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

The crisp sound of the slap was particularly clear in the wind and snow of the far north.

Bai Yin's tall body stiffened abruptly. He did not dodge, nor did he even use the slightest bit of Geng metal evil energy to resist that weak force.

Those scarlet eyes, once filled with violence, lost all their ferocity in an instant.

He lowered his head slightly, and his broad shoulders slumped.

A faint redness appeared around her eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"I was wrong." His voice was very low, hoarse and helpless.

The Blood Asura, who had just been rampaging and crushing formations, now completely suppressed his killing intent. He stood there, his hands hanging at his sides, even his breathing became cautious, as if afraid that his breath would scatter the fragile remnant soul before him.

The broken sword in Su Chang'an's palm stopped trembling. The pitch-black killing aura quickly retracted into the white bone-like blade. The blade, resting against Su Chang'an's illusory palm, emitted a very soft hum. The sound was no longer sharp; instead, it carried a hint of grievance and appeasement.

In the rubble at the edge of the ruins, blood still seeped from half of Zhao Wuji's body. He lay prone on the cold ground, his chest heaving violently. He stared intently at the three people in the square, his eyes now filled with extreme resentment, replacing the fear in them.

He reached into his robes with his only remaining left hand. His fingers groped inside the blood-stained fabric, pulling out an ice-blue jade talisman that emanated an extremely cold aura. It was the "Quasi-Emperor's Decree" that Li Changgeng had left at the bottom of the array's core.

Zhao Wuji suddenly clenched his five fingers.

The jade talisman shattered.

The snowstorm in the far north abruptly stopped. Then, defying all logic, the blizzard swirled wildly, shooting straight into the sky. A massive rift was forcibly torn open in the heavens.

A colossal, ten-thousand-foot-long frost sword emerged from the crack. The sword was entirely transparent, its surface shimmering with the absolute laws of detachment and transcendence. Its tip pointed directly at Su Chang'an's location.

The overwhelming pressure, at the quasi-emperor level, descended without reservation. The remaining white marble pillars in the plaza shattered inch by inch under the pressure, turning into dust. Large areas of the bluestone slabs on the ground cracked, and fragments of stone floated in mid-air.

Bai Yin suddenly raised his head.

He ignored the colossal sword overhead, powerful enough to destroy the heavens and the earth, and made no attempt to dodge to the side. He simply turned around, spread his arms, and tightly protected Su Chang'an's illusory remnant soul in front of his chest.

He withdrew all the protective Geng metal aura around him. He drew out all the primal power within his body, transforming it into a dark golden light shield that tightly enveloped Su Chang'an.

He used his broad back to meet the descending frost giant sword head-on.

The giant sword slashed down.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a teeth-grinding cutting sound.

The frost greatsword sliced ​​through the dark gold shield and struck Bai Yin squarely in the back. Solid flesh instantly tore open. A deep, bone-revealing wound stretched from his left shoulder to his right waist. The muffled thud of shattering bones was clearly audible in the silent plaza.

Bai Yin clenched his teeth tightly. The muscles in his jaw bulged from the effort. He didn't utter a single groan. Blood gushed from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the ground in front of Su Chang'an, splashing out glaring red plum blossoms.

The aftershocks of the Quasi-Emperor's Law reverberated across the plaza.

Bai Yin's physical body blocked most of the power of the laws, but the remaining icy laws still penetrated the light barrier and swept over Su Chang'an's soul.

This force completely shattered the already extremely fragile balance within Su Chang'an's body. The erosion of the Absolute Spirit Law intensified instantly.

Su Chang'an's soul trembled violently. From her knees down, the gray-white skirt began to disintegrate. Her soul transformed into faint specks of light, scattering in all directions.

Bai Yin noticed something amiss in his arms. He lowered his head.

As he watched Su Chang'an's legs dissipate, extreme terror filled his eyes. He had searched for three thousand years, and nine years ago he had watched helplessly as the aura of death vanished before his very eyes.

Reason completely collapsed at that moment.

Bai Yin raised his right hand, his fingers forming a knife-like shape. Without any hesitation, he thrust his fingers directly into his lower abdomen, the dantian.

Blood gushed out. He was about to dig out his own Great Saint Realm White Tiger Demon Core to forcibly prolong Su Chang'an's life.

Su Chang'an frowned as he looked at the hand that had pierced into flesh.

She raised her right hand, which was gripping the broken sword. The hilt slammed down hard on Bai Yin's wrist.

"Fool." Her voice was extremely weak, but her tone carried an undeniable coldness.

