As the demon was distracted searching for the Silver Fox's whereabouts, Gu Huang intended to attack the ten summoned monsters. He even began to combine his two black and white flags on the back of his armor.
"Damn monster! I will destroy you all before that demon descends!" Gu Huang began to condense his energy. His armor returned to its original state, and the red flag returned to his back along with the yellow flag.
The two flags on his back were pulled and began to be condensed, merging into a Yin and Yang form. Circles of energy appeared below and above him as he tried to condense his two black and white flags. His body even dripped with so much sweat that it could probably cause dehydration.
His thick armor began to transform into a thin robe with two different colors. The right side was identical to white, while the left side used black fabric with gold accents in the flowing cloud motifs, and there was a symbol of a dragon whose whiskers spread across the entire fabric.
On Gu Huang's waist was a belt bearing the Yin and Yang symbol. His hands also wore wrapped cloth forming something like gloves; his right hand was black and his left hand was white.
His hair flowed long, blown by the wind, and on his forehead was a mark like a three-petaled lotus flower.
The demon that had been searching for the Silver Fox's whereabouts suddenly felt an explosive benevolent energy below its chin. It looked down to where Gu Huang was. Its pupils constricted, its eyebrows lowered sharply.
"Little ant, you can create this much benevolent energy? Hahaha... What an unexpected world. No wonder the Silver Fox is willing to stay here," its voice was heavy and fragmented like thunder, echoing throughout the forest.
Gu Huang stood upright holding a fan, with his other hand behind his back. The two other flags were stored at his waist, yellow and red.
"Karma, luck, life and death, originate from the same meaning: destiny. I am an imperial general, but I am also a father and a human who cannot escape responsibility in this world. War is not everything, but war determines who has the right to possess," Gu Huang slowly opened his eyes, revealing that his pupils had transformed into a taiji, spinning briefly as Gu Huang opened his eyes before finally coming to a complete stop.
"Hahaha... You resemble very much the old ones who once fought against me," the demon laughed softly before it attacked Gu Huang with a demonic spell.
Before the demon could utter its spell to attack, Gu Huang had already struck first against the summoned monsters. He waved his fan slowly, and suddenly two of the ten summoned monsters were torn into small pieces before falling to the ground and disappearing. The portal connecting the demon realm to the mortal world began to close slightly, leaving only a small opening, causing the demon's chin to no longer be visible.
"Damn little ant!" The demon began to attack Gu Huang using spells in the demonic language.
"Dohianji, Bhaktidal, Huanji." The demon began to repeat those words. Those words began to move like dark red chains, spreading across Gu Huang's entire body, slowly causing Gu Huang to lose his spiritual energy, and even his soul nearly left his body.
Gu Huang tried to break free from the grip of the spell's utterance using his fan, but his strength was insufficient.
Just as Gu Huang was about to lose his soul, Xiaojun and Xiao Lin Mo arrived with the Silver Fox Spirit already using Xiaojun's body. The Silver Fox immediately released a barrier so they would not be seen leaving the ancient forest, and it also canceled the demonic spell.
"Long time no see, ancient demon," the Silver Fox smiled with its pupils sharpened, impatient to attack its prey. The Silver Fox released its three tails while using Xiaojun's body, pulling Gu Huang in front of it without touching him at all, merely waving its hand.
Gu Huang, still half-conscious, could not clearly see the face of Xiaojun being used by the Silver Fox and began to mumble strangely.
"Children... forgive your father."
The Silver Fox Spirit felt disgusted and then threw him to the ground, causing him to return to normal, wearing the Qin Empire War Armor. He fell unconscious with a body full of wounds and small tears.
"Hahaha... Look at that, the Silver Fox that was once so proud is called a child by that ant," the demon laughed in satisfaction at seeing this unexpected thing.
"Shut up, you bastard of the ancient demon clan!" The Silver Fox clenched its right hand tightly, while its left hand held Xiao Lin Mo's body with her face facing downward.
Xiao Lin Mo could only freeze, tears streaming down her face as she saw the village where she had lived now destroyed, leaving only scattered corpses and blood pooling everywhere.
The Silver Fox turned to its left hand, which was holding Xiao Lin Mo. It lowered its gaze to look down at what was already destroyed, no longer recognizable. The Silver Fox began to exhale deeply. "Ancient demons like us cannot settle our old grudges now. Perhaps another time."
"What do you mean?!—" The demon asked, and instantly the portal was severed from the mortal world where the Silver Fox was. In frustration, it punched a mountain with its hand in the realm of destruction. That mountain was instantly destroyed like a sand mountain—rolling down into the barren, cracked ground, with lava flowing everywhere.
The Silver Fox, with the grip of its right hand, crushed the eight summoned monsters. Those monsters were destroyed without a trace. The Silver Fox also began to restore the contours of the land to their original state.
The Silver Fox descended slowly to the ground, set Xiao Lin Mo down, and returned control of the body to Xiaojun. "You handle the girl, Xiaojun." Xiaojun only nodded slightly as the Silver Fox spoke and then returned into Xiaojun's shadow.
Xiaojun held the shoulder of Xiao Lin Mo, who was in a shattered state. "Look, destiny cannot be determined. The gods are not the deciders of destiny either. It is all a matter of each person's choices."
"Now it depends on you. Do you want to stay among these piles of corpses, or come with me to restore my memories?" Xiaojun walked away, leaving Xiao Lin Mo sitting frozen, submerged in deep sorrow in a place filled with piles of corpses and houses destroyed and burned to ashes.
"Father... Mother... Villagers... I will surely avenge your pain upon them. This pain I will never forget until everything is avenged." Xiao Lin Mo swore to herself. The tears that were initially clear turned red. Her gaze was empty, her pupils constricted. Her shadow fluctuated as if splitting itself, and then that shadow emerged into a physical form, shaping into the person she missed most.
That shadow transformed into the person she longed for, so similar that they seemed to come back to life. However, Xiao Lin Mo could feel their emotions, share their vision, and divide her own personality into that shadow.
"We were created from you. You gave us souls, but we are also yourself. A loss like this could drive you mad in your own life."
"So... everyone in the village was myself, and all this time I have been alone?" Xiao Lin Mo began to be flooded with memories of that village, but those memories began to fall and shatter like glass. At this moment, Xiao Lin Mo experienced an identity crisis from her trauma. From the very beginning, everyone in the village was merely a manifestation of her own sorrow at losing everything.
Xiao Lin Mo began to scream and pull her hair. Her crying became even more broken as she realized that everything was just her own creation to hide from the pain.
Xiao Lin Mo remembered when she was still a child in the village with her parents. A group of people came to her village and began a massacre. They wore demon masks and had demon horn tattoos on their arms. They also began to control ten people to remember the summoning mantra. The leader of that group did not kill Xiao Lin Mo because he knew that Xiao Lin Mo was special, so that his plan would go smoothly.
"Demon masks... Horn tattoos..." Xiao Lin Mo suddenly murmured, causing Xiaojun to stop and begin to turn around.
"What are you murmuring about, Xiao Lin Mo?" Xiaojun asked softly, looking at Xiao Lin Mo who was in a shattered state.
"They are the real perpetrators who killed the villagers," Xiao Lin Mo said softly. The shadows around her began to gently embrace Xiao Lin Mo to calm her down.
The Silver Fox began to whisper to Xiaojun while sighing deeply, "No wonder someone could open the portal to the realm of destruction. It turns out that group still exists in this world."