Heaven and earth seemed to become a circular prison, toyed with in the palm of a giant beast. The earth shook incessantly, and Zanxing and Gu Baiying felt dizzy as howling winds rushed past their ears. These winds seemed to transcend time and space, tearing and deforming people. Each stream of light was like a sharp blade, seeming to strip people away inch by inch.

Zanxing felt an unusual pain in her chest. Perhaps due to their shared Heavenly Demon bloodline, every bit of suffering Gui Yansheng endured in the Asura Ghost Path was immediately transmitted to her. She nearly couldn’t grip the Wuyou Stick in her hand, her face suddenly turning pale.

Gu Baiying also noticed this. After hesitating for a moment, the youth grabbed Zanxing’s arm and pulled her into his embrace, using his back to shield her from the countless flying light blades.

The sharp light blades instantly tore through his robes, leaving bright red blooms on his pristine white garments.

He gritted his teeth and endured, not making a sound.

After an unknown amount of time, the earth-shaking sensation gradually stopped, and the suffocating feeling of oppression was no more.

Before them was a wide black river, with a beautiful girl in a cloth skirt standing by the riverbank, her expression tense and worried.

“Xiao Chun…” Zanxing murmured.

How had they returned here again? Could it be…

Xiao Chun was startled to see two people suddenly appear from thin air, looking at Zanxing and the other with suspicion and uncertainty: “You two…”

“She can see us?” Gu Baiying was somewhat surprised.

Just now, they had watched Gui Yansheng’s past all along, and the people existing in the past couldn’t see them as intruders. But the current Xiao Chun could see them.

“Because this isn’t a memory,” Zanxing suddenly understood.

As soon as she finished speaking, voices suddenly came from the dense forest. Someone charged out aggressively, cursing: “You stinking whore, actually stealing my things. Today I’m going to dig out your heart and eat it raw…”

This was a demon with a blue-black body, red face, and ugly appearance. Sharp fangs dripped saliva as he saw Xiao Chun and immediately pounced, his claws aimed straight at the girl’s chest.

But he stopped abruptly in mid-air.

A beautiful paper umbrella stabbed from the air, accurately piercing his chest. The demon instantly scattered into ash, not even leaving a trace of his primordial spirit.

From the pitch-black giant waves, a golden-eyed youth came treading on the waves, his robes adorned with brilliant golden lotus flowers, his countenance handsome, and his golden pupils bright as the blazing sun.

“Yansheng…” Xiao Chun murmured.

Gui Yansheng had appeared. Or rather, the Gui Yansheng of many years later had appeared. He had planned for a long time, wholeheartedly wanting to find the Xiaoyuan Pearl, but upon learning that passing through the final level of the Wulun Pagoda would grant him the Two-Life Buddha Wheel, he immediately rushed here without stopping.

In his life, he had many regrets and countless pasts he wanted to change, but the moment he most wanted to salvage was nothing more than this very moment.

He walked before Xiao Chun.

The girl’s eyes showed some confusion as she uneasily examined the person before her.

Many years had passed since her death.

That taciturn, dull youth had later become a moody demon lord. His appearance was still the same as before, unchanged in the slightest, but his beautiful golden pupils now carried a murderous aura and eeriness completely different from the past—impossible to hide.

“Yansheng,” Xiao Chun grasped his hands and examined him repeatedly: “Did you find your father? Where did these clothes come from? Did you—did you find your father? What’s with this umbrella? When did you become so powerful? You killed that demon just now—we won’t have trouble, will we?”

Gui Yansheng gazed deeply at her, as if looking at an old friend he was reuniting with after a long separation. Then, he suddenly reached out and held Xiao Chun tightly in his arms.

The eeriness in the youth’s golden pupils grew thicker, but his voice was exceptionally gentle as he patiently explained to the person before him again and again: “Yes, I found him. These clothes were given to me by someone else. This umbrella is something I found myself—it’s my spirit artifact. I’ve already awakened my Heavenly Demon bloodline. Even after killing that demon, we won’t have trouble. I’ll protect you.”

“Really?” Xiao Chun hugged him back, her face slightly flushed.

Gui Yansheng held her tighter, as if grasping a recovered treasure, stubbornly unwilling to let go. He said: “Really.”

“But…” Xiao Chun still had some doubts. She carefully broke from Gui Yansheng’s embrace and looked toward Zanxing and Gu Baiying: “Who are they?”

Zanxing remained silent.

She and Gui Yansheng shared the same Heavenly Demon bloodline. In the time fragments she had glimpsed earlier, she had experienced every bit of suffering Gui Yansheng had endured. She knew Gui Yansheng’s obsession, knew this girl was the only trace of gentleness Gui Yansheng had left in the world. He had turned the Buddha wheel for this very moment.

What should she do?

However, she wasn’t given time to think. Gui Yansheng took Xiao Chun’s hand and only gave Zanxing and the other a cold glance: “Don’t worry about them.” His tone became gentle again as he asked Xiao Chun beside him: “Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? I’ll accompany you—I’ll go with you right now.” With that, he pulled Xiao Chun’s hand to walk forward.

But he only grasped moisture.

Gui Yansheng was stunned.

Xiao Chun also stood there in a daze. From her chest, large patches of blood flowers slowly bloomed, soaking her clothes. She was still somewhat confused, staring helplessly at her chest, not understanding where the hollow in her heart came from.

Zanxing’s heart tightened as she heard Gu Baiying’s slightly heavy voice beside her: “As expected.”

“As expected, what?” she asked.

“There’s no art of resurrection in this world, nor is it possible to bring someone dead for many years back to life. The laws of time cannot be changed. This so-called living in the past is nothing but a clumsy deception.”

A deception?

Over there, Gui Yansheng’s expression showed a trace of panic. He supported Xiao Chun, desperately channeling his demonic essence power into her. Black demonic essence power like fluttering black butterflies drilled into Xiao Chun’s body, making her complexion slightly more rosy, but her life force was dissipating bit by bit.

“Time is moving forward.” Gu Baiying stared at the people before them, seeming to show pity: “He cannot hold it back.”

Turning the Buddha wheel backward could return to the past, and forward could reach the future. But returning to the past didn’t mean one could stay in that moment forever—time flows like water, always rushing forward. The Two-Life Buddha Wheel could only bring people back to the past, but in that instant, nothing could be changed.

Both Buddha and the demon were thus.

Gui Yansheng held Xiao Chun, watching as the girl’s life force scattered bit by bit. He suddenly gripped the white umbrella in his hand tightly, giant waves surging in his golden pupils. The next moment, the Ashura Umbrella in his hand suddenly opened, and countless human figures on the umbrella’s surface began to move.

Those men and women seemed to still be alive in this world, making sounds of crying, wailing, and roaring, desperately struggling on the surface. At the same instant, the demon life bead worn at Zanxing’s waist shattered in half.

The demon life bead was like a cultivator’s life tablet. Its sudden shattering now likely meant those demons had all perished.

“What have you done?” She was both shocked and angry.

An eerie smile appeared on Gui Yansheng’s face. His expression was crazed as he murmured in a low voice: “Cannot hold it back?”

“Destined to die?”

“Then I will—make the Buddha wheel stop forever at this moment, so that time can never continue forward again!”