Bai Yin's hand was smashed open. He stood there stunned, blood from his abdomen staining his robes.

Su Chang'an turned his gaze away.

Outside the square, Luo Qingxue stumbled back. She stood frozen in the snowstorm, carrying the ice-blue longsword.

She witnessed Zhao Wuji's vicious sneak attack, crushing the decree with his own eyes. She also saw Bai Yin, the Blood Asura regarded as a great demon by the sect, abandon his defenses to withstand a quasi-emperor's attack in order to protect a remnant soul, even at the cost of mutilating himself by digging out his core.

Luo Qingxue's hand holding the sword trembled. The sword tip lay limp on the snow.

The sect's long-standing teachings of "supreme detachment" and its advocacy of "slaying demons and monsters" seemed utterly absurd at this moment. The elders' malice and the demons' deep affection formed an extreme contrast.

The determination in her eyes faded, and her Dao heart began to waver violently.

Su Chang'an looked at Luo Qingxue, his tone calm and devoid of any emotion.

"Thank you for lending me the talisman."

As soon as she finished speaking, Su Chang'an looked away. She gripped the broken sword in her hand tightly.

She fully activated the last trace of killing intent that Chen Xuan had left in the sword bone.

A pure black sword beam shot into the sky from the broken sword. The beam tore through the wind and snow, heading straight for the dilapidated obsidian altar in the center of the plaza.

The sword's edge struck precisely at the core of the demon-slaying formation.

A deafening roar erupted. The altar shattered completely. Obsidian fragments flew everywhere.

The defensive light barrier covering the camp flickered a few times before going out completely. The Supreme Forgetfulness Sect's sealing formation was destroyed with a single sword strike.

The moment the formation shattered, the underground spiritual veins lost their suppression.

The excessive draining of spiritual energy triggered a devastating backlash. A series of explosions echoed from deep underground. The ground undulated violently. Huge cracks spread across the earth.

The entire camp was collapsing violently. Void rifts were constantly forming above the ruins, swallowing everything around them.

Bai Yin ignored the deep, bone-revealing wound on his back. His body was filled with surging, malevolent energy.

His body suddenly rose higher in mid-air. Accompanied by the crisp sound of bones growing, he transformed into a ten-zhang-long Gengjin white tiger.

The white tiger turned its head and used its gentle demonic power to lift up Su Chang'an's dissipating remnant soul, placing it steadily on its broad back.

The white tiger strained its limbs. Dark red malevolent energy enveloped its entire body. It prepared to forcefully tear open the void rift before it and escape this collapsing northern region.

Just as the white tiger soared into the air, about to leap into the void rift...

From the other side of the crack, a powerful gale swept out.

The fierce wind carried with it scorching phoenix fire. This force was incredibly tyrannical, forcibly fixing the collapsing void in place.

A tall, slender figure stepped out, breaking through the void.

He was a scholar in a blue robe. His white hair danced wildly in the wind. His face was withered, and his whole body exuded a dense aura of death.

He held a calligraphy brush in his hand. The tip of the brush was stained with his heart's blood.

Gu Xiang.

Gu Xiang's gaze swept across the collapsed camp. He stopped when his eyes fell on the illusory gray-robed figure on the white tiger's back.

His heart, with its seven orifices and exquisite details, roared like a drumbeat.

Its scarlet eyes were fixed on the white tiger.

Gu Xiang raised his right hand. With a brush dipped in his heart's blood, he wrote a single character heavily in the air.

"Take it."

A surge of righteous energy erupted forth. Blood-gold characters exploded in mid-air, transforming into dozens of thick chains that shot straight at the white tiger in mid-air.

"Give me back my wife."

Gu Xiang's voice was extremely hoarse. His tone revealed an extreme degree of obsession and madness.

The white tiger let out a deafening roar.

Bai Yin sensed the aura emanating from Gu Xiang. It was pure Phoenix True Fire, the primordial power belonging to Su Chang'an.

He looked at Gu Xiang's face, and the murderous intent in his eyes surged instantly.

He was convinced that it was this scholar who had stolen Su Chang'an's destiny, leading to her current state of being nothing but a remnant soul.

New and old grudges intertwined.

The malevolent energy of Geng metal erupted from the White Tiger's body. A dark red pillar of malevolent energy shot into the sky, meeting the blood-gold chains head-on.

The oppressive aura of the Great Sage Realm and the law of words becoming law collided violently in mid-air.

A violent energy storm swept out.

The already crumbling camp of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect was completely flattened along with its foundations by this devastating impact.

The entire area was reduced to a blank white expanse.