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Ancient fragment #2
From high in the sky, it looked like a boundless grey ocean. Through countless eras, none had escaped it. These words were sealed within a jade slip by a master who had stepped into the Profound Qi Realm.
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Long Tianyu did not ask where they would go. The moment he nodded, Hua Qingqing was already moving.
She stepped lightly into the room, closing the window behind her. There was no hesitation in her movements, only familiarity, as though she had done this a thousand times before in her mind.
“Just take the most important things, I will put it in my storage pouch” she whispered.
Long Tianyu, still in shock, reached for his pouch. Inside were a few low-grade spirit stones, a few pieces of dried meat, and an old jade slip he had never managed to activate. He also grabbed his two swords, The Twin Shadow Blades. It was not much, but it was his entire world. Hua Qingqing took it and put his things within her storage pouch. Meanwhile Long Tianyu changed into darker clothing before leaving.
Long Tianyu took a deep breath outside, the cold night air was sharp in his lungs. The city lay quiet, unaware that two lives had just slipped free from its carefully arranged future. One should have married into the Imperial Clan and the other should have died while being a nobody.
Long Tianyu and Hua Qingqing moved through shadowed alleys and over tiled rooftops, avoiding the main streets. Hua Qingqing led without hesitation, her knowledge of patrol routes were precise.
The city slept all around them. Warm yellow lantern light bled through paper windows, casting thin bands of gold across the ground. Long Tianyu followed half a step behind, matching her pace. He trusted her without needing to ask questions.
His gaze kept returning to her back. The hood hid her face and hair, but he knew her figure too well, the straightness of her spine, the quiet confidence in her stride, the way she never once looked over her shoulder to check if he was still there.
At one narrow rooftop crossing, she stopped abruptly and raised a hand. Long Tianyu froze as a pair of guards passed directly below, their voices sharp in the silence. Hua Qingqing did not move until the sound faded, then leapt the gap in a smooth arc. Long Tianyu followed, landing harder, tiles skittering under his boots.
Actually this was too precise.
“You… you planned all this, didn’t you?” he murmured.
Hua Qingqing did not deny it.
“I hoped it wouldn’t come to this. But I had to be ready.” Hua Qingqing answered.
Before he could respond a loud bell tolled, deep and resonant, filled with spiritual qi.
Long Tianyu’s blood ran cold.
“That’s the Hua Clan’s warning bell,” he said.
Hua Qingqing’s jaw tightened. “They’ve discovered I’m gone. Father did what he could.”
Her heart bled as she remembered how helpless her father had been during the meeting with the clan master and the elders, a few hours ago he had visited her, convincing her to flee.
I hope he is okay.. and that they don't punish him too harshly..
Almost immediately, more auras ignited across the city, dozens of them. Some were familiar to Hua Qingqing, and some were terrifyingly unfamiliar.
BOOOOM!
And one, flying above the rest on the ground, carried an oppressive nobility that made Long Tianyu’s chest feel heavy.
“The prince,” he muttered. Long Tianyu's chest tighten in anger, the fire that had calmed down since seeing Hua Qingqing, once again burned.
Hua Qingqing nodded once. “He arrived this afternoon. Come, quickly.”
She grabbed Long Tianyu’s hand and dragged him along. Her cultivation was far superior to his.
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Long Tianyu heart was beating nonstop. His limbs was heavy like iron, his breath was ragged and uneven. Everything that had happened today felt too absurd, unfolding faster than his mind could keep up with. He knew he was slowing Hua Qingqing down. If she had been alone, she would have vanished into the night long ago.
Eventually, the two reached the city wall. It rose high and unbroken before them, bathed in bright lantern light, guards lining the ramparts in dense formation.
“We don’t have a choice. We need to go through here. The gate must be guarded even more tightly now,” Hua Qingqing said.
“Okay, let's go,” he said, not even hesitating.
Hua Qingqing tightened her grip around his hand and ran, her steps light as she crossed the tiled rooftops. At the edge, she leapt without slowing, her body arcing through the air. Long Tianyu’s stomach lurched. In that brief instant, he glimpsed the ground far below, it was distant and unforgiving. With his meager cultivation, falling from this height would mean certain death.
A shout suddenly echoed behind them, startling the townsfolk who had just woken to the tolling of the Hua Clan’s bell.
“Stop them!”
Hua Qingqing twisted mid-stride, her free hand holding a talisman from her storage pouch. A crescent of pale green light burst outward, sweeping across the ground. The night guards were forced back, their formation breaking as they stumbled and collided, weapons clattering against stone.
