Mo Bai held his breath.
Zhou Xun's will resounded:
"What I am about to tell you is the other part of the truth, sealed within the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion's legacy, bought with the blood and tears of countless sages."
The memory scroll unfurled —
The Holy War was no simple clash between gods and demons. It was an epic, vast and tragic, woven with endless sacrifice.
Countless civilizations united under the banner of the Mirror God of the Other Shore, facing the Primordial Demon Ba'e, who sought to devour the very foundation of all existence.
A special army came into view. Though not the most numerous, they always stood at the most critical fronts of the war. Clad in dark armor, every breastplate and battle flag bore the distinct Tai Chi emblem.
"That was the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion's most glorious, yet most scarred era." Zhou Xun's will carried deep reverence and sorrow. "We were once the sharpest blade under the Mirror God."
The scene focused on the edge of a Memory Quadrant on the brink of total shattering. A young general stood with sword in hand.
His brows were sharp-cut, his eyes deep and calm as an ancient well. He swung his sword, commanding the few remaining warriors behind him — all wounded — to form a formation and hold the line.
That face, that posture, that resolve etched into his very bones —
Mo Bai's mind trembled violently!
It was himself!
In the vision, the general wielded Celestial Mechanism memory energy with peerless precision — the complete Twelve Celestial Mechanism Arts! Especially the final two breathtaking techniques:
The eleventh art, Heavenly Decree of Transmutation, slashed forth. Where the blade passed, chaos dispersed, and the boundary between reality and illusion was forcibly split open.
The twelfth art, Heavenly Punishment of Calamity, followed. Sword intent swept outward, forcibly calming tangled threads of memory and karma, restoring order.
With these two supreme techniques, he led the remnants to break through Ba'e's layered defenses for the first time, charging to the edge of the legendary Void Abyss, the demon's stronghold, tearing open a gap for the final battle.
The scene shifted. The war neared its end. Above the Void Abyss, the air of the final battle solidified like iron. Yet at the most crucial moment, the scroll's imagery twisted eerily.
On the battlefield, all Celestial Mechanism elites, including the general, wore identical vacant, empty expressions.
The complete mental formulas, circulation paths, true principles of law, and all related memories and insights of Heavenly Decree of Transmutation and Heavenly Punishment of Calamity… were wiped clean and utterly erased from everyone's consciousness sea. Only two hollow names remained.
"Do you see?"
Zhou Xun's will weighed heavy as lead.
"It was not natural loss, nor a broken legacy. It was precisely and completely erased by a power beyond all understanding."
Mo Bai was shaken to his core. At the same time, deep within his consciousness sea, the third emerald Memory Core Crystal burst into scorching light! Countless buried image fragments surged forth — that enormous, bizarre rose window, that bloodshot eye devouring all.
He understood in an instant!
The culprit behind the erasure was none other than the Bloodshot Eye in the Sky he had glimpsed in his Memory Core Crystal — likely the eye of a colossal Memory Eater!
Mo Bai nearly reacted on instinct, ready to project his terrifying memories back through the Pact of the Shifting Heart.
"There is no need."
Zhou Xun's will arrived in time, calm and all-seeing.
"You need not show me. Only watch. Only comprehend. Some memories belong to you alone."
Mo Bai forced down his turmoil. So he had been a general of the Holy War! No wonder Starlaine addressed him as "My Lord". This vague sense of identity must have been the key part he missed during the second Memory Core Crystal's activation, torn apart by conflict.
"Your second doubt."
Zhou Xun's will was gentle, as if he had long seen through his disciple's every thought. He voluntarily guided the scroll of the heart lake to reveal the part Mo Bai most wished to confirm.
On the day of his rebirth, alarms blared across the Aethereal Metropolis of Myriad Forms. Zhou Xun stood before the city wall under orders, his Judgment of Life and Death Brush hovering, dark ink threads flowing — precisely the Twelfth Celestial Mechanism Art: Heavenly Mirror of Clear Observation. The light struck precisely into the metal sphere marked with Mo Bai's presence.
The inspection order had to be carried out, but the results had to be rewritten.
The moment his perception touched the sphere's interior, Zhou Xun saw the truth.
Within the sphere, at the brink of Mo Bai's collapsing consciousness sea core, he cast a secret art of concealment and information overlay from the Twelve Celestial Mechanism Arts — Shadowed Transmutation.
