Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Divine Capital, Drunken Immortal Abode.

The red candles crackled and popped as they burned.

The noise outside gradually subsided, leaving only the occasional sound of a water clock in the distance.

Gu Xiang sat on the edge of the bed, his face appearing even paler against his bright red wedding robes.

He raised his hand to lift the red veil.

My hands are shaking a little.

It wasn't excitement, it was exhaustion.

That righteous aura clone that fought in the northern border drained his life force with every palm strike.

The red silk slipped down.

She revealed a face that could launch a thousand ships.

Su Qing neither dodged nor felt ashamed.

Her fox-like eyes were fixed on Gu Xiang's chest.

There, a very thin line of blood seeped out along the patterns of the crimson robe, mixed with the gold thread. It was not clearly visible, but the scent could be detected.

That was blood from my heart.

Maintaining the Dharma image thousands of miles away, and suppressing the death energy of the land abandoned by the gods, requires more than just righteous energy; it would consume one's life force.

Why are you doing this to yourself?

Su Qing raised her hand and touched his chest with her fingertips.

A gentle, magical energy flowed through his fingertips, intending to stop the bleeding.

Gu Xiang grabbed her hand tightly.

He has a lot of strength.

"Today is a joyous occasion, so let's not say anything discouraging."

Gu Xiang grinned, but there was blood on his teeth.

He took two wine glasses from his pocket and filled them.

"We haven't drunk the nuptial wine yet."

Su Qing looked at him, her eyes reddening, but she didn't try to persuade him anymore.

She took the wine glass.

The two men's wrists intertwined.

Gu Xiang tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.

The liquor burned as it went down my throat, but it couldn't suppress the metallic sweetness in my throat.

"cough……"

He groaned, and a trickle of black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The cup in Su Qing's hand fell to the ground.

"Gu Xiang!"

She panicked and tried to help him up.

Gu Xiang waved his hand and forced himself to sit up straight.

"It's nothing, it's just that those bastards to the north are a bit troublesome."

He closed his eyes, sensing the north.

……

The North, a land forsaken by the gods.

The sky was dark.

The ground is red.

The hundred-foot-tall golden giant had dimmed considerably.

The body, which was originally solid, has now become somewhat transparent.

Countless faceless monsters crawled all over the giant's legs like ants, devouring them frantically.

With each bite, a piece of golden light is bitten off.

That was the fate of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and also Gu Xiang's cultivation level.

"roll!"

The giant opened his mouth and roared.

The roaring sound shattered the hundreds of monsters crawling on him.

But more monsters surged up.

They felt no pain, knew no fear, and only wanted to tear this golden god blocking their way to shreds.

Behind the monster horde.

From the depths of that massive fissure in the earth, a muffled roar could be faintly heard.

The sound was not like a beast's roar, but rather like some kind of ancient sacrificial chant.

As the sound rang out, the monsters became even more ferocious.

Their bodies began to swell, and a dark red glow emanated from beneath their black skin.

boom!

A massive monster exploded.

Black, poisonous blood splattered onto the giant's leg, making a sizzling, corrosive sound.

The golden light melted away.

Inside the bridal chamber in the capital city.

Gu Xiang's body trembled violently, and his face instantly turned ashen.

He gritted his teeth, trying not to make a sound.

Su Qing hugged him tightly.

She could feel Gu Xiang's body trembling; he was as cold as ice.

"Withdraw!"

Su Qing shouted, "Forget about the clone! If we lose the Northern Border, so be it. We can just go back to Falling Phoenix Slope!"

"no."

Gu Xiang opened her eyes, which were bloodshot.

"Behind me are the lights of thousands of homes."

"I have spent my whole life studying the classics, learning how to govern the country and bring peace to the world, not how to desert in the face of battle."

He took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his surging blood and qi.

"Hold on for another 15 minutes."

"If we can hold out for just another quarter of an hour, the Imperial Observatory will be able to activate the great array."

Looking at his stubborn expression, Su Qing felt both angry and pained.

That fool is still that stubborn, poor scholar.

Just then.

Gu Xiang's brows suddenly furrowed.

He suddenly turned his head and looked westward.

That's the direction of Ghost Cry Valley.

Something's not right.

Gu Xiang said in a low voice.

"What's wrong?" Su Qing asked.

"The nation's destiny... is slipping away."

Gu Xiang's face turned extremely ugly.

"It's not the North, it's Ghost Cry Valley."

"Someone is stealing the fate of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and they're doing it incredibly fast, even faster than those monsters devouring it!"

……

Ghost Cry Valley, an underground cave.

This is an extremely yin place, where the sun never shines all year round.

The coffin, made of ancient, dark wood, was now suspended in mid-air.

The coffin lid has been opened.

There were two bodies lying inside.

