Finality: You're Pretty Arrogant, Huh?

Demon Central Province, the demon capital—Heart City.

At this time, the members of the Demon Hunter Squad were all resting here and recovering from their injuries.

Although Dian Yan of Demon Hunter Squad Four had not acted as an intermediary for this mission, Long Haochen ultimately found human compatriots within the Moonlight Chamber of Commerce. With their help, they blended into one of the Chamber's caravans and entered demon territory.

When they disguised themselves, Ling Mo took off his hooded cloak, and his appearance greatly shocked the others. Ling Mo was not surprised by their reactions; rather, he had long grown used to them.

Trade between the two races' caravans was tacitly permitted, but for safety reasons, neither side allowed experts of the Seventh Tier or above to enter its territory. Thus, Snow Empress could only leave the group and find another way to sneak in. However, since Demon God's Fall had monitored the demon gods for centuries, infiltrating should not have been difficult for a Ninth Tier Snow Empress.

Unfortunately, although they successfully entered with the caravan, no one expected that the demon caravan would be ambushed by demon troops. After a fierce battle, the group could only continue their infiltration on their own, cautiously.

To prevent their trail from being exposed, Moon Night, the president of the Moonlight Chamber of Commerce, was placed under a restriction by Sheng Cai'er. Her life and death were entirely under Sheng Cai'er's control. Before leaving, Long Haochen also obtained from Moon Night some clothing, identification, and other items that could disguise them as members of the Moon Demon Race.

After more than ten days of travel, they finally arrived at the location of their mission—the Cave of Fearful Sad Laughter.

But unexpectedly, the place had already been occupied by demons. The group could only fight their way in. Later, because the cave passages were too narrow, they decided that Long Haochen would explore alone. Yet while they waited for his return, another unit of demon troops arrived.

Misfortunes never came alone. Ling Mo's connection to his Herrscher Martial Soul suddenly severed, and the Ksitigarbha Soul seemed to have been locked away as well, leaving it unusable. This unit of demon troops had more than one Seventh Tier fighter. In the end, without the protection of the Herrscher of Ice's authority, Ling Mo was forced to forcibly unleash Black Abyss White Flower and kill a Seventh Tier enemy. The remaining Seventh Tier Demon Lord was killed by Sheng Cai'er using the Six Paths of Reincarnation skill, but she lost her hearing, sight, and taste as a result.

The two strongest members of the Demon Hunter Squad had both lost their ability to fight.

Before Ling Mo collapsed, he had felt that this was Finality's doing. The severed connection to the Herrscher Martial Soul was one thing, but even the Ksitigarbha Soul had been sealed. Other than Finality, Ling Mo could not think of anyone else who would do such a thing. Sure enough, that old woman had always wanted to kill him.

By the time Snow Empress found them, several days had already passed since the battle ended. It was also because of Snow Empress's return that they dared to enter Heart City to recover. Otherwise, even if they had ten times the courage, they would not have dared enter the demon capital.

With Ling Mo severely injured and unconscious, and Sheng Cai'er having lost three senses, the others could not spare any thought for the rest of the mission. They only wanted to leave as quickly as possible and return to human territory.

During the time Long Haochen went to the Moon Demon Palace to seek Moon Night's help, Ling Mo finally woke up. However, something seemed off about him after he awakened. Yae Sakura, who had always been rather clingy, strangely seemed to want to keep her distance from him, yet did not dare leave his side.

On the night Ling Mo awakened, at the Demon Emperor Palace, the Demon God Emperor had just returned from the Moon Demon Palace when he sensed something was wrong. There seemed to be far fewer people in his palace...

The Demon God Emperor's gaze gradually turned dangerous, carrying a trace of amusement. I'd like to see whose guts are big enough to come looking for trouble with me.

In the main hall of the Demon Emperor Palace, before the Demon God Emperor even stepped through the doors, he saw someone seated high upon his throne... Ling Mo! No, perhaps she should have been called—Finality!

As he entered the hall, the Demon God Emperor was in no hurry to attack. With his absolute confidence in his own strength, he felt that aside from the six members of Demon God's Fall, no one had dared face him like this for a long time. And no one had ever been as arrogant as Finality. Therefore, he did not intend to kill her so quickly.

The Demon God Emperor was not wrong, but unfortunately, if anyone who truly knew and understood Finality's terror saw this scene, then the Demon God Emperor would have been the one whose courage defied heaven. Snow Empress, standing silently at Finality's side, thought exactly so at this moment. There was even a hint of pity in her gaze as she looked at the Demon God Emperor.

Demon God Emperor: "So this is what it feels like to stand below and look up. Hmm, quite a novel experience."

With his hands behind his back, the Demon God Emperor raised his head proudly and stared directly at Finality atop the throne. Or perhaps "scrutinized" would have been a more accurate word.

Peak Fourth Tier, barely Fifth-tier. The Demon God Emperor secretly shook his head and sighed, lamenting the fearless recklessness of the young person before him—and how utterly ignorant of death she was!

