Ming Li looked up at her still-young father, who was wiping ink marks from Dong Yeyun’s face while laughing: “Couldn’t you go easier on your sister?”

Dong Yeyun replied irritably: “I was kindly teaching her cultivation, but she struck first.”

Winter sunlight spilled into the room. Dong Yeyun turned around, his painted face looking comical as he glared at her angrily, raising his hand to scold her, but it was immediately pushed down by Dong Yeshou.

Dong Yeshou said, “Your sister has no talent for cultivation, so stop forcing her to learn from you.”

Ming Li sat on a nearby cushion watching this scene.

She had also returned to the age of five or six. Everything felt so real—the daylight and fragmented shadows, the fragrance of sweet potatoes, the snow outside, and the people before her—all were vivid presences.

Ming Li didn’t hear Shu Sheng’s voice, but she knew this was another round of the Divine Radiance Illusion World.

No longer challenging her inner anger through Zhou Zixi, but stripping away her talent, making her struggle in the setting of an ordinary person.

【If you were just a person with average cultivation talent—】

“Alright, continue writing today’s Eight Meridian fragments.” Dong Yeshou pressed his son down in his seat, not letting him leave. He stood up, walked to Ming Li’s side, took her hand, and said, “My daughter and I will prepare some food first.”

【Your father would no longer have expectations for you.】

Ming Li tilted her head to look at Dong Yeshou holding her hand. Even the warmth of his palm felt so real.

Dong Yeshou led her to the next room, where Senior Brother Chen Zhou and Junior Sister Qing Ying were selecting sweet potatoes. Ming Li heard herself say to her father: “Dad, I want to learn the spirit techniques my brother knows.”

“Your brother has awakened eight meridians. Even if you want to learn, you can’t. Just give up and come learn how to pick sweet potatoes with me.” Before Dong Yeshou could speak, Chen Zhou beside him spoke first, stuffing a sweet potato into Ming Li’s hand. “Go wash these clean with Qing Ying.”

Dong Yeshou stroked her head without speaking, seemingly agreeing with Chen Zhou’s words.

Qing Ying pulled Ming Li along to wash the sweet potatoes.

The winter’s icy water made her fingers stiff and numb.

Ming Li grew up day by day in Bei Dou.

Her brother, who had awakened eight meridians, was often taken by their father to travel the world. Her senior disciples were too busy with their daily cultivation to look after her. When they met on the road, they would merely greet her before chatting and walking away with other disciples.

She couldn’t understand the eight meridian spirit techniques people discussed. Even though she read book after book in the library every day, noting down parts she didn’t understand to ask Qu Zhuyue, the Bei Dou Sect Leader, the adults would explain things to her, but she still couldn’t understand.

The Bei Dou Sect Leader stroked her head and said: “The world of cultivation is cruel. No matter how hard you try, if you can’t reach a certain boundary, you just can’t. Better to find another way and pursue what’s within your capabilities.”

She asked innocently: “What is within my capabilities?”

The Bei Dou Sect Leader replied: “Your limit.”

She asked: “Where is my limit?”

The Bei Dou Sect Leader answered: “One meridian at full boundary.”

You can only reach one meridian at full boundary, so don’t dream of a world with eight meridians at full boundary.

When her brother and father returned from their travels, they brought her many gifts. Her brother vividly described how beautiful the outside world was.

So she said to Dong Yeshou: “Dad, I want to go too.”

Dong Yeshou replied: “The outside world is too dangerous, and you’re still too weak to protect yourself.”

Ming Li asked: “When will I be able to protect myself?”

But Dong Yeshou shook his head: “You will never be able to protect yourself in the outside world. You can only be protected by others.”

Her father only taught her brother cultivation, guiding his eight meridian spirit techniques.

Her senior brothers also only played with Dong Yeyun. She followed her senior sisters, but couldn’t understand their discussions, couldn’t join the conversation, and remained silent like a shadow.

Time passed gradually, winter gave way to spring.

