Chapter 187: Shattered Dream, Swift Death of Shi Nian
A figure slowly stepped out from Spirit Hall's ranks, a towering man cloaked in aura and dominance. Under the shocked gazes of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan members, he raised his hand to remove his mask, revealing a face both familiar and yet painfully foreign.
"It's you! Dai Yao!"
Ning Rongrong's expression shifted from shock to disbelief, finally hardening into pure hatred as she recognized him. By her side, Sword Douluo's momentary daze gave way to violent agitation, his sword aura thrumming with wrath. Bone Douluo, clutching his wounds, caught sight of Dai Yao's face and let out a bitter, mocking laugh.
"Hah! I knew it all along! It was you—the traitor!"
Ning Fengzhi stared deeply at the young man he had trusted and welcomed, his grip on the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda tightening. Breathing heavily, he struggled to rein in his rage as he spat, "Dai Yao... Dai Yao... What did the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan ever do to wrong you? We gave shelter to someone with no home, even welcomed you into our family, offering you my daughter's hand!"
"And this—this is how you repay us?" His voice shook. "Look at what you've done! Every man, woman, and child in our clan—gone! Do you even have a soul?!"
Spirit Crane Douluo's mocking laugh cut through the air. "Hah! This is no one's fault but your own, Ning Fengzhi! Our Holy Son has always been an infiltrator, planted from the start by Spirit Hall into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's ranks. You trusted him blindly; if you're to blame anyone, blame yourselves for such stupidity!" She sneered at Ning Rongrong, pointing at her as she continued. "That so-called marriage of his with your daughter—nothing but another step in his mission. Just another tool in his hand."
Ning Rongrong's face went pale, her anguish visible. Spirit Crane Douluo's words shattered the illusion Dai Yao had woven during his time in the clan. The bitter truth pierced her heart—Dai Yao had manipulated her father's kindness, and her own love, to further his ends. Each memory she had treasured was now a poisoned blade, slicing through her.
Those shared moments, his laughter, his teasing, his embraces—now they felt like nothing more than lies she had been foolish enough to believe. And Dai Yao hadn't destroyed the clan alone; in a way, she had helped him. Her love for him had made it all too easy for him to gain her father's trust, to uncover the clan's defenses.
Her teeth sank into her lip, blood beginning to seep through. She forced herself to look up, fixing Dai Yao with a glare so filled with hatred that even the Spirit Hall elders felt a chill.
Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, and Bone Douluo, despite their own battle, couldn't help but turn their concern towards her.
"Rongrong, are you alright?" Ning Fengzhi asked softly.
"I'm sorry, Father… Sword Grandpa, Bone Grandpa… I'm so sorry." Tears brimmed in Ning Rongrong's eyes as she choked out the words.
"There's no need to apologize, my dear. You did nothing wrong." Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, visibly distressed, could barely contain their emotions. Were it not for the looming danger, they would have done anything to bring comfort to their beloved little princess.
But Ning Rongrong could not forgive herself. "If it weren't for me, none of this would have happened. Our clan would still be safe, and you both would be unharmed. It's all my fault…"
Ning Fengzhi's heart sank as he saw his daughter's grief. He thought of her as the little girl who had once been a mischievous spirit—and now, in her anguish, she seemed to have aged far too quickly.
Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo's wounded faces softened, their hearts swelling with love for her. Even amid the carnage, their affection for Ning Rongrong shone as pure as ever.
"Kill them!" shouted the Spirit Hall soul masters, a wave of bloodlust rippling through them. The four Title Douluos at the front prepared to charge, their spirit power surging.
Then, just as the onslaught seemed inevitable, a single hand rose into the air. Instantly, the battlefield fell silent.
It was Dai Yao.
The four Title Douluos exchanged confused glances, but they obeyed, retracting their spirit power. Dai Yao turned his back on the Spirit Hall forces, taking a few measured steps towards the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan survivors. When he was only ten paces away, he stopped, his gaze becoming clearer with each step.
