Feng Ya descended upon the small town. He looked out at the utter stillness — not even a dog had barked. Only dense death energy and yin energy pervaded the air. Some of the corpses had clearly killed each other. Some women and children still had the terror frozen in their eyes, dying by the blade before that fear had even left them. And in the air, traces of an energy lingered — one that filled him with the deepest disgust.

He moved through the town like a god of calamity. When he came upon a man who had been drained of all his essence blood — soft-featured, his face now sunken and ghastly — Feng Ya reached out and probed carefully with his senses. The disgust on his expression deepened further.

Feng Ya forcibly opened the Ghost Gate and shoved all the aggrieved souls of the town through it. The Black and White Impermanence came out to receive them, and upon seeing this malevolent figure — one who had come perilously close to becoming their highest superior — they trembled with fright and saluted him with cupped fists.

“A rogue cultivator fallen into demonhood is causing chaos in the mortal world, intent on shattering the Heavenly Dao. The dead cannot enter the River of Forgetfulness. New souls wandering the mortal realm will only intensify the energy of death and resentment. The Yin Underworld cannot remain uninvolved. Send out the soul-ferrying officials — guide the souls into the Yellow Springs.” Feng Ya spoke with calm indifference as he instructed the two ghost officials. “If you do not, this demon will draw upon death and resentment energy to grow ever stronger, transforming the mortal world into demonic soil. When that day comes, the Underworld will not be spared either.”

What is the cycle of life and death? There must be life for there to be death. When the cycle of reincarnation is balanced, the energy of heaven and earth is in balance. If there is only death without the vitality of life, where would the dead souls go to be reincarnated? Without the ability to reincarnate, what purpose would the Underworld serve?

The Black and White Impermanence hastily said, “The Underworld Lords have already been deliberating on this matter. However, the mortal world and the Underworld each have their own rules, and we cannot forcibly intervene in the affairs of the living. Feng Ya should understand these rules.”

“I am not asking you to intervene. Only that when people die, you collect their souls. That much is your job, is it not? Ferrying the souls of the departed — nothing more than that.”

Seeing the murderous aura erupting around him, the Black and White Impermanence immediately prostrated themselves. “We respectfully obey Feng Ya’s command.”

Feng Ya vanished in a flash.

The White Impermanence looked at his partner. “Who provoked him? He is venting his temper on us.”

The Black Impermanence snorted. “Who else could it be? Other than the one he defied the heavenly will to bring back — and then kept and raised for two years — who has that kind of power over him?”

The White Impermanence fell silent, gazing at the surrounding stillness and the heavy yin energy. He let out a long sigh. “Whether the calamity upon the mortal world can be brought to an end — that depends entirely on how capable and resolute that person proves to be.”

The Black Impermanence said nothing in reply. That pitch-black face showed not the slightest expression — only the eyes betrayed a trace of quiet anxiety.

Good and evil cannot coexist. Feng Ya had spoken one truth: if good could not triumph, if the Dao waned while the demonic grew — the Underworld too would suffer. It would crumble and collapse.

What a troublesome affair.

Feng Ya followed Tantai Wuji’s aura without letting up. It had to be said — this physical body was extraordinarily useful. Even now, it could be used to track Tantai Wuji’s location, enabling him to give no quarter in the hunt of that stray dog.

And that intensity surged to its extreme as he witnessed the people of Great Pian, their private greed and dark impulses amplified by the encroachment of demonic energy, descending into greater and greater chaos in pursuit of personal gain.

As for Tantai Wuji — Feng Ya’s relentless pursuit left him furious and exasperated. Being hunted kept him perpetually occupied. Even if he had sources of power, he had absolutely no time to shore up the techniques of the demonic tome and solidify the demonic core. He was at a disadvantage.

To say nothing of the fact that, in addition to Feng Ya, there were other righteous cultivators as well.

He had known there were cultivators secluded in deep mountains pursuing their practice — but he had not anticipated that these people, who ordinarily kept to themselves, would emerge en masse because of this. His appearance had set them all upon him like hounds that had caught a scent, seeking to surround and tear at him.

Kong Xu Zi, meanwhile, was quite delighted, and could not stop needling Tantai Wuji. “Now you know how I felt back then, don’t you?”

Back in those days, he had been surrounded and cut down by the righteous cultivators just like this — and it had been at Tantai Wuji’s urging. Now it was only fitting that he suffered the same in return.

