Cang Hai pointed his sword at Tantai Jin, his eyes rimmed red as he said, "Our master lived an honorable and upright life. Kind and benevolent, he treated you like his own son. I've never seen him care for anyone else so deeply. He healed your wounds, guided you to comprehend the Carefree Great Way, imparted his cultivation to you, bestowed upon you immortal artifacts, and urged us to protect you at all costs, ensuring you would not perish."
"My 'dear junior brother' indeed did not perish. Instead, you fell into demonhood, personally killed our master, and burned his immortal body to ashes with True Fire." Cang Hai's words were cold and hard, his grip tightening on the sword hilt. "Cang Jiufeng, you have slain your master, betrayed your ancestors, murdered mortals, and harmed the immortal sects. Do you admit to these crimes?"
Tantai Jin seemed to hear some hilarious joke, sneering mockingly, "Admit crimes? All beings under heaven and earth are born equal. Why should my demonic path be inferior to others? You slay demons in the name of punishing evil and eliminating treachery, yet when we kill immortals, it becomes an intolerable violation of heavenly principles. Both born since ancient times, immortals and demons receive worship, enjoy the world's spiritual veins, and establish sects to create lineages. Yet my demonic veins were destroyed, and countless demons were suppressed in the Desolate Abyss, reduced to skeletal remains. Cang Hai, tell me, what kind of logic is this?"
Cang Hai gritted his teeth, "Stubborn and unyielding! Demonic beasts slaughter and harm humans, making them intolerable to the Heavenly Dao."
"Intolerable to the Heavenly Dao..." Tantai Jin chewed on these words, then spread his arms and laughed wildly, "Since the Heavenly Dao does not tolerate my kind, what does it matter if I defy this Heavenly Dao?"
Cang Hai declared, "You remain obstinate and unrepentant. Today, I, Cang Hai, swear here that even if every member of the Carefree Sect turns to ashes, we will grind your bones to dust and scatter your ashes to appease our master's spirit!"
After his laughter subsided, Tantai Jin cast a gaze filled with sinister demonic energy toward the crowd.
"Since the moment of my birth, the Heavenly Dao has denied me the right to exist. Since the Heavenly Dao is unjust, today I will show you all that in these six realms, power reigns supreme. The path shall be forged by me, the six realms shall belong to me, and all living beings shall become my slaves!"
Yes, why? Why was he destined from birth to be a lone star of calamity?
Why did he have to kneel and learn to wag his tail like a dog, begging palace maids for a mere bite of food?
In this lifetime, those who loved him died by his hand.
The only warmth he encountered and believed in—a heart that cared only for all living beings—came to his side and left behind a deception that tormented him for five hundred years. Since she never valued his affection, let her perish along with the mortals she loved.
"Form the array!" Cang Hai commanded.
Unbeknownst to anyone, the disciples of the Carefree Sect behind him each held a blue silk thread in their hands.
The threads gleamed with a cold light, slicing through the air as they locked onto thirty-two points around Tantai Jin's body. Cang Hai held a green pestle in his hand.
Tantai Jin glanced at the threads restraining him and licked his lips, "The Jade Flame Bone-Crushing Pestle?"
Long ago, he had heard Zhao You mention that the Carefree Sect possessed only one immortal artifact for executing traitors within their ranks. The Bone-Crushing Pestle would grind a person's bones inch by inch. Though the Carefree Sect was known for its compassion, they never used the Jade Flame Bone-Crushing Pestle to kill.
"Wretched fiend, prepare to die!" Cang Hai lunged forward, the green pestle in his hand thrusting straight toward Tantai Jin's brow.
The pestle pressed against Tantai Jin's forehead as if striking an impenetrable wall, unable to advance even a fraction.
Tantai Jin laughed heartily, clenched his fist, and the blue threads around him snapped one by one.
He grasped the pestle, demonic energy spreading from his palm. The pestle seemed to freeze over like ice, cracks appearing across its surface.
No one had expected that Tantai Jin had already cultivated the body of a Demon God, impervious to all worldly artifacts.
The disciples of the Carefree Sect shouted in alarm, "Senior Brother Cang Hai, be careful!"But it was already too late. As Cang Hai attempted to retreat after his desperate strike failed, Tantai Jin coldly seized him by the throat.
Tantai Jin raised his arm, a sinister aura raging around him.
"Since you seek death so eagerly, I shall grant your wish!"
Blood trickled from the corner of Cang Hai's mouth, his eyes filled with boundless hatred.
Tantai Jin stretched out his hand, and the blood-red Heaven Severing Sword silently materialized in his palm.
