The True Death of a God
"What do you want, little Celestial Void Fox?" The Azure Dragon God cautiously asked as he manifested.
He appeared in his human form instead of the Azure Dragon form he appeared in with Zhu Que.
However, while in a human form, he looked nothing like a normal human.
Standing at almost 3 meters tall, he was a giant. And coupled with the two 6-inch long dragon horns that spurted out from his forehead and curled upward, he towered over Xue Bai.
Sadly while the Azure Dragon God looked menacing, he was only a see-through manifestation that was flickering as if he would dissipate any second.
But, while Xue Bai was surprised that the Azure Dragon God appeared, he still couldn't answer, as he hadn't healed from his injuries, meaning that his eardrums were still damaged.
However, since he saw the Azure Dragon God's mouth move and could guess that he was trying to talk to him, Xue Bai spoke in a slurred voice, "I can't hear."
Recalling what he had done, the Azure Dragon God, feeling apologetic, waved his hand and let a small ball of Soul Qi go into Xue Bai's body, healing it back to its peak.
But the thorough healing had only wasted less than a quarter of the Soul Qi that the Azure Dragon God gave him, while the rest stayed in a gaseous form that sat above his Dantian.
"Take that as my apology. It was more than enough to heal you, but I made the remaining Soul Qi stay inside you. It should help you recover from mortal injuries quickly, but there are only enough for three full recoveries." The Azure Dragon God explained.
Even though he knew that this wasn't nearly enough to compensate Xue Bai for his injuries, there wasn't much he could give Xue Bai. He was only a remnant will, and that little bit of Soul Qi that he gave to Xue Bai made his already dissipating form become even more see-through.
"Since you are the descendant of the Void Fox Emperor, I won't be harsh anymore. But if you want to follow Zhu Que any further, you have to explain your purpose." Crossing his arms across his chest, the Azure Dragon God spoke coldly.
Zhu Que was someone he managed to lure through centuries of karmic interference, and even if Xue Bai were someone related to the Void Fox Emperor, he wouldn't be polite.
He was already dead anyway, so there wasn't much he could lose.
"I told you before, Senior. Zhu Que is Junior's Sister. I noticed this cave, but after we walked toward it, it disappeared from my vision, so I knew it was special." Xue Bai kept up the lie.
After knowing how strong of a card the Void Fox Emperor was that even the Azure Dragon God didn't dare to provoke, Xue Bai knew that he was safe now. And since the Azure Dragon God couldn't force any more answers out of him, he decided to keep up the blatant lie.
The Azure Dragon God also sensed Xue Bai's stubbornness to keep his appearance a secret, so instead of trying to coerce Xue Bai, he made another decision.
"Swear a Dao Oath that you won't hurt, betray or slow down the growth of Zhu Que, and then not only will I leave you alone, but I will also give you something worth the trouble." The Azure Dragon God spoke.
Knowing that this was the furthest the Azure Dragon God would compromise, Xue Bai accepted and swore the Dao Oath.
He never did plan to hurt Zhu Que, so this Dao Oath did nothing to burden him. The only problem was the promise not to slow down her growth, but if he brought that up now, it would only serve to destroy the trust between him and Zhu Que.
Xue Bai could see that Zhu Que was currently immobilized, as he could still see her looking at him with a face full of concern while her mouth moved. Sadly he couldn't hear what she was saying.
The Azure Dragon God most likely also blocked her voice from traveling over here.
Anyway, Zhu Que was now firmly an ally of his, so if she grew a little faster than what he planned for, it wasn't truly a loss on his end.
Hearing Xue Bai swear, the Azure Dragon God felt relieved and began looking up at the sky.
"Then I will count on you, little Celestial Void Fox. Just protect her long enough to bring my bloodline back to its heights." The Azure Dragon God sighed.
The Void Fox Emperor was someone that even he, during his prime, looked up to. Along with his Senior Brother and Junior Sister, he not only dominated an entire era but even an entire epoch leading to the rise of the Heaven Trampling Sect.
And even though his sect was destroyed, his reputation didn't fall one bit, and if anything, it only increased. Because after faking his death during the sect's destruction, the Void Fox Emperor eventually returned countless times stronger before killing every organization that targeted his sect.
Such a man's descendant couldn't be a deplorable existence, especially since Xue Bai's Bloodline purity was something that wasn't a bit inferior to his ancestor.
'Maybe this timeline is the one where Zhu Que can finally ascend. Maybe this boy can finally help her avenge me. Someone that even I, Long Tian, can't see through surely is someone who can kill those bastards.' The Azure Dragon God melancholy thought.
Following the Azure Dragon God's sigh, like a gust of wind sweeping away a dust cloud, his remnant will finally dissipated into the wind as if there were no one there in the first place.
