The Blood Shadow Old Monster slammed out his blood-stained palm, the wind from which carried the wails of a thousand souls. Dark purple lightning, like a spiderweb, Sky-Rending Strike, scorching black cracks into the decaying wood of the dilapidated temple. The spiderwebs that had clung to the beams for centuries instantly solidified into a forest of ice crystals, the ice Ice Crystals hanging like Stalactite. In the cold light reflected from each ray of eerie light, shimmered the face of a vengeful spirit with a torn mouth—that face floated within the ice crystals, the black mist overflowing from its opening and closing mouth condensing in the air into the echoing cry of " Give me back my life," each word carrying the final syllable of an infant's wail.
Ren Xiaoyao's pupils constricted sharply, like a hawk locking onto its prey. The Lingchen Sword spun in his palm, arcing like a silver moon, its blade slicing through the air and exploding into tiny, icy-blue Mars. The icy-blue Sword Aura and crimson sword patterns intertwined into Tai Chi Vortex, engulfing all the incoming Ice Crystals tiles. The shredded fragments transformed into fine, thread-like blades in the air, fluttering like a swarm of bees towards the old monster's six afterimages—each dripping with Black Blood, each with a still-intact infant's swaddling clothes wrapped around its ankles, the two characters "Peace" embroidered on the corners of the clothes already stained with blood. Soaked to the bone, the viscous blood churned and surged like a living thing as the withered claws swung. The blade pierced through with a hissing sound like a venomous snake spitting its tongue. The Bone Ring on the wrist, made from the Infant Leg Bone, suddenly burst forth with Nether-Green Ghost Fire, shattering the blade into Stardust. Each Stardust landed with a scorch mark the size of a copper coin, and the Black Blood seeping from the edges of the scorch marks congealed into a miniature wailing face. In the pupils of that face was the last image of the mother shielding the well with her body when Shuofang City fell. Half of an infant's bib was still wrapped in her loose hair.
He leaped backward, his back shattering the shrine as he crashed into it. The decaying wooden statue of the Land Duke tumbled to the ground, and blood suddenly seeped from the half-finger bone embedded in its chest. The knuckles of the finger bone were as clear as ever, and even some unrotted flesh remained at the nail, with dried dirt still embedded in the nail crevices—it was the left index finger of a three-year-old child in Shuofang City that had been brutally torn off, the end of the finger bone still bearing the serrated wound from being ripped apart by sharp claws. Blood droplets spread across the ground, blurring the outline of a miniature city. In the gray-blue streets, one could see the words "Mother, save me" carved on a door panel, each stroke deep enough to see bone. Five bloodstains extended side by side, like the scratches left by a child before dying. On a half-bowl of wheat cakes in the corner, there were three shallow teeth marks, and among the crumbs were traces of milk that had dripped from the child as he ate them with tears in his eyes. The milk stains had dried into pale yellow spots, shaped just like an infant's handprint.
Ren Xiaoyao's fingertips pinched out nine stacks of sword seals like flying. The evil spirit in his dantian resonated with the strength of the old monster's claws like boiling oil meeting fire. His meridians felt as if they were pierced by thousands of steel needles. Every inch of his texture felt like tearing pain. The blood foam he coughed up condensed into ice crystals on the tip of his tongue, but he forced the last The last trace of true energy was forced into the ice lotus at the tip of the sword - every time the ancient talisman seal in the center of the ice lotus rotated once, the sword blade trembled and let out a dragon's roar, causing the moths on the beams and pillars of the ruined temple to crawl out one after another. The bodies of the insects were actually green and white like human bones, and they formed the prototype of the word "soul" on the ground.
When the Ice Lotus bloomed, the sword Sword Qi, intertwined with Mysterious Fire and Milky Way cold, surged like a reversed Milky Way. Dust within the dilapidated temple swirled into a black storm, and the Incense Ash accumulated in the corners of the walls for centuries was sculpted by the air currents into thirteen miniature cities. On each city wall stood a banner woven from a baby's first hair, with incomplete musical scores of the song " Young Crops Green " drawn on the banners in undried bloodstains. Blood beads condensed at the end of the scores, and half a baby tooth was tied to the end of each hair, with Crumbled Wheat Cake stuck between the teeth. Tiny indentations from the child's biting were visible on the enamel, and even remnants of food fibers could be seen in the indentations.
