In the Hall of Sealed Divinity, the eternal lamps cast a faint, ghostly glow.
Luo Luo crouched beside one of the lamps, her tiny shadow stretching across the ancient walls.
She had spotted the "rift."
It resembled a mirror the color of the Yellow Springs—both real and illusory—hovering at the very center of the hall.
An unsettling, frigid aura seeped through the "mirror's" surface, like eerie tendrils unfurling slowly in all directions.
The weight of the entire colossal hall seemed to press down upon this single point. The Sage, at the peak of his power, had sealed this rift, preventing it from spreading further.
It looked like a festering patch of yellow-green mold.
If left unchecked, the world would surely be doomed.
Luo Luo fumed inwardly: Do those three idiots even realize what kind of "great work" they’re meddling with?
If only she were an ancient like Li Zhaoye—she’d drag him along to beat some sense into those three fools. Assuming they could win, that is.
A flicker of light and shadow shifted before her.
Taiyi, Tian Yin, and Hongmeng Jun—each harboring their own schemes—finally arrived.
Three figures, cloaked in immortal grace, descended into the vast hall, their footsteps echoing faintly.
Tian Yin Jun swept his gaze around and declared solemnly, "This is the heart of the Hall of Sealed Divinity."
"Ancient demons, nothing more." Taiyi Jun’s sword gleamed as divine light swirled around her. Her tone dripped with disdain. "What a pity we weren’t born in his era. Had we slaughtered these fiends back then, we’d be revered as saints today."
Qing Xu, disguised as Hongmeng Jun, chuckled. "Who says you won’t be?"
The remark struck the other two as odd.
But since none of them had pure intentions, they let the veiled mockery slide.
Tian Yin Jun stepped forward, stopping before the rift.
His expression turned wary. "Look—what is this?"
"Hmm?"
Taiyi Jun flashed to his side and sent a pulse of spiritual energy toward the rift.
The energy vanished into the mirror-like surface without a trace.
The three exchanged glances.
"Hongmeng, probe it with your soul arts," Taiyi Jun ordered, tilting her chin.
Qing Xu, not the real Hongmeng Jun, hesitated. The more he acted, the more he risked exposure.
He smirked lazily. "This hall has stood undisturbed for millennia. Why poke at it now? Aren’t you inviting trouble?"
Taiyi Jun frowned. "Something feels wrong."
Qing Xu shrugged. "Right or wrong, what does it matter to our plans?"
Taiyi Jun wavered.
Tian Yin Jun shot her a look. "He’s right. Our priority is dealing with the Sage. We can handle the rest later."
Taiyi Jun nodded. "Fine."
With that, they turned their backs on the sinister rift.
They strode through the corridor and entered a narrow, sealed chamber.
"Will this do?"
"It’ll suffice."
Luo Luo slipped after them, clinging to the shadows.
One glance confirmed it—this was where they would ambush the Sage.
The three exchanged glances before fanning out to set their trap.
Luo Luo seethed: Idiots! Li Zhaoye would’ve sensed the evil in that rift at a glance. You’re all blind, greedy fools!
Stupidity and malice went hand in hand. None of them spared a thought for how that tiny rift might doom the world.
They began their work.
Spiritual energy surged—Taiyi Jun’s golden light, Tian Yin Jun’s silver moonlight, and Hongmeng Jun’s inky darkness seeped into every corner of the chamber.
Soon, the glow faded, leaving no trace of their tampering. Not that it mattered—the hall was the Sage himself.
The three exhaled in unison.
Taiyi Jun turned to Tian Yin Jun. "How long until he arrives?"
Tian Yin Jun closed his eyes, fingers weaving a spell. His eyelids turned translucent, revealing swirling constellations. After a moment, he opened them. "He’s on his way. Three minutes."
Taiyi Jun gave a slow nod.
The three settled into meditative stances, biding their time.
Minutes trickled by.
Suddenly, Tian Yin Jun’s eyelids flickered.
Taiyi Jun understood.