People knew her name, knew she was Dong Yeshou’s daughter, but she was no longer the genius in people’s hearts, no longer her father’s hope, no longer a fellow disciple who could stand alongside her brother and senior disciples.

At the Star-Pointing Meeting of Bei Dou’s Seven Academies, young people fought with all their might, battling passionately, but she was not among them. No one watched her.

She was ordinary but yearned to be extraordinary, so she woke up early day and night to sense stellar power. Whether under scorching sun or pouring rain, she persisted in practicing spirit techniques, often making her techniques chaotic because she couldn’t sense the power of the seven meridians.

Some people even whispered mockingly from a distance, saying she was delusional. Others advised her to give up early.

She grew up through thousands of ordinary days and nights, but her desire for power grew increasingly intense.

She fell into the pain of doubting her talent, watching those around her advance their cultivation boundaries year after year, watching her brother’s spirited confidence, watching her junior sister easily use spirit techniques she couldn’t learn in many years.

Admiration bred jealousy, pain bred resentment.

Her father said he had accepted a new disciple with great talent in the Eight Meridian Formation technique.

The new junior brother never looked at her, always walking with the other senior and junior disciples.

When they met at Yaoguang Academy, her junior brother didn’t even greet her, couldn’t even remember her name. When practicing calligraphy in her father’s courtyard, they remained silent. When her brother and Qing Ying arrived, they chatted happily, leaving only herself in silence, unable to insert a single word.

【Without talent, you lose everything.】

The passage of time in the illusion felt incredibly real. Ming Li had already spent more than ten years here, growing from childhood to adulthood, constantly overlooked by everyone.

In the courtyard, spring sunshine was brilliant, flowers bloomed in abundance. Senior disciples from the Seven Academies came looking for Dong Yeyun and Chen Zhou. Qing Ying and Zhou Zixi followed along. Dong Yeshou stood at the entrance, talking with other academy heads.

Ming Li sat alone in the room, watching them laughing in the sunlight.

There is nothing more cruel in this world than being ignored by those who once showered you with limitless love.

【Without talent, you are nothing.】

Jealousy and anger grew wildly in Ming Li’s heart, breeding a strong desire for destruction—to destroy everything, annihilate the entire world.

Ming Li’s hand holding the brush grew heavy, snapping it. In the invisible darkness, someone’s lips curved slightly.

She had fallen for it, lost herself in the illusion. The person gathered power in his hand, preparing to finish her with one strike.

The person in the darkness had barely begun to rejoice when he saw Ming Li, sitting by the table, slowly stand up and say: “From the beginning, you’ve misunderstood one very important thing.”

The smile on Shu Sheng’s lips in the darkness froze, his expression becoming grave.

In that instant, his control over Ming Li’s emotions in the illusion completely failed.

Ming Li turned around, staring precisely at where Shu Sheng was hiding, raising her eyebrow slightly: “When I was little, I wouldn’t have been so polite to them, nor would I have said nauseating things like ‘Brother, teach me.'”

Shu Sheng saw small white flowers suddenly blooming on the back of his hand, his pupils constricting. Wisps of star lines floated from the white stamens.

His mind flashed back to the scene when Ming Li’s divine weapon longbow’s vines, entangled his wrists. Was it then?

“Irrational attack?” Ming Li raised her hand, pointing at Shu Sheng, saying, “The irrational one is you, overlooking details because of anger.”

Heart Meridian: Clever Incitement.

As the vines attached to Shu Sheng’s skin, penetrating his blood and flesh, silently entering his heart, they influenced his thoughts and emotions.

Ming Li had glimpsed the existence Shu Sheng feared most deeply.

“You said your most powerful meridian is the Heart Meridian. As it happens,” Ming Li’s lips curved slightly, “so are mine.”

As her words fell, the situation instantly changed.

Ming Li’s figure merged into nothingness, trapping Shu Sheng in a new world.

*

As soon as Shu Sheng opened his eyes, scalding water poured over his head. A scream caught in his throat because his mouth was stuffed with cloth.

