The Legend of the Princess' Counterattack

Chapter 774: Saint Lady's Shadow's Previous Life Combat Skills

As the space-time rift at the Demonic Abyss's exit was torn open by the Blood-Colored Asura, Yun Yao was infusing the final wisp of the Pure World Lotus's spiritual energy into Chu Mochen's meridians. The lingering black mist of the Heart-Eroding Curse coalesced into the ferocious face of Liu Yan'er at his heart, but dissipated into smoke under the surge of spiritual energy. Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, a halberd-like shadow, swathed in a world-destroying pressure, streaked through the air. Chu Mochen's pupils constricted, his body, still immobilized by the Candle Dragon bloodline, instinctively blocking her path.

"Be careful!" Yun Yao's cry was drowned out by the sharp whistling sound of the halberd's blade tearing through the air. Shura's God-Slaying Halberd was shrouded in a chaotic aura, shattering space wherever it passed. The dragon-scale shield Chu Mochen had barely summoned shattered the moment the halberd's tip touched it. She could clearly see the black blood spilling from her husband's lips, a sign that the Candle Dragon bloodline was being suppressed. The dark golden token hanging from Shura's waist was inscribed with the words "God-Slaying Guards," representing the elite divine realm who had been ordered to slay the War Halberd Divine Lord.

The Fate-Defying Disk vibrated violently in Yun Yao's arms, and the symbols of seventeen reincarnations illuminated on its surface. She suddenly recalled the fragments of memories she had seen in the Divine Monarch's Palace: on the day the War Halberd Divine Monarch fell, his body was pierced by twelve God-Slaying Halberds. The trajectory of Shura's attack at this moment was remarkably identical to her memory!

"Yao'er, don't worry about me!" Chu Mochen's voice mixed with blood sprayed on her face, and the shadow of Zhulong was looming behind him. "Go to the Divine Medicine Garden to get the remnant soul of the war spear. Only it can..." Before he finished speaking, the God-Destroying Spear had pierced his left shoulder, and dragon blood like a waterfall dyed Yun Yao's white skirt red.

Yun Yao felt an invisible hand grip her heart. The fragmented pages of the "Defying Heaven's Fate Codex" in her sea of consciousness suddenly flipped, and memories of her past life as the Holy Maiden of Heaven flooded back like a tide: she had razed the Nine Netherworlds with the Three Thousand Causal Swords, and reversed the galaxy with the Eyes of Reversing Time, but at the last moment, she had personally sealed the War Halberd God's divinity into the cycle of reincarnation. In those images she had deliberately forgotten, every scar spoke of the same obsession: to protect her.

"So... I've been running away all along." Yun Yao's fingertips caressed Chu Mochen's pale face, and the golden light emanating from the Heaven-Defying Fate Plate enveloped them both. When Shura's halberd blade was only three inches from Chu Mochen's throat, a gigantic phantom of a saint suddenly appeared behind her, entwined with seventeen chains of cause and effect, each connected to a fragment of memory from a different time and space.

"Open!" Yun Yao shouted softly, and the chains of karma transformed into a sky filled with sword light. These sword lights were not murderous, but rather shimmered with a gentle, soft light—the gratitude in the eyes of the stray cats she had rescued in modern times, the wildflowers offered by mortal children in the cultivation world after they recovered from illness, and the fleeting envy that Liu Yan'er had looked at her before her complete depravity.

Shura's God-Slaying Halberd shattered in the sword's glow, and he was horrified to discover that his proud Chaos Magic was being purified. The souls of the cultivators he had devoured broke free from his body, transforming into points of light and merging into Yun Yao's sword formation. Even more terrifying, his memory was being rewritten—all his obsession with hunting Yun Yao was replaced by images of her enduring repeated thunderstorms in the depths of the Demonic Abyss to save Chu Mochen.

"Impossible! You're clearly just a time traveler!" Shura's roar was drowned out by the humming of the Causal Sword. Yun Yao seized the opportunity to retrieve the space-time spiritual herbs she had brought back from the Divine Medicine Garden. These rare artifacts, grown in the cracks of time, now transformed into golden powder in her palm. As the powder was sprinkled over Shura, the laws of causality throughout space began to distort—Shura's face blurred, his memories forcibly retraced to a time before he was controlled by the Chaos Demon Sect.

"Passing the Void Realm Trial: Transforming Negative Consequences with Good Causes." The moment the system's mechanical voice rang out, Yun Yao's realm barrier shattered. The overwhelming pressure of the early Void Realm swept across the entire arena, but upon reaching Chu Mochen, it transformed into gentle spiritual energy, repairing his shattered meridians.

However, just when she thought the crisis was over, Shura's remaining chaotic consciousness suddenly exploded. Amidst the violent energy fluctuations, Yun Yao saw the cracks in the Heaven-Defying Fate Disk widen again, and Chu Mochen unexpectedly used his body to block the fatal shockwave for her at the last moment.

"No—!" Yun Yao's cries tore through the sky. The light of the Heaven-Defying Fate Plate dimmed, and the markings of seventeen reincarnations began to fade. She suddenly realized that every time she used the power of karma, she was overdrawing the bond between her and Chu Mochen. But at this moment, her husband's unconscious body rested in her arms, his breath as weak as a candle in the wind.

