He truly struck with lethal intent.

Yet Yun Ya had expended such tremendous effort merely to bring her back whole and unharmed.

“Yun Ya.” A thousand words surged through her heart, but in the end, she only whispered his name softly while flinging the Star Sky Cone backward, piercing the throat of a Yan clansman. The man had been stealthily approaching Yun Ya, ready to strike, but was instantly finished by her attack.

Amidst the chaos, she still managed to grasp Yun Ya’s hand.

“I’ve returned.”

His palm remained warm.

Yun Ya’s face had turned ashen, his gaze somewhat unfocused. Feng Miaojun knew his sea of consciousness was in complete turmoil, likely too preoccupied to pay attention to her. Unexpectedly, he suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed it against his chest: “Do it!”

Feng Miaojun was genuinely startled: “What!”

Had this man gone mad, actually asking her to carve out his heart? He knew she couldn’t bring herself to do such a thing neither for his sake nor her own!

With the Heavenly Demon’s influence, Yun Ya struggled to speak, each word seemingly forced through clenched teeth: “Do it… I can break the curse!”

These final words struck her heart like thunderclaps.

Though meaningless to others, Feng Miaojun instantly understood. He was saying he had a way to remove the Ao Turtle mark from her dantian!

They both knew that the Ao Turtle mark, which had followed her for over ten years, was the true reason Feng Miaojun risked her life to save him. Now, if they could break the life-binding contract between them, even if his heart was carved out, it wouldn’t affect her life.

Since returning from the stone chamber, Feng Miaojun had deciphered the secret of the Divine Script and knew how to break this contract, but the conditions were too harsh. Hearing him mention it now, she felt as if a millstone was grinding her heart again and again, making it difficult even to breathe.

She yanked her hand away and spat: “Absolutely not!”

The Yan King forced back Female Wa with one slash and stormed over with a dark expression: “What are you hesitating for? Once the Heavenly Demon devours his consciousness and he’s no longer himself, we won’t be able to summon the Boundary God!”

The Heavenly Demon leader was currently in Yun Ya’s sea of consciousness, and the Yan King clearly understood her purpose. Since Yun Ya’s soul would inevitably be devoured, further delay by this woman would allow the Heavenly Demon clan to truly take control of Yun Ya’s body. Their last hope of summoning the Boundary God would vanish, resulting in complete failure. “Either way, he’s doomed to die. Would you have the entire world accompany him in death?”

Feng Miaojun laughed coldly, drawing her sword before he could approach it and thrusting it toward his eye: “Who says he’s doomed to die!”

This sword, transformed from the liquid metal demon White Board, appeared ordinary but possessed astonishing hardness—even the Yan King’s treasured blade couldn’t cleave it.

As they clashed, another fierce battle ensued. With each passing second, the Yan King grew increasingly anxious.

This woman had gone mad!

To make matters worse, his people were blocked by New Xia cultivators, and with Female Wa assisting from the side, several bloody gashes had already opened on his body.

Breaking through this barrier to reach Yun Ya seemed impossible in the short term.

Feng Miaojun’s face darkened as she repeatedly calculated her options. How could she not understand the stakes the Yan King had laid out? Nevertheless, she couldn’t allow anyone to extract Yun Ya’s heart.

No one!

She stole a glance at Yun Ya, their eyes meeting. His face had grown paler, cold sweat beading on his forehead, indicating that the battle in his sea of consciousness had reached a critical juncture. The Heavenly Demon was no easy opponent, and who knew how much damage she had caused in his consciousness. All this damage, translated into injuries that, he had to bear alone.

Yet Yun Ya’s gaze toward her was unwavering, no longer scattered but instead revealing a strangely focused and profound intensity.

As if he had already made some sort of decision.

This look inexplicably made Feng Miaojun’s heart pound with dread. While fending off the Yan King’s fierce tiger-like attacks, she pondered countermeasures. How could she protect Yun Ya’s soul from being devoured? No one in the world understood the strength of the Heavenly Demon’s obsession better than she did. Even though the sea of consciousness was his domain, he was likely no match for this entity.

Perhaps she should project her soul again and help him in his sea of consciousness?

Against such a monstrous anomaly, though she had little confidence, it was better than anxiously waiting without seeing the situation inside. However, the biggest trouble now was the Yan King. If her soul left her body, who could prevent this powerful figure from fatally attacking Yun Ya?

In an instant, she made her decision and called to Female Wa: “I leave this to you, you must hold out until I come—”

But before the word “back” could leave her lips, an excruciating pain suddenly tore through her chest!

Feng Miaojun had been thrusting her sword toward the Yan King’s Blood Sea acupoint, but this pain was so intense that she couldn’t even hold her sword steady. Her body doubled over, exposing a huge opening.

In that brief moment, she felt dizzy and could barely stand.

The Yan King wouldn’t miss such an opportunity and countered with a slash aimed directly at her head. Female Wa, seeing clearly, rushed over to shield her, taking the full brunt of the attack.

Something terrible must have happened to Yun Ya! Feng Miaojun assumed another enemy had struck, but had no time to continue fighting. She urgently turned to look, and the scene nearly made her soul depart from her body:

Yun Ya’s right hand, fingers hooked like claws, had plunged into his chest!

“Stop!” She rushed back in horror, disregarding everything else.

He was staring directly at her, yet acted as if he hadn’t heard, applying force with his hand and tearing out his own heart!

Others could see clearly that this heart was missing a small portion, not as complete as an ordinary person’s. The missing part had been replaced with stone, which had fully integrated with the heart chamber, even being wrapped by heart muscle for the most part. Its color should have been as dull as limestone, but now it was stained crimson with fresh blood.

With this ruthless action, hot blood gushed forth, spraying outward over six feet!

The entire scene fell silent, everyone incredulous, with only Female Wa fighting the Yan King relentlessly as if oblivious.

She was not a living person, thus lacking most human emotions.

Feng Miaojun’s vision darkened, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground, a sweet metallic taste rising in her throat.

Throughout her life of countless battles and innumerable injuries, she had never experienced such pain. It felt as if her chest had been torn open into a bottomless pit, her life force draining away.

They shared life and death, so Yun Ya’s heart-carving agony was felt equally by her.

But now she could care about nothing else. Not the heart-rending pain, not the frantically attacking Yan King, not the chaotic battle, not even the Yan army closing in from the forest.

She seemed to shut everything out, her ears filled with silence, using all her strength to support the man before her: “Yun Ya, Yun Ya!”

The rapid loss of life force made her quickly weaken as well.

Yun Ya slowly sat down, his fingers—long and jade-like—clutching his still-beating heart, stained with shocking red.

“Don’t cry.” He raised his other hand to caress Feng Miaojun’s face, his voice weak, “This is destiny.”