Luo Luo perched on the sage’s shoulder, watching the scene unfold with him.
She fluttered her wings excitedly: "Buzz buzz buzz!"
Just look at these three ancient lords—boldly scheming against the sage right inside his own body. What a trio of geniuses.
This mosquito was dying of laughter.
The sage leisurely sat beneath a tree.
The setting sun dipped behind distant mountains, and the darkening sky served as the perfect backdrop. The scenes within the Sealed Divine Hall unfolded vividly before them, as if they were there in person.
Suddenly, a foul wind swept through, and a monstrous figure lunged from the shadows of the hall’s roof, startling Luo Luo.
Taiyi Jun flicked his wrist, summoning the Taiyi Sword in a flash of golden light. The blade cleaved the demon in two midair, raining down a shower of fetid black blood.
With a graceful step, Taiyi Jun employed the art of shrinking distances, instantly moving beyond the bloody downpour.
Tianyin Jun swiftly followed suit.
Only Hongmeng Jun remained lost in thought. The deluge of blood descended before he could react, nearly drenching him head to toe.
At the last moment, he flicked his sleeve, deflecting the blood—though a small patch of his robe was stained crimson.
Taiyi Jun frowned at him, displeasure clear in his gaze. "What’s wrong with you? You’ve been distracted this entire journey."
Hongmeng Jun pinched the bridge of his nose.
Behind his hand, his eyes flickered faintly.
He exhaled softly, evasive. "...I don’t feel right."
"Oh?" Tianyin Jun tensed immediately. "You cultivate soul arts—your intuition is sharper than anyone’s. Is there something wrong with this place?"
Taiyi Jun also paused, studying Hongmeng Jun with narrowed eyes.
Hongmeng Jun waved a hand dismissively. "If the Sealed Divine Hall didn’t have problems, that would be the real problem, wouldn’t it?"
Tianyin Jun mused, "No one knows where this hall truly came from. I’ve scoured ancient texts—there’s no record of its origins. Only that the sage drove the demons here, and from then on, they vanished from the world."
Taiyi Jun’s eyes gleamed. "Perhaps the sage obtained some great opportunity within this hall. How else could he defy the ‘restriction’ and survive?"
Tianyin Jun nodded. "His cultivation is unfathomably profound."
Hongmeng Jun murmured absently, "...Yes. To reach the pinnacle of the Dao and yet not perish—truly an unsolvable mystery."
Taiyi Jun’s pupils constricted. He fixed Hongmeng Jun with a sharp look. "You’re acting strange today."
Hongmeng Jun paused.
Then, he chuckled lightly. "Strange? Do you know me so well? How much do you really understand about me?"
The retort left Taiyi Jun speechless.
If not for the sage’s looming threat, these three lords would’ve long since torn each other apart for their own ambitions.
Their alliance was nothing more than a temporary convenience.
After a beat of silence, Taiyi Jun smirked coldly. "True. Tianyin and I are risking everything to kill the sage—just so you can seize his body. Pouring our efforts into paving the way for someone we don’t even know? Hah. Maybe we should just disband this farce."
Hongmeng Jun’s pupils trembled violently.
Recovering quickly, he plastered on a cheeky grin. "Ah, ah, I was only joking! No need to take it so seriously."
Taiyi Jun stared him down. "You’d better be."
Hongmeng Jun smiled. "Rest assured. I absolutely am."
Luo Luo buzzed into the air, circling the "Hongmeng Jun" in the scene a few times.
She lifted a wing, twisting around to ask the sage, "Buzz?"
The sage blinked.
Their grandparent-grandchild communication had grown seamless.
Luo Luo asked: Is that Qing Xu?
The sage answered: Yes.
After shattering Qing Xu’s Void Nightmare, the sage’s remnant soul had brought both her and Qing Xu back to his ancient era.
Luo Luo became a mosquito; Qing Xu became Hongmeng Jun.