"Senior Brother, any last words?"
Even as he spoke, the Heaven Severing Sword pierced through Cang Hai's body in the next moment.
Cang Hai's eyes widened as his body gradually turned into black ashes.
Before his death, Cang Hai's gaze remained fixed on Tantai Jin—the junior brother he had once cherished most—whose forehead was now etched with a winding Demonic Mark, his eyes cruel and cold.
"Senior Brother!"
"Senior Brother Cang Hai!"
Tantai Jin's thin lips moved slightly: "Nine Revolutions Profound Return, Rest Gate, open!"
The ashes that were once Cang Hai fell into the array, his very Soul becoming nourishment for the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array.
Tantai Jin murmured softly, "Such profound and moving camaraderie. You should join him as well."
He soared into the air, his black robes flapping fiercely in the Demonic Energy.
The God Slaying Crossbow was drawn by Tantai Jin, its black arrows transforming into countless shadows that shot toward the members of the Carefree Sect.
One by one, they fell, their Souls dissipating.
Within the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array, the demonic soul of the Taotie swept past like a greedy maw, devouring everyone whole.
Qu Xuanzi and the others barely managed to save a few junior disciples of the Carefree Sect.
The survivors of the Carefree Sect looked up at the figure in the sky. Beneath the vast Demonic Energy, his red pupils and black hair made him appear terrifyingly unfamiliar and cruel.
There was no trace left of the junior brother they once knew.
Elder Qingqian said gravely, "Sect Leader, this is bad. He's using the members of the Carefree Sect to sacrifice to the array."
But if the Profound Return Array had already reached completion, why would it still require sacrificial offerings?
Could it be that he intended to awaken something even more terrifying?
The hearts of all present sank.
And then, in the very next moment, those red Demonic Pupils turned and locked onto them.
"Now, it's your turn."
Su Su continued to fall.
The fierce winds of the "Death Gate" tore at her Magic Robe, leaving it in tatters.
Chongyu transformed into an ice-blue cocoon, enveloping her.
The Death Gate was like a bottomless pit—nothing to hold onto, no light, no sound.
The golden light at the wound on Su Su's chest, where she had been pierced by the demonic arrow, slowly dissipated as streams of radiance into the "Death Gate."
Su Su did not know how long she had been falling.
Perhaps a day, perhaps a year, or maybe even a century had already passed.
It was so quiet around her, quieter than when she had first come into existence.
Su Su had a secret she had never shared with anyone: she could not remember the moment of her birth. As a born Spiritual Embryo, she should have had memories from the very beginning.
But she remembered nothing. The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was the misty Heavenly Pool—that was the beginning of her memory.
Her memories were incomplete from the start.
The "Death Gate" finally reached its bottom, like a suffocating coffin that sealed Su Su within, slowly draining her vitality.
Chongyu could protect her physical body but could not shield her Soul.
Seeing that she remained unable to wake, Chongyu fell silent as well.
There was no path to life within the "Death Gate." Sooner or later, Su Su's Soul, bones, and blood would be crushed, and as the last Divine Artifact in the world, Chongyu would be sealed here forever, never to see the light of day again.
Chongyu grew still, losing all its radiance.
In the midst of the silence, Su Su seemed to hear someone softly singing.
She opened her eyes and saw a expanse of white light.Beyond that white light, something was calling to her, luring her forward.
Su Su passed through the white light, and her fragmented memories gradually pieced themselves together.
The scene grew clearer.
A group of people murmured among themselves, "The War of Gods and Demons is imminent, yet the Imperial Princess has given birth to the Demon King's child. This child is stillborn and carries the bloodline of the Demon King—it cannot be allowed to live."
Someone raised a hand, and Phoenix Divine Fire shot out, scorching a small phoenix egg resting on a lotus pedestal.
Before the divine fire could touch the phoenix egg, a figure in crimson robes appeared, shielding it.
"Imperial Princess!"
The woman, who had just given birth, said coldly, "No one but I shall decide the life or death of my child. The Phoenix Clan's bloodline is dwindling—it has been millennia since a child was born. Even if she carries his bloodline, she is born a God. The fate of a God is not for any of you to decide."
She bent down, lifted the lotus pedestal, and walked out of the hall.
Accompanying her departure was only an ancient curved jade.
The radiant woman traveled to a mysterious valley, leaving the phoenix egg there. She herself journeyed across the six realms, returning each time with treasures—sometimes a Snake Spirit Fruit, sometimes a Soul-Mending Stone.