Her face softened with false piety as she declared, "We cultivators live to slay demons. What is death to us? If I can purge the evils of this hall, my life will have been worth it."
Tian Yin Jun feigned urgency. "Taiyi, no!"
Taiyi Jun smiled. "My time was near anyway. To sacrifice myself for the world—what greater honor? The Sage’s survival is a blessing to all. Do not mourn me."
With that, she crossed her legs and began the life-for-life ritual.
Her body floated upward, golden threads of energy peeling away, drifting toward the Sage’s fate.
"Taiyi!" Tian Yin Jun’s voice cracked with staged grief. "No one’s ever succeeded with this forbidden art! Your death will be in vain!"
Qing Xu, still playing Hongmeng Jun, watched their performance with a smirk.
Luo Luo glanced down the corridor.
A figure approached.
Tall, lean, and serene—the Sage in white strode calmly through his own hall, drawing closer to the plotters.
With Qing Xu silent, Tian Yin Jun carried the act alone. "Taiyi! You’ve cleansed this hall of demons, and now you throw your life away—why?!"
The Sage stepped inside.
His gaze, gentle yet sorrowful, fell upon the three.
An aura—subtle yet unmistakable—cloaked him. Not the aura of a dying man, but one on the verge of ascension.
"Ah—"
Taiyi Jun gasped mid-air and plummeted.
The Sage caught her effortlessly.
The scene mirrored Luo Luo’s vision perfectly.
Taiyi Jun lay limp in his arms, her dying eyes fluttering open to gaze at his profile.
"Sage... you won’t perish... how wonderful..."
Luo Luo knew her heart raced with thoughts of immortality.
Tian Yin Jun’s hypocritical cry matched her memory: "She died for you, and you feel nothing?!"
Qing Xu half-heartedly chimed in, "Any man would save her."
Taiyi Jun’s voice faded. "I... regret nothing..."
Her act was flawless.
The Sage’s piercing eyes betrayed no reaction. He looked down at her, his expression infinitely compassionate.
Luo Luo crouched atop an eternal lamp, looking down from her high vantage point, where every expression on the people below was clear and distinct.
She mockingly flicked her proboscis.
These people thought they had successfully schemed against a "simpleton," unaware of just how laughably clumsy their "cleverness" truly was.
The Sage knew everything—he was simply too weary.
He extended his hand, allowing Taiyi Jun to drive a poisoned artifact into his palm.
The surrounding trap arrays activated one after another, illuminating the pitch-black hall with spiritual light.
The Sage wasn’t angry. He merely whispered their names and sighed, "Why go to such lengths?"
The potent toxin rendered him immobile, and the countless lethal mechanisms hidden throughout the hall surged toward him, piercing every joint and acupoint in his body.
Amidst the relentless "hiss-hiss" sounds and the blinding radiance, Luo Luo strained her eyes and saw the Sage impaled by a thousand arrows.
Tian Yin Jun barked sharply, "Now’s the time! Hong Meng!"
"Ah, I’m going in. Cover me," Qing Xu responded lazily, forming a hand seal and pressing it to his forehead. A wisp of soul-light shot out, vanishing into the Sage’s body.
With his soul departed, Hong Meng Jun’s now-empty body collapsed to the ground with a dull thud, lifeless as a corpse.
In the blink of an eye, the seemingly dying Taiyi Jun suddenly stood up, swiftly forming seals with Tian Yin Jun. Together, they unleashed several sealing spells, slamming them into the Sage’s body.
"Argh!"
A shrill scream erupted as "Hong Meng Jun" howled, "You—you schemed against me too!"
Tian Yin Jun sneered, "How could we, as righteous cultivators, stoop to your level, you soul-stealing fiend?"
Taiyi Jun wiped the soul-blood from her lips, her beautiful eyes gleaming with amusement. "The Sage’s spiritual power is ours to enjoy. You? You’re just an afterthought."
"I should’ve known… you… never… meant well…" The voice trailed off weakly.
