Phanes Takes His Place on the Sky Throne! He Becomes Heavenly Principles to Suppress the Abyss, and All Demon Gods "Love Humanity"

"Wait!" Huo Yuhao suddenly spoke up, his Spiritual Eye filled with shock and doubt. "If 'love' is the only criterion, then wouldn't that mean... the Demon Gods would also judge one another by that standard?"

The moment he said this, everyone was stunned again.

A flash of insight seemed to strike Tang San's mind, and he immediately followed Huo Yuhao's line of thought. "If a Demon God committed an act that harmed humanity, even unintentionally, or for some more distant goal, then in the judgment of the other Demon Gods, wouldn't he have violated the law of 'love'? Wouldn't he have lost his value for existence?"

"They would... kill each other?" Bei Bei blurted out, then felt a chill run down his spine.

"It's not impossible." Xu Sanshi's expression changed as well. He recalled his Black Tortoise Turtle Spirit Ring, which represented protection. "This is a self-correcting, self-purifying system. Once a 'Demon God' develops a 'program error,' the other 'Demon Gods' become an 'antivirus program' and eliminate him."

"My god..." Xiao Xiao covered her mouth.

This was no longer tragic grandeur. This was brutal.

Phanes had not only assigned them duties toward the outside world, but also established an internal "purging" mechanism. Everything was meant to ensure the absolute purity of the core law: "love humanity."

Niu Tian and Tai Tan, the two burly men, looked at each other. In one another's eyes, they saw only two words: awe.

Such planning, such intellect, had already surpassed their understanding of power.

"Then let's return to the original question." Chang Gongwei spoke in a low voice, drawing everyone's thoughts back. "Who would be the first to accept this fate?"

Now, the weight of that question was more than a thousand times greater than before.

That was not merely the first Demon God. It was the first prisoner to wear the "Shackles of Love," the first cornerstone of this great yet cruel plan.

Just as everyone held their breath and waited for the Light Screen to reveal this heavy answer, the image on it suddenly changed.

There was no name, no face.

Instead, a magnificent scene so breathtaking it nearly suffocated them appeared.

In the image, the great being they called Phanes slowly rose into the air. He was no longer the imposing God of War who had battled giant dragons. Though his light remained brilliant, it carried an indescribable sense of exhaustion and fracture. For the last time, his gaze swept across the land below, which had just endured creation and destruction, and across those tiny yet vibrant humans struggling to survive amid the ruins.

That glance contained too many complicated emotions. There was relief, reluctance, resolve, and an inexpressible loneliness buried deep within.

"He... is leaving." Lie Yan's voice was very soft. As a former enforcer of the God Realm, she understood better than anyone the desolation of reaching the summit.

Ji Dong silently took her hand. In Phanes, he saw a familiar shadow—the unflinching resolve to burn oneself away for a belief and bear everything alone.

The next moment, Phanes transformed into a streak of light that pierced heaven and earth. Without the slightest hesitation, he shot straight toward the floating island high in the sky, already crumbling beyond repair.

[Phanes had completed his final arrangement for the mortal world.]

[His divine body returned to the ruined Sky Throne. He would spend the long years to come nursing the wounds left by his desperate battle against the seven Dragon Kings, while using himself as a prison to eternally suppress the Curse from the Abyss.]

The cold words emerged, every character like a heavy hammer smashing viciously into everyone's hearts.

"Suppressing... the Curse of the Abyss?" Tang San's pupils contracted. "His enemies weren't only those seven Dragon Kings? He was also fighting an even deeper threat?"

"So this wasn't a retirement after victory, but a... strategic retreat!" Dai Hao's voice was hoarse. An Emperor's keen instincts allowed him to see the truth at once. "He turned himself into this world's first line of defense, and its last! He imprisoned himself above the heavens!"

Xue Ye's body trembled slightly. The old emperor muttered to himself, "What we saw was only what he was willing to let us see. Beneath that glorious myth of creation lay endless solitude and battle... Was this the destiny of Gods...?"

The image on the Light Screen did not stop there.

As Phanes vanished into Sky Island, a term slowly enlarged at the center of the image.

[Heavenly Principles]

[Heavenly Principles retreated behind the scenes. From this day onward, the stage of Teyvat was entrusted to the Demon Gods.]

As the words fell, the panorama of the entire world rapidly shifted before them. Across the land, one incomparably powerful aura after another surged into the heavens, as though answering some silent summons. Mountain peaks, ocean depths, cloudbanks, wildernesses... hundreds of figures emerged within their respective domains. They came in all forms and possessed overwhelming auras, each one wielding power enough to destroy heaven and earth.

They were the "Demon Gods" Phanes had spoken of.

"Hundreds..." Zhou Weiqing sucked in a sharp breath. He himself had only achieved greatness through all manner of fortunate coincidences, yet on the screen, experts of the same level appeared in batches! "How... how many monsters did he create?"

"They are not monsters." Gu Yuena's voice was cool. As the Lord of Soul Beasts, her understanding of "laws" far exceeded that of ordinary people. "They are part of the order. Look. Though they are powerful, their boundaries are clearly defined, as if invisible borders separate them."

Tang Wulin followed her indication and looked. Sure enough, although those Demon Gods possessed vast auras, not one of them took the initiative to cross the line and invade another Demon God's territory. Amid a strange kind of "peace," the world began a new chapter.

A brand-new era, an era jointly ruled by hundreds of Demon Gods bound by "love," had begun.

"I understand now..." Rong Nianbing, the Ice Fire Demon Chef who controlled seven ultimate emotions, wore an exceedingly complicated expression. "Phanes did not answer who was first because... there was no first!"

The moment he said that, everyone was stunned.

Rong Nianbing continued, "This was not persuasion or transformation carried out one by one. This was an Imperial Decree! A law that descended into the depths of every chosen Demon God's soul at the same time! The instant they were born—or the instant Phanes ascended to the heavens—these Shackles had already been placed around all their necks!"

"Love humanity" was not a choice. It was a Factory Setting!

"My god..." Xiao Xiao felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head. "From the moment they gained consciousness until now, they may never have known what 'freedom' feels like."