The Altar was gradually sinking, with rays of dim light surrounding it, making it look like the infinite void. Xu Que was surprised, and he was trying to discover what the light really was.

　　Bang!

　　The Altar suddenly shook and stopped entirely.

　　It was completely dark all around.…

　　Xu Que found that there was a stone wall in front of the Altar, and on the Altar there was a ancient stone door that was full of carved bronze patterns. The patterns looked very peculiar and complicated, and rusty as well. In the middle of the door, there was a piece of yellow Chinese talisman.

　　Zixia Fairy walked forward and said with a serious face, “Joker, the yellow Chinese talisman is the last seal. I need to concentrate before I tear it off. The Altar will immediately crumble as soon as my hand touches it, and the Ghost Hands will reach out to catch me!”

　　“Zixia, don’t worry, I will protect you!” Xu Que smiled.

　　At this moment, Xu Que had given up making trouble for Zixia Fairy. Instead, he wanted to leave her with a good impression of him, and he decided to allow her to do whatever she wanted.

　　Once the seal is cleared, the lock of the Four Great Continents would be back to normal again. I will be able to enjoy life for another few decades.

　　“But you have to be careful! Although the Ghost Hands are not very powerful, you should not let them touch you. Right beneath the Altar, there is the Nether Land. Once you are dragged down there by the Ghost Hands or you accidently fall down, you would be trapped and lost in the pure darkness until you die. Even if you die, your soul would still be trapped there.” Zixia Fairy said with worry on her face.

　　“Thank you!” Xu Que smiled.

　　Although I have not laid eyes on the Ghost Hands before, Zixia has said that even a cultivator of the Golden Core Stage could easily deal with the Ghost Hands. I think there is no need to be afraid.

　　“I shall start now!” Zixia Fairy hesitated for a bit and then walked to the stone door and stopped. Her face was very serious; then she slowly raised up her hands and began to chant complicated incantations one after another.

　　In the blink of an eye, the magnificent True Strength erupted across her fingers and started to shine in the pure darkness. By the time she chanted the last incantation, the light across her fingers looked like a ball of golden fire and gave out the Taoist Connotation.

　　“Broken!” She shouted and hit right at the Talisman on the stone door with the golden fire on her palm.

　　Bang!

　　The stone door shook heavily suddenly and the dust on its surface fell onto the ground. At the same time, the Talisman began to shine with a golden light and the Altar started to tremble.

　　All of a sudden, Xu Que could feel the hard Altar begin to soften, as if it was going to become a pile of muddy land.

　　Bang, bang, bang!

　　Countless small holes appeared in the Altar, and, the next minute, a huge number of black palms reached out quickly! The palms, which were made of black mist and with sharp fingernails, began to twist like crazy. Anyone with Trypophobia would definitely be terribly frightened by this scene.

　　Seeing this, Xu Que calmly took out a sharp sword from the System’s parcel and instilled lots of True Strength into it.

　　“Zixia, you just focus on the seal. I will take care of these Ghost Hands for you.” Xu Que turned to Zixia Fairy and said.

　　Right at this moment, staring at the Chinese talisman, Zixia’s entire arms were shrouded with the golden light. With the ball of fire devouring the golden light given out by the Chinese talisman, the Chinese talisman was getting smaller and smaller. It seemed that in just a few minutes, Zixia Fairy would be able to tear off the Chinese talisman.

　　Seeing this, Xu Que nodded and was relieved and turned to the Ghost Hands. With the cracks in the Altar getting wider and wider, more and more Ghost Hands reached out and began to move toward Xu Que.

　　“Kill!” Xu Que shouted and brandished his sharp sword.

　　Bang!

　　The True Core Strength swirling around the tip of the sword suddenly turned into a bright shadow of sword and flew forward.

　　Bang! Bang! Bang!

　　A huge amount of Ghost Hands were destroyed and changed into lots of black mist. The mist rose up and quickly sneaked into the crack of the Altar.

　　It is so damn easy.

　　Xu Que smiled and continued to brandish the sword to cut off the rest of the Ghost Hands. But soon, things were getting rather tricky. The Ghost Hands that had been cut off reached out from the crack again.

　　“For god’s sake, we are not done yet!” Xu Que frowned and quickly took out his sword again.

　　Although the Ghost Hands could not be destroyed completely, the Ghost Hands still could not get close to them, since Xu Que was cutting them off very fast. This made it possible for Zixia Fairy to destroy the Chinese talisman.

　　Bang! Bang! Bang!

　　The Ghost Hands were cut off, then they emerged again…still, they could not get close to Xu Que. He had been cutting them off for almost 24 hours. For a cultivator of the Golden Core Stage, which Xu Que was, it was time for him to run out of energy. Luckily, with the help of the System, Xu Que’s body could automatically recover his strength, and he had got a huge amount of True Core Strength, so he was still fine.

　　Bang!

　　Right at this moment, the stone door began to tremble, making a great noise. The golden light dimmed by the second, as if it was going to die out at any moment. Seeing this, Zixia Fairy’s face was getting more and more serious. She gathered the True Core Strength of the Taoist Connotation in her palm. All of a sudden, the ball of fire got even bigger.

　　Bang!

　　The stone door collapsed, and the golden light completely vanished. Zixia Fairy was very happy and hurriedly tore off the Chinese Talisman.

　　“Joker! We did it!” She turned to Xu Que happily.

