In an instant, a pale blue celestial light burst forth from his fingertips. This celestial light, though seemingly weak, contained the supreme Dao of the Immortal Emperor's restriction, and lightly landed on the Myriad Runes Devour Immortals Net that had descended from the sky.
There was no earth-shattering roar, no world-destroying explosion.
The talisman net, powerful enough to change the very color of heaven and earth, melted away at a visible speed the moment it came into contact with the pale blue celestial light, like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun.
The purple-gold runes lost their luster one by one, turning into specks of light and dissipating. The terrifying bloodlust and resentment were also purified by the immortal light and vanished into nothingness.
In the blink of an eye, the forbidden technique that Qiu Yao unleashed by burning her own essence was easily neutralized by Qing Lin's restricted divine consciousness.
"Impossible!"
Upon seeing this, Qiu Yao let out a roar of disbelief, the black blood flowing even more violently from her empty eye sockets. "I have already burned my source, my power has long surpassed my peak of yesteryear. You are nothing but a restriction, how could you possibly break my spell so easily!"
"Because this seal was never meant to imprison you from the beginning."
Qing Lin's voice, spoken through the barrier of his divine consciousness, was calm and Youyuan, as if it came from ancient times. "Back then, during the great war between the Immortal and Talisman realms, countless people died and were injured, and the boundary walls were shaken, attracting powerful enemies from beyond the boundary to spy on us."
"If the fighting continues, both the Immortal and Talisman realms will be completely destroyed and reduced to nothingness."
"I sealed you not to enslave the Rune Clan, but to protect you, to protect the last spark of the Rune Clan."
"As the Saint Ancestor of the Rune Clan, if you die in battle, the Rune Clan will completely lose its backbone and become fish on someone else's chopping board."
"I will seal you in the Immortal Burial Pool of Immortals, using the killing energy and immortal power within to nourish your soul, so that you will not perish in the great battle."
"My public declaration that I sealed the Saint Ancestor of the Rune Clan and enslaved the Rune Clan was merely a smokescreen, intended to mislead powerful enemies from beyond the realm into believing that the Immortal and Rune realms had completely broken ties and were killing each other, thus lowering their guard."
"I have already secretly sent people to protect the Rune Clan on Vermilion Bird Planet. Those who were slaughtered were just a deliberate illusion, meant to fill your heart with resentment, so that you can stabilize your soul with resentment and survive for ten thousand years."
Qing Lin's words, which restricted the distraction of the mind, exploded in Qiu Yao's mind like a thunderclap.
Qiu Yao froze on the spot, the surging power around her abruptly stopped, and the wildly pulsating black threads of resentment trembled slightly at this moment.
"You... what did you say...?"
Qiu Yao's voice trembled, all traces of her previous madness and resentment gone, replaced by endless confusion and astonishment.
"I promised you back then that I would let you return home after pacifying the Three Realms. This vow has never been broken. Now that the powerful enemy from beyond the realm has been defeated and the Three Realms are at peace, this seal should be broken."
As he finished speaking, the pale blue aura around Qing Lin's restricted avatar slowly receded, and his figure began to fade, like a candle flickering in the wind, about to go out.
"I am merely a barrier; my mission is complete. The rest of the journey is yours to walk."
Seeing Immortal Emperor Qinglin's confident expression, Qiu Yao suddenly recalled the scene she had seen in Luo Chuan's memories, and realized that Qing Lin had been deceiving her all along!
Qiu Yao knelt on the ground, staring at the black iron chains binding her body. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she gritted her teeth, forcing a bitter laugh, "The person I hate most in my life is you, Qing Lin!!"
"Back then, when the Palm Sovereign was enraged, my Rune Clan was forced into a corner by the slightest offense and had no choice but to flee into this sealed realm, a forbidden land that even the Palm Sovereign could not touch."
What we ask for is simple: to avoid conflict, to live peacefully, and to stay as far away from the clash of swords as possible.
Qiu Yao's knees slammed heavily onto the cold bone fragments of the Immortal Burial Pool. Her whole body trembled violently, and black blood surged wildly from her empty eye sockets, mingling with scalding blood tears and sliding down, spreading into dark flowers of despair in front of her.
She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, her voice hoarse and broken, each word seeming to be torn from the depths of her soul.
"You said you would make me your Rune Consort. For those words, I betrayed the tribe that gave me birth and nurtured me, willingly shedding the halo of the Holy Ancestor and abandoning the dignity of the Rune Clan for thousands of years, to become an ordinary woman who bows and scrapes before you, just so that the Rune Clan could have a small place to shelter from the wind and rain in this sealed realm, to live a peaceful life, and to no longer be displaced."
"You said you liked my eyes. Those eyes embody the Power of Primordial Beginning inherited from the ancient times of the Rune Clan. They are the crystallization of the bloodlines of all the holy ancestors over countless millennia, containing a wisp of origin from the creation of the world. They are the supreme symbol of my Rune Clan, and the pride and foundation of my status as a holy ancestor."
Qiu Yao suddenly tilted her head back and let out a heart-wrenching scream, the resentment that had not yet dissipated surging wildly once again.
The black iron chains binding her body clanged and clattered, digging into her flesh and drawing blood, but she was oblivious to it all; only a surge of hatred and despair swept over her.
"I believed you! I believed you, you hypocritical Immortal Emperor! For your mere pleasure, I gouged out my own eyes, those eyes that bore the essence of the Rune Clan, and presented them to you! I thought I could win your sincerity, win peace for the Rune Clan, but what did I get in return?!"
"It's betrayal! It's imprisonment! It's torture that lasts for eternity!"
"You said you sealed me to protect me? But you stole my eyes, crushed my dignity, and locked me in this Immortal Burial Pool, where I am corroded by the killing aura day and night, and hear the wails of my kin's wronged souls every night! You said you were protecting the Rune Clan?"
"But I witnessed my people being hunted, enslaved, and slaughtered on Vermilion Bird Planet. Their cries reached my ears across billions of stars, yet I am locked up here by you, unable even to reach out and save them!"
"You say those were illusions? But the blood was real! The wails were real! The despair in my people's eyes was real! My millennia of pain and torment were absolutely real, without the slightest falsehood!"
" Qing Lin, even in death you wove the most vicious cage with the gentlest lies! You used a word of protection to cover up all your selfishness and betrayal! You used a vow to deceive me of everything—my heart, my eyes, my people, everything I had!"
"I hate you! I, Qiu Yao, swear by the Saint Ancestor of the Rune Clan, that I will never forgive you, for all eternity! Your so-called protection is, in my eyes, more cruel than the Palm Sovereign's slaughter, and more piercing than the resentment in this Immortal Burial Pool!"
"You destroyed me, you destroyed the Rune Clan, and you destroyed all my hopes and beliefs! Even if this restriction disappears, even if I remain here forever, the hatred in my heart will never fade!"