Lingxu looked at the disciple kneeling before him.
"Master, this disciple seeks your guidance to resolve my confusion."
Li Xuanxiao's forehead pressed against the cold ground.
Beside Li Xuanxiao lay the corpse of a Shushan disciple.
The young disciple's face was now unrecognizable, reduced to a bloody pulp.
The blood staining Mount Shushan's ground appeared red, yet closer to black - layer upon layer of crimson congealing into darkness.
This place where Li Xuanxiao had grown up now lay in ruins.
Familiar faces vanished one after another.
Li Xuanxiao's sword energy raged chaotically around him, a blood mark faintly visible between his brows.
His gaze swept across the shattered remains of Mount Shushan, down to the once-prosperous towns at its foothills.
In this world where cultivators ran rampant and demons roamed freely,
Only beneath Mount Shushan...
People had gathered seeking safety for their families.
Countless had settled at the mountain's base,
Gradually forming concentric rings of townships.
Some had spent their life savings just to buy property here.
Yet now this supposed sanctuary had become a field of corpses.
Against so many attacking cultivators, even many fellow practitioners had perished here, let alone commoners...
Finally, Lingxu withdrew his gaze and suddenly smiled.
"I haven't even figured out life myself - how could I possibly guide you?"
He reached out and patted Li Xuanxiao's head.
"So young, yet your hair's already turned white from worry."
"At your age, you should be spirited and carefree..."
"These burdens should have been your master's to bear."
"The past cannot be undone, but the future can be changed."
"Shushan has lost today. As for tomorrow... that I leave to you."
Li Xuanxiao's expression shifted as he raised his head.
Lingxu's figure suddenly shot skyward.
"All Shushan disciples - retreat to Sword Mound! Leave the mountain!!"
Lingxu's voice resonated in every Shushan disciple's mind.
As Lingxu's physical form disintegrated, countless dao marks bloomed like fireworks before converging into a crimson river of flame that surged toward the heavens.
The blazing torrent warped space itself wherever it passed.
Demons freshly escaped from the Demon Subduing Pagoda caught in its path were instantly reduced to ashes without trace.
The apocalyptic scene stunned all who witnessed it.
Lingxu's flames, drawn by demonic energy, swirled into fiery tornadoes before converging on the coffin sealing the Outer Realm Demons polluting this land.
"Though these embers grow cold, may they ignite dawn in this endless night!!"
Goushengzi watched from afar, eyes narrowed as he bowed deeply toward the spectacle.
"Amitabha." A Buddhist chant rose from the west.
Friend and foe alike turned respectful gazes toward what was likely Shushan's final sect master.
Meanwhile, the Withered Joyous Elder who had been withering in the River of Time...
His desiccated form suddenly seemed infused with revitalizing energy.
The power spread rapidly through his body.
His shriveled frame plumped up, withered skin smoothing and regaining elasticity.
The elder's closed eyes slowly opened.
Emerging from the River of Time, a massive face manifested in Shushan's sky.
Observing the scene, he stroked his beard and laughed heartily.
Then, for the first time as the Withered Joyous Elder, he descended upon Zhongzhou.
Lingxu's crimson flames suddenly froze mid-air.
The elder looked up and couldn't help laughing again.
Just then, endless thunderclouds gathered beyond the heavens like a rolling black tide threatening to engulf the world.
Deafening peals like celestial wrath shook existence.
Purple divine lightning descended in torrents, each strike carrying apocalyptic might as it shattered Lingxu's remaining flames.
The mere appearance of these heavenly bolts sent tremors through every cultivator within ten thousand li...
Under the divine lightning's assault, the crimson flames wailed pitifully before being forcibly extinguished.
Scattered embers dissipated into the void.
Demons moments from being consumed by the flames immediately fled in relief.
The Withered Joyous Elder laughed: "See this, Lingxu? How tragic."
"Your death only summoned heavenly tribulation - even the Dao rejects you, rejects Shushan..."
As Lingxu's flames dispersed, freed evils from the pagoda either scattered or continued attacking Shushan.
Lingxu's final stand meant to purge the escaped evils had become a joke.
A demon unfurled its wings to leave Shushan for wider hunting grounds.
Carrying the pagoda's accumulated resentment, it would paint the mortal world red.
Then a sword flash bisected it mid-air.
Deputy Sect Leader Wushangzi stood with a broken sword, drenched in blood.
"Where are Shushan's disciples?!"
"Here!!" came the instantaneous reply.
"May our blades purge all evil! Brothers - draw swords!!"
Sword light erupted from the Sword Mound as its gates swung wide.
Figures shot toward the heavens.
The ruins of Shushan resonated with sword intent.
Disciples raised their blades against the demon horde.