The Emperor frowned a bit. "This may be troublesome."
At this point, the Emperor was the only one Skymender could sense at all. Whether it was sight, hearing, smelling, or any of the other senses, Skymender could see nothing except for infinite whiteness, a single remaining shard, and the Emperor.
The Emperor began to lead away, and Skymender followed.
Eventually, they boarded the boat. Skymender's only job was pointing in the distance, where the shard was. Eventually, they reached the point above the shard. However, a storm was raging, and down below, multiple figures could be seen.
"Indeed, it is where the Sea Monsters congregate." The Emperor said.
This was an area that the Emperor had never fully understood. For some reason, the Mythical beasts of the ocean, also known as Sea Monsters, mainly stayed in this area. He had spent many lives investigating, but never found anything.
Now, he could guess it was related to the mirror shards that only Skymender could see.
However, would they be able to reach the shard?
The Continent of Wu had its nine Mythical beasts and the Treant. The Mainland had its golden dragon. The Sea had its five Sea Monsters.
Sword Grandmaster Shang looked at the ocean with a calm gaze.
"What will happen if you get this shard?" He asked.
The Emperor relayed his message to Skymender.
"Something unimaginable." Skymender said.
This came from a feeling he had.
"Even if you die, we can reset." The Emperor said, understanding what he was thinking.
Sword Grandmaster Shang nodded.
With a firm gaze, he grabbed Skymender.
Skymender felt unimaginable strength grab him and shoot down.
Sword Grandmaster Shang dove into the depths of the ocean. He was instantly surrounded by all five Sea Monsters.
He gritted his teeth and used every drop of his strength five times. The Sea Beasts were cut deeply. The Kraken lost two tentacles, a large whale lost an eye, a shark lost a fin.
It only stopped them for a moment. Sword Grandmaster Shang continued down, but the Sea Monsters were faster than him in water by no small margin. He fought with his life on the line, instantly suffering injuries. Even at the peak of the Emperor's last life, he may not have won against five Sea Monsters, much less now. It was more or less a death wish, or rather, a sacrifice.
Suffering deep injuries that would surely result in his death, Sword Grandmaster Shang threw Skymender where he was pointing.
Skymender instantly felt the last shard within his grasp.
Time slowed to a halt. This time, only Skymender could move.
He grabbed the shard, and it seemed to resonate with the other eight.
They all moved together, forming a sword made out of mirror shards.
Skymender looked at it. A premonition took him over.
If he grabbed this sword, he would gain immense, unimaginable power, but he would also die.
However, there wasn't much of an option. There was no other way to escape this world. He did not have any lingering resentments or regrets. From the moment he had been born, he had pursued his goals without fear.
He had become the Imperial Scholar, and helped lead the Emperor to conquer the Continent of Wu. Even the Mainland would have been theirs if nothing unexpected had happened. But it seemed as though this was his fate.
Skymender reached out and grabbed the sword. In an infinite field of light, it was one of the only two things he could see.
He turned and bowed towards the Emperor.
With the sword in his hand, he jumped.
A slight movement, but he soared out of the water into the air.
The five Sea Monsters were slaughtered, and a healing power filled Sword Grandmaster Shangs body.
Skymenders' ascent did not stop.
The Emperor looked at him with a slack jaw and infinite hope.
"Break through this cage, Skymender!" He shouted with true joy for the first time in countless years.
As Skymender flew through the air, something awakened. The Treant looked at Skymender with open eyes.
Skymender snorted and waved his sword upwards.
The Treant's thick, large body was cut through. It exploded, its wood splintering out all around the Continent of Wu. Skymender broke through the sky. Above, he saw an unimaginably large multi-colored cage. It locked down the entire planet.
Nothing beyond it could be seen.
The mirror sword vibrated with increased intensity. Skymender could feel his life force draining away rapidly.
Without hesitation, he swung the sword upwards. An unimaginable force, condensed from the excess of this cycle over countless years, tore open the cage.
With that slash, all power left the sword, and it broke into fine pieces.
Skymender lost all the power it had given him.
He froze in place, unable to move at all.
His thoughts slowly faded away.
Was this the meaning of his life? Had everything been for this moment? To sacrifice it all or be trapped in an endless cycle?
As everything faded away, and the cage trapping the world parted, Skymender's vision returned. He saw the endless stars above, beautiful galaxies, a place where anything was possible.
Although he would not get to experience it, he had given the Emperor, and perhaps the people of this world, the freedom to explore.
Despite being a mere mortal, he had accomplished what even cultivators may not be able to do.
—------------------------------------------------------
In a mansion yard, a man opened his eyes. As soon as he did so, he disappeared.
The man appeared in a distant region of the universe, where he saw a cage breaking apart. There, he also saw a body.
Memories filled his body, but it did not affect him at all.
Skymender had merely lived for a hundred years or so.
Zhou Fan had been alive around the beginning of the Universe. They were not at all comparable.
Zhou Fan looked at the corpse, his corpse.
It was a pity. Much less reach the Peak, he hadn't even stepped onto the path of Cultivation. He had been trapped in a cage from birth, and the only way out was to sacrifice himself.
However, this cage itself was quite interesting.