Luo Luo stared blankly at the second "sun" hanging high in the sky.
After a dazed moment, she raised a hand, stood on tiptoe, and reached upward. When she couldn’t touch it, she instinctively jumped—still far from reaching it.
The White-Clad Sage’s gaze rested on her, light as a passing breeze.
She kept her hand raised, tilting her head to look at him, her expression one of shock. "You imprisoned a demon in the sky!"
He blinked slowly, very slowly.
Based on her one-sided understanding of him from their time together, Luo Luo took this as a nod.
She stared into his eyes, black as polished obsidian.
There was no killing intent in them, no emotion—nothing at all. His gaze was transparent and shallow, as if one could see straight through to the bottom.
Though he seemed to answer one question, her mind flooded with countless more.
A sun? The Divine Sealing Hall? The Sage? The Divine Sovereign?
What in the world was going on?!
Unfortunately, the White-Clad Sage showed no intention of enlightening her. He turned and walked toward the next city without another word.
Luo Luo sighed heavily, looking skyward.
Now she truly understood what it meant for "the shadow of demons to loom over the world."
Divine Sealing Hall.
Li Zhaoye fought his way to the deepest part of the colossal hall.
"Senior Brother!" Xu Junzhu caught up to him, his voice grim. "You were right—the areas we cleared before are swarming with demons again. They truly are endless!"
Li Zhaoye flicked demon blood from his blade and nodded, pressing forward.
An eerie, bone-chilling wind seeped from the depths of the hall, carrying an indescribable sense of malice.
The cold seemed to seep into their very bones.
Li Zhaoye smirked coldly, tearing off a strip of his sleeve to bind his right hand to his sword hilt—lest the blood make his grip slip.
"Let’s go."
Xu Junzhu watched his senior brother’s ruthless, unyielding back and couldn’t help but shake his head with a wry smile.
When Li Zhaoye wasn’t putting on airs, he was nothing like the refined disciples of orthodox immortal sects.
That wild, predatory aura of his was downright intimidating.
Ahead lay the heart of the Divine Sealing Hall.
The dark, sprawling structure no longer followed the usual layout of corridors leading to chambers. Instead, halls nested within halls, connected by massive steps, like an inverted pagoda stacked layer upon layer.
The closer they got to the center, the more the piercing cold gnawed at them.
Suddenly, Li Zhaoye halted.
He spoke slowly, his words sending a chill down Xu Junzhu’s spine.
"It’s watching me."
Luo Luo had grown accustomed to the White-Clad Sage’s sudden, inexplicable pauses.
Many things could pique his curiosity.
A gust of wind, a passing cloud, a tree, a flower, an ant, a person.
Now, he gazed skyward—toward the "sun"—but after observing him for a while, Luo Luo suspected he was looking beyond it, at something else entirely.
"Are you looking at the demon?" She gestured animatedly. "Is it some gigantic, horrifying thing, the color of death, that makes people’s heads buzz?"
She studied his eyes, searching for even the faintest hint of a reaction.
She desperately wanted to know: What exactly was that "ultimate terror" that had devoured Li Zhaoye’s father? That thing generations of Divine Sovereigns had sacrificed their bodies to pacify?
Abruptly, he looked away—then turned his head and glanced at her.
For the briefest moment, something resembling emotion flickered in his clear, depthless eyes. So faint it was nearly imperceptible.
Luo Luo: "?!"
If she wasn’t mistaken, the corners of his eyes had curved ever so slightly.
Had he… almost smiled?
He had almost smiled.
Luo Luo didn’t get it. Even if he wasn’t looking at that horrifying, head-buzzing monstrosity, what was there to smile about?
Still, any reaction from him was progress.
"Heh heh heh." She deliberately jumped in front of him and announced loudly, "What a terrifying demon!"
She watched him closely for a reaction.
"Terrifying! Demon!"
"Demon! Scary!"
The Sage flowed past her like water, ignoring her once more.
Luo Luo: "..."
Attempt failed.
While passing a black stone mountain, the White-Clad Sage was ambushed.
A burly man with a white headband and the sharp gaze of a predator led a dozen others to block their path.
They wielded farming tools—hoes, sickles, firewood axes—looking every bit like simple peasants.
"If the Sage shows no mercy, then neither shall we!" The leader brandished a curved blade, ready to strike—but then his eyes fell on Luo Luo trailing behind the Sage.
The man frowned.
"What’s a little girl doing here? Go home to your parents!" He jerked his chin. "Scram!"
Luo Luo blinked in surprise. "Huh. You don’t seem like a bad person."
The man’s thick brows knitted, impatience flashing in his eyes. "When I say leave, you leave."
A lanky man behind him swung a shovel threateningly. "The boss told you to get lost! You deaf?"
Luo Luo scoffed.
She leaped forward, raised her leg, and brought it down in a sweeping kick.
