Yin Ci felt no pain.

He had once leapt from the highest mountain in Dayun, falling into the abyss and shattering to pieces. He had also poured the most potent poison down his throat, burning his five viscera in agony akin to death by a thousand cuts. He had tried burning himself countless times. Even the most excruciating pain was now nothing more than sheer pleasure.

The hatred that had floated for hundreds of years found its target, the riddle that tormented him day and night had its answer. He knew his opponent, and in a daze, Yin Ci seemed to see the battlefield from three hundred years ago. Old acquaintances were still there, but their faces were completely changed. The poison fire around him became armor, his broken bones turned into sharp blades. The black flames burned quietly, burning in his ears the sounds of a battlefield charge.

Yin Ci turned his face, looking at Shi Jingzhi with his peripheral vision.

The True Immortal was still regenerating, and Shi Jingzhi used his immense vital energy to continuously ignite the Yang fire. The pure Yang fire passed through the Hanging Shadow Sword, the black flames burning through the True Immortal's body again and again.

The Suspended Tree was also burning.

It was just a tree, still following the laws of nature—the "curse" of the Twin Roots took effect, and as the True Immortal burned into a fireball, the Suspended Tree also caught fire entirely.

Amidst the collapse, Yin Ci felt connected to the Suspended Tree for the first time. From the roots to the trunk, to the branches and leaves deep underground. It burned slowly in the vast earth, without smoke or light, only boundless darkness.

Beside him, Shi Jingzhi smiled on his face, but his eyes were full of pain. In the endless agony, Shi Jingzhi's hand caressed him, the touch of his palm smooth yet faint, like a teardrop falling on a scorching iron furnace.

Yin Ci moved his lips, wanting to say some words of comfort. But the flames stuffed his mouth and tongue, and he couldn't utter a single word.

So he could only look at the other, his gaze calm and gentle.

The bare branches were ignited, swaying dramatically, vaguely showing signs of burns. The Three Thousand Anxiety Silk moved around like snowballs, the semi-transparent roots all curled into balls. Against the backdrop of continuous black fire, the originally unremarkable wasteland transformed into a bizarre "flesh forest" that only existed in legends.

Yin Ci's eyes were scorched, his vision blurred, adding a sense of distortion to the eerie scene. Yet for some reason, Yin Ci had a vague feeling that this scene looked more like the "human world" than anything he had ever seen.

Ten lifetimes as a malevolent spirit, one step between Yin and Yang.

Yin Ci's body was broken, crawling on the ground in a pitiful state. He firmly held down the True Immortal, wishing he could nail it to himself with his bones.

The True Immortal didn't scream. It froze for a moment, then began to struggle desperately. Its skin was burned loose and rotten by the poison fire, a large amount of fluid mixed with blood seeped out, slippery like a loach. Yin Ci exerted all his strength to restrain it, but his muscles were also burned numb and rotten, unable to exert full strength.

The True Immortal convulsed, its limbs and torso twisting into angles impossible for mortals. Disregarding the sword blade cutting open its chest, it forcibly broke free from Yin Ci's arms, leaving only burned flesh. One of Yin Ci's arms was burned to the bone, regenerating slowly, and was broken by it in the process.

The True Immortal struggled along with the Suspended Tree, continuously burning and regenerating. Its face was sometimes covered with dark red muscle, sometimes left with only charred residue. In this alternation of destruction and rebirth, the True Immortal swayed, having long lost its composure from not long ago.

Shi Jingzhi took Yin Ci's regenerated arm, leaving a gentle kiss on his bones. Yin Ci's condition was no better than the True Immortal's—the man who once looked like an immortal descended to earth now resembled a monster crawling out of a mass grave.

Jiang Youyue and Qu Duanyun's faces were ashen. The two no longer cared about anything else and charged forward, one on the left and one on the right. The National Teacher's magic poured down relentlessly, while Qu Duanyun's sword danced wildly, using martial arts to counter Shi Jingzhi. One in front and one behind, their magic glowed as bright as gold and as brilliant as the morning sun. In this grey world, they had a bit of the righteous path's flavor.

Shi Jingzhi let out a cold laugh, nimbly avoiding the attacks. He didn't step back at all, instead sticking even closer to the True Immortal.

The intentions of the two opponents were very obvious. They hoped that the poison fire would run out of strength, allowing the True Immortal to survive with its self-healing ability. As the Suspended Tree's blood link, if the fire on the True Immortal's body was extinguished, the Suspended Tree could also be saved.

