“My purpose in life is to destroy reincarnation! Yet you stand with the common mortals of this world, obstructing my great undertaking!”

“But you—”

“Do you truly agree with it?”

Do you, truly like these common mortals of the world, agree that the six realms of heaven and earth should have reincarnation?

From bitter wind and harsh rain, from vast tribulation waves, half a lifetime of swords and blades pressing close, frost and snow attacking! Entering the Dao with a remnant soul, refining human artifacts as body—all are accumulated sufferings.

Never stopping, always moving forward.

Entering Yashan’s gates, killing in the Red Small Realm, black wind body refinement, the lone platform gathering, hidden realm grudges, extreme domain cauldron contest, Star Sea’s re-emergence, snowy domain fierce battle, comprehending the Dao in the Ember Pool…

Have you ever questioned your heart: what has this entire journey been for?

Since raising one’s head three feet reveals no deities, and there is no supreme principle between heaven and earth, then my heart, my thoughts, my actions should have no taboos! Whatever my heart thinks becomes divine thought; whatever my heart desires becomes heaven’s desire; whatever I do embodies the great Dao!

Perception, cognition, action, consciousness—without fear, without dread.

But what are you still afraid of?

A single tear of the heart illuminated everything, scattering ten thousand chaotic thoughts.

Jian Chou seemed to find herself in a warm body of water, with only those questioning voices echoing one after another in her mind!

Was this lifetime of cultivation for attaining the Dao?

Was this half-life of suffering for becoming an immortal?

No…

None of it!

From beginning to end, she simply wanted to ask the world, ask heaven and earth, ask the universe—why?

At this moment, without a powerful physical shell, without a heavy divine soul, only this wisp of divine consciousness wrapped in the blazing earth’s core, drifting in the flowing magma, returning to the most authentic state.

No Void Refining mighty being, only the mortal Jian Chou!

In the village wilderness of human islands, in the post-rain wooden coffin of feng shui dragon veins, stained with dried blood all over her body, with the most clear yet most sorrowful divine light, gazing toward the silent empty mountains and boundless firmament…

“I don’t want to seek immortality or ask about the Dao, nor do I want eternal life. I only want to ask one question—why, by what right…”

Why did Xie Buchen kill his wife to prove his Dao, yet heaven gave no punishment!

By what right does heaven and earth have no eyes, claiming equality yet watching the masses suffer disaster?

You say heaven births all kinds, with six realms equal.

Then if he kills me without punishment, I kill him also without retribution!

Living and killing, strong devouring weak!

—This is true equality!

So on that day when her Nascent Soul comprehended the Dao, she could hear the voice from deep within that most ordinary stubborn stone.

It was also just one phrase: why, by what right!

Why am I only a stone?

By what right can I not become one among those trillion stars?

Thus breaking the old Dao, destroying the old form, with that unwilling, unconvinced stone heart, questioning heaven, earth, and universe, seizing all the power of desire and thought, transforming into a star!

Now, she had entered the star’s depths.

What her ears heard was the sound of magma rolling and burning; what her heart saw was the power of fierce fire gushing and spurting.

One could imagine how much suffering a stubborn stone would endure to become a star.

But it was just such a small stone…

Burning from the deepest part of its heart, throwing its entire being into this ten-thousand-zhang fierce fire, even if shattered to pieces, it would exchange for that single strand of brilliant starlight in the heavens!

Had her half-life of suffering, cutting through thorns and thistles, experiencing all tribulations, not been just for that one thread of indignant thought, that one voice of resentful questioning?

Through nearly a hundred years of ethereal existence, her original intention had never changed.

Do not impose on others what you do not desire for yourself.

Extending from self to others, good and evil become clear.

Those who forcibly impose what they themselves do not want on others are evil; those who desire others to give them what they themselves want are good.

Lord Qin Guang, arbitrarily taking lives and changing fates, was naturally an unpardonable evil.

After all, we are born in heaven and earth, belong to the six realms, yet our lives are not our own, held in his hands, with life and death uncertain at his whim!

How is this just principle!

But killing Lord Qin Guang and restoring reincarnation—is this what righteousness points toward, what justice points toward?

Humans come from the universe of heaven and earth, and will ultimately return to the universe of heaven and earth.

Having knowledge and consciousness, having emotion and feeling—this is called “self.”

Without knowledge or consciousness, without emotion or feeling—how can this be called “self”?

If the six realms of heaven and earth have reincarnation, why can I, born in this world, not feel my previous world?

If the Reincarnation Pool removes a person’s lifetime memories, only washing their soul like blank paper to be reborn into the six realms, then tracing back to the source to seek that previous life’s soul memories—how is this different from seeking a stranger’s memories?

If one truly believes in reincarnation, then there is no difference between others and me.

I am not me, others are not others!

Does it truly matter whether heaven and earth have reincarnation?

So-called reincarnation is nothing more than a magnificent, false dream for mortals and cultivators. If people indulge in dreams, they only waste this life in vain.