"BANG!"
With a resounding crash, the shovel’s metal head was kicked straight into the black stone, embedded deep.
"Hummm—"
The wooden handle vibrated in the wind as the ambushers gaped in shock.
The leader stared dumbfounded at the shovel head—now wedged into solid rock as easily as if it were soft tofu.
Luo Luo arched a brow. "Well? Care to spar?"
The men: "..."
They collectively took a step back, inhaling sharply.
The White-Clad Sage glanced at the shovel, then walked to the roadside to examine insects trapped in pine resin, utterly uninterested.
Luo Luo was long used to his antics.
With nothing better to do, she eyed the group and asked, "What did the Sage do to you?"
The leader swallowed hard and stepped forward, shielding his men.
His voice was wary but firm. "Locust plagues have ravaged our lands. Crops are ruined, and people are starving. We begged the Sage for help—but he ignored us! What use is a Sage like that?"
Luo Luo nodded thoughtfully. She had seen the devastation of famine before.
"The Sage is merciless, treating the people as straw dogs!" a wiry man spat. "Our suffering means nothing to him! If he sees us as less than human, why should we respect him?"
Luo Luo: "..."
Qing Xu hadn’t been much of a teacher. When it came to teaching Daoist principles, he’d usually just tossed a book at her and Li Zhaoye, leaving them to study on their own while he sneaked off to laze around with grass puppets.
Even so, Luo Luo knew "the Sage is merciless, treating the people as straw dogs" didn’t mean what these men thought.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, frustrated.
She could handle these men with force, but explaining philosophy? Qing Xu’s teachings had been sorely lacking.
Still, they didn’t seem like bad people.
Li Zhaoye once said that when encountering those who don’t understand reason, you should just beat them up. But for those who do understand, there’s no harm in reasoning with them.
Luo Luo tilted her head to glance at the white-robed sage.
He remained aloof, detached from the mortal realm—unmoved by worldly joys or sorrows. Even when confronted by bandits, he showed no reaction whatsoever.
As usual, it fell to her to handle such matters.
After a moment of difficult deliberation, Luo Luo recalled an ancient parable. [Note: Zhuangzi]
She lifted her chin and asked the burly leader of the bandits, "Tell me, if you’re sailing on a river and an empty boat drifts toward you, what would you do?"
The man was puzzled but, intimidated by Luo Luo’s formidable combat skills, suppressed his temper and answered cautiously, "Naturally, I’d steer my boat away to avoid it."
Luo Luo nodded. "Would you get angry at the empty boat for colliding with you?"
The man’s eye twitched slightly. "Only a child would throw a tantrum over something like that. Of course not."
"Oh?" Luo Luo pressed, "What if there was someone on that boat?"
The man replied, "Then I’d shout for them to move aside."
"And if they ignored you and kept coming?"
Before the leader could answer, one of his companions behind him burst out, "Is the bastard deaf? I’d curse his ancestors eighteen generations back!"
Luo Luo smirked, adopting a sage-like tone. "So, when an empty boat drifts toward you, you don’t get angry—you just avoid it. But if there’s someone on board, you fly into a rage. What’s the logic in that?"
The crowd fell silent.
The leader’s eyes flickered, his brows furrowing as his lips pressed into a thin line.
Seeing his dawning realization, Luo Luo felt a swell of satisfaction. She nodded. "Isn’t your criticism of the sage the same? If you regarded him as the wind, the moon, or an empty boat—would you blame the wind or the moon for a locust plague?"
The man’s eyes widened, a sudden clarity flashing in his gaze.
He stiffened. "Of course not!"
Exactly. The sage never interfered in worldly affairs. So why did people always direct their grievances toward him?
Why place all their hopes on him, only to resent him when things went wrong?
After a long moment of contemplation, the burly man suddenly bowed deeply, clasping his hands. "Young lady, your words have awakened this fool! Zhang Jing is enlightened!"
Luo Luo was inwardly delighted but feigned nonchalance. "No big deal."
Zhang Jing turned to his followers, his voice trembling slightly. "Brothers, we toil in the fields with our families, yet even in good years, we barely scrape by. When locusts come, we starve. But why? Why are our homes empty, our lives so hard?"
The men pondered.
Soon, one gripping a hoe spoke up. "The officials bleed us dry with endless taxes—how could we have anything left?"
Another, clutching a firewood axe, added, "My family once owned land, but the landlords colluded with corrupt officials, forcing us to sell it for pennies!"
"Same here! With no land left, we had to sell our children just to survive—slaving away for those rich bastards!"
"If the officials and landlords are the ones choking us to death… then what does this have to do with the sage? Why were we blaming him?"
The realization struck them like lightning.
"It’s them!" Zhang Jing’s eyes burned with fury. "The nobles and officials—they suck the people dry while manipulating the ignorant into pointing fingers at the sage!"