To seek these long-lost ancient treasures, she infused her own power into the curved jade, defying fate to traverse time and space, growing weaker with each journey.
Until one day, the phoenix egg finally showed signs of life.
The woman wept with joy, saying, "Mother knew you would survive."
She began spending more time in the valley, occasionally singing gentle lullabies to the unhatched little phoenix. Later, one day, an error occurred in the unfillable gaps of time and space, and she found a mortal girl.
Moved by compassion, she brought the girl back to the valley and used her divine flute to guide the child home.
Su Su watched the scene of Ye Bingshang as a child.
Ye Bingshang took the heart protecting scale her father had given her mother, along with the love thread carrying his affection.
Until her death, the Phoenix Imperial Princess never knew of that man's feelings.
Much later, the flowers in the valley suddenly withered, and the woman returned, covered in wounds, to hold the phoenix egg.
"Little Su Su, that person is dead, and I cannot stay with you much longer. Love is too bitter—men in this world are fickle, and it is always women who suffer the most."
"Mother defied fate and traversed time and space repeatedly. Now, my soul is scattered, and I will not live to see you grow up. To ensure your safe birth, the last thing I can do for you is to seal the conflicting bloodlines within you. If you cannot be reborn from flames, live as an ordinary Cultivator and lead a peaceful life. If one day, you survive the Tribulation Thunder and the seal breaks, allowing you to regain your Phoenix Godly form and remember this past, know that Mother loved you dearly."
From that day on, she never returned. All that remained in the lotus pedestal, keeping the little phoenix egg company, was a piece of translucent jade.
It could do nothing but traverse time and space, and without power, it could no longer even do that.
The sealed little phoenix egg waited year after year. Many years later, a Cultivator suddenly intruded into the valley.
It was Qu Xuanzi, dressed in blue robes and wearing a jade crown.
Qu Xuanzi recognized the curved jade and remembered the Goddess he had once accidentally encountered in another time.
The only person who had ever stirred his heart in his lifelong pursuit of the Dao.
The curved jade said happily, "It's you! Can you take my little master away? She is very well-behaved and easy to care for."
Qu Xuanzi felt a surge of emotions and chuckled wryly, "Though I am unworthy, I am willing to try."
*The "Gate of Death," gloomy and bleak, was pitch-black. Chongyu, transformed into a cocoon, sensed something and suddenly trembled.
Within the cocoon it protected, the fading golden specks of light inside the young girl abruptly ceased to vanish.
A shimmering white light surged toward the girl's body.
In the dim Gate of Death, countless Tribulation Thunders gathered, their violet lightning illuminating the entire "Gate of Death."
It was actually the eighty-one bolts of thunder required to transcend tribulation and ascend to Godhood!
Chongyu was forced to release Su Su, transforming into a konghou that landed beside the girl.
All the Tribulation Thunders converged upon Su Su.
In Su Su's consciousness, fragmented images merged into a complete scene. Memories sealed away for tens of thousands of years awakened alongside her bloodline.
Within the cramped "Gate of Death," all eighty-one bolts of Tribulation Thunder struck the girl, only to be silently neutralized by the Path of Ruthlessness at her Spiritual Platform.
After a long while, the violet thunder finally ceased.
Su Su, at the center of the Tribulation Thunder, opened her eyes.
The epiphyllum at her brow bloomed in full glory, her pupils turned golden, and her white Magic Robe gradually transformed into fiery red. The Divine Phoenix's sacred flames illuminated the entire Gate of Death.
All darkness vanished.
She gazed at the "Gate of Death," where fierce winds howled, and stretched out her hand, saying, "Chongyu."
Chongyu obediently transformed into a konghou, landing in her palm.
The previously dull colors of the Chongyu Qin instantly burst forth with radiant light the moment it touched her hand.
Su Su strode forward, the Divine Phoenix's sacred flames winding beneath her feet, illuminating a bright path ahead.
Her eyes were indifferent as she raised her hand and tore apart the entire "Gate of Death."
Su Su's slender fingers brushed over Chongyu as the "Gate of Death" behind her crumbled and peeled away like torn parchment.
The indestructible land of death was as fragile as paper under her palm, utterly defenseless.
Chongyu remained quietly submissive, silent, truly becoming a Divine Artifact of battle.
After tens of thousands of years,
it had finally witnessed once more the descendant of the ancient Divine Phoenix bloodline—the one truly worthy of wielding it in this world—
the last God to emerge in ten thousand years.
She stepped out of the destroyed Gate of Death, the very place that person had personally pushed her into.
Within the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array, the Taotie sensed something and let out a terrified roar.
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