Qu Duanyun's sword wind was like lightning, his moves gradually becoming more rough. He abandoned Taiheng's restraint, his sword qi like a fierce wind and sudden rain, a cliff waterfall, focused solely on forcing out Shi Jingzhi's weak points. Jiang Youyue, that old fox, hid behind him, occasionally choosing crucial moments to launch particularly tricky spells. Under their joint attack, Shi Jingzhi became even more restrained, every move careful and cautious.

At this point, it was clear that his "Desire Child" self had lost control, causing severe damage to the Suspended Tree. Let alone the Immortal Gathering, even the True Immortal would no longer want him. Unlike Yin Ci, his "immortality" was entirely determined by the True Immortal. If he were to be seriously injured again, he would surely die.

He danced on the edge of death, the Desire Child's innate fear of death boiling, making his limbs cold and his whole body numb. Shi Jingzhi was covered in cold sweat, his pupils constricted, his sword-holding hand trembling incessantly.

But he still repeatedly rushed towards the regenerating True Immortal, trying to make the poison fire burn longer.

The True Immortal was several times harder to burn than they had imagined. The Suspended Tree had indeed been ignited, but the True Immortal suppressed the black fire through rapid regeneration, only being burned, its body still retaining vitality.

If they couldn't burn the True Immortal completely, they could at best only inflict some negligible burns on the Suspended Tree. It would only take a few decades, or even a few years, for the Suspended Tree to fully recover... This strategy could only work once. Next time, the True Immortal would surely be prepared, and getting close would be harder than ascending to heaven.

They had no way to retreat.

Two fists were ultimately no match for four hands. Shi Jingzhi's wounds were increasing, and he was getting further and further away from the True Immortal. The battle had already lasted for several hours, and he was utterly exhausted, the black fire on the Hanging Shadow Sword weakening considerably.

With Jiang Youyue and Qu Duanyun shielding it, the True Immortal got a chance to catch its breath. It absorbed a large number of nearby Anxiety Silk, and all the wildly extending roots were withdrawn back into the ground. The burning bare branches all curled into balls, controlling the poison fire on the outermost layer.

Although it was still on fire, its skin and flesh were slowly recovering. Correspondingly, blood-red thin roots were crawling up Yin Ci's bones, struggling to gather and take shape in the black fire. The rain-soaked wasteland once again revealed its original appearance, the soil turned into a swamp-like state by the rain, deformed corpses lying next to rotten roots. The twisted "flesh forest" was no longer visible on the wasteland, only house-sized root balls remained, flickering in and out of view as they burned in the poison fire.

As the Anxiety Silk receded, Yan Qing and Shi Zhongyu finally became visible. The others like Su Si who were further away were fine, but Yan Qing was too close to the center of the battlefield, his clothes almost completely soaked in blood. If not for leaning on the Compassion Stone Sword, he looked like he would collapse onto the muddy ground at any moment.

Their supporters were in disarray, Yin Ci was immobilized, and Shi Jingzhi was extremely weak. The surroundings were desolate, empty and full of the air of death.

The mortals were in a state of decline.

"Have... potential..." The True Immortal finally managed to regain human form. Its lips hadn't grown back yet, its burned tongue had just recovered, and its damaged jawbone was still exposed, making its speech somewhat unclear. "If you... were willing to ride the wind and become an immortal... regrettable..."

Shi Jingzhi took a deep breath, the flames on the Hanging Shadow Sword reduced to a thin layer. His long hair was soaked with blood, his collar in disarray, the exposed skin covered in blood stains and ashes. His breathing was weak and broken, his life force as feeble as a dying candle.

Behind him, Yin Ci leaned on a flagpole, trying to stand up. As the end of the Suspended Tree, his burns looked even more horrifying than the True Immortal's. The muscles on his legs were dry and cracked, and halfway through standing, the bones crumbled to the ground. The once majestic general now looked like a butterfly with its wings plucked, fragile and ugly.

The master and disciple of the Ku Mountain Sect, both in appearance and situation, were in an extremely sorry state. In the vast world, the two looked incredibly small and pathetic.

"I will destroy all the Wushu ore and carefully nurture the next generation of Desire Children," Qu Duanyun said coldly, seeing that Shi Jingzhi was no longer moving. "Next time, even when verifying their resolve, we will not let Desire Children come into contact with 'outsiders'."

