Chapter 30: Fall of the Obsessed
The sky wept fire.
Above the shattered temple, clouds churned like a sea of wrath. Thunder cracked in tune with Ying Yue's steps as she advanced, wings of light trailing stardust behind her. Qiuhan's smirk faltered.
"You've awakened too late," he spat, raising his arms. "The seal is broken. The void is already—"
"No," she interrupted. "It's not the void you should fear. It's me."
She raised her hand, and the sky split open. A beam of pure celestial power slammed into the ground, cracking it beneath Qiuhan's feet. He barely jumped aside as the energy scorched a crater in the earth.
Bai Jiu, bloodied but breathing, pushed himself up. "You're… magnificent," he said, voice rasping, a small smile on his lips.
Ying Yue turned to him, her features softening. "You always believed in me. Now believe in us."
Bai Jiu's blade reignited, this time brighter than ever—fueled by love, memory, and rebirth. He walked to her side, his hand brushing hers. The touch was brief, but enough. A spark passed between them, and for a moment, the world stood still.
Qiuhan screamed in rage. "You will not take her from me again!"
He unleashed everything.
Dark tendrils shot out from his body, forming a beast of shadow behind him—massive, snarling, the embodiment of obsession and madness. It roared, rushing toward them.
"Now," whispered Ying Yue.
Together, she and Bai Jiu raised their hands—her seal, his sword—fusing into a radiant sigil that hovered before them, a lotus of fire and moonlight.
"By heaven's decree and heart's bond," Ying Yue chanted.
"Let darkness find its end," Bai Jiu continued.
The lotus exploded outward.
It swallowed the beast whole—light piercing every inch of the shadow. Qiuhan's scream echoed across the land, not of pain… but of release. His form dissolved into ash, scattered into the wind.
Silence fell.
No wind. No magic. Just breath.
Bai Jiu collapsed to one knee, exhausted. Ying Yue caught him before he fell completely.
"It's over," she said, tears falling freely.
He looked up at her. "No… it's just beginning."
They stayed like that, in each other's arms, not as goddess and immortal—but as two souls who had found their way through eternity to each other again.
And far in the distance, the seal pulsed gently beneath the earth—whole once more.