　　Xu Que smiled and was about to speak. Suddenly, the Altar shook heavily.

　　Bang!

　　All the Ghost Hands exploded and changed into many balls of black mist, the mist spreading out all over.

　　“What’s going on?!” Zixia said, surprised.

　　Xu Que was also shocked and felt something bad was about to happen.

　　Bang! Bang! Bang!

　　The mist exploded again and disappeared into the darkness. All of a sudden, an enormous vortex appeared. It began to rotate like crazy and started to devour everything around it like a beast’s mouth. Xu Que and Zixia Fairy were drawn by gravity and flew toward the vortex.

　　“Crickey!” Xu Que was startled and hurriedly summoned his System. He wanted the System to break the incantation of the Disguise Puppet, so he could retake his cultivation.

　　“Joker! You go first!” Zixia Fairy suddenly shouted and gently hit Xu Que’s back and pushed him back to the stone door.

　　“What! Zixia….” Xu Que suddenly realized what was going on.

　　He fell against the door, and then he turned around, only to find that Zixia Fairy had been devoured by the vortex.

　　The next moment, the stone door that was full of cracks collapsed. He fell onto the ground on the other side and dodged the gravity.

　　“No!” He shouted aloud and hurriedly dashed out. However, the vortex began to shrink quickly and, in the blink of an eye, it disappeared. Zixia Fairy’s body appeared again and fell right into the crack of the Altar, beneath which there was complete darkness.

　　“Zixia!” Xu Que shouted and ran forward. By the time he arrived at the Altar, looking through the crack, he saw Zixia Fairy’s body being dismembered and changing into many sprinkles of light.

　　“Doppelganger?!” Xu Que was a bit stunned.

　　The light then slowly rose up and stopped behind Xu Que. He could feel Zixia Fairy’s smell and realized that Zixia Fairy was not devoured by the abyss, and she was about to reveal herself.

　　It’s time for the real show!

　　“No! Zixia!” Xue Que suddenly shouted at the abyss and sat aside the Altar, as if he had used up all his energy. The next moment, tears rolled down his face. “Why? Why have you saved me?! You can’t leave me here! Come back!”

　　Behind him, Zixia Fairy was slowly walking out from the dazzling light. She was still wearing a beautiful robe. Her face was as stunning as always, her body still curvy. She looked like a fairy from the heavens. She moved her lips and was about to speak. She wanted to tell Xu Que that she was still alive. But when she saw Xu Que sitting next to the Altar and crying, she stopped and felt very complicated.

　　Maybe, I should just leave like this and never see him again. Anyway, we can’t be together.… Now that the seal has been unlocked, the Four Great Continents can be safe for another few decades even if the lock will break at some point in the future. Not only should I work hard to rebuild the Mighty Sect, I also should protect my peers and stop enemies coming from the outside, which means that I am always in a dangerous situation. If I let him be by my side, he would also be in danger.…

　　Goodbye, Joker.…

　　Zixia Fairy stood still and stared at the back of Xu Que, with her eyes watering.

　　There was a lock inside this cave, and a strong cultivator like Zixia Fairy was not allowed to step in. She could feel something was trying to push her out of the cave…. But before she left, she wanted to have a good look at Xu Que.

　　Suddenly, Xu Que took out his recorder and pushed the “PLAY” button.

　　“She is gone, the happy time we spent together in the past could never come back; the red leaves are buried deeply under the ground; we are back at the starting point; you are drifting in the air, in the clouds.”

　　…

　　The familiar tune echoed again.

　　Hearing this, Zixia Fairy was stunned and all her memories began to flash back in her mind.

　　The time when he risked his life to save me at the Arrays that consisted of checkerboards; the time in the Illusion World, when he stayed by my side and told me he would never leave me; the moment when he was about to say the words I have been yearning for.

　　Thinking of this, she could no longer suppress her feelings and began to walk forward.

　　“Jo…, what’s going on?” She said gently.

　　But how should I explain myself to him when he sees me?!

　　“Zixia?!” Xu Que suddenly turned around. But when he saw Zixia’s beautiful face, he was shocked. His face was already twisted by his sorrow and full of tears. He was very disappointed and shook his head.

　　“I am sorry, I thought you were someone I know…. I just lost someone who is very important to me!”

　　Then he stopped and tears rolled down again.

　　Someone who is very important to him?!

　　Hearing this, Zixia Fairy was about to tell him the truth, since she could not bear seeing him drowning in sorrow. After a while, she said, “I am so sorry. I am sure you are also very important to her, and, most of all, she knows that too, and the last thing she wants to see is you being sad.”

　　“No, she can’t know, since I have never told her…. And now she has died.” Xu Que began to cry again.

　　“She must have already known that!”

　　Xu Que shook his head and suddenly stood up. He stopped crying and began to stare at the dark abyss. He looked like he had changed into another person, someone who was no longer bright, but full of melancholy. “My dearest lover, goodbye! I will never see you again! I sit here alone, looking beyond the world. When spring comes, flowers will blossom again; but my love, you are drifting in the air, in the clouds and never to be found.…”

　　The music was still on. Xu Que suddenly began to sing with his hoarse voice, “I was in love with a woman before, but I never really cherished her; by the time I lost her, I was drowned in deep sorrow and regret; this is the worst thing in the world!; if I can have the second chance, I will tell her that I love her!”

　　Then he closed his eyes, teardrops ran across his face. He strode forward and was about to jump into the abyss.…

　　….