The Record of Exterminating Evil from Ashes

The thunder subsides and the clouds disperse, but the shackles of the heart remain hidden.

The thunderclouds that had roared all night slowly receded at the first light of dawn. Layers of dark clouds churned and dissipated, the oppressive stillness that had permeated the night gradually dissolving, and a thin ray of morning light pierced through the clouds, illuminating the silent Demon-Slaying Mountains. The countless black lightning bolts all disappeared into the void, and the shackles that had bound the mountain gates all night slowly untied and vanished without a trace.

The thousands of disciples breathed a collective sigh of relief, their heads bowed in exhaustion, their clothes soaked with cold sweat. Last night's thunderous tribulation had tempered their hearts, its silence speaking volumes. No one was physically injured, yet everyone's Dao heart had undergone extreme torment. The cowardice, stubbornness, laziness, and arrogance hidden deep within their hearts had all been amplified, exposed, and refined by the heavenly thunder. Now that the tribulation had ended, the remaining falsehoods and distractions had all faded away, leaving behind an ever-purer and more steadfast clear and pure heart.

The hearts of the new Daoists, having undergone this night of purgatory, have been thoroughly cleansed of vanity and illusoryness, and are now as solid as a rock.

Only Cen Jin stood high in the sky, his white robes stained by the darkness of the night. His figure appeared upright as ever, but inside he was already bound by countless shackles and chains.

Last night, with his own Dao heart, he bore the karmic consequences and countless obsessions of all the people of the entire mountain sect. The torrents of light and darkness washed over his Dao foundation all night, unseen by anyone. Deep within his pure and immaculate heart, a layer of dark, faint shackles had already quietly solidified. Those shackles were formless and intangible, neither damaging his Dao foundation nor disrupting his cultivation, yet they were firmly rooted in the very essence of his soul, becoming a hidden bond he could never escape for the rest of his life.

Within his Qi Sea, the black and white balancing Dao patterns and the blood-red twin dark seeds continued to rotate at high speed, mutually restraining and nourishing each other. They appeared to be perfectly unified, but in reality, undercurrents were lurking beneath the surface. The originally loose twin sacrifice chains had been completely tightened by last night's catastrophe, firmly binding him and Wan Tang's destiny to its origin, with no solution, no break, and no escape.

Deep within the clouds, the dark figure of the lightning tribulation, which embodied the gloom of countless hearts, did not vanish as the thunderclouds dissipated.

At the moment dawn breaks, it quietly disintegrates and breaks into fragments, turning into wisps of fine, dark mist that descend along the mountain's spiritual veins, avoiding everyone's perception, silently seeping into the depths of the Demon-Slaying Mountain, disappearing without a trace.

Cen Jin's gaze was deep, his divine sense spreading for thousands of miles, clearly capturing the trajectory of the black shadow's escape, but he did not pursue it.

He understood perfectly well that this Calamity Spirit was originally formed from the darkness of the human heart, without roots, origin, body, or substance, hiding in the cracks of the Dao hearts of all living beings and concealed within the spiritual veins of mountains and rivers, impossible to kill or annihilate completely. Its escape tonight was merely a period of dormancy and accumulation of strength, not a complete annihilation. Forcibly pursuing it would only deplete his own resources and be a losing proposition.

More importantly, he could vaguely sense that deep within the back mountain, a terrifying being far beyond the shadow of the lightning tribulation was quietly awakening.

Last night, the heavens thundered all night, not only tempering people's hearts and giving rise to calamity spirits, but also shattering the ancient underground seal that had been sealed off for millennia in the back mountain of the Demon Extermination Sect. That desolate, uninhabited, ancient, and perpetually sealed back mountain wilderness was now experiencing abnormal earth vein movements and surging malevolent energy. Layers of ancient restrictions were crumbling inch by inch, and the savage and violent energy that had suppressed it for millennia was gradually breaking free of its confinement and spreading throughout the mountains and forests.

"Lord Dao, the spiritual veins in the back mountain are in great disarray, with malevolent energy leaking out. It seems something strange is about to emerge!"