Tian Yin Jun said coldly, "Had you succeeded in possessing him, we’d have been your first victims!"
Exchanging a glance with Taiyi Jun, he merged his body and soul, transforming into a raging storm of spiritual energy alongside her. Together, they dragged the Sage into the vortex.
The tempest whirled violently, stripping the Sage of his power as the two feasted greedily.
Luo Luo watched, her tiny hairs standing on end.
She knew these people were no saints, but what was happening before her eyes was beyond despicable.
They… ate the Sage?
"Boom!"
Suddenly, the storm dissipated.
Taiyi Jun and Tian Yin Jun reappeared, floating side by side.
Both eyed each other warily, taking positions on opposite sides of the hall.
A coarse white robe drifted slowly down from the air.
With a soft "pat," it landed on the ground.
The Sage’s body was gone without a trace.
"Tian Yin," Taiyi Jun smiled, "Striking now would be too risky. Why not keep up this friendly pretense a little longer?"
Tian Yin Jun sighed. "You know my feelings. Must you wound me so? Have I not remained chaste for you all these years?"
Taiyi Jun covered her lips with a delicate laugh. "Once we’ve fully absorbed this power, we can become cultivation partners."
Tian Yin Jun: "You swear?"
Taiyi Jun: "I swear."
A temporary truce—both knew the other’s deceit.
Tian Yin Jun chuckled. "You don’t trust me enough to turn your back, so I’ll take my leave first."
Taiyi Jun nodded. "Go ahead."
With that, his figure flickered, vanishing down the corridor.
Taiyi Jun swiftly followed.
The moment they left, Luo Luo scurried out from behind the eternal lamp.
She stared down at the hall, her gaze fixed on the empty white robe, unblinking.
Had the Sage’s soul truly been… devoured?
Disbelieving, she buzzed down and landed on the garment.
"Buzz… buzz…"
She nudged it with her legs, poked at it with her proboscis.
The robe gave no response.
She flitted to the floor tiles, beating them hard with her wings.
"Buzz… buzz…"
Was the Sage really gone?
If those two had consumed him, how had he later become the Divine Sovereign?
Luo Luo was utterly bewildered.
She suddenly shot up, then dove down, stomping on the tiles in a desperate attempt to summon his physical form.
Sage! Sage! Sage! Sage!
Mid-flutter, a sound came from behind.
Luo Luo whipped around excitedly. "Buzz!"
Her tiny body froze.
The figure staggering to its feet wasn’t the Sage—it was "Hong Meng Jun," Qing Xu.
"Well, well…" Qing Xu’s voice was laced with venom. "What a pair—Taiyi Jun and Tian Yin Jun. Cannibals, yet they dare call others evil cultivators?"
Luo Luo held her breath.
He’d tricked them. He’d never truly attempted to possess the Sage.
Qing Xu took a large step back, clicking his tongue. "What a horror! Hong Meng Jun was eaten alive by those two!"
Luo Luo folded her wings, silently retreating beneath the Sage’s robe, only her eyes peeking out.
"So…" Qing Xu mused, voicing the same question Luo Luo had. "If the Sage is dead, how did he become the Divine Sovereign? The truth of antiquity is truly elusive."
Luo Luo blinked, waiting to see if he’d figure it out.
She knew Qing Xu was just a tad cleverer than her.
He paced over, bent down, and reached for the robe where she hid.
"Buzz…"
She lifted off as quietly as possible, tucking her six legs close like a dandelion seed, drifting soundlessly into the shadows.
Don’t see me, don’t see me, don’t see me.
Don’t hear me, don’t hear me, don’t hear me.
Her heart pounded as she landed with a soft "puff," making no noise.
Qing Xu rummaged through the robe.
It was spotless, devoid of any lingering aura.
"Rustle, rustle!"
He turned it inside out, shook it vigorously, but after a long while, still didn’t set it down.
The oversized white robe obscured his face, and the lack of visible eyes gave Luo Luo a false sense of security.
She cautiously stretched her legs and fluttered her wings.