So this "Hongmeng Jun" knew nothing of Taiyi Jun and Tianyin Jun’s plans—he could only probe cautiously in conversation.
Learning that these two intended for him to seize the sage’s body must’ve thrilled him.
Luo Luo fumed, flapping her wings harder as she flew a few more furious loops. She stomped all six mosquito legs onto the illusory Hongmeng Jun’s head in the scene.
After venting, she turned back to the sage, buzzing insistently.
‘These three actually want to possess you?!’
The sage remained serene, utterly unbothered—his attention wholly captured by a mantis creeping through the grass, sickle-arms raised.
Luo Luo knew: to him, those three were far less interesting than the insect before him.
She dove into the grass, landing atop the mantis.
"Plop."
Tucking in her legs, she perched lightly on its back.
The mantis noticed nothing, swaying its blades as it stalked a beetle ahead.
Luo Luo adored its ruthless hunter’s demeanor—it reminded her of Li Zhaoye.
Riding the mantis gleefully, she tilted her mosquito head up to watch the colossal scene above.
The three Daoist lords moved cautiously through the shadowed halls of the Sealed Divine Temple, each nursing their own schemes.
Little did they know: the heavens watched from above, and the earth below was no less divine.
Who could’ve guessed that the entire Sealed Divine Hall was the sage himself?
Luo Luo sighed a mosquito sigh: "Buzz…"
The gap in power was as vast as the sky and the abyss.
For these three to oppose him was nothing short of defying the heavens.
But then—why had the sage still "died" in the end, becoming that monstrous, ghostly thing known as the Divine Sovereign?
She buzzed at him loudly: "BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ!"
What happened to you, ancestor?!
"Rustle."
Her buzzing startled the mantis beneath her.
It leaped away, shaking her off before vanishing into the tangled grass.
Having scared off the mantis, Luo Luo sensed the sage’s faint displeasure.
When upset, he never showed it outright—he simply withdrew the vision of the Sealed Divine Hall and wandered onward in silence.
Luo Luo: "Buzz…"
She hurried after him, alighting cautiously atop his head.
By midnight, her wings grew heavy.
Dew gathered on their delicate membranes, weighing her down no matter how she shook.
Her fine fur grew damp, and each breath gurgled with moisture.
The sage sighed.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he tucked Luo Luo inside.
Rolling through the fabric, every strand of fur dried against the cloth, leaving her cozy and comfortable once more.
‘Ohhh…’
Drowsiness crept over her as a belated realization struck.
Hongmeng Jun cultivated soul arts—he’d tried to possess the sage and failed.
Qing Xu stole Hongmeng’s essence, learned possession from it, and succeeded in harming Li Zhaoye.
She stared blankly out from the sleeve, gazing at the ancient stars above.
The eternal cosmos, the entwined threads of fate.
The Sealed Divine Hall drew closer to the earth.
The heavy shadow loomed over the land, giving rise to strange celestial phenomena and erratic weather—vast, unpredictable ribbons of dazzling yet perilous light streaked across the sky. On summer days, sudden clouds of goose-feather snow would swirl before melting into rain before touching the ground.
From afar, the edges of the Sealed Divine Palace seemed to merge with the silhouette of the mountains.
It was as if a colossal boulder hung by a single strand of hair. Anyone who witnessed this sight would inevitably hold their breath, their scalp prickling with tension as they braced for the inevitable moment.
These past few days, the Sage had not spared a glance for flowers, birds, or insects.
Not even an ant, manipulated by fungi to climb toward the sunlight and die, its body frozen into a caterpillar fungus, could capture even a sliver of his attention.
Luo Luo could no longer bear to perch on his shoulders.
She could feel it—the weight of mountains and seas pressing down upon him.
"Boom—hum—"
Before the first muffled sound could reach them, the sky twisted in warning.
An indescribable shockwave tore through the world.
