Nuwa, the goddess of immortality, said that cultivating immortality does not require spiritual energ

Time flies, and more than fifty years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Since the destruction of the Chaos Avatar, the Three Realms have ushered in a truly long-lasting peace.

When the truth about the Chaos invasion was revealed, it caused a huge uproar in all walks of life, with shock, confusion, anger, bewilderment and other emotions surging.

But eventually, all the voices subsided, turning into a tacit understanding of waiting—they were waiting for the person who made the promise to give an explanation.

At noon that day, in the Heavenly Court, in Qin Leqing's quiet courtyard.

In the quiet room, Qin Le, who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes without warning!

In the next instant, he vanished from the quiet room without a trace of spatial fluctuation.

Almost at the same time he left—

The once clear and bright sky above the heavens suddenly darkened!

It wasn't that dark clouds blocked the sun, but rather that the entire sky seemed to have been seized by an invisible hand, quickly turning gray and dim.

Countless terrifying phenomena symbolizing destruction, end, and the lament of the heavens—blood rain, falling stars, shattered phantoms of mountains and rivers, and broken chains of laws—appeared out of nowhere and permeated the world!

A destructive aura, capable of withering all things and causing souls to tremble, enveloped the surrounding area.

In various parts of the celestial realm, the eight saints almost simultaneously sensed something and their gazes all turned in the same direction—the ruins of the Holy War.

They were not unfamiliar with such strange phenomena.

When the warlord Chi You nurtured his inner demon to the point of nearing the threshold of sainthood, it triggered a similar lament from the heavens.

The recurrence of these strange phenomena signifies only one thing:

A powerful figure in the demonic path is attempting to ascend to the supreme position of sainthood!

Moreover, we have reached the most critical moment!

Eight figures vanished silently from their original spots, and the next moment, they appeared simultaneously on the ruins of the former holy war.

However, the ruins before us are no longer what they used to be.

When the sage fought the Chaos Avatar, all the remaining Chaos Power and Dao Power had disappeared, leaving only a relatively clean and desolate land.

What surprised them even more was the presence of two other people in the area.

One of them, naturally, is Ye Hongli, who is currently striving for sainthood.

She sat cross-legged in mid-air, her body surrounded by demonic energy intertwined and swirling with a newly emerging, superior Daoist aura. Her expression shifted constantly, sometimes ferocious, sometimes pained, clearly engaged in the most dangerous mental battle with her inner demons.

And the other one...

"Qin Le?" Li Jiuyuan moved swiftly, arriving beside Qin Le, her eyes filled with surprise: "When did you get here?"

"Just arrived." Qin Le's gaze remained fixed on Ye Hongli as he casually replied, "Not much earlier than you seniors."

At this moment, Houtu Niangniang stared at Ye Hongli, whose aura was rising steadily and was faintly approaching a certain critical point. A hint of sternness flashed between her brows, and she asked in a deep voice:

"Shall we start now?"

In her view, this was the best time to eliminate such a potential threat from the Demon Saint.

Even those below the level of a sage are ultimately in danger of falling from grace.

Once they truly take that step, attain sainthood, and align themselves with the Dao, it becomes extremely difficult to kill them completely. They can only be sealed and suppressed, leaving behind endless calamities.

"No rush." ​​Yuanshi Tianzun slowly shook his head, looking at Ye Hongli with a deep gaze, his tone carrying a hint of inquiry: "Let's see if this girl... can take that step that no one has ever truly succeeded in since the beginning of time."

Upon hearing this, several sages, including Lingbao Tianzun, Daode Tianzun, Donghuang Taiyi, Bai Ze, and Taishang Laojun, nodded slightly.

The path of demonic cultivation is fraught with danger and treacherousness. Throughout history, countless individuals have possessed extraordinary talent, yet none have ever truly ascended to sainthood through the path of demonic cultivation.

Even Chi You, the warlord who took the demonic path to its extreme, did not achieve sainthood through his own inner demons, but rather they existed as a special kind of material.

The key to becoming a saint through demonic cultivation, the price to pay, and even the state after becoming a saint are all huge mysteries for them.

