Demon of Tianyan
In the instant the "blank" contracted, the colossal body of the Creation Azure Beast, as large as a mountain, suddenly disintegrated like Glazed Ice cup accidentally shattered by a mischievous child. Layer upon layer of scales transformed into a sky full of azure light, each speck of light enveloping a clear phantom of Remnant Souls of Living Beings —birds flapping their wings stretched out their fully restored feathers, the feather tips gleaming with the luster of the sky after rain, and when their tail feathers spread out, one could even count the veins of each feather; fleeing beasts shook off the bloodstains on their limbs, the soil beneath their hooves still damp with the mountains and fields, and the grass clippings clinging to their manes gently drifting away with their movements; the sword-wielding cultivator brushed away the despair in the sword light, the arc of the sword tassel returning to its composure, and the jade pendant revealed as his robes fluttered, gleaming with a warm luster.
They circled three times in the rain of light, as if bidding farewell to this once ravaged land. The air currents from their flapping wings carried shimmering halos of light, and finally, like weary birds returning to their nests, they sank into the vegetation and rocks of the Floating Island: beneath the withered pine needles, tender green buds broke through the frozen earth with a delicate, crisp sound, as soft as silkworms munching on mulberry leaves. In the dewdrops at the tips of the buds, one could even see the reflection of the past surging of the pine winds, and even the rolling trajectory of the dewdrops replicated the rhythm of the pine breeze, tracing a graceful arc as they slid from the tip of the leaf to its heart; on the grayish-white remains of the Crystal Moss, a pale blue light followed... The veins of the leaf meandered like a spring stream flowing over a cracked riverbed, even the most peripheral fragments seemed to come alive. The curled edges of the fragments were slowly unfurling, the speed of which was perfectly synchronized with the rhythm of the flowing light particles. The empty gap in the Tai Chi Ring Star Map was gently filled by a wisp of newly formed Purple-Gold Airflow. The airflow moved with a heartbeat-like rhythm, each rise and fall resonating with the earth's veins on the Floating Island, as if new flesh was quietly growing in the wound. Even the faint sound of cell division during growth could be clearly heard, like countless tiny drumbeats echoing in the void.
Just as the last trace of the Azure Beast's breath vanished, the Ethereal Blue Gap in the western sky suddenly expanded violently, like a piece of silk being torn apart by a giant hand. The void at the rift trembled slightly, emitting a sound as fine as the friction of silk, mixed with the crisp sound of the void shattering.
The Azure Glazed Porcelain Shard flowing along the edge of the crevice shattered completely, transforming into countless streams of bluish-black light. These streams intertwined and collided in the air, producing a crisp metallic clang, and finally coalesced into a ghostly face that blotted out the sky. The airflow around the edge of the ghostly face was distorted by this evil power, preventing even sunlight from penetrating it. Light that struck the ghostly face dissolved like water droplets falling into mud.
The ghostly face was formed by twisted Light and Darkness Qi, like two torrents that would never intersect being forcibly entangled, every inch of its lines revealing struggle and violence; its left eye was a blazing white tempered with the Sun Essence, looking as if three thousand blazing suns were burning within it, even the void was slightly scorched, and the air that came into contact with this white light would ripple with distorted heat waves, within which one could see the phantom of air molecules moving violently; its right eye was a deep black condensed with the Moon Soul, where it seemed as if an ancient cold pool slumbered at its depths, and when the air currents passed by, they would tremble like ice shards, and the dust that came near would instantly freeze into Ice Crystals, the edges of the Ice Crystals refracting a faint, cold light.
The wide grin at the corners of his mouth almost tore the sky apart, revealing fangs stained with the afterimages of stardust and blood droplets. The stardust flickered on the tips of his fangs, each flash corresponding to the birth and death of a star, bright as a new star exploding, dark as Stellar Collapse; within the blood droplets, one could see countless shrunken, wailing faces, their pain and despair overflowing as if they were real, making one's heart tighten at the sight of them, as if that pain were crawling along one's gaze into one's own soul.
"Ren Xiaoyao..."
The sound did not come from the air, but exploded directly in the depths of the sea of consciousness, like countless vengeful spirits being sealed in a bronze bell and howling, making the sea of consciousness buzz and the barriers at the edge of the sea of consciousness ripple; it was also like the Heaven and Earth Laws whispering in the Primordial Chaos, with an unquestionable majesty, every word striking the soul, every syllable exuding the weight of the Principle.
