But historically, Heart Demons have always existed parasitically within the Divine Soul, their appearance and form changing with the host's will. There has never been a Heart Demon that has manifested a physical form. If Chou Xinwei was truly the first-ever Heart Demon to walk independently, his level of trouble would be unprecedented, because he would be like a terrible plague, infinitely amplifying originally faint evil thoughts, causing countless people who should not fall into the demonic path to be cast into hell.

"His Highness, Prince Duan, it seems I was wrong just now." Chou Xinwei's eyes grew cold as he said softly, "You are too clever, too dangerous, so I can only have you die with them. I hope you won't mind."

"Though you cannot be born together, you can die together. For you, that should more or less count as a long-cherished wish fulfilled, right?"

The Tantian Pagoda in his hand suddenly erupted in a blinding white light. A magnificent pillar of light shot up from the ground like a long spear piercing the heavens, connecting the Heavenly River with the Mortal Realm. Within a hundred-mile radius, the living souls of all creatures were drawn by the powerful spiritual energy, leaving their physical bodies and turning into shimmering powder that flew towards Chou Xinwei's hand.

He could feel the pagoda vibrating slightly in his hand. As more spiritual energy poured in, the load on the internal formation grew heavier, and the pagoda's shaking intensified. A silent sneer touched Chou Xinwei's lips. He thought to himself that the thing made by Bitai Palace was indeed just for show. It could be used to bluff people, but to replace Emperor Cangze's Sancai Seal, it was still a hundred thousand miles off.

Such a brilliant and profound formation, there was probably no second person in the world who could execute it.

A distant, muffled rumble of thunder came from the thick, dark clouds again. It seemed the next wave of heavenly lightning was on its way. But it didn't matter. Before it fell, the Tantian Pagoda would turn everyone here—gods, spirits, and demons—into dust...

Under the infinitely silent night sky, amidst the heaven-swallowing white light, a single point of faint blue suddenly lit up.

The trembling of the Tantian Pagoda abruptly stopped.

The shimmering blue light suddenly expanded, sweeping across the bright pillar of light like an invisible giant hand suddenly appearing between heaven and earth, possessing an authority and power that could not be defied, and snapping the venomous fang that had pierced the firmament.

The blinding white light gradually faded and dimmed. As the curtain of light receded, it revealed Wei Ming's handsome and stern face. Beneath his feet, faint blue and light silver light intertwined into a complex talisman, and a veil-like clear light spread out into a massive formation. Under this power, the thick, sky-covering clouds all retreated, revealing the brilliant Heavenly River that stretched across the sky. Starlight scattered like snow, pouring down from the zenith as if a silent golden rain had begun to fall.

Under this absolute power, the Tantian Pagoda had no room to struggle at all. The immortal artifact was as brittle as glass. It didn't even last for three breaths before shattering into a thousand pieces with a crack.

Chou Xinwei had never been more astonished in his life than at this moment. In this formation, which could not possibly be the work of a mortal, he comprehended a world-shaking truth.

"It's you..."

Wei Ming formed a sword seal with his fingers, and with a flick in the air, a mass of silver-blue flames immediately engulfed the area around Chou Xinwei. He even calmly answered Chou Xinwei's previous sentence, "Don't you worry. Compared to dying together, I'd rather live with him."

"After all, I still haven't figured out just who he takes me for."

Chou Xinwei tried to speak again, but the blue fire had already relentlessly consumed his figure. Wei Ming gave a polite nod. "Farewell."

This formation and Bitai Palace's crumbly Tantian Pagoda were killing tools on completely different levels. At first, Chou Xinwei was still struggling for his life, trying to break through the flames' restraint and rush into the formation to strangle Wei Ming. It didn't take long for him to realize he couldn't even touch a single hair on Wei Ming's head, so he decisively gave up his moth-to-a-flame attempt and instead transformed into a black mist, ramming left and right, trying to find a crack to escape through.

But in this formation, Wei Ming was the heavens. No matter which corner Chou Xinwei fled to, he could sense it. The black mist used every trick it had but could not escape the pursuing flames. He had finally reached the end of his rope and roared hoarsely, "Aren't you afraid of summoning a heavenly tribulation! None of us will escape then!"

Wei Ming looked up at the deep night sky above, and for a moment, ten thousand clouds seemed to flash past his eyes, as if reflecting a transparent barrier that connected heaven and earth. He replied calmly, "The Heavenly Dao is impartial. That is what makes it fair."

As his words fell, a flash of white lightning that could swallow heaven and earth struck into the formation. A clap of thunder exploded overhead. Under the dual pressure of the formation and the heavenly lightning, the black mist was burned to nothing, silently turning into a wisp of white smoke. At the same time, Wei Ming finally reached his limit, and the silver light around him faded like a receding tide.

The next moment, the green lotus jade pendant at his waist suddenly burst with brilliant light. Golden-red streams of light, like phoenix feathers, unfurled into a magnificent barrier around him, fearlessly taking the heavenly lightning that had almost struck Wei Ming's head.

Wei Ming pressed a hand to his bleeding shoulder, closed his eyes, and let out a light sigh of extreme exhaustion.

The greatest crisis of the night was finally over, but no one could be happy. The ground was littered with the wounded and the fallen. Wei Ming had no time to rest. He first went over and untied Gui Heng.