Since seeing his former allies, Dai Yao's mind had sharpened, memories surging back like a dam burst. This scene was exactly as it had played out in the original text—a Soul Hunt. Only this time, he himself was the one who had betrayed the clan.
"Shi Nian truly is ruthless," he thought grimly. "This illusion, the Remnant Dream, manifests one's worst fears. Today's friends become tomorrow's deadly foes. Even if one wakes from the illusion, the pain and hatred are real, binding us to a tragic fate."
"From this moment, even if she lives, Ning Rongrong will never see me the same way again. We'll be enemies, separated by unbridgeable hatred."
Dai Yao sneered to himself. Shi Nian was courting death.
To his surprise, as he looked at Ning Rongrong, he felt a pang of regret. He had restrained his feelings for her once, yet now, the thought of her leaving him left him hollow.
"Pathetic," he chastised himself silently.
His gaze softened as he looked past Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo to Ning Rongrong, finally speaking, "Rongrong, there's something I want you to know."
"Don't call me that!" she spat, her eyes aflame with fury.
Dai Yao gave a resigned smile, shaking his head. "It's pointless… You wouldn't understand here."
"If I want to survive, I have only one shot. And if I fail…" He glanced at her, the pain in his eyes almost hidden, "Then we'll be a pair of ghosts together."
For a fleeting moment, clarity flickered in her eyes, as if she finally grasped something. Then, the scene shifted—shards of an illusory lotus blossomed around them, expanding outward. Everywhere the lotus touched, the illusion shattered like glass, revealing the dark forest and returning them to the real world.
Dai Yao's fourth soul ring flashed with an ominous black glow, his form vanishing instantly.
Shi Nian leaned back against a tree, a twisted grin on his face, as his seventh ring emitted its own dark light. Suddenly, he felt a jolt.
"What? My Remnant Dream, broken? By these two brats? Impossible!"
He scanned the area, locking onto Dai Yao and Ning Rongrong, still standing in the same positions as before—yet the next instant, Dai Yao's form disappeared completely. A chill ran up Shi Nian's spine, and a cold sweat broke out as his body tensed in fear.
This instinct had saved his life countless times before.
As Shi Nian took a step back, he felt an intense chill pierce through his back, and suddenly, the tip of a spear burst through his chest. He looked down to see the bloodless tip of the weapon gleaming with a dark soul ring, and as he slowly turned around, he saw the face of his attacker—it was none other than Dai Yao.
In that instant, realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.
Blood trickled from Shi Nian's mouth, and his twisted grin froze as his gaze filled with shock and disbelief.
"Are you… a twin martial soul wielder?"
But Dai Yao offered no response, only pouring every ounce of his soul power into his Death-God Spear. He knew that if he failed to kill Shi Nian immediately, the soul sage's final desperate counterattack could spell his own end.
"Destroy!"
Dai Yao shouted internally, the Death-God Spear acting like a black hole, draining nearly half of his soul power in an instant. But the results were brutal and immediate: Shi Nian's body became nothing more than an expanding void, a gaping hole that consumed his flesh, blood, and organs alike.
Shi Nian's expression twisted in terror as he looked upon his dissolving body, his mouth forming words that would never be heard. In seconds, he was consumed by the void, leaving nothing behind—not a trace of his existence in this world.
A mere Soul Elder, Dai Yao had managed to annihilate a soul sage in one strike. Such was the sheer, unmatched power of his Green Lotus martial soul.
Yet, the price for Dai Yao was steep. To execute this attack, he had utilized three abilities in quick succession.
First was his Green Lotus Illusory Shield, which granted invulnerability not only to physical attacks but also to spiritual assaults, making it the key to shattering Shi Nian's illusions.
Second was the third soul skill, Instant Step, which Dai Yao had used to close the distance between himself and Shi Nian before activating his Death-God Spear's deadly first soul skill. The Death-God Spear's decomposition ability broke down anything it touched at a molecular level, ensuring certain death for any who came into contact with it.
