222: Congratulations on your return

As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a bucket of ice water had been poured over them.

Ye Nianyao spun her head around, her gaze darting frantically between Lin Zhenyue and the “Lin Luo” who was standing right next to her. The residual excitement and reliance on her face instantly froze, turning into a blank expression of confusion, which was immediately overlaid by a torrent of stronger emotions—shock, suspicion, and a sting of being thoroughly fooled.

“What... do you mean?” Her voice was dry, her eyes fixed on the calm, waveless golden gaze of “Lin Luo.” “He’s not Lin Luo? Then... who are you?”

She subconsciously took half a step back. This subtle movement was filled with a wariness and hurt that she herself hadn't fully grasped. The reliance and choked sobs that had almost burst forth moments ago were now stuck in her throat, hardening into a cold stone.

The person before her had Lin Luo's appearance, and had done things Lin Luo could never have done, yet the aura was unsettlingly unfamiliar. If this wasn't Lin Luo, what did the vulnerability and grievances she had nearly poured out count for? A wave mixed with shame, anger, fear, and immense confusion churned in her heart.

“Lin Luo” remained silent. His golden eyes were devoid of emotion, neither acknowledging nor denying the statement. He merely retracted the finger he had placed on Ye Nianyao's glabella, as if the act of bringing her back to life was as ordinary as brushing away a speck of dust.

The malevolent aura surging around Araki Sadao, however, surged once more at this moment! It didn't care who the person in front of it was. The golden light that instinctively disgusted and terrified it, and the means by which it effortlessly dismantled its attacks and healed its prey, had completely ignited the purest desire for destruction deep within its consciousness.

On the blade, the twisted, writhing crimson runes suddenly came alive, traversing wildly and glowing brightly. The entire long blade transformed into a fierce, dazzling crimson stream of light! The person hadn't moved, but the blade light had already torn through space, carrying endless malice and killing intent, slashing toward “Lin Luo”! Wherever it passed, even the gray mist and residual energy were eroded, leaving behind pitch-black trails.

Yet—

“Lin Luo” merely stood still, not even shifting his gaze.

The crimson blade light, powerful enough to cleave mountains and corrode Divine Souls, instantly dissipated and vanished into nothingness the moment it touched the faint golden shimmer surrounding him, like a wave crashing against an ancient reef, unable to even stir a single ripple.

Araki Sadao's figure followed closely, its monstrous body erupting with all its power. Claw strikes, bites, and charges—the sinister attacks, fused with the power of the evil formation and blood fiend energy, poured down like a torrential storm! Every strike was enough to severely injure or even kill the experts present, yet they all landed upon the seemingly thin golden light.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom—!!!

Dense explosions and the roar of energy clashes were incessant. The ground cracked, and smoke billowed. But no matter how crazily Araki Sadao attacked, the faint golden halo continuously circulated, remaining as stable as ever, easily isolating all destructive forces outside, without even allowing the corner of the clothes within the halo to flutter.

The disparity in strength was vast, like the difference between clouds and mud, akin to an ant trying to shake a mountain.

“Lin Luo” seemed to finally feel a slight lack of interest in this one-sided “attack.” He raised his hand and lightly pointed his index finger toward the monstrous figure thrashing wildly in front of him.

There was no grand display, no rush of energy.

Just a light, distant point.

The next moment—

Araki Sadao’s swollen, mutated body, covered in keratin and filled with malevolent energy, suddenly stiffened like a glass sculpture struck by an invisible giant hammer, and then countless fine golden cracks burst forth from within!

“Uh... hoh...”

It couldn't even let out a complete howl. In its scarlet eyes, expressions resembling “fear” and “disbelief” appeared for the first time.

Crash—!!!

A crisp, yet heart-stopping, shattering sound rang out. The monstrous body, which had consumed countless living souls and carried Araki Sadao's twisted will and the blessing of the evil god, completely disintegrated! It turned into black and red ashes that rustled down from the sky before quickly dissipating, leaving not a single trace behind. The strange blood blade also snapped into pieces and turned into dust.

The battlefield fell silent.

“Araki—!!”

