After nine lifetimes of reincarnation, the yandere villainous heroine descends.

"Thump—thump—thump—"

The crisp sound of footsteps slowly rose, and with each step, the entire space trembled violently, even the ruins beneath their feet hummed.

Accompanied by the tremors, an overwhelming sense of oppression, far exceeding anything seen before, spread out like a tidal wave, making the heavens and earth seem about to collapse.

Even a forbidden creature was the first to succumb to this overwhelming pressure; fine cracks suddenly appeared on its massive body, and the wounds spread rapidly along the gaps in its scales.

As the next footstep fell, the creature collapsed to its knees with a loud thud, its enormous pupils filled with extreme terror as it stared intently at the figure in the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Tantai Chigu slowly raised her eyes, and a figure slowly emerged from her deep purple pupils.

The face bore a striking resemblance to hers, and while her figure remained petite, it possessed a taller and more slender silhouette than her original self.

In particular, her eerie purple hair, which cascaded down from the top of her head to her waist, gleamed with a cold luster.

This is the complete phantom of Tantai Chigu. Because her forbidden origin is still weak at this moment, her true form cannot bear all the power.

Only then did the fully formed phantom, which had been dormant within the body, gather its power and step out from the original body.

The phantom carried the entire consciousness of the original body. As soon as it appeared, it turned around and looked around anxiously, searching for Shen Shuchou's whereabouts.

Looking around, all that could be seen in the ruins were broken bricks and stones and creatures facing each other; there was no sign of Shen Shuchou.

Her pupils suddenly contracted, and she turned around abruptly, her gaze instantly locking onto Gu Jian. Her nose twitched slightly, and the aura that belonged to Shen Shuchou was so faint that it almost dissipated from Gu Jian's body.

"You... give me back my father, give me back the Dao Lord."

The phantom stared at Gu Jian with a trembling voice and an undeniable sense of pressure.

Upon hearing this, Gu Jian paused slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes.

He had thought that Shen Shuchou was merely a vessel kept by this forbidden creature, but that voice of dependence, "Father," shattered his prediction like a thunderclap.

Give it back to me.

Seeing that Gu Jian remained silent, the phantom of Tantai Chigu spoke again.

The forbidden power emanating from his body had already wrapped around Gu Jian in strands, pressing down on his limbs and bones like a bone-deep ailment.

The sword intent within his body trembled wildly, emitting a sharp warning, as if the surrounding forces would transform into claws and tear him into countless fragments in the next second.

Gu Jian frowned slightly, a rare sense of unease crossing his mind. This was the most terrifying forbidden creature he had ever encountered in his life.

If the sword in his heart had not cracked, and if the ancient sword he carried was still in his hand, perhaps he could still draw his sword and fight it.

But now, he knew clearly that he was no match for this phantom, and his gaze swept over the real body standing silently behind him without leaving a trace.

He was clear-headed; this forbidden being had not yet fully matured, and her true form was her only weakness, making it the best time to kill her.

The thought formed in his mind in a flash, and Gu Jian suddenly raised his hand and pointed to the sky, his fingertip pointing directly at the bottomless crack. His voice was steady but carried an undeniable guiding tone: "Your father is there."

Before the words were finished, the phantom suddenly looked up, its dark purple pupils instantly locking onto the crack in the sky.

The next second, an overwhelming pressure swept in like a tsunami, heading straight for the depths of the crack.

The clouds were shaken and shattered, and even the void seemed to hum under the weight of this force.

"Gu Jian!"

A deep, angry roar, filled with suppressed ferocity, came from the crack.

Gu Jian seemed to ignore him, only slowly curving his lips into a slight smile, his voice carrying a deliberate air of disdain: "It was the people from the rift who took him away. If you had been any later, I'm afraid... you would never have seen your father again."

These words were like a spark falling into a hot oil pan, instantly igniting the phantom's emotions.

Her power suddenly surged, and an immense pressure crashed down like a collapsing sky.

The rubble in the ruins was shaken into the air by this force, and even the air rippled with visible waves.

Immediately afterwards, she let out a piercing roar at the crack in the sky, a roar filled with extreme anger and panic that seemed to tear the entire heavens apart: "Give me back my father!"

Before the roar had subsided, Tantai Chigu's phantom suddenly rose from the ground, and pitch-black chains wrapped with strange and forbidden demonic patterns shot out from his body.

Carrying a destructive power capable of devouring light and life, it hurtled straight towards the crack in the sky like a black lightning bolt.

"Gu Jian, you're courting death! I'm sparing your life out of consideration for our past relationship!"

The figure in the crack was forced to shout angrily by the sudden attack, and in a hurry, manipulated the crack to twist violently, barely avoiding the strangulation of the chains.

The chain grazed the edge of the crack, tearing fine cracks into the entire sky.