"Host, please note that Chu Mochen's soul is severely damaged. He can only be repaired by traveling to the 'Eternal Dream' small world and using the Source of Emotion." Yun Yao's pupils shrank sharply when the system prompted her. She remembered a scene she had witnessed in that world while collecting the Source: the emotions of a couple transformed into a physical entity, supporting the entire world.

"I'll take you there." Yun Yao held Chu Mochen in her arms, the remaining power of the Heaven-Defying Fate Plate tearing open a rift in space. The moment she stepped into the rift, she looked back at the site of Shura's self-destruction. There, a familiar aura lingered—the lingering spirit of a former subordinate of the War Halberd Divine Lord. This discovery shocked her. Could the Chaos Demon Sect's conspiracy be far more complex than she had imagined?

Rose-colored clouds drifted across the sky of Eternal Dreamland. As Yun Yao, holding Chu Mochen, stepped into this world, the entire space suddenly trembled. In the distance, the Tree of Emotion lowered its branches, each leaf reflecting memories of her and Chu Mochen. Just as she was about to search for the source of her emotions, a figure suddenly emerged from the tree's hollow—a young woman in a white dress. Her face bore a striking resemblance to Yun Yao's, but her eyes held a veil of experience not belonging to this world.

"You are finally here, your seventeenth self." The girl's voice was ethereal and vague. "I am the clone of your consciousness left on the edge of the realm of rules. I have been waiting for this moment." She raised her hand and waved. The crown of the Tree of Emotion turned into a galaxy, and countless fragments of memories poured into Yun Yao's sea of consciousness.

Yun Yao saw a vision of the distant past: the Hongmeng Heavenly Dao sealed the War Halberd Divine Lord because it foresaw the divine realm would be destroyed by the power of the twin soul flames. As the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Dao, while carrying out her sealing mission, she secretly wove the karmic connection between them into the cycle of reincarnation. It turns out that, from beginning to end, she had been searching for him, and he had been waiting for her.

"But now, a new variable has appeared in the causal line." The clone pointed to the sky, where a dark cloud floated. "Behind the Chaos Demon Sect is the Faceless Man, who seeks to devour all cause and effect. He has been collecting the regrets of every reincarnation, hoping to use these negative emotions to create an abyss capable of devouring the Rule Realm."

Yun Yao hugged Chu Mochen tightly, feeling his body gradually cooling. The Fate-Defying Disk glowed faintly in her arms, and the newly appeared cracks on the disk were spreading at a visible speed. She knew that they were running out of time.

"Tell me what to do." Her voice was firm as steel.

The clone smiled and handed her a crystal ball: "The source of emotion is here, but to activate it, you must face your deepest fear - not losing power, nor facing the enemy, but..." Before she finished speaking, the crystal ball suddenly shattered, and countless images flooded into Yun Yao's mind.

In those scenes, Chu Mochen recovered the memory of the War Spear God, but forgot every detail of their time with her as a mortal; in other scenes, she successfully broke through the realm of rules, but lost the bond with Chu Mochen forever; the most terrifying thing was that she saw that in order to protect the universe, she had to seal Chu Mochen's soul with her own hands.

"These are all possible futures." The clone's voice was tinged with a sigh. "But the future isn't predetermined, just like how you once reversed seventeen reincarnations. The power of emotion lies not in eliminating fear, but in accepting it and choosing to move forward."

Yun Yao closed her eyes, channeling all her fear, pain, and love into her fingertips. When she opened them again, the Tree of Emotion erupted with dazzling light, and countless streams of emotion transformed into streams of light and poured into Chu Mochen's body. His eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes. The blood of the Candle Dragon flowed in his eyes, yet they still held a gentleness that belonged to a mortal.

"Yao'er, I seem to have seen a lot of things in the past." His voice was confused and determined, "But I know that no matter how many reincarnations I have, I will find you."

The moment the two embraced, a crack suddenly appeared in the sky of the Eternal Dream, and a chaotic aura surged out. Yun Yao looked up and saw a blurry face—it was the projection of the "Faceless Man."

"Interesting! You can actually master the origin of emotions in the Void Realm." The Faceless Man's voice echoed throughout the space. "But this is just the beginning. The day you collect all three thousand origins, I will reap all the karma."

The cracks in the Heaven-Defying Fate Disk widened again, but Yun Yao held Chu Mochen's hand tightly, a look of determination flashing in her eyes: "Then let's see whether your conspiracy will succeed or our bond can rewrite this so-called destiny."

As the Eternal Dream began to crumble under the erosion of chaotic energy, Yun Yao returned to the world of cultivation with Chu Mochen. Now, she had not only broken through to the early stages of the Void Realm, but also, tempered by the essence of her emotions, gained a deeper understanding of the law of cause and effect. But she knew a greater crisis lay ahead—the threat of the Faceless Man and the widening cracks in the Heaven-Defying Fate Plate reminded her that her struggle against fate was far from over.