And now, finally... she was free.

From now on, she no longer had to attach herself to those dirty and stagnant mortals. She felt infinitely light, as if she could soar straight up to the heavens.

The long-lost sense of power filled every bone in her body.

However, at that moment, she suddenly heard a sigh - from within her own heart, as if there was another soul within her.

The once full and warm sensation suddenly changed, and before Wan Fei could even react, the warmth turned into a searing pain.

She felt like a burst bag of flammable material, unable to even scream as flames erupted within her body.

Without thinking, she instinctively tried to run, but found that her body was no longer under her control.

It was only then that she realized that the power she relied on for survival was no longer present!

Meanwhile, in the distance, in the helicopter preparing to fire a second shot at the terrifying stone statue, the observer stared in disbelief through his binoculars: "Wait...wait a minute, am I seeing things?"

The beautiful goddess statue suddenly burst into white flames, as if the stone had turned into melting wax.

The facial features that even missiles couldn't destroy suddenly melted away, quickly becoming a blank stone slate without a nose or eyes, making the face appear two sizes larger!

For Wei Fei, nothing in the world was more terrifying than this featureless face.

Then, as the flames passed, the statue miraculously 'grew' its facial features back - different from the finely crafted female statue, this face was carved in a simple manner, but with clear and righteous features, as if it had a divine aura...

This was the ancient status of the Vermilion Bird God, worshipped thousands of years ago.

The statue opened its eyes and, without joy or sorrow, saw Wan Fei rolling in the flames.

"Impossible... it can't be..." Wan Fei was going crazy, her words incoherent as she screamed, "It's impossible! You're already dead! There are no more statues of the Vermilion Bird in the world! Dan Li! Your divine position has been taken by the Heavenly Demon..."

The stone statue stared at her, and in its pupils, there seemed to be an illusion, faintly resembling the Imperial Teacher's lingering spirit from three thousand years ago.

Dan Li's voice echoed in her ear through the intense flames, "But didn't you use all your cunning and the power of offerings to burn a new statue of the Nanming Divine Bird?"

"You..."

"The Vermilion Bird statue that our ancestors worshipped was meant to pray for the blessings of the gods and ensure peace and prosperity. You stole it in secret, thinking you were clever by using the power of the statue to prolong your own life. But now, the divine bird is nowhere to be found and the statue has been shattered by the heavenly demons, just as you wished. No one can stop you now.

"However, you are not content to live like me, forever bound to the statue, with no face and no power, living like a shadow. You don't even want to become a demon, because the source of demonic energy is the Chiyuan, and both heavenly and earthly demons are subject to its control, right? Your Highness, you are too arrogant, wanting to do whatever you please without any constraints?"

Weaving felt like she had been burned through and through, as if she had become some kind of fuel.

"You... you've always known that Meng Xia stole the Heavenly Spirit remains under my orders, and you..." She couldn't finish her sentence and was finally refined by the flames into a beam of light, merging into the remains of the body. The withered blood vessels were revived in the blaze.

She was too greedy, too demanding.

"But have you ever thought that the power of offering is the mystery of heaven and earth, how could it be fooled by a mere mortal like you... Oh, right, you don't admit that you are a mortal."

The stone statue looked at the big bird in the flames and smiled slightly.

Sheng Lingyuan sighed, "Planning for every detail... I only learned the superficial aspects of my teacher's puppetry technique."

"This is just a diversion from the proper path, Your Majesty. Why bother with it when you have everything you need? What's the point of learning it?" Dan Li handed the last chess piece to Sheng Lingyuan in front of the chessboard.

"Thanks to the blessings of Her Highness Wan Fei, I can still return to the mortal world and witness with my own eyes the unification of the various races that Your Majesty once dreamed of. I can die without regrets. Tong..."

"Excuse me, it's Xuan Ji, Mr. Dan Li, I have identification," Xuan Ji corrected.

Dan Li paused for a moment, seeming to understand something, and laughed.

"His Majesty has taken good care of you. Then... Clan Chief Xuan Ji, Chiyuan - Nanming, from now on, I entrust it to you."

After he finished speaking, he spread his wide sleeves and bowed deeply, performing a grand ceremony before disappearing.

On the chessboard, instead of a mysterious and intricate game, the black and white pieces were arranged to form a chubby little bird, which was surprisingly playful.

Suddenly, the illusion that appeared out of nowhere collapsed, and Xuan Ji felt his vision blur as a gentle magic enveloped him.

He fell into another layer of illusion...

The creator of this illusion did not conceal their aura, and Xuan Ji couldn't help but indulge in it.

He saw Sheng Lingyuan's casually tied long hair tucked into his crown, with twelve layers of robes, dressed in heavy and intricate imperial attire, with perfectly matched accessories on both sides, almost solemn.

As for himself, he didn't know what Sheng Lingyuan had put on him, and his wings were forced to retract, his clothes weighing him down.

But Xuan Ji didn't have time to look closely, as he felt something that made his whole body tremble with fear.

A warm fragrance from the ancient palace hit him in the face. With a creak, countless palace doors gradually opened before him in the illusion.

The palace lamps flickered so much that he couldn't open his eyes - this was the Du Ling Palace he had wandered through countless times.

Sheng Lingyuan grabbed his hand and covered it with his wide sleeve.

Xuan Ji was dragged along, his mind blank, stumbling and bumping, until they arrived at the spacious and desolate bedroom in his memory.

The bedroom was almost engulfed in red candles, and at first glance, it seemed quite noisy.

Even Sheng Lingyuan's face had a hint of color.

"I have said that I will perform a sacrifice to the four directions and marry you," Sheng Lingyuan spoke in a tone that he hadn't used in a long time.

In each corner of the bedroom, there was an incense table, and with a wave of his hand, the candles on the table lit up and flickered, emitting a straight line of smoke that seemed to reach a sacred place.

"Yours is a heavenly demon's body that defies the heavens and is not tolerated by the gods of the four directions. The gods of the four directions don't need to come, I'll just light a stick of incense to my your respect. Let it be known that from now on, the current leader of the Nanming Vermilion Bird clan is mine..."

Before he could finish his words, Xuan Ji suddenly pushed him into the gauze curtains, causing the white jade crown to make a clanging sound as it hit the ground.

His heavy sleeves spread across the bed.

"You are too arrogant, Your Majesty...too arrogant," Xuan Ji said with a trembling voice. "Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"

Sheng Lingyuan sighed, "It's already happened. This 'heavenly punishment' is quite heavy..."

His voice trailed off as the candles in the hall were extinguished together.

This time, there was no frosty wind in the Du Ling Palace, and the snow was as soft as cotton, not cold at all.

The red plum blossoms stretched from the emperor's bedroom all the way to the front of the Sword Furnace Hall, like the undulating backs of countless divine birds descending in the fierce Nanming Valley, dimming the moonlight. Then, it dimmed the snow as well.

Next, the thick black mist carried Xuan Ji, washing away his tattered memories of three thousand years that had been scraped by the Nirvana Stone from beginning to end.

In the midst of a prosperous era, the sound of firecrackers was deafening as the travelers returned home in their carriages. The music halls were empty, and the keepers of earthly pleasures were left alone, rubbing their hands together to warm their lonely wine.

Sheng Lingyuan tore through the memories without hesitation, unabashedly claiming the remaining half bottle of wine and laughing as he left.