawback was that the process was extremely painful.
After finishing a set of stretches, Xia Sheng wondered inwardly:
“Huh, why hasn’t Old Ascetic come yet?”
“Could he have overslept?” Jiang Cheng took a bite of a spirit fruit retrieved from his inventory, chewing as he offered a guess.
At that thought, the two exchanged a glance, then decisively ran toward the dilapidated house not far away.
Though they called him Old Ascetic with their mouths, their interactions over these days let them feel Ascetic’s care and regard for them. He had spent the accumulated resources on them without a hint of distress, which made them develop feelings for Ascetic as well.
Thinking of how Ascetic had grown more and more weakened these days, a bad premonition rose at once.
Old Ascetic likely didn’t make it through last night and failed to wake from sleep.
Pushing open the old wooden door, they saw Ascetic sitting cross-legged on the wooden bed, face deathly pale.
From analysis feedback it could be seen that Ascetic was in an extremely weakened status.
This made Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng feel that something was very wrong.
Old Ascetic’s condition had worsened again. At this rate, he likely would not last much longer.
Discovering they had entered, Ascetic opened his eyes at this moment.
“Old Ascetic, your condition has worsened again.” Coming to the bedside, Xia Sheng spoke with concern.
Ascetic did not answer. He reached out and removed the dark green bracelet from his left wrist:
“The time left to me is running out. These are the cultivation resources I’ve accumulated. I now give them all to you… though there isn’t much left in there. Over these days, most have been spent on your cultivation. What remains can still assist your cultivation for several days.”
Hearing this, Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng felt miserable.
They naturally understood Old Ascetic’s condition; his end was already imminent.
They usually joked that when Old Ascetic passed, his inheritance would be theirs.
But when it truly came to this moment, their hearts were full of reluctance.
“Old Ascetic, how long can you hold on?” Xia Sheng did not take the bracelet, asking with a complicated look.
“At most seven more days, and the flame of my life will burn out… but before my life burns out, there is still one thing I must do.”
“Old Ascetic, tell us what it is. We will do it for you.”
Hearing this, a smile squeezed onto Ascetic’s wrinkled face, and then he shook his head.
“This is something I must do myself. You are my inheritors; you should not go take risks with me.”
Realizing that Ascetic intended to slay Evil Entities in the final moments of his life, Xia Sheng immediately spoke.
“Old Ascetic, you should rest. We will go kill the Evil Entities.”
“The purpose of building a ship is to sail, not to dock. I created the Touch of Pain to resist the invasion of Evil Entities. My life is nearing its end, yet I have never ridden it to brave the wind and waves. Now I want to try to helm this old ship that is about to sink, to the utmost of my ability to drive away Evil Entities and clear a swath of darkness for my home world.”
As he spoke, the aura on Ascetic’s body began to climb step by step.
Vitality began to surge and burn, as if he were making a final struggle.
Seeing this, Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng said nothing more.
They knew that stopping him now would not change Ascetic’s destined end. It would be better to fulfill him and let him, in the last moments of his life, use the ‘Touch of Pain’ he had personally created to fight to his heart’s content.
“Bearing the hatred of a race’s extermination, Old Ascetic has lived in pain his whole life. It is time he released his repressed emotions,” Jiang Cheng said in the voice channel.
“Yeah. We can’t let Old Ascetic die carrying hatred and pain. This battle is also the moment of revenge in Old Ascetic’s eyes. Perhaps it cannot have much impact on the Black Tide’s invasion, but at least he will have done everything he could.”
Understanding the reasons within, Xia Sheng’s eyes grew moist. He reached out to take the bracelet from Ascetic’s hand and forced a smile:
“Old Ascetic, go. Fight a good, satisfying battle. Your inheritance, we brothers will take over. Before you go, do you have any last wishes?”
“Erect a stele for me in the graveyard before the Great Flame homeland, that my soul may fall in battle and return, to be with my kin always.”
“Alright.” Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng nodded solemnly.
“By the way… you must remember, cultivating the Touch of Pain is a long climb. Do not resist pain, but regard it as the whetstone for your growth, also as nourishment. Only by accepting it can you climb higher peaks.”
“We understand… Old Ascetic, how about we go with you? We’re not afraid of death.”
“No need. This is my road home; there is no need for company… You two are really sentimental. When I chose you, it was precisely for your tenacious will, yet I didn’t expect that a mere parting of life and death would make you so sorrowful.”
As he spoke, Ascetic grinned.
“Get lost, go chase your own path. In the future, contribute your strength against the Black Tide for me.”
When his words fell, the aura on Ascetic climbed again.
Under Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng’s gaze, Ascetic’s hunt level rose as well.
The changes to his body were even more astonishing. The eyes that had once been murky and tired gradually became bright and sharp, all the yellowed blur dissipating.
Next, the loose, wrinkle-filled skin regained elasticity under the infusion of internal vitality. A luster radiated from within, as if time had never left a mark upon it.
Accompanied by crackling sounds.
A sound like stir-frying beans came from within Ascetic, and his body rapidly shot up.