"I have cultivated the art of ' Ten Thousand Souls Undying ' for three hundred years, how dare I allow a mere child to act so presumptuously!" The old monster's maniacal laughter caused black sawdust to seep from the wormholes in the beams. The sawdust fell to the ground and solidified into miniature skulls. In the flickering ghostly fire in their eye sockets, the figures of the slaughtered children huddled in the dry well were clearly reflected—the well walls still bore the marks of their fingernails scratching, and five parallel bloodstains stretched from the well's mouth to its bottom, like countless tiny hands pleading for help.
Six afterimages transformed into black mist and entered the main body. The blood-red palm print behind it instantly solidified into a three-zhang-tall ghost claw. The five- Bone Ring burst forth with a deafening cry of an infant. The blood seeping from the words "Thousand Souls" on the ring face gathered in the air to form countless human faces. The eye sockets of those faces were hollow like wells, their tongues were cut off, and the gurgling blood foam in their throats fell to the ground and turned into maggots. Each maggot was engraved with the words "Blood debt must be repaid in blood." As the maggots devoured the vengeful souls, the juice flowing from their broken bodies drew incomplete nursery rhyme patterns on the ground. The edges of the patterns were still stained with vernix caseosa and emitted a sweet and rotten stench.
A gust of wind swept across the ground, and the Black Mandalas roots grew wildly like pythons, transforming into blood-red vines that coiled around the ankles. The surface of the vines was covered with protrusions shaped like infant finger joints, and the blue veins wrapped between each finger bone were still throbbing. In the clear amniotic fluid seeping from the broken veins, undeveloped fetal hair floated, and at the severed umbilical cord where the hair was tied, one could even see the teeth marks left by the mother when she bit it off, the teeth marks of varying depths, like a struggle in extreme pain.
Just then, the black aura between Ren Xiaoyao's brows surged like ink drops of clear water—it was the resonance between the Demonic Baleful Energy invading from the bottom of the Soul Severing Cliff and the old monster's Cultivation Method. Before he could swallow the metallic taste in his throat, he bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the Lingchen Sword. The moment the sword was stained with blood, it erupted with a trembling sound like a dragon's roar. The blue light seeping from the Southern Pole Profound Ice Iron Sand at the hilt merged with the blood to form a rotating Tai Chi symbol. With each rotation of the " Demon-Sweeping " talisman emerging from the center of the Ice Lotus, the ice shards on the dilapidated temple beams shattered, and thousands of shards of blades, like celestial maidens scattering flowers, pierced into the black aura. Each shard of blade was engraved with a miniature Soul-Suppressing Runes.
With a series of soft "plop" sounds, the black mist, like a punctured corpse, oozed not pus, but countless severed Severed Fingers, each knuckle writhing on the ground, spelling out " Give me back my life!" On the carapaces of poisonous ants crawling along the edges of the writing, the nicknames of the slaughtered children were etched, " Little Stone Nannan," among other words, appearing and disappearing among the ant colony. The poisonous ants turned to ash the moment they touched the Sword Qi, and from the ash drifted fragments of the nursery rhyme " Young Crops Green Seedlings," the melody of " Young Crops Green, clear well water" echoing repeatedly, the final note carrying the child's dying sobs, as if someone were softly humming in their ear.
The old monster let out a horrific scream. The blood-red claw-shaped birthmark on his withered right arm was peeled away inch by inch by Sword Qi energy. With each Dao Embryo peeled away, a transparent soul broke free from the black aura. The soul was dressed in coarse cloth clothes covered with patches, and tightly clutched a stone pillow wrapped in swaddling clothes in its arms. When Shuofang City fell, its mother's hands were cut off, but she used her teeth to bite the stone pillow and stuff it into the arms of the infant in the dry well. The stone pillow still bears blood-stained teeth marks of varying depths, and between the teeth marks is still stuck the mother's broken teeth, which are stained with dark red blood.
Before his soul dissipated, he kowtowed three times in the air. The stone pillow that rolled down in his swaddling clothes hit the ground. The clear tears splashed out washed the scorched black earth into its original color three feet square. The roots of the tender green seedlings that grew up in an instant were coiled into the Chinese character "". It is the nickname that the mother gave her child. The dewdrops on the leaves of the grass seedlings clearly reflect the mother's last smile when she hid the child. There are still unfallen tears in the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. The teardrops reflect the colorful light in the morning light. The old weirdo The moment he retreated in fear and dug his withered claws into the ground, there was a roar like a galloping horse from the underground of the ruined temple. Countless white bones emerged from the ground to form a cage. Each rune was woven from baby fetal hair. The wet blood scab tied to the ends of the hair split open, revealing human skin the size of a fingernail, with the nickname "Little Stone" written in blood. There were deep nail scratches on the edge of the writing, and the fetal hair on the edge of the human skin stood upright, just like the violent trembling of a baby before death.
