Against The Heavens 44 Second Attempt.

His gaze was cold as he charged into the group of people, tearing them apart as he made his way towards Xue Senzhou. Despite only being illusions, they felt completely lifelike as he tore them apart as if they were real bodies. While tearing a path through the group, Li Yang also marveled at the might of Jinwu's two elements. He had expected the might of the golden flames, not even leaving behind ash as they scorched everything. But Jinwu's ice moved around like a light blue smoke, everything that touched it immediately freezing solid.

Li Yang was like a tiger set loose upon a flock of sheep, none of the people in the group able to stop him. Everyone inside the illusion had the strength that they had from back then, so for a few short moments inside the illusion, Li Yang had returned to his past prime, to the days of the Thunder Monarch. But this Thunder Monarch had his strength increased by a child Divine Beast, turning into a monarch of fire and ice.

With no one able to stop or stand against him, it didn't even take half a minute for the entire group to be torn apart. All that remained, in the end, was Li Yang, surrounded by frozen corpses and scorched earth, his golden robe still clean and pristine. Yet despite slaughtering the entire group, Li Yang's expression did not improve.

With a slight turn of his head, his eyes fell on two bodies lying on the ground in the distance. He had killed everyone, but Fang Ying and Fang Xue'er had both died. This was an illusion and a trial, no matter what he did, the end would not change. Despite expecting the result, his heart still ached at seeing the b.l.o.o.d.y corpses.

Li Yang did not walk over to the corpses, because he could feel the world around him s.h.i.+ft and distort. After only a short moment, the world around him had once again turned into the scenery at the bottom of the valley. Li Yang gave the surroundings a quick sweep with his eyes, before shaking his head and undoing the fusion ability.

"As expected, I failed the trial. Thank you for putting up with my selfishness, Jinwu."

Jinwu landed on Li Yang's left shoulder, looking a bit weaker and rather exhausted, but he still snuggled close to Li Yang's neck. Li Yang gave Jinwu a few pats on the head, before speaking out in a loud voice.

"Sorry, Zizai, but could you send me back into the trial?"

To Li Yang, the entire bottom of the valley looked identical, he also didn't know where he would be sent after failing the trial, so he had no idea where the entrance of the trial currently was. But he knew that Zizai would be able to hear him from anywhere inside the valley, so he could simply ask Zizai to send him back to the trial.

Not long after Li Yang's voice rang out, the wind around him once more turned ferocious, lifting him up and sending him deeper into the valley. After flying through the air like this for a short while, the world around Li Yang started to twist and distort with the wind, letting him know that he had once again entered the trial.

The moment the wind around Li Yang vanished and he saw the contents of the illusion, his eyes could not help but tremble slightly. He stood atop a small hill, black clouds covered the sky and released a torrent of rain. The earth beneath the hill was drenched in blood, a large group of people surrounding the hill, in his hand was a familiar golden sword. But there was one big difference between this scene and the one he had experienced in the past, now there were four additional corpses on the ground not far from them, the corpses of four dear friends.

Li Yang closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, he then turned his head to the side, ignoring the people that surrounded him and shouted at him. Just as he expected, a graceful woman clad in an azure robe was standing next to him, her face pale and carrying a somewhat worried expression. Fang Ying was covered in blood and wounds, but they only added a valiant charm to her. Looking at that familiar visage in such a familiar scene, Li Yang could not help but be somewhat spellbound. Noticing that Li Yang was looking at her with a spellbound expression, Fang Ying could not help but turn towards him.

"Do you really think now is the time to be looking at me like that?"

Her voice was a bit weak, but it traveled directly to Li Yang's heart. In his life, Li Yang only ever had two regrets. Not being able to save Fang Xue'er was one, and this fateful day was the second. As he responded, Li Yang could not help but wear a brilliant smile.

"I couldn't help it, you are just too beautiful."

Hearing such an unexpected answer, Fang Ying could not help but be caught slightly off guard, but she quickly puffed out her cheeks slightly, responding in a tone of voice that could only be considered cheeky.

"So this is what it takes for you to praise me, the both of us being chased down and surrounded?"

Li Yang did not respond to her question, his smile only growing brighter as he saw her somewhat pouting expression. He took his eyes off her and swept the surroundings, he could see Jing Yimu standing at the bottom of the hill, shouting at them, but his words did not reach Li Yang's ears.

"Do you regret it? All these years?"

Back then, it had been Fang Ying who asked him this question, but now it was him asking her. They had spent so many years together, suffered so much hards.h.i.+p together. This was just an illusion, but Li Yang still wanted the Fang Ying next to him to answer the question.

"Not a single second. If I was given the chance, I would do it all over again."

Hearing her response, a slight smile spread on Li Yang's face. At the end of his past life, it had been him who had spoken very similar words. Li Yang once more glanced at those four familiar corpses lying on the ground not far away. After glancing at the corpses, he dropped his golden sword and took a hold of Fang Ying's hand, speaking out in a gentle and soft voice.

"Tell me, Ying'er. Would you follow me, to the great void, to a true emptiness?"

Li Yang had already made up his mind. He did not know if his choice would allow him to pa.s.s this test, but he knew that the choice was the one that his heart told him was right, the choice he was unable to make back then. Fang Ying also glanced at the four corpses for a short moment, tightening her grip on Li Yang's hands, her voice calm and gentle.

"A world without you and the others is a world that is not worth existing."

Li Yang's lips curved into a smile, his eyes meeting Fang Ying's. His right hand held onto Fang Ying's while his left arm slowly rose up, his flat palm facing upwards. A pitch black energy started to gather in the upturned palm, but Li Yang was completely absorbed in Fang Ying's eyes.

"Then together. To a point beyond existence."

The pitch black energy started to gather together, forming into a small black orb that floated above Li Yang's palm. When the orb appeared, it was as if the entire world fell silent, all sound sucked up by the orb as it slowly grew larger. Despite the orb seemingly sucking up all sound, Li Yang was still able to hear Fang Ying's voice.

"Together. No matter where."

After Fang Ying's last words rang out, the black orb rapidly expanded, turning into a ma.s.sive black hole. This was the choice Li Yang had been unable to make back then, to unleash the full power of destruction and drag Jing Yimu and the others with them to death. But in this illusion, even Zhao Feng and the others had already died, so there was nothing holding Li Yang back.

Li Yang and Fang Ying were the first to be sucked into the black hole, twisted and distorted until they completely vanished, even their souls forever destroyed. But the true power of destruction had already been unleashed, so it did not stop there. The black hole swiftly grew, sucking up not only the planet they were on, but even dragging in a countless amount of other planets.

Had Li Yang been able to see the end result, he would surely have been surprised. Half a galaxy, completely destroyed and replaced by a black void. This was the full strength of the destruction that Li Yang had comprehended. Had his cultivation been higher, the black hole would have been even larger. Truly, a funeral pyre fit for a monarch and his empress.

After being sucked into the black hole, Li Yang found himself floating in a pitch black s.p.a.ce. After only a short moment, the pitch black s.p.a.ce started lighting up and distorting, turning back into the scenery at the bottom of the valley, the familiar voice of Ye Ning ringing out in Li Yang's head.

"Following your heart and freeing it from the shackles of guilt and regret, you can be considered to have completed my trial. You can take my emblem, hopefully, you will be able to gather all four and reignite the lightning that was lost."

In both attempts at the trial, Li Yang had basically done the same thing. He had fought and reached the inevitable end of the illusion, the death of Fang Ying. But the difference between the two was that at the end of the second attempt, Li Yang's heart was content. He had followed his heart and done as he wished, just as Ye Ning had always done.