A roar, mixed with shock, fury, and disbelief, suddenly exploded. The other black-robed figure, who was locked in fierce combat with Zhou Dong, had clearly witnessed the terrifying sight of Araki Sadao being crushed by a single finger, and under the severe shock, his movements suffered a fatal delay.

In a contest between experts, victory or defeat is decided in an instant.

“A good chance!” Zhou Dong's eyes burst with sharp light. With a low roar, his massive axe, already heavy as a mountain, suddenly accelerated, descending with the force of a thunderbolt, striking fiercely the moment the opponent's mind wavered!

Sssshhh—!

A harsh sound of tearing cloth rang out. The wide black robe, wrapped in protective malevolent energy, was forcibly ripped apart by the Evil-Smiting Protective Aura condensed on the massive axe!

Fragments of the black robe flew, revealing the face that had been hidden underneath.

It was the face of a middle-aged man who looked ordinary, even possessing a hint of sinister scholarly refinement, but was now slightly contorted by shock and rage. More importantly, this face was absolutely familiar to the elders present who had lived through the years of war!

Lin Zhenyue's gaze was like lightning, locked tightly onto that face, his pupils suddenly contracting. A killing intent even colder and more piercing than what he felt facing Araki Sadao, mixed with monstrous fury, rose from his aged yet straight spine!

“Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko...!” He practically ground the name out from between his teeth, his voice hoarse, every syllable steeped in deep-seated hatred. “Good, very good! That old dog Araki was indeed not an isolated case... You beast, whose hands are stained with the blood of Jinling, actually managed to survive until now!”

Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko!

The sins and blood debts represented by this name were, on some level, even more deeply etched than those of Araki Sadao. Now, facing his enemy, his eyes were burning with rage.

As for “Lin Luo,” standing still, his golden eyes merely glanced indifferently at Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko's frantic, distorted figure, which was attempting to merge into the gray mist, as if looking at an insignificant speck of dust.

He didn't even make any obvious move.

Just an instant before Lin Zhenyue's blade light and Zhou Dong's axe wind were about to reach the black mist—

Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko's rapidly retreating figure, along with the dense black mist protecting him, suddenly froze.

Immediately after, as if erased from a canvas by the most skilled artist, or like thin ice exposed to the scorching sun, his body began to silently turn into the finest, dimly glowing ashes from the edges—fingertips, clothing hems, hair tips—dissipating inch by inch.

The process was faster than imaginable, yet so clear that it made the skin crawl for everyone present. There was no explosion, no scream, only an absolute, bone-chilling “erasure.”

“I... just wanted to live...”

In the final moment before his body completely dissipated, Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko seemed to use all his remaining strength to let out a weak, distorted, hoarse whisper filled with endless unwillingness and the desire to survive. This whisper was not like a plea for mercy, but rather the final wail and question stemming from the instinct of life itself.

After a moment of deathly silence, expressions of victorious joy unconsciously rose on everyone's faces.

However—

“Fellow Daoist, congratulations on your return.”

The silent, still gray mist churned and surged, and an extremely soft voice abruptly sounded, instantly freezing the expressions of relief and survival that had just appeared on the faces of those present.

The voice was not loud, yet it seemed to resonate directly in the depths of everyone's Divine Soul, carrying an inhuman emptiness and apathy. Lin Zhenyue's hand gripping his blade tightened sharply, cold Qi silently condensed around Yukino Mifuyu, and Ye Nianyao looked with shock and uncertainty at the golden figure, then toward the depths of the mist.

“Lin Luo” showed no surprise, as if he had already known. Under the shocked and uncertain gazes of everyone, his golden eyes remained calm and waveless as he replied toward the depths of the surging gray mist:

“Fellow Daoist, my Dao is not yet stable. Would you lend me a hand?”

As soon as the words fell, a concentrated, pure purple Divine Light pierced out from the dense gray mist without warning! The light did not spread but rapidly converged and condensed inward, outlining a vague humanoid silhouette in the blink of an eye.

The silhouette quickly sharpened, materializing into a figure.

