Redemption of a Born Demon

"No! NO!!"

Lotus was panicked and terrified, but after realizing he was utterly powerless to resist, he grew calm.

"So, you’ve schemed against me all along. In my final moments, before I disappear, tell me... what kind of existence are you now? Have you truly become a True Spirit?"

His consciousness was filled with anticipation.

The True Spirit was his life’s pursuit. He would have given up everything for it. Even if he was fated to perish completely, he would die without regret if he could just witness a real True Spirit.

"A True Spirit? You’re too shortsighted. What in this world is truly eternal? What is truly undying? Even the likes of Earth Immortals cannot escape death and dismemberment, their life’s work becoming a prize for another."

"What I intend to do, the fruit I seek to bear, is greater than eternity itself!"

The voice was calm, yet earth-shattering.

"What is it you’re trying to do?!"

Lotus still couldn’t understand.

’What existence in this world could possibly be greater than a True Spirit?’

"Do you still not understand? You still call me Fu Yaozi? Have you never wondered why, after ten lifetimes of Cultivation, Fu Yaozi’s journey ends with my current name?"

the voice said with a sigh.

Unfortunately, Lotus would never have the chance to figure it out.

Within the Human Dao River, the Golden Lotus Platform rapidly withered away, finally dissolving into motes of starlight and vanishing completely.

And all the Divine Powers and Taoist Skills Lotus had created over the years, along with his profound understanding of the Human Dao River, were completely absorbed by another, immense will.

So many years of Cultivation, all for someone else’s benefit in the end.

「In the real world.」

"He’s dead?"

Yi Beidou caught up and frowned deeply, looking at the body of Lotus lying on the ground, its head disproportionately large for its small frame.

There was indeed no trace of life left in this shell. ’Did the man just kill himself?’

If he were still alive, he couldn’t possibly have escaped his senses, not even if he had teleported to the other side of Earth in an instant.

The calamity would not let anyone it targeted escape.

In other words, Lotus had truly and completely perished.

’Was he trying to use some kind of Secret Technique, only for it to fail and backfire?’

THUMP-THUMP!!

Suddenly, Yi Beidou’s heart began to race. His temples throbbed, and the Black Flame Fire Seed sigil on his brow trembled in unison.

A wave of exhaustion washed over him. At the same time, a sign appeared: the Demon Flame—the Black Flame—was on the verge of destabilizing.

Yi Beidou pulled several Demon Peacock Pills from a tactical pouch on his waist and swallowed them. They digested quickly, rapidly restoring his Physical Ability, but his condition didn’t improve much.

He knew that maintaining the Black Flame fusion state required the unity of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit. As long as the Black Flame existed, it would continuously burn through all three.

His Essence and Qi were relatively easy to replenish, but the drain on his mind and spirit couldn’t be restored with simple medicine.

’It’s only been about twenty minutes since I unleashed the Black Flame. Is this already my limit?’ Yi Beidou muttered to himself. However, it was also related to the vast area he had covered with the Black Flame this time.

The massive cloud of Black Flame covering half the city required him to divide his mental energy to control its spread. Otherwise, it would have inevitably harmed innocent lives, which only exacerbated the drain on his mind and spirit.

If he were in the wilderness or using the Black Flame on a smaller scale, the pressure wouldn’t be this great. He could have maintained it for much longer, perhaps even twice as long.

’Looks like I have to dispel the Black Flame immediately,’ he thought. ’If I lose control, the rampaging flames will cause unimaginable destruction before they finally dissipate and extinguish on their own.’

As for the two who had fled, he wasn’t worried. Since the Black Flame was already clinging to them and the calamity had locked on, their locations wouldn’t escape his senses. A reckoning was only a matter of time.

In the Sky, the sun-blotting Black Flame began to dissipate over a large area under Yi Beidou’s control. Having lost the properties of Black Flame, it became nothing more than ordinary fire, and ordinary fire cannot burn in mid-air.

"It’s gone?"

Countless citizens of Gibraltar watched the Black Flame disperse and the sun-lit Sky gradually reappear. They all felt as if they had just survived a disaster, and some even collapsed onto the ground in relief.

It had been utterly terrifying.

The unnatural phenomenon, combined with the terrifying aura of calamity that came with the Black Flame, had an immense effect on ordinary people.

"That person dispelled the Black Flame? Could he be running out of stamina? An ability like that is so terrifying... Without fusing with any Earth Immortal Flesh and Blood, a pure human body surely can’t sustain it for long."

The Thunder King stared at the vanishing Black Flame in the sky, a greedy glint returning to his eyes.

"Theoretically, it’s possible. But are you willing to bet on it?"

Lady Crystal said, glancing at him.

"Alright, I’m not. Let’s just drop it for now. We’ll wait until we figure out more about this guy. Maybe we can work with the other powers; there might still be a chance to fight for the ruins. Besides, didn’t two of those five escape? They should have a much deeper understanding of that Black Flame."

In the end, the Thunder King just shrugged. He didn’t dare gamble on a possibility.

The other Sleepers felt the same way.

After all, if they bet wrong, the price would be complete annihilation. In just over ten minutes, the auras of three Sleepers had already vanished from this city.

「Meanwhile.」

As Yi Beidou retracted the Black Flame, the flames clinging to the King of the Wheel of Reincarnation and the Lady of the Three Yins, who had fled in separate directions, also began to rapidly disintegrate. They were finally able to suppress the turmoil within their bodies again.

"We escaped!"

They felt a wave of relief, the joy of having survived a great disaster.