AUOF - 112

The demons kept coming in endless waves, their rate of reproduction far outpacing the speed at which they were being killed. The only way to end the current crisis now was to quickly repair the Pillar of Heaven.

The demons seemed to realize this too, abandoning their fight with Ji Hengyu and rushing towards the repair team instead.

“Follow them!”

The phoenix’s feathers stretched across the sky, forming a dazzling trail of fire that, in the blink of an eye, reached the forefront of the demon horde.

Sang Li swiftly turned her body to shield everyone, her hands forming seals as the Painted Bone Feathers spread out to create a barrier. A series of violent collisions followed as the demons were held back, roaring in frustration.

However, it was still too much for her to handle alone.

Each successive impact left her pale, her hands forming the barrier beginning to waver.

“Sang Li!”

Yue Zhuqing noticed her struggle and instinctively moved to help, but Sang Li sharply stopped her: “Elder Sister, don’t move!”

Yue Zhuqing froze in place.

Unable to turn around, Sang Li spoke over her shoulder: “Repairing the Pillar of Heaven is the priority! You can trust me; I won’t retreat a single step until the Pillar of Heaven is fixed!”

Yue Zhuqing’s lips trembled, but she said nothing, gritting her teeth and pouring more spiritual energy into her efforts. Everyone increased their pace in repairing the pillar.

She had already made her promise; if she couldn’t hold on, it would be embarrassing.

She clenched her teeth and forced herself to endure. Suddenly, a wave of silvery-white light poured down from the sky, enveloping her barrier and easing her burden.

Sang Li relaxed slightly, turning her head to meet the familiar handsome profile in her memory.

Without saying a word, Ji Hengyu helped strengthen her barrier. His eyes were gentle yet resolute. Soon, other disciples also joined in, standing beside Sang Li.

“Sang Li, let me assist you.”

“I’ll also lend my strength to help Master!”

The barrier expanded, becoming stronger and stronger until the demons could no longer shake it.

She tugged at the corners of her lips, and the lingering resentment suddenly dissipated like the wind.

She had thought him cold, yet he had guarded this outer realm for three thousand years without stepping back. She had despised his scheming nature, but how could he remain pure while caught between such difficult circumstances?

She should have realized this from the start.

“Ji Hengyu, you really don’t need to worry about me hating you.”

Ji Hengyu didn’t expect her to speak suddenly and couldn’t help but look over.

Sang Li didn’t deliberately look into his eyes, nor did she care if the nearby disciples heard her words. Her features were serene: “I’ve always known you weren’t a good person, but I just like you.” She didn’t find these words embarrassing at all. “Look, even though you’ve done such terrible things to me, I still worried about your safety and went out of my way to see you.”

The phoenix was something she had borrowed from Qu You after pleading and throwing a tantrum.

She wasn’t unaware of the dangers along the way or the potential awkwardness of meeting him again. But compared to knowing whether he was safe, everything else was irrelevant.

“You must never lie to me again,” Sang Li turned her head to meet his gaze. “I don’t like being lied to.”

Ji Hengyu remained silent, suddenly feeling ashamed.

He had imagined countless ways to win her forgiveness, even darkly thinking that if she truly couldn’t forgive him, he would erase her memories and forcefully keep her by his side.

He was the lowest kind of villain.

Yet... she was a sanctuary, preventing evil seeds from growing.

“Sang Sang, I’m sorry.”

Ji Hengyu’s voice carried genuine remorse, regret, and endless humility.

Sang Li’s eyes reddened, followed by her nose. She had been holding back tears for so long, but with both hands maintaining the barrier, she couldn’t wipe them away and could only let her vision blur.

She muttered pitifully: “...I didn’t ask for your apology.”

“Mm.” Ji Hengyu said, “I love you.”

This statement was clearly heard by those around.

If not for everyone being preoccupied with the demons, there surely would have been a commotion.

Ji Hengyu didn’t fear others knowing his feelings and repeated: “I love you very much.”

Sang Li sniffled, her nose tingling, “Then in the future, will you still...”

Before she could finish, Ji Hengyu interjected: “From now on, I’ll only listen to you.” His voice was gentle, a faint smile spreading at the corners of his eyes.

The atmosphere between them grew intimate, making even the menacing demons ahead seem less terrifying.

Finally, the Pillar of Heaven was repaired. The soul-restraining chains emitted a resonant hum, and the talismanic glow spread, forming a vast net that enveloped the entire Guixu Sea.

“The abyssal prison will be sealed again! Everyone evacuate from the sea!!”

With Li Ningxi’s loud shout, the disciples of Guixu turned and retreated from the formation’s range to avoid being dragged into the abyssal prison with the demons.

Sang Li and Ji Hengyu stayed behind to maintain the barrier, while Li Ningxi and Yue Zhuqing covered the retreat of the disciples. Qi blocked the demons trying to take advantage of the chaos to attack.

The light emitted by the talismanic array illuminated the night sea like daylight. The scene was both awe-inspiring and horrifying—countless demons tried to break free from their cage, their shrill cries unceasing. However, as the talismanic array pressed forward, the demons were gradually pushed back into the depths of the sea.

“Let’s go.”

Ji Hengyu grabbed Sang Li’s wrist. As the barrier retracted, they rode the phoenix up into the sky.

