Outside the black domain, Erlang and Qinghua joined forces and committed a massacre. The destructive power of top-tier experts ran rampant across the battlefield. The morale of Feng Jiu's side soared, yet more than half of their experts quietly pulled away from the area, unwilling to remain near those two terrifying figures.

Meanwhile, within the black domain that no one could enter, Wang Sheng trembled uncontrollably in a corner unseen by all. A longsword had been driven straight through his chest.

Though he forced himself to remain expressionless, his pupils shook violently as they contracted and dilated. He staggered half a step before dropping weakly to one knee, one hand clutching his chest.

Spiritless let out wave after wave of trembling cries. It sounded mournful, almost pleading.

A sharp ringing filled Wang Sheng's ears as he lowered his head and stared at the sword tip protruding from his chest. His vision blurred and doubled.

Spiritless had turned against its master.

Why...

He and Spiritless had achieved unity of man and sword, but it was that very bond that the sword had used to move freely through his body. Turning ethereal, it slipped close to his vital points and then struck him with its sharp blade.

The injury to his Dao Body mattered far less than the blow dealt to his Dao Heart.

Yaoyun...

"Yao... yun..."

Wang Sheng's vision swayed. His Dao Heart had nearly stopped completely, yet ripples now spread through it again and again. It felt as though he had fallen into an icy sea. The cold and suffocating air around him pressed down so heavily that he could barely breathe.

"Surprised?" Feng Jiu asked nearby.

Wang Sheng suddenly raised his head. Killing intent burst from his eyes, crimson light flickering within them.

Feng Jiu narrowed her eyes and smiled faintly. "Heh."

She lightly raised a finger, causing Yaoyun's phantasm to appear before Wang Sheng.

Shock filled Yaoyun's eyes as she emerged from the tip of Spiritless as though growing from the blade itself. She stared at Wang Sheng's pale face before abruptly turning toward the immortal woman she knew best.

Immortal Emperor Feng Jiu.

She seemed utterly unconcerned by Yaoyun's anger. She merely raised her hand calmly.

"Dismissed."

"You..." Yaoyun's chest rose and fell violently, caught between weakness and fury. Her voice trembled. "What did you do to me?!"

Though she existed only as a spiritual entity, even her hairpin had fallen loose, making her look utterly disheveled.

Feng Jiu frowned slightly, her tone carrying both authority and weariness.

"Dismissed."

Yaoyun shuddered. The light vanished from her eyes, leaving behind only emptiness and numbness. She drifted silently to the side, her expression eerily calm.

The scene made much of the fury in Wang Sheng's eyes fade.

He gripped Spiritless with his left hand and took a deep breath. Slowly, he pulled the suddenly uncontrollable immortal sword out through his back, then manifested a golden rope through the Great Dao of Creation and bound the sword behind him.

Throughout the entire process, Feng Jiu simply stood with her hands behind her back, smiling as she watched him with the composure of a victor who already held everything in her grasp.

She gently remarked, "Fei Yu, you should have realized this long ago. I am an outsider. I deceived and used even my wife. Since the Ancient Era, I have played this game against Nuwa and the three false Saints who stole the world's faith. I exhausted every scheme imaginable and used every method possible. I even destroyed the Heavenly Court with my own hands after building it myself. What made you think I would leave my own descendants without safeguards?"

Wang Sheng frowned faintly but said nothing. One hand pressed against his chest as he slowly rose to his feet.

At that moment, the immortal power within him flowed chaotically. Thin streaks of blood had even begun appearing around his Primordial Spirit.

The attack earlier had not merely wounded his Dao Body or shaken his Dao Heart. A strange force had invaded his body, corroding his Dao, mind, and Primordial Spirit alike. A crushing sense of weakness spread through him.

The corrosion of the Dao Laws.

Feng Jiu smiled calmly, already certain that victory belonged to her. "Can we have a chat now?"

The corners of Wang Sheng's mouth twitched slightly. His left hand grabbed at empty space, forming another immortal sword. Right after, he stepped forward through the air like a streak of flowing light, making him look almost illusory. A sword strike tore through heaven and earth itself as it shot straight at Feng Jiu.

Feng Jiu did not move. She just abruptly faded into something insubstantial. The sword sliced through her, shredding the image apart.

She then said beside Wang Sheng's ear, "The truth is, you and I have never stood on the same level of power, Fei Yu."

Her graceful figure resembled a reflection hidden within mist or moonlight upon water. Ethereal and indistinct, she drifted around him like smoke. If others witnessed the scene, their thoughts would inevitably wander.

Wang Sheng spun and slashed again. His sword techniques became increasingly simple, yet the sword momentum behind them grew sharper and more terrifying.

Still, it all felt like futile attempts.

Feng Jiu kept drifting around him like a cloud of pink mist, winding around his body, soul, and sword.

Her soft voice slipped into his ears like poison capable of melting even a Dao Heart.

"Do you really think you managed to rise step by step from that blue planet because your talent surpassed everyone else and your comprehension was extraordinary? Did you truly believe that after investing endless effort into my arrangements, I would simply lose control over that blue planet?

