95: Epic rewards, heroic monuments

At the core of the completely collapsed Sea of Demonic Energy, in that darkness that had returned to ultimate void.

A cold, emotionless mechanical voice slowly sounded, like the first character at the dawn of creation.

"Ding."

"Epic death event detected: 'Demon Heart Soul Refining'."

"Method of death: Using self as a guide, Divine Soul self-detonation, triggering Law annihilation at the enemy's Origin core."

"Target killed: Pseudo-Nascent Soul Stage Demon Lord."

"Event impact: Reversed the Sect's demise, saved tens of thousands of lives, leaving an undying legend between heaven and earth."

"Degree of sensation: Witnessed by a Sect, heaven and earth changed color, Laws wailed."

"Overall evaluation in progress..."

"Rating determined: SSS."

"Congratulations, Host."

"You have achieved the legendary death achievement: 'Godslayer (Pseudo)'."

"Legendary rewards are being generated based on your SSS-grade rating... Reward generation complete."

"Reward One: Cultivation Infusion (No Upper Limit)."

Description: The Origin of all spirits and the Demonic Energy swallowed by the Demon Lord throughout his life, perfectly transformed by the "Undying Demon Soul" and the Thunder Spirit Saint Body, will become the purest Spiritual Qi torrent, reshaping your Foundation and infusing your cultivation.

"Reward Two: Complete Golden Core Dao Comprehension."

Description: You personally experienced and led a "pseudo-Nascent Soul" level Law collapse. The System has imprinted all cultivation insights from the Golden Core Stage to before the Nascent Soul barrier, helping you condense a supreme Golden Core that transcends its grade.

"Reward Three: Cultivation Technique Advancement — "Ten Thousand Tribulations Undying Demon Soul (First Chapter)"."

Description: The original "Undying Demon Soul" has absorbed the Demon Lord's Origin and your "going home" obsession, advancing into a growth-type Cultivation Technique. First Chapter special effects: Divine Soul is immune to all mental attacks and Charm below the Nascent Soul level, Divine Soul recovery speed is increased tenfold, and it can actively absorb negative energy (resentment, Evil Qi, Devilish Qi) from heaven and earth to temper the Divine Soul.

"Reward Four: Saint Body Extraordinary Awakening — Three Calamities Nine Tribulations Divine Demon Dharma Body (Prototype)."

Description: Your Thunder Spirit Saint Body has undergone an essential transformation after fusing with the Demon Lord's Origin, becoming extraordinary and saintly. You can now initially control the fused "Divine Demon Tribulation Light." This energy has a triple restraining and damaging effect on monsters, demons, ghosts, and evil creatures. Your Physical Body will synchronize with your Divine Soul, making it impervious to all spells and difficult to harm by tribulation power.

The last echo of the System's prompt faded into the void.

The next moment.

Outside.

Above the Qingyun Sect.

The colossal demonic shadow, towering and bringing endless despair and fear to everyone, let out its final cry, filled with shock and incomprehension.

Its massive demonic body, large enough to obscure the sun, was like a skin poked with countless holes.

Tens of thousands of three-colored Holy Light, mixed with sacred, domineering, and eerie energies, burst from its body, piercing it full of holes.

The sky was completely illuminated by this strange and dazzling light.

The Demon Lord's colossal body was no longer decomposing.

Instead, it was utterly annihilated at the Law level.

It was like a ferocious demon god painted on a canvas, being forcibly erased from this world, bit by bit, by an invisible hand using a rag stained with Holy Light.

Devilish Qi dissipated.

Dark clouds receded.

The warm sunlight, obscured for so long, once again pierced through the clouds and shone down on this scarred land.

Within the light beams, countless dust motes danced, like Souls who had survived a catastrophe, softly chanting.

The dark cloud, the great mountain that weighed on everyone's hearts, had disappeared.

A catastrophe, enough to be recorded in the Cultivation World history of the Southern Domain, thus ended.

Dead silence.

After a brief dead silence.

"We won..."

A surviving Inner Sect Elder, covered in blood, looked at the clear sky and uttered two words with a trembling voice.

"We... won!"

