What does it feel like to be devoured by "that thing"?
Luo Luo first heard an unbearably shrill noise—a chaotic, piercing screech that felt almost tangible, as if countless metal claws were scraping violently against her skull.
"Zzzz... eeeek!"
Her brain felt like it was being torn apart. Waves of nausea spread through every inch of her body, making her want to vomit out all her organs.
Why... why... I already escaped... I already... Hongmeng Jun's spiritual consciousness let out a groan filled with resentment and terror.
The abyss-like maw of the yellow spring loomed right before her, deathly pale.
Yet Luo Luo thought of something else: Last time... it wasn’t you.
She laughed. And then laughed harder, louder.
That time, Master Fuling had conspired with Qing Xu, drugging everyone at Winter Lord Ridge and trapping them in a nightmare.
Their motives were malicious, but by sheer accident, they ended up doing something "good."
In the nightmare, everyone happily roasted chickens and drank wine with Master Uncle Lingxue, fooling around without restraint all night.
Then Luo Luo and Qing Xu fell into the Sage’s memories—she turned into a mosquito and was chased relentlessly by Qing Xu, nearly forcing her to ascend to divinity on the spot.
He could have tortured me cruelly, yet he let Gu Meng rescue me from Chen Xuanyi’s side. Even while hunting me down, he kept blabbering nonsense instead of going for the kill. Luo Luo chuckled. He was the indecisive Li Ermiao you despise—not you.
This was important.
Li Ermiao had never told his "malicious soul," Hongmeng Jun, about what happened in the nightmare realm.
Which meant Hongmeng Jun had no idea about a terrifying truth—on the day they plotted against the Sage, he, Taiyi, and Tian Yin had never actually left the Sealed God Hall.
Inside the Sage’s memory world, Li Ermiao and Li Zhaoye had thoroughly investigated the exits—there were no traces of anyone leaving.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Hongmeng Jun trapped Taiyi and Tian Yin in the nightmare, making them believe they had successfully devoured the Sage and gone into seclusion to absorb his power. In reality, neither had moved an inch from their spots.
Hongmeng Jun was no different. He thought he had succeeded in possession and escaped the Sealed God Hall—but that too was an illusion.
If they never left, where did these three end up?
Luo Luo already had the answer.
She looked up at the sky.
The monstrous entity of the yellow spring descended like an apocalyptic force, blotting out the heavens.
The earth trembled. All living things awaited slaughter.
The first to be devoured was Hongmeng Jun, who stood right before it.
The moment he was swallowed, Luo Luo acted—casting the Great Nightmare Art upon this hellish existence.
"BOOM!"
An explosion roared through her mind.
Like destruction. Like rebirth.
That moment stretched infinitely, yet passed in an instant.
When her vision finally steadied, she found herself staring at a familiar scene—
Dusk. A gentle breeze. Silence all around.
She crouched beside an ancient tree, idly watching the Sage pick up birds.
Cuckoo chicks always pushed other nestlings out, usurping their homes.
The Sage stood beneath the tree, catching the unfortunate little birds over and over, placing them back in their nests.
Again and again. Patiently.
What’s the point of this? Hongmeng Jun, snapping out of his terror, forced a mocking tone to mask his unease. What a soft-hearted, indecisive Sage! Instead of wasting time like this, why not just kill the cuckoo and be done with it?
Luo Luo: ...
She sighed, drawing the Sage’s attention.
He turned to look at her.
A brief silence passed between them.
"I once almost killed a cuckoo," he said.
Luo Luo nodded. "You once almost killed a cuckoo."
Hongmeng Jun: "?"
The Sage smiled. So did Luo Luo.
An unspoken understanding.
"??" Hongmeng Jun fumed. I’ve always hated people who speak in riddles!
Those who talked like this were either fools or gods.
The Sage could be considered a god... so that made Luo Luo the fool. Case closed.
Luo Luo grinned at the Sage. "I had a feeling I’d see you."
The Sage’s eyes softened. "It’s time to say goodbye."
Luo Luo nodded. "Time to say goodbye!"
Hongmeng Jun: "???"
"CRACKLE—!"
The serene scene shattered before their eyes.
The sunset vanished. The Sage disappeared. The tree and nests were gone.
The yellow spring’s deathly hue spread across the land.
Luo Luo’s Great Nightmare Art resonated with "that thing."
In an instant, boundless malice and bloodlust flooded her mind. Chaotic shrieks nearly shattered her sanity. Through her crimson, feverish vision, she saw only swirling miasma—twisting, writhing things like frenzied maggots dancing within.
Hatred burned so intensely it made her retch.
A bloody obsession screamed in her heart—Kill! Kill! KILL KILL KILL!
KILL THEM ALL!!!
She shared its emotions for barely a moment before her mind nearly collapsed. Trembling, she swept her spiritual senses outward—
And saw them.
Taiyi, Tian Yin, and Hongmeng Jun hovered midair, their faces serene, almost saintly. Their bodies disintegrated, releasing three streams of soul essence that struck the yellow spring monstrosity.
"BOOM—HUM—"
A deafening roar shook the world.
The ultimate horror vanished in an instant. In its place, a colossal black hall materialized—the Sealed God Hall—before sinking into the underworld.
Luo Luo had reached her limit.
She severed the spell, tearing herself from the nightmare.
Her vision stabilized.
She was back in the real world. Her sword was plunged into a wooden puppet, its body oozing Hongmeng Jun’s soul-blood.
