The heavy impact of the Suanni's landing accelerated the pulverization of the stone layers surrounding the secret chamber, sending scalding magma surging upward through the fissures in the earth. Jiang Li leaned low against the Suanni's broad spine, her palms feeling the searing heat radiating from its scales. Inside her, the newly stabilized Turbid Qi of the Radiant Realm was ignited by this heatwave, surging through her meridians like flaming oil.
"Cang Yaochen, catch!"
Jiang Li shouted sharply, her right hand snapping forward as a blood-red pill cut through the dust. It was the "Return-to-Origin Powder" she had scavenged from the Black Hero Sect's underground palace. Cang Yaochen caught it blindly, slamming it into his mouth without a second thought. He was in a wretched state; his wounds were venting sickly green smoke as demonic fire eroded the very origin of his Buddhist Persona.
Lin Yuan was swept aside by the Suanni's massive tail, crashing heavily against the stone wall. He felt no pain; the chains behind him vibrated violently from the impact. He swayed as he stood again, the demonic fire on his spinal bone sword burning even fiercer. An unintelligible roar tore from his throat: "Not enough... still not enough..."
"Fall back!" Cang Yaochen yelled to Jiang Li. The string of Buddhist beads in his hand had half-crumbled; the beads scattered on the ground formed a faint, flickering golden barrier, desperately holding back the swarming Sacred Ground disciples.
In mid-air, the Enforcement Commander's face contorted with rage. He realized that once an adult Suanni fully unleashed its fury, this place would become their mass grave.
"Sacrifice the Mirror of Profound Inquiry!"
The Commander roared, his hands weaving an incantation. A long, bronze ancient mirror covered in dark red rust emerged from his chest. The moment she saw that mirror, the red sand seal on Jiang Li's forehead erupted with a piercing, burning sensation.
"That... is mine," Jiang Li's eyes turned glacial.
The Commander spat a mouthful of essence-blood onto the mirror's surface. The Mirror of Profound Inquiry instantly unleashed a beam of turbid light, piercing through the layers of mist to strike Jiang Li directly between the eyes.
[Warning! Detection: Host's sea of consciousness is under Law-level interference. Emergency Defense Mode initiating... Error! Insufficient Core Divine Source. Defense failed!]
The system's voice in Cang Yaochen's mind turned into a shrill, continuous blare. Jiang Li felt as if her brain were being physically torn apart. Within the beam of the mirror, she plunged into the god-demon battlefield of three thousand years ago. Amidst a sea of fire, she saw Cang Yaochen clad in holy monastic robes, holding a Demon-Subduing Pestle, looking down coldly at the Jiang Li clan.
"Jiang Li, this is the man you trust," a distorted voice echoed from within the mirror. "He slaughtered your kin. He stripped you of your divinity."
In the vision, Cang Yaochen raised the pestle and struck down ruthlessly at the wounded, weakened Jiang Li.
"No... that's not right!" Jiang Li clutched her head in agony atop the Suanni, her Turbid Qi beginning to go berserk as her will wavered.
"Kill the Evil God! Purge the remnants!" The Commander frantically driven the mirror.
The dark red in Cang Yaochen's eyes finally overwhelmed the golden light. Ignoring the searing pain of two Divine Generals' halberds piercing his chest, he took a massive stride forward.
"It's an illusion! Jiang Li, open your eyes!"
Cang Yaochen's voice sounded impossibly distant within the light beam. The faint outline of dark red scales appeared across his body—the omen of the Rakshasa Persona going berserk. Abandoning all Buddhist defenses, he transformed into a blood-colored shadow and lunged into the sky.
"System, sacrifice thirty percent of my Divinity—break that mirror!"
[System Directive Confirmed... Sacrifice beginning. Self-destruction progress accelerated to 70%...]
BOOM—!
Cang Yaochen's fist slammed heavily into the mirror's surface. The rust shook loose, revealing a surface as deep as the starry sky. The illusions shattered instantly.
Jiang Li snapped awake amidst the agony. The last image she saw was not Cang Yaochen killing; it was the white-robed monk kneeling in the sea of fire, using blood-drenched hands to hollow out half of his own heart and fuse it into her dying body.