The gray-white depths of Ren Xiaoyao's consciousness suddenly sank, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, stirring up layers of waves; dense black threads instantly emerged from the pale ink patterns, each thread as sticky as spider silk soaked in ink, and the shrunken phantom of "Ren Xiaoyao" wrapped on the threads was lifelike: as an infant, clenching his fists and crying, with vernix caseosa still clinging to his eyelashes, his cries filled with ignorance and unease about the world, his little fists clenched until his knuckles turned white; as a teenager, standing with a sword in hand, his brows burning with an indomitable edge, the curve of his clothes fluttering in the wind revealing his stubbornness, the sword light flowing from his fingertips carrying a youthful yet sharp aura; when cultivating, sitting cross-legged in meditation, the spiritual light condensed at his fingertips had not yet dissipated, the rhythm of his breathing still maintaining the Inhale and Exhale and exhalation, the slight furrow between his brows revealing his focused concentration—all of these were the most vivid fragments of his Rebirth.
"The Demon of Tianyan!" Ren Xiaoyao's pupils shrank to needle size, the outline of a ghost face reflected in his eyes. His fingertips tensed slightly due to this sudden change, and faint white marks appeared on his knuckles. The air around him paused slightly because of this low shout.
This Strange Beasts is not a physical entity of flesh and blood, but rather a condensation of the "Rebellious Power" that dissipated during the evolution of heaven and earth. It feeds on the obsessions of living beings and the imperfections of heaven and earth. Its very existence is a challenge to the Heaven and Earth Order, as if it were a wound that heaven and earth themselves had grown into that is difficult to heal.
Legend has it that wherever it appears, spring can instantly turn to winter, flowers wither into snow in a flash, and dewdrops on petals freeze into ice before they can even fall; life can turn to death instantly, and living things turn into skeletons in the blink of an eye, with the warmth of life still lingering in the cracks of the bones; even the Timeline will be tangled up, with fragments of the past and future freely weaving through the present, making it impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion, and a child one second can become an old man with white hair the next.
The demonic face of the Demon of Tianyan slowly pressed down, obscuring half of the light and shadow on the Floating Island. Wherever the shadow passed, the Spiritual Qi stopped flowing, as if frozen by this evil power. Even the falling dust became slow, condensing into still little dots in the air.
The blazing white light from the left eye swept across like a waterfall, and wherever it passed, new green shoots sprouted at a visible speed. The moment the tips of the shoots broke through the air, they whistled softly, instantly transforming into towering Sky-Piercing Ancient Tree that required ten people to encircle. The tree's grain clearly showed the marks of a hundred years of wind and frost, and even the individual annual rings could be counted. The density of the annual rings concealed the past droughts, floods, and scorching heat. But in the blink of an eye, the ancient tree began to decay from the roots, decaying at an astonishing speed. Branches and leaves fell in a rustling sound, turning into dust in the air. In the blink of an eye, the entire ancient tree turned into a handful of black mud, and the seedlings emerging from the mud still bore the lines of the annual rings, as if they had just returned from a thousand years of trekking, carrying the vicissitudes and weariness of time.
The deep black current from the right eye surged across the cliff face like a tide, forcibly pulling the remnant soul of the Crystal Moss back into its body. It flickered repeatedly between deathly gray and vibrant green, each transition emitting a faint, mosquito-like wail, a wail that concealed the pain of its soul being torn apart; as if pressed and repeatedly crushed on the edge of life and death by an invisible hand, even the opening and closing of its cells was filled with tearing pain. The outline of the remnant soul became blurred due to this repeated torment, and a faint aura of Void rose from its edges.
"You merge with birth and death, follow the Void, harmonize light and darkness... but you've forgotten that the evolution of heaven and earth inherently allows for 'reversal'." The ghost face's fangs trembled slightly, each one vibrating subtly and emitting a low hum; countless black threads emerged from the void, coiling around Ren Xiaoyao's limbs like venomous snakes. The threads glowed with a faint purple light, emanating an aura that corroded the soul, an aura that made one dizzy and disoriented, as if the internal organs had been poisoned.
The phantom of "Ren Xiaoyao" on the silk thread began to roar and struggle; the Infant Phantoms cried out with its toothless mouth open, its cries filled with the fear of abandonment, its tiny hands scratching wildly in the air, its fingernails still stained with illusory vernix caseosa; the phantom of a boy brandished an invisible sword, his eyes surging with the restlessness of unfulfilled desire, his sword moves scattered yet filled with a desperate ferocity, each strike slashing into the void, stirring up subtle fluctuations of spiritual energy; the Cultivator Phantoms pounded his chest, revealing the despair of a hopeless breakthrough, the spiritual light around him dimmed by this emotion, even taking on a grayish hue—the spiritual light clamored to try and burrow into his meridians, to etch these obsessions into his very essence, to make him a prisoner of his obsessions, never to be freed.
