Most of the Carefree Sect disciples had been slain by Tantai Jin, their souls sucked into the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array. As the Taotie nearly materialized completely, Qu Xuanzi knew there was no retreat left.
Today, Tantai Jin had opened the Demon Realm wide to lure them in for the Profound Return Array's sacrifice. The more lives lost, the thicker the demonic energy swirling around the array became.
Qu Xuanzi and the elders made their final gamble, transforming into streaks of light as they poured their millennia of cultivation into attacking from eight different directions.
"Heaven and Earth Profound Ancestor, source of all energy—destroy!"
Tantai Jin, his hands drenched in blood, looked down upon them from above. His dark robes were stained even darker. Other Immortal Sect members summoned their magical artifacts, attempting to stall Tantai Jin momentarily to aid Qu Xuanzi and the others in destroying the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array.
The Demon Lord in the sky seemed restrained, unmoving.
Yet a cold smile curled at Tantai Jin's lips, showing no trace of panic despite the imminent destruction of the array.
As the immortal swords of Qu Xuanzi and the others pierced the eight directions, the Profound Return Array trembled, showing faint signs of dispersing.
Before the distant onlookers could rejoice, Qing Wu suddenly exclaimed, "Sect Leader, something's wrong—the array seems to have come alive!"
Indeed, Qu Xuanzi frowned at the sight before him. The nine gates of the Profound Return Array spun rapidly, the demonic energy growing fainter, as though something was absorbing it all.
"How can this be?"
In that fleeting moment, Qu Xuanzi recalled an ancient memory from his early days as a Cultivator, when his cultivation was still weak. A radiant Goddess from another time had smiled at him and asked, "Little Taoist, do you know what the divine beings of ten thousand years ago feared most?"
The young Taoist in green robes, Qu Xuanzi, had lowered his gaze humbly. "I suppose... the indestructibility of the Demon God?"
The Goddess shook her head. "No. All things exist in balance. Gods are rare, and Demon Gods even rarer. Once a Demon God emerges, the combined might of immortals and gods can suppress it. But if the rules of this world were to change—that would be the true catastrophe for the Six Realms."
In that world, weak living beings would cease to exist, perishing under a "Dao" that forbade their survival. Everyone would become murderous monsters, the Six Realms overrun by demons, surviving only by slaughter and plundering the world's resources.
Mortals with strong physiques would be enslaved by demons, while surviving immortals would lose their souls, becoming mere walking corpses.
The young Taoist solemnly asked, "You mean turning the Six Realms into a purgatory where evil spirits and demons thrive?"
The Goddess smiled. "Yes. We revere kindness, humility, and the coexistence of all living beings, understanding the vastness of the universe and pitying even the green of grass and trees. But that world would require endless slaughter and evil, feeding on the lives of the weak to sustain itself. Under such a Dao, all beauty would vanish—the world barren, life extinguished, not a blade of grass left. But take heart, for such a Dao will never come to pass. The Demon God is dead, and none can awaken it now."
The words the Goddess had spoken during their philosophical discussion now flashed through Qu Xuanzi's mind.
His heart sank as he shouted, "Retreat, now!"
This was a trap. The Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array had absorbed so much spiritual energy to nurture the birth of another Dao.
The more lives lost, the faster that Dao would awaken.
A mocking laugh rang out. "Took you long enough to realize." The voice belonged to Tantai Jin, who had somehow descended into the array despite appearing restrained earlier.
"Pity. None of you are leaving today."
The blood-red Heaven Severing Sword descended, a surge of baleful energy rushing toward Qing Wu at the Gate of Shock.
Qing Wu's barrier shattered without a sound. His eyes widened as he dissolved into white mist, merging into the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array.
A single strike—Tantai Jin had effortlessly slain an elder at the late-stage Divine Transformation realm!
Silent terror spread through the crowd, but what frightened them more was the Profound Return Array, its demonic energy now nearly vanished.
Where had it all gone?
Then, a fierce wind rose. The sky above the array split open, as though something was about to emerge.
The rift carried a terrifying suction force, threatening to devour everyone's souls.
Cultivators collapsed one after another, their souls forcibly shattered. Some couldn't suppress their screams of agony.
