Primordial Heavenly Venerate Devours and Evolves

The Chaos Border Space-time Turbulence the edge of chaos resembled a pot of colorful porridge being simmered over a raging fire. Purple Lightning exploded in arcs of silver snakes at the center of the vortex, crushing countless Star Fragments into shimmering dust. The slender, spiderweb-like demonic shadow was being frantically torn apart by the colorful vortex, the black patterns on its soul surface flickering—the remnants of the Primordial Demon Lord's Origin Imprint, now being gnawed at by the surging destructive power within the turbulent current. The shattering sound of the bronze cauldron echoed from Plane of Destruction billions of miles away, muffled and thunderous, causing the demonic shadow's soul core to vibrate and tremble, as if an invisible hammer was repeatedly striking its three-hundred-year-old, solidified obsession. The shattering sound of the collapsing Glazed Ice pagoda was like a needle dipped in the Cold Poison of the Netherworld, drilling into the veins of his soul and causing his Demonic Thought to churn like tea leaves in boiling water. The ferocity and resentment shrouded in demonic energy were even reduced to tiny white bubbles under the impact of this force. Only the dying cry of a child pierced through the layers of noise. The cry contained the unfinished nickname of his mother and the lingering warmth of the baby in swaddling clothes. It was held tightly by the demonic shadow in the deepest part of his soul core, like holding a red-hot iron, burning his Soul Threads threads, yet he couldn't bear to let go—it was the only human warmth he hadn't been devoured since falling into the Demonic Dao.

Just as his soul was about to be shredded to ashes by the vortex, a dark current suddenly surged from the depths of the turbulent flow. A colossal black shadow crashed through seven layers of spacetime barriers, its body, over a thousand feet long, blotting out the sky. Its belly was covered with armor formed from Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice, the surface of which was covered with spiderweb-like cracks. From these cracks seeped beads of eerie blue blood, which condensed into tiny ice crystals as they fell. Nine heads writhed wildly on its thick neck, each head's teeth cleaved with fragments of rotting ship planks and yellowed fish bones. Its left eye burned with eerie green demonic fire, while its right eye flowed with the ghostly aura of the deep sea. Light, and within the stream of light, were strands of hair from drowning victims—the very Whale Demon bound to the Abyss of Return Ruins by High Antiquity cultivators with the Dragon-Locking Chain. It had somehow broken free of the seventy-two chains binding its body, and the immense pressure and resentment of the abyss over billions of years had condensed within it into a black Inner Core size of a pigeon's egg. The surface of this Inner Core was covered in Twisted Runes, carved from the wails of countless shipwrecked souls. Now, seeing the demonic figure radiating the same ferocious aura, its nine heads simultaneously opened their massive maws, spewing forth a black hurricane carrying the pungent stench of the sea. Within the hurricane were the fingernails of countless drowning victims, intending to devour this remnant soul as nourishment.

The demonic shadow suddenly swelled the instant the hurricane touched him. A dark purple blood mist erupted from the Soul Threads, spreading rapidly like ink dripping into water, instantly transforming into the half-crippled body of the Primordial Demon Lord: his left arm and the section of his torso from his right shoulder to his waist were gone, charred scabs forming at the cuts, revealing stark white bone fragments beneath. Embedded in the bone crevice were several fragments of cyan-gold runes, the very parts forcibly stripped away during the purification process of the Spirit Vein runes. Crimson demonic fire burned in his right eye, its tongue licking his eye socket, making half his face appear ferocious and terrifying; the left side of his face still bore the remnant of half a plain-colored Daoist robe, a remnant of something he had inadvertently stained when studying at the mountain gate in his youth. The ink stains, now soaked in blood mist, had become a bizarre mix of red and black, like a blood-splattered ink painting. "You think you can be a mere reptile trapped in the abyss?" He grinned savagely, opening his massive maw. The demonic flames that surged from his mouth instantly incinerated the Whale Demon's hurricane into ashes. In the flames, countless remnants of cultivators' souls, devoured by the whale demon, could be seen struggling. Before the Whale Demon could react, he had already darted between the nine heads like a ghost. His right hand's five fingers transformed into a foot-long claw, the tip gleaming with a dark golden light. He precisely dug into the eye socket of the middle head, forcefully ripping out the Whale Demon's black Inner Core —the moment the Inner Core detached from its socket, it emitted a mournful cry like that of an infant.