The once stooped figure became tall and straight. Bones and muscles were reshaped under the energy infused by burning vitality.
As his body returned to youth, each subsequent breath seemed able to draw the energy of heaven and earth into him.
The body that had been damaged was renewed under the nourishment of burning vitality, and swiftly recovered to a state close to its peak.
When Ascetic stood up, he had already become a young man of about twenty.
His handsome face was like a work of art meticulously carved by a sculptor. His facial contours were well-defined, beneath a high, straight nose were tightly pressed thin lips. It was as if stars were held in his eyes, deep and bright. Sunlight through the window spilled onto his skin, highlighting a healthy wheat color. His tall, upright figure had smooth but not exaggerated muscle lines. A head of glossy black, slightly messy long hair draped over his shoulders, adding a touch of unrestrained flair.
“Old Ascetic, handsome!” Jiang Cheng exclaimed at this moment.
“When your master was young, I was the most handsome in the race, but that’s all in the past.” A charming smile appeared on Ascetic’s face.
With that, he pushed the door open and left the room. Seeing this, Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng followed him out.
“Old Ascetic, you’re just leaving like this?”
“Our fate ends here. What follows is the last dance at the end of my life; you do not need to follow.”
As he spoke, Ascetic turned and glanced at Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng. Seeing the glimmer in their eyes, he couldn’t help but laugh heartily.
“Do not be sad for me. I have long been ready to face death. On the brink of life, to meet two fine seedlings like you and leave a legacy, this life has been worth it… Farewell. Remember to erect a stele for me.”
When he finished speaking, Ascetic turned into a blood-colored stream of light, flying straight into the sky and speeding in the direction opposite the sea.
“Old Ascetic, you fool, the Evil Entities are on the other side of the sea. You’re flying the wrong way.”
In response to Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng’s shout, Ascetic’s voice came from afar.
“There are no Evil Spirits within the Evil Moon domain over there, only a bunch of derivative Evil Entities. With my life nearly over, I must at least kill an Evil Spirit, hahahaha.”
His laughter faded into the distance, and Ascetic’s figure disappeared at the edge of the sky.
After exchanging a look, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng could not help but sigh.
At this time, Xia Sheng spoke in a low voice:
“Jiang Cheng, you say this is just a game. Why is our sense of immersion so strong?”
“I don’t know. I keep telling myself this is just a game, but I still can’t help wanting to cry. Old Ascetic was too good to us, so good that I can’t bear to let him go.” As he spoke, Jiang Cheng, eyes reddened, wiped away a tear.
“Come on, let’s find a feng shui blessed spot for Old Ascetic and erect a stele. We’ll kowtow a few times and then leave.”
“No, Old Ascetic isn’t dead yet. We should at least wait a few days.”
“True. Then let’s stay two more days and put up the stele when Old Ascetic is about to die.”
“Mm, stay a few more days.” Jiang Cheng nodded, then asked curiously:
“By the way, how much inheritance did Old Ascetic leave us?”
In response, Xia Sheng looked down at the spatial bracelet in his hand. With his perception touching it, the space within the bracelet unfolded in his mind.
The space inside was not large, with quite a few spirit plants and prepared spirit liquids placed within.
Xia Sheng turned to look at Guide water sphere floating at his side:
“Guide, calculate the value.”
[Including sacrificing the spatial bracelet itself, the value is 133,822 sacrificial power.]
After taking everything out and storing it in the inventory that came with the system, Xia Sheng was about to sacrifice the spatial bracelet to the Emperor’s Sign, but paused when he summoned the sacrifice panel, then couldn’t help shaking his head.
“What was I just thinking? That’s beastly behavior. This is Old Ascetic’s final keepsake for us. Better to keep it forever in the inventory.”
“Yeah, keep it. Maybe someday in the future we can meet Old Ascetic again, and then return it to him.” Jiang Cheng also nodded at this moment.
“How would we meet?” Xia Sheng couldn’t help but glare, as if he couldn’t believe such an outrageous line came from his good brother’s mouth.
Facing the question, Jiang Cheng analyzed with a serious expression.
“In the game settings, Primordial traits are divided into ten generations. The weakest is First-Generation, the strongest is Tenth-Generation. Maybe among the Tenth-Generation Primordials there’s a powerful trait that revives life. When we complete our cultivation someday in the future and return, won’t we be able to cast a resurrection on Old Ascetic and meet again?”
Hearing this, Xia Sheng was speechless.
“Your hypothesis does have a possibility, but the problem is we don’t even know where Old Ascetic will die. How do we resurrect him, cast a resurrection into thin air?”
“Damn, true. How about we go search in the direction Old Ascetic flew? Maybe we can find his remains after he falls in battle, put them in the inventory, and look for a chance in the future to revive him?”
“You really want to do that? Old Ascetic’s life has been bitter enough. Being able to depart cleanly is a good thing. Don’t disturb a resting soul. Let him go.”
“Your call.”
“What do we do now?” Jiang Cheng asked curiously.
“Go to the Great Flame race graveyard up ahead, find a feng shui blessed spot, and when the time is about right, dig a pit and erect a stele, kowtow, and leave.”