"For what you’ve done, I feel only disdain and hatred."

As Meng Xizhou spoke these words.

The surface of the Red Lake rippled with countless water patterns!

The ongoing struggle between the Holy Books faced yet another reversal—

Song Ci’s page of the Holy Book gained the upper hand.

The Great Elder’s knees heavily hit the lake surface, his hands supporting the lake water, barely keeping himself from sinking into the Red Lake. He lifted his head and said in anguish and pain, "So you’re planning to join Song Ci... to kill me?"

Meng Xizhou paused for a moment.

She shook her head and said softly, "Is it necessary?"

The Great Elder’s eyes looked confused.

"I came here just to meet the Lord of Light Divine."

Meng Xizhou looked calmly at the elder kneeling on the lake surface, struggling to support himself, and said, "I have no interest in killing you... so I won’t act intentionally."

"Then why are you on his side?"

The Great Elder was stunned.

"The place where you stand is too dirty."

Meng Xizhou explained earnestly, "I hate ’disaster’ and ’ominous’... Even a slight contamination takes a long time to resolve."

As her words fell.

The Great Elder coughed up a mouthful of blood... Watching his own blood falling onto the surface of the Red Lake, unable to disperse.

The Red Lake rejected his blood.

The pool of pitch-black blood fell on the lake surface and was quickly evaporated.

This meant that the [Undead] blood in his body had almost been consumed; the mouthful he just coughed up was from his own blood.

Dirty, tainted "Ominous Blood."

Meanwhile, a large amount of brilliance began to gather toward the Great Elder.

This lake of divine miracle, formed by the concentration of Light Power, despised nothing more than these filthy and evil calamities!

"No..."

The Great Elder’s expression turned ashen white, reaching out a hand, trying to seek help from Meng Xizhou.

Yet Meng Xizhou stood far away.

In the church’s creed, the Light Goddess is burdened with the duty of salvaging all beings from the moment of her birth, but at this moment, she merely watched coldly.

Not saving, is the greatest salvation.

"Help me, save me! Save... cough, cough!"

Under the suppression of Song Ci’s Holy Book, the Great Elder could no longer stand up, continuously coughing, as the lake water around him steamed with scorching light, causing the blood of calamity to trigger a repelling reaction from the Red Lake.

The two Holy Books burned to the extreme at this moment.

Just as Song Ci was about to push through with a final effort.

Suddenly, Meng Xizhou’s voice transmission sounded beside his ear.

"The struggle of the Holy Books... let it end here."

"?"

Song Ci was momentarily stunned.

Meng Xizhou extended her hand, lightly tugging at the storm of lake water entangled in the skytop, and the Red Lake shot out countless luminous satin, separating the two entwined wills. She neither assisted Song Ci nor the Great Elder, but grasped from afar the two sheets of paper burning to the extreme, at risk of being reduced to ashes.

"Buzz—"

The previously boiling Red Lake fell silent in an instant.

Meng Xizhou retracted her palm, in which two sheets of paper now appeared.

Seeing Song Ci’s puzzled gaze, Meng Xizhou said softly, "The spiritual struggle of the Holy Books could very well ’ignite trouble upon oneself’; continuing to fight won’t benefit you... just look at his current state."

Song Ci gazed complexly at the elder before him.

The snow-white teaching robe being corroded by a black mist, the Great Elder tearing at his own skin with force, the calamity and ominousness suppressed for decades exploding thoroughly, far more severe than any other occasion.

Without [Undead] blood to provide vitality.

He simply couldn’t resist the accumulating disaster.

Surviving a battle with the Netherworld King was miraculous.

He had borrowed a life.

But the cost of borrowing would continue to snowball.

Now, the Great Elder had finally reached the "day of reckoning," his skin oozing dark mist, while the brilliance in the depths of the Red Lake swarmed like tadpoles, dragging him into the lake water, vast quantities of divine splendor erupted, akin to a blazing molten iron sinking into the Ice Lake, countless fiery mists surged forth.

Meng Xizhou lightly flicked her sleeve.

A beam of light swept past, drawing a straight line, isolating the area of "calamity" outbreak from her and Song Ci’s area of strength.

Watching this scene, Song Ci felt an uncontrollable sense of panic.

"Could the legendary ’ominous outbreak’ really be so terrifying?"

If I stubbornly chose to crush the will of the Holy Book, would I too be tainted with the so-called ominousness?

"The calamity of the Netherworld King... is the dirtiest thing in the world."

Meng Xizhou spoke with icy cold eyes, "Such filthy things, once contaminated, are hard to wash away."

Realizing the forceful end of the Holy Book’s struggle was truly for his own good.

Song Ci was silent for a moment and said, "Thank you."

"No need to thank me."

Meng Xizhou said softly, "You are an unparalleled [Undead], and you have reached such heights of cultivation that even if you accidentally become contaminated with some ’calamity,’ you wouldn’t falter... However, these things are inherently bad, and I do not wish to see you stained by evil."

There was a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

The Great Elder wasn’t truly bad to her... In her childhood, her teacher Yuan Yang often took her to West Sea Crossing, to watch the sea and listen to the tides.

The fortunate ones blessed by the Divine Favour are always surrounded by good people.

So even when imprisoned in the Secret Dungeon for six years, she could not bring herself to hate this once "kind and friendly" elder.

Even though she understands now that the Great Elder’s smile was false.

Perhaps in earlier years, his "kindness" was genuinely real?

Thus, Meng Xizhou eventually chose to be a "spectator."

She knew the Great Elder’s fate was heading toward death, whether by her hand, by Song Ci’s hand... better to die in the outbreak of disaster and ominousness.

