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

The morning mist over Yunmengze is receding from the water.

Wearing Bai Yin's cloak, Su Xiaojiu walked along the newly built wooden bridge towards the edge of the marsh.

Her dark dress trailed across the damp bridge planks, picking up a few fallen leaves. She paused at the edge of the mist and looked back.

Bai Yin still stands in front of the "Guardian of the Lake" stone wall.

He didn't chase after them, but instead bent down to straighten the battle studs and quietly arranged various matters concerning the water fortress.

"West Canal will be widened by three feet, and the injured will be housed in sheltered wooden huts. Newly arrived refugees, regardless of whether they are human or demon, will be given hot porridge first."

The morning light fell on his palm, and the newly painted little fox covered the old imprint, shining quietly.

Su Xiaojiu looked for a moment, then pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders and turned to walk into the mist.

The ancestral home of the Chen family in Zhongzhou has had most of its broken steles cleared away.

Chen Xuan stood at the edge of the reforged spiritual vein, the black heavy sword "Chang'an" emitting a low hum. He sheathed the sword, the wind from its blade sweeping over the newly engraved clan rules without disturbing the collateral disciples working in the distance.

Inside the Drunken Immortal Abode in the capital, the stove fire is still warm.

Su Qing sat under the lamp, looking at the bowl of chicken soup in front of her that Gu Xiang had stewed badly and then re-stewed. She used a spoon to stir the shiitake mushrooms floating on the surface of the soup.

"It's still cut ugly."

Gu Xiang sat opposite her, his old scarlet robe draped over the back of the chair.

"It will be better next time."

"You said the same thing last time."

Despite her initial disdain, Su Qing still lowered her head and took a sip. Seeing that she hadn't put the bowl down, Gu Xiang's tense expression slowly eased.

Three places in the human world, each with its own lights.

Su Chang'an, far away in the northern region, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

It felt like something invisible had hit my chest.

The responses from the three mortal destinies came simultaneously, warm and clear, but not as cries for help. The tremors came from the far north, from an ancient formation buried beneath the permafrost for three thousand years.

Su Chang'an raised his eyes and looked into the depths of the wind and snow.

The Nine-Tailed Dividing Array is resonating.

Without alerting anyone, she tore through the void alone and followed the pull of the earth's veins back to the place of the old seal.

The abyss is still very deep.

However, the 372 bone-piercing chains were gone. The broken stone platform lay across the ground, its surface covered with dark stains from old blood. The dormant array patterns were buried beneath the dust, while a few strands of new spiritual light flowed through the cracks in the stone, slowly extending outwards along the frozen earth.

Su Chang'an landed in the center of the stone platform.

The claw marks on the four walls are still visible.

She raised her hand and stroked one of the marks. The stone was deep, its edges worn smooth by time. It was here that she, in the past, surrendered her body, her fate, and her freedom to others for judgment. Whether she lived, how she died, even which incarnation should shield whom from calamity—all were decided by others.

My fingertips paused for a moment.

A low hum suddenly came from beneath my feet.

Buzz— The dust was shaken off, and the remaining five-colored array patterns suddenly lit up.

A chilling law rose from the earth's veins, instantly binding Su Chang'an's ankle. Layers of lock patterns climbed up, carrying the aura of an old seal, attempting to re-enter her bones and blood.

The surrounding scenery then distorted.

The broken stone platform was restored to its original state, and illusory chains stretched across the abyss. The newly revived spiritual veins were suppressed by the lingering power of the seal, and their tender green light gradually dimmed.

The old prison has reappeared.

Su Chang'an looked down at the lock patterns at his feet, and did not immediately use his Quasi-Emperor power.

"Even in death, there is no peace."

She opened her palm.

The Nine-Tailed Ancestral Source appeared first, with dark red foxfire swirling around its fingers. Phoenix True Fire followed closely behind, and finally, the cold, moon-white light sprinkled by Taiyin Moon Amber.

Three forces converged on the lock pattern.

But the old formation seemed to recognize her.

Having absorbed too much of the Heavenly Fox's essence within the formation, the five-colored light shifted and unexpectedly reversed course, following the same source of energy. The foxfire was suppressed, the phoenix true fire was restrained by the formation's core, and even the lunar radiance froze for a moment.

The lock-like lines climb over the knees.

Above the stone platform, a red-clad figure slowly emerged.

Gu Tianhu sat alone between the chains, her nine tails stained with blood. Behind her, blurry figures emerged one after another: Su Qing, who had her heart ripped out at Luofeng Slope; Su Xiaojiu, who went to the sacrifice with a blade at Guanghan Palace; and countless incarnations that had been forced to dissipate.

Each one is suffering for others.

Each one was telling her that this was the path the Celestial Fox was meant to take.

Su Chang'an slowly clenched his fists.