"Fei Yu, I came from beyond this world carrying the fate of an entire world upon my back. To achieve my goal, I schemed against the goddess I admired most and manipulated the very faction I personally built. I once drowned myself in shallow things like friendship, family, and love between men and women. I ignored the cries and hopes of my people while indulging in my dream of ruling as the Immortal Emperor.

"Only later did I realize that everything I saw was false, and everything I knew was just a mere illusion. The transcendent beings of this universe had already escaped the restraints of reality itself. They achieved what I once longed for above all else, yet could never accomplish. Do you understand that feeling? Fei Yu? Still unwilling to talk?"

The corner of Wang Sheng's mouth twitched slightly. He did not answer. His mind raced as he searched for a way to break the deadlock while calculating how much his injuries had weakened him.

Feng Jiu let out a few delicate laughs. Her laughter sounded clear and pleasant, yet it slowly stirred darkness within his Dao Heart.

He even started to feel suffocated.

Feng Jiu kept laughing as she drifted around him, her voice seeping into his ears like whispers of the devil. Wang Sheng gradually felt his eyelids growing heavy.

"Fei Yu, I have always been watching you; I have always been watching that planet. You and I were never enemies. We are both pitiful creatures bound by our own fate. Still unable to understand why you managed to escape my restraints? Naturally, it was because I released your seal myself.

"Do you still not understand? You were only one part of my plan, Fei Yu. Even now, I stand only one final step away from success. Instead of struggling so pointlessly, why not quietly merge with me? Do you not wish to possess everything in this universe?"

"You're insane," Wang Sheng simply replied.

"In your eyes, perhaps. In mine, you remain as simple and genuine as before. You still carry traces of childlike innocence that have never faded. You shine like light itself."

A jade-like hand reached toward Wang Sheng's face from the side. He instantly vanished and reappeared several hundred zhang away. As he turned, countless azure dragons surged forth behind him. Imbued with overwhelming sword momentum, they roared at the phantasm.

The smile on Feng Jiu's face faded slightly. She solidified as she pointed a finger at Wang Sheng.

"Do you still not understand?"

Everything around them stopped moving.

Wang Sheng saw boundless radiance suddenly erupt from Feng Jiu, whose face resembled that of the Queen Mother again. Brilliant ribbons of multicolored light wrapped around her like the most beautiful nebulae in the universe.

Most importantly, he felt himself lose all connection to the Dao Laws of heaven and earth.

Feng Jiu casually swept her finger through the air, instantly shattering the immortal sword in Wang Sheng's hand. Blood burst from his wounds as he groaned in pain.

She walked toward him slowly, clicking her tongue softly with amusement.

After countless years of loneliness, her need to pour her heart out seemed to have grown so strong that it nearly swallowed Wang Sheng whole.

"From the very beginning, my enemies were only the Three Pure Ones. Whether it was Goddess Nuwa, you, the immortals and gods of the Heavenly Court, or even the original consciousness of this body, all of you were merely vessels in my battle against them. Perhaps you have never truly cared about how this story began, but now I can tell you everything.

"I was the supreme god of another universe. Countless ages ago, I destroyed the gods of my world and fused with the universe itself. By the standards of this universe, it meant I became one with the Dao and heaven and earth. I was the universe itself. I was supreme.

"But universes have lifespans; even the Dao has a beginning and end. I could not conquer the fundamental Great Dao that allows countless worlds to coexist. Hence, I could never reach the true Other Shore. Even with endless power and endless time, all I could do in the end was face destruction. So I betrayed my own world."

A tear formed at the corner of Feng Jiu's eye. As it rolled down her cheek, scenes began unfolding before Wang Sheng's eyes.

He saw a vast and strange sea of mist. Countless living beings chose to destroy themselves, releasing all of their energy.

That energy flowed into ribbons of seven-colored light. The entire world shrank under the pull of those ribbons until it finally condensed into a black sphere resting within a flawless jade hand.

The scene expanded, revealing a perfect innate Dao Body behind the hand. It possessed no clear gender, yet its beauty was so overwhelming that one glance alone nearly stole the breath from Wang Sheng's lungs.

Feng Jiu's true form was that of the supreme god from another universe.

"I devoured my own world and carried the souls of my followers with me as I pierced through the barrier between worlds. I calculated the possibility of transcendence and found out that it was possible here, in a universe whose power level stood slightly above my original world. But when I arrived, I alarmed this universe's guardian. She was a selfless and noble goddess.

"You likely already know the rest. I lied to her. I told her my universe had already collapsed and that I could only seek survival while carrying the souls of my people. Goddess Nuwa took pity on me and sheltered me, but the rulers of the Sea of Dao Laws refused to allow my Dao Laws to merge with this universe. That's right. It was the Three Pure Ones!"

Feng Jiu's tone turned shrill.

"They had already completed transcendence! They completely sealed off the path ahead! They repaired the flaws within this universe's laws and arrogantly pushed this world toward evolution! Everything I had was destroyed completely! My people, my world—all their sacrifices became meaningless!"

