Holy Son Jiye was not human.

In Master Xuelang’s casual words lay several traces of meaning that made one’s hair stand on end.

Even though Qu Zhengfeng had prepared himself mentally, upon hearing this he still couldn’t help but have his pupils constrict tightly. His two slanted long eyebrows furrowed, and on his already cold and stern countenance, a rare trace of murderous intent appeared: “If not human, then he must be a demon.”

“Not human, but not necessarily a demon either.”

Qu Zhengfeng’s biased and definitive judgment only drew a soft laugh from Master Xuelang. The voices of countless believers chanting still echoed between heaven and earth, and he followed this echoing sound, gazing toward the direction of the Mandala, his eyes gaining several traces of obscure sighs.

“The Holy Son is immortal and indestructible, existing only through believers’ faith, born from human hearts. When hearts live, the saint lives; when hearts die, the saint dies. Rather than calling him a demon, better to call him a saint. Deities have never existed in this heaven and earth, but rather in the depths of human hearts.”

“Deities?” Upon hearing this sentence, Qu Zhengfeng suddenly laughed aloud, his face revealing an indescribable sharpness and mockery. “Master’s words are laughable. Human hearts have always contained only evil demons – when have there ever been any deities?”

“…”

Master Xuelang finally had a moment of silence. He withdrew his gaze to look at Qu Zhengfeng, only observing how in this gradually deepening, bloody night, this Sword Emperor from Yashan who had betrayed Yashan and gone to Mingri Xinghai had clear-cut features that appeared and disappeared, his lips curved in a smile that was completely cold, not to mention his gaze that didn’t avoid looking directly at him at this moment.

This gaze was cold laughter, was questioning.

Regarding that Yin-Yang Realm War from eleven cycles of sixty years ago, what dangers had occurred in between, and how many changes in human hearts had been witnessed, Master Xuelang was crystal clear about all of it.

So regarding Qu Zhengfeng’s current gaze, he was also crystal clear.

For a moment, he was speechless.

What grew in the depths of human hearts – was it evil demons or deities?

Master Xuelang looked at Qu Zhengfeng for a long time before sighing lowly and suddenly saying: “The grudges from eleven cycles of sixty years ago – Benefactor Qu has truly never let them go, has he? Ever since hearing that Benefactor Qu had set aside many affairs of Mingri Xinghai and actively wanted to launch a surprise attack on the Snowy Realm together with Friend Jian Chou, this poor monk has had suspicions in his heart, feeling that Benefactor Qu’s purpose for this trip is not as simple as what the benefactor has stated. I wonder, with this incident arising, what are Yashan’s plans?”

“What does it have to do with Yashan?” Qu Zhengfeng laughed freely, denying it without the slightest guilt. “I, Qu Zhengfeng, have long since betrayed Yashan. Even coming to the Snowy Realm with Daoist Jian Chou today is my own affair. What plans Yashan has – if the Master has such doubts, why not go ask them yourself?”

Master Xuelang finally couldn’t speak.

With the topic suddenly turning to Yashan, Qu Zhengfeng obviously had no intention of continuing the conversation. He merely stood at the edge of this withered dense forest, casting his gaze far toward that high Sacred Mountain, seemingly trying to find some hard-to-detect clues from it.

In the night, cold wind blew.

The air floated with a scent of devout incense mixed with oppressive blood.

The towering Sacred Mountain seemed to rise directly from this vast and broad Snowy Realm, piercing straight toward the clouds, as if connecting with that sinister and strange dark red Sacred Sacrifice array, merging into one body.

Dakini Yang Jin and little monk Liao Kong entered separately from both sides of the Sacred Mountain, attempting to make their way to the Sacred Hall. Jian Chou’s target was more difficult – she needed to go to the Sacred Lake behind the Sacred Temple. So she didn’t travel with them, but chose the monks’ quarters on the left side of the Sacred Temple, quietly approaching the Sacred Lake located to the north.

Compared to when she came last time, the monks’ quarters were much more desolate.

The original masters on the Sacred Mountain seemed to have all been deployed for this Sacred Sacrifice, going down to guard the Mandala at the foot of the mountain, the mountainside, and other places, with a large portion gathered around the Sacred Hall. So at this moment she was practically entering uninhabited territory, easily passing through this area of monks’ quarters, past the white banner where the Dakini had once lived, and seeing from afar that expanse of Sacred Lake spread out directly behind the Sacred Hall.

