Chapter 2288: Chapter 2335: A Flash in the Pan

The Old Dream Demon Emperor’s withered fingers slowly curled, grasping the equally shriveled Demon Infant Fruit. She pressed it gently against her chest, her eyes filled with tenderness.

"This life is beyond reach, so I will wait for the next.

"But alas, we are destined to miss each other in the next life too.

"I only wished for a single encounter."

With a touch of regret, she gazed softly at Jiang Fan.

"When we met in this life, my youth had already faded, and I was already another’s wife.

"In the next life, please come to me when my flowers are in full bloom, okay?

"Even if it’s just a fleeting glance from afar."

As she spoke, countless black particles drifted from her body, making her frail frame grow transparent and ethereal—like a wisp of smoke about to scatter in the wind. Jiang Fan’s arms, which were wrapped around her back, felt as if they were sinking into quicksand, slowly pressing through her dissipating form.

She was fading away.

"No..." Jiang Fan hugged her tightly, but the harder he squeezed, the faster she dissipated. "No, you can’t go... I have a healing domain, Spirit Pills, and Demon Race Holy Blood."

He clumsily activated his Second Domain. In his panic, the Domain Waves fluctuated erratically. But an invisible, irresistible force had locked onto the Old Dream Demon Emperor. His domain couldn’t enter her body at all.

Jiang Fan then brought out the Phoenix Essence Pill and the Demon Race Holy Blood, his hands shaking uncontrollably as his entire body trembled.

This was the first time the Old Dream Demon Emperor had ever seen the usually calm and collected young man in such a state of panic. That Phoenix Essence Pill was meant to heal a Sage, and the Demon Race Holy Blood could only be used by those in the Divinity Transformation Realm. How could someone at her level, merely in the Nascent Soul Realm, possibly use them?

She gently pressed his hand down and rested her head against his chest, her voice soft.

"There is no need. No one can stop the price of the Tear of Time.

"Just hold me a little longer at the end."

How could Jiang Fan not know this? He was just panicking. Like a drowning man, he was desperately trying to grasp any sliver of hope, even if it was just a floating straw.

"Jiu Meng..." Jiang Fan’s voice quivered as he embraced her again.

The Old Dream Demon Emperor revealed a look of contentment, murmuring softly.

"The Heavens truly favor me.

"To let me die in your arms at the very end... it ensures my final moments won’t be too lonely..."

Favor? She could have retained her ageless beauty and lived out a brilliant life as the South Sea Demon Emperor. But she met Jiang Fan. A single encounter had plunged her into a tragic fate of unrequited love. For Jiang Fan’s sake, she had aged overnight, her hair turning white. For a single glance in the next life, she was willing to sacrifice herself. How could the Heavens be considered anything but cruel to her?

Yet, she was completely satisfied just because Jiang Fan was accompanying her on her final journey.

"Is it worth it?" Jiang Fan’s vision blurred. "Am I really worth all this?"

The Old Dream Demon Emperor’s body grew increasingly transparent until only a faint silhouette remained. She shook her head gently, her voice turning ethereal.

"When you love someone, you don’t calculate whether it’s worth it or not.

"There is only willingness and unwillingness.

"For you, I am willing.

"Even if there will be no result."

DRIP.

A teardrop fell into the Old Dream Demon Emperor’s body. She looked up at Jiang Fan, whose tears were streaming down his cheeks, and gently reached out to wipe his face. But her form was too faint. Her fingers phased right through the tears. She lifted her nearly transparent hands and looked at them. She knew it was time for her final goodbye.

"Promise me one last wish."

Jiang Fan nodded bitterly.

"Close your eyes," she said.

Knowing this was their final farewell, Jiang Fan agonizingly closed his eyes.

The next moment, a faint, soft sensation pressed against his lips. Opening his eyes, he saw the Old Dream Demon Emperor’s illusionary face inches from his own. Her hands cradled his cheeks as she kissed him gently. When they parted at the North Sea, the Old Dream Demon Emperor had kissed him once. And now, it was another kiss goodbye.

A farewell for eternity.

The Old Dream Demon Emperor’s body resembled the ashes of a burned-out paper doll. As the wind blew, her form scattered entirely into the breeze. Her face, too, was slowly dissipating. She parted her lips and smiled at Jiang Fan, an easy, gentle smile as if this were just an ordinary parting.

"Goodbye.

"We will meet... in the next life..."

Her lingering voice and her visage dissipated together into heaven and earth. Not all flowers bloom for the sake of bearing fruit. But a bloom without fruit results in eternal withering.

RUSTLE.

Losing its support, the Old Dream Demon Emperor’s long silk dress fell silently to the ground. Falling alongside it was the shriveled Demon Infant Fruit. It dropped into Jiang Fan’s palm. Drop after drop of his tears rained down upon it, moistening it until it bloomed with a faint, weak luster once more. It was as if it were about to be reborn.

The continuous sea breeze blew past. A hundred flowers swayed, their fragrances overflowing.

FLIP FLIP FLIP.

The book on the table fluttered wildly until it reached its final page. A beautiful, multicolored butterfly landed upon it. Beside it lay a line of faded poetry.

"I was born before you, yet you were born when I was old.

"Transforming into a butterfly to seek the bloom, resting upon fragrant grass every night..."

SWISH.

The book closed. Startled, the butterfly flew up and landed on Jiang Fan’s shoulder. In its pitch-black eyes reflected a face looking up at the sky, streaming with tears.

Suddenly, Jiang Fan’s shoulders began to tremble. Frightened, the butterfly flew away, landing on the epiphyllum flowers lining the steps nearby.

The holy, snow-white epiphyllum flowers had withered away at some unknown moment. The ground was littered with white petals that fluttered into the air with the sweeping sea breeze. Some flew into the clouds, while others fell into the sea. Only the solitary stamens remained, standing quietly.

"Heh...

"Hahaha...

"Hahahahaha..."

Jiang Fan laughed, his shoulders heaving unstoppably.

"Flawless in this life, owing nothing to anyone? Hahaha..."

He stumbled through the flowers, his eyes red as he laughed in self-mockery. He remembered the Beixue Shura Empress’s words: "If you remain indifferent to the one who loves you, simply watching them carry their regrets, you will eventually regret it."

He had answered that he wouldn’t.

But now, he regretted it. He had failed a woman who loved him more than she loved her own life.

If only he had been willing to respond to Jiu Meng at the North Sea that year. If only he had made her stay when he left the Continent. If only he had come to this island sooner...

Jiu Meng’s destiny could so easily have been rewritten. He could have ensured she lived this life with no regrets. Endless remorse, like a torrent breaking through a Sealing, washed recklessly through his spiritual altar.

He regretted it. He desperately wished he could turn back time and rewrite the past.

CRACK—

A crack appeared on the Ancestor Ring behind his head. His Dao Heart was flawed, and his domain was shattering. If this continued, he would enter Heavenly Human Decline.

Jiang Fan smiled miserably.

"Flawless Domain, hahaha... Flawless Domain...

"If I can’t even keep the one who loves me deeply, I would rather not have this Path of Perfection!"

He didn’t suppress his remorse, allowing the regret to ravage him.

Finally, his domain began to fragment.

The five clusters of domain fire, which had cost him countless painstaking efforts to ignite, extinguished one by one. The brilliant full-moon Ancestor Ring quickly turned dim and pitch-black as dense cracks spread all over its surface.

And a faint, putrid scent emanated from Jiang Fan’s underarms.

His Heavenly Human Decline Tribulation had arrived.

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