Chapter 2211 – The Soul Emperor Emerges
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As Sheng Mei’s steps came to a halt, that voice disappeared, as if it had never appeared at all.
However, Sheng Mei knew that this couldn’t have been an illusion.
She closed her eyes, quietly sensing the origin of that voice. After a long moment of silence, that summoning call appeared once more. It was still weak, but this time, Sheng Mei was able to keenly sense which direction it came from.
With some anticipation, with some unease, with some fear, Sheng Mei silently walked forwards.
She passed through a graveyard and finally arrived atop a vast field of ice.
The cold energy was rich atop this field of ice, and snow billowed in the wind.
This cold energy came from the strength of Laws, and Sheng Mei felt that these Laws were somewhat familiar. This was because she also cultivated the Ice Laws, and her Laws seemed to be interlinked in many places to the Laws in the Asura forbidden land, as if they came from the same origins.
Sheng Mei remained pensive. Then, atop this field of ice, she saw a giant rift, a valley of ice. And below this rift great waves rolled and tumbled; this was an icy river.
Although the river waters hadn’t frozen, the freezing chill in the air was countless times colder than the frost of the mortal world.
However, Sheng Mei was someone who cultivated the Ice Laws to the extreme. In such an environment, not only did she not think it was too cold, but she actually felt somewhat comfortable.
She walked down this ice rift for a long time. Then, at the end of this rift she could see the smooth, ice-like surface of a giant mirror.
This ice mirror towered into the clouds. The light blue surface faced Sheng Mei, reflecting the entire world upon it.
It seemed that within this cold ice, there was another world.
Sheng Mei understood that this great piece of ice was the Cold Ice Mirror mentioned by Lin Ming!
And it seemed that a wisp of remnant soul from her past life was within the Cold Ice Mirror.
Sheng Mei used a long period of time to slowly walk in front of the Cold Ice Mirror. As she looked into it, she saw winds and ice obscuring everything.
“Is it here…”
Sheng Mei softly thought out loud as she stood before the Cold Ice Mirror for a long time.
Her only reply was silence.
Sheng Mei patiently waited for several dozen breaths of time. Then, on the surface of the Cold Ice Mirror, light ripples suddenly appeared.
A gentle and deep voice, one that had slumbered for unknown billions of years, suddenly woke up and echoed in Sheng Mei’s ears –
“My child, you’ve come…”
Sheng Mei’s heart trembled!
This voice had been that faint call which summoned her. Feeling it near, there was an inexplicable kindness and familiarity, as if it came from somewhere in the deepest parts of her soul. This sort of feeling was completely unlike her past life.
“You are…” Sheng Mei’s voice quivered.
“I am your last life’s mother…”
Mother?
Sheng Mei shook, like she had been zapped by lightning. Whether it was a father or mother, these were extremely distant matters to Sheng Mei. Even when she was in the Demon God’s Tomb where she experienced the memories of her past life, she rarely had memories of her parents. In her childhood, what she knew of were struggles, tribulations, slaughter!
There was likely only a single reason for this. That was because when she was a child, she rarely came into contact with her father and mother.
But today, the mother of Sheng Mei’s past life had appeared. This was a bloodline connection, a communion that caused her soul to beat. Unknowingly, tears fell down her eyes.
Her mother was actually in the Asura forbidden land…
Sheng Mei could feel that her mother had already died; all that was left was a wisp of her remnant soul.
Sheng Mei knelt down and silently bowed.
Originally, Sheng Mei had taken the peak of martial arts as the goal she would chase after all her life. She never sought out her own parents but she didn’t think she had a father or mother.
In fact, to the Sheng Mei of that time, kinship, family, those ideals were nothing but floating clouds in her eyes. Moreover, she never had family so she never knew what that felt like; she didn’t even have friends. Those she recognized were only those of the same sect or race, as well as the Soul Emperor who passed down orders to her.
But during the long flow of time, Sheng Mei’s character underwent subtle changes. This was particularly true for when she gave birth to Jiu’er. It was at that time she first realized what it was like to have another person in her life whose life she valued more than her own…
It was also at that time she understood the significance of family. But, when she finally became aware of this meaning, she discovered that her father and mother had already perished and all that was left over of them were their remnant souls.
“Child, rise…”
That gentle voice reverberated in Sheng Mei’s ears once more. Sheng Mei bowed again before standing up and stepping into the world of the Cold Ice Mirror.
In this world, she could slowly sense the existence of her mother. This was a light feeling of blended bloodlines that flowed through all directions of the Cold Ice Mirror’s world.
