Immortals Were Once Mortals

"You... what did you say?"

Looking at the confident smile on the person in front of her, Lin Qingxue’s beautiful eyes trembled, unable to believe her ears.

"I said, a hero can't run away at the last moment."

Ye Shu gave her a reassuring glance, then gently took her hand and smiled. "How could I bear to leave a lovely girl like you and go off alone? That wouldn't be something a protagonist would do."

"You... you..."

Lin Qingxue stared at him blankly. She had no idea where he got such confidence, yet she couldn't help but feel a sense of peace—as if with just those words, there was nothing to fear.

Suddenly, she turned her face away and snorted.

"You clearly can't escape, so you say things like that just to make me happy at the last moment, right? You think I can't see through your little tricks?"

"Let me tell you, I'm the smart one!"

After saying that, she raised her eyes slightly to glance at Ye Shu, then muttered softly, "But... it's not bad, I suppose."

Ye Shu burst into laughter upon hearing this.

He said no more, sitting cross-legged, tightly gripping the Azure Profound Sword and thrusting it into the ground.

"Shu'er, aren't you being too arrogant?"

Danxia’s worried voice came through. As the one who had stayed with Ye Shu the longest and considered herself the one who understood him best, she really couldn’t think of any trump card he might still have.

Could it really be, as Lin Qingxue said—just the last shred of stubbornness in despair?

"Trust me," Ye Shu simply said.

Danxia remained silent. After all, she had already died once; dying together with Shu'er would almost be a blessing.

As for Medusa? Not worth bothering about.

"Hey, hey, hey."

The little white figure sitting on his shoulder kicked him, his childish face unusually serious. "Given the situation now, we have no chance of winning."

"But in the original timeline, Azure Profound Sect would still be destroyed, and you would escape and survive."

"So I can use my authority to let you leave."

"You don't need to play the hero just to look cool," the little one said very seriously. "As long as the mountain remains, we won't lack firewood. Let's make a strategic retreat first and come back for revenge later."

"You mean, continue following fate?"

Ye Shu opened his eyes and looked at those desperate, lost Azure Profound Sect disciples.

"Watch them die one by one?"

"In my life, I've never stopped struggling—whether in the Demon Beast Mountains, the Ye family, or the Serpentfolk City."

"Today will be no different."

With that, he raised the Azure Profound Sword with his right hand and swung it fiercely. The azure light blazed, shining brightly.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

One by one, azure swords descended from the heavens, stabbing into every peak of the Azure Profound Sect, covering every corner—over a thousand in total.

Wherever the swords landed, intricate runes instantly bloomed.

"This is!"

The Array Peak's master narrowed his eyes. "Formation arrays? Set up so many in such a short time? How did he do it?"

With his understanding, he could see these were no ordinary transport arrays—they were long-distance transport arrays, with destinations spread across the Eastern Wastelands.

Once the disciples used them, it would be nearly impossible for the Mo family to track everyone down again.

"No time to dig deeper! Quickly organize the disciples to evacuate!"

Li Daoyuan realized this immediately. With a wave of his sleeve, he transmitted the message to every Azure Profound Sect disciple, including the servants and commoners.

"Great! We're saved!"

"Hurry! Brothers at the foot of the mountain, take the farmers with you! Those lunatics might take their anger out on the commoners!"

"Got it! Let's bolt!"

The disciples' eyes lit up with joy as they dragged the bewildered commoners toward the arrays.

"Hmph!"

The Soul Locking Hall Master, who was watching from afar, suddenly reacted. He snorted coldly, waving his hand through the air.

A series of formation flags flew from his sleeves.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Before the Azure Profound Sect disciples could reach the transport arrays, the flags had already planted themselves in front, forming pale blue barriers, isolating the arrays from the outside.

"Such excellent soul materials—how could I let them slip away?"

He sneered, then looked at Ye Shu sitting cross-legged. "Playing clever tricks. Do you think I'm just for show?"

With that, he stomped his foot.

Rumble!

Without the constraint of Lin Heming, everyone present was pinned down by the pressure of a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator. The disciples nearest to the arrays could only stare at the barrier, unable to take another step forward.

Today was definitely the most despair-filled day they had ever experienced.

Despair after despair, hope after hope—going back and forth until everyone was exhausted.

Countless Azure Profound Swords emitted faint azure light, pulsing like a heartbeat, weakening little by little, until they finally stopped. Countless sword shadows dissipated slowly.

Even Ye Shu couldn't maintain it for long.

"So this was his plan?"

Lin Qingxue and the others looked at Ye Shu, their eyes full of confusion. Why would he do something so pointless, only to add to the despair?

Why?

"Heh, futile resistance before death?"

At the same time, the paralyzed Mo Yu finally recovered. Seeing the advantageous situation, he suddenly felt his leg no longer hurt, his back no longer ached—he was completely energized.

And Ye Shu, on whom all eyes were fixed?

He remained expressionless the entire time.

"Idiot! What are you playing at!" Little White stomped angrily. "Let's get out of here!"

"From the very beginning, I knew this day would come."

Ye Shu suddenly opened his eyes, his voice calm.

"A long, long time ago, I already understood."

"If a system can choose its host and modify memories, then it would definitely arrange for the final boss to come knocking at the door."

"Even if he doesn't act on it at first, he will inevitably take that path before things become irreversible. Hoping that your enemy makes a foolish mistake is an incredibly foolish notion."

"I knew this day would come, so I've been searching for a way to solve this problem."

"Thinking about it all the time."

"Worrying about it all the time."

He slowly stood up, lifting the Azure Profound Sword in his hand. Silently, he walked forward. With every step, the sword in his hand pulsed with a heartbeat.

Thump... thump...

"What... what is that sound!"

The Soul Locking Hall Master suddenly felt a wave of panic. This heartbeat didn't seem to come from the Azure Profound Sword—it felt as if the entire Eastern Wastelands were pulsing.

"I set up these transport arrays not to evacuate the Azure Profound Sect disciples here."

"But to transport the Azure Profound Sword's phantom images."

Ye Shu's calm voice rang out.

"What?!"

Everyone present was stunned.

If Ye Shu's goal was not to transport the Azure Profound Sect disciples but to send away the Azure Profound Sword's phantoms, then what was his purpose?

What was the point?

The very next moment, everyone understood.

Humm—

Silence. Emptiness.

Everyone looked around in shock and uncertainty, realizing that the spiritual energy in their surroundings seemed to have completely vanished.

Yet the Green Profound Sword in Ye Shu's hand shone with an astonishing brilliance.

His body was like a piece of fractured porcelain, but his eyes blazed with piercing light. He suddenly chanted aloud:

"Beyond the thirty-third heaven lies another heaven; beyond the nine clouds, immortals dwell.

Immortals were once mortals, only hindered by wavering will.

A single phrase can unlock the profound—what need is there for countless scriptures?

If a man is not confined by his form, before his eyes is the Great Lofty Heaven!"

The next moment—

Thump, thump, thump!

One by one, white-jade celestial steps rose beneath Ye Shu's feet. At the end of this staircase was clearly... a gate!