Fire, a sky-consuming blaze.

Before my eyes, in my ears, at my nose, beneath my tongue... filled everywhere with something called scarlet.

The realm woven from colors, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations has been filled with blood and fire. This dense and full concept can no longer accommodate any impurities. All elements constituting orderly civilization cannot exist in this world.

The earth will shatter, the sky will burn, time and space will twist and flow backward, even the Dao Laws forming the cornerstone of all things will be fragmented.

This is the battlefield of the battle between the Immortals and Demons, a place where only those two supreme beings who have transcended all limits and chaos order can stand.

It is also the most memorable scene of the Celestial Divine Sword’s decades of life.

The decisive battle with the Demon Emperor, most of the memories have fragmented and been lost, but the scene of the final battlefield is clearly and deeply engraved in the mind, able to be recalled at any time.

Seeing the piece of wood falling from Xiao Bai’s sleeve, Wang Jiu instantly had a flashback of this scene in his mind, then the battle with the Demon Emperor surged back like a tide.

For this world, that battle happened ten thousand years ago, spanning several eras of civilization, but for Wang Jiu, the decisive battle with the Demon Emperor ended just over a year ago. If not for the Sword World being invaded by Demonic Qi, sweeping away all the flourishing beauty... the memories of the decisive battle should still be as vivid as before.

It took a long time for Wang Jiu to finally calm down, subduing the constantly buzzing Divine Sword Body, and extinguishing the beacon flames lit within the Sword World.

By this time, the people around him had unanimously stood at the corners of the reception room, using desks and bookshelves as frameworks, supporting a makeshift defensive structure.

"What are you doing?"

Behind the defense structure, Shen Qingming raised an eyebrow and scolded, "You idiot, how dare you ask us? We should be asking you what you’re doing! Shaking the earth and mountains in broad daylight, are you trying to self-destruct?!"

It was Xiao Bai who was slightly more astute, reaching a hand from behind the structure, pinching the wooden piece: "Do you recognize this?"

At the second sight of the wood piece, the blood and fire of the final battlefield once again flashed before Wang Jiu’s eyes, and the Celestial Divine Sword’s body began to sway involuntarily.

In a certain sense, Shen Qingming’s intuition was not wrong. This indeed was entering self-destruct mode.

When the Celestial Divine Sword encounters an unbeatable situation, and the battle is irretrievable, it chooses a desperate self-sacrifice. It would explosively ignite everything within the Sword World and the Divine Sword’s body as fuel, shattering along with the enemy.

And that wooden piece instantly triggers Wang Jiu’s instinct to initiate the self-destruct sequence.

Because it is a relic of the Demon Emperor, a fragment from the Demon Emperor Battle Armor.

Wang Jiu still remembers the jet-black battle armor condensed from the essence of the Myriad Realms. The Demon Emperor would completely annihilate each world he and his Demon Monarchs invaded, turning it into fuel for the Demon Race’s war machine, then extract the essence to adorn himself, like boasting medallions, also legitimately enhancing defense capabilities.

Before the Celestial Divine Sword struck, the Myriad Immortals Alliance had an excellent opportunity to snipe at the Demon Emperor. During the Qing Province Campaign, the Demon Emperor had personally come to the front line to supervise the battle, also suppressing the out-of-control Demon soldiers. The humans seized this opportunity to launch an Elemental Magnetic Rail Sniper Cannon across countless miles from the Central Province.

Theoretically equivalent to a heavenly calamity, the Elemental Magnetic Shell hit the Demon Emperor directly, yet it only slightly stained the darkness with some speckles and shattered some fragment-like debris. Not only was the Demon Emperor unscathed, even his battle armor was uninjured at the main body.

The defensive ability of the Demon Emperor Battle Armor was evident. During the decisive battle, Wang Jiu went through quite an ordeal to break through this layer of armor... hence, the look of the armor’s remains is still vividly remembered in his mind.

Armor forged from the essence of the Myriad Realms, upon disintegration, a considerable portion would revert to its original form. For instance, the plate from the Fire Realm would revert into flames, transforming into overwhelming blaze, while the plate from the Earth Realm would rapidly expand into a continent.

Among them was a seed from the Green Spirit Realm. Every time the Demon Emperor suffered an attack, the Seed of the Green Spirit would rapidly sprout into an Ancient Wood Shield for defense, also capable of nurturing the Water of Life to heal wounds. During the disintegration of the battle armor, the Seed of the Green Spirit was slain by Sword Intent, reduced to blackened deadwood.

The wooden piece in Xiao Bai’s hand happens to be a fragment of that deadwood.

Proportionally speaking, this dark woody piece might only occupy a ten-thousandth of the Demon Emperor Battle Armor, but for Wang Jiu, even if it were a one-billionth, he definitely wouldn’t mistake it.

This is indeed a relic of the Demon Emperor.

However, the aura of the Demon Emperor on it is completely gone; even all causal connections to him are absent. As if the wash of time over ten thousand years has renewed it completely.

Of course, this is normal. The decisive battle between the Celestial Divine Sword and the Demon Emperor inevitably ended with the utter annihilation of one party’s shape and spirit. Once one dies, all traces of their existence should be utterly erased, thoroughly cutting the grass and roots from the level of causation... Otherwise, given the strength of both at the time, even if deceased, vast amounts of inheritance should have remained scattered on the battlefield, and such remnants bearing the aura of their original owner might absorb nourishment from the chaos, eventually rekindling anew.

The Divine Sword and the Demon Emperor had long stepped into the realm of immortality. Without external interference, they’d never vanish. And when Wang Jiu wielded the Demon-Pointing Sword, it couldn’t possibly have missed responding to a rekindled opponent. Being as perceptive as the Demon-Pointing Sword is, it wouldn’t overlook any relative powerful Demon Essence while sweeping across the Xiangzhou Continent, let alone the Demon Emperor.