"Awooo--" The Whale Demon's mournful howl shook the Space-time Turbulence, causing them to reverse. Its nine heads simultaneously spewed out eerie blue venom, which transformed into a fine rain of needles in the air, corroding even Star Fragments into dust wherever it passed. The Primordial Demon Lord, however, neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the venom to drench the severed wounds. The charred scabs crackled and exploded with Mars. New flesh grew at a visible speed: veins spread along the bone fragments like Black Vines, each blood vessel pulsating with an eerie blue light; bones emerged from the bone fragments like quenched steel needles, making a crisp "crackling" sound; even the fingernails grew barbs, the tips of which were coated with the Whale Demon's venom. Eventually, it grew into something larger than... His left arm, which was originally thicker, was now only as black as ink, with the faint blue Light Spots of the Whale Demon 'Inner Core inner core still remaining at his knuckles, like several deep-sea Luminous Pearl. He turned his hand and stuffed the Inner Core into the Greed-Envy Bowl in his palm. Immediately, a black giant wave rose from the bowl, and the wave transformed into countless hands, crushing the Whale Demon's remaining eight heads one by one. The Whale Demon's essence surged into the Devil Master's throat, causing twelve pairs of bat wings to suddenly burst from his back. The wing membranes were covered with the Whale Demon's tentacles, each tentacle entwined with the Soul Shadows of a drowned person. Those Soul Shadows were still struggling in the water, their limbs flailing wildly. The slightest movement of the tentacles produced a piercing sound like fingernails scraping against the ship's planks, sending chills down one's spine.

"Ren Xiaoyao— " The Devil Master's roar shattered the surrounding floating Star Fragments. Dark golden patterns appeared on his newly formed Demon Body, the patterns moving like living creatures across his skin, weaving into a more ferocious demonic armor than before. The edges of the armor plates still bore the gaps cleaved by the Spirit Vein Light Blade, now filled with the Whale Demon's resentment, gleaming with an ominous ghostly light. He made a grasping motion with his left hand, and an Insulation Blade emerged from the void. The Red String wrapped around the blade had transformed into a rusty chain, the chain head with barbs, tightly locking the Whale Demon's remaining soul core. The soul core was still struggling within the chain; with each movement, the chain tightened further, squeezing out a drop of ghostly blue blood. When the blood droplet landed, it transformed into a tiny squid, the ink spurting from the squid... Curse Runes condensed in the air. The Greed-Envy Bowl held in his right hand no longer contained the illusory image of desire, but rather the deep blue of the entire ocean. Countless faces of drowning people were condensed on the rim of the bowl, faces that would change according to the observer's State of Mind —fishermen would see their nets entangled around the necks of their wives and children, cultivators would see themselves going mad and slaughtering their fellow disciples, even plants would see the tragic sight of their roots being Insect Borer. "You spared me a chance to live, so you could watch me crush the Tianyan Continent into mud?" His twelve pairs of bat wings flapped simultaneously, churning the surrounding Space-time Fragments into dust, transforming them into black streaks of light that sped towards the Tianyan Continent, staining even the Chaos Current in their wake with inky blackness.

