I am the sacred tree, evergreen for eternity.

The night was still young, but the battle had already collapsed.

Ao knelt on one knee in the pool of blood, a hideous gash torn from his left shoulder to his chest, revealing glimpses of white bone.

There were fewer than forty totem walkers left standing around, and each of them was wounded.

With their remaining strength, they formed a broken circle, protecting the seriously injured person lying on the ground within it.

The blades pointed outwards, all aimed at the giant, twisted snake coiled in the town.

A terrifying, foul atmosphere surged forth.

That's a power level comparable to the stage of seeking the Dharma, a gap that can't be bridged by willpower and courage alone.

"Captain Ao, the totem pole is about to give way," Meng, who was standing to Ao's left, said.

His left arm was missing, and the severed area was hastily tied up with charred strips of cloth.

Ao tilted his head and looked towards the center of the town. The eight-zhang-tall stone pillar had its spiritual patterns on its body mostly faded.

With each passing moment, the inspiration dimmed a little more.

When the earth's resonance is completely severed, the turbid air will flood into the town like a burst dam...

"There's only one way left..."

Meng's voice was calm.

Ao suddenly turned his head and met a pair of cloudy but determined eyes.

"Ao, our spiritual energy is almost exhausted, but you still have a chance."

"You have reached the peak of the Heavenly Light stage, and are only one final hurdle to overcome—"

"Let us pour all our life-giving spiritual fire into your body..."

"No, absolutely not!" Ao instantly understood Meng's meaning and resolutely interrupted him.

Meng smiled gently, stood up, and faced his brothers who were also covered in blood.

No one spoke, but everyone was looking back at Meng with a gaze that was both familiar and strange.

"Brothers—"

Meng raised the chipped iron knife in his hand, its blade reverberating through the night sky.

"Come with me!"

Without any hesitation, the remaining dozens of totem walkers used their last bit of strength to rush toward the totem pole in the center of the town.

Among these people were old teammates who had fought bloody battles for many years, town guards whom they met for the first time today, and wandering travelers who volunteered to come to the rescue...

Their blood dripped onto the ground, leaving shocking trails.

Ao reached out as if trying to grab something, but his fingers only grasped at air.

He tried to stand up, but his entire body was suppressed by the terrifying turbid air, and he couldn't muster any strength.

In the end, he could only watch helplessly as his comrade-in-arms, with whom he had just shared life and death, walked to the totem pole.

Meng placed his palm on the cold pillar and gazed at Ao from afar.

There was no tragic air on that face, only a sense of relief after a heavy burden had been lifted.

Then, inspiration struck.

It wasn't the surging, turbulent brilliance of battle, but a white flame that burst forth from the deepest part of life, so hot it was almost transparent.

Their bodies became translucent in the white flames, revealing their bones and internal organs...

That spark, named "Life," was as clear as a torch in the dark night.

The flames poured from their palms into the totem pole, climbing upwards along the spiritual patterns on its body, illuminating the dim stone pillar inch by inch.

No one made a sound until their bodies turned to ashes.

Meng's lips moved slightly, and Ao understood his lip movements.

"Live on."

More than thirty bursts of life energy poured into the totem pole, and a dazzling light instantly shattered the stone pillar, with cracks spreading from the top to the bottom.

The next instant, the entire stone pillar shattered with a deafening roar.

A thick, blazing white beam of light shot out from the broken pillar and pierced straight into Ao's chest.

In that instant, he heard countless sounds—

The roar of the earth's ley lines, the sigh of the swirling clouds in the sky, the resonance of the flowing water with the earth...

Dozens of totem walkers not only infused his body with spiritual energy, but also imprinted all their insights into the power of heaven and earth over the past decades into Ao's soul.

This is a brutal sublimation fueled by lives and fueled by blood.

After an unknown amount of time—whether it was a moment or a century—Ao opened his eyes.

His pupils shone with a rainbow-like light, constantly shifting and turning.

The Realm of Enlightened Spirits, the Time for Seeking the Dharma!

He raised his hand, and spiritual light condensed in his palm, transforming into a flame with destructive heat.

With a single thought, the entire universe becomes law!

He no longer needed weapons; with a mere flow of his mind, spiritual light gathered, expanded, and solidified around him.

A gigantic phantom of light and flame rose from the ground, towering three zhang high, exuding a suffocating sense of power.