Just as she prepared to fly farther away, Qing Xu suddenly went still.
Luo Luo’s heart clenched. She stayed put, watching him warily.
What now?
Had he noticed something?
He didn’t move. Neither did she dare. In the deathly silent hall, even the faintest breeze was palpable.
Luo Luo pressed her wings tightly to her body, suppressing any buzz.
As for her heartbeat… surely a mosquito’s pulse was quiet enough… right?
She held her breath, waiting for him to release the robe.
The initial comfort of his hidden gaze gradually twisted into unease.
Then, abruptly, the fabric of the robe bulged and twitched.
Just as Luo Luo focused on the collar, expecting him to emerge from the top—his face popped out from the hem instead.
Right in front of her.
Smirking.
"……"
If mosquitoes could scream, Luo Luo would have shrieked in this moment.
Every hair on her body stood on end, her skin tightened, and her eyes strained wide.
He curved his lips and asked, "Guess if I saw you?"
Luo Luo: "...Buzz!!!"
Words couldn’t describe her terror. All six legs left the ground as she took flight, her body tilting as she buzzed frantically out of the narrow chamber.
In her frantic escape, she glanced back.
The white robe drifted slowly to the floor—Qing Xu was no longer there.
Luo Luo: "..."
Her wings became a blur as she flapped with desperate speed.
Then—the airflow ahead shifted unnaturally.
She slammed to a halt, backpedaling just in time to avoid crashing into him.
Qing Xu stood blocking the corridor, head tilted as he waited for her with amusement.
"Buzz..."
The Sage was dead, yet Qing Xu remained. Was there no justice in this world?
Luo Luo flapped harder, her plump body stretching thin from sheer effort.
Qing Xu’s footsteps echoed through the hallway.
With his level of cultivation, catching a mere mosquito was effortless.
He was toying with her—reveling in her panic and fear.
Luo Luo seethed: "Buzz!"
She knew it, but what could she do? She couldn’t just wait for death.
A mosquito like her could be squashed without a second thought.
She wasn’t Li Zhaoye, who could return from death.
As if reading her mind, Qing Xu’s laughter brushed against her tiny hairs: "You’re nothing like Li Zhaoye. He could come back. You? Not a chance."
Luo Luo: "Buzz?!"
She darted past a doorway, taking refuge behind a massive pillar.
The Hall of Sealed Divinity was riddled with pitch-black shadows, but darkness offered no safety.
Luo Luo didn’t dare stop.
She zipped forward, pillars and black walls whipping past on either side.
Qing Xu’s voice trailed her like a specter: "Tell me, have you ever considered something? Taiyi Jun was a woman."
Without waiting for her confusion to settle, he continued, "Back then, I actually hesitated—should I have let Chen Xuanyi possess you instead? You and the Taiyi Sword might have been a better match."
Luo Luo’s wings faltered for a split second.
Qing Xu sighed. "But Li Zhaoye was too clever. Just a casual mention, and he seemed to sense something was off. He sneaked to the back mountain and forcibly drew the Taiyi Sword. So, I had no choice but to pick him."
Luo Luo’s heart trembled.
She took a deep breath, steeling herself: Luo Luo, shut your ears. Don’t let him mess with your head. Your only job right now is to escape, not listen to his stories.
Yet his voice clung to her like a curse: "Then I sent him alone on a mission. Heh, he must have known… That night before he left, he came to you, didn’t he? And he told you nothing, right? He clung to hope—hoped he was overthinking, that nothing bad would happen..."
Luo Luo flew harder.
Of course she remembered that night. She and Li Zhaoye had walked in the dark, his words halting, sentences oddly broken. He said he’d be gone a long time, so they’d need to steal two chickens—one to eat, one to take.
He’d sensed danger.
And he’d taken the fall for her.
Qing Xu sighed again. "If only you had died instead. You wouldn’t have come back, and dealing with him would’ve been so much simpler. None of these messes would’ve happened."
A fire burned in Luo Luo’s chest.