The Grand Elder hurriedly arrived through the air, his expression solemn, and bowed to report urgently. The back mountain is a forbidden area of ​​the mountain gate, sealed for eternity without any disturbance. Tonight, after the tribulation of lightning, chaos suddenly broke out, which is clearly a sign of a change in the world and an impending calamity.

Cen Jin nodded slightly, his eyes calm: "I understand. You will lead the troops to defend the main peak and firmly guard the mountain gate barrier, and do not allow any disciples to approach the back mountain without authorization."

"Disciple obeys!" The Grand Elder dared not hesitate and immediately turned around to issue orders to prevent any unrest at the mountain gate.

Cen Jin turned and glanced at the main hall. The barrier inside the hall was stable, and Wan Tang was still fast asleep. Despite the turmoil of the previous night, she was protected by multiple layers of barriers, and her divine soul and origin remained undisturbed. The aura of the Demon Lord remained calm and stable, unaffected by the chaos outside.

  

Having confirmed that Wan Tang was unharmed, he completely put aside his worries, lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his white robes swept through the air as he sped alone toward the desolate back mountain.

The closer you get to the back of the mountain, the colder and more somber the air becomes.

The once gentle and clear spiritual energy of the mountain gate has become completely murky and murderous here. A dense, wild, and malevolent aura assaults the senses, causing the air to stagnate and the vegetation to bend. The branches of towering ancient trees tremble, leaves flutter down, and all the spiritual herbs on the ground wither. The entire mountain forest is desolate and lifeless.

Rumbling--

A deep, muffled tremor emanated from the depths of the earth, causing the earth's veins to churn and the rocks to shake, as if a colossal creature were awakening and turning over underground, causing the entire hillside to tremble slightly.

A moment later, a desolate, ancient, violent, and wild roar suddenly exploded from the ground!

Awooo—!!!

The roar was unlike any other beast's howl in the world; it was neither sharp nor violent, but carried the desolation of ancient silence, the ferocity of breaking a seal, and the majesty of overlooking mountains and rivers. The sound waves swept across the land, causing the void to distort slightly, withered leaves on the mountainside to explode in mid-air, and the evil energy from the ground surged with the roar, rolling into the sky and permeating the entire back mountain.

This is the first angry roar of an ancient, slumbering beast that has broken free from its seal.

Cen Jin landed on the summit of the back mountain, standing quietly in white robes, facing the surging torrent of malevolent energy. There was no fear in his eyes, only extreme calmness and clarity.

He had perused all the ancient books and fragments of records from the mountain gate, but had never heard a single word about this strange beast. This being, lurking beneath the mountains, did not belong to the lineage of human monsters, nor to any evil creature born from the game of chess, nor to any of the myriad spirits of heaven and earth. It seemed to be an ancient beast, existing independently outside the eternal game of chess, buried by time.

The roars of beasts continued incessantly, and the earth's veins began to throb more violently.

Countless rubble, bones, and fragments from the earth surged forth with the malevolent energy, piling up on the forest floor in countless layers. The bones were enormous and bizarrely shaped, clearly neither human nor ordinary beast, exuding the desolation and decay of ancient times.

As a malevolent aura surged into the sky and the earth shook, a tall and solitary figure slowly emerged from the black mist beneath the ground.

It was a human-shaped figure, tall and straight, standing amidst the overwhelming malevolent aura, all alone and helpless, exuding an aura of eternal loneliness.

Its body was completely unclothed, covered entirely by layers of gray-white bone armor. The bone armor had an ancient and heavy texture, mottled and weathered, covered with fine cracks eroded by time. Each piece of armor was as hard as divine iron and as lustrous as ancient jade, fitting the body tightly and connecting seamlessly. From the head, shoulders, back, chest, abdomen to the limbs, it was a perfect and impeccable whole.

On the grayish-white bone armor, faint black and gold patterns lingered, their dark luster flowing and mysteriously profound. They did not resemble a murderous aura, but rather carried an ancient, solemn, and timeless power of order.