The combination of all three abilities had left Dai Yao drained, with his soul power fluctuating wildly and his arms aching from the strain.
A soft clink sounded in the aftermath, drawing Dai Yao's attention to a small, purple-hued bone lying on the ground. He recognized it at once as Shi Nian's Spatial Illusion skull bone, but he knew it was of little use to him personally.
In the original storyline, this soul bone had been given to Ning Rongrong by Tang San, so Dai Yao had no real interest in claiming it for himself.
Not far away, Ning Rongrong was slowly regaining her senses, having witnessed Dai Yao's lethal strike and the terrifying black rings surrounding the Death-God Spear in his hands. Shock filled her gaze.
"Dai Yao… he's also a twin martial soul wielder!"
"A soul sage, slain so easily by him. This martial soul… it's terrifying!"
As the memories from the illusion surged back to her, so did the bitterness of all the sweet memories and heartache that had been turned to ash by Dai Yao's betrayal in the illusion. In that moment, she cast him a conflicted glance.
She understood that what she had seen was only an illusion, but Dai Yao's true future allegiance with Spirit Hall and her role as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's heiress meant that there would inevitably come a day when they would stand as enemies.
With a slight clench of her teeth, Ning Rongrong resolved to distance herself from Dai Yao.
"I need to avoid him… to ensure what I saw in the illusion never happens."
Her gaze shifted to the purple soul bone on the ground, her instincts telling her it was well-suited to her abilities. Yet she shook her head quickly, reminding herself that it was Dai Yao's reward by right.
"I can't let myself fall back into that trap by being greedy… I owe him nothing."
But when her gaze returned to Dai Yao, she noticed his face contorted in pain from his overexertion. In the end, remembering that he had saved her life, she activated her martial soul, casting two beams of light to ease his pain.
Dai Yao felt the tension in his muscles and the ache in his arms fade, and he quickly realized this was thanks to Ning Rongrong's healing abilities. His expression softened slightly, his voice calm and devoid of emotion as he responded, "Thank you, Ning Rongrong."
"Think nothing of it. You saved my life, and this is the least I can do," she replied, her tone carefully even.
Yet her choice of words stung him. Instead of the familiar warmth of her "Rongrong," there was only formal distance. She had fully committed herself to the idea that they could never share a bond beyond duty.
The events of the illusion had forced them both to confront the inevitable clash between Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, revealing that the future would demand an unforgiving struggle.
Dai Yao exhaled deeply, forcing himself to speak calmly. "Let's head back. It's late, and I'm sure Uncle Ning is worried sick by now. Let me at least escort you home."
"That won't be necessary; I'll go alone," Ning Rongrong said coolly.
"It's not safe for a support soul master to walk alone at this hour. I should—"
She cut him off firmly. "I said I'd manage on my own. You've saved my life, and I'll inform my father of this so he can properly repay you."
Dai Yao's heart tightened at her firm rejection. He could feel that this was not simply about repayment, but rather her way of severing ties with him.
"Very well," he conceded, trying to hide his unease.
As she turned to leave, she spoke in a low, almost reluctant voice. "Thank you for the offer, and for sparing my life. I'll also keep your twin martial souls a secret. And that soul bone… don't leave it unclaimed."
Watching her retreating figure, slender and solitary under the moonlight, Dai Yao felt a pang of sadness. For all his confidence in his plans, he had never fully realized how much he valued her until he saw her walking away.
"Thank you," he managed to say softly.
"Mm." Her back remained turned, concealing the tears that had already begun to stream down her face. The sweetness of the memories, though illusions, were painfully real to her.
Silently, Dai Yao collected the soul bone, storing it safely in his Hundred Treasure Pouch. He lingered in place, staring after her until she disappeared into the distance, then let out a long sigh before finally turning away to face his own path.
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