"Trying to trap me?" Ren Xiaoyao's eyes were as cold as Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice. Suddenly, the Lingchen Sword let out a dragon's roar. Ice and blood patterns on the sword intertwined to form a rotating tai chi. The Ice Lotus at the tip of the sword split into thousands of small fire lotuses, shooting towards the cage of bones like wildfire. The moment they made contact, thick bluish-black smoke rose from the bones. Through the decaying bones, the smiling phantoms of the Shuofang City Residents appeared: the corners of the red wedding invitations of the newlyweds were still covered with crumbs of wedding candy, the eyes of the yellow clay dog sculpted by the child were embedded with black beans, and the unfinished straw sandals in the old man's Bamboo Basket still had the morning dew on them, reflecting the old man's kind smile.
The smiling faces, illuminated by the fiery lotus, coalesced into golden Soul-Suppressing Runes. As the runes spun, the chanting of children echoed—the souls of infants slaughtered before their full moons. Their voices were clear as spring water, and the spring, cleansed of blood, revealed scenes of spring planting and autumn harvest in the Thirteen Cities. On the wings of the butterflies that children chased on the field ridges, the characters for "peace" were imprinted with Scale Powder. Each flutter of a butterfly's wings scattered specks of fluorescent light, which fell to the ground and grew into tiny Worry-Dispelling Grass.
Upon seeing this Blood Shadow Old Monster's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He ripped his palm apart with his left hand, revealing a pulsating black Demonic Core. Thousands of Soul Threads were wrapped around the Demonic Core's surface, and the shattered eyeballs strung on each thread were spinning around, their pupils reflecting the horrific scene of the massacre in Shuofang City: a mother shielding her child beneath her body, blood splattering from her claws piercing her chest, congealing into Blood-colored Butterflies between the child's brows; a child clutching half a piece of bread, hiding in a corner, watching helplessly as his loved ones were slaughtered, tears still clinging to the teeth marks on the bread, freezing into Ice Crystals Ice Crystals within the child's despairing eyes.
"Even if I die, my soul will drag you down with me!" he roared as he hurled the Demonic Core. The black torrent that exploded from the core swept through the dilapidated temple like a tsunami. Emerging from the torrent were images of women and children cut in half at the waist, and young men skinned alive. The severed limbs spelled out "blood debt, blood for blood" in the black mist, each stroke spraying poisonous blood. Blood droplets fell to the ground and grew into the heart of Black Datura flower, upon which stood the skull of an infant. The undying ghost fire in the eye sockets illuminated the nickname " Nannan " carved inside, the last thought her mother had carved with a silver hairpin. Blood still lingered on the tip of the hairpin, the blood trembling slightly in the firelight.
Ren Xiaoyao slammed the Lingchen Sword into the ground, his palms forming intricate Sword Seal, drawing out the Demonic Baleful Energy within his body to clash with the profound ice within the sword. In an instant, a pillar of light, interwoven with ice blue and blood red, erupted from the ground of the dilapidated temple. With each rotation of the " Demon-Sweeping " talisman in the ten-zhang Tai Chi Symbol, a golden Sword Aura shot out. Wherever the Sword Aura passed, the limbs and fragments in the torrent of black energy turned into specks of light. The specks of light from the severed limbs floated into the air, gathering into thirteen luminous cities, exactly as the Thirteen Cities that the old monster had slaughtered had been: above the cities floated indigo-colored cloth clothes that people had hung out to dry, the hems embroidered with mugwort patterns to repel mosquitoes; the wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys carried the aroma of new wheat buns, the fragrance of earth.
He stood tall, the black aura between his brows and the Blood Lotus at the tip of his sword erupting simultaneously. The power of ice and fire collided violently within the Tai Chi Symbol, creating Sword-shaped Vortex that emitted the sounds of wind and thunder, actually lifting the dome of the dilapidated temple and revealing surging dark clouds. Through the gaps in the clouds, the phantom of the Nine Heavens Sword Tomb could be vaguely seen, and thousands of ancient swords were drawn simultaneously, their hilts all pointing towards the dilapidated temple. The runes on the swords formed World-Protecting Sword Formation, and in the light and shadow, the blurry figures of the sword guardians of past generations appeared, each with Soul Suppressing Bell tied to their sword tassels. The sound of the bells pierced through the clouds, resonating with the Sword Hum within the dilapidated temple, forming a tragic and solemn requiem.