This is a solitary figure forged purely from ancient bone armor, devoid of flesh and blood, breath, and the fluctuations of life, yet capable of standing on its own, walking on air, possessing independent intelligence and consciousness, deathly still yet indestructible, desolate yet immortal.

The moment the lone figure in bone armor stepped out of the black mist beneath the ground, the roars of beasts in the sky suddenly ceased, the surging baleful energy instantly became docile and still, and the restless earth veins completely returned to calm.

The entire back mountain fell into a deathly silence in an instant.

It did not attack proactively, nor did it release any killing intent or reveal its ferocity. It simply stood quietly in the center of the malevolent aura, its hollow, bone-armored head slowly turning, its dark, dull eye sockets precisely locking onto Cen Jin atop the mountain peak.

They stared at each other silently, their breaths locked in a stalemate.

Cen Jin's gaze narrowed slightly, and a sense of unease began to rise in his heart. He could clearly sense that the combat power of this solitary figure in bone armor was extraordinary, far surpassing that of all the elders and cultivators of the sect, and even comparable to a high-level evil spirit derived from the chess game. Yet, it possessed not a trace of malevolent intent or killing intent, only the desolation, silence, and protection of ages past.

It is not a ferocious beast, not an evil creature, not a calamity spirit, but more like an ancient guardian that has been sealed away for countless ages.

"Who are you?" Cen Jin asked in a deep voice, his voice echoing through the back mountain.

The solitary figure in the bone armor stood silently, offering no response. The black and gold patterns around its body flowed slowly, exuding an ancient and desolate will that resonated in Cen Jin's mind from afar, silently revealing ancient secrets.

"The ancient chess game begins, and heaven and earth are thrown into chaos."

"I guard the seal on the back mountain, suppress the remnant souls underground, and imprison the old remains of the chess game, waiting for the Twin Dao Masters to reach perfection and shatter the illusions of eternity."

A few words reveal the root cause.

Cen Jin's mind was shaken, and he instantly understood all his meridians. The back mountain of the Demon Extermination was never an ordinary forbidden area, but rather the **ancient cage of the ancient chess game**, a place of suppression for the remaining broken origins, fallen pieces, and abandoned rules after the previous round of the game ended.

This solitary figure in bone armor is the eternal guardian who stands in the prison and isolates the old order.

Tonight, heavenly thunder tempered his heart, the twin cycle closed, and people's hearts returned to their origin. His Dao foundation was perfected, and light and darkness were unified. He achieved the perfect state of twin Dao Lord, which no one had ever reached before. Only then did he shatter the seal and awaken this guardian who had been sleeping for thousands of years.

It did not come to wreak havoc on the world, but only to witness the end of the world and await the opportunity to break the deadlock.

Just as their auras clashed and their thoughts communicated, the ancient demon lord's divine core, suspended above the thousand-mile-long miasma forest, suddenly trembled violently. A crimson radiance swept across the land, resonating and echoing the black and gold patterns on the solitary figure in bone armor on the back mountain.

A demon core, a bone armor, one light and one dark, one outside and one inside, spanning thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, instantly constructing an eternal closed loop that spans heaven and earth.

At the same time, the crimson dark seed deep within Cen Jin's Qi Sea surged wildly, and the invisible shackles of his true nature deep within his soul suddenly tightened. The cold whisper of destiny rang in his ears once more, this time no longer a vague prophecy, but a clear and piercing final judgment.

"The old seal has been broken, and the old remains will awaken."

"Twins united, guardians appear in the world, **the true end of the game is never the sacrifice of you and Wan Tang, but the unsealing of the ancient game and the restart of reincarnation**."

Before the words had even finished, a sound far deeper and more ancient than the previous one echoed from the depths of the back mountain. The ancient seals, buried deep underground, shattered completely the moment the bone armor appeared. Countless remnants of ancient chess games, sealed for millennia, were slowly awakening along the cracks, about to return to the mortal realm.