To sacrifice oneself to uphold justice and stabilize the world

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely at that moment.

Mo Xiaoyu's heart-wrenching screams pierced the sky, yet could not penetrate the black chains that pierced Xie Yunzhi's chest. She watched helplessly as the last light in his eyes faded like a candle in the wind, as his hand, which had been gripping the Zhan Yuan Sword, loosened weakly, and as he slowly fell backward with a hint of relief and tender longing.

"No--!"

That scream emptied her lungs, and the world before her eyes instantly lost its color, leaving only his blood-stained figure. Without hesitation, she rushed forward, and just before he collapsed, she caught his lifeless body with her trembling, equally wounded arms.

So light... yet so heavy.

What was light was his weight; what was heavy was the force that crushed her entire world.

Warm blood soaked through her front, the thick liquid, still warm from his last breath, seemed to scorch her heart as well. She held him tightly, as if trying to merge their flesh and blood into one, a trapped beast's whimper escaping her throat, but no more tears could flow.

When pain reaches its extreme, it becomes a numb vacuum.

However, in this suffocating abyss of despair, a sudden change occurs!

The Dream-Tracing Jade, which Xie Yunzhi always wore close to his body and was now stained red with blood, suddenly burst forth with an unprecedentedly intense light without warning! The light was neither golden nor the radiance of the Dragon Essence, but a chaotic, milky-white brilliance that seemed to contain the power of the origin of space and time!

At the same time, the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl on Mo Xiaoyu's chest seemed to receive the strongest summons, breaking free from the constraints of her clothes and floating up, emitting a clear halo that was of the same origin as the Dream-Tracing Jade but softer and more resolute. The two rays of light converged and intertwined in the air, like long-separated souls finally finding each other.

An unimaginably vast flow of information, mixed with Xie Yunzhi's remaining, purest dragon essence, divine soul origin, and his last unwavering will to "guide" it, surged into Mo Xiaoyu's nearly depleted sea of ​​consciousness like a flood bursting its banks, through the link between these two ancient divine artifacts!

"Ugh—!"

An indescribable, throbbing pain threatened to split her skull open. Countless profound mysteries about the laws of heaven and earth, the essence of "Return to Nothingness," and the methods of channeling energy were branded deep into her soul. Furthermore, a vast and warm power, like a mother's embrace, instantly filled her parched meridians, repairing her damaged body and even causing her cultivation level to surge wildly in an instant!

This is not plunder, it is inheritance! It is entrustment! In the last moment of his life, Xie Yunzhi gave her all his power, all his understanding, all his hope, along with his dragon essence and fragments of his soul, without reservation, in a way that was almost a sacrifice!

He had planned this all along! From the moment he decided to choose the path of "guidance," he knew that he couldn't complete it alone with his severely injured body. He needed her, he needed her guardian bloodline, he needed the power of the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl, and even more so, he needed someone who could inherit his will and continue the formation after he was exhausted or perished!

Mo Xiaoyu suddenly raised her head, and her previously empty and lifeless eyes burst forth with a brilliant light that blended extreme grief with boundless determination! That light was so similar to the last look Xie Yunzhi had ever given her before he died!

She gently laid Xie Yunzhi's gradually cooling body flat on the ground, her movements as tender as if she were handling a rare treasure. Then, she stood up and gripped the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl, which was floating in front of her and radiating brilliant light.

At this moment, she was no longer Mo Xiaoyu.

She is the extension of Xie Yunzhi's will, the final executor of this ritual concerning the survival of heaven and earth!

"boom--!"

In the sky, the dark "valve" seemed to sense the immense power that had suddenly gathered below, a power capable of altering the laws of nature, and it began to tremble violently! An even more violent and terrifying "Return to Nothingness" energy, like a tangible black waterfall, poured down from it, carrying an aura of annihilation, and rushed straight to the center of the lake!

"Now!"

Mo Xiaoyu recalled Xie Yunzhi's last guidance left in her sea of ​​consciousness. Without further hesitation, she poured the immense power within her, belonging to Xie Yunzhi and perfectly integrated with her own, into the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl without reservation!

Buzz—!