The mountains shrank in an instant, their peaks rippling like waves on water, rising and falling in soft, silken folds.
In the next breath, every cloud in the sky was shredded, scattering like countless silk threads toward the horizon.
The gale followed.
Trees on the slopes bent violently, their branches and leaves snapping taut, trembling in the wind.
Sonic booms erupted from all directions.
The earth beneath their feet began to quake.
A thunderous roar surged from the depths—through fissures in the mountains, beneath the soil, across the sky.
Space and time seemed to dissolve, tossing them upon an invisible tide.
"Boom—rumble—"
The vast shadow plunged into the mountains.
Ridges vanished, slopes crumbled, foundations collapsed. Flames surged toward the heavens.
Dust billowed into the sky as the great palace sank into the earth. For the first time, there was a strange sense of relief—as if the dust had finally settled.
From a distance, Luo Luo could see a gentle "force" cradling the falling Sealed Divine Palace, slowing its destruction.
It was tender yet unyielding, resisting annihilation, defying fate itself.
She turned to look at the Sage.
Exhaustion had deepened in his eyes. His spine could no longer stand straight. His spiritual avatar had dimmed to near transparency.
Luo Luo thought to herself—he was nothing like those who preached about saving the world. He simply loved a passing cloud, a gust of wind, a tree, a flower, a colony of ants... He treated all living things on this land with equal kindness.
Her heart sank like a stone.
He wasn’t unaware of the three scheming rats plotting against him—he simply had no choice but to do what he must.
If he abandoned his duty, crushing those insects would be effortless.
But that wasn’t his way.
"Buzz."
She flew to him, alighting on his fluttering sleeve.
She wanted—desperately—to protect him.
The wind ruffled her fur, and for a moment, she fancied herself a mosquito of formidable presence.
"Boom—boom—boom—"
The earth’s tremors did not cease.
Cracks of light split the ground, fire and lightning entwining, cascading like waterfalls.
The churned-up dust began to settle. Then, in an instant—silence. The wind stilled, the clouds froze.
The mountain range was no more.
Most of the Sealed Divine Palace had sunk into the earth, its remaining structure jutting diagonally from the ground. Bathed in lightning, its metallic walls now gleamed with the cold, distant light of a dying star.
Luo Luo gasped. "Buzz!"
The Sage walked toward the palace, step by step.
His spiritual form was unstable now. Every gust of wind threatened to scatter parts of him, as if he were a figure of melting clay.
Luo Luo quietly flew behind him, pressing her back and abdomen against his body, pushing forward with all her might to lend him the tiniest bit of momentum.
They passed through a small town.
The cobblestone roads had buckled in the quake, and the once-neat houses now stood at uneven angles, creating an oddly picturesque scene.
Miraculously, the town had been spared major devastation.
"S-Sage?"
A group of villagers huddled in a square, seeking refuge. One of them spotted him and called out in a hushed, fearful voice.
The crowd turned.
The Sage now resembled a clay idol mid-collapse—patches of his body missing, his form crumbling, his appearance ghastly.
"Are... are you dying?" a child shrieked. "Sage, are you gonna die?"
People were used to his silence, never expecting an answer.
But today, he stopped. Slowly, he turned his head.
The crowd stiffened. The child’s parents panicked, pulling their son behind them.
On the Sage’s broken face, a smile appeared.
"Yes. I am going to die."
He turned away and continued walking.
Luo Luo shot toward the crowd, mandibles twitching, ready to sting anyone who dared speak another cruel word.
She refused to let him hear such things—not now, not ever again.
But as she hovered, she realized—no insults came.
Perhaps the near-brush with death had left them dazed, their usual greed and malice momentarily absent.
"Our town was so close, but nothing happened... It must’ve been the Sage, right? He always does these things—fixing dams, mending the earth’s veins... This time too, it was him..."
"Sage, Sage... We always cursed you, but we never really wanted you to die. We just wanted you to do more for us..."