Jing staggered. "Demon Lord... the Path of Shared Sorrow is about to awaken! Only four divine pearls remain."
Four differently colored divine pearls materialized before Tantai Jin. A wild grin spread across his face as he chanted, "Thousand Spirits Heavy Feather, Universe Shares Sorrow!"
The four pearls converged midair. Tantai Jin lifted them, embedding them into the fractured sky.
The bright heavens gradually turned gray, the Six Realms fading like a bleached curtain. Rivers ceased flowing, transforming into bubbling magma. Flowers withered into sand, birds fell from the sky, scattering as dust.
The gates of the Underworld were forced open, countless vengeful ghosts wailing mournfully from the River of Wailing Ghosts.
The Taotie roared, struggling against the Marrow Cleansing Seal as it lunged toward the mortal realm.
—The Path of Shared Sorrow had opened!
Qu Xuanzi watched helplessly as Tantai Jin stood beneath the gray lightning, his Demonic Pupils icy, Demonic Marks coiling across his forehead. He looked down upon the struggling masses from on high, just as he had promised—the Six Realms reduced to slaves of his demonic Dao.
Qu Xuanzi closed his eyes. At this point, nothing could be done. The Path of Shared Sorrow allowed no place for Cultivators or mortals. Qing Wu was dead, the Carefree Sect disciples were dead, and his own soul would soon dissipate.
A Cultivator's heart held no regrets. Even if he and the elders destroyed the Profound Return Array, there was no one left in this world who could reseal the Path of Shared Sorrow.
Ten thousand years had passed. The world no longer had gods.
He closed his eyes, quietly awaiting his soul's dissolution. A Cultivator's life was too long—so long he had nearly forgotten his original aspirations when he first began his path.
The rift widened. Just before the sky shattered completely, the heavens resembled the last vestiges of dawn.
But at that moment, the earth trembled. Where the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array had been, the demonic energy dispersed as though forcibly broken. A red-clad woman emerged barefoot.
Qu Xuanzi opened his eyes. For a fleeting moment, he thought he had returned to thousands of years ago.
The last princess of the Phoenix Clan had looked just like this—raven hair cascading like a waterfall, crimson robes bright as fire.
The image overlapped perfectly with the girl before him.
She stepped out from the Gate of Death, the Heavy Feather Konghou in her hand, Karmic Fire blooming around her like epiphyllum flowers. As the flames scattered, the Nine Revolutions Profound Return Array crumbled into ruins.
She extended a slender finger, pressing it against the Taotie's head as it tried to flee toward the mortal realm.
The Taotie shrieked before disintegrating into black fragments.
A white Divine Seal adorned the girl's forehead, her golden pupils surveying everything around her—the desolate world, the reveling demons, the soulless shells of immortals, and the sinister figure in black robes hovering in the sky.
Qu Xuanzi gazed at her from afar. The girl who had once hatched before his eyes had finally returned to her origins, transcending her divine tribulation and breaking her seals.
Jing stared in disbelief. "You... Chu Huang? No, Chu Huang died long ago."
That stubborn, fiery princess had perished in the distant past.
Jing took a step back, realizing who she was.
Jing had once served the Demon King before following him in allegiance to the Demon God.
Ten thousand years ago, had the Demon King not fallen in love with the Goddess and betrayed the Demon God, the latter would never have died.
This was that man's child! The last divine being of antiquity, the final princess of the Phoenix Clan, the bloodline of the Demon King of Ten Thousand Demons and Chu Huang.
The girl turned her gaze toward Jing, fingers resting on the konghou's strings. Jing hastily raised her umbrella in defense.
But Hanba, resurrected from death, no longer possessed the might of her ancient origins. Where the music's waves spread, Karmic Fire engulfed Jing's form.
"Ah! Demon Lord, save me! Save me!"
Tantai Jin turned, watching the girl approach him step by step.
Demonic energy stirred the crimson hem of her robes. While all things bowed before him, only she remained untouched by the Path of Shared Sorrow's oppressive force, meeting his gaze unflinching.
He stared coldly at her, raising the Heaven Severing Sword.
The Goddess's golden eyes fell upon his hand—Tantai Jin's right hand gripping the sword was drenched in blood, the blade now translucent red, sated with the blood of Cultivators.