Although Gui Heng had taken a hard hit, it was only a superficial wound, and his mind was still clear. Thus, he had listened, dumbfounded, to the entire conversation between Chou Xinwei and Wei Ming, witnessed their earth-shattering battle, and once again saw the massive, intricate, and majestic formation he was all too familiar with.

If seeing his face gave him an eighty to ninety percent certainty of the person's identity, then the appearance of this formation meant the person himself was present. After all, appearance, voice, and even behavior could be imitated, but this unique formation art was something no one in heaven or on earth could replicate.

Because that was the spiritual power of the first ruler of the Heavenly Race, the one who single-handedly created the order of the Nine Heavens—Taiwei Heavenly Emperor, Emperor Cangze.

For tens of thousands of years, let alone surpassing him, there were not even a handful of immortals who could learn his art.

Gui Heng gazed at Wei Ming with a mixture of grief and joy, his expression as moved as a wild child who had been wandering for years finally seeing his own father. As he opened his mouth, tears were about to fall. "Emperor..."

"Don't call me that," Wei Ming broke the binding spell on him, ruthlessly cutting off his tearful outburst. "I'm just a mortal. Don't mistake me for someone else."

Gui Heng: "..."

'Still calling yourself a mortal after all that?' 'Then what am I?' He might as well just turn into a pile of dust on the spot.

Gui Heng's passionate tears were still welling in his eyes, a thousand words stuck in his throat. Rejected so coldly by Wei Ming, he could only stare blankly at him, looking like someone whose rice bowl had just been slapped out of his hands, exuding an air of pathetic misery. "But... but..."

"Chi Lian is heavily injured. Go and watch over him for me." Wei Ming turned and walked in the opposite direction. "I'll go deal with Bai Hua."

Gui Heng didn't dare say another word and subconsciously replied, "Yes."

Wei Ming didn't pause in his steps. Perhaps due to mental and physical exhaustion, his reactions were slow, and he didn't even find it strange that an immortal would so naturally bow his head and obey him. Subconsciously, he was used to it, and so he left.

Bai Hua lay on the ground, on the verge of death. His injuries were the most severe. First, his arm was cut off by Chi Lian, then he had personally cut open his own chest to retrieve the Tantian Pagoda. He was now like an oil lamp about to run out of fuel. Moreover, the demonic qi was consuming its host. When his spiritual energy was abundant, he could barely control it, but once the host was injured, the demonic qi would plunder his spiritual power and cultivation at an accelerated rate to sustain itself.

Half of his face was caked with blood. Hearing Wei Ming's footsteps, he struggled to open one eye and saw the handsome mortal youth squatting down beside him, unbothered by the filth. He asked, "Is there anything else you want me to relay to Chi Lian for you?"

Bai Hua's pale fingers, buried in the mud, twitched convulsively. He said miserably, "I'm... about to die, aren't I?"

Wei Ming said in a low voice, "Not necessarily. Perhaps the immortals of the Heavenly Court have a way to keep you alive."

Bai Hua was silent for a long time before he said softly, "But, I don't want to go back to the Heavenly Court anymore..."

"I didn't lie to him..." he said intermittently. "I watched with my own eyes as so many companions were taken away... their Divine Souls sucked dry by the Tantian Pagoda, turning into dead grass and trees... I was afraid I would become like that too..."

"I didn't want to harm Chi Lian... it was the Heart Demon that forced me to act. I just wanted to tell him to destroy the Tantian Pagoda, not to let that kind of artifact fall back into the hands of those people..."

"The Tantian Pagoda has been destroyed," Wei Ming said. "You don't need to worry anymore."

"Thank you." Bai Hua managed a weak smile, but it was uglier than crying. "I made a huge mistake, harmed many people, but at least... I wasn't a coward of a servant until the very end."

He gathered the last of his strength, pulled himself out of the mud, and turned over to face the sky. A pale green spiritual light erupted from his chest, dispelling the black qi lingering around him.

"The heavens are a land of peace and joy, but there is no place for us there..." he muttered to himself, as if speaking to Wei Ming. "If there is reincarnation after death, I don't want to be an immortal again... I want to become a tree, a stone in the Mortal Realm, without intelligence... without a soul. That way, there would be no resentment..."

The life force that burst from his Divine Soul was like a morning breeze from the heavens, sweeping over the withered mountain ranges. Wherever it passed, withered flowers and grass sprouted anew, dead trees grew new shoots, fine moss crept back onto the chaotic stones by the riverbank, and Longshan, which had been deathly silent all night, finally heard a startling chirp of a cicada from a high branch.

In this gentle, long wind, the fragments of the Tantian Pagoda turned into hundreds of thousands of points of firefly light. They took flight on the wind, circling around Bai Hua's gradually transparent body, continuously spiraling upwards, like a brief but magnificent procession, lingering, casting a final, reluctant glance at the Mortal Realm.

"Go."

His figure finally became colorless. A faint point of fluorescent light swayed and rose from the ground. Wei Ming conjured a gentle breeze with his fingertips, softly lifting it and sending it into the procession in midair.

"This life has been hard on you."

The pale green fluorescent light, graceful and meandering like a ribbon, swept past the eaves of the imperial palace, over the verdant mountain peaks. Flickering and elusive, yet seemingly tireless, it flew far away, toward the vast and brilliant starry river of the celestial curtain.