The Suanni dived from the shattered clouds, its hooves treading ground-fire that kicked up plumes of white mist upon the sea's surface.
Jiang Li held Cang Yaochen steady with one hand. By now, Cang Yaochen had long since lost consciousness. The demonic qi radiating from him crawled up Jiang Li's arm, clawing to burrow into her meridians. This was the backlash of the Asura Divinity's full resurrection—it craved slaughter, hungering to devour every living soul in its vicinity.
"System... offline... Unknown Error..."
Faint static hissed from Cang Yaochen's sea of consciousness. The cold, mechanical voice that had accompanied him was now intermittent and broken. The System offered no more prompts; the Heavenly Dao had no place for them.
Jiang Li looked at his face, now partially covered in blood-red scales, and tightened her grip on the Mirror of Profound Inquiry. The faint, flickering remnant soul of Lin Yuan still clung to the mirror's surface. She didn't know what to do next—for now, survival was the only priority.
"Suanni, go further. Find a place where the Sacred Ground's eyes cannot reach."
Jiang Li's voice was raspy. She knew the Enforcement Commander's teleportation talisman would instantly carry word back to the Sacred Ground. Within half a day, every righteous cultivator in the mortal realm would swarm out to hunt down these two so-called "Demon Fetuses."
The Suanni let out a low growl, accelerating toward the Far West—a lawless territory known as the "Land of Three Sovereigns' Neglect."
Several hours later, deep within a lush, ancient forest.
Jiang Li laid Cang Yaochen flat on the ground. His breathing was heavy and chaotic, his body temperature frighteningly high. The wound in his chest, pierced by the Divine Halberd, had stopped bleeding; in its place, layers of dark purple granulation crawled and writhed, forcibly repairing the flesh.
Jiang Li suspended the Mirror of Profound Inquiry in mid-air. The mirror's light poured down, temporarily suppressing the violent demonic pressure radiating from him.
"A ten-thousand-year gamble... so you were protecting me all along. Then what exactly have I been searching for?"
Jiang Li reached out to touch the scales on his face. In the memories brought back by the mirror, this man had taken countless identities across different reincarnations. He had been a revered True Buddha and a demon monk nailed to an execution rack. Each time, he used this method of sacrificing his divinity to snatch her soul back from the hands of the Heavenly Dao.
"Cough... cough..."
Cang Yaochen's eyes snapped open, a violent surge of purple light erupting from his pupils. Instinctively, his right hand shot out, locking onto Jiang Li's throat with a death grip.
"Kill..."
The sound from deep within his throat was a dull rumble, like subterranean thunder. His strength was boundless; his nails dug deep into Jiang Li's skin.
Jiang Li looked at him, her right hand pressing against her own heart. She smiled. "Cang Yaochen, look at who I am! This half-heart you gave me is still beating—do you have the heart to snuff out its life?"
Hearing her voice, Cang Yaochen's body convulsed violently. The fractured System in his mind issued one last, piercing alarm:
[Target detected: Jiang Li... Danger Warning... Forcefully aborting attack command!]
As if struck by lightning, Cang Yaochen recoiled, his hand releasing her as he curled into a ball of agony on the ground. The Rakshasa Phantasm behind him shattered and reformed repeatedly; two extreme personalities were engaged in a frantic slaughter within a single body.
"Get away... get away from me!"
He let out a low roar, smashing his fist into a nearby boulder. The rock shattered instantly, the rising dust obscuring his expression.
"Cang Yaochen, your Buddhist Persona is shattered. You are no longer a compassionate True Buddha," Jiang Li walked to him, half-kneeling to meet his gaze. "The people of the Sacred Ground say you are a demon hunted by the Heavens. Just like me."
Cang Yaochen slowly raised his head. The scales on his face receded slightly, revealing a pale, cold countenance. He looked at Jiang Li, the ferocity in his eyes gradually replaced by a profound exhaustion.
"You shouldn't have saved me," his voice was horribly hoarse. "The Asura Divinity has awakened. The Heavenly Dao will sense it. If you stay with me, you won't escape."
"Escape?"