"Even if you've become a Goddess," Tantai Jin said with a sinister smile, "the ancient gods have all fallen. Do you really think you can kill me?"
Su Su spoke softly, "You seem so unfamiliar now."
The smile vanished from his lips.
"Unfamiliar? No. You never understood me."
The figure before him overlapped perfectly with the Goddess in his memories. Five hundred years had passed, yet even after severing his love thread, Tantai Jin still remembered every detail of her face.
The way she looked down at him, the unchanging coldness in her expression year after year.
But now, that once-feared sternness softened. He saw the faint curve of her lips, gentler than ever before.
"I understand," Su Su whispered. "I know how hard your survival was. I saw you mocked, forced into women's clothing, sewing your own garments, praying for rain to drink. I saw your sensitivity, your fragility, your pale helplessness—and your relentless will to live. You studied others' expressions and actions, mimicking their joys and sorrows. You envied Xiao Lin, Pang Yi Zhi, even the street vendors."
"I saw how fiercely and recklessly you loved Ye Xiwu."
His crimson eyes bore into her.
Tears welled in the Goddess's clear eyes. "But I also saw the Six Realms shattered, rivers of blood flowing. The Tantai Jin who loved Ye Xiwu died that day, vanishing from my heart as well. Gods always listen to the wishes of mortals. Tantai Jin, do you know what my wish was?"
Without his love thread, Tantai Jin's heart felt hollow.
Behind him lay the Path of Shared Sorrow—everything he desired was within reach.
None of it mattered. As she said, the weakling who loved and cherished her was dead. What did her love or hatred have to do with him?
The Heaven Severing Sword's light shot toward the Goddess like a shadow.
Su Su didn't dodge, nor did she summon Heavy Feather.
Amid the demonic energy, a piece of obsidian-like spirit bone slowly formed in her hand.
The bone bound Tantai Jin's limbs, forcibly pulling him apart.
He glared at the dark spirit bone, teeth clenched. "My Evil Bone."
"A Demon God only has one weakness in his lifetime. Five hundred years ago, I exchanged my Divine Marrow for your Evil Bone. The curved jade secretly told me that even with the Divine Marrow, you would still perish if the Evil Bone was destroyed. So I hid it, sealing it within my soul." Su Su reached out, touching his face. "That's why, even with the Path of Ruthlessness, I could never become a Goddess."
Because my bond was the hope that you would live a good life.
I promised to protect you.
Tantai Jin's fingers trembled. He didn't understand why, but the hollow void in his chest ached, the pain spreading through his limbs.
"And today... I think I can no longer protect it."
Su Su gently embraced Tantai Jin. "In every life, there are things one must do, no matter how unwilling. I once wished for you to live as a mortal, yet I had to drive six Soul Extinguishing Nails into your heart. I wanted you to live, but my very existence was born for your death."
Holding him, Su Su fell with him from the endless sky.
Karmic Fire consumed them. He felt pain, yet also warmth.
A Demon God could not shed tears. So when drops of blood fell onto her shoulder, he didn't realize—but Su Su saw.
She saw his bloody tears fall like pearls.
The pale youth, face streaked with blood, whispered, "Li Susu, this life has been so hard. But I don't want to die."
"I know." She closed her eyes, white divine light crushing the Evil Bone in her palm. "Don't be afraid. This time, you won't be alone."
My wish was to stand atop the city walls that day, shattering the Evil Bone and vanishing with you five hundred years ago.
Even if born a Demon God, destined never to have an afterlife.
As the Evil Bone crumbled, Tantai Jin's body slowly dissipated in her arms.
Soul and spirit extinguished, Karmic Fire burning away all sin—from then on, no trace of him remained in this world.
Su Su grasped the Heaven Severing Sword, God Slaying Crossbow, and Marrow Cleansing Seal, gazing at the gray sky.
Will the Demon God and I be enough to sacrifice for the Path of Shared Sorrow?
Transforming into a fiery phoenix, Su Su soared toward the rift in the heavens.
As the thick demonic energy dispersed, the mortal realm found itself bathed in twilight.
One day, all things would grow anew.
Spring would return. But Li Susu and Tantai Jin would remain only a vanished past.
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