If Ye Hongli succeeds, her sample value will be immeasurable.

Even if it fails, the process can still provide valuable information.

As for whether she will pose a threat after she succeeds?

With the Eight Sages present, they have the confidence to suppress everything.

Time passed second by second amidst the heart-stopping celestial phenomena and the violently fluctuating aura surrounding Ye Hongli.

More than two hours later.

A sudden change has occurred!

A chilling, chaotic yet profoundly powerful aura of a saint suddenly burst forth from Ye Hongli's crown chakra!

The moment this aura appeared, the entire Three Realms seemed to tremble slightly, and the lament of the Heavenly Dao suddenly intensified!

"town!"

The Primordial Celestial Venerable reacted the fastest, waving his sleeves and transforming his vast holy power into an invisible barrier, instantly enveloping and isolating Ye Hongli within a radius of a hundred miles!

The nascent holy might, which was enough to disrupt the rules of the Three Realms, was firmly locked within the barrier, preventing it from leaking out in the slightest and affecting the operation of the Heavenly Dao in the outside world.

Within this barrier, Ye Hongli's saintly aura began to stabilize, rise, and solidify at an astonishing speed!

In just a few dozen breaths, a complete and supreme holy aura, transcending all paths, had already taken shape on her!

However, just as she was about to open her eyes—

"Ha... I told you, you'll never get rid of me!" A cold, manic, and malicious voice came from her mouth.

"Shut up! Sooner or later... I will devour you completely!" Immediately afterwards, Ye Hongli's angry yet forceful rebuke came from the same mouth again.

Two faces, two wills, rapidly switched and clashed on her face, and even her open pupils showed a strange difference—her right eye was her original crimson eye, but her left eye had turned into a bottomless black that seemed to be able to devour everything!

"So that's how it is!" Laozi stroked his beard and sighed, a glint of enlightenment flashing in his eyes: "The key to becoming a saint through demonic means is neither devouring nor annihilating, but... fusion! To merge equally with the source of one's inner demons, to be in you and me and you and me, to be inseparable, only then can one attain perfect sainthood!"

The other sages, upon hearing this, also suddenly understood.

No wonder no one in the demonic path has ever become a saint. This step is too dangerous, almost like giving up half of oneself to share the sainthood and coexist with the shadow that knows oneself best and is also the most dangerous.

The slightest misstep could lead to mental confusion, the collapse of one's spiritual attainment, or complete descent into a puppet of inner demons.

It seems that although Ye Hongli has activated her sainthood and stepped into the threshold, she has not yet completed this final and most dangerous fusion step.

The inner demon and she are still vying for ultimate control of this sacred body.

Almost at the same time that Laozi finished speaking, the eight sages made their moves in perfect unison!

Eight different but equally vast powers of sainthood surged into the sky, weaving together to form an absolute sealing net covering tens of thousands of miles of void!

Space froze, time stagnated, and cause and effect were severed, completely cutting off any possibility of Ye Hongli's escape.

Ye Hongli clearly sensed this deadly blockade.

Her gaze pierced through the barrier, first sweeping over the eight solemn-faced saints, and finally settling on the figure who had been quietly observing—Qin Le.

Li Jiuyuan took a step to the side, subtly protecting Qin Le behind her, and whispered, "Qin Le, this place is dangerous, you should retreat to a safer distance."

Even the aftershocks of a clash between sages are far beyond the capacity of a quasi-sage to withstand. Even though Qin Le was no ordinary person, Li Jiuyuan was unwilling to let him take the risk.

However, Qin Le gently shook his head.

"No need." His voice was calm, revealing no emotion whatsoever. "This time, I'll do it myself."

Before he finished speaking, he raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and gently tapped it towards Ye Hongli, whose aura was chaotic and whose eyes were heterochromatic, from a distance.

"Certainly."

He uttered a single word, calmly.

There was no earth-shattering energy eruption, nor any profound and unfathomable Dao principles revealed.

But the next moment—

Within the barrier, Ye Hongli was fiercely battling her inner demons, her aura surging wildly. Every movement, every flow of energy, every change in expression...