“You worthless thing, still daring to peep at the young master’s cultivation!”

The man’s sharp voice carved into the depths of Shu Sheng’s soul. Hearing this, his pupils shook violently as he stared intently at the servant holding the bucket.

No, how could he return to this time?!

The servant pulled the cloth from his mouth.

Shu Sheng opened his mouth, but could only emit a weak plea: “This slave was wrong.”

Shut up! You are an Eight Meridian Full Boundary Pilgrim, the human world’s supreme being!

Shu Sheng raged inwardly, yet was powerless, only able to repeat “This slave was wrong” over and over.

“Hmph, now you know you’re wrong? Too late!” The servant threw aside the bucket and called to others: “Beat him!”

Immediately, the clubs struck down, feet and hands kicking and hitting the thin boy lying on the ground.

The boy looked no more than eleven or twelve, extremely thin, just skin and bones. The hot water had scalded his skin red, breaking it open and causing blisters.

This was just the beginning.

As a household slave, the boy had to do many chores every day. Because he had previously peeped at the young master’s cultivation, earning the young master’s dislike, others in the household didn’t dare get too close to him.

The young master remembered this slave who had spied on his cultivation. When his cultivation didn’t go well and he happened to see the slave coming to serve, he would beat and scold him. The slave was often beaten until barely alive.

“You dare learn the spirit techniques of a young master like me?”

The arrogant young master stepped the slave’s face into a pile of hot coals, coldly laughing as he listened to the slave’s screams.

Ming Li stood in the darkness, watching with a calm expression.

She could hear Shu Sheng’s furious roars inside, and also the boy’s painful screams.

Ming Li’s Heart Meridian had penetrated Shu Sheng’s brain, excavating and replaying his memories, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood.

The pain of his youth was too profound. No matter how powerful he became years later, that shadow remained. The realistic feeling of the Divine Radiance Illusion World continuously awakened Shu Sheng’s memories.

The young Shu Sheng had his hands bound behind his back, scalding water poured over his head. He had thousands of ways to fight back, but not now.

Shu Sheng experienced the most brutal abuse when he was at his weakest. The bone-deep despair and powerlessness were carved into the deepest part of his soul, accompanying him for life.

Shu Sheng was forced to relive days worse than death, days when he was treated worse than pigs and dogs. Those pains that terrified him would descend again.

The passage of time felt real.

A moment, a quarter-hour, an hour, a day, a month, a year.

Until he was twelve and entered the Perception Boundary, awakening seven meridians, with only two meridians innately awakened.

The boy was ecstatic, but the household’s young master soon found out and sent people to kill him.

He fell down a cliff while fleeing, narrowly escaping death.

The boy wanted to cultivate to become stronger, to become like the household’s young master, so he wouldn’t have to fear others’ beatings and scolding, and could proudly step on others underfoot.

Ming Li watched his difficult struggle to survive, her gaze calm and undisturbed.

The boy who arrived in another city was driven away and mocked because of his face. Children ridiculed him as an ugly monster, and adults cursed him as useless, telling the dirty, foul-smelling boy who attracted flies to get lost.

So the boy killed for money, stole food, and clothes.

He wanted to study at the Martial Academy but knew his face would certainly meet with criticism. If the household’s young master found him, it would be terrible.

He carefully hid himself, stealing knowledge at the Martial Academy.

The boy met a kind Martial Academy teacher.

This teacher saw how studious he was, and with his face full of scars, pitied him as a poor soul and taught him cultivation knowledge privately each day.

The boy learned quickly, diligently, and seriously.

Inside him burned an obsession driving him to become strong, to protect himself, to kill the young master, to step on everyone else.

He wanted to become like the young master.

The day the boy cultivated to five meridians to full maturity, he returned and killed the young master’s family.

The Star Destiny Department issued an arrest warrant for the boy. By then, he was twenty years old, killing more and more people as he fled.

Until the Martial Academy teacher who had taught him came to stop him, asking him to cease and turn back.