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"Damn those snakes!"
"Let’s fight back!"
"Rebel!"
Luo Luo was relieved to see they weren’t hopeless.
She told Zhang Jing, "The sage built dams upstream to prevent floods—you can see for yourselves. And this region has no earthquakes or volcanoes because he stabilized the earth’s veins."
Zhang Jing’s pupils shook. He dropped to his knees, leading his men in a deep bow toward the sage.
"You lot have guts!" Luo Luo couldn’t help teasing. "Knowing he banished demons, yet daring to shout at him like that."
Even she only dared to follow him quietly, never provoking him.
Zhang Jing flushed. "Don’t blame my brothers. It’s my fault for parroting nonsense without thinking."
Demons hadn’t been seen in so long that people grew complacent, instead worshipping those who offered tangible benefits—like the infamous Three Divine Lords.
Before Luo Luo could ask more, the white-robed sage, having finished observing the lac bugs, resumed walking.
He moved silently, covering miles in the blink of an eye.
Luo Luo hastily bid Zhang Jing farewell and hurried after him.
"Boom!"
Li Zhaoye leapt down from the massive corpse of a demon, landing with a thunderous impact.
He stood now at the heart of the Divine Seal Temple.
His gaze swept the area—no trace of Luo Luo.
Xu Junzhu landed beside him, scanning their surroundings with a frown. "That ‘presence’… it’s not here?"
In her idle hours, Luo Luo had repeatedly described to her that terrifying entity.
By all accounts, it should’ve been sealed deep within this temple.
So why was it missing?
"Is this just an illusion, not reality?" Xu Junzhu mused.
Her eyes fell on a mirror embedded at the center of the octagonal hall. Its surface shimmered faintly, an unsettling aura seeping from the other side.
Was the thing trapped inside?
She glanced at Li Zhaoye. He stood motionless, head bowed, drenched in blood like a vengeful wraith.
The sight sent a chill down her spine.
"Senior Brother?"
"Step back." His voice was icy, lethally soft. "I’m going to strike."
Without another word, he raised his sword—and slashed down.
"Boom!"
As Luo Luo wandered with the sage, she carved her mark into large rocks—a trail for Li Zhaoye to follow.
Without a shared home, drifting souls too easily lost each other.
She found no sign of Li Zhaoye, nor any rumors about him.
At night, while the sage gazed at the sky, she’d rest her chin in her hands and watch the moon.
Then one day, she heard Zhang Jing’s name again.
The former bandit leader had rallied a peasant army in rebellion.
They spread word of the sage’s deeds, exposing the true source of the world’s suffering.
In a short span of time, the rebel army had successively captured over a dozen of the imperial court's key cities and strongholds. Wherever they passed, oppressed tenant farmers flocked to join their ranks, their momentum unstoppable as they marched toward the capital.
Luo Luo was astonished.
She kept nagging in the Sage's ear, "Go see! Go see! Go see, go see, go see!"
Whether it was her relentless pestering or the Sage's own interest in the matter, he actually began swimming in the direction of the capital.
Luo Luo cheerfully urged him on.
"Faster, faster, faster!"
It was practically ear-piercing.
The two traveled day and night, heading north without pause.
Along the way, they heard more news.
Zhang Jing's rebel army harmed no civilians, only executed corrupt officials and tyrannical landlords, earning them an impeccable reputation.
"If you keep dawdling, the capital will have a new dynasty by the time we get there!" Luo Luo wished she could drag the Sage along. "Move, move!"
But he crouched under an old tree, utterly engrossed in watching ants battle.
Luo Luo was speechless. "What's so interesting about that?"
The skirmish beneath the tree was fierce.
A troop of black marching ants had set their sights on the red ants' territory in the hollow of the tree. The two sides fought to the death, their fallen piling up in clumps at the roots.
The double shadows of the suns crept inch by inch.
By evening, he finally deigned to stand and move on.
Luo Luo was furious. "If I weren’t worried about missing Li Zhaoye, I’d leave you behind!"
She trailed after him, fuming.
But the news from ahead began to shift.
The imperial court, long rotten to the core, was powerless against the surging rebel tide.
Just as the world seemed on the verge of transformation, an unexpected twist arose—rumors spread that the chaos had brought suffering to the people, and the so-called "compassionate" Divine Lords, unable to bear the plight of the masses, intervened.
Many cultivators entered the capital, aiding the court against the rebels.
With their support, the peasant-born rebel forces were swiftly pushed back.
The tide of public opinion turned in an instant.
Seeing the revered Three Lords side with the court, the masses immediately redirected their fury, denouncing Zhang Jing as a villain to curry favor with the Divine Lords.
Zhang Jing became a universally despised bandit, his reputation ruined overnight.
Luo Luo was livid.