"Here we go again with this."

She neither bowed to the red-clad afterimage nor borrowed the fate of any of her incarnations to break the formation.

The next moment, she voluntarily released the shared feelings between the Nine-Tailed Fox and her three mortal bodies.

Under the lanterns of the capital, Su Qing was picking up the bowl of chicken soup. As if sensing something, she paused her spoon on the rim of the bowl.

Gu Xiang looked up.

"What's wrong?"

"fine."

After Su Qing finished her drink, she pushed the bowl towards him.

"Use less salt next time."

Outside Yunmeng Marsh, Su Xiaojiu also turned around in the thin mist. The lights of the water village had not yet been extinguished, and Bai Yin stood in front of the stone wall, helping a young demon carry a wooden beam onto the roof.

At the edge of the ancestral land of Zhongzhou, Chen Xuan pressed his palm against the hilt of the "Chang'an" sword. The Heavenly Fox mark on the scabbard lit up for a moment, but he did not draw the sword. He simply stood quietly beside the newly formed spiritual vein.

The three responses surged back into the Northern Region along with the Dividing Tribulation Formation.

It was not a sacrifice.

It's not about borrowing someone's life.

But they are all still alive.

The warmth of cause and effect seeped into the ground, and the cold, icy patterns clinging to Su Chang'an's legs abruptly stopped. The first crack appeared at his ankle, then spread across the entire stone platform.

Su Chang'an finally saw it clearly.

Su Qing was not a shadow she could recall at any time.

Su Xiaojiu is not a tool to bear the calamity for the original body.

They emerged from the same main soul, yet they each possess their own heartbeat, place of belonging, and life.

Su Chang'an lifted his foot, and the Nine-Tailed Ancestral Source pressed down along the lock pattern, peeling away those cold laws inch by inch from his bones and blood.

Her voice traveled along the array patterns and into the ground.

"Su Qing is not a sacrifice."

"Su Xiaojiu is not a sacrifice."

"Neither do I."

boom!

The five-colored array patterns trembled violently.

The stone platform cracked open from the center, and the remaining seal could no longer hold. Countless lock patterns collapsed on their own, turning into five-colored fragments of light that sank into the earth's veins. The ancient celestial fox's lingering shadow, trapped within the chains, raised its head, glanced at Su Chang'an across the ages, and then dissipated along with its old cage.

Just as the seal completely shattered, a long-silent voice resounded in her mind.

The final causal settlement is complete.

Gu Xiang escaped the predicament of sacrificing his exquisite heart.

Chen Xuan severed the shackles of the Chen family bloodline and the old path of the Supreme Forgetfulness.

Bai Yin embarks on a path of carnage, resorting to killing to alleviate pain and self-destruction to atone for his sins.

The karmic connection between Gu Tianhu and Li Changgeng, spanning three thousand years, has been resolved.

All the causes and effects of salvation transform into streams of light, converging into one place.

Main quest completed.

[The Nine-Tailed Fox's Three Bodies in the Mortal Realm have officially stabilized.]

Within Su Chang'an's body, three destinies simultaneously became clear.

They are connected, yet no longer swallowed up. Memories may resonate, but lives move forward individually. Su Qing, Su Xiao Jiu, and Zhongzhou Hongchen Shen all possess truly independent bodies, personalities, and places to belong.

The system's voice was no longer cold.

The light screen recording tasks, favorability, and rewards went out page by page, finally turning into a pale golden stream of light that entered Su Chang'an's sea of ​​consciousness.

A point of light, symbolizing the completion of her salvation, landed in her palm.

Su Chang'an glanced at it and casually crushed it.

The golden fragments of light did not merge into her cultivation, but instead fell into the Northern Region's spiritual veins through her fingers.

She no longer needed missions to tell her who she had saved.

She doesn't need any reward to prove whether her life is worthwhile.

Suddenly, a small fire appeared underground.

The fire drifted from the depths of the abyss, carrying the lingering aura of the Bone Realm. It crossed the broken stone platform and gently landed on the stone surface, condensing into a small lamp.

The flames were a faint red, burning quietly.

Su Chang'an recognized it.

"Spring Strings".

She didn't reach out to touch it.

The last vestiges of demonic fire illuminated the surroundings. In the cracks where the seal had dissipated, new spiritual veins rekindled, their tender green light growing outwards along the fissures. The chill gradually receded, and the faint sound of water echoed from the depths of the frozen earth.

Su Chang'an stood under the lamp, sensing the steadily beating destinies of the three places: the capital, Yunmengze, and Zhongzhou.

Then she turned around.

There were no chains chasing after them.

Only the lamp left by Chunxian illuminates the newly born spiritual veins of the Northern Region, and also the prison that has finally become empty.

Su Chang'an stepped out of the abyss and never looked back.