Tang Dynasty Demon Suppression Division

Li Yuan looked down in astonishment. Beneath his feet lay a muddy trench, and above him, stray bullets kept falling.

He looked at his tattered military uniform and suddenly realized what was happening.

This was actually the battlefield of his past life.

It was that brutal battle that left an indelible mark on him, leaving him severely wounded and nearly sacrificing his life.

"Squad leader, watch out!"

A familiar figure suddenly tackled him to the ground, and hot shrapnel grazed his scalp, leaving a trail of blood.

"Liu Qiang!"

Looking at the bloodied and mangled body in his arms, his eyes widened in horror. This was the youngest soldier in the squad, only nineteen years old.

"Old Luo!"

From the other side came a mournful cry. Machine gunner Luo Ping's chest was torn open by shrapnel, blood gushing out, his eyes already glazed over.

"Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"

The old company commander's desperate shouts were drowned out by even more intense artillery fire.

Familiar faces fell one by one before him, and despair gnawed at his heart. He wanted to rush over, but his body felt as if it were filled with lead, and he couldn't move.

He wanted to scream, but no sound came out of his throat. He could only stand there like an outsider, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.

Just then, the smoke at the edge of the battlefield suddenly billowed violently, and a ferocious dragon-like demon with a single horn on its head and covered in black and red scales, tens of feet long, broke through the smoke and rushed into the battlefield.

Its blood-yellow vertical pupils were cold and merciless, and a person was being held in its massive jaws.

The man's clothes were torn and his face was covered in blood; it was none other than Li Chongwen!

He was still alive at this moment, struggling futilely in the black dragon's mouth, emitting pitiful howls, and constantly begging Li Yuan.

"Yuan'er, save me!"

The black dragon's scarlet tongue coiled around Li Chongwen, its mocking gaze falling on Li Yuan with a chilling pleasure.

"Li Yuan, choose one: save these ants, or save your biological father?"

As it spoke, the scene before my eyes froze: on one side was a battlefield where blood was spilled, and on the other, the camaraderie and sense of national responsibility etched into our souls.

On the other side is his biological father in this life, who brought him endless harm, but also gave this body life, and is bound by the principles of ethics and filial piety.

"select!"

The black dragon's roar, like thunder, exploded in his mind.

Without any hesitation.

Li Yuan's bloodshot eyes were fixed on Li Chongwen, who was in the mouth of the black dragon, and then swept over his comrades struggling in the gunfire. A surge of anger suddenly erupted.

"I'm saving my soldiers!"

He roared at the black dragon.

As soon as the words were spoken, it seemed as if some taboo had been touched. The blood-red sky suddenly turned as dark as ink, and boundless thunderclouds gathered frantically. Bolts of purple lightning, as thick as buckets, emanated a world-destroying aura and tore the sky apart.

With overwhelming divine might, it crashed down mercilessly towards Li Yuan!

"Violating human ethics,"

"Unfilial son,"

"He deserves divine punishment!"

The grand, cold voice, devoid of any emotion, shook Li Yuan to the point of utter despair.

"Boom—!"

The first bolt of lightning struck Li Yuan hard, instantly tearing his skin open and leaving it charred black. The excruciating pain that went deep into his bones made him let out a muffled groan.

"I,"

"have……"

"What's wrong with that?!"

Li Yuan suddenly raised his head, gritted his teeth, and roared at the world-destroying thunderclouds in the sky, his eyes filled with defiance.

What is filial piety?

"To give birth and not raise, to abandon like worn-out shoes, is to be unkind!"

"If one is unkind first, how can one speak of human relations?"

"And they,"

His finger pointed to the figures still charging forward in the illusion, "Fighting alongside me, protecting the land behind me, safeguarding my people!"

"This is a noble cause! A testament to great love!"

"Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs!"

"But does the law of Heaven not distinguish right from wrong, merit from demerit, and blindly follow only that pathetic bond of blood?"

He roared and questioned the heavens, "If this is how it is, then we might as well not have this Heavenly Order!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

More lightning bolts, like furious whips, lashed down wildly, and Li Yuan's body trembled in the lightning, shattering into pieces.

Yet, driven by an indomitable will, it is being painstakingly rebuilt.

Each lightning strike seemed to obliterate his soul, but he always held his head high, his eyes burning with an indomitable flame, glaring fiercely at the heavens!

……

Inside the small courtyard.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged in the room, with the doors and windows tightly closed.

A chaotic and violent aura wafted out uncontrollably from the crack in the door, causing the bamboo leaves in the courtyard to rustle even without wind.

Mr. Mo had appeared in the courtyard at some point, his wine gourd now put away, his gray robe fluttering without wind, his gaze fixed intently on Li Yuan's door.

Liu Hongyan and Dean Su sat on the stone bench, their eyes also showing concern.

"He's attacking his inner self," Liu Hongyan whispered, "and... judging from the commotion, the tribulation he's facing is probably extraordinary."

Mr. Mo did not speak, but simply raised his right hand and drew his index finger in the air. One after another, pale silver runes appeared out of thin air and quickly intertwined into a net, completely covering the entire courtyard.

It also isolated the area from all outside prying eyes. To outsiders, the courtyard appeared as peaceful as ever, as if nothing had ever happened.

"To examine one's own heart, to question one's true nature, to see through illusion, one cannot rely on external forces but only on oneself."

Mr. Mo said slowly, his voice deep, "Whether one succumbs to inner demons and destroys one's cultivation, or cuts through illusions and attains enlightenment, it all depends on one's own thought."

He could sense that Li Yuan's breathing in the room was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, as if he was enduring unimaginable torment.

Sometimes violent, sometimes sorrowful, sometimes confused, and sometimes bursting with an almost resolute rage.

Liu Hongyan sighed. She had seen many students attempt to break through to the Mind-Questioning Realm, but none were as violent as Li Yuan.

Was it because of his unparalleled talent, or because...?

What has this child, at such a young age, experienced?

Time passed little by little, the moon rose high in the sky, and then gradually began to set in the west.

The fluctuations in the atmosphere inside the room showed no signs of abating; instead, they became even more chaotic.

It felt as if two forces were tearing each other apart inside.

The first hint of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon; sunrise was approaching, and the darkest hour seemed to be about to pass.

The chaotic and violent atmosphere in the room suddenly stopped!

Immediately afterwards, a faint, pure aura, like a new sprout breaking through the soil, slowly rose and gradually intensified.

Within the illusion, thunder roared like a prison, and the might of heaven was as vast as the sea.

Li Yuan's figure shattered again and again amidst the purple lightning, only to be painstakingly reassembled time and time again.

His flesh was charred black, his soul trembled, each lightning strike was like placing his soul in purgatory to be roasted, trying to crush his will and force him to admit his mistakes.

"I—did—not—do—anything—!"

The shattered body emitted a faint roar amidst the lightning, the sound growing weaker and weaker.

Finally, under the last devastating bolt of lightning, his already broken body could no longer hold on and exploded, turning into countless tiny specks of light, like embers in the wind, drifting into nothingness.

However, Li Yuan's consciousness did not completely dissipate, but instead fell into chaos.

It was as if only a wisp of a soul remained, about to be extinguished, drifting aimlessly in the boundless darkness.

Cold, lonely, unable to perceive time, and unable to perceive one's own existence.

Just as this wisp of soul was about to completely vanish into nothingness, that grand and ancient voice rang out once more, questioning his very soul.

"To abandon one's bloodline for outsiders, to defy the might of Heaven, will result in one's soul being scattered and one's spirit shattered."

"Do you regret it?"