To verify the "quality" of Desire Children, matters of love, hate, life, and death were indispensable. Next time, at worst, they would arrange those loves and hatreds properly.

Jiang Youyue let out a relieved sigh, then said seriously, "It was my fault for not handling things properly, allowing them to find a loophole this time."

"No... matter..." The True Immortal's head was still burning, and amidst the black fire, a pair of emerald green eyes was particularly striking. "Dayun's Desire Children... indeed extraordinary..."

It let out a long sigh, raising its still-burning hand straight towards the sky. The shattered cloud layers gathered again, and the downpour struck once more. The ground continued to tremble, and the mud dragons moved forward again.

The corpses of the Immortal Gathering members stood up shakily, their broken limbs swaying limply. Similar to Wu Huai of the Red Hook Sect last time, "jade people vines" of various sizes crawled out of the corpses' mouths. They were more delicate, seemingly not fully grown, their desiccated arms all reaching towards Shi Jingzhi.

Shi Jingzhi, with his mortal body, had no way to escape. Yin Ci couldn't die, but having suffered heavy damage along with the Suspended Tree, he posed much less of a threat. This turn of events was extremely dangerous. As Shi Jingzhi was about to be overwhelmed by the immortal puppets, Jiang Youyue finally settled down. He tidied his disheveled hair, his back once again ramrod straight.

Qu Duanyun also let out a big sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his face: "A perfectly good path to life, and you insisted on turning it into a road to death. How could you possibly burn the True Immortal with your power alone? Even for a sneak attack, you should have chosen a more suitable place."

Choosing the wasteland for the setup seemed ill-considered no matter how you looked at it.

Shi Jingzhi didn't make a sound, as if he had lost the will to fight. Rainwater rolled down his face, and the black fire on the Hanging Shadow Sword weakened once again, almost extinguished. He stepped back a few paces expressionlessly, supporting Yin Ci's battered body and holding him tightly in his arms.

"Zizhu, I..."

His voice was very low, drowned out by the pouring rain.

Those jade-like puppets were only about ten steps away from the two. In just a moment, Shi Jingzhi would be sliced into tiny pieces of meat, then buried deep in the mud—

Whoosh.

Amidst the thunderous downpour, this light sound was almost completely masked. Qu Duanyun only felt a numbing sensation in his shoulder, followed by an indescribable chill and sense of exhaustion. His vision immediately blurred, his legs weak and powerless, instantly falling to his knees.

A poisoned arrow.

With the rain falling like a curtain, no presence had approached nearby, so the archer must have been extremely far away. Qu Duanyun only knew one person with such archery skills. He also only knew one person who could produce such a vicious and strange poison.

Taiheng's Yu Zikuan, Ling Sect's Yan Zheng.

Was this a dying struggle, or the rash loyalty of mortals?

...Or was Yu Zi's counterattack not yet over?

Jiang Youyue reacted quickly as well, swiftly casting a spell to conceal himself in mist. Mortal poisons couldn't harm a True Immortal, so the immortal remained standing, continuing to summon wind and rain, controlling its puppets.

However, that arrow was like a faint light from rising fireworks.

Immediately after, countless unfamiliar presences surged from all directions. The rumbling sounds of the mud dragon disappeared, replaced by clear and righteous chanting of Buddha's name. Pillars of white light reaching to the sky lit up in the distance, and dozens of battle formations were activated. The clouds stretching for thousands of miles were split apart, revealing clear blue skies at the edges.

A black horse charged into the group of puppets, and a powerful aura suddenly exploded. Just as they were sensing their surroundings, Su Si took the lead, piercing into the circle of puppets like a sharp knife.

On his way, he had taken a small detour to scoop up Yan Qing, who had been conserving his energy. This time, Yan Qing didn't hold back. Sitting behind Su Si, he held his sword with one hand, his sword energy gaining a more unrestrained and willful aura.

The third form of the Jade Bell Sword Technique: Cleaving Gold and Stone.

Yan Qing let out a long howl, and the Compassion Stone Sword trembled, a faint golden light appearing on its blade. The sword wind rose suddenly, like thunder on a clear day, or like mountains rising. His aura of youthful solemnity broke its shell, transforming into pure majesty.