He added, "If Chen Xuanyi had possessed you, how would I have explained your sudden change of heart to Li Zhaoye? Ah, right—I could’ve used the same old script. Lingxue ‘fell for her master,’ didn’t she? You’d do the same, betray Li Zhaoye. How does that sound?"
Luo Luo shook with rage.
She knew he was baiting her, but—she couldn’t take it anymore.
With a sharp flap of her wings, she spun midair to face him.
He strode closer, step by step.
Luo Luo hovered, staring at him until her eyes burned.
Fury churned inside her. She remembered biting these three—biting him.
His blood had made her sick.
Rage turned her into a volcano, molten fury erupting within. She surrendered to instinct—and ignited.
"BOOM!"
Fire blazed in her belly. Her tiny hairs became flames.
She was no ordinary mosquito—she had cultivation!
"BOOM!"
She dive-bombed toward him, a blazing fireball.
Closer… closer…
Qing Xu’s eyes reflected her clearly—a translucent mosquito wreathed in gold-red flames.
His lips curled in amusement as he raised a hand to snatch her.
Luo Luo charged in fury.
At the last second, she jerked her proboscis—and spat fire into his face.
"WHOOSH!"
The inferno engulfed his vision. In that split second, she twisted, zipping past his ear and into the corridor behind him.
"Buzz—buzz—buzz—"
A burning mosquito was anything but subtle. The entire hallway lit up in her wake.
She weaved past rows of eternal lamps, banking, rolling, flipping midair.
She wasn’t just any mosquito now—she was a flaming mosquito.
Bet even the Sage had never seen that.
"Buzz!"
She shot into the deepest chamber of the Hall of Sealed Divinity.
The air currents here whispered Qing Xu’s movements—every teleport, every reach.
She dodged, slipping just beyond his grasp again and again.
But her flames were fading.
Tendrils of smoke curled off her body.
Years of roasting chickens told her—smoke meant the fire was dying.
Her heart hammered wildly.
Time was running out.
"Swoosh!"
She plunged toward the gap in reality—a mirror-like rift the color of the Yellow Springs.
Her odds were near-zero. The only sliver of hope? Luring Qing Xu into that abyss.
"Dodge! Twist!"
She evaded his grasp once more.
Then—she feigned exhaustion.
"Buzz..."
She tumbled midair, spiraling downward.
Qing Xu chuckled. In a flash, he teleported, hand outstretched to seize her smoking body.
At the last instant—
"BUZZ!"
She veered sharply around the rift.
Qing Xu reflexively swiped at her—
His billowing sleeve grazed the edge of the void.
Luo Luo’s pupils shrank to pinpricks.
Then—he laughed.
His hand froze, a hair’s breadth from the abyss.
"This master doesn’t touch filth."
Her heart sank like a stone.
Her fire was gone. Her strength spent. She couldn’t fly anymore.
With one last feeble flap, she watched helplessly as Qing Xu stepped around the rift—and appeared right before her.
He raised his hand, his fingers casting a shadow over her like a looming mountain.
Closing in… closing in…
A heavy, icy pressure descended, stealing her breath and freezing her in place.
The world around her was drowned in a shrill, piercing tinnitus.
"Ying… boom!"
At the critical moment, an earth-shattering explosion erupted, shaking the entire grand hall with a resonant hum.
In Luo Luo’s vision, countless fragments flashed past.
Behind Qing Xu, an overwhelmingly arrogant sword light tore through the air, as if splitting the world in two.
"Clang—"
A cold, lethal intent flickered along the blade like a fleeting streak of light.
In the next instant, the long sword pierced Qing Xu’s body, sending a line of blood arcing through the air.
"Ugh!"
Qing Xu grunted as Li Zhaoye swiftly moved past him, grabbing Luo Luo in one swift motion.
Her mouthpiece clacked against the base of his thumb.
"Tch." He smirked. "That mouth of yours is just begging to be punched."
Luo Luo: "Buzz!"
You’re the one begging for a punch! Every inch of you!
