At the summit of the Chaos Altar, the Return-to-Origin Passage rotated steadily, emanating alluring spatial ripples. Its other end connected to the primordial main world they had long dreamed of returning to.
Yet the atmosphere atop the altar was so oppressive it was suffocating.
The energy storm triggered by Xuan's self-destruction gradually subsided, but the aura of ultimate annihilation lingering in the air, along with the enormous spatial rift slowly closing—the one Taotie Demon Lord had torn open while fleeing—reminded everyone of the brutal scene that had just unfolded.
Though the Demon Saint, the Demon Lord, the Azure Dragon, and the Sword Immortal were all cold-hearted by nature, their gazes toward the passage were filled with complex emotions. They had not expected the price of opening it in the end to be that mysterious and powerful woman's own annihilation. They could not help feeling a trace of sorrow for one of their own, but more than that, they felt an urgent desire to enter the passage.
Qingyunzi and the other Qingyun Sect disciples were both shocked and afraid, filled with respect and regret for Xuan's sacrifice.
Li Wuyang, meanwhile, stood there as though his soul had left him, staring blankly at the void where Xuan had vanished. His fists were clenched tight, his nails digging deeply into his palms until blood seeped out, yet he felt nothing.
Xuan, who was usually icy and sharp-tongued, yet always stood before him at critical moments and shielded him from every danger... was just gone? She had chosen to destroy herself to save a group of people who, in her eyes, might have been complete strangers?
Although Xuan had always said she followed him because it was "interesting," after fighting side by side again and again, after sharing life-and-death trials time after time, Li