Three months later, a massive Black Tide suddenly surged in the East Sea of the Tianyan Continent. This tide was not seawater, but rather formed from countless twisted, distorted Soul Shadows: there were fishermen devoured by Whale Demon, still clinging to the gunwale, their knuckles white from the strain; there were Merfolk from the Abyss of Return Ruins, their fish tails torn off, turning into black mist, within which the shimmering light of their scales could still be seen; and there were even High Antiquity cultivators dragged to the seabed by Whale Demon, their robes already tattered by the seawater, yet still clutching a broken half of their magic sword, the jade pendant on the tassel shattered. Yet it still gleamed with a faint spiritual light. At the forefront of the Black Tide stood the Primordial Demon Lord. The new flesh at his severed wound had fully healed, but his skin color was completely different from before. The pitch-black of his left arm contrasted sharply with the dark gold of his torso, like two pieces of broken wood forcibly spliced together. Twelve pairs of bat wings slowly flapped behind him, and the tentacles on the wing membranes drooped down, weaving a dense net in the Black Tide, firmly locking the Soul Shadows and using it as propulsion. Whenever the tentacles tightened, the Soul Shadows would let out painful howls, and the Black Tide would rise three-tenths of an inch.

The leaves of the Southern Region Spirit Vein Tree trembled collectively. Golden sap seeped from the emerald veins, meandering down the trunk and condensing into a translucent curtain of light on the swamp's surface. Countless phantoms of herbs appeared on this curtain: the Seven-Leaf Lotus, capable of curing all poisons, its leaves glistening with dewdrops bearing antidote runes; the Worry-Dispelling Grass -Not Grass, known for its calming properties, its leaves releasing a faint fragrance; and the long-extinct Soul-Returning Flower, its petals layered upon each other, absorbing all the miasma from the swamp into its leaves, transforming it into glistening dewdrops... Inside, one could see creatures ravaged by the miasma being reborn. The Ancient Dragon of the Far North Ice Plains suddenly opened its eyes, its icy blue pupils clearly reflecting the Black Tide of the East Sea. It opened its massive maw, spewing out icy mist that transformed into millions of Ice Crystals Ice Crystals in mid-air. The ice crystals pieced together, forming armor that covered the entire ice plains. Ancient Runes were engraved on the armor plates, and as the runes flowed, they condensed the ice plains' chill into an unmelting barrier. On the surface of the barrier, the phantoms of ice plains creatures appeared, including snow leopards and ice deer, all assuming a protective stance.

On the Floating Island, Ren Xiaoyao stared intently at the east-west rift. Within the rift, the leaves of the Clover suddenly stood upright, their tips shimmering with golden light. These points formed a thin line, pointing precisely towards the East Sea. The clear spring seeping from the bottom of the rift reflected the current appearance of the Primordial Demon Lord; even the number of tentacles on his bat wings and the faces of the Soul Shadows entwined on each tentacle were clearly visible. "He's here," he murmured. As soon as his voice fell, his Heaven and Earth Dharma Body, as tall as himself, rose behind him. The four... Ji Guangying was now only Beginning of Chaos of winter and summer: the blazing summer sun and the freezing winter ice intertwined on his clothing, transforming into a cyan-gold armor. The words "Life and Death Characters" and "death" were engraved on the armor plates; the character for "life" resembled sprouting willow branches, while the character for "death" resembled ashes from a burnt-out fire. Where the two characters intertwined, there was a primordial gray-white hue. The Life and Death Vortex and death in his palm was spinning like a wheel. Beyond the cyan and gold light, there was a ring of Primordial Chaos gray-white, a sign of touching the very origin of heaven and earth. As the vortex spun, the surrounding air rippled slightly, as if even time itself was being pulled along by this power.

As the Black Tide swept over the fishing village in the East Sea, the eerie blue light from the Greed-Envy Bowl and anger first swept across the fishing boats. The old fisherman, hauling in his nets, suddenly saw a vision: his son, who had gone to sea three months ago and never returned, was engulfed in flames, his charred hand outstretched to him on the deck, his skin curled like burnt paper. From the cabin came the wailing of his daughter-in-law and grandson, the cries overlapping with the words of advice he remembered when his son was sent off to sea, chilling him to the bone. "My son!" the old fisherman cried, his eyes wide with rage, his hand gripping the oar suddenly turning away, his rough... His knuckles turned white from the force, as he rowed the boat into the depths of the Black Tide, as if that would allow him to pierce through the illusion and rescue his loved ones. The chains of the Insulation Blade lashed out like venomous snakes, snapping onto the trunk of the Spirit Vein Tree. The newly sprouted buds withered instantly, transforming into black vines that coiled back towards the tree crown. The thorns on the vines pierced the trunk, sucking out the emerald sap. The sap, once it hit the ground, became a black swamp of poison, from which countless tiny bubbles rose, each bubble reflecting the horrific scene of living beings being devoured.