This was the ending destiny had long written for him.

Song Ci quietly watched as the black mist over the Red Lake was enveloped and submerged by light.

The omens and calamities that had made his heart palpitate also gradually faded away.

"After the host’s death, the ominous and the calamity will also dissipate with it..."

Meng Xizhou whispered, "Just like the primal substance, these ethereal things came from the void and will eventually return to it."

"..."

Song Ci couldn’t speak such profound words.

He just stared at the place where the Great Elder’s soul fell, feeling a bit of regret. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

He originally very much wanted to punch this old guy in the face.

But now that he thought about it, he decided to let it go.

This guy was all wrapped up in bad omens; if he punched him, perhaps he’d end up being the unlucky one.

So after looking for a long while, Song Ci chose to express his current feelings with two succinct words.

"Good riddance."

"Dying here is rather appropriate, sparing others from his malice."

Meng Xizhou sighed and asked, "Now that I’m going to continue forward, are you interested in joining me to have a look beyond the Red Lake?"

Song Ci was taken aback.

He never expected Meng Xizhou to invite him to the other shore of the Red Lake.

"Today is the final selection of the Light City’s Torch Trial."

Song Ci seriously said, "If someone reaches the other shore of the Red Lake, then they have a chance to earn the favor of the ’Light Fire’... this is the opportunity to become the next Flame Master. Do you want to invite me to go?"

Without Meng Xizhou, he couldn’t move forward at all.

The place was full of thick fog.

"I’ve already heard about these things from Nanfeng."

Meng Xizhou smiled and said, "Looking at your current state, you don’t seem interested in the ’Light Fire’?"

"It’s more than disinterest..."

Song Ci initially wanted to use some profane words, but considering that the Light Goddess was standing beside him, he swallowed those uncouth phrases and said helplessly, "If it were possible, I wish I had never touched the [Light Token]."

Meng Xizhou gently laughed.

"After you became a [Light Apostle], Nanfeng often wrote to me, expressing regret about taking the Token from Light City."

She softly said, "He feels guilty toward you, always wanting to make amends... what Nanfeng owes you is as if I owe you. If you want to see the other shore, come with me."

"What’s with all this owing? We’re brothers!"

Song Ci grinned, "That brat Gu Nanfeng is really tight-lipped, can’t get a word out even with three prods, yet willingly writes letters to you and doesn’t say a word to me. How could the Token issue be his fault?"

He paused and said earnestly, "As for the Red Lake’s other shore... Miss Meng, I won’t be going."

Meng Xizhou raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised.

"I originally wanted to take a look, but now I don’t feel like it."

Song Ci looked at where the Great Elder had fallen and candidly said, "I just wanted to give that old guy a beating. Now that he’s dead, I can’t stay in this Light City a minute longer."

"Since that’s the case... so be it."

As Meng Xizhou looked at Song Ci, about to leave, she suddenly commented, "Brother Song, you indeed live up to the rumors, seemingly covered in mud but actually untouched by a speck of dust."

"Is that also what Nanfeng wrote in his letters?"

Song Ci scratched his head, embarrassed and laughed, "You probably haven’t been to the East Continent, but my reputation there is not that great."

"I know, they all call you ’Crow’..."

Meng Xizhou laughed.

The crow, with its black and dirty wings, is seen as a symbol of ominousness and calamity.

She paused and meaningfully added, "But I also know that Mrs. Lu Nanzhi has always called you ’Ying Ji,’ and Nanfeng often refers to you as ’Brother Ying Ji’ in his letters."

The pure and immaculate White Parrot stands in stark contrast to the crow, which symbolizes disaster.

Song Ci was silent for a while.

A warm current swept through, and inexplicably, he felt a bit of sourness in his heart.

Song Ci quickly used laughter to cover it up, "Darn it, when I get back, I must scold Nanfeng properly. Even as the Young Master of the Gu family, he just can’t keep anything to himself, writes everything in his letters!"

"There are millions in this world who chase the Fire Seed."

"But those who can truly resist the temptation of the Fire Seed and remain true to themselves from start to finish... are almost none."

Meng Xizhou sincerely said, "Compared to the [Undead] bloodline, Brother Song’s purity of heart is even rarer. I say this only to ask you not to be too quick to loathe the light. If one day Light City returns to its rightful path, reminiscent of the time when Mr. Gu Changzhi was studying here, I hope you would be willing to return to this Red Lake."

Once the Token is touched, it can’t be undone.

She knew that Song Ci had cultivated in the Battle God Domain for six years.

If he had never touched the Light Token back then.

Then Song Ci at this moment... might have been groomed by Bai Shu as the next Battle inheritor.

"If that day truly comes, perhaps I’ll consider it."

Song Ci pondered for a moment and slowly spoke.

He extended a hand to touch the skytop where the stars sprinkled their light and softly laughed, "After all, who would hate true light?"

Upon hearing this, Meng Xizhou slowly bowed.

It was the Changye bow taught by Gu Nanfeng.

She lightly lifted her skirt, lifting the starlight draped over the entire Red Lake, and said, "Very well, that’s great."

Song Ci solemnly returned the gesture.

He raised his head, and within his vision, there was only mist left.

Meng Xizhou had already disappeared.

Song Ci did not want to go to the other shore of the Red Lake, so Meng Xizhou continued forward alone.

In her view, the entire Red Lake was in sight, and the place where Song Ci and the Great Elder fought was merely a "midpoint," not the "end."

She walked towards a destination that mortals could never reach.

Today, since she had left the Secret Dungeon.

She was determined to see the light.