Heulia Dies by Her Own Hand, Tang San: Heavenly Principles Distort the Heart!

Heulia walked out of the divine temple, looking at her terrified subjects. A gentle yet sorrowful smile appeared on her face. She reached out her hand, as if to comfort them.

But at that very moment.

A stone spear, without warning, pierced through her chest from behind.

The one who struck was her most trusted friend, the Rock Demon God who had always helped and protected her—Morax.

No, perhaps not.

The light screen's perspective pulled back, and people saw Morax standing in the distance, his face filled with shock and grief he couldn't hide in time.

That spear was not his.

The true murderers were the very subjects Heulia had sworn to protect.

Their faces twisted with a mix of fanaticism and fear, they swarmed forward, completely engulfing their goddess's fragile body.

"Forgive us, Goddess!"

"To survive, we had no choice!"

"Your power is too weak to protect us! So please... become our token of allegiance to the strong!"

The Salt Demon God, betrayed by her own subjects, dissolved into salt dust and scattered between heaven and earth.

This scene plunged every onlooker into an icy abyss.

"No... no..." Xiao Xiao broke down sobbing.

Even Ji Dong, a man with an iron will, trembled with rage, black-and-white flames erupting uncontrollably from his body.

"Beasts! A pack of beasts!"

Lie Yan gripped his hand tightly, but her own fingertips were ice-cold.

Tang San slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a flash of the Purple Demon Eye flickered past.

"I understand now."

"This isn't simple betrayal."

"This is contamination by the rules. The Heavenly Principles' divine decree isn't just a command—it's like a meme, a thought virus, polluting all of Teyvat. It amplifies the darkness within every living being—fear, greed, selfishness."

"Heulia's subjects didn't just betray her. Their minds were twisted by the 'rules' themselves. Faced with the supreme directive of 'survive at any cost,' their reverence for their god crumbled."

Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Spear let out a low hum, as if mourning the gentle goddess who had passed.

"In the name of protection, they commit murder. In the name of love, they commit betrayal."

Gu Yuena's silver eyes were so cold they could freeze time itself.

"This is the Archon War."

At that moment, the light screen's image shifted again.

The golden pillar that pierced heaven and earth slowly dissipated, but the Heavenly Principles' divine decree had already transformed into invisible shackles, branded into every inch of Teyvat's land and every wisp of its elements.

Former friends, former allies—in that instant, their eyes changed.

Morax looked at Guizhong beside him. This close friend's face was full of grief and confusion. He wanted to reach out, to pat her shoulder as he always did, to tell her everything would be alright.

But that hand froze mid-air.

Beneath the divine decree, all were dust.

They, too, were enemies.

The light screen's perspective shifted to the Salt Demon God, Heulia.

She curled up in her divine temple, trembling. If she couldn't even protect her own subjects, how could she survive this war sweeping across heaven and earth?

Fear, confusion, resentment, anger, resolve...

Countless intense emotions erupted simultaneously across every corner of the continent.

The war had already begun.

The image no longer showed a grand panorama, but specific demon gods.

One demon god, who once delighted in brewing fine wine and sharing it with other gods, was now wiping down a dust-covered spear. His gentle face held only cold determination.

Another goddess, who once wove illusions to bring sweet dreams to her subjects, now stood at the border of her kingdom, gazing at the neighboring land. Its owner had once been her best friend. Now, that land was the "nourishment" she must devour to survive.

"Love" and "protection" became the most sanctimonious excuses.

"For my subjects, I must claim final victory."

"To protect this land, I can only invite you to become dust."

Similar words echoed across every corner of Teyvat. The warmth of the past was torn apart completely. What lay bare before everyone was the naked law of the jungle.

Seven seats meant only seven victors.

And on the Teyvat Continent, the named and unnamed demon gods numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands.

This was a culling destined to flow with rivers of blood.

"They've all lost their minds!" Xu Sanshi couldn't help but roar, his Black Tortoise Shell Shield instinctively appearing before him as if to block the malice rushing toward them. "All for some meaningless divine decree? Thousands of years of friendship thrown away just like that?"

"This isn't madness, Sanshi." Bei Bei's voice was heavy. As the senior disciple of the Tang Sect, he saw the issue from a deeper angle. "This is fear. When death becomes the only destination, and the only way to survive is to kill others, any morality or emotion becomes fragile beyond repair."

He Caitou pushed his cigar but didn't light it. "From another angle, this is the most efficient 'resource consolidation.' All scattered power, through mutual devouring, ultimately converges onto the seven strongest individuals. The method is brutal, but the goal... is terrifyingly clear."

His words sent another chill down everyone's spine.

"B-but the Goddess Guizhong and Goddess Heulia..." Xiao Xiao's tears welled up again. "They're so gentle. They don't want to fight at all!"

Tang Ya gently hugged her, her own body trembling slightly. "In such rules, gentleness is the Original Sin."

No one is born a Tyrant, but the Rules force you to pick up the butcher's knife.

Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Eye flickered. What he saw was no longer mere images, but the entire sky above the Teyvat World, thick with Negative Emotions that refused to dissipate.

Resentment, greed, fear, bloodlust... countless black-red auras surged skyward, staining the heavens of the entire world with an ominous Blood Red.

"The 'emotions' of a world have been detonated in this single moment." Rong Nianbing's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of his chair. As the God of Emotion, he could clearly sense the madness sweeping heaven and earth. "The Heavenly Principles aren't selecting Strong Ones. They're creating Monsters. Using the most extreme emotions to feed seven of the coldest, most powerful 'Gods.'"

"More than just Monsters." Zhou Weiqing let out two cold chuckles, but there was none of his usual roguishness in the laughter—only bone-deep chill. "This is Raising Gu. Throw thousands of venomous insects into a single jar, let them slaughter each other, and the last one standing is the Gu King. These Demon Gods are those venomous insects."