"Your runes can purify demonic energy, but they cannot purify the Demonic Thought in people's hearts!" The Primordial Demon Lord laughed wildly, his twelve pairs of bat wings flapping simultaneously. The black wind he stirred up carried the wails of Whale Demon, which, transformed by Devil Cultivation Method, became bewitching sounds that could seduce the mind. The children in the fishing village began to cry, and the seashells in their hands suddenly turned into poisonous insects, crawling across their palms and leaving burn-like marks. The women weaving nets had dazed eyes, and the net needles in their hands pierced their own palms. As the blood dripped, it condensed into black runes on the deck. Even the seabirds circling in the air lost control and crashed into the reefs, their feathers falling to the ground, each feather reflecting the scorched nests of demonic flames.

Ren Xiaoyao remained silent, simply channeling the power of the Heaven-Deriving Creation Pill through the Spirit Vein into the great net. Billions of light threads emerged from the ground, unfurling in mid-air like a forest of swords. This time, the light threads were no longer a gentle gold, but gleamed with a chilling azure light, their tips condensing the Power of Life and Death, transforming into sharp blades of light. When these blades slashed at the Soul Shadows within the Black Tide, there was no earth-shattering sound, only a soft "poof," and those twisted Soul Shadows were severed in half. Golden smoke rose from the cuts, and after the smoke dissipated, it revealed the area beneath, which was being ravaged by Whale Demon devoured the fishermen's souls—they wore familiar coarse cloth clothes, with fishing net weights hanging from their waists, the surnames engraved on the weights matching those on the ancestral tablets in the fishing village's ancestral hall. "Home." Ren Xiaoyao's voice entered their consciousness, like a spring breeze brushing across a frozen lake. The souls were bewildered for a moment, then gradually regained their clarity under the light of the blades, transforming into golden specks of light that sank into the sea, causing the edge of the Black Tide to recede slightly, revealing the clear water beneath, where fish and shrimp could be seen swimming joyfully.

"A mere trick!" The Primordial Demon Lord slammed his left arm against the Greed-Envy Bowl, causing its mouth to suddenly expand a hundredfold, spewing out countless black threads. The threads took root upon landing, instantly transforming into a vast expanse of black thorns. The thorns on the thorns gleamed with an eerie light, and the venom dripping from their tips could corrode the light threads. When the venom fell to the ground, it even eroded the hard rocks, creating fine holes. These thorns grew wildly towards the silhouettes of creatures within the net of light. The silhouette of Herdsman from the Far West Grasslands had his clothes torn by the thorns, revealing a patched wool sweater underneath; black blood even seeped from the cheeks of the silhouette of a child from the East Sea, sliding down his tender face; the bamboo rake of a woman from the Southern Region was entangled in the thorns, and tiny cracks appeared on the bamboo.

"The human heart harbors both Demonic Thought and a protective spirit." Ren Xiaoyao's voice resounded throughout heaven and earth, striking the hearts of everyone like a bell. The silhouettes of creatures within the wisps of light suddenly moved. Herdsman on the Far West Grasslands raised their carved milk wine bowls, splashing the liquid onto the thorns. The liquid transformed into golden flames in the air, carrying the fragrance of pasture grass, burning the thorns with crackling sounds and emitting black smoke carrying the stench of the sea. The burned thorn fragments transformed into tiny Grass Seeds in the flames; children in the fishing villages of the East Sea tossed seashells into the air, which exploded, turning into countless tiny seeds. Tiny raindrops of light fell on the thorns, softening their hard thorns like cotton and causing them to bloom into tiny white flowers. Meanwhile, the women of the bamboo houses in the Southern Region scattered dried herbs, which transformed into green rain in the air. These raindrops landed at the roots of the thorns, causing white flowers to sprout— Purification Flower formed from the warmth of her fingertips and the Medicinal Herb Spiritual Energy. The edges of the petals shimmered with a faint golden light, and upon touching demonic energy, they exploded with a "bang," releasing a white mist carrying the fragrance of herbs, gradually fading the black of the thorns to grayish-white, revealing the original green beneath.

