As the black celestial eyes surrounded Ming Li and the blind old man like towering walls, they also blocked the vision of everyone else.

Shu Sheng and the others couldn’t see what was happening inside. They could only feel the killing intent spreading from the blind old man’s divine miracle ability. The air within the area screamed, creating pressure that stirred up whirlwinds, lifting the snow from the ground. The snow mist grew increasingly dense.

Inside the circle, the blind old man said to Ming Li: “I can feel your power… so unique. You must withstand this attack, don’t die.”

Ming Li looked at his empty, dark eye sockets and asked: “Is its voice so important to you?”

“Of course it’s important!” The blind old man said excitedly. “No cultivator can resist exploring star meridian power. It’s so mysterious and beautiful—the peak of Eight Meridian Completion, the highest realm countless people pursue, paying unimaginable prices for it!”

“I sacrificed my eyes in exchange for the mind’s eye. To seek a higher realm, I did everything it told me to do, yet one day I suddenly could no longer hear its voice. I was already at Eight Meridian Completion, so why couldn’t I hear it anymore? It let me know the truth of the world, the limits of power—all unknowns could be answered by it!”

The pilgrim’s fire burned within Ming Li, with dark flames appearing in her eyes.

Inside the circle, the snow on the ground was silently disappearing, revealing the dark ground beneath. Watermarks were rapidly evaporating.

Faced with the blind old man’s near-hysterical confession, Ming Li wasn’t drawn into his emotions. She looked at him calmly and said softly: “Perhaps you killed too many Ghost Tribe members.”

“Ghost Tribe?” The blind old man was momentarily stunned. “Those things… it doesn’t matter how many are killed. Isn’t that what it wants?”

Ming Li said, “Perhaps there’s more than one voice in this world, and another voice doesn’t want the Ghost Tribe to die.”

The blind old man asked in a trembling voice: “Did you hear it?”

But Ming Li didn’t answer.

The blind old man shouted at her: “Did you hear another voice? What did it say? Why does it exist? Tell me!”

Countless black celestial eyes opened, emitting dazzling golden light. The ground was consumed by raging fire, flames soaring skyward. The high temperature blurred the figures of the two.

The flames intertwined between them like a fire dragon, hissing as it moved. Even with his mind’s eye, the blind old man couldn’t penetrate the flames to see the figure behind them.

Fire threads moved around Ming Li’s body, connecting the power of the eight meridians. Those incredible powers were evolving at an astonishing speed.

At the moment of the Eight Meridian Completion, a red star lit up in the night sky.

Her brain was forcibly filled with many memory fragments.

Wars that had occurred on this continent, dead Ghost Tribe members, wild grass swaying on the plains, revealing black skulls behind them.

They covered the entire plane. The dazzling light of the setting sun passed through the black eye sockets, with only the pilgrims standing behind able to step onto this plain.

Slaves in chains rose in rebellion and slaughter under the massive setting sun.

The city tower was consumed by a great fire. People fled with twisted expressions in the blood and fire, pursued by Ghost Tribe members. Pilgrims screamed until their voices were hoarse.

The battle continued for an unknown duration, but the hatred had become irreconcilable.

Those resentments, killing intent, compassion, loneliness, and more whispered in Ming Li’s ears, wanting her to resonate with them, experience them firsthand, become one with them.

What was the truth about the world?

It didn’t matter.

What mattered was the choice.

Ming Li recalled many things. When she opened her eyes, she looked up at the night sky.

Its voice passed by her ears.

Known as the Divine Oracle.

—Your choice?

—Not to kill.

*

On the palace wall, people resisted the powerful star power pressure and the snowstorm from ahead. Chen Zhou frowned as he stared at the large expanse of black celestial eyes, worried about Ming Li trapped inside. Suddenly, he noticed an unusual phenomenon in the sky.

The red star announcing the appearance of a pilgrim, known as the Star of Mars, appeared in the world.

While everyone looked up at the red light flashing in the sky—the dazzling and eye-catching Star of Mars—only Shu Sheng’s gaze remained unchanged.

