Above Yue Yang’s head, a pillar of Nirvana fire hundreds of meters tall erupted with a roar.

A fire phoenix that burned all things to ash.

It circled the pillar as it flew.

And when it reached the very apex, it plunged back down again.

The surging tide of destructive resentment that had come rushing in was, in an instant, more than half dispelled.

Pandora, who had lost her reason, had already recovered the supreme majesty of her divinity, and sensing that someone dared stand against her, she flew into a towering rage.

Divine light blazed furiously from her eyes, and a god-force that could shatter the heavens and level the earth swept toward Yue Yang. Against it, that pillar of Nirvana fire hundreds of meters tall was like a single needle caught in a raging torrent — utterly insignificant by comparison.

Yue Yang was driven back several thousand meters, yet his figure did not waver in the slightest.

Nor did the pillar of gathered Nirvana Flames diminish before her god-force — those were the Nirvana Flames that never went out, flames that not even a god could destroy.

“You too would defy me?” Pandora drifted to a stop before Yue Yang and snarled. Her endless, destructive Calamity god-force fused with the resentful power she had hoarded across one hundred thousand years, forming an irresistible flood that crashed toward Yue Yang.

“Halt!”

Yue Yang’s Creation Domain expanded in a frantic rush, and beneath his feet the Eternal Wheel was born.

The Calamity god-force that could obliterate everything in the Desire Valley, together with that resentful power, was slowed dramatically in its advance.

It was like a flood meeting a colossal gate of steel, forced to a stop. The crest of the flood had not truly arrived — more and more destructive power was gathering and taking shape — but the momentum of its assault was, for the moment, checked. The further it pressed, the slower it went, until at last it halted less than a meter in front of Yue Yang. Yet Yue Yang was far from optimistic. A state like this could not hold for long. Beyond the divine will hammering at his soul, the god-force outside was replenishing itself with terrifying speed, and the moment the Eternal Wheel vanished, the result would be catastrophe, an overwhelming doom!

He held on, bitterly, for ten minutes.

Then the Eternal Wheel beneath Yue Yang’s feet dissolved.

The Calamity god-force and one hundred thousand years of resentment came crashing in with a thunderous roar. Yue Yang’s hands began to form the gesture to gather the “Wheel of Apocalypse” — but in the end, he stopped.

If he unleashed the Wheel of Apocalypse, he could certainly cleave through the Calamity god-force and strike Pandora.

But even doing so would not save himself.

Perhaps — perhaps he needed a Nirvana of his own!

If death came, then let it come!

Wasn’t it said that death was the beginning of another new birth?

If he could not even see through the barrier of death, how could he ever hope to comprehend the higher Innate Body-Piercing Invisible Sword Qi? How could he ever hope to comprehend the divine realm? A god was an undying existence; only weak, feeble humans feared death! If he wished to reach that realm, then he had to step out of the realm of “man” and arrive at the realm of “god.” It was a little early, true — but wasn’t this, in its own way, an opportunity along the path of cultivation?

Succeed, or die in the attempt.

Whether he could surpass himself, whether he could transcend his original realm and leap into the divine realm — it all came down to this very moment!

Slowly, Yue Yang closed his eyes. In this instant, he chose to trust his own sudden enlightenment.

And to trust the one-of-a-kind, extraordinary constitution the Phoenix sisters had given him.

A phoenix could undergo Nirvana and be reborn.

I — the lucky one guarded by the Phoenix sisters — can I not also achieve Nirvana and rebirth?

Let his mind take flight, abandon his flesh, cast off every stray thought, break free of the shackles of the mortal realm and surpass himself, and soar up to the divine realm he had once glimpsed before……………

Just as Yue Yang had readied himself to embrace death, and through it to surpass his current fixed realm, all at once every trace of energy vanished. The Calamity god-force, and that terrifying power of one hundred thousand years of resentment — all of it, gone.

He opened his eyes and looked, and Pandora had already recovered her senses.

She was gazing at him, her face streaming with tears.

“Boohoo, I — I almost killed you! Why did it turn out like this? Could it be that the death I foretold — the true murderer is my own self?” Pandora broke into loud sobbing. “I couldn’t bear to let you go, and yet that’s the very reason I would be the death of you. The first thing I ever wanted to keep for myself, and I have to destroy it with my own hands……Now, I understand — I finally understand why they all call me Calamity. So I truly am a curse of misfortune!”