They had been noticed and far away the prince's aura could be felt exploding once more.
The prince is coming!
Before the guards could recover, Hua Qingqing pulled Long Tianyu with her and jumped off the wall.
Wind roared past his ears as the city wall fell away. The ground rushed up to meet them. Long Tianyu had only enough time to suck in a sharp breath before they were just above the ground.
Hua Qingqing's hair fluttered in the air as she took a deep breath and shouted as she infused qi into her free hand and punched downward.
BANG!
A large sound exploded outwards as Hua Qingqing slowed their fall by a large margin.
Long Tianyu fell and with his 3rd stage, bone refinement, it was enough to withstand the fall.
She even considered my cultivation.. How long was she planning this? Long Tianyu thought in disbelief.
Long Tianyu and Hua Qingqing saved no time to relax and sprinted into the wilderness beyond Moondragon City. Trees blurred past, and the ground fell uneven beneath their feet. Grey mist lay low on the forest's ground.
Hua Qingqing's eyebrows frowned.
How is it possible?!
Behind them, the pursuit intensified as more people from both the Imperial Clan and the Hua Clan learned of Hua Qingqing’s escape. Some how they had located her and Long Tianyu and they could hear the shouts behind them coming closer.
The two kept running and running. Behind her, she could hear deep breaths from Long Tianyu who tried his best to escape with her.
We cannot outrun them forever. Tianyu will not make it. They will kill him to prevent me from ever doing this again.
Should I let them capture me and hide Tianyu somewhere? No.. they seem to know exactly where we are. Hua Qingqing's mind raced as she tried to figure out what to do.
She looked back and saw Long Tianyu sweating, his face shining in the moonlight, exhaustion written clearly across his features.
“Tianyu,” Hua Qingqing said suddenly, veering sharply to the left.
“That way leads to…” He stopped himself.
He knew, and everyone behind them knew.
“STOP!”
Shouts rang out behind them, but the two ignored them and continued their escape.
Ahead, the land was shrouded in a towering wave of gray mist that stretched toward the heavens and swallowed the sky whole. Even from a distance, it felt wrong. It was silent and oppressive.
The Godslaying Abyss.
A forbidden zone where cultivators vanished without a trace. It was said that once you entered, you would fall endlessly into the abyss. No one knew what lay within, only that all were warned to stay away. It also served as a natural barrier, as beasts sensed something within the mist that repelled them, which was why Moondragon City had been built nearby.
Long Tianyu looked up at the wall of death, a sight that had become a legend throughout the kingdom and a source of horror in children’s tales. He himself had grown up terrified of it. The first day he saw the wall, his entire body had gone cold.
His heart pounded. “If we go in there, will we…?” letting his voice trail off.
“We might not make it out,” she said quietly.
He heard the tremor in her voice.
I have killed Tianyu. I should have been more prepared. I was not ready. I was too ignorant. This is my fault.
Hua Qingqing suddenly felt the warmth of Long Tianyu’s hand as he tightened his grip on her hand.
“It’s okay, Qingqing. I don’t regret this. Maybe… maybe this is our only chance,” he said, his voice gentle, trying to comfort her as tears traced her cheeks.
It is better to die together this way, he thought. He had accepted the risk from the start.
“STOP!”
The Hua Clan Master shouted in despair as he realized what they intended to do.
Do not do it. Please, little niece. You are our only hope of expanding into the Imperial City.
The prince’s aura surged again in rage, closer now, heavy and crushing.
Long Tianyu clenched his teeth as the oppressive pressure made his entire body scream in pain, but they were almost there. Bastard! If I ever have power I'll make sure to kill you!
Moments later, the wall of gray mist loomed before them, stretching endlessly upward. They looked small and insignificant in comparison. Long Tianyu looked up and prayed, praying to whatever lay within the abyss to show them mercy.
“Help us,” he whispered.
They stopped before the wall of gray mist. Hua Qingqing took one last look at his exhausted figure.
“Don’t let go. Promise me,” she said, squeezing his hand while looking deeply into Long Tianyu’s eyes.
“I won’t, I promise” Long Tianyu said, meeting her gaze as he gently touched her cheek with his free hand.
He leaned in, and their lips met. She closed her eyes as warmth spread between them, their arms wrapping around each other. It felt like a lifetime condensed into a single heartbeat.
Long Tianyu’s final thought was that, at least they were together, even in death.
Then the cold, deathly gray mist surged around them as they fell into The Godslaying Abyss.
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End of chapter 2 - The wall of annihilation