The forces of both sides clashed fiercely in the air. A blinding light erupted at the boundary between the Black Tide and the light net, a light containing the scarlet of demonic energy, the golden hue of Spirit Vein, and the bluish-gray of the Power of Life and Death. These three colors intertwined, dyeing half the sky with strange hues, even obscuring the sun's rays, turning them into a faint halo on the horizon. The Insulation Blade and the light blade collided repeatedly, the crisp sound of their impact causing the clouds to churn and forming a massive vortex. Within the vortex, both black demonic energy and Golden Spiritual Energy clashed and sizzled. Mars fell onto the sea, igniting golden flames that burned the Soul Shadows at the edge of the Black Tide to ashes. The ashes condensed into white butterflies in the air, flying into the distance; the Red String chains and light threads cut and clashed, locking... The rust on the chain peeled away, revealing the original Red Thread beneath, from which tiny red flower spikes Red Thread. The light threads were also worn by the chain, creating fine cracks, from which new light threads immediately emerged, repairing the damage and making the tips of the threads shine even brighter. The twelve pairs of bat wings of the Primordial Demon Lord flapped faster and faster, each flap stirring up a new black wind, carrying the resentment of the Whale Demon and the despair of the drowning. Wherever the wind blew, vegetation withered and rocks crumbled. Ren Xiaoyao's Heaven and Earth Dharma Body remained as steady as a rock. With each rotation of the Life and Death Vortex, a patch of Black Tide was purified into golden rain. The rain fell on the sea surface, making a "sizzling" sound, the sound of demonic energy being dissolved. The rainwater flowed into the sea, making the seawater clearer and clearer, allowing schools of fish to swim on the seabed.

After three days and three nights of fierce fighting, the Primordial Demon Lord's bat wings had been severed seven times by the light blades. The blood gushing from the severed ends was no longer Black Blood, but a ghostly blue mist of souls. This mist turned to white smoke upon contact with the air, within which the remnants of the Whale Demon's Soul Shadows could be seen struggling. For the first time, panic flashed in his eyes. The ghostly blue light within the Greed-Envy Bowl became unstable, sometimes as bright as day, sometimes as dim as a candle—the Whale Demon's essence was being purified by the Power of Life and Death. The face of the drowning person condensed on the rim of the bowl gradually blurred, revealing a peaceful expression beneath. "Impossible!" he roared, suddenly slamming the Greed-Envy Bowl down on the Spirit Vein Tree. With the bowl's rim aimed at the treetop, countless ghostly blue lights of fear poured out. These lights contained the despair of the billions of lives he had devoured, enough to corrupt the essence of any Spirit Vein. Wherever the light passed, even the air rippled with black.

Just then, all the Clover in the crack of the Floating Island suddenly bloomed. Four leaves (one had appeared out of nowhere) transformed into emerald green runes. The runes flew towards the East Sea along the trajectory of the Spirit Vein. When they passed through the barriers of the Black Tide and the light net, they were scorched by demonic energy and emitted blue smoke, but they still stubbornly flew forward, finally landing precisely on the light screen of the Spirit Vein Tree. The moment the runes merged with the light screen, they actually solidified into a huge mirror in front of the Greed-Envy Bowl. There was no light of fear or illusion of despair in the mirror, only the appearance of the Primordial Demon Lord in his youth: wearing a faded plain Daoist robe, sitting under the peach tree at the mountain gate reciting scriptures. Sunlight shone through the pink peach blossoms onto his shoulders, dyeing half of his robe a pale pink. His fingertips were stained with ink from grinding ink, which swayed gently with the turning of the pages. He was reciting "Heaven and Earth are ruthless, treating all things as straw dogs," his tone full of youthful earnestness and persistence.