From above, the Guixu Sea looked like a torn piece of ink-blue silk. At its center, red magma churned, resembling a fiery hell. Some demon seeds struggled to climb up, but more sank into the abyssal prison.

As the talismanic array pressed down, the rift slowly sealed itself, finally calming into a dead sea.

The state of Guixu Palace wasn’t much better. After such devastation, the main gate was nearly destroyed, and the side halls had become ruins. Everyone searched through the debris for traces of their companions—some were dead, some missing, and others trapped under rubble, their fates unknown.

Sang Li tightly pursed her lips, her mood equally bleak. She dismounted the phoenix to help. Though her former fellow disciples were surprised by her sudden appearance, given the situation, they didn’t ask further questions.

Everyone silently worked amidst the post-battle wreckage.

Time flew by. The number of bodies placed before the main hall increased from one to ten, eventually filling an entire clearing.

As dawn approached, the first light of day dispelled the bloody stench in the air.

She stepped on something hard. Sang Li slowly moved her foot and found a broken hairpin. She paused, crouching to dig through the surrounding tiles and rubble, finding no corpse but only large patches of blood and fragments of clothing.

Embroidered on the torn fabric was a name—

Han Mang.

Holding the piece of cloth, she froze momentarily.

The disciples of Fumo Palace didn’t know when they might die, and their identification badges could be lost. Therefore, each disciple embroidered their name onto their robes as a form of identification.

Even without finding the body, judging from the battle scars and remnants at the scene, it was clear that the outcome was dire.

Clutching the torn fabric, she sat there in a daze. In the distance, everyone’s faces were expressionless, perhaps numb. They calmly burned the bodies, bowing their heads and muttering simple prayers.

The disciples of Guixu had no time to wallow in grief.

From the moment they entered here, life and death had been constant companions.

Sang Li felt a lump in her throat, her body tensing, suddenly overwhelmed.

Only when she felt Ji Hengyu lingering beside her did she snap out of her trance.

“Will there come a day...” Sang Li bit her lip, afraid to think about that possibility.

“Mm.” Ji Hengyu’s voice was somber. “There will come a day.”

She looked up, still holding onto a sliver of hope: “Is there no other way? If we kill them all...”

Ji Hengyu shook his head: “Besides the demons, seventy-two Demon Gods are suppressed under the Guixu Sea. Even the myriad methods exhausted their strength to imprison them in this outer realm.”

Killing.

It was not so easy.

Demons were born from evil; evil grew from wickedness, and wickedness arose from desire.

The myriad evils of the world sprouted endlessly, rooted in human desires. Even if there were a way to eliminate them, as long as a shred of evil remained, it could regenerate.

“Unless...” Ji Hengyu said nonchalantly, “we release them and lead them.”

Sang Li was horrified, involuntarily gasping, “Wouldn’t the world then belong to the demons?” She shook her head, disapproving. “No, there must be another way.”

Ji Hengyu seemed about to say something more when a pale shadow abruptly entered his line of sight, and he closed his mouth stiffly.

“There’s movement from Yuelin. I’m worried about any escaped demons. May I send a few disciples to investigate?”

Yue Zhuqing’s words caused Ji Hengyu to pause briefly. “Yuelin is rife with demonic barriers; it shouldn’t be entered lightly.” He paused. “I’ll go. You stay here and take care of things.”

Yue Zhuqing suspected nothing and continued helping to treat the injured disciples.

From Ji Hengyu’s barely perceptible silence, Sang Li sensed something amiss and, without thinking, rode the phoenix after him.

“Ji Hengyu, are you hiding something from me?”

They soon arrived at the entrance to Yuelin.

Perhaps fearing that disciples might enter, a new layer of prohibition magic had been added. Ji Hengyu wasn’t in a hurry, and she caught up in a few steps.

Ji Hengyu glanced sideways and didn’t hide anything: “Shen Zheyou is imprisoned in the Yuelin dungeon.” He was forthright. “Your mirror demon has been managing him on my behalf.”

Sang Li’s figure faltered.

So rather than escaped demons, he was more concerned about whether Shen Zheyou had escaped during the turmoil.

Seeing her silence, Ji Hengyu unusually explained: “Shen Zheyou is the chief disciple of Tiange. If he dies, the soul lamp will extinguish, and the gods’ domain will immediately send someone to investigate, causing unnecessary trouble for you.”

Ji Hengyu couldn’t kill him but also couldn’t keep him.

For years, he could only imprison him and use puppets to mislead others, barely getting by.

The two followed the path forward, not yet spotting any demons but encountering several low-level demons that had been killed along the way. Judging by the wounds, they weren’t claw marks; the cuts were clean, and the blood hadn’t splattered, clearly inflicted by sword qi.

That possibility grew larger, and Sang Li’s heart grew increasingly anxious.

Shen Zheyou knew her identity. Once he reported back to the upper realms, the gods’ domain would discover that the Ling clan hadn’t perished. Even with the Liuyan Pearl, they wouldn’t escape the gods’ domain’s destruction by thunder and fire.

Panicking, Sang Li grabbed Ji Hengyu’s sleeve: “What if he really escapes?”

Ji Hengyu lowered his eyes to look at her fingertips.

Her knuckles turned white from the force, and her fingertips trembled slightly.

Ji Hengyu turned his hand to grasp hers: “I won’t let him escape.” His expression was cold. “Shen Xianzhang died heroically in the demon suppression. It’s reasonable, isn’t it?”