Man is the lamp, I am the flame.

My heart is heart, my heart is also fire!

Lighting my heart lamp to illuminate this world, removing darkness for the lost, extinguishing ignorance for the stubborn…

At the peak of the sacred mountain in the snow region, Saint Jiye’s single teardrop of fire was His final mercy toward mortals and His gift to Jian Chou.

During the Polar Domain battle, in the life-and-death crisis, that fierce flame could burn her physical shell, could destroy the Lamp-Lighting Sword and collapse the Lotus Platform Lamp, yet it could not burn away this single drop of heart fire!

Because at that moment, it was no longer merely Jiye’s heart fire.

It had also become her heart fire!

When kindred spirits exist in the world, this heart shares that heart. Despite different identities and positions, heart fires can merge into one lamp.

Just like this moment!

Countless Jian Chou, countless heart fires, all transformed into this single drop at her fingertip.

The Ancestral God’s eye was originally nothing more than the obsessions of countless fallen deities, originally without intelligence. But during the earlier battle, it had been awakened by that trace of golden light Jian Chou had attached to the black thread, as if enlightened, becoming a being with sensation and perception. This created weaknesses and made it temporarily abandon its original sole obsession due to Jian Chou’s attacks, forsaking Pangu to attack Jian Chou!

This was the result she wanted.

When endless heart fires converged from all directions, the Ancestral God’s eye that had completely enveloped Jian Chou naturally could not escape calamity.

After wave upon wave of tiny firelight passed through, honeycomb-like black holes appeared one after another in those golden pupils.

Gradually becoming denser and denser…

And Jian Chou’s form, originally wrapped within, gradually became visible to everyone.

The instinct for survival finally reached its peak when that drop of heart fire fell to Jian Chou’s fingertip, and the agony of countless heart fires piercing through its body also drove it to madness!

But it could no longer escape completely.

Each drop of heart fire was the purest, most authentic thought in the human heart, not to mention these heart fires now came from Jian Chou whose cultivation was unfathomable, gathered from countless heart fires!

The moment it fell to Jian Chou’s fingertip, an invisible ripple spread outward like waves on a calm lake, from inside to outside!

“Hum!”

Like the vibration of a plucked string.

Everything blocking this ripple was silently severed in that instant!

The Sword-Bearer suddenly felt this scene seemed familiar.

He remembered forty-four years ago under the moon at Calm Lake on Xuanji Star, Jian Chou had killed Ying Hui from Li Xieyang in exactly this way!

That was something he could never comprehend—

Killing without drawing the sword!

The only difference between this moment and that moment was perhaps that she no longer held a sword in her hand, only this drop of heart fire, and her opponent had changed from Ying Hui of the Golden Immortal realm to this terrifying colossal entity.

But the result was identical to forty-four years ago!

A thin black line immediately split across the massive golden giant eye, then expanded wider and wider, directly splitting the giant eye in half!

The pupils that had previously seemed spirited instantly became dim. The body pierced with countless holes by heart fire was finally swallowed by the expanding chaos and void.

One eye scattered into a thousand eyes, each containing unfinished obsessions.

They were born from the primordial universe when there was no distinction between light and darkness. Only after Pangu created heaven and earth, when the world gained light and darkness, did the deity race develop “eyes.” Yet originally they had no need for them.

These eyes that grew later were incarnations of obsession and hatred.

Now a single drop of heart fire had burned away all these obsessions and hatreds, letting them return from nothingness to nothingness, from chaos to chaos.

The entire world became incredibly quiet.

The chaotic battle had been forced to pause when those countless mirrors reflecting Jian Chou’s image appeared.

All deities couldn’t believe what had happened.

In their view, the Ancestral God should have been immortal and indestructible…

On the Upper Void Immortal Realm side, everyone was stunned and horrified, yet couldn’t help but exchange glances with each other.

Obviously, they had all simultaneously recalled what they had seen and encountered in the dreamscape earlier.

Same time, different places – they had all encountered Jian Chou!

And each Jian Chou had subtle differences…

What kind of technique was this?

Or rather…

What kind of form of existence was this?

What Emperor Bai He could recall was far more than ordinary cultivators, especially the scene that flashed in his mind when countless Jian Chou emerged from shattered mirrors…

Those desolate stars, the rotating starry sky, countless “Tombs of Jian Chou” as far as the eye could see!

Whether deities or cultivators, what arose in their hearts at this moment was fear and wariness toward the unknown, toward Jian Chou, toward these unfathomable divine methods.

Only Laozu Luye sighed silently.

Her raised gaze met Jian Chou’s turning gaze, but it seemed not like meeting one gaze, but countless thousands – as if countless Jian Chou stood within her body, looking toward her!

Others couldn’t penetrate the mystery of that scene, but Laozu Luye understood it all too clearly.