All thoughts of reincarnation stem from fear.

Seeking longevity is actually fearing death; without fearing death, why need longevity?

Everyone says heaven and earth are heartless, cultivate this heavenly Dao to seek longevity, yet they don’t know—if longevity is sought, how can there be true immortals between heaven and earth?

Reincarnation is not important; what’s important is having no reincarnation!

Like that day, all of Silent One’s various aspects.

Deities are not important; what’s important is having no deities!

But how dare one speak of all these thoughts and consciousness, how can one bear to put them into action?

Clearly only a wisp of broken divine consciousness remained, like a candle in the wind, extinguishable in an instant. Yet precisely at this moment, a subtle thread of black energy wound into the deep purple divine consciousness, quietly opening all perception for her.

Ten thousand zhang of magma, regarded as nothing!

This divine consciousness actually spread like light, easily and without any obstruction, reaching beyond the earth’s core!

Thus she saw, sensed, everything happening on the battlefield at this moment…

Blood was falling!

The Wheel of the Eighth Hall’s King of Reincarnation spun through the Nineteen Continents battle formation, severing heads and exploding Nascent Souls;

Lu Xiangleng and Xia Houshe stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking the swords and blades from the left but failing to dodge the cold arrows from the right, their fresh beautiful faces instantly withering;

Xie Buchen coldly slaughtered, leading Kunwu in formation to counterattack, forcing the Extreme Domain ghost cultivators to desperate straits, raising his hand amid the sky-filling wails to massacre them all;

Zheng Yao rode his sword to the pool but failed to save his distant disciples’ lives, helplessly watching as countless ghost energies drilled into those young bodies, tearing everything apart…

The earth scarred, fierce winds carrying blood!

The Time Grass visible everywhere in the ruins’ crevices could no longer show its original color.

Life and death, all committed to this battle!

How many faces hid tragic blood and tears? How many bodies collapsed in the raging war flames?

Half a lifetime of cultivation, destroyed in one morning!

For what?

All for what?

At this instant, she felt the myriad burning pains in her divine consciousness were even more severe than the surrounding endless magma flames!

That was burning pain from her heart!

Because of disagreement!

Humans can deceive all things in the world, even deceive themselves into doing everything against their true heart, but the one thing they cannot deceive is this true heart!

It shouldn’t be!

This war fundamentally should not have begun, much less continue!

It’s not worth it!

For this so-called reincarnation, for that illusory dream…

From beginning to end, it was all a mistake!

Her fear never came from not knowing, but from knowing—

Knowing her heart was different from others’ hearts!

Toward the reincarnation that all people in the world took for granted, she felt complete indifference; toward the afterlife that others placed great hope in, she felt only disdain!

Lord Qin Guang’s questioning had no deceptive Dao techniques, it simply struck most truly at her secret heart that had never been spoken of!

It also triggered her fear.

What she feared was nothing more than clearly and lucidly knowing that while she lived in this world, she was not the same as the people of this world.

But on this journey, who accompanied her through bitter wind and harsh rain, who inspired her chivalrous bones and tender heart, who stood shoulder to shoulder with her in battle?

It was precisely these mortals of the world.

With grudges and love, as enemies or friends.

They bared their hearts and souls, risking their lives in recommendation, all for the sake of restoring reincarnation…

If she denied reincarnation, she would deny the common aspiration of all fellow Daoists under heaven, would shatter the Dao they relied on believing in, making everything they thought meaningful and valuable turn to nothing!

The most bitter part was not being trapped now without escape;

The most painful part was not the present blazing fire burning the body;

The most difficult part was not the current life-and-death crisis;

The most bitter, painful, and difficult part was that emotion and reason could not be reconciled! It was nothing more than that question born in silence, shattering the heart and soul—

Do you have the courage to make the entire world your enemy?

“Drip” – a soft sound. The moment this question echoed in her mind, the drop of heart fire in the lamp seemed to emit a faint sigh, actually falling into Jian Chou’s wisp of divine consciousness about to be extinguished!

Clearly fire, yet it fell like a spring.

Her wisp of divine consciousness suddenly grew stronger, expanding, rotating together with this stellar heart in the depths of the molten rock!

Between heaven and earth, sorrowful energy suddenly overflowed…

Who says you are alone?

My heart is the same as your heart;

My heart is the same as your heart…

It was Silent One saying that between heaven and earth, there need be no deities, no need for me to exist;

It was the stubborn stone shouting that stars are in heaven, so I should also be there!

Thus in an instant, delusions were broken through!

In this heart of the primordial star, at this starting point where Pangu led the human race in migration, at this place where the first ray of light appeared between heaven and earth, at this origin point where space and time were born, she finally heard that inviolable voice from her true heart…

My heart emerges from the universe and exists with the universe.

Even if this heart is a different heart, it still belongs to human hearts.

The heart of stubborn stone, I can still feel; the heart of deities, I can also understand; why can’t the world tolerate my heart?