One was a headless corpse with a clean cut on its neck, radiating a chilling aura.

That was the corpse of Xuan Yin Zhenren of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect.

The other figure is a emaciated monk.

The monk was currently lying on top of Xuan Yin's corpse.

His hands were clenched tightly into Xuan Yin's chest, his ten fingers digging deep into the flesh.

Fresh blood dripped from the cracks in the coffin, falling into the blood pool below and creating ripples.

"melt!"

The monk roared.

His body began to melt, turning into pools of blood and flesh that seeped into the wound on Xuan Yin's chest.

This is a forbidden demonic technique: resurrection through possession of a corpse.

He wanted to abandon his broken body and seize Xuan Yin's physical form.

Only in this way can he possess enough power to fight against the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect and protect the people he wants to protect.

The process was very painful.

That was the excruciating pain of having one's soul torn apart and then slowly squeezed into another's body.

But the monk didn't care.

He had lived in Ghost Cry Valley for three hundred years and had long since become a ghost.

What does it matter if I become a demon, as long as I can recover?

As flesh and blood merged, Xuan Yin's cold corpse began to warm up.

A terrifying aura began to resurface.

That was the power of a quasi-emperor.

The monk's head, still attached to the pool of flesh and blood, was slowly being moved toward Xuan Yin's neck.

Once the head is reattached, the body will be his.

"It's done..."

A glint of wild joy flashed in the monk's eyes.

He felt that surging power, the realm he had always dreamed of.

however.

Just as his neck was about to merge with Xuan Yin's body.

A sudden change occurred.

Boom!

A muffled heartbeat suddenly echoed in the cave.

This heartbeat did not come from Xuan Yin's body, nor from the monk.

It comes from the void.

From that distant capital city, from the exquisite heart within Gu Xiang's chest.

With that heartbeat.

The monk froze.

He felt a burning heat rising from the depths of his soul.

That wasn't his power.

It was an ancient and noble will, yet filled with violence.

"Who?!"

The monk cried out in terror.

He found himself unable to move.

That will was rapidly devouring his soul, seizing control of his body.

"It's been three hundred years."

A detached voice echoed in the monk's mind.

"Your crippled body has sustained me for three hundred years."

"Now, this heart has finally awakened."

The monk's pupils suddenly contracted.

He remembered.

Three hundred years ago, he dug out his heart to save someone; that exquisitely crafted heart with seven orifices was transformed from the Phoenix Dao Fruit.

He is the stand-in for "Phoenix".

He thought he had escaped his fate and that he had deceived the heavens.

It turns out that thing had always been hidden in his soul.

They never left.

"You are... Phoenix?!"

The monk roared, desperately trying to summon his divine soul to resist.

"Get out! This is my body!"

"your?"

The voice carried a hint of mockery.

Everything you have is a gift from me.

"Your fate, your destiny, even your feelings for that vixen, are all the seeds I planted."

"Now, it's time to repay the debt."

boom!

A burst of crimson-gold flame suddenly erupted from the monk's seven orifices.

The flames were extremely domineering, instantly burning through the monk's spiritual defenses.

"ah--!"

The monk let out a piercing scream.

His consciousness began to blur, and his memories began to fragment.

He saw himself become another person.

A man dressed in a crimson-gold imperial robe, looking down upon all living beings.

"No... I can't die..."

"I haven't seen her yet..."

The monk's obsession struggled in the flames.

He remembered the figure on the Star-Picking Tower.

I remembered the wedding dress that I never gave away.

"A-Jiu..."

He murmured, a tear of blood rolling down his cheek.

next moment.

The crimson flames engulfed everything.

Inside the coffin.

The newly fused body suddenly sat up.

The once gentle eyes of the monk had now completely changed color.

The left eye is reddish-brown, and the right eye is golden-yellow.

There was not a trace of human emotion, only endless indifference and greed.

He raised his hand and looked at the new body.

"The Great Sage's physical body is barely sufficient."

He spoke, his voice hoarse and metallic.

Then.

He turned his head and looked eastward.

That's the direction of the Great Zhou capital.

"The nation's fortune... will be greatly enhanced."

He opened his mouth and took a deep breath into the void.

call--!

Above Ghost Cry Valley, the wind and clouds changed color.

A huge vortex suddenly appeared in the originally dark night sky.

At the center of the vortex was a faint, phantom-like phoenix.

Above the capital city.

The golden dragon, representing the fate of the Great Zhou Dynasty, suddenly let out a mournful cry.

hold head high--!

The golden dragon's body twisted violently, and the golden light of national fortune that was originally flowing to the northern border to support Gu Xiang's clone was actually torn off in one piece.

That segment of the nation's destiny transformed into a golden torrent, surging westward towards Ghost Cry Valley.