Prologue: Ziwei High Priest

City of Flowing Moon, once a lonely and desolate City of Divine Descendants, was now filled with the sounds of battle and slaughter.

Inside the Hall of Life and Death.

The cultivators from the Central Plains Cultivation World watched the man in the wheelchair with grave expressions. That oppressive aura from earlier had been terrifyingly powerful, making them feel as though time itself had stopped flowing.

"Heaven's will has never been easy to fathom." The man in the wheelchair remained calm, paying no heed to being surrounded. He merely sighed softly. "Too much time has passed... This world no longer belongs to us. Even those tribes stronger than ours have already been wiped out... Prosperity declines at its height; withering and flourishing turn in endless cycles. Such is the Heavenly Dao. People like us... were born in a cold night, and will perish silently in a cold night as well."

The others looked baffled. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Tong offered no explanation. His gaze simply turned calmly toward the center of City of Flowing Moon, in the direction where Jumu stood.

"I truly want to see it—to see that faint light, as weak as a firefly's glow, that you described, A'Ye!"

On the road to Jumu, a woman holding a konghou stood in the crowd's path.

"Miss Lizhu, everyone else in City of Flowing Moon, and you too! Why? Why are all of you willing to risk your lives for someone like him?"

Hua Yue forced herself to remain standing, her gaze incomparably resolute. "Someone like him? Heh, yes. In your eyes, he truly is an utterly wicked Great Demon. But... for City of Flowing Moon, he has practically given up everything. His entire life has been devoted to protecting his people. So at least today, no matter what, I will protect him!"

"...I understand the feeling of wanting to protect someone no matter what. But is it really worth it?"

Hua Yue took a deep breath. "I absolutely will not let you pass... That is the only thing I possess, more precious than my life, more precious than everything else! It is the sole meaning of my existence!"

Meanwhile, beneath Jumu.

The imposing and solemn High Priest, dressed in magnificent robes, stood facing a figure wreathed in black mist.

"Do you see? Your loyal subordinates are dying one by one. Keep blocking me, and you, the High Priest, will soon be left all alone!" Black mist surged as these eerie, sinister words came from the mouth of an exquisite and adorable little girl.

"To defy Heaven—how could there be no retribution? As for you, I never expected that one moment of carelessness would allow trash like you to seize Xiao Xi's body!" Shen Ye said darkly.

"Xiao Xi" chuckled softly. "Had you, the High Priest, remained in City of Flowing Moon all along, I naturally could never have acted under your very eyes. Unfortunately, you bear far too many shackles!"

Under Shen Ye's gloomy stare, "Xiao Xi" continued, "In ancient times, Mount Buzhou, the pillar of Heaven, collapsed. The heavens cracked, and the six realms fell into chaos. Great God Shennong used Jumu as a foundation to build City of Flowing Moon here, guiding the gods in refining the Five-Colored Stones and giving them to Nuwa to mend the heavens. Yet the mending took an age, and the Human Realm suffered grievous casualties. The gods had no time to spare for anything else, so your Lieshan Tribe volunteered to enter City of Flowing Moon and help, allowing the calamity to be quelled! But you, who rendered such great service in mending the heavens, were sealed within this prison by Fuxi under the pretext of preventing the Five-Colored Stones and Jumu from leaking their secrets. Day after day, you endured the suffering of turbid qi's corrosion. Is there truly not the slightest resentment in your heart?"

Shen Ye fell silent. As an ancient lineage that had lived in this world since Pangu's Creation of Heaven and Earth, their spiritual power was a hundred times that of the people Nuwa had created. They were skilled at controlling spiritual qi and possessed long lifespans. Accordingly, however, they had extremely demanding environmental requirements and needed to dwell in places rich in Pure Qi.