Everything is only because this heart has not yet emerged!

Without doing it, how can one know there are no fellow Daoists under heaven?

First have this heart, then one can sense heaven and earth, sense all hearts under heaven that are the same as this heart!

If there is originally no such heart in the world, then I will be the first person to open heaven and split earth!

Make people share this heart, hearts share this principle.

Release the heart of one self, and this heart becomes the heart of heaven and earth!

At this moment, Jian Chou’s consciousness suddenly transcended all consciousness in the world, spreading beyond the heavy magma, beyond the vast battlefield, to the surface of the Nineteen Continents, touching the firmament, touching the universe…

“Rumble…”

Ten thousand zhang of void shook!

No tribulation lightning descended, no attacks fell, only that consciousness spreading from the earth’s core depths easily distorted spatial power, causing ripples or cracks to appear in that space centered on the earth’s core!

The restrictions on the earth’s core surface instantly crumbled in these fluctuations!

All mighty cultivators battling here were shocked and changed color!

No one would not know what these spatial fluctuations meant!

They meant comprehension of spatial laws…

They meant having boundaries!

That was a transcendent consciousness, different from any consciousness they had previously encountered, not submitting to this heaven and earth, yet seemingly receiving heaven and earth’s recognition.

Apart from this, there were no other strange phenomena.

Only because her realm has boundaries, her intent reaches heaven!

The nearby Fu Chaosheng couldn’t avoid it in time.

The moment Jian Chou fell, he had already forgotten that he originally came to reverse reincarnation and change the fate of the mayfly clan. In repeated fierce collisions, he had shattered the barrier between human and demon, shattered the wall that hid his emotion and love…

Though in demon form, he was no different from humans.

At the moment these fluctuations erupted, he was struck squarely by a wave pattern and could no longer approach the earth’s core by even half a measure, his entire person pushed away, falling back into the crowd!

At the same time, Lord Qin Guang was greatly delighted.

With restrictions opened again, it meant others could enter, meant He had the chance to regain the ghost ax, retake control of reincarnation, and again overturn reincarnation!

Thus while all mighty beings were shocked, He flew up swaying, rushing toward that blazing sun at the edge of the firmament!

However, also at this moment, sword song rang throughout heaven and earth!

All swords in the hands of cultivators trembled and sang!

As if sensing the most authentic call, wanting to respond to that call!

In the surging crowd, Xia Houshe in deep red robes supported Lu Xiangleng’s fallen broken body, gazing toward heaven in the midst of confused sorrow!

He saw the six-foot sword thrust diagonally into the ruins cry out once, then soar toward the sky!

At this moment, ten thousand swords left their sheaths, flying from hands!

Sword songs wailed like weeping!

He was master of all weapons, but not master of all swords.

Swords have their own sword master’s command!

A thread of immortal opportunity, a thread of heaven—it is one thread of immortal opportunity, one thread of heavenly opportunity!

Six feet of sword body, long forged with Yashan’s heroic souls; one thread of crimson red, long condensed with the hot blood of pure hearts!

In its birth, the extreme of sword energy;

In its completion, the pinnacle of sword intent!

With my heart, transform all hearts;

With my sword, command all swords!

Looking up, ten thousand swords’ sword energy condensed into one, centered on the Thread of Sky, combining into one great sword as tall as heaven; in spiritual flight, the Eight Directions City disappeared, and the earth was actually covered in ice and snow—where was that gloomy and oppressive Extreme Domain scene? What they stood upon was actually an icy plain precipice!

Towering there: Yashan’s Armory!

Its master unseen, only this sword!

Lord Qin Guang rushed to the midway point—how could He expect this masterless sword to rise suddenly like mountains? A thousand swords, ten thousand swords, all seemed to cry out and call to Him!

The great sword stood between heaven and earth, its sword energy terrifying!

But what made hearts tremble even more was the vivid red mark within it, alive and spiritual, driving all swords within the great sword, transforming this heaven and earth into a sword tomb, slashing down at Him!

In the shocking change, His consciousness seemed to touch that consciousness spreading toward the depths of the universe, and in a trance actually seemed to see the female cultivator’s face, and the smile on that face…

Do you have the courage to make the entire world your enemy?

Persist in your own heart, put it into action!

Go break the illusory dreams that people indulge in, go awaken the masses’ ignorant awareness, make them open their eyes to see clearly the cold truth around them!

Even if in the future, you might be pointed at by thousands, cursed by ten thousand?

Jian Chou’s divine consciousness expanded in boundless space, then regathered in the deepest part of consciousness, only gently beckoning toward that endless molten rock.

It was the ghost ax flying toward her.

It was full of hot blood, a heart of lone courage!

The existence of my Dao is only now!

Why seek the next life?

Why seek reincarnation?

Those who seek to preserve reincarnation are mediocrities; those who place hope in the next life are cowards!

Live in this life; fight at this time!