It was an extremely youthful-looking humanoid entity, tall and slender, wearing a simple purple robe that seemed neither mist nor cloth. Its face was devilishly handsome, its skin pale to the point of transparency, and several complex, profound purple demonic markings pulsed and flowed beneath the skin like living things, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

Most striking were his eyes—there was no warmth whatsoever in those pupils, only the indifference and void of an eternal glacier. They were currently meeting “Lin Luo's” golden gaze calmly and without disturbance.

Time seemed to freeze for an instant.

Suddenly, the corner of the Purple-Marked Figure's lips twitched upward ever so slightly. His voice was still soft and apathetic, yet it carried a heart-stopping “generosity”:

“It is merely a remnant body. If Fellow Daoist desires it, take it.”

As he spoke, the dense, pervasive gray mist filling the entire barrier, as if summoned by a supreme decree, transformed into countless surging gray torrents, rolling back frantically and pouring into his slightly opened mouth! As the mist entered his body, his previously somewhat illusory physique became solid and substantial at a visible speed.

Immediately after, a muffled wail came from deep within the earth. Countless streams of viscous, scarlet blood light, as if drawn by a primal attraction, tore through the soil and rock layers, gushing out from the ground, winding like rivers returning to the sea, and converging into his torso and limbs.

Hah—

Accompanied by a sigh of satisfaction that seemed to come from ancient times, the Purple-Marked Figure's body shone brightly. The demonic markings became completely substantial, flowing beneath his pale skin like living things. He gently clenched his fist, and the space actually emitted a crisp sound of being overwhelmed. The previous ethereal feeling was completely gone, replaced by a sense of complete solidity—heavy, firm, and seemingly integrated entirely with the ground beneath his feet and even this distorted barrier.

“In that case...” Lin Luo took a step forward. A Golden Lotus spontaneously generated beneath his feet, and the ripples of Dao Rhyme spread out, causing layers of space to fold. “Thank you for your generosity, Fellow Daoist.”

As his voice fell, his palm struck out.

This palm strike seemed slow, yet it transcended the sequence of time and space. Within his palm, a miniature phenomenon of Chaos opening and star rivers forming and dying circulated unstably, as if grasping the power of the Universe's origin and conclusion. Under the cover of the palm strike, myriad Laws retreated, and rules wailed.

The Purple-Marked Figure's purple light surged in his eyes. His completely materialized body neither dodged nor avoided, meeting the strike with a palm of his own! The purple markings on his palm converged, forming a deep Reincarnation vortex that devoured light and reversed life and death.

The two palms met.

There was no sound, no explosion.

Only an absolute, pitch-black singularity that devoured all light and sound burst open and expanded between the two palms! Inside the singularity, golden Divine Chains and purple Laws could faintly be seen fiercely strangling, annihilating, and regenerating one another. Every collision scattered primitive Dao marks, like the creation of heaven and earth.

The pitch-black singularity suddenly contracted, then transformed into a silent annular shockwave that swept outwards!

The stalemate lasted only an instant.

The Chaos phenomenon in “Lin Luo's” palm suddenly collapsed, transforming into a single point of ultimate golden light, which fiercely pierced the center of the deep Reincarnation vortex!

Crack!

A crisp sound, as if a core had been shattered.

The purple Reincarnation vortex suddenly stalled, then became covered in countless golden cracks and collapsed with a roar!

“Quite a good technique. It was merely a remnant body, so I gift it to Fellow Daoist.” He smiled faintly, raising his gaze to look beyond the dimensional barrier through the formation. “This world is truly marvelous! Fellow Daoist, congratulations on your return!!”

Two beams of light burst from his eyes, intertwining, piercing the barrier, rushing out of the dimension, and slicing through the world's boundary.

After completing all this, his body, like a weathered sand sculpture, rapidly transformed into the purest purple-gold light particles, all rushing into “Lin Luo's” body. The next moment, mysterious purple-gold markings quietly appeared on the surface of “Lin Luo's” body.

“Lin Luo” slowly retracted his palm, his eyelids slightly lowered. The light flowing around him had converted into a deep purple-gold halo, and his aura became increasingly profound, unfathomable, and impossible to gauge.

Silence returned to the battlefield. Only the messy spatial cracks and chaotic Law turbulence scattered across the ground silently attested to the instantaneous contention of the Dao that had just occurred, surpassing mortal comprehension.