This voice was like a stone thrown into a calm lake.

Instantly.

Above the entire Qingyun Sect ruins, earth-shattering cheers and roars of celebration erupted from those who had survived the calamity!

"We're alive!"

"The Demon Lord is dead! The Demon Lord is really dead!"

"Saint is invincible! Saint will last for ages!"

Countless Disciples threw away the Magical Artifacts in their hands and embraced each other, weeping.

They cried with laughter and laughed through tears, expending all their strength to vent the ecstasy of returning from Hell to the human world.

However, this ecstasy did not last too long.

A young Outer Sect Disciple stared blankly at the empty sky, the smile on his face gradually freezing.

He murmured to himself.

"But... where is the Saint? Saint he..."

The voice was not loud.

Yet it was like a basin of ice water poured over the heads of all the revelers.

The cheers stopped abruptly.

Everyone's gaze instinctively gathered towards the sky, towards the place where the Demon Lord had finally disappeared.

It was empty there.

There was no sign of that man.

Not even a trace of his aura was left behind.

He offered himself to the demon, detonated his Divine Soul, and perished with that terrifying Demon Lord.

He exchanged his own annihilation for the lives of everyone.

The ecstasy faded.

A deeper, heavier sorrow, like a tide, silently engulfed everyone's hearts.

Many people's tear stains were still wet, and new tears flowed down their faces.

Only this time, it was no longer for themselves.

Above the high platform.

The Grand Elder, who had burned ninety-nine percent of his Origin, was already so hunched that he was unrecognizable, his head of black hair turned into withered white, and his face was covered with the grayness of death.

Yet he burst into loud laughter, a desolate and heroic laugh.

"Good!"

"What a Saint of my Qingyun Sect!"

He suddenly straightened his back, which was on the verge of exhaustion, and used his last bit of strength, his voice like a grand bell, spreading throughout the Qingyun Sect and in all directions.

"Pass down my Dharma decree!"

"Announce to all Righteous Path Sects in Tiannan County!"

"Erect a monument for our Qingyun hero, Saint Lin Gou!"

"This monument shall not be built with the Spirit Stones of my Qingyun Sect, but shall be jointly built by all Sects in Tiannan County!"

"This monument shall not be erected within my Qingyun Sect, but shall stand in the center of the Orthodox Alliance Headquarters Plaza in Tiannan County!"

"The inscription shall only have eight characters —"

"Hero goes to death, admired for eternity!"

The voice echoed between heaven and earth, every word carrying an unquestionable resolve.

All Qingyun Sect Disciples who heard this Dharma decree were greatly shaken, and then bowed deeply towards the sky.

They knew that from today onwards.

The name Lin Gou would no longer belong only to the Qingyun Sect.

He would become an immortal monument for the entire Righteous Path of Tiannan County.

Beside a broken stone pillar, Su Meier's figure swayed.

She raised her head, her peach blossom eyes, which always held a myriad of charms, were now empty and lost.

She gazed at the empty sky, for the first time putting away all her coquettishness, her red lips slightly parted, murmuring unconsciously.

"Madman..."

"You... utter madman..."

The last word he transmitted to her — [Transmigrator].

That greatest secret, enough to overturn the understanding of the entire Cultivation World, and the very Foundation of his own existence.

He actually so lightly, as a gamble, told it to her.

Gambling that he could return.

But now, his Divine Soul was annihilated, perishing with the Demon Lord.

Who else knew this secret?

Who would fulfill this gamble?

An inexplicable irritation and loss, which she herself had not even noticed, surged into her heart.

As if a most cherished, most unique plaything, was smashed to pieces right in front of her.

Beyond repair.

On the other side of the plaza.

In a dead silence, Zhao Linger slowly regained consciousness.

Her slender eyelashes trembled violently, as if carrying a heavy burden.

The first moment she woke up, she did not cry or make a fuss, she just suddenly looked up, using all her strength to gaze at the sky.

When she saw the clear, cloudless sky, and saw that the terrifying demonic shadow that had been suspended in the sky had long disappeared without a trace.

Her eyes, which had just regained a hint of vitality, instantly dimmed again.