Finality: "If I remember correctly, your name is Feng Xiu, right? Hmm, what an awful name."

Feng Xiu's expression was fully within Finality's view, but she did not care. Just as she appeared to Feng Xiu at this moment, Feng Xiu was no more than a weak ant in Finality's eyes. The difference was that Finality had long lost the patience to toy with the weak.

Finality continued, "Hand over your Demon God Pillar. I don't want to waste time."

She stated her purpose directly, her tone utterly impolite. Feng Xiu, the Demon God Emperor, whose eyes had turned cold, obviously would not truly hand over his Demon God Pillar just because of a few words from her. He intended to make a move, to crush the human before him like an ant. But unfortunately, he was destined to fail.

The next day, Ling Mo woke from his dream. The sluggishness in his mind made him feel as though he had slept for a very long time. In truth, while it had not been that long, he had still been unconscious for nearly a week.

No fourth person knew what had happened that night, apart from the three present. Yae Sakura had returned to her usual self as well, clinging tightly to Ling Mo's side and unwilling to leave. Yae Sakura, who was hidden in Ling Mo's Stigmata Space by Finality, had already learned of this from Fei Yu Maru. Because of that, Fei Yu Maru no longer dared enter Ling Mo's Stigmata Space at all. Whenever Ling Mo did not need her, Fei Yu Maru usually stayed within the Ksitigarbha Soul and worked hard to recover her strength, only coming out occasionally for some fresh air.

Having just awakened, Ling Mo looked at Yae Sakura, who was hugging him tightly in his arms, somewhat at a loss. Yae Sakura seemed even clingier than before today.

After spending some tender time with Yae Sakura, Ling Mo checked his body. The connection to his Herrscher Martial Soul had recovered, and the Ksitigarbha Soul could now be used normally. With a slight thought, Fei Yu Maru flew out. Her face full of panic, she threw herself into Ling Mo's arms. Ling Mo caught her and habitually stroked her head.

Fei Yu Maru: "Big Brother, are you alright? I don't know why, but my perception of the outside world was suddenly blocked a few days ago. I was so scared. After it came back, I saw that you were hurt and unconscious. Big Sister and I were so worried about you."

The innocent little Fei Yu Maru had lost contact with Ling Mo in the Honkai World and had once thought she was going to be abandoned. She had finally managed to find Ling Mo, only for their connection to suddenly be cut off again. It had frightened her terribly.

Ling Mo: "Alright, it's fine. Look, aren't I perfectly okay now?"

Ling Mo gently patted Fei Yu Maru's back, comforting the little one.

Fei Yu Maru raised her head from Ling Mo's embrace, her tearful expression seeming to ask whether that was really true.

It took quite a while of comforting before Fei Yu Maru finally relaxed and returned to the Ksitigarbha Soul. A few days later, word finally came from Moon Night that everything was ready and they could depart for Holy City.

Before they left, Yae Sakura went to find Snow Empress, wanting to speak with her alone. Watching the two leave, Ling Mo scratched the back of his head, wondering what they had to say that could not be said in front of him.

Yae Sakura: "I want to know what Finality is really trying to do!"

Snow Empress: "What does she want to do? I would like to know as well... But she only said that it would not harm Ling Mo."

Finality was too strong. Snow Empress had never seen such a powerful existence, one so powerful that she could not muster even the slightest desire to resist. That feeling of being unable to fight back, of not even having a chance to struggle, mercilessly crushed the pride she possessed as the foremost of the Far North's three great ferocious beasts.

Yae Sakura: "Do you think I would believe that?"

Snow Empress: "I cannot tell whether her words are trustworthy either. But does it matter whether you believe them or not? Do you have the power to resist? If you had the strength to say no to her, we would not be here, would we?"

That was right. What could she do even if she did not believe it? Even if Finality truly intended to harm Ling Mo, what could she possibly do?

Yae Sakura lowered her head, the hair before her forehead concealing half her face as her expression darkened. At that moment, Yae Sakura seemed to return to the past, when she could only watch Ling Mo head onto the battlefield and do nothing, only praying that he would return safely.

"Heh." With a self-mocking laugh, Yae Sakura left. When she returned to Ling Mo's side, she looked at his face and thought that at least she could still stay by his side.

Snow Empress also returned to Ling Mo's side. She possessed memories of Ling Mo's past life and clearly knew the misery of that world. Because of that, she had come to admire Ling Mo. Otherwise, given her pride, how could she have so easily accepted an unfamiliar human back then? It was precisely because of this that she could understand Yae Sakura's feelings. But the world had never been fair. At this moment, there was nothing they could do.

PS: I watched Throne of Seal 2 and had a bit of trouble getting into it. On top of that, this book was on hiatus for nearly two years, and I can no longer find the original outline or anything like that. So this arc will probably keep skipping through the plot. Just treat it as a collection of little stories. I was never that good at writing anyway, so thank you for understanding. Also, I finally graduated, damn it. It was really too hard. I'm crying.