The aftershocks of the shattering blades had not yet fully subsided, leaving the canyon in a silence so heavy a dropped needle could be heard.
Cang Yaochen descended from mid-air, his feet landing on the divine blood of the pulverized Spirit-Severing Sect disciples with a thick, viscous sound. On his previously bare back, the War God's spine had fully integrated into his flesh; the dark-gold vertebrae protruded slightly, radiating a savage intent to pierce through the heavens.
"Priest, can you stomach this sword-qi?" Jiang Li stumbled forward, supporting herself against the stone wall. Her pale face now bore a sickly flush from absorbing too much resentment.
Cang Yaochen reached back, gripped a remnant blade buried in the scorched earth, and twisted. The sword crumbled into iron filings. His double pupils remained fixed on the canyon exit, his voice low and heavy. "This sword-qi is a dead thing; it's easy to suppress. But the moment the sword-tide erupted, I smelled a specific person's scent within the resentment of these ten thousand blades."
Jiang Li's gaze sharpened, the Mirror of Profound Inquiry growing hot in her hand. "Who?"
"The person who delivered the final stroke beneath the Execution Platform three thousand years ago."
Cang Yaochen's words caused Jiang Li's breath to hitch. Three thousand years ago, when the Black Hero Sect was slaughtered, she thought the culprits were merely the Thirty-Six Divine Thrones. But the resonance of the blades had stirred more than just the anger of discarded steel; it had awakened the "stale aura" left behind by that ancient catastrophe.
At that moment, the remaining shards of metal began to vibrate violently—not because of Cang Yaochen, but because of a colder, more sinister power.
"Since you've caught the scent, why hide like a coward?" Jiang Li sneered, firing a bolt from her Heart-Piercing Crossbow into the void.
The bolt vanished into the darkness as if sinking into a vast ocean, making no sound. Then, a slow, methodical clapping echoed from the scorched forest at the canyon's exit.
"Truly the two seeds of evil that give the Heavenly Dao its greatest headache. To take a self-destruction hit from Cloud-Ascension and still find a way to flip the scales using these scraps of iron."
A middle-aged man in grey robes stepped out. He held Jiang Li's crossbow bolt between two fingers; with a flick, he actually absorbed the malice into his own body. His features were utterly unremarkable, the kind of face that disappeared in a crowd, but where his feet touched the ground, the thunder-fire died instantly, and life was snuffed out.
"Qing Xuzi?" Jiang Li spat the name through gritted teeth.
The former Vice-Sect Leader of the Black Hero Sect. A man she had once looked up to as a father figure.
"Li'er, three thousand years have passed, and that cinnabar mark on your brow is as beautiful as ever." Qing Xuzi smiled, casually tossing the bolt aside. "A pity, really. That mark was a primer I personally planted to receive the 'Sacred Light of Heaven.' Now that it's stained with so much filth, it's truly a waste."
Cang Yaochen took a stride forward, his demonic blade held across his chest as the dark-gold Nirvana fire warped the air around him.
"You were the one who sold the Black Hero Sect's array maps to the Sacred Ground." Cang Yaochen wasn't asking; he was handing down a verdict.
"Sold?" Qing Xuzi shook his head, his eyes flashing with a frantic, cult-like devotion. "I gave them. What does slaughtering a few demon dens matter if it brings about the descent of the Divine Kingdom? But you, Cang Yaochen... to scrap your Buddhist bones for a seed of evil, only to end up without even a place to be buried—what was the point?"
"The point is your life."
Cang Yaochen moved. He wasted no words, his body transforming into a dark-gold blur that appeared instantly before Qing Xuzi. The demonic blade, carrying the momentum to cleave the world, hacked toward the traitor's head.
Qing Xuzi didn't dodge. He raised his right hand, and a longsword forged of pure golden light manifested in his grip.
CLANG—!
Blade met sword, and the entire Valley of Ten Thousand Buried Swords shuddered violently.
Standing behind them, Jiang Li's heart constricted. She realized Qing Xuzi's power was wrong. This wasn't divine energy bestowed by a Throne; it was something higher, colder—a strand of the Heavenly Dao's own will.
"He has turned himself into a vessel for the Heavenly Dao!" Jiang Li cried out in alarm.
Facing Cang Yaochen's blade, Qing Xuzi remained unfazed. "Cang Yaochen, your bones are scavenged, and your heart is a fragment. How can you contend with me? The Divine Thrones of the Sacred Ground are merely the watchdogs of Heaven. I, however, am the Heavenly Dao itself."
He swung his left hand, and a bolt of grey lightning slammed directly into Cang Yaochen's chest.
Cang Yaochen let out a muffled groan as he was sent hurtling backward, stopping only after smashing through thousands of discarded blades.
"Priest!"
Jiang Li rushed forward, her mirror firing a beam of red light at Qing Xuzi.
With a casual wave, Qing Xuzi swiped the light away. He looked at Jiang Li, his tone carrying a trace of twisted mercy. "Li'er, come back. Settle the karma within the mirror, and I will lead you to the Nine Heavens to become the sole True Goddess. This monk lives too painful a life; let me grant him the liberation of death. Isn't that better?"
Cang Yaochen rose from the rubble, the War God's spine in his back erupting with a blinding, dark light. He spat out a mouthful of broken teeth, his gaze filled with lethal ferocity.
"You want to take her? Only if every god in the heavens follows you into the grave today!"
He cast a glance back at Jiang Li, a flash of absolute resolve in his double pupils. "Li'er, shatter the mirror."
Jiang Li froze. "Shatter it? But our karma..."
"The karma is in our flesh now, not the glass." Cang Yaochen gripped his blade, the Karma-Fire around him withdrawing, compressing entirely into the edge of his weapon. "Break it! Draw the ten thousand years of resentment from this Forbidden Zone into my phantasm. Since he claims to be Heaven, I shall be the Demon that ends it!"