Jiang Li let out a cold laugh, tucking the Mirror of Profound Inquiry back into her robes. She grabbed Cang Yaochen by the collar, forcibly dragging him up to look him in the eye. "I've hidden for three thousand years. Enough. In this life, I am going to the Sacred Ground to take back what belongs to me, inch by inch. As for you—since my life belongs to you, as long as I live, you must live too."
Cang Yaochen looked at the woman before him, her red robes dancing in the wind, and a self-deprecating smile quirked his lips.
He had spent ten thousand years plotting for her to have a peaceful life, only to be dragged back into this sea of blood by her very hand.
"Fine," he whispered.
To slaughter their way through the Sacred Ground with their current broken bodies was suicide. Though Jiang Li's cultivation was stable at the Radiant Realm, Cang Yaochen's power was in a state of extreme instability due to the divine transition.
They had to go to one place: The City of Sin.
It was a black-market city built in the fissure between two realms, a gathering place for the most vicious apostates and greediest ghost cultivators. More importantly, it housed the "Heavens-Mender," a craftsman capable of repairing divine artifacts.
Two days later, at the outskirts of the City of Sin.
The air was thick with the scent of sulfur and decay. Jiang Li wore a pitch-black cloak, concealing Cang Yaochen's conspicuous blood-red demonic runes beneath his robes. The Suanni had been taken back into her spirit beast bag, transformed into a red jade pendant hanging at her waist.
"Halt. Entry fee: three ounces of Turbid Essence."
At the city gate, two wolf-headed guards blocked their path. The weapons they held looked ordinary, but they were Soul-Crushing Hooks soaked in venom.
Jiang Li said nothing, tossing out three high-quality turbid crystals. The guards weighed them, casting greedy glances at Jiang Li's curvaceous figure, but they were eventually repelled by the killing intent in her eyes and stepped aside.
Inside the City of Sin, ruins and broken walls were everywhere.
The two wound through dark, narrow alleys and stopped before a shop hung with a weathered medicinal gourd.
"The person you're looking for is here?" Cang Yaochen asked in a low voice. He had to constantly use his will to suppress the demonic nature surging within him; every word was a struggle.
"The mirror guided me here. There is nourishment here for Lin Yuan's remnant soul, and a way for you to recover," Jiang Li pushed open the door. The smell of moldy herbs hit them instantly.
In a dark corner of the shop sat a bald old man with one eye. He was fiddling with a blackened skull and didn't even look up at their entrance, merely letting out a cold, raspy chuckle.
"An Evil God without a heart, and an Asura about to explode. You two are the most expensive bounties on the Sacred Ground's list. You actually dare to walk into my tiger's den?"
Jiang Li remained unmoved, slamming the Mirror of Profound Inquiry onto the counter with a sharp clack.
"Cut the talk. Since you know who we are, you know this isn't something you can swallow. I want the 'Nine Abyss Soul-Settling Needle,' and the ancient method to repair this mirror."
The old man stopped. His single eye fixed on the mirror, his breathing suddenly becoming shallow and rapid. He reached out with a trembling hand, then stopped mid-air, as if recalling a terrifying memory.
"This mirror... belongs to that one. Ten thousand years ago, I saw this mirror by the banks of the Tianshui River. Back then, the one holding it..." The old man looked at Cang Yaochen, his eyes flashing with deep fear and reverence. "The one holding it led a hundred thousand demons and drenched half the Immortal Realm in blood."
Cang Yaochen froze. A fragmented image flashed through his mind: a dark red cape, demonic clouds that blotted out the sun, and a divine pillar he had severed with his own hands.
"Too much talk," Jiang Li grabbed the old man by the collar, the cold tip of her Heart-Piercing Crossbow pressing against his throat. "Are we making this deal or not? If not, I'll send you to see your ancestors right now."
"I'll do it! I'll do it!" the old man cried, raising his hands. "But the Needle isn't with me. It was seized by the 'Ghost King' of the city. Tomorrow is the city's 'Hunting Festival'—you'll have to go to the arena and take it back yourself."
Jiang Li turned her head to look at the silent Cang Yaochen.
"Shall we go?"
Cang Yaochen raised his head, a flash of purple light passing through his eyes. "Killing and taking... demons are better at that."
The two looked at each other and curled their lips in a grim smile.