Golden light could be vaguely seen flashing in the black celestial eyes. In the next moment, they were broken open by a fire dragon, its long body and tail destroying the entire containment formation before scattering as starlight falling in the night.

The dancing starlight intertwined with snowflakes, enveloping the world in red and white colors.

Ming Li stood in place, looking up at the night sky, while the blind old man, who had been eagerly awaiting her answer, fell to his knees without making a sound. He clutched his slit throat and fell backward.

What had cut the blind old man’s throat was a star thread—the same one he had used to threaten Ming Li with Dong Yeyun.

“Senior Sister?” Qing Ying called softly, trying to get down from the palace wall, but was grabbed by Xiang An’ge.

Xiang An’ge looked to the left, where two figures flashed onto the palace wall, ignoring the surrounding pressure.

Cui Yaocen blocked the pressure in front of Qian Li. Her sudden appearance startled Qian Li: “Master?”

Yuan Lu stood beside Shu Sheng, stroking his chin as he examined Fang Hui. After a while, he said to Shu Sheng: “Can one deduce what you look like from this child’s features?”

Fang Hui understood his meaning and frowned with displeasure.

Shu Sheng ignored Yuan Lu, his gaze beneath the mask constantly fixed on Ming Li in the distance.

At this moment, like the blind old man, he wanted to know what Ming Li had heard and seen. He could roughly guess, but still wanted to hear Ming Li say it herself.

Ming Li’s answer would determine his choice.

Before the starlight had completely dispersed, Ming Li withdrew her gaze from the night sky and flashed to the top of the palace wall in the blink of an eye.

The palace wall was several meters wide, with many people standing side by side. Across from Ming Li and Xiang An’ge, three pilgrims stood shoulder to shoulder.

The camps were silently and cleverly divided.

Ming Li merely glanced at the opposite side before turning back and placing a finger on Dong Yeyun’s shoulder, using the Yin-Yang Dual Meridian healing technique to alleviate his pain.

Examining Dong Yeyun’s body, she discovered his tongue had been cut off. The healing technique couldn’t restore it, but instrument techniques could, though it would be more difficult than repairing Qing Ying’s puppet state.

The two North Star directors had also relied on instrument techniques to repair their severed arms.

Ming Li’s brows furrowed slightly as she fell into deep thought.

Dong Yeyun reached out and patted her head, with apology and pity in his gesture.

Although no one had told him yet, Dong Yeyun had already guessed most of it.

The guilt in his eyes was about to overflow.

Ming Li mocked gently: “Don’t you dare cry in front of so many people. It’s too embarrassing. I wouldn’t even want to fight later.”

Dong Yeyun: “…”

In that moment, he seemed to return to the past, to when Ming Li was sixteen and hadn’t yet broken through.

Dong Yeyun looked toward Chen Zhou, who returned Zhou Caicai to him: “I’ve stopped the bleeding temporarily, but the injuries are severe. I’ve already sent a message to Junxia asking him to come.”

As Chen Zhou spoke, his gaze swept toward the three pilgrims opposite, and he turned on his heel, his back to Dong Yeyun.

The atmosphere was tense.

Perhaps leaving the imperial capital would be more difficult than imagined.

As Ming Li withdrew her hand, Qing Ying rushed over and embraced her: “Senior Sister—”

A voice of joy and choked emotion.

Ming Li pinched Qing Ying’s cheek—it was warm and soft, no longer in the porcelain puppet state of before—and felt relieved.

Across from them, Cui Yaocen watched this scene with disgust. The sound of her sword being partially unsheathed drew Ming Li’s gaze.

Cui Yaocen spoke directly: “Return Yuan Xi to me.”

Ming Li smiled: “Why should I?”

“Why? Your junior sister has returned. Why not return Yuan Xi?” Cui Yaocen’s released pressure made the palace wall tremble for a moment. “Since Xiang An’ge said he needs your permission to release him, today I ask you: will you release him or not?”