The man killed his teacher without hesitation.

When he stepped on a youth in the same way, watching him wail and scream, he was finally satisfied, believing he had become someone like the “young master.”

—Someone with the strength to trample and control others at will.

The man believed he was powerful enough to step on those who had once mocked and hurt him, to hear them repent and submit to him.

Until he met Emperor Wen Xiu.

Emperor Wen Xiu’s cavalry surrounded him. The pressure from several Death Boundary experts made Shu Sheng’s shoulders tremble. Emperor Wen Xiu asked him: “So you’re the one who killed the person I’ve been looking for?”

Shu Sheng felt fear for the first time in a long while. His childhood experience made him understand that in this world, there were people above the “young master.” He wanted to survive and become such a person—one who controlled others’ lives and deaths.

Emperor Wen Xiu was a madman.

Cold-blooded and heartless, he enjoyed manipulating people, watching them step by step into dead ends.

Emperor Wen Xiu saw through Shu Sheng’s twisted psychology and wanted him to go further. So instead of killing Shu Sheng, he kept him by his side, giving him better cultivation resources, making Shu Sheng his dog.

Shu Sheng strived to become someone like Emperor Wen Xiu.

Ming Li watched from the darkness as Shu Sheng lived for years like Emperor Wen Xiu’s shadow, like his dog.

Emperor Wen Xiu made Shu Sheng change his identity, from a humble household slave sold to a wealthy family to eventually becoming the Martial Inspection Alliance Leader.

Shu Sheng’s inner world changed again and again, as did his cognition and pursuits. When he realized he couldn’t become an Eight Meridian Full Boundary Pilgrim, he began to consider the issue of talent.

He had more talent than the household’s young master—he had awakened seven meridians, crushing the young master who had only awakened three. He was talented.

—I’ve achieved so much, from slave to second only to the Emperor, above all others. I am the one chosen by fate!

Shu Sheng vowed he would become an Eight Meridian Full Boundary Pilgrim, at any cost.

As it happened, Emperor Wen Xiu enjoyed watching people struggle in their desires, becoming increasingly unfortunate. Even though Shu Sheng had dealings with the Wandering Clan, he turned a blind eye, pretending not to know.

On the day he broke through his boundary, Shu Sheng believed he had achieved his goal of “becoming someone like Emperor Wen Xiu.”

But before Shu Sheng could rejoice, the Divine Oracle’s arrival caused his thinking to change again.

The truth about Earth Ghosts was the Life Meridian.

A stellar meridian with such amazing and powerful strength—why wasn’t I the one to awaken it?

If I had awakened the Life Meridian, I wouldn’t have had to hide in fear of death back then, living worse than a dog.

Why do those people get to awaken the Life Meridian?

Shu Sheng couldn’t control his anger. It took him a long time to ease it. This time, he told himself: I will become the one who controls the world’s future.

I am willing to join with the Divine Oracle to create a new world with only eight meridians!

From that day on, Shu Sheng worked toward this goal.

By this point, Ming Li had grown somewhat impatient. Seeing Shu Sheng fall once more into the daydream of “self-pursuit,” she mercilessly waved her hand, returning him from the high position of Martial Inspection Alliance Leader back to his miserable youth.

Splash—

A bucket of hot water poured over Shu Sheng’s head.

The one lying on the ground was no longer a six or seven-year-old boy, but Shu Sheng from years later. In the dirty, messy woodshed, Shu Sheng was soaked through, utterly wretched, coldly raising his gaze to meet Ming Li standing at the door.

He finally shed all pretense, proudly raising his head: “You can’t kill me. Even if you glimpse my past, you cannot crush my inner heart.”

“You look like you’re waiting for me to praise your life as remarkable.”

Ming Li stood at the doorway against the light. The daylight outside was completely blocked by her, with only the breeze passing through her clothes and hair.

Shu Sheng laughed coldly: “Compared to someone like you who relied on talent to reach where you are today, of course it’s remarkable.”