"With my crippled body, I will subdue this evil spirit!" Ren Xiaoyao's voice pierced through the clouds. The energy erupting from the Tai Chi Symbol was like an inverted Milky Way. The Blood Shadow Old Monster's life-soul Demonic Core struggled wildly in the vortex, and the Soul Threads soul threads on the core were severed inch by inch by the Sword Qi. With each severed thread, a mournful wail dissipated—that was the obsession of the three thousand wronged souls of Shuofang City. At this moment, they turned into Golden Light Spots and floated towards the sky, gathering into thirteen stars in the clouds. The Star Orbit trails connected to form the Star Map that the people had prayed for a good harvest back then. The center of the Star Map was the location of Shuofang City. The starlight fell and formed the light pattern of " Souls Return Home ". Where the light pattern touched, clear spring water seeped from the ground, and the smiling faces of the people were reflected in the spring water.
As the last thread snapped, the Demonic Core emitted a crisp, shattering sound, and the old monster's figure transformed into countless fireflies within the vortex. Before its dying, venomous roar could even escape its lips, it was frozen by the Nine Heavens Profound Ice summoned by Lingchen Sword. From the dust it transformed, tiny specks of starlight shone—the liberated souls. Each star plummeted towards the ruins of Shuofang City, creating thirteen clear springs. The springs reflected the peaceful and prosperous lives of the people. On paper boats floating on the water, the childish words "Mother, I'm back" were written in straw, the edges of the boats still bearing traces of children's saliva, as if they had just been placed in the water.
The dark clouds outside the dilapidated temple dispersed, and the first rays of dawn pierced through the holes in the beams, illuminating Ren Xiaoyao's blood-stained blue robe. He staggered as he drew his Lingchen Sword. The blood and ice patterns on the blade gradually faded into the Mysterious Iron, leaving only the eerie green light remaining at the tip, trembling like solidified will-o'-the-wisp in the morning light. Within the will-o'-the-wisp, the old monster's resentful face before his death was reflected, twisted into a venomous curse, with countless tiny chains of vengeful spirits entwined between the strokes. Each chain was engraved with the birth dates of the slaughtered children, the characters already soaked in blood.
Beneath the withered, blood-red vines on the ground, the smiling phantoms of the Shuofang City Residents transformed into golden light and merged into his brow, purifying the last trace of Demonic Fiend Qi. Ice Lotus Imprint sprouted from the shattered wound in his palm, its petals and dewdrops refracting seven-colored light—a sign of the Lingchen Sword recognizing its master, the " Myriad Ice Returns to Origin." As the dewdrops rolled, they reflected the phantoms of countless ancient swords deep within the Sword Mound. Each ancient sword's scabbard was engraved with the names of the sword guardians of past generations. On one scabbard, the three characters " Ren Xiaoyao " glowed faintly with his heartbeat. A fine blue light seeped from the scabbard's seams, echoing the Ice Lotus Imprint in his palm. The blue light was also interspersed with a faint Sword Hum, as if telling an ancient legend.
Birdsong drifted through the morning mist. As Ren Xiaoyao sheathed his sword, the sword-shaped frost on his green robe melted into water droplets, which fell to the ground and splashed into the water, revealing the four characters " Heavenly Dao is Manifest " intermittently. Each stroke was composed of countless tiny sword blades, each engraved with miniature Soul-Suppressing Runes. As the runes flowed, a scene of the Thirteen Cities' rebirth emerged from the water: houses with green tiles and white walls grew from the ruins, swallows perched on the rooftops carrying grass, children played by the well, and the newly engraved four characters " When Drinking Water, Think of the Source " were soaked by the morning dew. Each stroke of the characters contained a baby's hair, which shimmered faintly in the morning light.
He looked up to the east, where the Killing Intent Soul Severing Cliff dissipated into white mist. In the golden light of the rising sun reflected off the distant Snow Peaks- capped peaks, thirteen white cranes took flight—their feathers stained with the smiling faces of the Shuofang City Residents, each carrying an Ice Lotus in its beak, flying towards the ruins of thirteen cities. Where the Ice Lotus landed, towering Bodhi Tree grew from the scorched earth, their leaves inscribed with the Sutra of Rebirth, the veins of each leaf forming the characters for "peace." A child's note buried at the tree's roots broke through the soil, originally only containing the fragmented phrase "This year's crops...", which was completed in the light of the Ice Lotus to "This year's Young Crops Green, every family is safe and peaceful." The edges of the writing were still covered with clear dewdrops, like tears, seeping from the soil, reflecting the image of children running in the fields, their faces adorned with innocent smiles.