Ren Xiaoyao felt a sea of consciousness throbbing with excruciating pain, as if countless tiny knives were churning within it, every inch of his soul aching. The emotions evoked by the illusory figures surged forth like a tsunami: the fervor of his youth seeking the Dao burned his internal organs like embers, the burning sensation spreading from his dantian to every limb, even his fingertips aching; the frustration of encountering a bottleneck in cultivation cut like a dull knife slicing through his meridians, each breath a tearing pain, his breath becoming sluggish; the apprehension he felt when facing a powerful enemy froze his soul like ice, even his thoughts... His mind became sluggish, his thoughts shifting as if separated by a thick layer of ice... These emotions hampered his control over life and death, causing Light and Darkness Qi to swirl within him. When golden fireflies collided with the deep vortex, they didn't create ripples of fusion, but rather a piercing explosion, accompanied by the crisp sound of energy annihilation. Even the gray-white hue that Heaven and Earth Resonance rippled, the Clear and Moist Aura within the pale ink patterns becoming turbid, like a stirred-up lake, obscuring the view from its depths.
"Roar!" The Demon of Tianyan inhaled sharply, and a bottomless Black Hole split open in the center of its ghostly face. The airflow around the edge of the Black Hole swirled wildly, forming a bluish-black vortex with a suction force a hundred times stronger than that of the Azure Beast. Even light was distorted by this suction force, forming curved light trails around the Black Hole.
The newly revived Spiritual Qi of the Floating Island was forcibly sucked back, forming a visible Spiritual Energy Vortex. The density of Spiritual Qi at the center of the vortex was extremely high, almost condensed into a liquid state. The newly sprouted branches and leaves of the ancient pine withered at a visible speed, and the pine needles fell with scorched patterns, as if they had been scorched by invisible flames. The trajectory of their fall conveyed a sense of powerless descent. The faint light of the moss was like a candle flickering in the wind, seemingly about to be completely extinguished. Each flash of light was dimmer than the last, as if it were making a final struggle. Even the Star Map in the Tai Chi Ring began to rotate in reverse, and the rhythm of the stars' flashing was completely disordered. The Star Orbit that were originally flowing Prograde were now twisted into a mess. Some stars even collided and produced tiny sparks. When the sparks fell, they made a faint popping sound, and the popping sound carried the aura of annihilation of Star Power.
"Reverse?" Ren Xiaoyao suddenly laughed, his laughter filled with relief and clarity, like sunlight breaking through the clouds. The Purple-Gold Blood Qi overflowing from his throat condensed in the air into a half-open lotus flower, the edges of the petals still tinged with a faint blood color. On the petals, Light and Darkness Qi intertwined like swimming fish to form Tai Chi Pattern. Golden fireflies shuttled through the dark patterns, leaving behind fragmented light trails, the color of which changed slightly with the flow of air. Deep vortexes floated in the light veins, their edges shimmering with a soft halo, within which tiny Energy Particles could be seen leaping.
"Birth and death are inherently reversible; spring ends and begins anew, leaves fall and bloom again; Void inherently encompasses both reversal and order, able to embrace all rivers flowing into the sea, and also to accommodate a lone boat sailing against the current; light and darkness are inherently two sides of the same coin, the moon only appears when day ends, and the sun only appears when night is over—what you call 'reversal' is merely another aspect of the evolution of heaven and earth, just the complementary roe in the Yin-Yang Fish Eyes." His voice was calm yet carried immense power, each word like a pebble thrown into a lake, rippling through the void, causing the chaotic Spiritual Qi to pause slightly wherever the ripples passed.
As he finished speaking, he voluntarily released all restraints on his power, as if he had unloaded a heavy burden. His aura became even purer, like a polished piece of jade revealing its inner warmth.
The gray-white depths of his consciousness no longer resisted the black threads, but instead transformed into a gentle flow of water, softly lifting each "Ren Xiaoyao" phantom, like a mother soothing a crying child. The water flowed with an aura of tolerance and understanding, carrying a faint warmth. The "Life" seal on his left hand and the "Death" seal on his right hand merged on his chest, transforming into Primordial Chaos of green-gray energy. Within this energy, one could see seeds stubbornly sprouting from the ashes, the tender shoots pushing through the scorched earth with an unyielding arc, their pale yellow tips shining brightly against the gray-black, revealing the resilience of life. Stars began to collapse at birth, the brilliance of their bursting flames and the bleakness of their return to death unfolding simultaneously. These two extreme scenes coexisted harmoniously within the energy flow, without conflict.