She shouted into the Sage’s ear, "Those Three Lords are ruining your name and stealing your domain! Zhang Jing is the only one smart enough to set things right—you can’t just let him die!"
Yet, the Sage remained unmoved.
Luo Luo wished she had the nerve to yank his ear.
"If you won’t act, I will!" she declared fiercely. "I’m no match for those three Unity Realm cultivators, but if you don’t step in, everyone on your side will perish!"
She grabbed her sword and stormed toward the smoke-choked battlefield stretching across the horizon.
After a few strides, she glanced back.
The white-robed Sage had tilted his head up again, watching the roadside ants wage war.
Luo Luo: "..."
She stormed back and snapped, "What’s so fascinating about ants? Zhang Jing’s rebels are about to lose! He’s the only one who supports you! The others throw vegetables and eggs at you!"
He turned his face toward her, tilting his head slightly, his gaze slow and deliberate as it settled on her.
Their eyes met.
In that moment, Luo Luo strangely understood the tranquility in his gaze.
With a mere gesture, he could move mountains and fill seas.
To him, the wars of men and the wars of ants were no different.
He smiled faintly. "That is their own choice."
Luo Luo froze.
"I thought you were mute," she muttered, disoriented. "Turns out you can speak."
He lifted his face, the same ethereal smile lingering as he raised a hand toward the second sun in the sky.
"Boom!"
The ground trembled faintly. On the distant battlefield, mighty cultivators unleashed their divine arts, blasting the rebel forces into disarray.
Luo Luo heard voices.
Countless people, near and far, were cheering for the cultivators, celebrating the court’s victory, and fervently praying for the Divine Lords to stay and replace the useless Sage.
"You’re right. It’s their choice," Luo Luo said, her heart tangled in unfamiliar complexity. "They abandoned you for the Three Lords."
She studied the Sage.
His back was slightly bent, as though bearing an immense weight.
"You carry the weight of the world, yet no one cares."
Luo Luo didn’t know how heavy a sun was to shoulder, but she doubted it was easy.
"Boom—!"
Another deafening explosion shook the earth.
Even the shadows trembled.
A cold, mocking bitterness rose in Luo Luo’s chest. This was just a memory, a fragment of ancient history.
The annals held no trace of the Sage—only the Three Lords.
The shadows quivered again.
Belatedly, Luo Luo realized something was wrong. She looked up—and what she saw stunned her.
The "sun" was collapsing.
Her mind reeled at the horrifying sight.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the sun’s surface, gray smoke seeping from the fissures like a ring of debris orbiting the dying star.
"Wuuu—hummm—"
A soundless, overwhelming resonance filled the heavens, inaudible to the ears but deafening to the soul.
"Wuuu—hummm—"
It was the sound of a celestial body descending.
The broken sun expanded visibly, its shattered form looming larger by the second.
Though she’d never witnessed such a phenomenon, Luo Luo knew—it was falling toward the earth.
On the battlefield, the fighting raged on.
Amid the smoke and clamor, no one noticed the true cataclysm approaching.
Luo Luo murmured, "The Sage truly is the Sage. Saving the world or ending it—it’s all the same to him."
And here she’d foolishly fought for his sake.
His indifference wasn’t an act. It was absolute.
"Boom—!"
Terrifying, silent shockwaves rippled across the sun’s disintegrating surface.
It drew nearer, its form now translucent, wreathed in ashen haze.
Cracks radiated from its core, as though something within was tearing it apart.
"Boom!"
Another impact wave surged forth—and Luo Luo’s expression froze.
Was it her imagination, or did the violent force wreaking havoc inside feel eerily like that bastard Li Zhaoye?
As another fracture split the sun’s face, Luo Luo felt something inside her crack too.
Longing surged up, bitter as an unripe plum, clogging her throat.
"Boom—hummm—"
Closer. Closer still.
The sun now covered a third of the sky. The debris encircling it ignited into meteors, raining fire upon the battlefield below.
"Whoosh—whoosh—boom!"
Behind the fiery hail, the colossal sun revealed its true shape—a vast palace.
For ages, it had imprisoned countless demons.
The Sage spoke for the second time: "He’s come for you."
"Huh?"
Luo Luo turned to look at him, startled to find his figure growing translucent, his chest splitting open with long, radiant cracks.
Her heart skipped a beat as she suddenly lifted her gaze.
There, on the rapidly descending sun, were identical fissures—just like the ones on his body.
"You—"
She reached out, daring to grasp at the white-robed sage.
Her fingers passed right through him.
Her pupils trembled, shock rendering her speechless: "The second sun… the Divine Seal Temple… It’s your mortal form!"
He had used his own body to seal away the demons; what walked the world was merely a wisp of his soul.
"Boom!"
A blinding, apocalyptic light erupted before her eyes.
The sun plunged below the horizon, and the world fell into an endless slumber.