"No—" The Primordial Demon Lord roared in agony, the Greed-Envy Bowl trembled violently, and the eerie blue within instantly dissipated, revealing the empty bottom. His greatest fear was not being purified, but remembering that he was once the boy who vowed under the peach tree to "protect the peace of this world." That memory was like a key, suddenly prying open his heart, which had been sealed by demonic energy, and countless scenes he had deliberately forgotten surged forth: the hot tea his master handed him, the teacup still retaining a faint fragrance; the pastries his fellow disciples shared with him, the aroma of sesame seeds wrapped in oil paper; and the girl waiting for him outside the mountain gate, her hair in twin buns, carrying a food box filled with freshly baked Osmanthus Cake. The sweet fragrance of the cakes wafted through his memory, making his parched eyes moisten.

Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Ren Xiaoyao's Life and Death Vortex had already transformed into a Light Spear over ten feet long. At the tip of the Light Spear, a drop of Chaos Qi condensed, its presence almost imperceptible, yet causing ripples to spread across the surrounding space. As it pierced through the chains of the Insulation Blade, the links melted away like snow meeting the sun, Light Spear pierced into the heart of the Primordial Demon Lord without any hindrance—the very lair of his original Demonic Thought, and the vital point where the Whale Demon's Demonic Soul core merged with his Demonic Essence.

With a soft "plop," the Light Spear pierced the hilt. The Primordial Demon Lord's body stiffened abruptly, his twelve remaining bat wings abruptly stopped flapping, and the tentacles on his wing membranes instantly straightened, the entwined Soul Shadows turning into specks of fireflies in the golden light. He looked down at the Light Spear in his chest, his pupils reflecting the Primordial Chaos light dancing on the spear tip, and within that light, his complete figure in a Daoist robe was reflected, gently shaking his head at him.

"So..." Black Blood spilled from his throat, turning into white petals as it fell to the ground. "I have ultimately... become the very thing I hated most."

Before the words were even finished, his body began to disintegrate inch by inch. This time, it didn't transform into any concrete form, but instead directly crumbled into the purest particles of light—half black from the sedimentation of demonic energy, and half golden from the purification of the Spirit Vein. The two types of light particles circled three times in the air, as if bidding a final farewell, before finally merging into the Spirit Vein Grand Network. The threads of the net of light instantly increased a hundredfold, enveloping the entire East Sea. Azure-gold light flowed between the meshes of the net. Those creatures that had been scorched by demonic flames, the moment they touched the net of light, their wounds oozed transparent fluid, and the scabs fell off.

The Insulation Blade, deprived of its Demonic Essence support, shattered into countless points of light. The Red String wrapped around it suddenly untied, one end pointing towards the campfire of the Herdsman on the Far West Grasslands, causing the flickering flames to suddenly bloom into golden flowers; the other end pointing towards the fishing boat of the fishermen in the East Sea, causing the fish and shrimp in the nets to leap out of the water all at once, drawing colorful arcs in the air. The rust on the Red String gradually faded, revealing its original bright red color, with a few golden particles still clinging to the rope, like Star Fragments that someone had accidentally brushed against.

The Greed-Envy Bowl fell from the sky, landing with a "plop" on the sea beside the fishing boat. The rim of the bowl caught a single raindrop falling from the sky. The raindrop transformed into a mirror in the bowl, reflecting the entire Spirit Vein Tree; and others held children, shards of sunlight leaking through their fingers.

Finally, the head of the Primordial Demon Lord dissipated. He gazed in the direction of the Tianyan Continent, the demonic fire in his right eye extinguished, revealing his original black eye. For the first time, there was no resentment in his eyes, only an unyielding sense of relief and guilt. "So... this world has always tolerated me." His voice was as soft as the wind brushing against flower petals. As it fell, his head transformed into thousands of rays of light, scattering across the East Sea.