The two didn't need to communicate verbally, their coordination was excellent. The black horse leaped over the heads of the Ku Mountain Sect master and disciple, and the powerful sword intent came like an avalanche, blowing away the puppets in an instant. Numerous presences approached rapidly, thousands of them, clearly all martial arts practitioners.

Things were about to get bad.

Qu Duanyun pulled out a long arrow, trying to stand up. But the Ling Sect poison was complex and vicious; even with his extraordinary talent, he couldn't break free in a short time. Jiang Youyue also gritted his teeth, not daring to rest. He continued casting spells, attacking the weakened master and disciple pair with all his might.

Unfortunately, while the National Teacher's spells were fierce, they were all blocked by Su Si using Red Hook Sect artifacts—that guy had wrapped a large bundle of precious artifacts on his saddle, using and discarding them as if they were cabbages sold by the pound.

"How embarrassing," the rascal said with a grin.

"Since this lord has become a great demon, naturally I must squander my wealth."

The "Cleaving Gold and Stone" move had nearly exhausted all of Yan Qing's true energy. He didn't fall, but instead wrapped one arm around Su Si's waist, while the other hand persisted in holding the Compassion Stone Sword, continuing to use his strength to knock away the puppets trying to approach.

The puppets blown far away were immediately subdued by the first wave of "reinforcements"—the newcomers wore Red Hook Sect robes, all powerful disciples stationed at various strongholds. Among them were many new recruits from Ling Sect, who fought with a kind of frenzy. Demonic cult members were still demonic cult members after all; they couldn't match the immortal puppets one-on-one, so they simply swarmed them, dismembering them without mercy.

Next came the monks.

It wasn't just the monks from Jianchen Temple's main temple; as the foremost of all temples, Jianchen Temple's rallying power was incredibly formidable. The monks all wore expressionless faces, their mouths never stopping their chanting.

This time, it was a case of many ants biting an elephant to death. The True Immortal was already seriously injured and unrecovered, its wind and rain spells suppressed to within three inches, unable to release its troublesome silk and roots.

Black fire still burned on its body, so it could only concentrate its attacks on Shi Jingzhi and Yin Ci. But unexpectedly, a third wave of reinforcements arrived hot on their heels—this time, Taiheng Sect brought nearly a thousand people, including more than a dozen elders, and many small sects affiliated with Taiheng. They charged in from another direction, clearly intending to protect the master and disciple pair.

Some restrained the spellcaster, some actively attacked, and some provided support and defense. This was obviously planned in advance, but... it shouldn't have been possible.

Qu Duanyun struggled to stay conscious, his thoughts becoming increasingly confused.

When exactly had those two foxes from Ku Mountain Sect started plotting? Didn't they just have Monk Juehui and Protector Hua run away? How could the martial arts world have prepared so quickly?

Although the Suspended Tree incident had been leaked by the Yueshui Bureau, it was still an extremely vague matter. How could it possibly motivate so many people to risk their lives?

Earlier, when the True Immortal attacked indiscriminately, the Immortal Gathering's official troops had already been killed or injured. Faced with the encirclement of nearly ten thousand people, they only had three left.

"With my power alone, I indeed cannot burn the True Immortal," Shi Jingzhi slowly revealed a smile. His smile was twisted, yet utterly genuine.

"So we called for some more people—us mortals are just so fragile and vulgar, please bear with us."

"You will die," Qu Duanyun gritted his teeth, his vision blurring.

"You... you're clearly a Desire Child, yet you don't care for your life... Without the Suspended Tree, Yin Zizhu will also die, what exactly is your desire..."

But before he could finish the second half of his sentence, he was shocked by what he saw.

Shi Zhongyu had also caught his breath and was leading the Taiheng disciples to protect the two. The True Immortal's attacks were fierce, but Taiheng was an ancient sect and could barely withstand some of the tricky spells. The dozen or so elders stood behind Shi Jingzhi, actually beginning to pour their emergy into him.

This Desire Child was already weakened due to excess energy, was this person not afraid of death?!

"I won't die, and Zizhu won't die either," Shi Jingzhi supported Yin Ci, who was still burning with black fire, his body broken, only his eyes as sharp as to make one's heart cold.

This time, Qu Duanyun heard clearly the words that had been drowned out by the rain earlier.

"Zizhu, I'm ready," Shi Jingzhi said.

Author's note:

Sect Leader Shi: I want it all, I want it all!

Demon Lord Yin nods approvingly (?)