Everything was because of the Nine Curves River Diagram.

The river diagram that Jian Chou had erased and then given to Xie Buchen – one of the final two lines clearly stated: Great Lord Pangu came from beyond this universe. When He first arrived, the universe was still evolving, so He took a ladle of this universe’s evolutionary origin power and merged it into His divine soul, completely integrating Himself into this universe. Though He cannot be born with the universe, He can die with the universe!

If the universe is indestructible, then Pangu is indestructible!

This long life equivalent to the universe would allow Him to better lead humanity while facing dangers from this universe itself.

Today, two epochs later, the universe should have completed its evolution, with all directions and times each fulfilling their duties. However, precisely because of the ladle of power Pangu had taken away, today’s universe still contains an unhealable wound, still unable to clearly distinguish space and time, perpetually in the universe’s most primordial chaos, like a rolling dark current.

If one entered it, even the most powerful beings might not return safely.

Or even if they returned safely, their black temples would likely have turned to white hair!

This chaotic current, this wound, was the vast chaos beyond the eighteen layers of hell in the Polar Domain of the Primordial Realm!

Years ago, Laozu Luye had led that silly marten into the Polar Domain, even breaking through the eighteen layers of hell, causing tremendous upheaval, and had seen that chaotic current.

But she didn’t know what kind of existence it was then.

So after merely sensing its danger, she left directly.

It wasn’t until later, when she borrowed the river diagram from Baji Daozun and one day whimsically took it out to read to the end, that she learned why this chaotic crack existed and what changes would occur by entering it.

Luye was an extremely intelligent person.

While seeing the hidden dangers within, she also saw the enormous opportunity hidden within—

In a situation where both space and time were disordered in chaos, if one had sufficient strength and firm will, one could boldly take the risk and use this chaos for cultivation.

Perhaps one could summon oneself from a hundred or thousand years in the future;

Perhaps one could meet oneself with a different life within;

One could see everything one wanted to see, and also see everything one feared to see.

Chaos was infinity!

All laws already formed in this universe no longer existed in this chaotic current!

Here, nothing was impossible!

Yet she ultimately didn’t choose this path. After staring at that final line for a long time, she directly ascended to the Upper Void.

The Nine Curves River Diagram then passed through various hands to Jian Chou.

So today, she saw her choose the path she herself had not chosen.

From the chaotic current of the unfinished universe, Jian Chou had found countless versions of herself. Others might think those were fleeting phantoms, but only she could be completely certain – they weren’t phantoms at all, but Jian Chou from countless other possibilities!

Each one was a living person.

Each one possessed their own similar but never identical life trajectory.

Only, in the earlier battle when she transformed countless me into one me, countless heart fires into one heart fire, all the other memories, along with life trajectories, merged together, becoming known to her, no longer distinguishable from each other.

Jian Chou would know the direction of every life trajectory.

Every life trajectory’s direction would become part of her memory.

Whether already happened or yet to happen, all possibilities in this world related to her were exhausted at this moment.

This also meant that from now on, her life had gained all possibilities while losing all possibilities.

Because every day hereafter would be yesterday.

No unexpected events would ever happen again, no fear or surprise would ever appear again. With every choice she made, she would know all that would follow. All possibilities were written on memory’s pages, but turning them over revealed emptiness, still as dead water!

Unless she deceived herself by erasing all these memories, continuing to live as if unknowing.

But this would not be Jian Chou.

Since she dared choose this path that no one throughout history had chosen, it meant she was absolutely firm in her dao, daring to face all the pain that ordinary people dared not face, rather than escape into self-created illusions.

When people face the unknown, they inevitably fear, longing to know more, even becoming omniscient.

But isn’t omniscience something even more terrifying and cruel?

Luye truly couldn’t imagine how a person would face a world without suspense, without adventure.

Behind all unimaginably powerful strength lay unimaginably enormous costs!

In the instant their gazes met across the distance, Jian Chou saw the deep compassion and endless complexity in Laozu Luye’s eyes, while Laozu Luye saw the magnificent world and silent loneliness in her eyes.

Perhaps there was pain, but no retreat.

Long ago, when she first stood by the chaotic current for extended periods conceiving today’s grand scheme, she had already prepared to face everything.

Heart fire quietly disappeared at her fingertip.

Jian Chou descended from the void, truly standing on this vast, boundless Desolate Domain.

The dreamscape overhead had collapsed to its end.

Yet the figures of Xie Buchen and Yue Ying still battled within it. When the dreamscape hadn’t completely shattered, few noticed, but now that the dreamscape was gone, their figures became extremely obvious.

Yue Ying was actually at a disadvantage.

His power came from the dreamscape. Now that Pangu was gradually awakening and the dreamscape was dispersing bit by bit, his power was also growing weaker.