The Soul-Stabilizing Pearl shone brilliantly, resonating strongly with the eight pre-arranged fragments of the Spirit-Sealing Stele on the ground (including the sealed fragment from Su Yan)! The fragments vibrated in unison, shooting out eight beams of light of different colors but equally dazzling, soaring into the sky and intertwining and converging above the lake!

Guided by Mo Xiaoyu, the Dream Jade transformed into a milky-white stream of light and precisely entered the core where the eight pillars of light converged!

With the Dream-Tracing Jade as the array's core, the eight fragments of the Spirit-Sealing Stele as its foundation, and the combined power of the Jade Holder (Xie Yunzhi's residual power) and the Array Guardian (Mo Xiaoyu) as its guide—the "Heaven and Earth Guiding Array," conceived in the Swamp of Ten Thousand Bones and perfected at the brink of life and death, finally revealed itself completely at the source of the Heavenly River!

A colossal, incredibly complex, three-dimensional array, brimming with chaotic energy and the radiance of life, slowly rotated and unfolded above the lake like a blooming lotus, perfectly blocking the destructive energy that was pouring down!

There was no head-on collision, no earth-shattering explosion.

The instant the deathly black energy torrent touched the array, it was like ice and snow meeting the warm sun, or filth meeting clean water, undergoing a wondrous transformation. Countless runes on the array lit up, like stars in motion, guiding, regulating, and purifying that destructive power with an indescribable, profound rhythm.

The blackness faded, and the deathly silence dissipated.

Instead, a gentle and pure spiritual rain, full of boundless vitality and hope, fell from that image like sweet dew, beginning to nourish this wounded land!

The formation is a success!

Xie Yunzhi sacrificed himself, and Mo Xiaoyu carried on his legacy, ultimately turning this catastrophe into an opportunity for rebirth!

However, as the guide at the core of the formation, Mo Xiaoyu endured pressure unimaginable to outsiders. How violent was the power of "Return to Nothingness"? Even after being transformed by the formation, the residual impact still weighed heavily on her soul and body. She felt her bones groaning, her meridians tearing, and her sea of ​​consciousness trembling. She was only able to hold on by the warm power emanating from the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl in her bosom, mixed with Xie Yunzhi's aura, and by her unwavering will.

She stood beneath the array's core, like the last reed refusing to bend in a storm, blood constantly trickling from the corner of her mouth, her body trembling violently, yet she never retreated a single step. Her gaze was fixed on the massive array in the air, slowly rotating and constantly transforming destruction into life, as if trying to see through it the figure that had already vanished.

The energy continued to flow out, and the transformation continued. The area affected by the spiritual rain grew larger and larger, spreading from the lake to the entire Qingtian River, and then sprinkling across an even wider world.

Mo Xiaoyu's aura was gradually weakening. The inherited power was being rapidly depleted, and her very essence was being continuously extracted. Her vision began to blur, and all she could hear was the roar of flowing energy and the heavy pounding of her own heart.

Just as she felt she was about to be completely drained and her consciousness was about to sink into darkness—

The Dream Jade, suspended in the center of the formation, suddenly emitted a soft, crisp sound, like a sigh.

*Smack*

A tiny crack appeared on the jade body.

Then came the second, the third...

In Mo Xiaoyu's blurred vision, the divine jade that had borne too much cause and effect and witnessed life and death shattered inch by inch before her eyes, turning into specks of milky white light dust, like the last fireflies, completely merging into the massive channeling array, becoming an eternal part of this new world.

At the very instant that the Dream-Tracing Jade completely dissipated, the enormous channeling array seemed to have completed its final mission. Its light gradually receded, its form slowly dissipated, and it finally transformed into countless points of light, just as Xie Yunzhi had dissipated, merging into the Heavenly River and into this world.

The "valve" in the sky had quietly closed at some point, and no longer did it leak any trace of destruction.

Only the gentle, drizzling rain remained, still falling softly and nourishing all things.

A newfound tranquility pervades the world.

Mo Xiaoyu could no longer hold on, her vision went black, and she collapsed forward.

In the instant before she completely lost consciousness, she seemed to see warm light in the clear river water, like his eyes, gazing tenderly at her.