Time trickled away, second by second. It felt as if several long centuries had passed, yet it also seemed to be but the blink of an eye.

In the pitch-black darkness, Luo Xiu slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying in a sea of blood. Beneath him, the sea was filled with countless shattered corpses.

This might... be the very last wisp of my Residual Soul.

Luo Xiu knew this place was his Spiritual Ocean, an ocean that had long been dyed red by endless blood. He slowly sat up, his gaze sweeping numbly over the fragmented bodies surrounding him. He could feel an ultimate killing karma, an unbearable weight that was on the verge of crushing him. The corpses seemed to be mocking him, reviling him, accusing him, and damning him...

Then let me bear this heavy killing karma and die alone... I'll accompany you for all eternity.

"Kid, do you really want to die that much?" a young girl's tender voice suddenly rang out.

Luo Xiu's gaze shifted upward, fixing upon the strange red flame hovering above the sea of blood. It was the Indestructible Divine Flame, which had entered his Spiritual Ocean long ago.

Suddenly, a little girl no bigger than a human palm flew before him and hovered there, hands on her hips. "Your Divine Soul is very powerful," she said, "and with me here, I won't let your soul flame be extinguished!"

"Who knows, maybe Master left this Divine Fire with you precisely to keep your soul from perishing and help you survive this deadly tribulation."

Hearing the word "Master," Luo Xiu couldn't help but think of Ai Hongye. The true master of the Indestructible Divine Flame was, naturally, Ai Hongye, the one who had ignited it. Then, Luo Xiu recalled the Celestial Being he had slain. After the Celestial Being's death, Luo Xiu had seen his true face—a face he could never bring himself to accept.

"Sigh!" the Indestructible Divine Flame sighed. "But looking at you now, it seems you don't want to live anymore yourself. Is it because you feel the weight of the killing karma from the countless lives sacrificed for you, and that's why you want to join them?"

Luo Xiu remained silent for a moment before speaking. "Thank you. You can go now."

"Even if you can keep my soul flame burning eternally, my body is already shattered. What good would it do?"

"But as long as your soul flame doesn't go out, there is hope," the Indestructible Divine Flame insisted.

As the man and the flame conversed, a melodious cry suddenly echoed throughout Luo Xiu's Spiritual Ocean. From somewhere within the endless sea of blood, a Giant Kun as large as a mountain burst from the waves. It circled in the sky above the Spiritual Ocean before transforming into a delicate figure that flew swiftly into Luo Xiu's embrace.

"Yaya, how can you be..." Luo Xiu stared incredulously at Yaya in his arms.

For Yaya to appear here could only mean one thing: like all those who had been sacrificed in the blood ritual, she was...

Yaya pouted. "When Lin Jianlong was performing the blood sacrifice, I snuck in too."

Luo Xiu was baffled. "Why?"

Yaya wrapped her arms around Luo Xiu's neck and said calmly, "Because I wanted to bring Qin Xiaodou back to life. I wanted to bring everyone who was sacrificed back to life."

「...」

「Henghai Provincial City.」

A long time had passed, but Luo Xiu had not returned. This made Lin Xiyue and the others both curious and worried, and they decided to set out to find him.

Just then, the ethereal, lingering cry of a giant fish resonated between heaven and earth. They all looked up to see a colossal shadow soaring into the sky from somewhere within the provincial city. As they watched the giant shadow, everyone stared, their gazes trembling with shock.

"Is that... Yaya?"

The silhouette of the great fish was as massive as a mountain or an island, a truly awe-inspiring sight. Yet, it seemed as light as smoke, as if it had no weight at all, as it circled and danced in the sky like a dream. As time went on, the great fish's body began to dissipate, blurring and transforming into a sacred white light that enveloped the entire provincial city. An overwhelming and endless life force filled every corner of the world.

Then, a scene that could only be described as a miracle unfolded. In the provincial city, which had been razed to the ground, figures began to appear out of thin air!

Zhang Yi's eyes shot wide open, his mouth agape. "My god," he stammered, "am I dreaming? How are all the people from the blood sacrifice... alive again?!"

Luo Ying, however, felt a heavy weight in her chest as a terrible premonition suddenly gripped her heart.

"Let's go take a look!"

「...」

Moments later, when the group entered the provincial city and found Luo Xiu at the altar, they all froze in shock.

On the altar, Luo Xiu was still gripping the blood-colored longsword, fixed in a kneeling posture on one knee. He was already devoid of any life. Furthermore, his body resembled scorched clay. His flesh and organs had turned to earth and were now slowly cracking, flaking away, and disintegrating into scattering ash...

All that remained of him was a white skeleton.

Lin Xiyue's body stiffened. She slowly raised a hand to cover her mouth, her tears could no longer be held back as she sank weakly to the ground.

"No... this isn't real..."

Lei Luan's beautiful eyes welled with tears. She knelt to support Lin Xiyue, pulling her into an embrace.

As if her soul had fled her body, Luo Ying walked slowly toward the edge of the altar, tears streaming down her face. She looked at Master Ping, who was still floating there.

"Master Ping... what... what happened?"

"As you can see, Luo Xiu is dead." Master Ping's voice was calm, devoid of any emotion. But if Master Ping had a heart, it would surely be in agony.

He let out a sigh. "His body had already reached its limit. He had previously borrowed the Asura Divine Power, and that's why... Sigh, I should have anticipated this."

Luo Qianye looked at the figures gradually appearing on the empty ground around them. "Then what is all this?"

"It was Yaya," Master Ping replied.

"When the Kun rises, all things perish; when the Kun falls, all beings are reborn."

"In life, she devoured the myriad Daos, and in death, she returns them. That foolish girl... she used the Kun Tribe's Innate Divine Ability—Return. She sacrificed her own soul to re-form the souls of all who were lost in the blood sacrifice. She sacrificed her own lifeblood to reconstruct the Physical Bodies of all who were sacrificed."

Suddenly, Dou Dou's trembling voice cut in from the side. "Master Ping... what are you saying? Yaya... will she come back?"

At her words, everyone turned to look at Dou Dou. Not only had she returned, but Xu Qianqing, Su Shanyue, Di Jiao, Chu Aoran, and the Three Bandits of Thunder Swamp—all those initially sacrificed—had also mysteriously revived.

"Luo Xiu... What happened to him?" Xu Qianqing's delicate body trembled as she caught sight of Luo Xiu on the altar.

Su Shanyue knelt on the ground, her hand covering her mouth as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"No... This isn't real!" Xu Qianqing cried, tears streaming down her face. "Luo Xiu has to be alive!" She ran toward the altar, refusing to accept the reality before her.

"Don't touch him!" Master Ping shouted urgently to stop her. "I have protected this altar. If you touch him now, he will turn completely to ash. His skeleton... let's keep it as a memento."

...

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