In the Snowy Realm’s nights, there were never bird songs or insect sounds.

Withered grass was all sealed beneath years of ice. When the stars and moon were hidden behind that blood-red array, they left shadowy dark traces on the ground, like countless demons hidden underground wanting to break through this fragile layer of ice and crawl out to fill the entire heaven and earth.

But the Sacred Lake always seemed like a mirror.

When she leaped out from the high wall behind the monks’ quarters and saw this legendary “lake in the sky” again after twenty years, Jian Chou’s heart suddenly filled with a wonderful experience, as if time had never flowed, she had never left the Snowy Realm, and had never had any conflicts with people on this magnificent Sacred Temple.

Everything seemed frozen in that hazy starlit night.

Night wind blew across the smooth lake surface, stirring up slight ripples. That delicate sound mixed with the chanting echoing between heaven and earth, gathering in her ears, yet didn’t sound like wave sounds but rather like sobbing whispers.

Was it a demon?

Or a deity?

Did deities truly exist between heaven and earth?

Jian Chou gazed far at that lake lying silent between heaven and earth, seeing the blood-red reflection of the array in the lake, and finally suppressed this thought in her mind.

Demon or deity, what did it matter?

As long as it could save the current crisis, as long as it could stop the Tantric conspiracy and let Jiushijiu Zhou gain the initiative in this battle, let alone a benevolent demon, even if it were a supremely evil great demon, she would dare to summon it!

In her hand was a bunch of blue kingfishers, still covered with evening frost.

The blue-purple vivid petals seemed sprinkled with a layer of fine white moonlight, trembling gently in Jian Chou’s pale fingers and in the wind.

Then, she gently bent down and placed them by the lakeside.

But this time, she didn’t hide in the darkness as she had before. Instead, she stepped back three paces and stood by the lakeside waiting.

Heaven and earth were full of clamor, yet her heart was extremely quiet.

Quietly waiting for the legendary sacred miracle, the legendary deity, or perhaps, simply waiting for someone who would come to keep an appointment.

The high Sacred Hall was right behind her, its heavy shadows falling on the ground. Terrifying power after terrifying power had already accumulated in the array overhead. A golden beam of light, like a waterfall flowing down from the dome, poured toward the center of the Sacred Hall!

The enormous Sacred Sacrifice array had already activated!

Magnificent yet dark power, as if coming from another space unknown to Jiushijiu Zhou, roared and howled between heaven and earth, in human hearts!

Jian Chou’s moon-white robes were violently lifted by the fierce wind in this instant, and the broad, slightly rippling lake water before her also surged with waves.

In this moment came a low sigh.

As if coming from the cracks of heaven and earth, as if coming from the dark depths of this lake, yet seemingly right beside her ear, trembling and arising from the depths of her heart!

What kind of ancient and eternal aura was this?

In an instant it swept across the entire heaven and earth, also sweeping across Jian Chou entirely, wrapping her completely within it, rendering her unable to move!

Even though she had once hidden behind the Sacred Temple and personally witnessed that strange and fantastical scene, now standing here by the lakeside, so close at hand, the shock she received could hardly be measured by reason!

Even her vision was trapped in these rippling water waves.

The originally clear and azure lake, like a jewel inlaid in this Snowy Realm ice plain, was now dyed an eerie brilliant purple under the reflection of that blood-red Sacred Sacrifice array operating in the firmament.

That sighing sound came from the deepest, darkest place at the bottom of the lake.

So when Jian Chou raised her gaze, she saw those eyes washing in the lake water, clear yet eerie…

The ripples of the lake water condensed into her deep blue long hair, strand by strand, like brilliant silk ribbons, spreading across the entire enormous lake.

In her azure pupils reflected the array in the firmament.

Clearly having no physical form, yet seeming like the most perfect creation of heaven and earth!

For a moment it was impossible to distinguish whether she lay at the bottom of this lake, or whether this Sacred Lake was originally her incarnation.

One at the lake bottom, one at the lakeside, gazing at each other across the slightly rippling lake surface.

In shock and bewilderment, Jian Chou didn’t even notice that the bunch of blue kingfishers originally placed by the lakeside had been picked up by a pale, slender hand. Lowering his head to smell them lightly came a laugh she had vaguely heard before, tinged with some sorrow: “Qiaguo Suba, you came to find me, didn’t you?”