"Taiyi, Hongmeng, and Tian Yin sacrificed themselves to erect the Twelve Sealed God Halls and imprison the demons." Luo Luo’s tone was flat, devoid of mockery. "The ancient records weren’t wrong—they just stated the facts."
The puppet’s expression darkened.
"What the hell happened?"
Luo Luo seemed to understand everything, while he—who lived through it—was still lost.
But she had no intention of explaining.
"SHHK—!"
She yanked her sword free and walked away. Faster and faster.
Hongmeng Jun: "?"
The wooden puppet stood dumbly in the underground shrine’s altar.
"What does this mean? I sacrificed myself to save the world? Since when was I that kind of person?"
"Wait... why did she just leave?"
Luo Luo fled the catacombs.
The moment she stepped out, it felt like she’d fallen back into the nightmare.
A monstrous entity of deathly yellow hue blotted out the sky.
It pressed down with crushing weight, making the earth tremble and rivers flow backward.
The heavens had collapsed—this was no less than the descent of the underworld’s inferno upon the mortal realm.
"Boom!"
Li Zhaoye’s final sword strike shattered Wu Xie’s scepter of authority. Her meridians ruptured, blood spewing from her lips as she was sent flying like a ragged sack, collapsing amidst the ruins.
Her fading eyes caught sight of the celestial anomaly above, and in that instant, they ignited with a terrifying, manic gleam.
"Hah… hahaha! It’s here… It’s here! This disgusting world… is finally going to perish… Hahahaha! The ugliness and depravity of humanity are beyond cure! Only destruction… only destruction!"
Li Zhaoye’s eye twitched. "This lunatic is related to me? Unbelievable."
Sheathing his sword, he rolled up his sleeves with a shudder. "Ugh—"
Before he could take another step, Luo Luo crashed into him like a cannonball.
"Oof!"
She had shot out from the underground palace, slamming into him with enough force to stagger him back.
"Tsk," Li Zhaoye caught her, raising an eyebrow. "What’s this? A day apart feels like three years?"
Luo Luo: "…"
Was he illiterate or just a shameless rogue?
She grabbed his arm urgently. "We have to go—it’s after you!"
Before the words fully left her lips, a colossal eye slowly opened within the deathly entity looming in the sky.
In an instant, an icy, suffocating terror—pure annihilation—blanketed the entire world.
Luo Luo’s scalp prickled. "Gah!"
Li Zhaoye narrowed his eyes, the scars in his pupils writhing like living things.
"Tch." He smirked defiantly. "Let it come. I could use the exercise."
Luo Luo clenched her jaw and yanked him backward with all her strength, dragging him away like deadweight.
"Did you kill Hongmeng Jun?" he asked.
"No."
"Hm?"
Too complicated to explain, Luo Luo flicked a fragment of memory straight into his face.
Within it, the merged recollections of the Sage and Hongmeng Jun unfolded—revealing the truth of the past.
The Sage was dying.
He had borne too much of the world’s burdens, and now his light was fading.
Yet his work remained unfinished.
Taiyi, Tian Yin, and Hongmeng schemed within his belly (the Sealed God Hall), so he turned their plot against them. First, he swore a divine oath with his soul’s essence. Then, at death’s door, he divided his remaining power among the three.
Accepting his power meant inheriting his karma—the oath of a demigod: to protect all living beings, unto death.
None could defy it.
Thus, despite their endless schemes and machinations, the trio’s efforts culminated in a singular fate: to guard the world until their last breath.
"Pfft." Li Zhaoye burst out laughing. "Turning trash into treasure. That old Sage was a sneaky one."
Luo Luo protested, "He wasn’t that old, was he?"
Li Zhaoye side-eyed her. "How old was he? How old are you?"
Luo Luo: "…Oh."
"So," Li Zhaoye grinned, "Hongmeng Jun didn’t get three strands of divine essence. He got three layers of karma."
Luo Luo nodded. "Exactly. Now, if the sky falls, he’s the first one holding it up."
The moment they fled the sacred mountain, the giant eye above swiveled toward them.
A force of absolute obliteration descended from the heavens, annihilating the battlefield where Li Zhaoye and Wu Xie had clashed.
In a blink, the ancient mountain—standing for millennia—crumbled.
Layer upon layer of obsidian palaces tore apart like paper, unfurling across the land for miles.
"The sky… is falling!"
Wails of despair rose from near and far.
Even the distant disciples of the Tai Xuan Sect saw it clearly: the heavens collapsing, the yellow springs of the underworld rising.
Failing to find Li Zhaoye, the deathly entity’s fish-like eye rolled sluggishly, locking onto their trail.
Then—
A stiff figure marched forward against the crushing pressure, fearless, unyielding.
A wooden puppet.
"AAAAAH—AAAAAH—!"
It unleashed three strands of divine essence, weaving a colossal shield of silver moonlight, golden radiance, and ink-dark energy in the sky—briefly holding back the entity’s apocalyptic might.
"What am I doing…?" Hongmeng Jun’s voice was thick with despair. "Heavens… What in the world am I doing?!"
Far away, Li Zhaoye’s lips twitched. "He still doesn’t know who the cuckoo is?"
Luo Luo nodded. "Nope."
She lowered her gaze.
After a pause, she murmured, "Li Ermiao figured it out."
"Yep," Li Zhaoye chuckled. "The old man’s sharper than he looks."
Luo Luo: "Isn’t he just?"
Li Zhaoye added, "Only slightly less sharp than me."
Luo Luo: "…"