Upon hearing this, Gu Jian, who was in the courtyard, curled his lips into a faint, cold sneer: "You'd better pray that you can escape from her alive, otherwise, I will personally take your life."

As soon as he finished speaking, he slammed his foot into the ground, shattering the ruins. His sword intent surged wildly like a burst dam, condensing into a dazzling silver-white streak that shot straight toward the still, unmoving Tantai Chi Gu.

"Gu Jian, how dare you! Do you know what you're doing?" The figure in the crack was furious at the sight, and his voice became sharp with panic.

"What I do is none of your business."

Gu Jian's voice was cold and devoid of any warmth, and his swordplay grew even more ferocious.

"Kill her, and everything will go back to the way it was."

"madness!"

The sound from the crack was filled with gritted teeth and furious rage, almost bursting through the crack itself.

"Even if we kill her, the world won't change in the slightest! On the contrary, killing her will plunge this world into eternal darkness!"

But Gu Jian was no longer listening to any of these words.

His sword was now within three inches of Tantai Chigu's body.

The sword wind carried fragments of starlight. Just one more inch forward, and this sword, which embodied his life's sword intent, could effortlessly pierce through this seemingly fragile body that carried the forbidden origin.

As he expected, without the protection of the illusory figure, the sword intent that Gu Jian had condensed in his hand transformed into a solid longsword. Its silver light was like a blade that could cleave the sky, carrying the sharpness to shatter chaos, and it pierced through Tantai Chigu's body without any hindrance.

"Die!"

He let out a deep shout, and the sword formed from sword intent suddenly burst forth with dazzling light.

The sword's momentum surged and tore wildly through her body like thunder, each strand of sword intent carrying a resolute killing intent, determined to shatter her hidden forbidden origin.

But the next second, a chilling crisis, like a malignant tumor, suddenly exploded from behind.

Gu Jian felt a chill run down his spine and turned around abruptly, only to see a pitch-black chain sweeping towards him with a terrifying, all-consuming force.

Before he could even activate his sword intent to defend himself, his body was slammed hard by the chains.

He was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the ruins. Bricks and stones shattered, and amidst the dust, he coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground in a disheveled state.

He struggled to lift his head, supporting himself on the ground, and looked at the illusory figure that should have been weakened by the damage to its original form. His voice trembled with disbelief: "How...how could this be...why didn't you die...?"

His sword strike, imbued with the full force of his life's sword intent, failed to have the slightest effect on Tantai Chigu.

The illusory image of Tantai Chigu stood silently before his true form, his eyes lowered as he gazed at the wound that pierced his body. A faint pain lingered in his dark purple pupils, and his voice was as soft as a wisp of smoke dissipating: "Father... Dao Master..."

The moment that murmur ended, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar presence.

Not far away, but the aura was so faint as to be almost transparent, slowly sinking into a deathly silence, teetering on the brink of collapse like a candle in the wind.

At the other end of the ruins, Gu Jian struggled to lift his head, leaning against the broken wall. Looking at the figure whose shadow suddenly froze, a blood-stained smile suddenly appeared on his lips.

A clarity, finally revealed, welled up in his eyes: "I understand... It was him... He took that sword for you..."

He coughed violently, blood trickling from the corner of his lips. His voice was broken, yet every word was clear: "He's not just some vessel... he's also... cough... he's bound to your life... by a contract..."

Gu Jian's laughter gradually grew from intermittent low chuckles into a long, blood-stained laugh, but as he laughed, an unyielding bitterness settled at the corners of his mouth.

This was his only chance to kill her while she was still weak, but he miscalculated the most crucial detail.

And that crucial link between the forbidden life and the one he had overlooked was actually saved by his own hands.

A bitter smile faded, and a cold light returned to Gu Jian's eyes. He had to leave; if he left now, there might still be a chance.

He wanted to verify a hypothesis: since his sword could be blocked by that person, if he killed Shen Shuchou, would this forbidden figure in front of him be destroyed as well? Even if it was just severely injured.

He was leaning against the broken wall, about to drag his broken body to his feet and leave, when the illusory figure in the courtyard slowly squatted down and gently picked up his real body.

Two clear tears slowly streamed from those deep purple eyes, dripping onto her clothes. Her voice was as soft as a dream: "Father... I want to study..."

The moment she finished speaking, a devastating storm suddenly erupted from her body!

As this force surged, the entire world began to tremble violently, the clouds churned into terrifying vortexes, and even the earth beneath the ruins groaned under the unbearable weight.

The next second, the phantom suddenly transformed into a scarlet streak of blood, shooting straight into the sky like an arrow released from a bow, rushing away following the wisp of dying breath.

As the phantom completely dissipated, the real body she was holding in her arms also vanished from the ruins of the courtyard, leaving only rubble and lingering blood.