“You simplify things so casually, yet dare to ask me to release someone.” Ming Li guided Qing Ying behind her and stepped forward, her pressure equally making the palace wall tremble. “Could it be that you’ve inherited the shameless will of the Divine Oracle?”

Cui Yaocen looked at her coldly and drew her sword as she spoke: “I think you’re the one who has inherited the weak, cowardly, and compromising will of the Divine Oracle.”

“I don’t consider myself a savior,” Ming Li said, her gaze passing over Shu Sheng. “I won’t impose meaningless responsibilities on myself, nor will I use the excuse of saving the world to kill people.”

Shu Sheng raised his hand to stop the enraged Cui Yaocen from taking action. He asked with unreadable emotion: “You think that’s just an excuse?”

Ming Li: “Do you truly believe it wants you to be a savior?”

“I’m not fixated on the title of savior,” Shu Sheng said. “If we do nothing, we’ll face the outcome of Ghost Tribe members killing all humans.”

“Humans and Ghost Tribe—only one can survive.”

He felt he had made himself very clear and hoped Ming Li would take it seriously, reflect, and make a new choice.

She was human, after all.

Shouldn’t she stand with humans rather than the Ghost Tribe?

Those who needed protection from the strong were ordinary people who had only one life and couldn’t be revived.

In this world, ordinary people were indispensable.

Shu Sheng waited for Ming Li’s answer but saw her calm expression, even somewhat indifferent, as she said: “I don’t care.”

These words seemed to overturn everyone’s impression of Ming Li.

Perhaps in people’s eyes, Ming Li was peaceful, rational, and powerful. Those who didn’t know her well might find her a bit cold and slightly dull.

They believed she would surely uphold justice.

But the real Ming Li might be cruel, cold, and inherently evil.

Time seemed to pause for a long while.

Shu Sheng asked again: “Is it because your junior brother is a Ghost Tribe member?”

Ming Li said, “I’ve thought this way since my first breakthrough.”

It had nothing to do with Zhou Zixi.

Ming Li raised her hand toward Shu Sheng: “Since you’ve asked, you’d better tell me where you’re keeping my junior brother before I cut out your tongue.”

“You?” Yuan Lu raised both hands innocently: “Hey! Let me be clear, I have no part in this. But I also truly don’t want to see the Ghost Tribe dominate the world.”

“Why waste more words with her?” Cui Yaocen laughed coldly. “This person has been obstinate from beginning to end, selfish and self-serving. She’s completely unable to resonate with suffering. She only sees the one-sided pitiful state of the Ghost Tribe and feels compassion, abandoning the innocent people of the entire continent for it.”

“The funniest thing I’ve heard today is you, Cui Yaocen, saying I can’t resonate with suffering,” Ming Li smiled slightly at her. “When I use the blood-nurturing technique on you and others, seeing you at death’s door, perhaps I’ll also feel compassion and reluctantly resonate with your suffering.”

Shu Sheng sighed: “Why do you still choose the Ghost Tribe?”

“I haven’t chosen either side,” Ming Li looked at him coldly. “And you should stop deceiving yourselves. The true masters of the Tong Gu Continent are the Ghost Tribe, not humans.”

At that moment, all the falling starlight dispersed. Besides the pilgrims, no one heard clearly what Ming Li said in her last sentence.

Perhaps they heard it, but some force erased their memories.

Any core secrets regarding the Ghost Tribe and the Tong Gu Continent, regardless of how they were learned, would ultimately have the memories erased, except for pilgrims.

Besides the pilgrims, Chen Zhou was the closest to the truth.

Because he had once been in the celestial pit, digging jade fire stones from the black mud day and night. As Cheng Jingbai had said, those black muds resembled the flesh and blood of dead Ghost Tribe members.

When the stars fell from the sky, the people living in this area all died in that catastrophe.

The celestial pit, as old as the Tong Gu Continent, was mixed with the flesh and blood of the people who had lived on this continent.

In other words, the so-called Ghost Tribe was the first people born on this continent.

At that time, there were only Ghost Tribe members.

The Tong Gu Continent was a world that belonged to the Ghost Tribe.