“Your undisguised arrogance shows you clearly know you no longer have the ability to continue pretending, and it also shows you’ve truly been provoked,” Ming Li casually smoothed her hair, saying indifferently: “Regarding your life, I find it merely boring.”

Shu Sheng’s gaze grew colder.

Ming Li crouched down, seeking the eyes on that distorted face, looking directly at them with a slight smile: “Let me be clear, I’m not the kind of person who would soften because of your tragic childhood experiences. Blood debts must be paid in blood. What you owe my brother, what you owe Zixi, what you owe me—you’ll pay with your life.”

“I told you, you can’t kill me.” As soon as Shu Sheng finished speaking, another bucket of hot water poured over his head. The temperature instantly broke the skin exposed on Shu Sheng’s body, causing blisters and pus-filled blood to flow. With a ferocious face, he said, “At this level, do you think I would be afraid?”

“I endured worse than this back then! I survived, and I won’t fall a second time in the same place! You cannot break me in the illusion by recreating these scenes!”

Shu Sheng mocked with a hoarse voice.

“Pain is real, and it’s etched in bone and heart, impossible to forget,” Ming Li said. “It doesn’t matter. Even if you desperately deny it, I will make you remember the despair you felt when you were powerless to resist, without any confidence, and extremely weak.”

Shu Sheng’s confidence came from his stellar meridian power.

When a person who has nothing suddenly possesses tremendous power, they value that power immensely. The first thing they consider when doing anything is “what level can I achieve with my ability.”

Ming Li was certain that Shu Sheng could rely only on his stellar meridian power. Beyond that, he had nothing to build his confidence upon, because of that face covered in scars that distorted his features.

Also because, deep down, Shu Sheng had never accepted himself as he was.

Ming Li’s figure disappeared from Shu Sheng’s eyes, replaced by servants from the household. They continuously poured hot water over Shu Sheng, cursing and swearing. Shu Sheng gritted his teeth and endured without making a sound.

Days passed one by one. Shu Sheng was released from the woodshed but couldn’t leave the estate. Under Ming Li’s suppression, unable to break the Divine Radiance Illusion World, he was forced to cycle through days of life in the estate.

On ground covered with hot coals, the young master, not even reaching his waistline in height, stepped on Shu Sheng’s face, gleefully watching his face burn in the coals. This was more humiliating than in his childhood, because he was no longer in his childhood form, but in his “Shu Sheng” form, being stepped on by the young master.

Shu Sheng’s heart was filled with unwillingness and rage. He roared at Ming Li in the void: “You cannot kill me!”

As long as he reminded himself this was an illusion, he wouldn’t be affected, even though all the pain experienced in this illusion was real.

Ming Li coldly observed Shu Sheng constantly reminding himself this was an illusion. Her voice came from the sky into Shu Sheng’s ears: “Do you dare to resist him?”

How could he not dare!

Shu Sheng struggled with hands and feet, but found he truly couldn’t resist. Just as he tried to rise, the young master’s foot, covered with stellar power, stomped him back down heavily: “You slave dog, you dare resist this young master?”

The youth’s still somewhat childish voice was furious as he kicked Shu Sheng’s face several times viciously.

Shu Sheng was almost kicked senseless. The intense pain corroded his nerves, interrupting his ability to think.

Ming Li softly mocked: “You cannot resist.”

—Impossible!

—I am an Eight Meridian Full Boundary Pilgrim!

—I am the strongest being on the Tonggu Continent, supreme among humans!

Shu Sheng rose to resist, but a large man was easily kicked down by a small young master, firmly suppressed. In the comparison of stellar meridian power, the side without it was at an absolute disadvantage.

“Slave dog, resist again?”

The vicious young master carved into Shu Sheng’s face, already burnt to a bloody mess, with a dagger dipped in chili water. Shu Sheng was in such pain his whole body sweated, biting his teeth, refusing to utter a sound.

Without stellar power, he could not use the Yin-Yang Dual Meridians’ healing technique, could not strengthen his body with the Body Technique Meridian, could not use the Qi Flow Meridian to kill those humiliating him.