"I didn’t want to curse him. But if I didn’t, others would curse me. I just didn’t want to stand out."
"If the Sage dies, there’ll never be another."
Luo Luo quietly retracted her stinger and fluttered after the figure stretching long in the setting sun.
The Sage waited for her by the roadside.
He lifted a finger, letting her land on his nail.
"Buzz..."
Her vision blurred. Stars wheeled, the world spun.
When her senses returned, she stood alone inside the Sealed Divine Palace.
The Sage was gone. Only a lone mosquito remained.
Around her, countless eternal lamps embedded in the walls flickered like his ever-present gaze.
She beat her wings and flew forward.
Scattered along the way were the corpses of demons.
In ancient times, the palace had housed few demons—nothing like the teeming hordes of her era.
The moment the thought crossed her mind, a distant voice echoed from the walls, like a narrator on a stage.
The Sage, now the palace itself, spoke: "The miasma of Yin is the malice of the human world."
Luo Luo nodded. "Buzz!"
She knew this—the more turbulent the times, the thicker the Yin miasma.
The palace continued: "The corruption from beyond the world merges with this miasma, breeding demons."
Luo Luo understood. "Buzz..."
So he sealed the rift tainted by malevolent energy high in the sky, far from the mortal world, ensuring no dark miasma could spread or breed too many demons.
But now, the Divine Seal Temple has come crashing down.
The Sage is dying, and no one remains to stop the demons from multiplying.
Luo Luo stood dazed, lost in thought: He’s exhausted. I wonder if those thrown vegetables and eggs were the final straws weighing him down?
He probably knew what she was thinking, but he didn’t answer.
Luo Luo drifted forward aimlessly.
Passing through a corridor, she heard voices ahead.
Silently, she flitted along the shadows until she saw Taiyi Jun, Tianyin Jun, and Hongmeng Jun gathered in secret discussion within the temple.
Taiyi Jun frowned. "I’ve received many reports—all claiming the Sage is on the verge of death."
Tianyin Jun nodded grimly. "My sources confirm it’s true. How could this happen? Does this mean there truly is no path to ascension? Even he…" His expression darkened.
Taiyi Jun’s face mirrored his dismay.
A sidelong glance revealed Hongmeng Jun smiling faintly, head bowed.
"What are you laughing about?" Taiyi Jun demanded. "If even he can’t ascend, what’s the point of your body-swapping scheme?"
Hongmeng Jun replied softly, "You think he’s dying? I’m not so sure."
"Oh?" The two exchanged glances. "Explain."
Hongmeng Jun spoke leisurely, "To merge with the Dao is to unite one’s body with the Great Dao itself. Achieving divinity means harmonizing body and spirit, but merging with the Dao means becoming one with the cosmos—commanding the world’s spiritual energy, turning clouds with a wave, overturning seas with a gesture."
Tianyin Jun narrowed his eyes. "Why do you sound like you’re lecturing, as if you haven’t merged with the Dao?"
Hongmeng Jun chuckled.
Under his breath, he muttered, "Exactly. I haven’t."
Raising his head, he continued, "Borrowing heaven’s power comes at a price. The deeper one merges with the Dao, the harsher the backlash from the ‘Heavenly Dao.’ Every Dao-merged cultivator meets the same end—madness and death."
"What’s your point?"
Hongmeng Jun smiled. "Tianyin, does he seem mad to you?"
The two pondered.
Taiyi Jun hesitated. "Are you saying… his apparent death is actually a sign of ascension? That makes no sense!"
Hongmeng Jun sighed. "It does, actually. When the Divine Seal Temple fell, shouldn’t it have triggered calamity? Sky-rending disasters, erupting volcanoes, scorched lands… Yet none of that happened. Why?"
"He saved the world?" Taiyi Jun mused. "No one else could’ve done it."
Hongmeng Jun pressed, "Indeed. Even if we had such power, what would using it cost us?"