Already irritated, Tantai Wuji was only further enraged by this goading. “Shut your mouth! If I fare poorly, so will you. We are on the same boat.”

Kong Xu Zi thought — what rotten luck, being stuck with him — but his soul was not yet powerful enough to devour Tantai Wuji, so he said instead, “It is precisely because we are on the same boat that I am warning you. Don’t drag me down with you. Stop fixating on that original body of yours. To get one thing and immediately want the next — how can you have it all so perfectly? You calculate too much, and all your calculations will come to nothing.”

His voice was oily and insinuating as he pressed on, “Cut your ties completely. Offer yourself to this body. Your divine soul will lose all connection to that original form — he can no longer track you through it, nor can he use it to restrain you. And our demonic core will be far easier to condense.”

Tantai Wuji’s eyes darkened. He seemed not to notice Kong Xu Zi’s ulterior motives, his thoughts only on Feng Ya — that relentless thief who would not relent in his pursuit. Constantly being hunted was greatly detrimental to his cultivation, as their power shifted like a seesaw.

And the days were drawing closer. His time was running short.

The only way to sever the connection linking him to his original body was to fully offer his divine soul to the demonic bones of Kong Xu Zi — these bones that had been soaked and steeped for over a thousand years in the blood and death energy of countless beings. Once soul and bone became one, his power would grow far greater, and the condensation of the demonic core would be within sight.

And yet — if he did that, he would be left with absolutely no retreat. No possibility of reclaiming that original body, nor of seizing Lang Jiuchuan’s form to devour her divine soul, using a righteous path to ascend as master and ruler. If his demonic arts reached their peak and he became a ruler, it would only be as a Demon Sovereign.

That deviated somewhat from his plan.

Furthermore — Kong Xu Zi urging him so eagerly, was that kindness? It was nothing but Kong Xu Zi wanting to seize the opportunity to strengthen his own remnant soul, so that he could counterattack, or perhaps even attempt to devour Tantai Wuji’s divine soul during the sacrifice.

A clever scheme indeed.

Yet when Tantai Wuji looked at the spiritual soul lamp before him — the Blood Soul Lamp — his agitation deepened further. Even if it had bonded to him as its master, it was ultimately Kong Xu Zi’s life-bound artifact. The full extent of the lamp’s power was beyond his reach to unleash.

Were Lang Jiuchuan and the others truly so capable — to have driven him to this point?

Were they simply relying on the advantage of numbers?

A thread of ferocity flashed in Tantai Wuji’s blood-red eyes. He had originally intended to leave some measure of mercy for the living beings of this world. After all, even if he became a ruler, a world reduced to ruins and devastation would yield little in the way of faith and worship.

Then perhaps it was better to simply transform the entire world into a demonic domain.

Tantai Wuji said, “Very well. We need to find a hidden place that will seal off our aura. Otherwise, if that thief pursues us here, we will be left at a disadvantage once again.”

His figure flickered, and using the Blood Soul Lamp, he employed a blood-escape technique through the void, vanishing from where he stood.

In the span of a breath, Tantai Wuji stood suspended within a lake at least three zhang deep, feeling the yin energy rising from below, and hearing the wailing of white bones floating at his feet. A slight curve touched his lips. This place too had once been a mass grave for tens of thousands — later it had become a lake. The bones accumulated beneath these waters numbered no fewer than in the millions.

He called forth the Blood Soul Lamp, letting it float before his brow. With both hands forming the ritual contract seal, he used the soul lamp to transform into a blood-sea void, laying down a barrier over the entire lake, and began to murmur a cryptic series of incantations.

Kong Xu Zi was barely able to contain his excitement.

The opportunity had come.

For Tantai Wuji to completely sever the connection to his former original body, he needed to use his soul as the anchor — declaring before heaven and earth the complete cutting of ties with his former self. And in that same moment, his divine soul needed to be offered in sacrifice — offered to someone.

From all four directions, yin clouds roiling with grievance and dark energy surged forward, forming a terrifying, dense and viscous demonic barrier. Within it, yin lightning flickered and crackled — like the descent of the apocalypse. Countless long-lingering vengeful souls rose one by one from beneath the water, their pitch-black eyes fixed upon the figure standing within the lake, their gazes burning with a fervent, frenzied hunger.

Yin lightning descended from the heavens. The corner of Tantai Wuji’s mouth curved into a faint arc. His divine soul surged out from Kong Xu Zi’s skeleton, and he flew straight toward it to receive the strike.