Shu Sheng told himself again, it’s just an illusion.

In an illusion, the passage of time people experience is real, impossible to weaken.

Whenever Shu Sheng thought he had endured in this hell until he was about to awaken his stellar meridian, Ming Li would turn his time back to when he first offended the household’s young master. A bucket of hot water poured over his head, chilling his heart.

“You know your weakness is this face, so you always restrain your disgust for it, trying to accept it. When your mask shattered, your first thought was still to cover your face.”

Ming Li’s voice came from the sky, falling into Shu Sheng’s ears with pressure and eeriness:

“You, who cannot accept this face, can only ever be—a weakling.”

No!

I am not weak!

Shu Sheng raised his head to retort, but was stepped on by the youth.

Such experiences would continue for a year, ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years—infinite time would elongate the shadow in Shu Sheng’s inner world. He had already endured more than a hundred years in the illusion, countless times denying his weakness and powerlessness, yet again and again being stepped on, again and again having his normal appearance destroyed, becoming unbearably ugly.

“You… cannot kill me.” Shu Sheng, fallen beside the hot coals, spoke slowly, haltingly, yet stubbornly declared to Ming Li, “My inner heart… will not be… destroyed by you.”

In the contest between two Heart Meridian Divine Radiance Illusion Worlds, one side must collapse to leave the illusion. The one who collapses is the loser, and only death awaits the loser.

Ming Li stood in the darkness, speaking leisurely: “Your inner heart is already riddled with wounds. It just needs a little push to shatter completely.”

“For instance, when you wanted to become someone like Emperor Wen Xiu, what were you thinking when you raised Princess Chang Xi?”

Shu Sheng’s pupils froze. This time, as his head was pushed into the hot coals, the high temperature scorching his skin, he let out a scream.

Emperor Wen Xiu… Princess Chang Xi…

Shu Sheng captured these two important names amid the torture of body and mind, but his mind hazily recalled another person—the graceful silhouette of a woman in a phoenix cloak walking toward Emperor Wen Xiu.

Ming Li caught the thoughts deep in Shu Sheng’s heart, her voice bewitching: “So the shadow hidden in the depths of your heart is the Empress.”

The Empress, yes, that woman.

Shu Sheng was still being stepped on, sweat and blood mingling, sticking to his clothes and hair. He wailed in agony, nearly begging for mercy several times.

Under Ming Li’s guidance, many memories flashed through Shu Sheng’s mind.

“You thought Emperor Wen Xiu loved the Empress. Learning to imitate Emperor Wen Xiu’s every move, you also tried to love the Empress.” Ming Li watched the changes in Shu Sheng’s eyes.

Love?

No!

Shu Sheng could no longer control himself. He struggled to refute: “That woman… hypocritical, concealing her Earth Ghost identity, even giving birth to a princess. She deceived me first!”

“Emperor Wen Xiu knew of her Earth Ghost identity all along. There was no deception.” Ming Li probed his memories. “Because the Empress saw your face.”

Shu Sheng, emulating Emperor Wen Xiu, had come to believe deep down that the Empress was his possession. Upon discovering she was an Earth Ghost, he felt the anger of betrayal. When he went to kill her, he deliberately removed his mask, trying to see her reaction, giving her one last chance.

But the Empress was terrified of his face.

Shu Sheng saw clearly in those gentle, bright eyes, when they reflected his appearance, the woman showed utter disgust, hatred, and fear.

How dare she!

Shu Sheng recalled everything he had deliberately forgotten, gradually forgetting his present situation. The Heart Meridian: Clever Incitement continuously amplified his emotions, making his anger and despair surge simultaneously.

“Chang Xi must not be like that woman. She cannot treat me that way. She is my daughter!” Shu Sheng roared hoarsely. “I raised her with my own hands. Everything she knows, I taught her! She should stand by my side unconditionally!”

Ming Li asked: “What do you think Chang Xi thinks?”