Even the saintly aura that had just stabilized around her froze abruptly, as if a movie scene had been paused!

Completely solidified!

Only in her heterochromatic eyes remained a lingering shock and disbelief, like solidified amber, proving that her thoughts had not stopped.

"What...did you do?!" Ye Hongli shrieked in the void.

She couldn't understand why, having already ascended to sainthood, she could be so easily and completely frozen in place!

This was completely beyond her understanding of power!

It's not just her.

Outside the barrier, the eight saints, including Li Jiuyuan, all showed undisguised shock on their faces!

They could clearly sense that all of Ye Hongli's external actions and power had been frozen in an incomprehensible way, with only her thoughts remaining.

However, they also couldn't understand what level and what kind of power Qin Le had used to so easily immobilize a newly promoted saint!

"I didn't do anything." Qin Le withdrew his finger, his tone still calm: "I just froze you in place."

"Qin Le, you..." Li Jiuyuan's beautiful eyes widened, her gaze towards Qin Le filled with disbelief: "You succeeded?"

More than fifty years ago, after the Chaos Avatar was killed and the truth was revealed, Qin Le publicly vowed to give an explanation to all living beings, and then began a long period of seclusion.

Everyone knows that his path to sainthood has been severed because he bears the karmic burdens of all living beings.

Logically speaking, no matter how long one secludes oneself, it is difficult to achieve a substantial leap in cultivation.

In fact, the aura emanating from Qin Le at this moment is still at the Quasi-Saint level, and there seems to be no significant improvement compared to more than fifty years ago.

But the fact before us is that he used only one word to freeze a saint!

This is a power that no quasi-saint, or even a saint, could possess!

"It's not completely successful yet." Qin Le shook his head slightly, a hint of helplessness on his face: "In the last two years, I've only barely scratched the surface of that path."

Without the guidance of Nuwa's divided soul, the road ahead was uncertain, and he had to grope and make mistakes in the dark.

Even with his unparalleled wisdom, it took him more than forty years to finally find the true path forward two years ago amidst endless possibilities and detours.

With the direction clear, progress becomes unstoppable.

However, his progress had already surpassed the scope of ordinary realm advancement.

On the surface, he is still a quasi-saint, but inwardly he has stepped into a new world that even saints find difficult to fathom and understand.

The source of all these changes was simply Nuwa's expectation more than fifty years ago that Nuwa become as strong as him, and his own burning desire for power.

Upon hearing this, the eight sages all fell silent.

Looking at the calm and composed young man before them, they felt a complex mix of emotions that were hard to describe.

Is the holy path broken?

No, he carved a path through the sheer cliff to a higher place.

Qin Le said no more and took a step forward.

There is no spatial fluctuation, and no manifestation of the Dao.

He simply and casually stepped over the holy power barrier set up by the Primordial Celestial Venerable, as if passing through an invisible water curtain, and appeared in front of Ye Hongli, who was completely frozen in place.

Then, he raised his hand again and gently touched Ye Hongli's brow with the tip of his index finger.

"point."

Another word.

The instant your fingertips touch your brow—

"No--!!!"

Within Ye Hongli's body, the piercing screams of her inner demons and the muffled groans of Ye Hongli herself resounded simultaneously!

A vast and pure source of inner demonic energy was forcibly and completely stripped from Ye Hongli's body by an irresistible force!

The source of this inner demon twisted and wriggled in the air, quickly transforming into a demon Ye Hongli who looked exactly like Ye Hongli, but whose body was shrouded in dark demonic energy and whose eyes were filled with resentment and madness.

At this moment, however, this inner demon was also imprisoned by an invisible force, suspended in the air, unable to move.

As the inner demon was completely stripped away, the deep black of Ye Hongli's left eye quickly faded, returning to the same crimson color as her right eye.

The saintly aura that had just stabilized and surpassed the Heavenly Dao on her body rapidly declined and fell like a tide. In just a few breaths, it had completely fallen back to the Quasi-Saint level, and even seemed a few times weaker than before she broke through to the Saint level.

