Celestial Peak

Chapter 541: Truly Gone

The Nine-Tailed Fox Beast landed just on a mountain. Maintaining the spatial bubble placed upon her children, she looked up and watched the darkness grow darker, "That is enough, my love, I can always take her form if that is what you wa" 

Words flowed out of the mouth of the decomposing Fox but all fell into the void. All that was called upon was more and more rage, the tendrils stopped and writhed before accelerating at untold speeds.

The earth rumbled and then carved. The screech of an unknown being echoed as Hundreds to thousands of black tendrils sprouted from the bowels of the darkness. Thousands upon thousands shot out from the slit across the skies and though its roar was the very definition of madness, the tendrils trailed only after one being, the Nine-Tailed Fox Beast.

The Predecessor attempted to erect a spatial divide between them separating the two, stopping the tendrils' advance. All of the darkness parted just before it could reach the Predecessor.

Crumble, the reality of the Deity Paradise began. The world created by the All-Mother now began to fall apart with a touch of death, corrupting everything that touches its darkness. The leaves die and the trees themselves whither.

Yet, it did not matter to the darkness. Its goal was not to destroy everything on its path but to instead destroy a single creature. The killer of the present All-Mother, the bastard that killed his other half.

The thousands of tendrils all stopped wreaking havoc. Indiscriminatory destruction halted with a low growl. Thousands, then tens of thousands, until hundreds of thousands, retreated to a single location above the divided space.

The darkness grew larger and larger by the second, the tendrils wrapped themselves around one another. A giant drill the size of a mountain formed from the darkness and despite its enormous size, its movement did not halt for a second, and neither did it slow down.

It cared not for what may happen to the Deity Paradise and its inhabitants. The source of life, its gifter no longer cared for those who breathed, the bright blue light that spans in every breathing world now became cold darkness.

"Not again he has been devoured by the darkness again why why did this happe" the Predecessor thought and paused realizing a simple truth, she bit on her lower lips for she knew what was happening.

The Predecessor of the All-Mother could only watch as the darkness pierce her barrier. Her eyes reflected the darkness, and for the first time in eons, since her death, her eyes was no longer clouded.

From the clouded thoughts of a remnant soul and consciousness of the already dead predecessor, her blotted sights now became clear. This death aura, this ghastly sight of darkness that appeared from the depths of "Life" was, her fault, "I did this again I became the catalyst for the endI need, to stop him"

The Predecessor refrained from erecting any barrier. Space returned to its natural state and she just allowed the darkness to approach her heart. The darkness of death had appeared in front of her before, it stopped at the cost of the one she and her beloved cherished, "maybe I'd be able to stop it if I reverse the flow with what remains of me?"

Her thoughts were as follows. Despite her decaying state, she remains the mother of Beast, the source of blood essence, the reason why life can manifest and walk the material world. She now sees her mistake, by killing her current incarnation, she reenacts the disaster of the past where the death of one, resulted in the unleashing of the Abyss.

'The appearance of another Abyss cannot be allowed' she said to herselfthen, the darkness stopped. Her erasure from existence itself did not arrive and as she opened her eyes, she saw the darkness receding from the Deity Paradise and into the tear of dimension.

The tendrils returned to their owner and from the dark bowels of the tear, light, a white brilliant light surfaced. A brilliant light that belongs not to the All-Father, but to his other half, the All-Mother.

In the empty skies of the Deity Paradise, she walked out in the form of a tiny fox bearing nine tails. On the tails was an unconscious man, with a hair parted in the middle with black and white, oozing with the sensation of life and death, a true half.

The Darkness of Wang Ling's grief was somehow called into his body. The tendrils were nowhere to be found, and the most shocking of all, the All-Mother live, without signs of spilling any blood. Bai Xue looked down upon her Predecessor with a smirk, "That hurt, even for me, reversing such a thing is not an easy feat."

The Predecessor watched in a trance as her body regressed into that of a human's,"Ho-how are you alive? This, this is impossible, even I, could not escape the fate of death, but you you live. II killed you, your light dissipated, and your pulsed disappeared." she was in disbelief for her, the Predecessor knew that death was an inescapable trap. She had already once experienced this sensation and had felt its bony touch. She could not escape it, yet her current incarnation could.

She was in disbelief and could not muster any strength. Bai Xue watched her predecessor's dumbfounded expression.

"I only dimmed my light, and stopped my pulse, I allowed blood to spill and played dead. Though, for a moment, I saw the Wheel of Reincarnation. Well, it didn't really matter, being the All-Mother, I can't actually reincarnate, can I?"

"Is he"

Bai Xue's gloating was put to a stop, her smile became softer the next moment as she gently placed Wang Ling's body on the ground, "He is, the Death already receded when my light enveloped him."

"I see" The Predecessor's body, though decomposing into dust-like substance, did not stop her from approaching Wang Ling's body, she looked at his face, and shook her head, "I see without your influence, I can now say that he's not the one."

"That is good to hear." Bai Xue stated as she landed on the ground, "That is good to hear."

Bai Xue now sat on the ground next to her Predecessor who now regained control. 

The Predecessor quietly looked at Wang Ling before asking Bai Xue, "You, planned this, didn't you?"

"Not entirely. I didn't expect the tendrils and death, I didn't even know if Ling will respond to me when I open my eyes. But, other than that, yes, I planned all of this."

"Why? Seeing how you controlled your body and life to such a degree you have enough power to destroy me, did you not?"

Bai Xue shrugged her shoulder with a laugh, "I do, but it's my fault you went crazy. When I was beginning to learn of my true self, you took control me, and began seeing my Ling as your own. At that time, I was angry, but as I regained my body, I began asking myself why. So, I came to the conclusion that, if I can inherit your memories, then that must mean you experienced something similar. 

"My obsession of returning to his side so that I won't be alone again must have driven you to madness, or so I thought. Was I right?" Bai Xue asked.

The Predecessor laughed, "I do not know I just wanted to be with him again that I didn't really think. When I sensed his presence, I did not think further, and just assumed it was him I assume you are right, but that's just me trying to console my own sense of guilt."

Her madness began seeing her beloved turn into nothing as she was forced to close the Celestial Spirit Realm. The Predecessor, for Eons, had been in deep sleep, but in this state, she recounts the darkest events of her lifetime.

As she slipped deeper into her mind, eventually losing control of the mind, giving birth to another dominant consciousness, all that she could think of was the tragedy of the past.

At the first sign of her beloved's return, however, the Predecessor sought him out. Her obsession was amplified by Bai Xue's to the point she believed that Wang Ling was her husband.

But not, as she accepted her mistakes, and saw herself separated from Bai Xue, finally accepting her death, the Predecessor finally realized, "He's truly gone."

After Eons of anticipation and hope, she finally confirmed that the one she loved was no longer of this world.