However, he was unaware that a wisp of the Blood Shadow Old Monster's remnant soul, scattered into the heavens and earth, was drifting with the morning breeze towards the Far North Ice Plains. In the Profound Ice Mirror atop Profound Ice Fortress, the remnant soul condensed into a venomous eye, its pupil reflecting Ren Xiaoyao in the dilapidated temple. Blood vessels in the whites of the eyes formed the " Thousand Souls Rebirth " demonic Demonic Runes. With each pulse, a bloodstain would condense on the mirror's surface, and the blood seeping from the bloodstain would draw a scene of destruction in thirteen cities: the people in the scene all had the face of the old monster, frantically slaughtering themselves, while the pupils of the slaughterers reflected even smaller scenes of destruction, forming an endless cycle of venomous resentment. In the corner of each scene, there was the eye of an infant, its eyes flashing with venomous light.
At the same time, the purified Demonic Fiend Qi within his body, nourished by the Lingchen Sword, transformed into subtle sword patterns, lying dormant deep within his dantian. As the sword patterns flowed, they subtly resonated with the Southern Pole Profound Ice Iron Sand surrounding the characters "Lingchen" on the sword hilt. Each time the sword patterns flickered, Ren Xiaoyao's heart skipped a beat, as if something was quietly gestating within him—deep within the sword patterns lay the mark left by the old monster's remnant soul, like a Demonic Seed waiting to sprout. The seed coat was engraved with the demonic inscription " Ten Thousand Souls Unite," and the patterns subtly overlapped with the veins of the Ice Lotus Imprint on his palm, forming a strange pattern of yin and yang. At the center of the pattern, a blood-red lotus seed was slowly absorbing his True Qi. The patterns on the surface of the lotus seed gradually became clearer, and they were exactly the same as the claw-shaped birthmark on the old monster's palm.
In the dewdrops on the grass outside the dilapidated temple, his future reflection was mirrored: a third eye split open between his brows, its pupil shimmering with the same eerie green light as the old monster's. Countless tiny black shadows wriggled within the pupil, arranging themselves into the ultimate demonic array of the " Thousand Souls Undying " technique. At the core of the array, a blood-red lotus seed slowly bloomed. With each petal unfurled, his reflection gained a touch more of the old monster's malevolence. The curve of his lips was identical to the savage grin of the remnant soul in the Profound Ice Mirror. And deep within the pupil of that eye, countless tiny infant hands were scratching, the scratching sounds carried through the dewdrops, transforming into a faint nursery rhyme. The tune of the rhyme was that incomplete " Young Crops Green," but now it sounded with a chilling resentment.
As Ren Xiaoyao stepped into the ruins of Shuofang City, black vines suddenly sprouted from beneath the remaining snow—the protruding infant finger bones on the vines had grown into tiny skeletal hands, and the human skin incantation "blood debt must be repaid" wrapped between the fingers was oozing glistening Black Blood. He swung his sword to cut the vines, but Lingchen Sword suddenly became hot, and countless painful faces emerged from the furrows carved by the blade—all of them were civilians who had been massacred in the city years ago.
"Something's wrong!" He clutched his wildly beating dantian, where a fine line was resonating with the hilt of his sword. Looking down, he saw that the shadow of the scabbard had gained an eye—in the pupil of the third eye between his brows, the remnant soul of the Blood Shadow Old Monster grinned, his left hand had somehow become a ghostly claw, and the Black Blood at his fingertips drew a Divergent Method circle in the snow.
The Profound Ice Mirror of the Far North Ice Plains shattered, and the remnant soul transformed into blood mist, seeping into his shadow. The Ice Lotus Imprint on his palm burned, and blood beads gathered into thirteen miniature cities. In the illusion of people slaughtering each other, the killer was none other than his own face. "So purification was a lie, parasitism was the real thing..." He staggered backward, and a new sprout emerged from the Demonic Seed in his dantian, each sprout bearing a blood-red lotus seed. With each petal that bloomed, a baby's cry was heard. Even more astonishingly, the claw-shaped birthmark of an old monster appeared on Lingchen Sword Blade, and the " Demon-Sweeping " talisman on the Sword Spine was being covered by blood-red incantations.
