As evening fell, Yehui watched her sleeping daughter, her heart full of love.
Mom and Dad, can you see this from heaven?
Your daughter is no longer an Evil Soul Master whom everyone curses and hunts. I have a husband who loves me deeply, and a daughter with limitless potential.
I can feel that the clan chief finally truly accepted me today. Can you see that, too?
Her eyes grew especially bright. The knot in her heart over being an Evil Soul Master, which had tormented her for so many years, had finally come undone.
Her heart filled with love for her daughter and sweet happiness. Watching the little girl sleep, she wore a faint, tender smile.
She didn't fight off sleep. Instead, she closed her eyes, her long lashes lowering over them as her breathing gradually evened out.
She really needed a good night's sleep. After sleeping, she would forget all her weariness and welcome a beautiful tomorrow.
The jumbled emotions in her mind gradually settled and faded away. At last, after years without a dream, she finally drifted into one.
As Yehui and her daughter fell asleep, anyone watching would have noticed a purple glow rising from Yuan'en Yehui.
Following their physical contact, the purple glow flowed into Yehui, entering Yuan'en Yehui's mother.
The aura around Yehui began to undergo a subtle, imperceptible transformation. A faint purple radiance spread across the surface of her skin, while gentle Soul Power flowed through her body and into her Soul Core. Her Soul Power naturally grew purer, striking the already thin barrier.
The knot in her heart had come undone, and an unknown force bolstered her, on top of the Soul Master's strength she had accumulated over many years.
In her sleep, Yehui broke through the Soul Douluo realm and reached the Titled Douluo level.
Astonishingly, a layer of purple light continued to surface around Yehui. Though she hadn't absorbed a Soul Ring, a ninth Soul Ring appeared just like that.
This ninth Soul Ring was unlike the traditional kind. It shone gold and purple, a strange sight. Anyone who saw it would never mistake it for a thousand-year purple Soul Ring.
In her dream, Yehui sank deeper and deeper into her thoughts.
"Yehui, come here. Come over here." Her husband was holding their daughter's hand and waving to her.
"Tiangang, I'm coming!" Yehui ran toward them happily. But for some reason, no matter how much she sped up, she couldn't reach them, though they were so close. They always remained just out of reach.
Then she saw her daughter give a wicked smile, purple light filling her eyes. In the next instant, the two of them merged, forming a monster with one body and two heads.
A pair of enormous wings slowly spread from the monster's back. Yehui cried out in agony, her mind seeming to crash.
A cloud of purple smoke rose, enveloping Yehui and the monster.
When the smoke dispersed, Yehui had vanished, leaving only a three-headed monster behind.
Yehui's head was in the center. The other two looked three parts human and seven parts dog.
"Darkness descends. Only through falling can one be free!" the three-headed monster chanted.
An immense power filled Yehui's body. Thick darkness poured into her, transforming and strengthening her. Behind her, the phantom of a gigantic Hell Three-Headed Dog flickered into view.
Cold, frenzied thoughts of slaughter burrowed into Yehui's Sea of Consciousness. Her once-pure Sea of Consciousness turned blood-red in an instant, as bloodlust, fear, and all sorts of negative emotions began to grow.
The urge to kill filled her mind. A bloodthirsty, frenzied aura surged within her. As Yehui slept, her body twisted again and again, moving toward a cold, dark world.
Suddenly, Yehui opened her eyes. The scene from her dream vanished into nothingness. She seemed not to notice her sleeping daughter beside her. Her entire aura turned gloomy, like an abyss that devoured all light.
Her eyes had turned deep purple, and purple light spilled from them. The wings of a Fallen Angel slowly unfurled behind her, and an aura of deathly destruction filled her.
"Roar!"
A low growl escaped her throat. It carried an indescribable pressure and seemed utterly at odds with this world.
"Mom, where are you going?"
A child's voice rang out behind her. Yehui paused, then leapt into the air and shot away as a streak of black light, trailing the darkness within her.
A purple halo surrounded her. Her heart beat powerfully, and with each pulse, it seemed to answer a summons from afar.
Yehui felt utterly at ease. A frenzied yet wonderful sensation filled her mind, and her strength rose steadily as she flew, her aura growing ever more powerful.
At last, she fixed on a mountain peak. A cold, dark aura spread through the earth, answering her power from afar.
"Embrace the darkness. Fall, and only then will you be free."
Purple-gold light shone in Yehui's pupils. Her red lips moved as she murmured softly.
Her voice seemed to hold a strange magic. Her low chant echoed through the air as purple runes gathered one after another.
At last, a strange, twisted pattern emerged, and a massive magic circle took shape.
"The Demon Passage!"
Yehui's ninth Soul Ring suddenly lit up.
A huge purple-black gate slowly appeared.
It was a world gate leading to the Demon Plane.
The moment it appeared, the gate was already over three meters tall. As it gradually solidified, it began to expand, swiftly growing into a massive portal ten meters tall and eight meters wide.
The space around it warped again and again. From beyond the gate, the roar of a Hell Three-Headed Dog echoed out of the depths.
A gigantic Three-Headed Giant Dog crawled out of the gate.
This Three-Headed Giant Dog was covered in purple-gold scales. A purple-gold crown rested on its middle head, and blazing flames engulfed its body.
"I, the Demon Monarch Wujie, have descended upon this plane today, bringing endless calamity!"
(My good brothers, please bear with me. I really didn't choose this name on purpose; even I don't know how to pronounce it. The original text used this name.)
"My emissary, you have done well. As a reward, I bestow upon you the royal bloodline of my Hell Three-Headed Dog, in recognition of your meritorious service."
The purple hue around Yehui deepened. Surging energy poured out of the gate, and her aura continued to rise.
"Descend, my Demon Legion!"
At the Demon Monarch Wujie's shout, the already enormous portal expanded further. First came tens of thousands of Lesser Devils, leading the charge. Then two Great Devils crawled out.
Next came several thousand monsters with human bodies and wings three times the size of their bodies—a mutated kind of demon, the Flying Demons.
They circled in the air, forming a square formation.
After the aerial troops, several thousand upright-walking Demon Men poured out. They were built much like humans, but had four arms.
The enormous gate had begun to destabilize, apparently meeting resistance from the Douluo Plane itself.
Just then, three enormous figures appeared. Purple-gold light filled their bodies as they stabilized the gate once more.
On closer inspection, the three creatures looked like smaller versions of the Demon Monarch Wujie—three little Hell Three-Headed Dogs.
The Demon Monarch Wujie looked over his troops and nodded with satisfaction. He took a deep breath. "The energy in other planes is abundant. Even the air is sweet."
"Lads, slaughter and pillage!"
"Let this world feel the might of the Demon Plane!"
"Your Majesty! Look, there are stars in the sky!"
A Flying Devil suddenly interrupted the Demon Monarch Wujie at the worst possible moment, speaking excitedly.