According to ancient legend, in the moment a world was first born, when heaven and earth separated and the laws of existence had yet to stabilize, tiny fragments of Creation Qi were left behind. They scattered naturally into the atmosphere of every nascent realm, invisible to mortals yet priceless beyond measure.

Even a single mote of this Creation Qi was enough to allow a cultivator from the Upper Realm to shatter long-standing bottlenecks and ascend to higher realms. Because of this, there existed an entire class of cultivators whose sole purpose was to roam newly formed lower worlds, scouring them inch by inch for traces of that primordial energy.

They were known as World Harvesters.

Whenever a fragment was discovered, it was immediately sold at astronomical prices. Entire sect treasuries would be emptied. Empires would bleed themselves dry. Bidding wars erupted that could destabilize entire regions of the Upper Realm. Every major power maintained a specialized division tasked with nothing but locating and extracting Creation Qi before it could vanish or evolve.

Yet heaven was never so generous.

A handful of these fragments slipped through the cracks of time. Untouched for tens of thousands of years, they continued to absorb ambient energy, laws, and karmic residue. Slowly, imperceptibly, they changed. Consciousness formed. Will condensed.

And in the deepest layers of time, the first native life of a newborn world emerged.

These beings were known as Original Existences.

Most lower worlds, including the Seven Cloud Converged World, gave birth to two such entities—perfect opposites that mirrored the balance of existence itself. One embodied creation, order, and preservation. The other represented destruction, entropy, and devouring.

Yin and Yang.

Light and Shadow.

They were remembered in ancient records as the Original Angel and the Original Demon.

When this realization crystallized in Li Mei's mind, her pupils shrank to razor-thin slits.

If her judgment was correct, then the presence entwined with the corrupted Bodhi Tree was not merely a powerful demon or an ancient fiend—it was the Original Demon itself, a being born alongside the world, nourished by Creation Qi, and anchored directly to the realm's existence.

Her fingers tightened unconsciously.

That explained everything—the inexhaustible corruption, the unnatural resistance to suppression, the way demonic energy seemed to regenerate no matter how much was sealed away. This wasn't a creature sustained by cultivation alone. It was sustained by the world itself.

And that was precisely what made it terrifying.

Original Existences were not just strong. They were nearly impossible to kill.

A lifeform born millions of years ago, standing at the absolute apex of a Lower Realm's hierarchy, woven into the fabric of the world's laws… ordinary cultivation could not erase something like that. Even annihilation of the physical vessel meant little if the core essence remained intact.

For a brief moment, a chill brushed Li Mei's spine.

Then—her breathing steadied.

Fear was pointless.

She had already committed herself the moment she chose to stand here. Whatever the Original Demon was, whatever price it demanded, retreat was no longer an option. The dojo behind her, the people fighting beside her, the lives depending on this final line of defense—they mattered more than the impossibility of the enemy.

Li Mei lifted her chin, golden light flaring faintly in her eyes.

So be it, she thought calmly.

If the heavens birthed you… then we'll see whether heaven can still protect you.

She was no ordinary mortal disciple, nor a fragile flower sheltered by fate. Li Mei was an eternal empress in her own right. Across her long existence, she had witnessed the rise and fall of countless powers, watched monsters revered as invincible crumble into dust. Compared to those beings, no matter how terrifying this creature seemed…

…it was still not enough.

"Burn for me…" Li Mei whispered, her voice calm, almost gentle.

The moment the words left her lips, reality answered.

Behind her head, a Nine-Petaled Lotus of crimson flame bloomed, each petal unfurling like a divine decree. The air screamed as temperature inverted violently. Heat did not rise—it collapsed inward. Within dozens of kilometers, the atmosphere plunged into a frozen stillness so absolute that even sound seemed to hesitate before existing.

The hundreds of divine roots anchoring the corrupted Bodhi Tree ignited at once.

Sacred fire surged through them like molten gold, racing along every vein and tendril, purging corruption at its source. Where lotus flame met demonic aura, the clash did not merely burn—it erased. Space popped and cracked with sharp detonations, each collision sounding like a dying star collapsing in on itself.

Sizzle—

Boom—

The demonic corruption shrieked.

For the first time since its rebirth, the entity possessing the Bodhi Tree felt pain.

A roar followed—ancient, furious, and filled with disbelief. It tore through the ruined city, shaking broken towers, rattling the bones of the dead, and making even hardened cultivators feel their souls tremble. The heavens themselves seemed to recoil.

At the same time, Lin Huang stepped forward.

He refused to be eclipsed.

His expression sharpened, eyes burning with unyielding resolve as sword intent erupted from his body. The radiant chains of sword qi surrounding him resonated with his breath, each inhale strengthening their edge, each exhale sending them slashing outward. Every strand moved with perfect harmony, severing demonic qi the instant it dared to encroach.

His blade no longer looked like a weapon.

It looked like a principle.

So bright was its brilliance that it felt as though nothing in existence could remain whole before it. Demonic energy split apart like mist under sunlight, unable to withstand the absolute clarity of his intent.

Together, senior and junior stood like twin pillars—one wreathed in divine flame, the other crowned in peerless sword light—holding back a calamity meant to devour an entire world.

The others could only watch.

Rong Luo, teeth clenched, poured everything he had into stabilizing the defensive formations. Young Master Yun stood stiffly beside him, face pale, pride long since crushed beneath the sheer scale of the battle. Once, he had believed himself extraordinary. Now, he understood the gulf between talent and monstrosity

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