The two answered in unison, "Certain death."
Tianyin Jun frowned. "Then why do you insist he might not die?"
Hongmeng Jun exhaled. "I suspect his Dao-merging differs from ours. His is the true union."
Taiyi Jun scoffed. "Are you saying ours is fake?"
"Not exactly." Hongmeng Jun grinned. "I simply believe he’s the first to truly become one with the Dao."
Become one with the Dao.
Every cultivator knew the phrase.
Hadn’t they all merged their bodies with the Dao?
Hearing this now was almost laughable…
"Wait." Taiyi Jun’s eyes gleamed. "You mean he erased his emotions, offering himself…"
She searched for the right word.
"…as a sacrifice to the Heavenly Dao?"
"Ah, Taiyi Jun," Hongmeng praised, "brilliant! Simply brilliant!"
Tianyin Jun snorted. "More like praising yourself."
Taiyi Jun waved off his sarcasm, deep in thought. "Looking back, his actions have been unlike any mortal’s."
She paced, contemplative.
"Hongmeng makes sense," she conceded. "We assumed he schemed for power, but perhaps he truly is selfless—a Sage in every sense. This time, to protect mortals, he expended too much power… and now the Heavenly Dao consumes him."
She laughed softly, shaking her head in disbelief.
Every human had selfish desires. To erase them, submitting wholly to the Dao—losing individuality, humanity, even free will—what was the point? How was that different from death?
"There is a point," Hongmeng Jun drawled. "He can serve as a vessel for others."
Their eyes lit up.
A Dao-merged being, stripped of emotions—wasn’t that the perfect vessel for possession?
Hunger stirred in their hearts.
"Now, now—" Hongmeng Jun raised a hand. "You two don’t practice soul arts. You pushed me into this dangerous task before, but now that it’s easy, don’t get greedy and steal my prize."
Taiyi Jun smiled sweetly. "Of course not."
Her insincerity was obvious.
"Then we proceed as planned," she said. "His ‘death’ is our chance—I’ll use a life-for-life spell, ‘sacrificing’ myself to ‘save’ him."
Hearing this, Luo Luo clung to the temple wall, wings fluttering frantically against the Sage.
She knew what came next.
Taiyi Jun’s ploy—faking near-death to guilt him into saving her.
The other two would pressure him.
The moment he channeled spiritual energy into her, the trap would spring.
Luo Luo had seen it happen.
Her wings scraped the wall.
Buzzzzzz!
She wanted to scream: They tricked you! You became the heartless Divine Sovereign!
Suddenly, her vision wavered.
She saw the Sage as he was now—ethereal, detached.
His face showed no expression.
Instinct told her: whether she flew forward, backward, or upside-down, he wouldn’t find it amusing anymore.
His gaze would never linger on a mere mosquito again.
The trio was right.
To save the world, he’d spent too much.
The last traces of his humanity had nearly faded away.
At this moment, he was in a state utterly close to the Great Dao of heaven and earth—desireless and actionless.
How could such a person still be on guard against anyone?
Luo Luo fluttered her wings anxiously, circling in distress.
A gentle breeze suddenly brushed past her.
The sage’s figure scattered like grains of sand before her eyes, drifting particle by particle into the unknowable void.
In an instant, she understood his meaning—there was no need to grieve for those long gone.
Yes, the sage had already passed into antiquity. Everything had already happened.
He had become that heartless Divine Sovereign back in ancient times. Her frantic worry here was truly meaningless.
Luo Luo let out a soft sigh, her wings settling as she alighted lightly on the brick floor.
‘You were meant to become the Heavenly Dao,’ she thought sorrowfully. ‘To gaze upon those ants and insects with your eyes for eternity. Not to be trapped in the bloodline passed down through generations, like some unlucky stud.’
‘Don’t worry. Li Zhaoye and I will definitely break this curse.’
‘Just wait!’