The giant serpent suddenly raised its head, and a cold glint flashed in its twisted vertical pupils.

Ao raised his hand, and the giant of light and flames also raised his hand.

Ao clenched his fist, and the Radiant Giant also clenched his fist.

Then, he threw a punch.

That punch had no fancy angles, no exquisite spiritual energy; it was simply a direct and unreserved strike.

The giant fist of the spirit flame slammed into the top of the giant snake's head, producing an extremely muffled roar, like mountains collapsing and the earth cracking open.

The giant snake's head slammed into the ground, creating a crater over ten feet deep.

Simultaneously, purplish-black blood gushed from all four pairs of vertical pupils, and a large amount of viscous, turbid liquid spurted from its mouth, causing its enormous snake body to twist and convulse.

fear.

For the first time, fear appeared in the giant snake's eyes.

The giant of light was poised to unleash its second punch, the spiritual light condensing into an even more intense flame on its fist.

The giant snake suddenly opened its blood-red maw, and thick, foul air surged deep in its throat.

A dark red heart shot out and blocked the giant snake.

"Bang!"

The giant fist of light and flame, carrying immense force, slammed into the heart of the giant monster.

As expected, the demon's heart shattered immediately.

The next second—

The suffocatingly thick turbid air burst forth instantly, like a blooming black lotus flower, sweeping out in all directions.

Taking advantage of this moment, the giant snake dragged its damaged body and writhed wildly out of the town, disappearing into the night fog in the blink of an eye.

A vicious, manic voice, seemingly emanating from purgatory, echoed in the air.

"You think... you've won...?"

"Take a good look at your people..."

"I hope you can be just as decisive with them!"

Ao did not pursue.

The giant of light and flame is dissipating.

The immense power he felt during his promotion receded from his body like the receding tide.

His lips curled up slightly, forming a tired, almost imperceptible smile.

Won.

Despite the enormous cost, the town was eventually saved.

However, the smile only lasted for a breath.

He heard a voice behind him, a human voice.

The low groans and heart-wrenching struggles echoed from every corner of the town.

Ao suddenly turned his head.

On the streets, under the eaves, beside the well...

People were lying everywhere, infected by the foul air—

Someone was crawling in the alley, their fingernails worn down, leaving trails of blood on the ground;

Some people hugged the totem pole, repeatedly banging their foreheads against the stone surface, trying to maintain their last bit of consciousness with the pain;

Someone was tearing at their clothes, rolling in the mud, scratching themselves with countless gruesome wounds...

People were crying—men, women, the elderly, children… heartbreaking cries coming from all directions.

The smile on his lips froze completely, as if it had been crushed by something.

The color drained from his face in a few breaths, turning it paler than moonlight.

All the efforts and sacrifices seemed to have lost their meaning at this moment.

The moonlight shone on Ao, casting a long shadow on him.

Someone climbed up to him; it was a teenager, probably an apprentice in the town's hunting team.

Half of his face was covered with purplish-black lines, one eye had turned white, but the other was still the black of a human.

The boy raised his still clear eyes and reached out to grab Ao's collar, like a drowning person grabbing the last piece of driftwood.

"My lord, I don't want to become... that kind of thing..."

He paused after each word, as if struggling to control his throat with the power within him that was devouring him.

"Please... give me a ride..."

Looking at the boy, Ao seemed to see himself in his teens.

A life that should have been vibrant and full of hope could not survive this dark and hopeless night...

He raised his hand, and a burst of spiritual light gathered in his palm, rising up like a wisp of embers from the setting sun.

The flames engulfed the boy.

Ao stood up and walked towards the town.

He walked through every street, every alley, and every house in the entire Qingxi Town.

Then, the firelight illuminated the entire town of Qingxi, turning the night sky a dark red.

The cries of agony, groans, and sobs gradually faded away in the flames, replaced by the crackling sound of burning.

He stood proudly in the center of the town, his body scorching hot from the flames, his face covered in an indistinguishable mixture of sweat and salt stains left by evaporating tears.

His inspiration, illuminated by the flames, gradually transformed from a bright, blazing white into a chilling, eerie light.

As the last wail faded into the flames, Ao crouched down and carved words on the stone slab beneath the totem pole.

The dark red handwriting resembled congealed blood.

"All sins have been committed against me."

"Forever condemned to the abyss, never to return!"