Completely engulfed by boundless, even deeper despair.

He... succeeded.

He also... disappeared.

That liar.

Speaking the cruelest lies with the gentlest instructions.

Zhao Linger did not faint again.

She just propped herself up, slowly, little by little, standing up.

She walked to the center of the plaza, to the place where Lin Gou had last soared into the sky, to the land where his last aura still lingered.

Then, she hugged the Storage Ring in her arms, which still carried his body temperature.

And just sat down quietly.

She did not cry, did not make a fuss, did not speak.

Like a husband-watching stone.

As if waiting for someone whom everyone knew would never return.

A white figure silently appeared not far behind her.

Li Hanyue.

She stood there quietly, holding her sword.

Like an eternal, unmelting ice sculpture.

She didn't look at Zhao Linger, nor at the sky; she just kept her eyes down, staring at the three feet of ground beneath her feet.

She was fulfilling her promise.

"After this battle, I will guard the mountain for you for a hundred years."

Now, he was gone.

So, for him, she would protect the person he cared about most.

Her guardianship had shifted from that person to his last attachment.

Time passed, drop by drop.

Sunrise.

Moonset.

The reconstruction of the Sect was proceeding in an orderly manner under the organization of the surviving Elders.

The Disciples cleared the ruins, buried the remains of their fellow Disciples, and repaired the broken Formations.

Everyone deliberately avoided the two silent figures in the center of the plaza.

No one disturbed them.

Day one.

Zhao Linger sat there, motionless.

In her mind, Lin Gou's last words echoed repeatedly.

"Use them to save people."

"And use them to protect yourself."

Her fingers unconsciously caressed the cold Storage Ring.

Her Divine Thought probed inside.

It wasn't as orderly as she imagined; instead, it was a mess.

A mountain of Spirit Stones was piled on one side, next to various grades of Medicinal Pills, haphazardly stored in hundreds of bottles.

Further away, all sorts of strange Magic Treasures, weapons, and Talismans were strewn about like garbage.

This was all his savings.

A treasure trove that could rival a nation, yet utterly chaotic.

Zhao Linger's heart was sharply pained.

She could almost see the man, after each "death," receiving a pile of rewards, then tossing them all into the Storage Ring without even bothering to look.

He didn't care about these things at all.

To him, these items were perhaps just byproducts of the dying process.

Her fingertips touched something.

It wasn't a Magic Treasure, nor a Medicinal Pill.

It was a small, ordinary wooden plaque.

She took it out.

On the plaque, a line of crooked characters was carved.

"Qingyun Sect Outer Sect Disciple, Lin Gou."

It was his identity token from when he first joined the Sect.

He had actually kept it all this time.

Zhao Linger's body trembled uncontrollably.

She clutched the small wooden plaque tightly, tightly in her palm.

The cold wood seemed to still retain the warmth of his hand.

"Wait for me to come home."

The command he had given her in an irresistible tone, just before she fainted, once again clearly resurfaced in her ear.

It was a command.

Not a request, not a dying wish.

He commanded her to wait for him to come home.

"Liar..."

She whispered, her voice hoarse as if abraded by sandpaper.

"You... big liar..."

But this time, in those two words, there was less despair and a glimmer of a tenacious obsession that even she herself hadn't noticed.

Day two.

Li Hanyue still stood in her original spot, her posture unchanged.

Her eyes were slightly closed.

Her mind was completely immersed in her Sea of Consciousness in her glabella.

There, the true meaning of the Law of Demonic Energy Breaking, gifted by Lin Gou, was emitting a faint glow.

It hadn't dimmed due to its owner's dissipation.

Instead, having been imbued with Lin Gou's final obsession of "going home," it became even more condensed, more "human."

Li Hanyue could feel that this true meaning was alive.

It pulsed gently and regularly in her Sea of Consciousness, like a heart.

This shouldn't be something left behind by someone who had passed away.

Her Sword Heart, which had been on the verge of shattering during that farewell, was now, under the nourishment of this "living" true meaning of the Law, slowly being re-adhered, and even becoming more resilient and transparent than before.