This art excelled at swiftly covering and reconstructing the appearance of information. With it, Zhou Xun submerged Mo Bai's consciousness sea into a deep, simulated "drowning", concealing the truth from all detection.
The scene shifted to the Dragon Throne Hall of the Sacred Imperial Palace. The throne loomed high, and Augustus sat upon it, his molten-gold eyes deep as an abyss.
Zhou Xun stood alone below the cold jade steps, reporting his mission. Saintess Selene and the six other sect masters stood to either side.
Augustus waved a hand, and all withdrew silently.
"Lord Zhou," the king's voice echoed through the empty hall, steady and majestic. "Even with the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion's heaven-peering power and the subtlety of the Heavenly Mirror of Clear Observation, you could not uncover the source of the anomaly?"
Zhou Xun bowed deeply. "This subject is incompetent. The investigation yielded nothing. I accept punishment."
Augustus fell silent for a moment, his gaze like tangible molten gold, settling on Zhou Xun.
"Zhou Xun," the king spoke slowly, each word cold as bedrock and unyielding. "You may deceive my eyes with Shadowed Transmutation. But do you truly believe you can forever hide it from —"
"That eye in the sky?"
That eye in the sky!
At those words, Mo Bai's will was struck like lightning. Everything confirmed his suspicions.
"Rules are rules, Lord Zhou." Augustus leaned back into his throne, his right hand firmly gripping the hilt of the sword beside him — the Sacred Sword of Dual-Dragon Judgment, symbol of supreme authority and verdict. He swung it through the air.
A dark-gold sword aura, forged purely from the king's absolute will, materialized out of thin air, tearing through the hall's light and piercing into Zhou Xun's body in an instant.
"Ugh!" Zhou Xun grunted, his frame shaking violently. His face paled at once, a dark-gold wound spreading from his shoulder to his chest, glowing faintly beneath his robe. Yet he held his spine rigid, standing steady.
"Leave. Remember: some boundaries must not be crossed. For everyone's sake." Augustus' final words faded like a verdict in the grand hall.
The Pact of the Shifting Heart trembled violently, and the vision shattered.
Mo Bai's will raged — shock, realization, anger. Behind his narrow escape, his master had risked royal suspicion, detection by the Heavenly Eye, and even severe rule-imposed punishment to buy him a chance at life.
"Now you understand." Zhou Xun's will came through, weary yet clear, carrying final entrustment and warning. "You may be the spark that uncovers the truth, Mo Bai. Regarding all you have seen, thought, and understood — tell no one, not even me. Under that eye's gaze, knowledge itself can bring danger."
"I, and the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion today, can offer you little direct protection or aid. We too walk on thin ice, watched closely by both the rules and the Heavenly Eye."
"The path ahead, you must walk alone. Observe every detail of this world with your own eyes. Fight and carve your way forward with the sword in your hand."
The heart-lake connection fluctuated violently, rapidly thinning and destabilizing.
One last wisp of will, like an ember fading in the wind, came gently yet firmly:
"Go, Mo Bai."
The connection severed completely.
Consciousness returned.
The Star-Viewing Platform remained cold. The miniature cosmic nebula behind him still rotated slowly. Before him, Zhou Xun's eyes were closed, his face ashen, a streak of blood at his lip glaringly bright, his breath weak and chaotic to the extreme.
Mo Bai sat motionless, like stone. Only his heaving chest, his fists clenched white-knuckled, and the deep, ancient, iron-cold resolve settling in his dark eyes revealed the earth-shaking transformation within.
Spark… erased arts… master's sacrifice… Augustus' warning… the hanging Heavenly Eye… all fragments clicked into place at once.
After a long while, he rose slowly. Facing his barely conscious master, he lifted his robes, dropped to both knees, and pressed his forehead heavily to the cold black jade.
Three bows complete, he stood, no hesitation left, and strode back the way he had come.
At the edge of the Star-Viewing Platform, the nebula turned slowly, deep and silent. It bore silent witness as one ancient star, once dimmed, now cleansed of illusion, reclaimed its true name and mission, sailing resolutely into the fate-strewn deep space of unknown darkness and radiant light.
Mo Bai stepped through the dark ink gate.
The black jade beneath his feet was cold. Seven-colored light flowed through the Universal Pivot Hall, still magnificent.
At that moment —