Wang Sheng raised a hand with some difficulty and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He then dropped down onto one of the ribbons of light and let out a faint, cold laugh.

She is completely mad.

Their beliefs and values were far too different. There was no real way to communicate.

Still, there was one thing Feng Jiu hadn't been worried about: all this time, he and Feng Jiu had never stood on the same level of power.

If his Dao Body had not been damaged, if Spiritless had not pierced through him, then he could still fight her now. At the very least, if he burned his Primordial Spirit, he could force himself into a state where his Dao clashed against her Dao and severely wound her in the process.

But now, Feng Jiu had exploited the injuries that Spiritless had caused and the cracks that had formed in his Dao Heart moments ago.

His already meager advantage had shrunk even further.

It was infuriating.

Feng Jiu stopped less than five meters away from him. The two were almost face-to-face.

She asked softly, "Do you know what I plan to do next?"

Wang Sheng frowned slightly. A bad feeling suddenly rose in his heart.

"You're going to kill me?"

Feng Jiu's lips curved into a smile. "How could I bear to kill you, when I need you to kill me? Fei Yu, I sealed you away and spent all these years arranging everything for this very day. Goddess Nuwa had nurtured you as her successor. You are the next guardian and the only remaining 'orthodox' successor in heaven and earth.

"The first step of my plan was to establish the Heavenly Court, and the second was to destroy the Heavenly Court to sever the Three Pure Ones' control over the Immortal Saint Realm. The third step is rebuilding the Heavenly Court, to which you are the most important piece.

"In truth, I did not do much. I merely released you, then secretly arranged for Yaoyun to meet you. At the crucial moment, I helped her become the sword spirit of Spiritless. Yaoyun herself knew nothing of this. Strictly speaking, she is one of my consciousness's incarnations. She merely carried my daughter's identity while possessing an independent personality of her own.

"Your unity with her and the gradual merging between you two were exactly the results I desired. Everything in Earth's cultivation world remained under my watch, yet I still had to cooperate with all of you and perform one clumsy act after another. Do you understand now? Everything you possess came either from Goddess Nuwa's legacy or from my arrangements.

"I ruined the reputation of the Immortal Emperor with my own hands so Xu Zhongliang and the others would unite around you. I shaped you into a rising star and used half the forces in the universe to accompany you in this game. The Black Emperor and the others were just mere sacrifices. Their only purpose was to highlight your existence.

"I turned you into the savior of this world. Now, I would take over your body and perfectly take your place. Fei Yu, I will preserve your consciousness and let you sink together with my people into the joyful dream realm. In the new Heavenly Court, I will make your senior sister the new Queen Mother."

As Feng Jiu spoke, Wang Sheng's vision gradually blurred.

He saw Spiritless appear before him and Feng Jiu merge into it. The sword slowly pierced into the wound in his chest once more.

Waves of overwhelming consciousness flooded into him like a tsunami. Chains of multicolored light wrapped themselves around his Primordial Spirit.

"Heh."

Wang Sheng laughed softly. For a brief instant, clarity returned to his eyes.

A faint yellow glow flickered from his left hand. The Great Dao of Creation rippled outward as golden chains wrapped around his body one after another. At the fingertips of his right hand, arcs of lightning gathered continuously.

Spiritless trembled softly within his chest.

Feng Jiu muttered, "Still trying to fight back? It will only take a moment for me to devour your Primordial Spirit. The gap between us is too great."

Wang Sheng slowly breathed out. More and more golden chains coiled around him as his long hair danced wildly.

He sat cross-legged with Spiritless embedded in his chest. His eyes closed as both hands formed a strange sign.

"I may not be as clever as that old schemer next door, but at least I know my own limits. I am Wang Sheng, an ordinary citizen of planet Earth. I never had any grand ambitions, and my path has always gone surprisingly smoothly. If everything I gained came from you, then all I can say is thanks for the help.

"However, if you want to use my body as your vessel, then you've actually saved me the trouble of sacrificing myself just to hold you back. Otherwise, my senior sister would have likely misunderstood me.

"Where is my sword?! Where is my spirit?!" Wang Sheng shouted furiously. "My sword intent rests within my heart. My sword leaves no trace!"

Buzz—

Dozens of lightning whips suddenly burst out from behind Wang Sheng and lashed violently at him.

Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent! Break through every seal in my path!

Brilliant blue lightning erupted from Wang Sheng's eyes. Inside, his Primordial Spirit donned a cloak of lightning, momentarily holding back the powerful consciousness that crashed against him.

One instant! One instant was all he needed!

Almost immediately, Feng Jiu's boundless consciousness rushed back toward Spiritless in an attempt to withdraw at once. However, Wang Sheng had endured and waited for far too long. There was no way he would give up now.

"Heavenly tribulation, heed my command!"

Boom!

Heaven and earth shook violently. Within the Black Domain, three mysterious and profound Great Daos forcibly tore apart the countless Dao Laws that Feng Jiu had laid down.

A pair of enormous, emotionless eyes suddenly appeared before Wang Sheng and slowly opened. Chants, sutras, prayers, drums, and muffled thunder resounded together at the same time.