The Light and Darkness Qi around them completely merged. The moment the golden firefly pierced into the deep vortex, the "Void" at the center of the vortex was no longer as cold as iron. Instead, it rippled with warmth, like a campfire in the cold winter reflecting on the face of a returning traveler, bringing warmth that dispelled the cold, and even the air became gentle; or like starlight in the night falling into the eyes of a traveler, lighting up the way forward and giving rise to hope in one's heart.
"With my body, I fuse life and death into one furnace; with my knowledge, I take the Void as a vessel; with my power, I combine light and darkness into Tai Chi!" Ren Xiaoyao's voice suddenly rose, like thunder piercing the sky, echoing in every corner of the Floating Island. Wherever the sound waves passed, the Spiritual Qi resonated, forming visible waves of energy.
Ren Xiaoyao's figure blurred in the blue light, his ink-black robes blending into the flowing clouds of the Floating Island, making it impossible to distinguish between the robes and the clouds. He seemed to have become a part of heaven and earth, his aura resonating with the world.
Beneath the skin, countless flowing lines emerge. On the left is the verdant green of growing vegetation, where the traces of sap flowing through the veins of leaves can be seen, each flow carrying the vitality of life, the color of the sap subtly changing with the delivery of nutrients; on the right is the gray-black of Star Annihilation, where the vibrations of particles during the collapse of the Star Core can be discerned, each vibration containing the Mysteries of the Universe, the frequency of particle collisions matching the rhythm of the Star Circulation.
The cinnabar mark between his brows resonated with the gray-white of his sea of consciousness, emitting a clear light like the dawn breaking, instantly illuminating the entire Floating Island. Even the cracks in the cliff face shone with a warm light. Wherever the light passed, the Spiritual Qi became gentle and peaceful, no longer chaotic, like a tamed wild horse.
The black threads that were binding him touched the clear light and instantly transformed into countless points of light, like fireworks blooming in the night sky, their colors slowly changing from black to white. The illusory figure of "Ren Xiaoyao" on the threads smiled with relief amidst the points of light: the baby stopped crying, a look of satisfaction appearing on its face, a faint smile on its lips; the youth sheathed its sharpness, its eyes becoming calm, all the restlessness between its brows fading away; the cultivator suppressed its anxiety, a peaceful halo emanating from its body, its breath long and steady—these transformed into Origin Power merging into its body, the gray-white patterns deep within its sea of consciousness becoming increasingly clear, the flowing ink carrying an unprecedented transparency, like a sky washed clean by rain, clear and bright.
For the first time, the demonic face of the Demon of Tianyan showed panic. The blazing white of its left eye clashed violently with the deep black of its right eye. The two forces collided wildly within the demonic face, producing a muffled explosion. A spiderweb-like crack appeared at the boundary between white and black. What seeped out of the crack was not an aura, but fragments of time. Ancient dinosaurs and futuristic spaceships could be seen flashing by within it. The scene was chaotic and eerie, interspersed with countless blurry figures and sounds.
"Impossible! How could you..." The ghostly face's voice trembled with disbelief, mixed with a barely perceptible fear. His voice changed tone due to this emotion, losing its previous authority.
"Why not?" Ren Xiaoyao's voice seemed to come from all directions. His figure had completely merged with the world of the Floating Island, as if he were the Floating Island and the Floating Island was him, and every breath he took was in harmony with the island's pulse.
A vast Star Map covering the entire island emerged from the bluestone slabs beneath their feet. The Light and Darkness Qi on the Star Map flowed along the patterns, resonating with the celestial Star Tides. With each ray of starlight falling, a corresponding point of light lit up on the Star Map, the rhythm of the flashing points perfectly matching the Star Circulation, like the pulse of heaven and earth. The ancient pine trees on the cliffside emitted a soft, dragon-like roar, their roots penetrating deep into the rock strata like swimming dragons, continuously sending the life force of the earth's veins into their bodies. The dewdrops on the pine needles refracted a seven-colored rainbow, the colors of which slowly changed with the flow of Spiritual Qi, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet flowing in sequence. Even the Ethereal Blue Gap began to shrink, the light particles at the edge of the fissure no longer disordered, but instead flowed slowly with the Rhythm of Life and Death, as docile as stars being brought into orbit, the halo at the edge also softening, no longer carrying its previous violence.