After Nuwa mended the heavens, turbid qi grew ever denser across the earth. Apart from the blessed grotto-heavens occupied by the divine realm and certain cultivation sects, places suitable for them to live had become difficult to find. Though City of Flowing Moon stood high above the heavens, it could not escape turbid qi's corrosion either. Their people's constitutions weakened, their lifespans shortened, and some even contracted fatal illnesses, their limbs rotting away as they died in agony.

The reason he had previously cooperated with the other party was because Li Ying's Demonic Qi could infect his people and render them unafraid of turbid qi.

Seeing Shen Ye remain silent, "Xiao Xi" smiled. "You had some of your people 'betray' City of Flowing Moon and publicly draw a clear line between themselves and it... Speaking of which, I truly admire you somewhat. You knew it was a certain death trap, yet so many were still willing to stay and die alongside you. But alas, how many people could such a scheme fool? Even without evidence, many would still use the banner of eliminating demons and defending the Dao to eliminate future trouble. After all, they have been tainted by my Demonic Qi!"

A red glimmer seemed to flash in Shen Ye's eyes. "Xiao Xi" floated closer and whispered in an alluring voice, "Let us cooperate once more. You worship Shennong, while the Demon Realm was born because of the Emperor Yan. There is no irreconcilable hatred between us. I could even consider returning Xiao Xi to you... Ah!"

Before she could finish, Shen Ye's right hand pierced through "Xiao Xi's" chest like a blade. "Li Ying, you truly talk too much!"

Li Ying looked at Shen Ye in disbelief. "You... You would even kill your own younger sister? Could it be that your affection for her over the past hundred years was all a pretense, all for the sake of plotting against me...?"

The red light vanished from Shen Ye's eyes. He said coldly, "If possible, I naturally would not wish to hurt Xiao Xi. Unfortunately, I had already made up my mind long ago—I would kill you at any cost."

If Li Ying did not die, those clansmen it had infected would sooner or later become its demon slaves.

As for Xiao Xi, without his protection, she would have struggled to survive in this world to begin with.

Not to mention how much suffering the identity of the chief culprit's younger sister would bring her.

He had long foreseen such an outcome when he traded the lives of countless common people in the lower realm for a sliver of hope for his own clan.

The truth was cruel, but when had this world ever offered many choices?

It was merely a struggle against Heaven for one's life!

Li Ying grunted. "Worthy of Shen Ye. You truly are ruthless and vicious. I still underestimated you... Hahaha, come, I will wait for you in the Netherworld!"

Shen Ye spoke no further. He activated the divine blood within him and burned the Demon Core inside Li Ying to ashes.

The burning Demonic Qi let out shrieks like those of a ghostly nether realm.

Just then, the outer seal shattered, and a large group of elders and protectors from the Central Plains Cultivation World rushed inside.

"A demon—a high-ranking demon at that. A heart demon!"

"What powerful spiritual energy!"

"City of Flowing Moon truly colluded with demons. But who killed this demon?"

Shen Ye swept his calm gaze over them. "Naturally, it was I. Looking across the Human Realm, other than me, how many could kill it?"

Everyone's hearts trembled. Among the six realms, the divine and demon realms stood above all living beings.

Even the lowest Lesser Demon required a powerful, accomplished cultivator to eliminate.

As for a heart demon ranked among the Great Demons, in their understanding, only major figures from the divine realm could destroy one.

What they did not know was that Li Ying had entrenched itself upon Jumu, continuously absorbing Great God Shennong's divine power and the seven emotions of the Human Realm for over a hundred years. Its strength had long surpassed that of an ordinary heart demon and was nearly comparable to an ordinary Great Heavenly Demon.

Still, their smooth progress all along had ultimately given them courage.

"Do not be afraid. He fought the heart demon, so his spiritual power must be nearly exhausted!"

"Today, we eliminate demons and defend the Dao!"

As they spoke, flying swords, spirit gourds, flames, and thunder surged toward Shen Ye.

In response, Shen Ye merely placed his left hand behind his back and lightly brushed his right hand as though skimming across a lake's surface.

