Ling Xiao gazed at the firmament, his Aura still climbing in successive waves. In his eyes, the Laws, Order, and Origin were laid bare; he saw the truth of all things in heaven and earth and the essence of every living being. It was an indescribable sensation of absolute perfection.
Suddenly, Ling Xiao's heart tightened. A spiritual whim warned him of an impending, fatal danger. Instinctively making a thousand split-second calculations, his figure vanished.
When he reappeared, he was in an unknown region—a gap between time and space, the very edge of the world. Here, past and present did not exist, nor did the future. Ling Xiao drifted through the vacuum and danced through time, yet the sense of crisis followed him like a shadow, growing more intense by the second.
"Hongjun!"
Ling Xiao spoke the name solemnly. He sensed a monumental threat aimed at his most vulnerable moment—the peak of his transformation—seeking to shatter his Dao-fruit and deny his path.
"The heavens will not tolerate me!" "But do you think I will sit still and wait for death?"
Ling Xiao let out a long roar. The power of his Laws billowed out, causing the surrounding order to fall into chaos. He manifested infinite spatial clones, turning himself into trillions of "true selves," trying to evade the invisible strike.
Inside Zixiao Palace, a pair of eyes that had seen through all illusions and presided over the creation and destruction of worlds looked on, devoid of emotion or desire. Hongjun raised a finger. In his sight, trillions of Karma threads filled the sky—infinite and inexorable. They surged toward Ling Xiao, forming a massive net designed to imprison him.
"The power of Karma is unavoidable. Even if you hide in the past or the future, it is useless." "All the variables born because of you must be borne by you alone." "The Great Dao is just; the Heavenly Dao is selfless..."
A faint, unreadable smile played on Hongjun's lips. Seeing the Karma threads attach themselves to Ling Xiao, he withdrew his hand and remained motionless.
Buzz!
Infinite Karma threads wrapped around his body like a net. Ling Xiao traversed through time and space, yet he could not shake them. These karmic debts were like a fusion of collective will and a supreme curse; no matter where he went—life or death, illusion or reality—they remained.
Karma is the most mysterious of all Laws, comparable to Fate and transcending both Time and Space.
Ling Xiao's divine eyes shone brilliantly. He saw himself covered in threads of all sizes. He tried to sever a single strand, only to find it instantly mended by the power of the universe. He was trapped in a cage of his own making. These threads began to feed back into him, manifesting as heavenly punishment and curses.
In the world, "Heaven-Defying" objects are often struck by lightning; all of this is the work of Karma.
Within these threads, Ling Xiao saw too much. He saw back to when he was an egg on the Sun Star. Because of his intervention, Di Jun and Tai Yi had manifested later than intended, causing a ripple effect that altered the coming Great Calamity. He saw his interactions with Nuwa, the Sanqing, the Western Duo, and his recent encounter with Yuan Phoenix.
Combined, they were beyond counting. These debts, backed by the power of the Heavenly Dao, sought to settle every single account at once.
"A brilliant move indeed..."
Ling Xiao sneered, a sharp light flashing in his eyes. The power of Karma began to work, eroding his Dao-fruit. A single thread meant nothing, but trillions of them were a different story. It was the "ants biting the elephant" strategy.
Ling Xiao crossed the heavens like a peerless, cursed beast. His Aura fluctuated violently—one moment docile, the next savage. His Golden Crow Dharma Image roared at the sky, its golden hue slowly turning into a void-like black.
Ling Xiao had transformed into a Black Sun, walking through the world with a terrifying, malevolent majesty.
In the Honghuang World, infinite living beings looked up at the black sun. Their Divine Souls trembled on the brink of collapse.
"This... Ling Xiao, wasn't he about to achieve Sainthood? Why has he become like this?" some great powers asked in terror. With their limited vision, they could not see the infinite threads of Karma. They only felt a world-destroying Aura.
"Such a terrifying pressure... has he become a Demon?"
Legend had it that after Rahu lost to Hongjun, he transformed into the Extraterrestrial Demon. Since then, all cultivators were haunted by Heart Demons. But could someone as powerful as Ling Xiao truly be corrupted by a Heart Demon?
"Look! His Aura seems to be weakening!" someone cried out from a Dao-site, pointing at the black sun.
Ling Xiao ignored everything and arrived above the Eastern Desolation, hanging in the sky parallel to the Sun Star. One golden sun and one black sun divided the world into two colors.
On the Sun Star, Di Jun and Tai Yi were stunned. They didn't understand what had happened to their brother. He had only just emerged from seclusion, yet he had "turned black."
Just as they were about to rush over to investigate, they were stopped by a mental transmission.
"Wait... why do I feel so uncomfortable? As if something is clinging to me?" Di Jun suddenly spoke, looking at his own body with suspicion.
"I feel it too!" Tai Yi nodded, his expression grave. He felt as if his very cultivation was beginning to glitch.
In Ling Xiao's sight, Karma threads were also beginning to sprout around his brothers. Because of his actions, they were being pulled into the whirlpool. With a cold resolve, he formed a seal.
"All Karma returns to my body!"
Ling Xiao used his Origin as a tether, forcibly transferring the Karma threads from his brothers to himself. He then turned to leave; if he stayed, they would continue to be affected by the backlash.
"What did Third Brother do?" Di Jun's face was dark. He wasn't happy that the negative influence had vanished; he knew it was because Ling Xiao had taken it upon himself. He wanted to chase after him, but remembering Ling Xiao's warning, he held back.
"Trust him. Do as he said," Tai Yi whispered, his eyes filled with a deep, murderous intent.
Ling Xiao left the Sun Star and walked through the world. His form underwent eighty-one changes in a single day as he rushed toward the infinite Chaos. Countless beings watched in shock as his Aura rapidly decayed. With every change, his presence weakened by another degree.
"A massive problem has occurred. Ling Xiao is likely to perish!" some knowledgeable experts declared. They felt a deep fear. Ling Xiao was the undisputed "First Beneath the Saints." For him to end up like this... the culprit wasn't hard to guess.
Ultimately, Ling Xiao entered the Chaos, vanishing from the sight of the world. This moment was etched eternally into the memories of all who saw it. One moment he was the peerless conqueror who thrashed the Witches; the next, he was a falling star retreating into the void, seemingly unwilling to let the world witness his decline.
Inside Zixiao Palace, Hongjun sensed everything as he solidified back into reality.
"Ling Xiao's Aura... has vanished."