Chapter Forty: Taiyi

Xiahou Pan’s noble head soared into the air, blood spraying from his neck like a fountain. Han Lin’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets at the sight, and the remaining guards all turned pale, their grief and rage written plainly across their faces.

Though Xiahou Pan was known for his fiery temper, he possessed a keen mind beneath his rough exterior, and all present had long shared the camaraderie of comrades-in-arms with him. To witness his brutal death now—how could they not burn with fury?

Shangguan Chuci’s heart plummeted as she heard Lu Chenyuan exclaim “Master Li.” She said in a low voice, “Brother Lu, is this the one you spoke of—the Lamp Bearer at the docks who devoured the living?”

Lu Chenyuan nodded slowly, his tone grave. “Yes, it is him.”

Even as he spoke, he felt an unbearable itch flare in the palm of his left hand. The innate demonic energy within him, drawn forth by the malignant aura radiating from the fiendish Daoist, could no longer be suppressed.

Glancing down, he saw that the hand clutching the wooden effigy now bulged beneath the skin with several scarlet eyeballs, forcing themselves open. More horrifying still, two or three of these eyes sent out tiny tendrils of flesh, transforming into crimson tongues that hungrily licked the gloomy wooden doll.

A surge of revulsion, mingled with a perverse sense of delight, rushed straight to his head. He could almost taste what those tongues perceived—a stale woody aroma, interwoven with the rancor of countless wronged souls, like some rare delicacy impossible to find in the living world.

At that moment, the black-robed master, Shen Guizhou, stepped forward and blocked Shangguan Chuci, fixing his gaze on the hovering fiend. His voice rang out cold and hard as iron:

“This man has entered the Realm of Watching Tides and is a Lamp Bearer. He has used a vile artifact to temporarily seal off the flow of spiritual energy within a hundred paces—there is little chance the Demon Suppression Bureau will notice anything amiss. He is here, nine times out of ten, for that Sacrificial Doll.”

Without pause, he turned to Shangguan Chuci and Lu Chenyuan. “My lady, Young Master Lu—the situation is dire. You must leave at once. We will cover your retreat. Make sure that effigy does not fall into the hands of the cult!”

Shangguan Chuci’s brows knit in worry. “Uncle Shen, what about you—”

She knew that among those of equal cultivation, the Lamp Bearer was nearly invincible. Though Shen Guizhou was a master of the Watching Tides Realm, the enemy’s methods were unfathomable; the outcome was far from certain.

Shen Guizhou didn’t look back. His voice was steady and low. “Do not worry, my lady. These wicked arts are draining—he cannot sustain them for long. All we need is to delay him for a moment, until the Demon Suppression Bureau arrives. Then, even he will find no escape!”

Shangguan Chuci was nothing if not decisive. Knowing now was no time for hesitation, she took a deep breath and said to Lu Chenyuan, “Brother Lu, we mustn’t delay! Out through the rear courtyard!”

Lu Chenyuan nodded; he knew he possessed no cultivation whatsoever, and staying would only hinder the others, making him a burden. He answered at once, “Very well. I know the patrol routes of the Bureau nearby—we’ll head that way!”

It was the wisest course.

He knew in his heart that the effigy, entrusted to him by Qian Dahai with his dying breath and linked to the earth-shattering secret of the Fallen God, could not, under any circumstances, fall into the hands of this fiend.

Just as the two prepared to move, the hovering Master Li suddenly laughed.

Fixing his gaze on Lu Chenyuan’s back, he spoke: “Why torment yourself with endless pretense? Would it not be better to face your true nature?”

“Come. Stand before me, and I will let you witness with your own eyes the magnificence that awakens when It stirs within you.”

He paused, then continued slowly: “All things in this mortal world must return to ruin; when the Supreme One awakens, all laws are void.”

“Mankind’s stubborn delusions are but ants attacking a tree; only by joining my sacred sect can you transcend.”

Lu Chenyuan’s heart trembled at these words.

He knows my secret!

Was it at the deserted dock, when I lost control and revealed my aura in desperation?

How much does he truly know? And this ‘Supreme One’ he speaks of—who or what is that?

Shangguan Chuci’s gaze sharpened. She had long suspected Lu Chenyuan harbored a great secret, and the fiend’s words confirmed it.

She realized instantly that the Lamp Bearer’s true target was not just the effigy—but Lu Chenyuan himself!

Without hesitation, she seized his wrist.

Yet what met her hand was not the familiar warmth of human flesh, but a cold, slippery sensation, as if something was writhing alive beneath the skin.

Her heart jolted. Glancing down, she saw her own hand gripping Lu Chenyuan’s. It was still his hand—five fingers, bones intact.

But as she looked closer, she saw the skin on the back of his hand had turned semi-transparent. Amidst the blue veins, a pupil-less, scarlet eyeball was slowly opening, radiating a chill and lifelessness that seemed to stare back at her from some nameless abyss.

In the instant her breath caught, the eye vanished as if it had never existed, an illusion conjured by her own mind.

Even for someone as composed as she, a cold shiver ran down her spine.

Lu Chenyuan, caught off guard, could not help but reveal a trace of panic at being so exposed.

“So this is the greatest secret he carries…” Shangguan Chuci mused inwardly. Then she recalled his earlier words: “If this is fate, then I want no part of it.”

Suddenly, she understood.

For him, this so-called destiny was perhaps nothing more than a curse.

A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, but her grip on Lu Chenyuan’s hand only tightened. “Brother Lu, let’s go!”

With a low command, she pulled him toward the rear courtyard.

Master Li merely smiled as he watched, extending a withered forefinger to point at the air.

A strange humming sound filled the inn, as if it had come alive. The scenery twisted; walls became writhing membranes of flesh and blood, pillars shot upward as towering white bones, and the floor turned into a viscous mire.

In a heartbeat, the inn had become an endless labyrinth of blood and flesh.

From the walls, countless serpent heads with vertical scarlet eyes emerged, tongues flickering as they hissed.

Suddenly, one serpent’s head darted from Shangguan Chuci’s blind spot, spewing a jet of ghastly green venom.

“Look out!”

Relying on his instinctive sensitivity to such evil, Lu Chenyuan yanked her aside just in time.

The venom struck the floor with a sizzle, and instantly clusters of purple poisonous mushrooms sprouted, each capped with a twisted serpent’s face, silently weeping.

The sight sent chills down Shangguan Chuci’s spine.

Had Lu Chenyuan not pulled her away, what horror would she have become?

Still reeling, she was about to thank him when Lu Chenyuan cried urgently, “Chuci, run!”

He instinctively tried to pull her along, but suddenly felt an icy, scaly grip. Frowning, he turned back—only to find that the hand he held was no longer Shangguan Chuci’s slender fingers, but the taloned paw of some blue-black scaled beast.

And the wooden effigy he had been clutching was gone, replaced in his arms by a massive, bleeding, throbbing heart.

Without warning, the world spun and all color drained away. Only three hues remained.

The boundless black of despair. The lifeless white of death.

And that uncanny, abyssal blue seeping from the monstrous hand—utterly identical to the scar left by the heavens.

He jerked his head upward. Above, the beams and pillars of the inn had become countless swirling, lidless eyes. Each eye opened a crimson mouth, from which issued the overlapping voices of Master Li:

“Do you see? All phenomena in this world are but illusions before the Supreme One awakens. You and I are merely revelers at the end of the dream. The living mistake order for iron law, never realizing that decay and madness are the sweetest wines at this feast.”

“Child, your body is far more honest than your heart. Do not cloak the truth about to hatch within you in the pretense of righteousness.”

“Come. Stand before me, and let us welcome your true form.”