The Liuguang Mirror shot out dazzling light, but it was merely a beam of light.

Under that illumination, even Qinghe felt somewhat blinded. He even turned his head with difficulty and glanced at Qin Jianglan. Those eyes were filled with pain, with black qi swirling within them, forming whirlpools in his eyes.

“Get lost.” After a furious roar, Qinghe finally made human sounds.

His consciousness was blurred, and his body had already been punctured with several holes. Black qi leaked out along the white bone nails, as if his body was deflating. There were also threads of foul blood mixed in, slowly soaking into the bones.

Qinghe’s physical body had merged with the Longquan Sword. So, although he was a human-shaped sword, he still had flesh and blood, just completely different from normal people. He had been thinking all these years about what would happen if he couldn’t control himself someday, and had also thought about perishing together with the Longquan Sword. Therefore, he had made preparations early on, only he hadn’t expected this day to come so suddenly.

Yet when this day arrived, Qinghe discovered that destroying the Longquan Sword was truly very difficult.

Even though he was a descendant of swordsmiths.

He still couldn’t control himself and would kill his master and slaughter fellow disciples. Now, wanting to nail himself to death, he was already somewhat powerless. In that instant, he even thought there was no need to persist.

What did chaos in the world have to do with him?

After all, Master was already dead.

If he was replaced by the vicious Longquan Sword and became a weapon that only knew slaughter, what did it matter if he bathed the world in blood?

After all, Master was gone.

Although such thoughts flashed by, Qinghe’s gaze fell on Luo Ying’s corpse before him, and his energy seemed to concentrate again: “What you protected, I don’t want to destroy.”

Luo Ying, I can only do my best. Not as master, just Luo Ying.

Without the barrier of generational differences, she was just Luo Ying, his beloved.

Using force in his hand, he pressed the bone nail down bit by bit. The intense pain made his body tremble, the hand gripping the bone nail shook incessantly, and his throat issued continuous roars. He turned his head to look at Qin Jianglan, saw he hadn’t left yet, and squeezed out another sound—still just one word: “Leave.”

He recognized this person—his junior sister’s beloved. She had hung his portrait on the pine tree at her door with a monument beneath it. This person also had something strange about him and didn’t seem like a living person, but he couldn’t see through him either. While he could barely control himself, he didn’t want to hurt him.

After all, he had already lost Luo Ying and didn’t hope for Su Zhuyi to lose this man too. He hadn’t been able to stay with his beloved—he hoped she could.

“Luo Ying’s soul hasn’t completely dissipated.” Qin Jianglan grasped the mirror in his hand. “Her soul is now weak and residing in the Sword Heart Stone.”

The Sword Heart Stone was on Su Zhuyi’s body. However, Qin Jianglan had enveloped Su Zhuyi with a spiritual energy barrier. The resentment and evil qi here were too dense, and the bloody smell was heavy. He didn’t want to affect her. Moreover, if the vitality of a living person entered, the Longquan Sword’s consciousness would strengthen, making it even harder for Qinghe to control.

So he hadn’t let Su Zhuyi show herself.

The Sword Heart Stone inherited sword intent and will, and also contained remnant soul thoughts of past ancestors, but that didn’t have human souls inside—just wisps of consciousness and sword qi. After people perished, their souls would dissipate between heaven and earth unless refined into soul weapons. But even if refined into soul weapons, it only slowed the dissipation speed—they would still eventually disappear…

With Master’s soul being so weak, once fallen, it would certainly dissipate without a trace. What merged into the Sword Heart Stone would probably only be a wisp of remnant thought, not even consciousness.

But he just said Luo Ying’s soul was in the Sword Heart Stone?

“In the Sword Heart Stone, it will also dissipate, just at a slower speed.” Qin Jianglan paused. “But there’s one place where souls not only won’t disappear but will slowly strengthen.”

“Where?”

“The City of the Dead.” His gaze was cold and deep. “The True Spirit Realm within the Liuguang Mirror.”

He had once felt dead as ash, yet nearly mad with obsession. The vitality in his body had surged out madly in that instant, nourishing the dead spirits in the True Spirit Realm. His consciousness seemed to separate from his body, seeing people in the distant city move, using his vitality as nourishment to live in the city. He had almost become like them.

Making the dead spirits realize they were dead, thus generating resentment, causing the Liuguang Mirror to be dominated by towering resentment and become a demonic artifact, cutting off its path to becoming a dao artifact—only then could it recognize a master. After recognizing a master, one could freely control the Liuguang Mirror and leave it. This was what that already-vanished remnant soul from the True Immortal Realm had told him.

But Qin Jianglan understood that the countless dead spirits in the True Spirit Realm each had profound cultivation and powerful strength. If it truly became a demonic artifact, that towering resentment could directly devour him completely, leaving him without consciousness, becoming similar to the out-of-control Longquan Sword. The Liuguang Mirror would then have the same nature as the Longquan Sword, with the only difference probably being that the Liuguang Mirror was stronger than the Longquan Sword.

Similarly, the Liuguang Mirror wholeheartedly wanted to become a dao artifact—how could it so easily become a demonic artifact? If it were to truly become a demonic artifact, it could have completely become one when devouring the True Spirit Realm. Yet the Liuguang Mirror imprisoned the beings of the True Spirit Realm, saying they were dead, but they were completely unaware and could live anew by absorbing his vitality.

