Demon immortal calendar 9763, demon race forbidden area.
This was the altar established 10,000 years ago when the demon emperor ascended. It was surrounded by countless formations and barriers.
Not even the current demon sovereign dared to take a single step inside, let alone an outsider.
However, at the center of the altar, a woman leaned against a broken pillar, her eyes hollow and lifeless.
This very pillar had been used when the “sacrifice” was offered.
“Lady demon immortal, it has been a long time. How have you been lately?”
Hearing the voice, the woman forced her unfocused pupils to center on a pebble not far away, her brow furrowing.
The pebble trembled instinctively before immediately transforming into human shape, revealing an old woman.
“…… I did not expect you to still be alive.”
“The Lady demon immortal must be joking. Although this old servant is merely a spirit enlightened by you, I was tasked with tending to this place.”
“Having not faced the wind or sun for 10,000,000 years, I have naturally managed to cling to life.”
The old woman bowed respectfully to the woman.
The person before her was none other than the strongest powerhouse and the only Immortal King of the demon race — Ling Yao. Even after 10,000 years, she remained the role model for countless young men and women.
It had been 10,000 years since the old woman last saw her. Because no outsider ever set foot here, she had never heard any news regarding Ling Yao.
Ling Yao’s eyes dimmed as she remained silent for a long moment. Suddenly, she looked up at the old woman. “You should just call me Xiao Jiu. Terms like ‘Demon immortal’ are meaningless.”
The old woman froze, but she quickly dropped to her knees with a thud. “This old servant is terrified!”
An Immortal King not seen for 10,000 years suddenly visits incognito and asks you to call her by her childhood name?
It was absolutely hair-raising.
Furthermore, the old woman knew better than anyone how cold and heartless the person before her was — provided one did not count Ling Yao’s ex-husband, her half-foster father, and… the poor “sacrifice” Ling Yao had offered up.
Ling Yao’s gaze sharpened, and the time and space of the entire forbidden area froze.
The old woman felt as if her soul would be frozen and shattered in the next second. But this monstrous divine pressure existed for only an instant before receding like a tide, replaced by a deeper sense of exhaustion.
“…… Forget it, call me whatever you want. Starting today, you no longer need to help maintain this place.”
Ling Yao waved her hand, and a faint purple light flashed across the old woman. “Get away from me. I want to be alone.”
The old woman felt the sudden “freedom” within her body, feeling somewhat dazed.
She did not dare to ask questions, so she simply lowered her head further. “As you command, Lady Demon immortal.”
After sending the old woman away, Ling Yao condensed a water mirror in front of her. Looking at the peerless face in the reflection, she asked herself: ‘Am I… hideous now?’
She felt that her relationship with Shizi should not have been so strictly between “ruler and subject.”
After all, Shizi was an elder who had stayed by her and his side for who knew how long, witnessing all their joys and sorrows.
It was no exaggeration to say that Shizi was likely her only remaining family in this world.
Ling Yao dismissed the water mirror and hugged her legs, curling into a ball.
When did her attitude begin to change?
In truth, Ling Yao knew.
10,000 years ago, just as a certain human cultivator was half a step into supremacy and about to share eternity with his beloved, she had personally cut open his chest.
Before the eyes of the demon race’s 100,000,000 subjects, she used his heart’s blood as a catalyst to forge a godhead and attain eternal life.
Since then, Shizi no longer looked at her with those kind, elder-like eyes. The way she addressed her changed from “Xiao Jiu” to “Lady Demon immortal.”
Distant and humble.
Fortunately, the world was fair. After severing all worldly affections, Ling Yao broke the shackles that “the demon race cannot ascend.”
She even became the strongest Immortal King in history, easily resolving the catastrophe that could have overturned the demon race’s civilization.
‘This was all for the demon race.’
Ling Yao told herself this countless times, but only she knew that beneath that high-sounding reason lay a primal tremor she didn’t dare look at directly — the primitive instinct of a flood dragon to devour luck in order to transform into a true dragon.
In recent years, a cynical saying had become popular in the cultivation world. Ling Yao remembered it went something like: “The first sword drawn after reaching the shore is used to slay one’s beloved.”
It was practically describing her.
If one wished to cross the water and jump through the dragon gate, one must first sever the threads of passion with a sword and then sacrifice one who possessed great luck.
Becoming an immortal was truly boring.
Despite being omnipotent and immortal, all Ling Yao could feel was emptiness and loneliness.
Ling Yao remembered he once told her a story about someone named Qiu Bai who seemed to be in a similar situation.
‘No… it seems I am quite a bit stronger than that person.’
Thinking of this, Ling Yao’s eyes suddenly lit up. She instinctively reached out her hand, intending to move her vast divine power to do something “illegal” — she was the strongest Immortal King. As long as she paid a small price, she could easily resurrect a person!
That was it! She could bring “him” back to life!
The purple light grew more vibrant, and the massive spiritual energy instantly shattered nearly 100 top-tier formations.
