Chapter 97: The Grand Game and Unleashed Fury

In stark contrast to the suffocating stillness of Qingzhou, a secret realm, existing beyond the Nine Mortal Domains and separate from the turbulent flow of time, presented an entirely different vista.

****

The Heavenly Derivation Pavilion.

Here, there was no sun or moon, only the eternal glow of stars. Above, a boundless river of stars stretched across the vaulted dome, billions of celestial bodies slowly orbiting in a profound and unfathomable dance. Each star corresponded to a living being in the cultivation world, and every flicker tugged at the threads of karma.

Beneath this cosmic river lay an infinite chessboard of water-mirror, upon which black and white pieces were scattered. These weren’t ordinary jade pieces; rather, they were solidified halos of light, each representing a different destiny.

She, herself, was a piece in this grand game.

Clad in plain robes embroidered with intricate, hidden star-track patterns, her raven hair was simply secured with a wooden hairpin. Her eyes were placid, her demeanor ethereal, as if she didn’t belong to this mortal world but had descended from the very starlight itself.

She was Yan Wusheng, the Master of the Heavenly Derivation Pavilion.

At the edge of the water-mirror chessboard before her, a white halo, which had been flickering erratically, suddenly burst forth with a brilliant, resolute radiance.

Though faint, this light carried an undeniable will, like a drawn blade, ready to sever its predetermined fate, even if it meant breaking in the process.

A faint smile finally graced Yan Wusheng’s lips.

“So, you’ve finally made up your mind.”

She extended a slender, jade-like finger, plucking a new, inwardly luminous white piece from the chess box. Unlike the illusory halos on the board, this piece was solid jade, warm and substantial.

Her fingertip glided slowly over the chessboard, past pieces representing the immortal path, the demonic path, the demon race, and various dynasties. Ultimately, it hovered over the very center of the board, the intersection point revered by all stars as the origin of all phenomena.

The *Tian Yuan*.

*Clack.*

A crisp sound of a piece falling echoed in the silent starlit expanse.

That “dead piece” representing Shen Zhaoqing, which had previously drifted at the board’s edge, was now decisively pressed by Yan Wusheng from its “passive” position into the very heart of the entire game.

As this piece settled, the entire water-mirror chessboard trembled. The halos representing Gu Chang’an, Ling Shuangjue, Yuange, and Bai Zhileng instantly flared, their intertwined karmic energies becoming frantic and volatile, as if on the verge of colliding and shattering into oblivion.

Yet, the central *Tian Yuan* white piece instantly absorbed all the surrounding chaos, forcibly suppressing all the violent energies onto itself.

Yan Wusheng observed this scene, her eyes as deep as the ocean.

She murmured softly, her words addressed less to a person and more to the chessboard, to this very world itself:

“The variable has finally become a constant.”

“To act as an example, drawing heroes from across the land into the game; to be a piece oneself, leveraging this millennia-old stalemate.”

“The one destined for tribulation must, in the end, walk this path of meeting tribulation with their very being.”

Her gaze shifted from the white piece on the *Tian Yuan* to a corner of the chessboard, resting on a piece enveloped by several black pieces, emitting an eerie pink glow.

That was the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect, Pure Heart Heavenly Fox.

“She fancies herself a player, yet she doesn’t realize she’s already a fish in a net.”

A trace of pitying coldness entered Yan Wusheng’s smile.

“Pure Heart Heavenly Fox, your game, too, must conclude.”

****

At the same moment.

Infinite Demonic Domain, Myriad Flower Blood Palace.

Unlike the clear starlight of the Heavenly Derivation Pavilion, this place was steeped in an eternal, blood-red twilight.

The sky was a solidified dark crimson, the earth scorched and cracked black, and the air was thick with an inescapable stench of blood and sulfur.

Deep within the forbidden grounds of the Myriad Flower Blood Palace, an immense blood pool lay.

The pool contained not clear water, but ancient demonic blood, viscous as mercury and bubbling sluggishly. This blood was the essence accumulated from generations of Demonic Venerables and countless powerful demonic beasts who had perished here. Each drop held a furious power capable of instantly incinerating a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator.

Currently, a figure floated silently in the center of the blood pool.

