The ominous fluctuations from Spirit Pivot Valley were like the heart failure of a dying behemoth. Each tremor made the entire Qingxu Profound Light Shield shudder violently, its brilliance dimming at a visible rate. On the mountain gate plaza, the remaining disciples looked at that last crumbling barrier, despair filling their eyes. High above, Sect Master Xuan Xuan Zhenren was tightly entangled by the ghost-masked elder. Though frantic with anxiety, he could not break free and could only watch helplessly as the foundation that had protected the sect for a thousand years hurtled toward collapse.
Tang Xiaoqi, enduring the bone‑eroding, body‑burning agony, leaned on the Crimson Flame Sword and staggered toward the path leading to the back mountain. His goal was clear: Spirit Pivot Valley, the final support point. But his grievously wounded, death‑teetering body severely slowed his pace. Every step felt like struggling through a bog, and his vision flickered black from blood loss and pain. At this speed, the array eye would shatter completely long before he could arrive.
At this critical moment, a figure – like a wounded, solitary crane – moved with unhesitating resolve, transforming into a dim but steadfast streak of light shooting toward Spirit Pivot Valley, beating Xiao Qi to it!
That figure had an empty left sleeve, a body drenched in blood, an aura as faint as a candle in the wind. It was Xuan Lin Zhenren – Xiao Qi's master – who had earlier fought to the death at the mountain gate and been helped away to tend his wounds!
He had never gone to heal! Or rather, his so‑called healing had only been to gather strength for this final strike!
"Master?!" Xiao Qi's heart clenched as he saw that familiar figure rushing toward Spirit Pivot Valley at a speed far beyond his own in his current state. An overwhelming sense of foreboding washed over him like ice water. What was his master trying to do?!
Xuan Lin Zhenren's figure vanished into the passage to the back mountain, but his voice, like a great bell, carried the calm of one who had seen through life and death and the unquestionable authority of a final decree, echoing clearly over the entire mountain gate, drowning out all the sounds of slaughter and explosion:
"Senior Brother Xuan Xuan! Fellow disciples! Disciples!"
Everyone who heard this voice – whether the struggling Sect Master or the bleeding disciples – involuntarily paused for an instant and looked toward the direction of the voice.
"Qingxu Temple has stood for a thousand years, surviving countless calamities, its lineage unbroken. That is because successive generations of our predecessors sacrificed themselves for righteousness, passing the torch from one to the next! Today, the demonic calamity rages, our sect is in mortal peril. I, Xuan Lin, though unworthy, am willing to emulate our worthy ancestors. With my broken body, I will burn my soul spirit, to protect our lineage unbroken!"
His words, like a final testament, carried a power that shook the heart, striking every member of Qingxu Temple.
"Master! NO!!!" Xiao Qi let out a heart‑rending scream. He desperately tried to speed up, tears and blood blurring his vision. He understood now. His master's so‑called decision was to sacrifice himself, to fill the collapsing array eye!
High above, Sect Master Xuan Xuan Zhenren, locked in fierce battle with the ghost‑masked elder, shuddered violently. He took a direct demonic energy blast from his opponent, spat out a mouthful of blood, and with eyes splitting in rage, looked toward Spirit Pivot Valley, letting out a most sorrowful roar: "Junior Brother Xuan Lin! NO—!"
But his protest came too late.
Inside Spirit Pivot Valley, Xuan Lin Zhenren had already appeared before the core array eye – a giant jade altar that was spewing earth vein spiritual energy but was now covered with cracks and eroded by a strange, pitch‑black energy.
Elder Xuan Shi, who had been guarding this place, and the disciples under him were nearly all dead. Corpses littered the altar. The few survivors were locked in a final desperate battle with traitors wearing Qingxu Temple robes who had suddenly appeared from within, along with several powerful infiltrators from the Shadow Snake Pavilion. Clearly, the crisis in Spirit Pivot Valley stemmed from both internal sabotage and external assault!
Xuan Lin Zhenren did not even glance at those traitors and enemies. His gaze was locked solely on that crumbling altar. There lay the hub connecting the entire Qingxu Profound Light Shield to the earth veins – one of the formation's sources of power!
Slowly, he raised his remaining right arm. His Shouzheng Sword had long been destroyed in the bloodbath at the mountain gate. Now, he held his fingers together like a sword, and at their tips he condensed his final, purest lifebound essence and soul spirit power! The light was no longer a peaceful cyan, but a burning, tragic platinum white!
"With my blood, I call upon the earth vein's spirit!"
"With my soul, I fortify the foundation of these mountains and rivers!"
"I, Xuan Lin, a disciple of Qingxu Temple, now… offer my life to the Dao, to protect my sect!"
He chanted sonorously, every word forged from blood and tears, carrying a will that shook heaven and earth! As his voice fell, he pointed his sword‑like fingers and stabbed fiercely at his own glabella – the space between the eyebrows!
*Pfft!*
A spark of light, brilliant as a star but containing his lifetime of cultivation and the source of his soul, was forcibly extruded from his glabella!
At the same moment, his remaining right arm, and then his entire body, began to radiate that same burning platinum white light! His flesh, his bones, his soul spirit – all of it became the purest fuel for a single goal: to reinforce this final support point!
"NO—!!!"
Xiao Qi finally reached a point where he could see into the valley. He watched, helpless, as his master's body grew increasingly transparent and ethereal in the platinum white light. He watched that spark of lifebound soul light, which condensed everything his master was, fly like a moth to a flame, unhesitatingly, toward the crack‑covered altar!
"With the stars as my guide, with my soul spirit as the sacrifice! Earth veins… hear my command! SOLIDIFY!!!"
Xuan Lin Zhenren cried out the last, the grandest, and the most resolute shout of his life!
*HUM—!!!*
The instant that lifebound soul light merged into the altar, the entire Spirit Pivot Valley – no, the very mountains and rivers of Qingxu Temple – shook violently! A vast, majestic power, imbued with sorrow and the will to protect, exploded outward from Spirit Pivot Valley as its core, surging like a tide toward the crumbling Qingxu Profound Light Shield!
The shield, which had been dim and covered with cracks, suddenly blazed with blinding intensity, as if injected with a powerful stimulant! The wildly spreading cracks were forcibly smoothed over and repaired by an invisible giant hand! The nearly transparent areas rapidly regained their thickness and solidity!
Moreover, a faint platinum white shimmer appeared across the entire surface of the shield, carrying Xuan Lin Zhenren's final will, making it even tougher!
Through this self‑sacrificing, martyr‑to‑the‑Dao act, the sect‑protecting grand formation was forcibly stabilized! Though still teetering on the brink, at least it was spared from immediate collapse!
The price paid was—
Inside Spirit Pivot Valley, Xuan Lin Zhenren's figure, now translucent and ethereal, reached the peak of the platinum white light. Then, like shattered glazed jade, it dissolved into countless sparkling motes of starlight. Accompanied by a faint, barely audible sigh – one of release and lingering affection – he completely vanished between heaven and earth.
**Body and spirit destroyed together, no entry into the cycle of reincarnation.**
With his very existence, he had bought the sect the final, most precious time.
"MASTER—!!!"
Xiao Qi's legs gave way. He fell heavily to his knees and let out the anguished, grief‑stricken howl of a lone wolf that had lost its cub. The Crimson Flame Sword slipped from his limp hand and stuck into the ground beside him, its flames dimming.
For a moment, the entire Qingxu Temple seemed to fall into a deathly silence of mourning.
Only the enraged roar of the ghost‑masked elder high above and the frustrated howl of the demonic tide outside the mountain gate reminded everyone—
The war was not over. The time bought with his master's life must not be wasted.