Yet upon seeing this piece of deadwood, Wang Jiu couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat.

However, it’s merely heart-skipping, as it’s just a piece of deadwood after all, the once-brimming vitality of the Green Spirit has fully dissipated and the Demonic Qi enveloping it has also disappeared without a trace.

Moments later, Wang Jiu asked, "Where did you find this?"

"Uh, I’ve carried it since I can remember," Xiao Bai said. "It’s from after the shipwreck, the Sect Leader found me clutching it tightly, never letting it go. He always thought it was something related to my identity, but investigated for a long time and found no clues, only knowing the material of this wood is unique and not from any existing wood in today’s Xiangzhou Continent. But other than that, I know nothing about it, I can’t remember anything before the shipwreck, asking me is of no use."

Wang Jiu pondered for a while: "May I borrow it to take a look?"

Xiao Bai clearly showed a hesitant expression: "Don’t damage it, this is... the only thing I have."

Wang Jiu nodded, "Alright."

Xiao Bai was still hesitant. Clearly, this pitch-black wood fragment meant something extraordinary to her. After a long period of indecision, she reluctantly emerged from behind the fortifications and handed the fragment to Wang Jiu.

Wang Jiu held the wood fragment reverently, and then the Divine Sword started to hum, its heavy blade vibrating at an astonishing speed, slicing the surrounding air with high frequency.

Then, the sword suddenly lifted upwards and descended, tapping lightly on the fragment.

"Hey!"

Xiao Bai widened her eyes in alarm and lunged forward, trying to stop Wang Jiu from striking, but the Celestial Divine Sword moved too fast. So fast that even a Mountain-Overturning Realm sword cultivator like Xiao Bai was caught off guard. By the time she reached for Wang Jiu’s wrist, the sword tip had already touched the fragment.

The moment they made contact, the vibration of the Divine Sword abruptly ceased, and the fierce sword wind dissipated without a trace.

"It seems... I was indeed overthinking it." Wang Jiu nodded and handed the fragment back to Xiao Bai.

Xiao Bai inspected the fragment with concern, worried that there might be any sword marks on it.

"What exactly is going on? Did this fragment upset you in some way?"

Wang Jiu calmly replied, "This is a relic of the Demon Emperor from the Primordial Era, during the Immortal Demon War."

"A relic of the Demon Emperor?!" Shen Qingming couldn’t help but widen her eyes and then stepped out from behind the fortifications in one stride, "Let me have a look too!"

Xiao Bai quickly withdrew her hand, "Do you two have any humanity at all!? You know how important this is to me! And anyway, what the heck is a Demon Emperor?"

Wang Jiu, however, had already fallen into deep thought, ignoring Xiao Bai’s question.

The previous strike was not meant to tease Xiao Bai, but to confirm whether this piece of wood was indeed, as he suspected, completely severed from the Demon Emperor.

Or to put it another way, whether the Demon Emperor was completely cut off from this world.

From the inspection results, it was indeed impossible to sense any trace of that Demon Emperor, and the Divine Sword’s contact provided a perception far more accurate and reliable than the Demon-Pointing Sword, leaving no room for misjudgment. But on the other hand, Wang Jiu felt uneasy.

Because there were too many coincidences involved.

Xiao Bai’s sword talent was considered the best in Xiangzhou, and it was obvious her talent was acquired postnatally. The most likely explanation was the shipwreck in the Netherworld Sea, and when the ordeal ended, she was holding the Demon Emperor’s relic tightly.

Any single one of these events was already a miracle with a probability less than one in a billion, and the combination of two or three made it difficult to explain as mere coincidence.

There had to be a causal link.

On the other hand, how could a Green Spirit Fragment, stripped of all its divine techniques and erased of Demon Emperor traces, be connected to Xiao Bai’s talent?

"The Nether Sea... seems like a visit is truly necessary." Saying this, Wang Jiu prepared to get up and head straight to the Nether Sea.

With the Celestial Divine Sword’s way of doing things, once a decision is made, not a second is wasted.

Yet, just as he was about to leave, the conference room door was forcefully pushed open.

A scholar from the academy, gaunt but with eyes full of enthusiasm, excitedly shouted, "Director, Experiment No. 2113 was a great success!"

Wang Jiu pondered for a moment, "I have an urgent matter to attend to and need to leave for a few days..."

"Ah?!" The scholar was instantly stunned, "Leave, leave for a few days? Then what about the subsequent experiments? 2114 and 2115 must immediately follow 2113! If you’re not here, who will arrange the follow-up experiment plans?"

Wang Jiu considered for a moment, "Indeed, based on your academic level and intelligence index, forcibly designing an experiment plan would have a failure probability of over 95%. Let’s just abandon this experiment for now and pick it up when I return."

"Abandon it!? Director, Experiment No. 2113 was a miracle we finally achieved after trying dozens of times. Restarting from scratch would be an enormous burden!" The scholar was trembling all over, "Director, you can’t just leave us hanging like this!"

Wang Jiu felt an immediate headache.

Indeed, the duty of the Celestial Divine Sword was to eliminate the Demon Race, prioritizing any problem related to them. Compared to that, all other issues could be postponed.

But on the other hand, the Immortal Demon War ended ten thousand years ago, and currently, he was serving as the Cyan Lotus Academy director. The doubts about the Demon Race were merely based on an investigation with a one in a billion chance, whereas the academy’s experiments were an urgent task.

Pushing aside the academy’s work using the Demon Race problem was hardly justifiable.

However, such a dilemma is ultimately not a significant issue for someone with an intelligence index of 9.

Within a few seconds, Wang Jiu devised a solution that satisfies both sides.