Frost-white hair spread like a snowy waterfall across the dark red blood, creating a breathtaking contrast with her exquisitely cold and beautiful face.

Her eyes were tightly shut, and visible rings of black Demonic Energy swirled around her, slowly mending the Dao injuries she had sustained during the battle in the Northern Reaches.

Ling Shuangjue.

She had been meditating here for seven days and seven nights.

Having been ambushed by the Heavenly Derivation Pavilion and then forcibly using her innate power during the collapse of the secret realm, her demonic heart had teetered on the brink of losing control. If not for Shen Zhaoqing’s potent spirit wine, infused with the vitality of a Dao Source Body, forcefully stabilizing her crumbling Divine Soul, she would likely have already been devoured by inner demons, transforming into a mindless fiend of slaughter.

Even so, her internal condition remained dire.

The malevolence stemming from the collapse of the Heavenly Dao clung to her like a parasitic bone-gnawer, constantly eroding her Dao foundation. She had to rely on the extreme Yin and Demonic Energy of this ancient demonic blood to barely suppress the rampant chaos within her.

However, at a particular moment,

A sudden, searing pain erupted from the deepest part of her Divine Soul. This sensation was not a relapse of her Dao injury, nor was it a backlash from inner demons.

It was the Red Thread Demonic Contract she had personally forged!

Ling Shuangjue’s tightly shut eyes snapped open.

In an instant, two terrifying crimson divine lights shot skyward. Her blood-red pupils first flashed with a trace of bewilderment, followed swiftly by an unrestrained fury that shook the demonic domain.

She felt it.

She felt it with absolute clarity.

The red thread connecting her and Shen Zhaoqing’s hearts and lifelines was becoming intensely vibrant, fragile, and even on the verge of snapping, all at an unprecedented speed.

At the other end of the red thread, that little rascal’s life force was rapidly ebbing away.

“Who—!”

A roar, as if squeezed from between clenched teeth, exploded within the forbidden grounds.

“Who dares to touch her?!”

*Boom—!!!*

The entire blood pool instantly boiled over. The viscous demonic blood surged upward, transforming into a thousand-zhang-tall crimson tornado. Ling Shuangjue’s figure stepped out from the tornado’s center, and the wild demonic blood, as if imbued with life, automatically coalesced around her, forming her familiar white battle robe and black-and-red cloak.

Her face, beautiful beyond mortal comprehension, no longer held any of its usual cold indifference or composure. All that remained was an icy, murderous intent, so mad it could make even gods tremble.

Shen Zhaoqing…

The one who dared to joke around in front of her, who dared to tap her on the head with a bamboo spoon, who dared to call her a lunatic while cheerfully offering her the last sip of wine.

She hadn’t even managed to snatch her back to the Myriad Flower Blood Palace yet.

How *dared* she die?!

And who *dared* to make her die?!

“WHO IS IT!!!”

A earth-shattering roar, transforming into substantial sound waves, violently spread from the core of the Myriad Flower Blood Palace.

“*Rumble—!*”

A blinding crimson streak of light, imbued with world-shattering demonic might, shot skyward from the shattered palace, tearing through the demonic domain’s eternal blood-red twilight.

Within the Myriad Flower Blood Palace, all demonic cultivators prostrated themselves in terror, trembling uncontrollably. They had never witnessed their Venerable One erupt in such an uncontrollable rage.

The crimson light did not pause. At an extreme speed, achieved by burning her Divine Soul, it unleashed the demonic domain’s supreme evasion art, the Boundary-Severing Step, directly smashing into the spatial barrier between the human and demonic realms.

“*Bang—!*”

The indestructible spatial barrier was as fragile as thin paper before it.

The crimson light tore open a massive black rift that continuously spewed temporal turbulence, then plunged inside without hesitation.

The Human Realm.

Qingzhou.

The Qingyun Sect!

That damned nest of hypocrites she had long wanted to burn to the ground.

No matter who it was—immortal or demon, god or ghost…

Anyone who dared to harm her, who dared to make even a sliver of her life force ebb away…

She would grind them, along with their sects, their nine generations of kin, and the very heavens and earth they inhabited, all into dust.

Not a single one… would be spared!

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