“It’s not that serious!” Classmate Yue Yang gave a faint smile, a smile as brilliant as sunlight. “Look, I’m not dead yet, am I?”

“If I’d woken up one second later, you’d already be dead.” Pandora’s little face was a complete mess from crying.

“But the fact is, you did wake up — and besides, maybe I’ll use all this to surpass myself. Who knows!” There was a tiny sliver of regret in Yue Yang’s heart, but far more of it was relief. Facing death, he had been very calm in the moment; but thinking back on it afterward, to say he’d felt no lingering fear at all would be a lie. That destructive Calamity god-force was absolutely no joke — apart from the sword arts wielded by the Sword Spirit, it was greater than any power Yue Yang had seen in his whole life. Only after witnessing the Calamity god-force did Yue Yang truly grasp the vast gulf between man and god.

“I almost killed you, and here you are comforting me!” Pandora cried even harder.

“Don’t tell me you want me to sit here and cry along with you?” Yue Yang made it clear that was out of the question.

“You’re always like this……The kinder you are to me, the less I can bear to let you leave this place, and the less possible it becomes for you to go on living……Now, what on earth are we supposed to do?” Pandora was tickled into laughter by the goofy expression on Yue Yang’s face. She cried and laughed at once, her emotions wildly stirred, utterly unable to calm down.

“Let me think.” Yue Yang felt he needed a little time.

“There’s no time left — only half a day remains! My death prophecy is still in effect, you’re still definitely going to die!” Pandora shrieked in agitation.

“Please, saying it once is enough. Repeating it over and over is completely pointless.” Yue Yang smiled, unruffled. “You should be more optimistic. Think of it this way — there’s still half a day, it’s not like there’s only a minute left. What’s there to be scared of? Right now there’s plenty of time to think of a way out. And besides, even if there were only one minute left, that’s still one minute of life, isn’t it?”

“I can’t manage to be optimistic!” Pandora tried hard to keep a straight face, but in the end she still broke into a smile through her tears.

“You don’t look the least bit pretty when you cry……” Classmate Yue Yang produced a towel and gently dabbed away her tears.

“Hurry up and think of something!” Deep down Pandora found it very sweet, yet she deliberately snapped at him. The strangeness of it baffled her — what on earth was wrong with her?

“Fine!”

Yue Yang fell to thinking. Pandora waited, each second dragging like a year, and several times she wanted to hurry him along.

But she was afraid of disturbing his train of thought, so all she could do was wait in anxious silence, fretting helplessly off to the side.

At last Yue Yang finally spoke, asking tentatively, “Do you happen to remember the things from before now? Do you remember your past? I mean the time before you had a body? It doesn’t have to be much — even a few fragments of memory would do!”

Pandora shook her head. “No good. When I lose control I can maybe recall a few things, but ordinarily I don’t remember anything of the past at all.”

Yue Yang had more or less guessed she would answer this way.

Only in her fury would Pandora recover the memories of her former self, the Goddess of Misfortune. The rest of the time, she was nothing but a naturally airheaded girl with her memories sealed away.

Seeing Yue Yang fall silent, a flicker of dejection passed through Pandora’s eyes.

She was heartbroken.

That she couldn’t help him with even the tiniest thing.

That all she could do was stand there and watch, wide-eyed, as he walked toward death — and worse still, that in the end it would be by her own hand that he was killed. One hundred thousand years had passed, and in her long slumber she had at last met a strange young man. For the first time, someone could make her heart come alive; for the first time, someone could make her feel joy that eased her chest; for the first time, someone could make her feel sorrow; for the first time, someone could make her feel reluctant to part……For the first time, someone could leave her not knowing whether to laugh or cry; for the first time, someone could make her feel both hatred and regret……

Could it be — this, is this love?

Is this the muddled, indescribable affection he spoke of — the one you can’t put into words yet understand perfectly in your heart?

What on earth should I do? What can I do to let him live? According to the death prophecy, he has half a day of life left — of that there can be no mistake. In this entire Desire Valley he is a mighty existence; apart from myself, there is no one who can kill him.

In that case.

Pandora quietly made up her mind.

She wept no more; instead a smile bloomed across her face, one that put all heaven and earth to shame. “That’s right — there’s still half a day, and we should treasure it. Let’s spend the time we have left falling in love! You tell me — what exactly are two lovers supposed to do? I don’t have a body anymore, so the ‘pushing me down’ you talked about can’t happen — that’s a bit of a shame, but it doesn’t matter. Maybe we can do something else instead.”

