Chapter Fifty-Nine: Awakening
A sacrificial ceremony began as the altar rose.
He Yi, the officiant, stood in the void. Behind him unfurled an endless azure dragon, a manifestation of boundless vitality. Within its depths, countless souls seemed to sink, being burned by the lunar and solar true fire emanating from He Yi’s mind, gradually refined into indestructible soul-light.
These undying soul-lights condensed, making the dragon appear even more lifelike.
The azure dragon opened its eyes, inhaling and exhaling the immortal soul-light, while a breath of death emanated from He Yi, spreading across the entire Tianyong City.
Cultivators within the city suddenly realized the life force within their bodies was draining away, just as it had in the Shouyi Jade Tower.
Death flourished alongside the dragon, and fear clung to death’s coattails, spreading through the city.
In a single moment, Tianyong City was thrown into chaos. Practitioners awoke from their secluded cultivation, desperately seeking escape.
Vitality surged upward like rain flowing in reverse, coalescing in the sky to form resplendent clouds around the altar, pouring into Xu Zhong’s body.
With a gust, Xu Zhong was lifted by a mighty force, suspended above the altar.
Countless black threads extended from within him, stretching toward every direction of Tianyong City, forming a web as vast as the heavens.
His spiritual strength ebbed.
Yet the demonic will spread.
Within Xu Zhong, the seed of the demon was deeply rooted. A terrifying force brewed, an ancient consciousness reverberating in his mind.
It was fear.
“When people first looked up to the sky, the Heavenly Law and fear were born.”
This sentence echoed in Xu Zhong’s mind.
“Too slow, too slow!” He Yi’s face was deathly pale. He gestured toward the azure dragon.
With a roar, the dragon sprang to life, devouring both vitality and death. It opened its maw wide and consumed the life force of all living beings atop the five golden platforms.
This vitality surged endlessly into Xu Zhong, transmitted through the black threads to some monstrous existences.
A multitude of dreadful wills began to awaken, their thoughts first appearing within Tianyong City.
These thoughts took shape as gods, striding toward the altar.
The four divine beasts upon the golden platforms, as well as the yellow dragon, were also revived, coiling protectively about Xu Zhong.
The Jade Tower was a coffin; Tianyong City itself a sepulcher.
The Jade Tower and the Golden Platforms were to serve as grave goods for this city.
These funereal objects awakened, ready to assist He Yi in driving forward this great ritual.
Within the Nameless Jade Tower, the Most Sacred Emperor of the Prime Origin frowned slightly. He reached out and with a single palm shattered the statue of a deity.
The idol’s guardian spirit left behind only a cold, lingering thought, but was soon incinerated and erased by the true fire of the Most Sacred Emperor.
His gaze pierced the Jade Tower, falling upon He Yi.
“So, it’s He Yi. No wonder you dared such audacity. If I had not entered the Jade Capital Platform, perhaps you truly could have completed your ritual. But alas.”
The Most Sacred Emperor strode out from the Nameless Jade Tower.
His thoughts began to reverberate above Tianyong City, manifesting as countless forms of himself, which clashed with the thoughts of the other gods in the void.
His true self, meanwhile, unleashed his magic.
Behind the Most Sacred Emperor’s head, six nested halos shimmered, their Daoist rhythms weaving like myriad colored ribbons, voices singing the song of the Dao in the void.
He reached out his hand.
Thunder rumbled above Tianyong City; the sky split apart, unleashing fierce winds and nameless silver flames. A colossal hand descended from the heavens.
The lines upon the palm were as clear as rivers and mountains, awe-inspiring and grand.
This hand struck toward the azure dragon.
As the hand clashed with space, sparks and thunder resounded.
He Yi and the dragon both gazed upward.
“Is this all you have to stop me?”
A cauldron flew from He Yi’s mind. With a grasp, he transformed it into a long spear.
In the blink of an eye, he grew to a towering height, the spear in his hand expanding accordingly.
He seized the spear, thrusting it toward the descending hand.
The azure dragon soared upward as well.
It exhaled death, inhaling the vitality from the hand, attempting to siphon the Most Sacred Emperor’s life force.
He Yi’s spear quivered, its tip reflecting layers of starlight, unleashing endless radiance. Above Tianyong City, brilliance surged like tidal waves.
He Yi, with his spear, pierced forth a river of stars, enveloping the city, crashing against the Most Sacred Emperor’s palm.
A sharp pain shot through the emperor’s palm; the spear’s light pierced his skin, tearing flesh.
A single drop of blood fell.
This drop, spanning a hundred feet, radiated potent vitality. Each wisp transformed into spectral azure dragons, carrying an herbal fragrance that, inhaled from afar, could invigorate the body with the essence of the Wood Star, making one stronger.
The Most Sacred Emperor’s vitality was of the purest kind. At his exalted level, even a single drop of blood—or less—contained boundless wonder.
This drop was a wellspring of creation: in water, a fish could become a dragon; in the mountains, wild grass could become immortal herbs.
The drop fell, and the azure dragon snatched it, swallowing it whole.
Within the dragon, vitality surged, nearly turning illusion to reality—almost making it a true azure dragon.