He wasn't like Huli Jing or Feng Huang, who was on the Baishen Plane with their entire soul. The Azure Dragon God was truly dead. The only thing that was still in the Baishen Plane was the remaining will he had left on the spear he planned to give to Zhu Que.
And while the remnant will was conscious and could think coherently, it still wasn't him. The Azure Dragon God had long died, and the only thing that kept his remnant will lingering even after his death was his determination to wait for Zhu Que to appear.
So after he had completed his job, he finally let his remnant will dissipate, returning to the cycle of reincarnation he had waited so long for.
'Yao'er, Sister Qi, Yan'er, may we meet again in a different life.' And with a thought back to his past, an Azure Dragon God who once led an era finally died.
Following the Azure Dragon God's vanishing, the binds that locked Zhu Que in place also disappeared.
"Little Brother! Are you ok?!" Zhu Que hurriedly ran over, ignoring Xue Bai's new form.
Zhu Que was definitely more than curious about whatever the hell just happened, from the mysterious force that blasted Xue Bai away to his new form, but they could discuss that later. For now, she just wanted to know if he was alright.
"I'm fine, Sister Zhu." Xue Bai waved off her concern. His pathetic appearance didn't match his condition.
"But you look so…" Zhu Que didn't finish her sentence, but Xue Bai knew what she meant.
"It's fine that Senior healed me before he left. My appearance is only because of the initial injury." Xue Bai answered.
"No, not that. When I spoke about your new appearance, I meant the, you know, tails." Zhu Que hesitantly spoke as she looked at his new form.
However, as she did, a deep blush started appearing on her face. Xue Bai's seductive aura started to leak again.
Over the years, Xue Bai had learned to contain the seductive aura well, but that was only when he was in his normal form. Whenever he entered his true form, it would leak out naturally.
Xue Bai suddenly remembered he was in his true form, and while he could most likely fully explain it since Zhu Que wouldn't tell anyone, he didn't.
"Long story short, this is my true form." Xue Bai simplified it as he willed his bloodline core to hide his fox features once again, turning his eyes back to normal while making the tails and ears disappear.
Seeing that Xue Bai didn't want to go into further details, Zhu Que was astute and didn't push further.
Changing the subject, Zhu Que asked something she caught from his previous sentence that confused her, "Little Brother, who did you mean by that Senior?"
It was then that Xue Bai realized that the Azure Dragon God most likely only showed his physical form to him and not Zhu Que.
"Nevermind then," Xue Bai shook his head as he changed the subject, "Let's continue to the cave. Great opportunities are waiting for us."
"No! Little Brother, if only at the edge of the cave that happened to you, then imagine how dangerous the inside is?" Zhu Que didn't want to risk her life so early on.
"No, that was it," Xue Bai spoke as he got up, "There isn't anything stopping us from going into the cave. And even if there were, I would still go in."
And without saying any more, he started going toward the cave. After the Azure Dragon God's remnant will finally dissipated, the illusion of making the cave disappear from his line of sight also left. Meaning that Xue Bai could see where it was even without Zhu Que's help.
Zhu Que was extremely apprehensive about going toward the cave, but since Xue Bai looked so determined, she could only suppress her fears and follow him.
While the injuries that the mysterious force inflicted on Xue Bai did slightly lower his position in her heart, she could also tell that whatever did injure Xue Bai was something beyond mortal means.
Whether it was from the sudden blast of force to the fact that Zhu Que was immobilized without even seeing the enemy, Zhu Que could assume that the 'Senior' Xue Bai talked about was someone strong, stronger than she could comprehend, most likely.
"Wait up, Little Brother!" Zhu Que shouted as she chased after Xue Bai.
As the duo entered the cave, Xue Bai finally saw the inside.
At first, there wasn't much separating this cave from a normal one besides the large dragon claw outside, but when Xue Bai went deeper, he soon found what made it different.
A few dozen meters inside, the cave split into two forks, with one having a purple trail and the other an ice-blue one.
Xue Bai knew what the trails meant and directly went into the purple one. While there most likely wasn't anything stopping him from taking both, especially since the Azure Dragon God's remnant will had fully dissipated, he had sworn a Dao Oath that stopped him from slowing down Zhu Que's growth.
And if he took the very thing that made Zhu Que her future self, then wasn't he just asking to die?
"Sister Zhu, take the ice-blue path. It's the one for you. This is my own." Xue Bai spoke as he entered his own cave.
Not explaining any further, Xue Bai walked through the entrance, where inside, he saw a simple cave abode.
However, the Azure Dragon God's corpse wasn't in there, so Xue Bai just assumed it to be an extra one he had built for whatever reason.
The cave abode wasn't big, even smaller than his bed at home. Other than a desk, meditation mat, and a bed made of white jade, there wasn't anything else.