"Have you made a decision?"
Asking Jian Shen this question because he didn't take so long until now to decide during the previous tests, the trial's spirit was curious to see what he would do.
Would he continue to remain as the selfless saint he behaved like until now, or would he turn greedy for his own life and throw everyone dear to him into the jaws of certain death?
"Yes. Kill me."
Saying those words, Jian Shen who knew that his death wouldn't be a slow one chose to make his flash in front of his eyes instead of waiting for it to happen by itself.
The day he found the Heavenly Dragon Sword, the first time he kissed Wuying, those days he spent training with Xinyi, living with Qingyu on the mountain, encountering Juewang, meeting Yu Yan inside the forest, going to the Great Sect of Lust, that cute as a button Meng Lulu, the pair of beautiful sisters, finding the Flower General who looked as beautiful as a real flower, the beautiful Li Suyin who wanted to get close to him but couldn't because he didn't have enough time, Zheng Niu who made him feel like she was his wife and her mother who liked to play pranks, the girl whom he started treating as his sister and her mother whom he wants to get close to...
In fact, Jain Shen felt that there were many more important memories that he was forgetting, but he didn't think too much about any of them. If he couldn't remember them, it only meant that he had lost them when a part of his brain was taken away.
Still, he didn't feel as if he lost any of his most important memories due to which he didn't mind only remembering these memories for the last time ever.
"Very well."
"Wielder of the Myriad God Sword, Jian Shen, you have passed the Trial of Sacrifice. You can now take the time to say goodbye to your life."
While Jian Shen did hope for the trial spirit to say something like just his words were what was needed to pass the test, since it hadn't said that for the previous tests he didn't really have a huge hope in it doing such a thing now either.
Raising his hand to touch Meirong's face, Jian Shen wiped the tears which were falling down non stop and said, "None of this is your fault, Meirong. No matter how unlucky you are, you couldn't be the cause of this. Just remember that I died for you so don't find another man."
"Hahahahahahahaha.…"
Laughing at his own stupid joke because he was deep down scared of dying and didn't want to show it on his face after managing to show off his cool side until now, Jian Shen only hoped for the death to be a quick and painless one.
Unfortunately, no matter how long Jian Shen waited for nothing seemed to change.
If not for the fact that he could still hear Meirong's muffled crying and the warmth of her lap, he would've thought that he was already dead.
"Sacrifice."
Hearing the trial's spirit say that word, Jian Shen suddenly felt very weird as if the world was moving in reverse.
Even though he remembered everything that happened since be entered the trial, it felt to him as if all of it was a dream. All because the moment Jian Shen opened his eyes, everything about him was back normal.
His arm which had disappeared was back, his two Dantians were back there, his senses were back, the four Heaven Grade Meridians were back and all the vital organs which had a part taken away were back complete in size.
"What is... "
Stretching his hand to take hold of the item which appeared out of nowhere, Jian Shen saw the shocked expression on Meirong's tear covered face which allowed him to understand that he hadn't imagined everything.
The item which he took hold of was a very small palm-sized hourglass which had both of its chambers empty.
"That is the Hourglass of Sacrifice. Sacrifice something in exchange for obtaining something else. By sacrificing enough life span you can even turn back itself."
Still listening to the trial spirit, Jian Shen felt curious to know if it wasn't the spirit of the Heavenly Creation than who else was.
"The spirit of the Heavenly Creations only stay active until they find someone capable to wield them and when they weren't in possession of someone. Once someone obtains possession of them however they will turn dormant and not interest anymore."
"The trial's spirit in this way is actually the spirit of the Hourglass of Sacrifice. Soon it will disappear and not reappear as long as you or anyone else possesses the Hourglass of Sacrifice, husband."
Smiling happily from feeling the two familiar swords back in their place on the sides of his waist, Jian Shen checked the World Crest on his wrist and saw that all of the women were safe inside it.
"Was this small thing worth everything I had to go through?"
Having seen everything that happened until now, Qingyu said, "Yes. This Hourglass of Sacrifice is one of the best Heavenly Creations."
"Strictly speaking, as long as you sacrifice enough you can even change the laws governing the world."
"And since you've chosen to not abandon the cursed girl, you can use this Hourglass of Sacrifice to offset her bad luck repeatedly until you find a way to completely remove the curse."