The sky wept blood.
Thunder rolled across the shattered heavens, not from rain or storm, but from the death cries of the Gu World itself. Mountains no longer stood. Oceans boiled into steam. The corpses of Gu Immortals lay like discarded insects in the endless ruins.
One third of the world had been sacrificed.
All for a single Gu worm.
A Gu that did not exist.
A Gu that could only be refined, not found.
A Gu that embodied the impossible dream: Eternal Life Gu.
Amidst the burning ruins of one-third of the Gu World, atop a desolate peak soaked in the blood of countless immortals and mortals alike, stood a lone figure.
His white robe hung in tatters, soaked in blood so thick it no longer flowed. One arm gone, his right eye blinded, and his body battered beyond repair.
Yet his expression was calm.
Fang Yuan—the great demon, the calamity of heaven and earth—stood tall amidst his failure.
Before him hovered nothingness.
Where once an region brimming with dao marks, immortal materials, and forbidden places had existed, there was now… void.
No buildings. No people. No land.
Only void remained, deafening in its silence.
"So…" Fang Yuan's voice was low, cracked. "Even with everything... it wasn't enough."
"Eternal Life Gu," he muttered. "You truly live up to your name."
He swayed on his feet. Blood dripped from his fingertips.
Space trembled, the sky split.
From the nine heavens descended four figures. Each one an apex of existence. Each one a legend that shaped history.
Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.
And leading them—
Star Constellation Immortal Venerable — her presence vast as the starry sky, gaze as cold as the void.
They stood, four against one.
"Fang Yuan," Star Constellation spoke first, her voice as smooth and sharp as glass. "You overreached."
Fang Yuan chuckled weakly, blood trailing from his lips. "And yet, I reached farther than any of you ever dared."
"At what cost?" Genesis Lotus asked softly, sadness in his voice.
"The Western Desert is in ruin. The Southern Border lies in ashes. You have destroyed billions—"
"Destroyed?" Fang Yuan interrupted, raising a brow.
"No, They are a Sacrifice!"
Giant Sun snorted, golden light coiling around his fists.
"You speak of sacrifice, but you are nothing more than a butcher."
Primordial Origin stepped forward. "You sacrificed one-third of the world to refine something impossible. What did you expect to gain?"
Fang Yuan smirked. "Victory."
Genesis Lotus sighed. "You sought to transcend the world's limits. You should have known the world would resist."
"I did," Fang Yuan said quietly.
Star Constellation's eyes glimmered with stars.
"You desired to transcend the heaven. To escape samsara, time, and death. But you misunderstood."
"Eternity does not belong to the self. It belongs to the world."
Fang Yuan tilted his head, smirking.
"Spoken like a puppet of fate."
The stars in her pupils flickered.
"Your defiance was always admirable. But your arrogance blinded you."
He laughed, bitterly.
"And yours kept you shackled."
From the ruins of his aperture, something stirred. A cicada's chirp echoed. His final trump card.
Spring Autumn Cicada.
"Do you think we'll allow you to escape?" Giant Sun's aura blazed. "You're finished, Fang Yuan."
"I was finished the moment I failed the refinement," Fang Yuan said.
"You're just vultures circling the corpse. But let's see if you can catch my soul."
"Haven't you learned?" Genesis Lotus said softly.
"Some paths end in ruin no matter how many times you walk them."
"And yet I walk them still," Fang Yuan said. "Because I'd rather fall into ruin a thousand times than bend my knee once."
The Spring Autumn Cicada chirped again, louder this time.
Genesis Lotus stepped forward.
"Even if you go back, you've lost everything—your Gu, your refinement, your soul is fractured. What will you become?"
"A man who learns," Fang Yuan answered, unblinking. "A monster who remembers. A will that doesn't break."
His soul surged forward, flowing into the Gu worm's time-reversing light. His consciousness began to unwind, threading itself backward across the river of time, reaching—
But in that moment—
"I won't let even a piece of you escape."
Star Constellation raised her hand.
A venerable killer move.
A strike across the River of Time itself.
A strike that tore through time and space.
"Gh—!" the killer move struck—not Fang Yuan, but his soul, splitting it.
Pain beyond words split his consciousness.
The Spring Autumn Cicada trembled, struggling against the disruption.
After the destruction of the fate Gu, The River of Time is no longer calm, it became chaotic, turbulent and unstable.
A piece of his soul was torn away in the turbulent waters of river of time, its screams lost in the howling storm of waters.
Another piece, along with fragmented memories, spiraled with the Spring Autumn Cicada as it disappeared in the chaotic waters.
...
The spring rain quietly rained down on Qing Mao Mountain.
It was already late in the night, a slight breeze blowing with the light rain.
Yet Qing Mao Mountain was not covered in darkness; from the side down to the foot of the mountain, dozens of tiny lights shone like a bright band.
These lights shone from tall buildings, even though it could not be said to match up to ten thousand lights, yet it was still a few thousand in number.
Situated on the mountain was Gu Yue Village, giving the vast lonely mountain a rich touch of human civilization.
Even if it was late in the night, most of the homes in the village still had lights on, which was unusual.
A pair of clear eyes quietly looked at the same lights sparkling in the night, full of complex feelings inside.
"Gu Yue Village?" Fang Yuan quietly gazed, standing by the window, letting the rain from the wind hit his body.
The sound of the drizzling rain hitting softly against the window sill filling his ears, he slowly closed his eyes, opening them after a long while. He sighed, "It really feels like a dream."