Conversely, Xie Buchen’s offensive never ceased.

That ominous premonition grew closer with time’s passage, disturbing hearts. Only from Xie Buchen’s face, no clues could be seen.

Each move under his hand grew more vicious than the last!

A stroke of ink qi rose, actually severing one of Yue Ying’s arms!

But almost simultaneously, Jian Chou completely destroyed the Ancestral God’s eye that had been entrenched on Pangu’s skull, intending to devour Pangu’s divine soul!

The instant Yue Ying realized this, he could hardly believe it.

Earlier, hearing Jian Chou’s words and seeing her actions, he had thought this female cultivator from the human race was about to side with the deities. Who would have thought that at the crucial moment, she would unexpectedly slay the deity race’s Ancestral God!

Just an instant later, without time for deeper thought, disbelief had already transformed into wild joy, even making him completely ignore the shame of having an arm severed by Xie Buchen. At this moment, he was already laughing triumphantly!

“Not in vain that I once assisted you! Well done, hahaha…”

While Xie Buchen’s ruler force hadn’t yet had time to withdraw, he had already resolved to break the cauldron and sink the boats. His remaining arm swept forward, directly transforming into sky-covering snow-white wings!

Whoosh!

Wind rose, carrying strong and vicissitudinous power, immediately pushing Xie Buchen away while riding the wind in explosive retreat!

“Rumble!”

The final corner of the dreamscape also suddenly collapsed, scattering into blue smoke and vanishing in an instant.

The entire Desolate Domain finally began to shake once more.

More violent and vast than the initial time!

“I’ve long heard that Friend Jian Chou has considerable grievances with this Xie Buchen. Now that you’ve slain the Ancestral God and turned the tide, I’m deeply grateful. Why not let me eliminate this old enemy for you today!”

Yue Ying was in mid-air, falling toward Pangu’s skull!

His tone already showed complete confidence in victory.

With a soft “pop,” the box stolen from Jian Chou instantly opened, and several broken incense sticks flew out. Under Yue Ying’s pointing finger, they immediately reconstructed into three purple incense sticks and ignited simultaneously!

Three sparks, blood-red like crimson!

The moment they ignited, a deep blood line appeared at Pangu’s brow, extending toward both ends. After just moments, His entire massive skull actually split open along this blood line, revealing the deep purple divine soul wrapped within!

The burning incense fragrance – half flowed through the skull’s crack toward this divine soul, while the other half drifted through this dark void, surging toward Xie Buchen like a cage!

These three drops of heart blood incense were finally ignited.

Jian Chou sighed inwardly, but her gaze only lingered briefly on Pangu’s divine soul continuously absorbing the incense fragrance before turning toward Xie Buchen, shrouded by this fragrance.

His stern, murderous eyes finally turned blood-red at this moment.

That was the despair of knowing fate’s arrival yet being unable to escape, always just a line short!

Clearly, clearly just moments more, and he could have struck down Yue Ying under his ruler, grasping those three crucial incense sticks in his hands.

But Jian Chou had coincidentally destroyed Yue Ying’s worries just a moment before.

In this instant, Xie Buchen actually wanted to laugh toward the heavens: This was what she meant by “it’s not me who will kill you”!

The moment the incense fragrance drilled into his brow, blood immediately flowed from his seven orifices. His entire person looked fierce like a cornered beast!

But Yue Ying didn’t spare his suffering the slightest attention. At this moment, standing ethereally at Pangu’s shoulder position, he was extremely pleased and satisfied with Jian Chou: “When this incense burns out, the Great Lord will borrow a new body to return to this realm and will surely not forget your contribution. He will certainly teach you the dao, making you the first person under the Great Lord in this universe!”

First person under the Great Lord?

Jian Chou’s gaze watching Xie Buchen didn’t withdraw. Knowing he had calculated throughout this life, scheming for that “Ten lifetimes as Human Emperor, one lifetime as no subject” – devising a heaven-defying scheme to deceive reincarnation and fool the Heavenly Dao, yet now meeting such an end – her heart truly felt the sorrow of the rabbit dying while the fox grieves, the pain of seeing one’s kind harmed.

However, upon hearing Yue Ying’s words, another absurdity arose.

She finally turned her head to look at him, silently reciting “Great Lord” once, then curved her lips in a smile that wasn’t quite a smile: “How would Jian Chou dare compete with you for the position of first under the Great Lord? But I do recall that years ago in the Primordial Realm, two short-sighted little demons actually called me ‘Great Lord’…”

Yue Ying’s expression changed abruptly.

But Jian Chou seemed not to notice at all, saying coldly: “Tell me, should I be a good first person under the Great Lord, or should I simply become a new Great Lord?”