In the distance, white cranes cried mournfully. Thirteen white cranes, each carrying Ice Lotus, flew in from the sky, the light spots on their feathers merging into his brow. In an instant, the sword patterns dormant within his dantian resonated with the Ice Lotus Imprint, and the Ice-Fire True Qi formed Tai Chi Vortex in his meridians— the Demonic Fiend Qi corrupted by the old monster's remnant soul transformed into thirteen Sword Aura within the white cranes' radiance, burning away the blood-red incantation inch by inch as they traveled along the blades.
He gripped his sword tightly, and the blade roared like a dragon in the morning light. The claw-shaped birthmark on the blade was stripped away by the sword energy, turning into countless points of light that flew into the ruins, where they sprouted into Bodhi saplings. The ice lotus mark on his palm suddenly bloomed, and an ancient sword imprint emerged from the lotus heart, resonating with the Antarctic Xuanbing Iron Sand on the hilt. The entire sword exuded a chilling aura of returning all ice to its source, and even the bloody smell in the air was frozen into frost.
"Is this... a sign that the Sword Mound has recognized its master?" Ren Xiaoyao stared at the sword and discovered that the purified Demonic Fiend Qi had not dissipated, but instead condensed into thirteen miniature Sword Talisman within the sword's patterns, corresponding to the locations of the thirteen massacred cities. When he circulated his True Qi, the Sword Talisman would emit a faint light, reflecting the scene of people working in the fields—this was actually the opportunity to transform the vengeful spirits' obsessions into Guardian Power.
Only then did he realize that although the blood-red lotus seed deep in his dantian was growing, it was imprisoned by the cold energy of the ice Ice Lotus Imprint. Each pulsation resonated with the Tai Chi Symbol in the sword. He tried to channel his True Qi and found that he could control both ice and fire forces at the same time: when his left hand formed a seal, the Ice Lotus bloomed, and when his right hand swung the sword, blood patterns flowed. The two forces intertwined on the blade to form a reincarnation pattern, and wherever they passed, the black vines withered, revealing the Stone Tablet with the words "Soul Returns" engraved below.
Thirteen white cranes suddenly swooped down, inserting the Ice Lotus into the crack of the Stone Tablet. In an instant, the ruins of Shuofang City erupted with a dazzling golden light, and a transparent phantom of the city appeared on the ruins, with the smiling faces of the people appearing and disappearing in the light and shadow. Ren Xiaoyao felt a tremor in his dantian, and the blood-red lotus seed cracked open, sending out a beam of green light that merged into the hilt of his sword—from then on Lingchen Sword gained a touch of spirituality, its Sword Hum mixed with the chanting of children, the very sound of the soul-suppressing chant of the infants who had been slaughtered years ago.
He stroked the sword and discovered that the " Demon-Sweeping " talisman had merged with the blood-red incantation, forming a brand-new " Evil-Suppressing " talisman. Looking at his left hand now, the ghost claw form had long since disappeared, replaced by a pale red sword pattern, the direction of which formed Yin-Yang Fish Pattern with the Ice Lotus in his palm. When he circulated his True Qi, the two forces no longer clashed, but instead formed a perpetual cycle in his meridians, increasing his strength several times over.
A strange sound came from the distant icy plains. The eyes of the old monster's remnant soul in the Profound Ice Mirror suddenly widened—it saw black energy and golden light intertwined between Ren Xiaoyao's brows. Although his third eye was not fully open, it could already reflect the flaws in the demonic array. Meanwhile, the purified vengeful spirits were now turning into a rain of light that fell on his shoulders, condensing into thirteen Soul Suppressing Bell. With the sound of Sword Hum, they emitted clear and melodious sounds, shattering the Curse of the remnant souls one by one.
Ren Xiaoyao looked up towards the far north, the veins on his sword-wielding hand bulging. He knew the old monster's remnant soul was still lurking, but at this moment, the Lingchen Sword was one with his mind and spirit. The Ice-Fire True Qi within his dantian flowed like a dragon, each breath drawing upon the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth. When the first ray of sunlight shone on the blade, he suddenly understood: the so-called Demonic Baleful Energy was nothing more than unpurified obsession, and his mission was to use this Lingchen Sword, which had fused with the power of ice and fire, to guide the world's vengeful souls to a place of rest.