She began to re-examine the man.

The man who was usually so cowardly that he would instinctively take half a step back if a fellow Senior Brother merely glanced at him.

Yet, at crucial moments, he dared to charge at the Demon Lord, facing death in the most tragic way.

His fear of death was real.

His fearlessness in the face of death was also real.

These two extreme contradictions, within him, formed a "Dao" that she couldn't understand but was deeply shaken by.

Her promise, "guard the mountain for a hundred years."

When she spoke it, it was an expression of respect and repayment to a departed hero.

But now.

The meaning of this promise seemed to be quietly changing.

It was more like... waiting.

Using her sword, using her hundred years, to wait for a miracle.

Day three.

Su Meier's figure appeared on the roof of a dilapidated hall not far away.

She had changed into a fiery red long dress, leaning casually on the ridge, one slender leg draped, outlining a breathtaking curve.

In her hand, she toyed with a blood-colored Jade Slip.

Her gaze swept across the plaza, falling on Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue, with a hint of curiosity and amusement in her eyes.

"One guarding a promise, one guarding an obsession."

"Two foolish women."

She chuckled softly, but there was little warmth in her smile.

For these three days, she hadn't gone anywhere.

She had been observing these two women, and the entire Qingyun Sect, from the shadows.

At the same time, she had locked herself away, repeatedly analyzing Lin Gou's final actions.

Why did he tell her the secret of the Transmigrator?

Based on her understanding of that man, everything he did must have a purpose.

He was afraid of death to his very bones; he would never do anything without benefit.

What good would a complete annihilation of his Divine Soul do him?

Unless... this "annihilation of his Divine Soul" was itself part of the plan.

Unless his "death" was not truly the end.

Once this thought arose, it grew wildly in Su Meier's mind, becoming uncontrollable.

She recalled Lin Gou's countless bizarre instances of "dying and resurrecting."

She remembered his behavioral patterns that could never be judged by common sense.

"Seeking death... is for rewards."

"So, what kind of reward will this legendary 'death-seeking' yield?"

Su Meier's breathing, for the first time, became a little hurried.

Her gaze suddenly shifted from Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue, turning towards the back mountain of Qingyun Sect.

That direction.

It was the Forbidden Ground of the Sect.

And it was also the place in the entire Qingyun Sect where Spiritual Qi was most chaotic and space was most unstable.

If... if he could really come back, where would he appear from?

A conjecture so bold that it made even her own heart pound formed in her mind.

Just as the third day's dusk settled.

When the last ray of sunset glow was about to disappear from the horizon.

In the depths of an uninhabited cave in the Forbidden Ground of Qingyun Sect's back mountain.

The location of the most secret and last resurrection anchor point that Lin Gou had set up here.

A speck of dust, without any warning, gently vibrated.

Immediately after.

A trace of extremely faint spatial fluctuation appeared out of thin air in that void.

Like a tiny pebble dropped into an absolutely calm lake.

One ripple.

And another.

Invisible ripples began to slowly spread outwards.

This fluctuation was extremely subtle; even the Sect's grand Formation guarding the Forbidden Ground did not detect it.

However.

Above the plaza.

The bodies of the three women who were meditating, like stone sculptures, all trembled violently at the same instant!

As if struck hard by an invisible current!

Zhao Linger, who had been sitting like a stone sculpture, suddenly leaned forward, and a bright light of disbelief burst forth from her eyes, which had been dim for three days!

The Storage Ring in her embrace was burning hot!

Li Hanyue, who had been guarding like an iceberg, her eyes closed for three days, suddenly snapped open!

The true meaning of Demonic Energy Breaking in her Sea of Consciousness was pulsating wildly, emitting cheers and resonance from the depths of her Soul!

Far away on the rooftop, Su Meier's blood-colored Jade Slip shattered with a "snap" as she crushed it into dust!

She abruptly stood up, her fiery red skirt swirling wildly in the evening breeze, her peach blossom eyes fixed on the direction of the back mountain, her face filled with shock and ecstasy!

That familiar... unique to that man... an aura they would recognize even if it turned to ash... had appeared!