The Demonic Lord's enraged roar and the devastating impact of its deathbed counterattack echoed madly through the Demon Palace's grand hall like an apocalyptic death knell. Yet, in this chaotic center where destruction was about to descend, there existed a brief yet eternal corner of silence.
Tang Xiaoqi's gaze pierced through the surging demonic energy tide, disregarding his own collapsing injuries and the deadly threat, fixed dead, greedily, desperately on that figure in mid-air rapidly becoming transparent, wavering like a candle in the wind.
That was his father, Xu Zhan.
After releasing that "Sacrifice Purification Light" that exhausted everything and heavily wounded the Demonic Lord, the chaotic light around Xu Zhan that forcibly fused Green Lotus power with the demonic source rapidly dimmed. The sinister demonic armor covering his body lost all spirituality, peeling off piece by piece like rotten wood, turning to ash, revealing the body beneath covered with twisted demonic patterns that had already begun to fade.
Those sinister squirming demonic patterns on his face now seemed to have lost their vitality, their color becoming gray. And his eyes, which had just regained clarity not long ago, their spirit was flowing away at a visible rate, like a lamp about to burn out.
But the way he looked at Xiao Qi was incomparably peaceful, even... carrying an ineffable liberation and relief.
No more pain from a hundred years of torment, no more guilt from failing to fulfill his responsibilities. Only the purest, deepest love remained, and... the satisfaction of seeing his son finally grown, possessing a firm dao heart and powerful strength.
His lips moved slightly, as if wanting to say something, but could no longer make any sound. Only that final thought containing all unspoken words, like a warm spring breeze, gently brushed across Xiao Qi's grief-stricken heart.
"Xiao Qi... my child... live... well..."
"Guard well... what you want to protect..."
"Father... is... proud of you..."
This thought was like the last spark of starfire, weak, yet carrying scorching warmth.
Then, the expression on his face that mixed pain and liberation completely dissolved, leaving only a peace like returning to the womb. He took one last deep look at Xiao Qi, as if wanting to etch his son's appearance forever into his about-to-dissipate soul imprint, then... slowly, completely... closed his eyes.
The instant he closed his eyes, his already extremely faded body could no longer maintain any form.
Like a brilliant yet fragile bubble in sunlight, like dew quietly evaporating in the morning light.
Dots of crystalline, shimmering flowing light drifted from various parts of his body, like countless spirits carrying longing and blessings, circling and dancing for an instant where he had originally hovered.
Those light points were his remaining divine soul fragments, the final traces of his life.
They seemed to sense Xiao Qi's heart-wrenching grief. Several particularly bright light points, like homesick children, reluctantly drifted a short distance toward Xiao Qi's direction. Ultimately, however, they could not resist the call of heaven and earth's laws. Like trickling streams merging into the sea, soundlessly, thoroughly... they merged into the surrounding space, dissipating into the vast heaven and earth.
Leaving behind no remains, leaving behind no mementos.
Soul scattered to the winds, true spirit no longer existing, for all eternity... never to reincarnate.
Just like this, before his son's eyes, in the most thorough, most resolute way, he walked the final journey of his life. With his own eternal extinction, he exchanged for the Demonic Lord's severe wounding, exchanged for his son's... perhaps existing future.
"No—!!!! Father—!!!!!!"
Xiao Qi let out a beast-like wail, that sound miserable enough to tear apart his throat, shatter his soul! He suddenly lunged forward, extending his trembling, blood-and-mud-covered hands, wanting to grasp those final drifting light points, wanting to hold onto that vanishing warmth.
But what he grasped was only a cold, empty nothingness.
Father... truly... was gone.
A hundred years of searching, a hundred years of longing, countless days and nights of hope and effort, ultimately exchanged for such a cruelly brief reunion, and such a thoroughly despairing eternal parting!
He couldn't even... touch his father once.
Massive grief like boundless darkness instantly devoured him. His heart felt as if crushed by an invisible giant hand, the pain so intense he could barely breathe. The entire world lost all color in his eyes, leaving only that empty sky where his father had dissipated.
His knees went soft, and he heavily knelt to the ground. That half of the Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword slipped from his powerless hand, making a crisp yet heart-shattering sound. He lowered his head, his shoulders violently shaking. Scalding tears mixed with blood surged out like floodwaters from a burst dam, smashing onto the cold ground, blooming into mournful blood-colored flowers.
Soundless weeping was more suffocating than any loud lament.
Mu Xue, Ao Qin, Zhao Tiezhu... everyone saw this scene, felt Xiao Qi's overwhelming grief and despair. Their hearts were equally filled with sourness and anger, but the Demonic Lord's devastating counterattack was already upon them, the icy breath of death stimulating their nerves.
"Xiao Qi! Pull yourself together!" Mu Xue's usually cool voice carried a rare urgency. Her crystal staff bloomed with final light, attempting to withstand the surging demonic energy tide.
Zhao Tiezhu roared as he blocked before Xiao Qi, using his broad back to construct a final flesh-and-blood defense line.
However, Xiao Qi seemed to have lost all perception of this. He was immersed in the massive pain of losing his closest kin, the entire world drifting away from him.
Just as that destructive energy was about to swallow everything, at this critical moment—
The jade pendant on Xiao Qi's chest, that child jade carrying the lotus seed's vitality, born from the same source as the main lotus seed his father left behind, seemed to sense its master's extreme emotional impact, as well as Xu Zhan's final blessing and expectation before dissipating, suddenly... became incomparably hot!
A purifying origin power far more vast, pure, and... furious than at any previous moment, like a dormant ancient titan,轰然... awakened!