When the mask shattered, Shu Sheng had avoided Chang Xi’s gaze.

Shu Sheng was about to reply when he suddenly heard a familiar “Father.” His entire body froze. Even though the household’s young master was cutting rotten flesh from his face with a knife, he didn’t move.

At that moment, fear climbed to its peak.

“Father!” Chang Xi called again.

Shu Sheng ignored the mockery of the young master and servants. His neck stiffly and slowly turned to see Chang Xi appearing in the Divine Radiance Illusion World.

Chang Xi was looking at him hesitantly. When their eyes met, Shu Sheng saw her raise her hand to cover her mouth, left with only disbelieving eyes.

No, no, no, why look at me with such eyes?

Shu Sheng opened and closed his mouth, then saw Chang Xi take a step back.

Why step back?

You should come toward me!

“Chang… Xi…”

Shu Sheng stared fixedly at the person in the distance, hoping to see her walk toward him.

But Chang Xi only shook her head while looking at him. A mask fragment fell beside Chang Xi. She looked down, and after a moment, bent to pick it up.

The household’s young master and the noisy servants had disappeared at some point. In this courtyard filled with the acrid smell of burning flesh, only the two of them remained. The world beyond had become white.

Shu Sheng lay on the ground unable to move. He could feel the purulent blood flowing on his face, certainly looking extremely ugly and frightening. If possible, he wouldn’t want Chang Xi to see him like this.

But now, Shu Sheng needed Chang Xi to come and give him a hug.

Shu Sheng watched the approaching Chang Xi with such yearning and expectation.

Chang Xi looked at him with eyes full of sorrow. The young woman bent down and, under Shu Sheng’s expectant gaze, gently placed the mask over his face.

Shu Sheng’s world instantly froze.

In his eyes was reflected Chang Xi’s mouth opening and closing, saying something to him, but he couldn’t hear anything—only Ming Li’s soft mockery from the void.

The daughter I cherished as a treasure also hates my face.

The person she regarded as a father was the masked man, not me.

*

Time in the Divine Radiance Illusion World had passed over a hundred years, but outside people felt it was just a moment, very brief. Of the two who emerged from the illusion, one knelt, one stood.

Song Tianjiu had just dodged the Life and Death Binding when he saw the two reappear on the mountain and was delighted.

Shu Sheng, kneeling on the ground, was filled with defeat. His stellar power was exhausted, his Heart Meridian collapsed, his gaze clouded. In the instinct for survival, he slowly raised his hand—very slowly, but in the gesture of performing a Qi Flow Word Incantation.

Ming Li’s gaze turned toward Long Yu Ye, who was gripping Fang Hui’s neck. As she walked past Shu Sheng, she said softly: “Abolish.”

The Qi Flow Word Incantation just beginning at Shu Sheng’s fingertips extinguished again.

The sound of mirror shards breaking rang by his ear. The dual mirrors flew out, cutting off Shu Sheng’s eight meridians. As he raised his head to scream, blood splattered everywhere.

Shadows rushed from the direction of the Three Raven River toward Grievance Tower Mountain. People landed on safe rocks, gazing with surprise at the situation below.

People didn’t know whether to first examine the huge black skeletons, the mysterious Wandering Clan leader, some Earth Ghost, the Bei Dou Pilgrim, but soon all eyes focused on one person.

That person, covered in blood and lying on the ground, wearing robes similar to Shu Sheng’s, was crawling with difficulty toward Princess Chang Xi standing not far away.

Princess Chang Xi stood in the shadows with her head lowered.

Shu Sheng crawled toward her, suddenly raising his head. His ferocious expression startled the onlookers standing on the rocks.

“I am Shu Sheng of Eight Meridian Full Boundary! I am a Pilgrim!”

“I am the strongest existence on this continent, supreme among humans!”

“I am your father!”

“How dare you… how dare you!”

Shu Sheng’s furious roar toward Chang Xi ended when the shattered mirror cut off his tongue.

But people had already heard his unbearably ugly outburst.