"Suppress!"
Ren Xiaoyao raised his hand and pressed down, the movement seemingly gentle, yet imbued with the power of heaven and earth. The Star Map of the Floating Island suddenly lit up, and the Light and Darkness Qi surged forth like an awakened dragon, rushing out along the patterns of the Star Map. The Dragon Head was raised high, emitting a deafening roar; light and darkness flowed on the dragon's scales, each scale resembling a small Tai Chi Symbol, with light and darkness naturally transforming on the scales; the dragon's claws held the rhythm of birth and death, and when the claw tips swept across the void, they left behind a trajectory of Life-Death Alternation, within which subtle illusions of birth and death could be seen.
The twin dragons coiled around the demonic face of the Demon of Tianyan. Wherever they passed, the blazing white light from the left eye and the deep black energy from the right eye were forced to merge. The white was no longer scorching, and the black was no longer icy. They transformed into flowing green-gray on the dragon scales, like the shimmering light on a thawing river in early spring, soft and full of life. Tiny fish fry could be seen swimming in the shimmering light. A giant hand formed from the Heaven and Earth Void and earth rose from the center of the Star Map. The moment its five fingers opened, the void around the demonic face froze completely. The black threads that tried to escape were firmly locked in place, unable to move. The obsessions and regrets within the threads melted away like snow under the Warm Sun, revealing pure Heaven and Earth Energy. The energy flowed with the clarity of a newborn, without a trace of impurity, like an unpolluted spring in a mountain stream.
The Demon of Tianyan let out a final, unwilling roar. This roar lacked its previous domineering nature, leaving only the despair of a child who had lost his candy. The sound echoed in the void, carrying endless sorrow, and the lingering echoes lasted for a long time.
The ghost face shattered inch by inch under the strangulation of the twin dragons of light and darkness, turning into countless black and white light spots. The light spots hovered in the air for a moment, as if examining the world one last time, feeling the Rhythm of Life and Death of heaven and earth, and then drifted towards Ren Xiaoyao on their own initiative, with a sense of submission and surrender, no longer resisting as before.
He raised his hand and guided the point of light towards the Tai Chi Ring on the Floating Island —the instant the point of light merged into the Star Map, the flickering stars all stabilized, their light becoming soft and firm, no longer flickering; where the previously extinguished micro-stars had been, a new star, brighter than before, emerged, its light and darkness alternating like breathing, carrying a gentle rhythm of Cycle of Life and Death, illuminating a corner of the Star Map, making the entire Star Map more complete.
The Ethereal Blue Gap closed completely, making a soft "pop" sound as it closed. The western sky returned to clarity, even more so than before. Clouds drifted across the sky with a leisurely pace, as if the great battle that had just taken place had never happened, and the world returned to tranquility.
The Spiritual Qi of the Floating Island has begun to circulate again, forming a gentle Spiritual Qi circulation. This circulation carries the fragrance of grass and trees and the weight of mountains and rocks, and each cycle makes the Spiritual Qi energy purer. The Crystal Moss shimmers with a crystal-clear blue light, each leaf petal as if bathed in moonlight, the fine hairs on the edges of the petals clearly visible, with tiny particles of light clinging to them, trembling gently with the airflow; the branches and leaves of the ancient pine stretch out like a canopy, the sound of the pine waves carrying the joy of new life, the wind whistling through the gaps in the pine needles, producing a pleasant, soft sound, like the heavens and earth softly singing; the Light and Darkness Qi in the Tai Chi Ring alternate smoothly, flowing without any stagnation, the transition between light and dark natural and fluid, as instinctive as breathing, and a faint seven-colored halo emanates from the edge of the circle.
Ren Xiaoyao landed slowly, his feet touching the bluestone slabs. He could clearly feel the pulse of the earth flowing through his feet, each pulse synchronized with his heartbeat, as if he had made some kind of pact with this land, their auras intertwined. The moment his shoes touched the stone slabs, a faint ripple of Spiritual Qi spread out, brushing against the surrounding grass and trees, causing the leaves to sway gently.
The cinnabar mole between his brows returned to its warm, smooth state, no longer burning hot, leaving only a faint warmth. The gray-white depths of his consciousness were clear, like polished white jade. Within the faint ink lines, the forces of life and death, Void, Light and Dark Power flowed like the four seasons, spring bringing life, summer growing, autumn harvesting, and winter storing, naturally blending together without distinction.