"You... you big idiot."
Jiang Li wiped the bloody tears from the corners of her eyes. Beneath her, the Suanni sensed its master's killing intent, and magma erupted from beneath its hooves.
"My mirror—not only will I take it back, I'll use it to send you to your grave!"
Jiang Li drew the Heart-Piercing Crossbow to its limit. An arrow imbued with the Black Origin exploded forward, shredding the Commander's protective divine light. The bolt pierced his shoulder, pinning him ruthlessly to the mountain wall behind him.
The Mirror of Profound Inquiry fell from his grip.
"Return to one!" Jiang Li leaped from the Suanni's back, her right hand snatching the bronze mirror from the air. Upon contact, all the fragments of the mirror fused together. Her sealed memories flooded back: the Mirror was her original natal treasure. After Cang Yaochen's Asura Persona sacrificed half his heart to save her, his spirit had dissipated. She had used the Mirror to travel through worlds, desperately trying to find a trace of his Asura aura...
Not only that, she saw the silhouettes of Cang Yaochen from ten thousand years ago, time and again gambling with the Heavenly Dao just to preserve her soul.
CLANG—!
A heavy strike pulled her back to reality. Lin Yuan had completely lost his mind. Seeing Cang Yaochen collapse to the ground heavily wounded, his bone sword—wreathed in demonic fire—lunged straight for Cang Yaochen's throat.
"Lin Yuan, stop!" Jiang Li landed, flashing the Mirror of Profound Inquiry at him.
Lin Yuan's body jerked to a halt, a flash of struggle appearing in his eyes: "Go... leave quickly..." It was his last shred of lucidity.
But in the next second, the chains wrapped around his collarbones suddenly tightened.
"Detonate!" the Commander roared savagely from the mountain wall.
The demonic qi inside Lin Yuan was forcibly ignited; his entire body became a demonic bomb on the verge of exploding.
"Get back!" Cang Yaochen suddenly rose and shoved Jiang Li aside. The bloody streak on his forehead split wide open. A pitch-black, hideous Rakshasa Phantasm emerged behind him.
[Warning! Asura Divinity fully awakened. System entering shutdown and liquidation state!]
Cang Yaochen stared at the lunging Lin Yuan. Four demonic hands shot out, pinning Lin Yuan's self-destructing body with a death grip.
"Overcome demon with demon—Absorb!"
He actually used the Rakshasa Persona to forcibly suck in the chaotic demonic qi within Lin Yuan, even if it meant accelerating his own fall into darkness.
The surrounding Sacred Ground disciples were terrified to their core: "A monster! Kill him!"
Cang Yaochen could no longer hear the curses. The demonic qi from Lin Yuan poured through his arms and into his sea of consciousness.
"AAAAAH—!"
Cang Yaochen roared at the sky, and the Rakshasa Phantasm opened its maw, swallowing the golden light of the heavens in a single gulp. With a thunderous explosion, the clouds were shattered by the demonic pressure. Lin Yuan's body slumped to the ground. On his rotted face, a faint smile of liberation appeared before he crumbled into ash, leaving only a wisp of a remnant soul to be absorbed by the Mirror of Profound Inquiry.
"Now... it's your turn."
Cang Yaochen slowly turned his head. His face was covered in blood-red scales, and the Buddhist beads in his hand had all transformed into pitch-black blades. With every step he took, the sheer pressure pulverized nearby disciples into a mist of blood.
"Suanni, catch him!"
Seeing Cang Yaochen's consciousness fading, Jiang Li hurried the sacred beast to catch his swaying figure. Realizing the tide had turned, the Commander shredded a Ten-Thousand-Mile Teleportation Talisman. Before vanishing, he glared at them: "The Demon Fetus has awakened. The Sacred Ground will spare nothing to erase you!"
As the Commander vanished, the remaining disciples fled in terror.
Jiang Li stood atop the Suanni, one hand supporting the demon-shadowed Cang Yaochen, the other clutching the Mirror of Profound Inquiry.
She looked around; the Burial Soul Reef had completely collapsed, and the ruins were being swallowed by the sea.