“Who says you get to push someone down the moment you start dating? A girl has to have some self-respect!” Classmate Yue Yang lectured Pandora. “When you’ve only just begun dating, the most you can do is hold hands a little.”

“But I don’t have hands anymore!” Pandora let out a sigh.

“……” Yue Yang had forgotten that point.

“Tell me more — what else can lovers do!” Pandora cast off her gloom and brightened up, her lovely eyes brimming with longing.

“It’s all pretty boring. I don’t really know much about it either. Ordinary couples usually go somewhere for a date — a park, or somewhere quiet with few people. They’ll go to a western restaurant for steak, or a café to drink some coffee that tastes like burnt rice water. After a few dates, they go out to have fun — a barbecue or the like — or catch a movie. As for the ones who go straight to karaoke and dancing and midnight snacks the moment they meet, then go get a room afterward — that doesn’t count as real love. At most that’s just the two of them taking care of a physical need! A girl has to respect herself. Indulging your desires is a bad thing — a fine flower easily wilts into a withered flower, and a withered flower into a rotten flower. Look at the failures here in the Desire Valley — every one of them is someone who indulged their desires!” Classmate Yue Yang made a gesture. “You and I don’t count as lovers — the most you could say is that we’re friends who get along well in conversation. Of course it doesn’t count, that goes without saying. I’m giving you a lesson here, though there’s no tuition fee!” “What do you usually do when you’re together with the women you like?” Pandora was a little curious.

“Yikes!” Classmate Yue Yang nearly blurted out something not fit for children, then coughed and covered. “There are lots of things to do. Like studying runes together, cultivating together, growing flowers together, reading together, running experiments together, going swimming together — all sorts of things……” “Let’s do them all too!” Pandora’s eyes flashed with a dazzling brilliance, itching to give it a try.

“Hey, hey, we aren’t a couple,” Yue Yang refused.

“It doesn’t matter — we aren’t now, but maybe we will be someday. Let’s do them once first, there’s no time left anyway.” Pandora felt that the remaining half day had to be treasured.

“Leave me a little time to write a few final letters! Who knows — maybe when I die it’ll turn out just like you, and by then you can do whatever you want, it won’t matter.” Classmate Yue Yang couldn’t be bothered to run wild along with her. It was possible he might transcend his realm in death, and possible he might use it to achieve Nirvana and rebirth, but no matter what, writing a few letters to Wuxia and the tiger girl and the others, to set their hearts at ease, was still a necessity! What Yue Yang feared most wasn’t death — it was being sealed away in this Desire Valley, just like this Pandora.

He summoned out the half-elf Xiao Nu, who had always lived in the Grimoire World taking care of his daily life, and briefly explained the situation to her.

Paying no mind to how she cried until her whole body went limp.

He stuffed three Three Realms Compasses into Xiao Nu’s hands. “Go back and find Wuxia. Tell her to get the Night Empress and the Supreme and the others to think of something. Stop crying — I’m not going to die. Maybe I’ll just be sealed in this place, and once I figure out how Pandora died, undo her resentment, and separate the resentful power from the power of the laws, I might just be able to leave. Are you refusing to listen to me? You have to complete this mission, understand? This mission of yours is extremely important to me!” But the half-elf Xiao Nu absolutely refused to obey. She collapsed sobbing into Yue Yang’s arms, crying her heart out. “Let Xiao Nu die in your place! Master absolutely cannot stay here — Xiao Nu will never leave Master! If Master dies, then Xiao Nu will stay here too, and keep you company forever!”

Even when Yue Yang glared at her furiously.

Xiao Nu bravely met his gaze. Tears gushing like a spring, the girl who had always been so sweet and obedient clenched her little fists and resolutely refused to be persuaded to leave, showing a stubbornness she had never displayed before.

“I told you, I’ll be fine — I’m only asking you to deliver a message!” “Xiao Nu will never leave!” “You brat, how many times do I have to say it……”

“Xiao Nu isn’t going, and that’s that — boohoo, don’t chase Xiao Nu away, please? Master will be fine, and Xiao Nu isn’t going either, we’ll be together forever!” Pandora watched, dumbstruck, and it was a long while before she murmured to herself, “This… is this love?” !~!

(End of Chapter 847)