The next instant, an invisible pressure descended upon them. It was as if the heavens themselves had pressed down, and not a single person could straighten their back.

"How is this possible?" An elder from a major sect barely raised his head, eyes wide with disbelief. "The high-ranking priests of City of Flowing Moon are ranked by Ziwei Dou Shu, with no more than fourteen in total. We have encountered the other high-ranking priests, and they were clearly nowhere near this strong! Even if you are the Ziwei High Priest, the disparity should not be this great!"

Shen Ye sighed softly. "In ancient times, that assumption would not have been wrong. But alas, my Lieshan Tribe was confined within City of Flowing Moon, suffering turbid qi's corrosion day and night. We have long since lost our former glory. Apart from me and a select few, the other high-ranking priests merely make up the numbers!"

Everyone's hearts sank. The high-ranking priests they had previously besieged and killed had been far less formidable than Shen Ye, but they had certainly not been weak. Yet in Shen Ye's words, they merely made up the numbers!

Was this the strength of an ancient great clan's inheritance?

Just as everyone was trembling with unease, Shen Ye withdrew his right hand, and the pressure suppressing them abruptly vanished.

"Life is but an empty dream in the Void. A hundred years of time can never truly defy Heaven!"

As everyone stood confused, a thunderous boom rang out. The towering Jumu, rooted in the Void and piercing into the sky, suddenly collapsed and split apart. The entire City of Flowing Moon began to shake violently.

Spiritual power ran wild, the Void caved in, and the scene resembled the end of the world!

Gazing upward, Shen Ye waved his hand listlessly. "Leave."

They stared at him in astonishment. "You are willing to let us go?"

"As the High Priest of City of Flowing Moon, I shall naturally live and die with this city! Of course, if you wish to accompany me in death, I will not refuse."

Many frowned slightly. Rampaging spiritual power and a collapsing Void were naturally terrifying, but after witnessing his strength, they found it difficult to believe that this High Priest would die from such a thing.

"I understand!" Someone in the crowd suddenly came to a realization, looking at Shen Ye with a complicated expression. "He knows his sins are too grave. If he does not die, the remaining members of the Lieshan Tribe will not escape reckoning. But if he dies, perhaps someone will take revenge on those 'traitors' instead. In that case, dying before our eyes is the best outcome!"

"So that is how it is?" Everyone suddenly understood. Their gazes, filled with either hatred or admiration, turned toward him. Though they stood on opposing sides, they could not help but respect the sacrifice he had made.

He stood at the pinnacle of the Human Realm and possessed heaven-reaching power, yet willingly chose to dwell in darkness.

"Fine, let's go!"

The situation was critical, leaving them no time for further thought.

Some rode flying swords, others drove spirit beasts, and the powerful figures of the Human Realm fled into the distance as though escaping disaster.

Only after everyone had left did Shen Ye cough up a mouthful of blood.

The blood transformed into flames the moment it left his mouth, scorching hot and shaking the Void, as though it would burn through space itself!

"In the end, I was still too hasty!" Shen Ye sighed softly, as though he had long anticipated such a turn of events.

Many people in City of Flowing Moon suffered from turbid qi's corrosion. The reason he had escaped the decay of his limbs was that he had absorbed the divine blood Great God Shennong had left within Jumu.

However, Great God Shennong's divine blood was far too potent. Although he had endured its fusion in his childhood, it had ultimately left behind a Dao Injury. Then Li Ying, possessing Xiao Xi, had ambushed him. His injuries could no longer be suppressed. The Grand Dao Fire transformed from divine blood burned the laws within his body to nothing, leaving him a dying man!

As his life gradually approached its end, Shen Ye paid no attention to it. Instead, he looked toward Jumu, his gaze piercing through time and space as though he could once more see that rainy night when, as a child, he fled with Xiao Xi, only to be captured by his father and thrown into Jumu.

"Heh, in the end, I still became the person I hated most..."