It dove into Xu Zhong’s body.
Unstoppable vitality burst within him, flooding outward like a tidal wave.
Space collapsed, as if a great hand manipulated the city, folding Tianyong City like a blank sheet of paper.
“Oh? What about this, then?”
The Most Sacred Emperor folded space, compressing it into mirrored layers.
The altar, He Yi, and the emperor appeared together within a single mirrored realm.
He reached out, striking the azure dragon with a finger, ejecting it from Xu Zhong’s body. The revived idols fell dormant, their thoughts silenced, their consciousness returning to slumber.
At that moment, He Yi swallowed the azure dragon whole and, channeling his arcane arts, shook his spear. Its tip radiated an even more dazzling brilliance, lightning and azure light interlacing, echoing through this mirrored space.
The emperor did not even glance at him, but released a divine light from his mind, which manifested outside as another incarnation, confronting He Yi.
His true self, however, turned to the altar and Xu Zhong.
“Who would have thought—a cultivator at the Shouyi level would harbor such a powerful inner demon?”
He approached Xu Zhong.
In his eyes shimmered the Dao, coalescing like a mirror, reflecting Xu Zhong’s heart demon.
“Kill!” roared He Yi, his shout thundering like myriad bolts of lightning.
His spear conjured a white tiger, entwined with the metal energies of Geng and Xin, which surged forth to tear at the emperor’s incarnation.
The Most Sacred Emperor faced him calmly; with a single gesture, countless mirrored spaces shattered and collapsed, the divine light at his fingertip sweeping through the tiger, dispersing it in an instant.
He Yi was no match, not even for a single incarnation.
Still, he attacked again and again, only to be repelled each time.
Suddenly, He Yi sensed danger.
He saw then that the emperor was drawing out Xu Zhong’s inner demon.
Xu Zhong now radiated demonic energy.
Endless demonic thoughts poured toward him, his body resounding with the primordial demonic chant. Each note stirred up boundless malevolence.
The emperor frowned, reaching out to suppress the demon’s will.
“It’s useless!” He Yi felt the chill of terror.
He was, after all, the embodiment of malice—He Yi’s own demonic aspect.
He sensed the awakening of the world’s mightiest demon, a hunger so deep that everything beneath its gaze became mere sustenance.
“Hungry…” A voice not his own rasped from Xu Zhong’s throat.
The instant it sounded, the emperor struck swiftly.
A thunderous boom.
The six halos behind the Most Sacred Emperor erupted with divine radiance.
He reached out—celestial thunder mingled with earthly fire, the world itself seemingly interred within his grasp.
Xu Zhong grinned savagely.
He too reached out, conjuring the same technique.
But Xu Zhong’s spell was stronger.
It ground away the emperor’s magic.
He pressed forward, seeking to slay the emperor then and there.
The emperor swept his hand.
Prismatic ripples shimmered through space.
In the next instant, the emperor stood outside that space entirely.
Space continued to collapse and contract, finally shrinking into a single egg.
Xu Zhong was imprisoned within it.
“It’s useless,” He Yi said to the emperor.
“All your techniques are no secret before him, for you yourself are no secret before him.”
He Yi forced himself to suppress his terror.
“I truly did not expect you would release the demon in his heart,” He Yi said, gazing at the Most Sacred Emperor. “Have you never had a heart demon yourself?”
The emperor answered, “I was born with a mirror-heart and a spirit-fetus. How could I have a heart demon?”
“No wonder.” He Yi shook his head. “His demon comes from the Heavenly Law—perhaps because he has witnessed it.”
“By awakening the demon within him, you have called forth the demonic aspect of the Heavenly Law.” He Yi looked at Xu Zhong, then raised his head.
The emperor too sensed this and looked up.
The sky was caught between light and darkness, half order, half chaos—one side the manifestation of the Dao, the other, of the demonic.
Countless divine and demonic lights devoured each other, their shadows cast down upon the world.
A crack!
The egg of space shattered.
Xu Zhong stepped out.
Night fell.
The first demonic thoughts echoed through the heavens, demonic light blooming in the void, shining upon Xu Zhong.
“Look—the demon aspect of the Heavenly Law has awakened.”
The entire Jade Capital Platform quaked. After Tianyong City, the other four cities also manifested at once.
He Yi grinned with mad delight. “I only wanted to revive the Jade Capital, to awaken its master, so I raised an altar and offered sacrifices.”
“I never thought you would make the offering become the world’s most terrifying demon aspect of the Heavenly Law. Now, you, I, even all the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths will become its sacrifices…”
“Noisy!”
Before he could finish, his head fell to the ground.
The Most Sacred Emperor gazed at Xu Zhong with deep dread.
Xu Zhong smiled with bared teeth. “You look… delicious.”
Then he opened his mouth.
The world seemed to become his maw, and the Most Sacred Emperor tumbled in.
“Heavenly Law, is it?” A seventh halo appeared behind the emperor. “The era has changed.”
“The age when Heavenly Law ruled all is gone forever. Now is the age of human governance—human will needs no Heavenly Law.”
A sword appeared in the emperor’s hand.
He raised it, striking at Xu Zhong.
“Man’s will conquers Heaven!”