She suddenly understood what this was. “Mother… your remnant soul is the artifact spirit of the Cold Ice Mirror?”
“Yes… this is a spirit treasure refined by Asura. I have already become used to being in here…”
This gentle voice was continuously weak and faint. Sheng Mei realized that her mother’s remnant soul would not be like those in the Emperor Bone Sea, remaining in a state of everlasting perpetuity. There would be a day when her mother’s remnant soul would become so weak that it would eventually dissipate into the void.
This left Sheng Mei’s heart aching.
She could guess what had happened. 10 billion years ago, the Asura Road Master couldn’t bear to see her mother vanish into nothingness. Thus, he had protected her mother’s remnant soul within the Cold Ice Mirror…
But this also meant that her mother had withstood 10 billion years of loneliness here. Of course, there might have been some people who accompanied her.
Sheng Mei had a feeling in her heart. She turned and saw that a thousand feet away, on a glacier, a blue-clothed woman wearing a veil was silently standing.
Cold winds swayed about her and her black hair danced in the wind. The feeling she gave off was like that of an ice lotus blooming atop a snowy mountain, untainted by mortal hands.
Although this woman wore a veil, Sheng Mei could instantly confirm something – this… was her past self.
It was like staring at the mirror, both reflecting each other.
Sheng Mei wasn’t sure what to say. Her mind was left in chaos.
In truth, Sheng Mei was a complete ‘self’ born from her tenth life. But, because of some unknown reasons, she had been severed from her first nine lives. There were many riddles in her mind as well as many doubts.
If possible, Sheng Mei didn’t want to bother with these things. What she wanted the most was to break away from the turmoil of the world with Lin Ming, bringing Jiu’er with them. Although they couldn’t experience a life of eternal happiness, it would still be a long, happy, and simple life.
However, as for her past life, Sheng Mei in truth didn’t want to fuse back together with her previous personality. She just wanted to remain the pure her that she was.
However…
There were many things in life that couldn’t be just because she hoped for them.
Destiny was like a great wheel. Whether or not one was prepared for it, whether or not one could withstand it, it would still come rolling towards you.
Just like the present…
As Sheng Mei was lost in thought, she suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her chest. Her face instantly paled.
A cold sweat began to fall down from her forehead. An inexplicable racing of her heart left her feeling anxious.
It was at this time that Sheng Mei’s mother discovered something strange occurring to Sheng Mei. She asked with worry, “My child, what is wrong? Have you been injured?”
Sheng Mei gasped for breath, a hand pressed against her chest. “I… I don’t know… suddenly feel anxious, as if I can’t catch my breath…”
This feeling came suddenly and inexplicably. It left dark clouds hovering over Sheng Mei’s heart.
………….
At this time, across unknown layers of time and space, in the vast chaos, there was a sea that extended outwards for countless miles.
For there to be a sea in the starry skies was simply inconceivable. And this sea was filthy and yellow, with innumerable bones floating within.
Faintly, one could hear the bitter cries of souls in the sea breeze, agonized wails that left one feeling dread and apprehension.
At some unknown time, atop the originally calm sea surface, a storm suddenly rose up. The storm grew larger and larger and the seawater was like two waterfalls rising into the air. Countless skeletons were smashed apart by the turbulent sea waves.
And in this raging sea, a youth appeared, stepping through the void as he emerged from the seawaters. He had long hair as white as snow and a face that was paper white.
He slowly rose upwards until he flew 100,000 feet into the air. Then, he looked at the sea in the starry skies and casually waved his hand.
The vast and limitless sea began to rapidly shrink. From millions of miles, to hundreds of thousands of miles, to thousands of miles, to hundreds of miles, to several feet, to several inches, and finally it shrank into a single drop of water.
This drop of water flew into the pupil of the white-haired youth’s eye, moistening it like a single tear.
However, after this youth’s eye was moistened with this drop of water it still remained as old and dirty as before, emitting the death energy that only a corpse would have.
The great sea that contained endless bones had turned into a single water drop and then fused into a youth’s eye. Anyone who saw this would feel their scalp tingle with dread.
The youth fell deep into thought. He looked into the distant starry skies, a happy expression on his face. But, this happy smile caused one to feel an inexplicable sense of fear.
“I never thought that there would be some people so impatiently wishing to see me…”
The youth spoke out loud. He stepped up into the void, as if there were invisible stairs that only he could see. Like this, his figure submerged into the void, sinking in silently and leaving behind only light spatial ripples.