Xia's eyes held a look that grew increasingly frenzied, while at the same time, her already immense Cursed Energy instantly multiplied exponentially, giving her at least some capacity to contend with that wicked Curse User.
Yet, no—it was still not enough.
Xia lowered her gaze, her mind made up.
In the end, it could only come to this.
So she was burning through her lifespan? Who couldn't do that!
Waging everything she had, Xia's presence surged upward once more.
In the blink of an eye, she reached a level on par with her opponent. But this power was bought by burning her own vitality, meaning it would not last long; she had to end the fight swiftly.
Although the enemy had already lost his sanity, his bodily instincts remained. Relying on a massive accumulation of Cursed Energy, he directly forced open an unorthodox Domain, shattering Xia's previous Domain almost to the point of collapse in the blink of an eye.
Yet at that very moment, Xia's power also rose to match her enemy's level.
Her verges-of-collapse Domain solidified anew and expanded even further.
Next came the clash of Domains.
Even so, Xia knew full well that this was a desperate situation with a ten-to-one fatality rate and zero chance of survival.
Before this, she had handed a special life-saving Cursed Tool from her Cangyun over to Sukuna, activating it to teleport him away.
Disregarding his objections, once that special, one-time-use spatial teleportation Cursed Tool was activated, it immediately whisked Sukuna back to the desolate wasteland where she had originally been.
With no further worries or distractions, and no longer needing to divert her power to protect Sukuna, Xia could now face the enemy before her heart and soul.
Although, theoretically speaking, their strengths were evenly matched—both having boosted their power through restrictions—the enemy had lost his mind long ago due to the wicked methods behind his strength. And Xia? She had elevated her power purely by burning her life and wagering her future.
Ultimately, the outcome was within Xia's expectations.
The two evenly matched Domains collided, rubbing against each other violently until they simultaneously shattered and dissolved.
Both of them were in a miserably battered state right now.
The inhuman features on her opponent were gone; at this moment, he looked no different from a mummified corpse, save for the faint breath that still indicated his meager remaining vitality.
In the final moments of his life, this frenzied, wicked Curse User finally regained a shred of sanity, gazing upon the results he had so anticipated and created.
There was only himself around; it seemed he had succeeded. He felt a sense of smug self-satisfaction.
Finally putting his mind at ease, the breath he had been holding dispersed. Just as he was about to draw his last breath, however, he caught sight of Xia, who was in an equally wretched state. Though she looked as if she were at death's door, she still had one breath left in her—she was alive.
His eyes snapped wide open, and consumed by resentment and frustration, he died with a grievance unavenged.
The moment his vitality faded, his body turned to ash and scattered in the wind.
Even in such battle-damaged attire, Xia could not conceal her stunning grace and poise.
Well, this wasn't half bad after all—she had managed to watch a good show before dying!
Still, this was probably as far as she would go, wasn't it?
She could clearly feel her vitality draining away rapidly, while her Cursed Energy plummeted, growing feebler and feebler until it dropped to the level of an ordinary person, and finally reached absolute zero—a complete absence of Cursed Energy.
At such a perilous juncture, by a twist of fate, her physical state was left in a condition of absolute zero Cursed Energy, mirroring the exact opposite of a Heavenly Restriction.
Even so, having already burned away her future, Xia was merely clinging to a final, fading breath.
At the very last moment before closing her eyes, she did one thing, and then departed fully content and satisfied.
Shortly after, her body gradually dissolved, transforming into a ball of light that soared away into the distance.