Outside the ruined temple, a violent gale tore across the wasteland. Dark, blood-stained clouds churned overhead—the lingering bile of gods and demons fallen eons ago.
Cang Yaochen hoisted Jiang Li onto his back. His golden silk monastic robe, once unstained through ten thousand years of meditation, was now riddled with corrosive black holes. It hung in tatters, a stark contrast to the scorched ruins surrounding them.
[Ding!] [Warning: High concentration of "Calamity Ash" detected.] [System Insight: Calamity Ash — The deathly residue of a collapsed universe. Void of spiritual energy, it exists only to destroy. Due to the Host's transcendent status, the Ash has coalesced into a "Law Mire," clinging to the Host's meridians like a bone-deep curse. This is the primary shackle suppressing the Host's divine power.]
Cang Yaochen felt the grey grit gnawing at his remaining Buddha-nature. It was a supreme irony: he possessed the power to shatter the heavens, yet he was sealed within a mortal frame by a mere layer of dust. His protective aura was hemorrhaging, draining five times faster than usual.
[System Warning: The laws of this realm are utterly decadent. If the Host forcibly unleashes pure Buddha-light to break the "Calamity Ash," it will trigger a targeted erasure by the World Will and draw high-level demons from a hundred-mile radius.]
Cang Yaochen ignored the cold, mechanical drone in his mind. He simply adjusted the girl on his back and stepped firmly into the desolate ancient battlefield. Jiang Li leaned against him, catching the faint, clean scent of sandalwood—the only sanctuary in this filthy, decaying world.
This monk looks powerful, but he's a fool—pedantic to the bone, Jiang Li thought. She kept her eyes shut, her fingers tight around his tattered collar. Still, following him is better than starving in that temple. Hidden in her sleeve, she gripped the blood-stained shard of scorched stone.
As they crossed the cracked earth, the gashes on Cang Yaochen's arms and neck continued to weep. Drops of gold-red divine blood hit the scorched soil, sizzling as they forcibly purified the surrounding miasma.
[Warning: The "Karmic Parasite" is passively absorbing overflowing divine energy.] [Note: Divine blood exposure will cause mutations in the target's constitution. Current resonance with "Primal Reincarnation Bell" fragments: 0.11%...]
Cang Yaochen stopped. He felt the girl on his back trembling.
"Li'er, are you frightened by the spirits beneath the earth?" he asked softly. His voice was heavy with a mercy born of deep, unspoken guilt.
Jiang Li stared at the golden blood. Deep within her soul, a primal surge of loathing flared up. She didn't recognize it yet—the instinctual hatred of an arch-enemy from ten thousand years ago.
"Big brother... I'm scared," she whispered, her voice rasping with practiced innocence. "Your blood... it's a different color. Are you an immortal?"
Cang Yaochen sighed. He had no words to explain. The weight of his Karma only grew heavier.
The crisp chime of a copper bell suddenly rang out from behind the rubble. Several figures in teal robes, swords strapped to their backs, were picking through the ruins for survivors. Their leader, a sharp-eyed youth named Lin Yuan, carried a white jade pendant etched with the mark of "Xuan-Ying."
[Ding! Key story character detected: Lin Yuan.] [Mission Trigger: Place the "Karmic Parasite" within an orthodox sect.] [Reward: Unlock "Mara-Slayer Personality" seal by 0.05%.]
Cang Yaochen watched them. Though his memories were fragmented, his intuition suggested these people could be trusted. He looked at his scarred arms, blackened by the ash, and then at the frail girl in his care.
My existence is a fusion of slaughter and demonic obstacles, rejected by the laws of this world, he thought. Placing her in the Xuan-Ying Sect might be her only chance to survive.