Feeling the intense discomfort and weakness brought about by the sudden drop in her power level and the emptiness within her body, Ye Hongli slowly raised her head and looked at Qin Le, who was standing close by. A complex smile, mixed with bitterness, self-mockery, and a hint of relief, appeared on her face.

"In the end... I still can't have you," she whispered.

The level of power Qin Le was displaying at this moment far exceeded her understanding, and even surpassed the realm of a saint.

Even though she had briefly ascended to sainthood just now, she could not comprehend the power of words becoming law and the ease with which sainthood could be stripped away.

Qin Le didn't speak, but just stared at her silently for two seconds, and then...

Snapped--!

A crisp, loud slap landed squarely on Ye Hongli's face.

This palm strike not only landed at this moment, but also, along some mysterious trajectory, was imprinted into the past.

In Ye Hongli's long river of memories, among many fragments related to Qin Le, there was a clear impression of being slapped by Qin Le.

This is a completion that spans time.

Her cheek burned with pain, but Ye Hongli merely tilted her head, licked her cracked lip with the tip of her tongue, and a strange light flashed in her crimson eyes as she asked with a hint of curiosity:

"You...you're not going to kill me?"

"I just dislike you." Qin Le withdrew his hand, his tone calm and even, as if stating an objective fact: "But I wouldn't say I hate you. Besides, thinking about it carefully, you really haven't done anything truly heinous or unforgivable."

That's the truth.

Ye Hongli's obsession and nagging annoyed him to no end, and he grew to feel disgusted.

However, looking at his actions, although he entered the demonic path and used ruthless methods, he always adhered to a vague bottom line—he never wantonly slaughtered innocent beings in the three realms. His goal was always clear, and he even cooperated with the spirit of the Dharma Source Stele to a certain extent.

There is a fundamental difference between this dislike and hatred.

Slapping him was something he had wanted to do for a long time.

For those female classmates who were secretly punished by Ye Hongli for getting close to him during their school days and were filled with fear, and also for the unpleasant feeling of being tormented by his perverted obsession for a long time.

Previously, I lacked both the ability and the opportunity.

Now that we have the strength and the timing is right, we will settle things once and for all.

"And then what?" Ye Hongli tilted her head, her smile somewhat eerie: "If I still want to..."

"You won't be able to do it in the future either." Qin Le interrupted her, his gaze sweeping over the imprisoned phantom of the inner demon beside him: "You should think about how to deal with 'her' first."

Having said that, Qin Le didn't give Ye Hongli any chance to speak. With a slight sway, he disappeared from the spot, as if he had never been there.

The blockade set up in the void by the eight saints also quietly dissipated.

Several sages looked at Ye Hongli, then at the direction where Qin Le had disappeared, and finally shook their heads and sighed. Their figures faded away one after another, returning to their respective dojos.

Now that Qin Le has made his choice, they will no longer interfere.

Moreover, Ye Hongli, who has fallen back to the Quasi-Saint level and whose inner demons have been stripped away and imprisoned, has reduced her threat to the Three Realms to the lowest level.

How to deal with that inner demon is her own fate.

Silence returned to the ruins, leaving only Ye Hongli and the inner demon beside her, imprisoned by an invisible force and glaring at her angrily.

Ye Hongli rubbed her still-sore cheek, then touched the corner of her lips that still seemed to retain the sensation of that slap, and suddenly chuckled softly, the laughter growing louder and louder, echoing across the empty ruins.

"Heh...hehe...hahahahaha..."

She laughed for a while before stopping, her crimson eyes shimmering before settling into a strange calm.

She raised her hand and summoned the immobile phantom of the inner demon back into her body's sea of ​​consciousness.

At this moment, the inner demon was completely imprisoned by Qin Le's power, like an insect sealed in amber, which made it convenient for her to study and deal with it slowly.

After doing all this, she glanced in the direction of the Heavenly Court, and with a light wave of her hand, a stable spatial gate unfolded in front of her.

What wafted from behind the door was a familiar yet unfamiliar tranquility, the very essence of home.

I should go back and take a look.

Look at that mother, who has been worried and waiting silently for her for so long.