Thousands and tens of thousands of years had passed, and these people still existed. Their souls had never disappeared and could still survive within the Liuguang Mirror.

It was close to becoming a dao artifact, but not through temporal regression or changing fate. Even returning to the past, one still struggled within the Heavenly Dao—how could changing fate truly count? Making good people bad, living people die, dead people live? Important historical figures couldn’t be changed, or they’d be struck by heavenly lightning?

Qin Jianglan had always thought this way, so he had even placed a Zhuxin Curse on Su Zhuyi, fearing that upon rebirth, she would immediately kill the famous Su Qingxun, thus bringing divine punishment.

Divine punishment did indeed exist, but that was an illusion given to people by the Heavenly Dao. Perhaps there was indeed a tiny bit of that reason, but it wasn’t the key.

Everyone was a tiny, dust-like existence within the Heavenly Dao.

To it, there truly wasn’t anyone irreplaceable. That period we once lived through, that segment of history, to us, was extremely important. Yet heaven and earth had experienced millions of years. Changes to certain people in such a small segment of time—was that truly breaking the dao? Would it care?

You think it would care, but actually, it doesn’t.

Thinking of yourself as the world’s number one, irreplaceable—actually, under its guidance, there would still be new sword dao supremes, new number ones in the world.

Perhaps the Liuguang Mirror had attempted countless temporal regressions and failed at defying heaven to change fate. Finally, the Liuguang Mirror itself realized this point, so it preserved the sacrificial True Spirit Realm, using all its power.

Any living being, after perishing, would have their soul dissipate between heaven and earth.

The Liuguang Mirror wanted to break the dao—this was where it would start.

Thanks to Su Zhuyi’s influence, Qin Jianglan had read many mortal storybooks. Many mortals believed good was rewarded with good and evil with evil—if one committed many evils in life, even if they weren’t dealt with while alive, they would be severely punished after death, reincarnating as beasts in the next life. This was many mortals’ faith. But actually, death was just death. Once the soul dissipated, there was no next life, no reincarnation.

But what if a true underworld appeared?

After living beings died, souls would no longer disappear between heaven and earth but enter cities where the dead lived, even able to be reborn. The good would have smooth lives, the evil would have rough fates filled with suffering.

This was the dao the Liuguang Mirror wanted—it could be called the Reincarnation Dao. Not breaking the Heavenly Dao to become a dao artifact, but being able to supplement the Heavenly Dao’s shortcomings and coexist with it.

Qin Jianglan realized this point.

So finally, he left the Liuguang Mirror.

“Luo Ying can live in the City of the Dead.” Qin Jianglan looked at Qinghe. “You can too.”

“While you still have consciousness, voluntarily sacrifice to the Liuguang Mirror. You can continuously provide vitality to the world within the Liuguang Mirror. With your current strength, you should be able to persist for a long time.”

“Why should I trust you?” Qinghe’s gaze was cold and sinister.

Qin Jianglan said indifferently: “You have no choice.”

After a slight pause, his tone softened: “I am your junior sister’s man.”

Qinghe’s hand tightly gripping the bone nail, loosened slightly. He looked at the mirror behind Qin Jianglan: “This mirror alone can subdue the Longquan Sword?”

If he were to sacrifice voluntarily, he was currently the Longquan Sword—this mirror would have to be able to devour him.

“Try it and you’ll know.”

“Good!” Qinghe didn’t hesitate much. He also had no time to hesitate.

He followed Qin Jianglan, reciting the sacrificial incantations sentence by sentence, placing his hand covered in foul blood and surrounded by black qi on that ancient mirror. While chanting, his whole body hurt as if being torn apart. The Longquan Sword struggled desperately. Just when he was about to be unable to hold on, a hand gently pressed on his shoulder.

An ice-cold hand with bone-piercing coldness. This was Qin Jianglan’s hand. The moment their bodies made contact, Qinghe’s eyes flew open: “You!”

Are you already dead? He was slightly shocked but had no energy to care about others. After finishing the last sentence, Qinghe felt that the mirror surface burst forth with dazzling light again. His body seemed to be dragged by tremendous force, and in that instant, he also completely lost control of his body. The Longquan Sword vibrated desperately, trying to break free from that enormous binding force. Though he lost control, his consciousness instead became clear—he could only watch the Longquan Sword struggle, as if freed from bodily constraints, floating outside as a cold observer.

Was the mirror devouring the Longquan Sword?

Or would the Longquan Sword shatter the mirror? Seeing even a crack appear on the mirror surface, he thought the Longquan Sword was so powerful that the mirror would surely fail.

But unexpectedly, the next moment, his body suddenly sank heavily, as if falling into an endless abyss.

“Luo Ying…”

Qin Jianglan grasped the Liuguang Mirror in his hand. There was a crack on the mirror surface, but moments later, the crack disappeared.

“Luo Ying will also go in.” He gently rubbed the mirror surface with his finger, then sent Luo Ying’s remains into the mirror as well. After completing all this, Qin Jianglan put the Liuguang Mirror back in his embrace.