Muxuan forcefully suppressed the tearing sensation and maddening whispers in her mind, hastily stepping back.
As she looked at this increasingly distorted space, Muxuan’s heart grew heavier.
Her intuition told her that she had to kill the goddess… but the problem was—
Looking at the goddess, now deformed and blocked by her own light shield, Muxuan’s feelings were complicated.
Her heart felt as if gripped by an invisible hand, flustered yet tinged with pain.
Those golden eyes, once filled with a sly smile, still seemed to flicker before her, but now only left a chaos that devoured all light.
‘Kill me…’
The twisted, static-laced whisper echoed through the crumbling space, stabbing into Muxuan’s consciousness like countless icy needles.
This was the last residue of the goddess before her mind fell into chaos.
Her golden eyes brimmed with pain and fear, but more than that, an almost stubborn refusal.
Muxuan trembled slightly.
The hand not holding the light shield clenched faintly, then relaxed.
She couldn’t do it.
How could she possibly…
Even if it was only a lingering obsession, even if she had long since passed away, even if she was now corrupted by the Strange…
‘Leave! Yes, leave this place!’
Muxuan screamed in her heart.
She didn’t want to act… maybe if she left, everything would return to normal?
‘Leave!’
This thought instantly consumed Muxuan’s entire consciousness.
Muxuan spun around sharply, condensing her consciousness into a sharp cone, and slammed it viciously against the consciousness barrier that had once been easily crossed but now stood as firm as rock.
Hum—
The moment consciousness touched the barrier, it was as if she had collided with an invisible iron wall, bringing sharp pain and dizziness.
The sticky, cold sensation had become unshakably solid, even carrying a powerful repulsive force that flung her awareness back violently.
She staggered backward, feeling her whole consciousness buzz and shake.
‘No… it shouldn’t be like this! Why did it just bounce me back! That’s not how the story goes!’
‘You’re supposed to loosen the barrier, then lower my guard, drop a whisper or two from time to time.’
‘Then at that special moment, let the goddess recover.’
‘Finally, after I’ve reignited my hope, tell me none of it was real.’
‘I voluntarily give up the idea of escaping, and then I leave here with the restored goddess!’
‘But you just bounced me straight back!’
‘The story isn’t like this at all—I don’t accept it!’
Muxuan cried out in her heart.
The Blessed Golden Markings on her body blazed with blinding light from her struggle and the pressure of the space, trying to forcibly tear open this prison.
Light crashed against the edges of the space.
Those spiderweb-like black cracks seemed to come alive, greedily absorbing and devouring the light.
The space trembled even more violently, the signs of collapse growing clearer.
Crack…
Crack…
The grating sound of fragmentation echoed deep within consciousness.
Muxuan abruptly turned her head.
That mass of writhing, nameless horror born from the goddess’s mutation had become even more incomprehensible.
Light was greedily sucked into it, leaving only purer darkness and maddening whispers.
The whispers were no longer just the goddess’s voice, but a cacophony of despair, pain, and blasphemous shrieks, pouring directly into Muxuan’s mind, jolting her body.
“Kill… me…”
Amid the chaotic screams, the goddess’s last faint but clear plea stubbornly persisted.
The collapse of the space suddenly accelerated.
Large swaths of the Sea of Light peeled off like shattered glass, revealing deeper nothingness beyond.
Black cracks spread rapidly toward where Muxuan stood.
After another failed attempt to leave, Muxuan’s gaze turned cold.
No escape.
No way out.
The only hope—or rather, the only way to end this—stood before her.
“I’m sorry…”
Muxuan’s voice was as faint as a mosquito in the dead, crumbling space, tinged with a tremor.
She slowly raised her hand, pouring all the Lightforce she could muster into the Holy Golden Pattern on her body.
The light blazed to an extreme for an instant, nearly tearing Muxuan apart, then burst forth from her palm.
“Sacred Word: Judgment!”
Muxuan’s voice echoed through the breaking consciousness space, carrying an undeniable will.
With her words, the gathered Lightforce in her palm sharply condensed, forming a massive light blade at astonishing speed.
The core of the blade was pure white, while its edges flowed with sacred golden radiance.
The moment the light blade appeared, the entire tottering space froze for an instant.
The cold filth that had tried to erode Muxuan’s consciousness let out a sizzling wail before instantly evaporating.
Muxuan’s golden eyes reflected the light blade, and also the nameless horror formed from the goddess’s mutation.
As Muxuan swung her arm, the light blade tore through the dim, collapsing space—and precisely pierced into that mass of writhing horror born from the goddess’s obsession.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a chilling sound of annihilation.
The ultimate light and the all-devouring darkness clashed at the point of contact, furiously annihilating each other.
The writhing chaos suddenly stiffened.
Countless twisted tendrils and hollow eye sockets shuddered violently in the holy light’s torrent.
The goddess’s last faint plea dissolved into a relieved sigh as the light blade pierced through, then completely vanished into the pure flood of light.
“Aaaaaah—”
The intense pain came not from her body, but from deep within her consciousness.
The moment the light blade left her hand, Muxuan’s consciousness form was struck as if by an invisible giant hammer, letting out a shrill scream.
The golden Holy Golden Pattern flickered wildly on her consciousness form, like a faulty light bulb.
Muxuan could no longer maintain her consciousness form, and she drifted backward like a kite with a broken string.
Space disintegrated faster before her eyes.
Just as darkness was about to consume her sight, a cool sensation slowly crept up Muxuan’s face.
She instinctively opened her eyes.
A faint light appeared before her.
It wasn’t the light from her own body.
Wait!
‘Goddess!?’
Muxuan’s hoarse voice spread through the darkness.
As if sensing the change in Muxuan’s emotions, a petite figure formed from light slowly materialized.
The goddess tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes narrowing slightly as she showed a smile.
“My little Saintess, you did very well～”
Muxuan’s body shook.
“Goddess… you…”
Before she could finish, the goddess, as if already knowing what Muxuan wanted to ask, gently pressed a finger to Muxuan’s lips and smiled lightly.
“No～ It’s only because you killed me that the last of my power could break free from that corruption～
Now, it’s time to deal with Zi Luo Mo～”
As the goddess’s words faded, the faint light before Muxuan suddenly vanished.
When light reappeared before her eyes, Muxuan found her consciousness returning to her physical body.
And before her were…
Qiansitelin lying nearby.
And the Great Artisan God pinned to the ground by Zi Luo Mo.