However, after a mere moment, Ling Yao pulled her hand back.
In the end, what was the use of resurrection?
Ling Yao let out a bitter laugh.
Setting aside whether he would still be “him” without these 10,000 years of memories, even if she resurrected the “original,” how many eons would it take to make up for that hatred?
He had been chatting happily about a future together after ascension one second, only to be ground to dust and denied reincarnation by her the next.
As if losing all her strength, Ling Yao leaned her entire weight against the stone pillar, appearing so tragically beautiful that it inspired pity.
But as if someone in the darkness was sneering, the God-locking Pillar that had stood for 10,000 years suddenly shattered into pieces, turning into a few wisps of dust. Just like him in the past, it was…
Ground to dust by Ling Yao.
*Thud.*
Ling Yao fell straight into the dust.
***
In the next second, she sprang up from the ground like a madman, using her divine power to collect the fragments.
She tried to piece them back together like a puzzle, attempting to reassemble the last remaining thing in the world related to him, as if doing so would…
Regrettably, the God-locking Pillar was his creation. Even after 10,000 years, no living being could recreate that “miracle.”
Even the “strongest Immortal King in history” could not “resurrect” it.
*Drip.*
*Drip.*
Large tears fell from the corners of her eyes, turning into pearls the moment they hit the ground and rolling into the endless darkness.
“There must be a way to do it… there must be…”
“Think about what Yun Heng would do…”
“Right, time! As long as I use the law of time, I can return everything to the way it was!”
Ling Yao felt as if she had caught a life-saving straw. Joy colored her face as she raised her hand to use the law of time to fully repair the god-locking pillar.
But just like before, Ling Yao stopped when the hand seal was only half-formed.
Unlike last time, however, her hesitation now was because she had suddenly thought of a better way — one that achieved both goals.
She would reverse time and space, returning everything to the starting point.
This would not only “resurrect” Yun Heng in the fundamental sense but also ensure that he still loved her deeply, just as he had in the past!
Ling Yao suddenly felt her mouth go dry.
That said, reversing time across 10,000,000 years… even she would have to pay a staggering price.
‘Is it… worth it?’
Strangely, when Ling Yao tentatively reviewed any attachments she might have in this life, she found there was almost nothing.
The demon race was thriving, now sharing the world with the human and dragon races. The righteous alliance of the cultivation world had far fewer cases of corruption under the supervision of her disciples.
As for the immortal realm… although they would lose a powerhouse like her, the other Immortal Kings had been eyeing her position and cultivating desperately.
Even if the extra-terrestrial demons invaded a few more times, they could likely handle it.
She seemed to have already done everything she could do in this life to the absolute limit.
Could she give herself a chance… to be selfish just once?
At that moment, an ordinary seashell that had long since lost its luster rolled out from her luxurious sleeve.
That was when Yun Heng had smiled at her on some unknown beach and said, “Xiao Jiu, look at the patterns on this. Don’t they look like your scales?”
10,000 years had passed. She had become a god, but this seashell remained a mortal object, as fragile as it was back then.
She looked at the seashell and suddenly smiled, though her tears would not stop flowing.
Ling Yao closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath.
When she opened her eyes again, the Immortal King no longer hesitated.
She deactivated all formations and barriers, wrapped her spatial ring containing 10,000 divine artifacts in divine power, located Shizi, and teleported it to her.
Ling Yao believed she would understand her intentions.
Then, the “Lady Demon immortal” slowly raised her right hand.
Godhead? Cultivation? This eternity she had exchanged for his life — she discarded it like a worn-out shoe!
“Using this body as the lead…”
Since the barriers were gone, Ling Yao could finally hear the sound of waves crashing against the reefs.
Perhaps they weren’t waves, but the thunderous clouds of a catastrophic punishment?
“…Sacrificing the godhead…”
The murmur was like gauze, yet it echoed through the nine heavens.
Ling Yao could feel countless gazes currently fixed on this place.
It was just like the moment when she had let the whole world watch him be sacrificed so she could seize his luck.
How ironic.
But it didn’t matter anymore, because everyone in this life no longer had anything to do with her.
“…Reverse the flow of time…”
Vast divine power transformed into a pillar of purple light that shot into the sky, instantly swallowing her graceful figure.
Her ink-black hair turned greyish-white at a visible speed, and cracks spread across the godhead that symbolized eternal immortality.
Burning pain spread through her, but Ling Yao seemed to have no sensation of it.
Some sharp-eyed, powerful God Kings even saw that she seemed to be… smiling?
Her body gradually shrank, her age regressed, and her face became tender. Even her “divinity” was slowly turning back into a “mortal heart.”
She went from an Immortal King to a woman, and then from a woman to a girl.
Everyone knew that the era belonging to the former was ending, while the fate belonging to the latter was unknown.
However, they saw the determination in the girl’s eyes, as if she were saying:
‘This time… I will never let go of your hand again.’
“ECHO OF ALL THINGS!”
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