Cang Yaochen landed firmly, the dark-gold armored Asura Phantasm receding into his body. The demonic blade, entwined with Nirvana Karma-Fire, pointed slantwise at the ground, its heat making the phosphorescent soil hiss and crackle.
He turned, the dark-gold light in his double pupils fading as clarity returned. He looked at Jiang Li, his gaze a turbulent sea of emotion. Three thousand years ago, he had gouged out half his heart to save her; moments ago, she had risked everything—accepting a dying soul's grim pact and staying by his side amidst a looming void tide—to save him.
"Li'er, you..." Cang Yaochen opened his mouth, but the words withered on his tongue.
"Enough talk." Jiang Li interrupted. She stowed her crossbow and tossed the Mirror of Profound Inquiry back to him. "Since you're alive, get us out of this hellhole. You swept through the small fry, but there are far worse things rotting in the depths of these graves."
Cang Yaochen caught the mirror. Its surface was now as smooth as polished ice, save for a faint red lotus pattern etched into the handle. As he gripped it, the surging Nirvana power fused perfectly with his innate demonic nature. A sense of unprecedented strength flooded his senses—he felt as though he could cleave the very purple sky asunder.
But in that breath, a bone-chilling premonition struck.
The stagnant air of the God-Graves suddenly curdled. The colossal, broken statues suspended in the air wailed in unison, their cries shrill and mournful. High above, the violet firmament tore open, revealing a jagged, golden wound.
"Rebels! I shall see where you run this time!"
The voice of the Cloud-Ascension Throne boomed from the rift like crashing thunder. This was no mere spiritual projection—it was a True Body descent!
Golden divine light erupted from the rift like a tsunami, drenching the God-Graves in a blinding, caustic yellow. Amidst this celestial deluge, the Cloud-Ascension Throne stepped forth, his white hair whipping wildly, clad in robes of sun, moon, and stars. In his hand, he gripped the Ruyi Vajra Scepter, radiating a pressure that threatened to crush the world.
With every step he took, the space of the God-Graves fractured. The surging puppets vanished into ash the moment the golden light touched them, denied even the chance to scream. Such was the terror of a Divine Throne.
Jiang Li's face turned deathly pale. She gritted her teeth, raising the Heart-Piercing Crossbow once more. She knew her bolts might not even scratch his protective radiance, but surrender was a word she had long forgotten.
"Take the Divine Marrow and go." Cang Yaochen stepped in front of her, his back a wall of iron. His pupils shifted back to a chaotic purple-red, and the dark-gold Asura solidified behind him.
The marrow was not just medicine; it was a heavy promise. If they both died here, that legacy would be severed forever.
"Priest, are you insane? That is his True Body!" Jiang Li shouted, a rare note of panic in her voice.
"GO!"
Cang Yaochen roared. Without hesitation, he lunged forward, transforming into a streak of dark-gold light that soared against the cascading golden tide, charging straight for the Throne.
"A grain of rice dares to compete with the sun!"
Cloud-Ascension snorted coldly. He made a casual sweep with the Ruyi Vajra Scepter. A golden shadow of the scepter, massive enough to tear stars from the sky and carrying the weight of destructive causality, slammed into Cang Yaochen.
CLANG—!
Cang Yaochen met the golden shadow with his demonic blade. A deafening boom rocked the God-Graves as dark-gold flames clashed with celestial light. He groaned, the shockwave hurlng him back hundreds of feet into the base of a titanic statue. The Asura armor across his back shattered into webs of cracks, and he coughed up a mouthful of black blood, yet his gaze remained locked on his enemy.
"Oh?" Cloud-Ascension raised an eyebrow. "Fused with Nirvana power? No wonder you survived. But this... only makes your death more necessary!"
He raised the scepter again, this time conjuring the phantoms of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Constellation Array. If this strike fell, not only would Cang Yaochen's soul be extinguished, but the entire God-Graves would be leveled to dust.
In that heartbeat of life and death, Jiang Li moved.
She didn't run. She bit her fingertip, rapidly tracing a grotesque rune in the air before slamming the Mirror of Profound Inquiry against it.
"Disciples of Xuan-Ying! Lend me your souls! Reverse the Karma—OPEN!"
Jiang Li shrieked, the cinnabar mark on her brow erupting in a light so crimson it was harrowing.
The colossal, broken statues suspended in the void suddenly turned their eyes—eyes that had been dead for three millennia. Torrents of resentment, fury, and unfinished business from the fallen Xuan-Ying disciples surged from the statues, funneling frantically into Jiang Li's mirror.
The mirror's surface turned a gore-slicked scarlet. A beam of concentrated causality—chaotic and utterly heretical—shot forth, aiming straight for the Cloud-Ascension Throne's brow.
"A causality weapon?! Curse you!" Cloud-Ascension's face contorted. Before his scepter could fall, the red beam was upon him. Forced into a defensive stance, he pulled the scepter back to block his brow.
BOOM—!
The crimson light collided with the Ruyi Vajra Scepter. While it failed to shatter the divine treasure, the chaotic karma caused the divine energy within the Throne to spiral out of control. He let out a muffled groan of agony, his True Body stiffening for a fraction of a second.
"Move!"
Jiang Li had spent every last drop of her malice. She collapsed like a wilted flower.
In that window of the Throne's paralysis, Cang Yaochen spat out a mouthful of essence-blood, overdrawing his newly recovered Nirvana origin to forcibly cleave a rift into the void turbulence. He scooped up the fallen Jiang Li and lunged into the fissure.
"DAMN YOU! Even to the ends of the earth, I shall slay you!"
The Cloud-Ascension Throne's roar shook the collapsing graveyard once he regained control. He watched the rift snap shut, trembling with fury. To have his True Body humiliated by two "ants" was a disgrace beyond measure.
The God-Graves, ravaged by the soul-extraction and the clash of powers, finally began to disintegrate. Statues plummeted, and the purple sky shattered as the space underwent self-destruction.
Cloud-Ascension cast one final, murderous look at the spot where they vanished before withdrawing his True Body through the heavens.
Within the void turbulence, Cang Yaochen held Jiang Li tightly as they tumbled through the chaos. His Nirvana power worked slowly to knit his wounds, but his Asura Phantasm flickered violently, on the verge of total collapse.
Jiang Li, cradled in his arms, was fading. The cinnabar mark was dark, her breath almost imperceptible.
Looking at this woman who had once again plunged herself into the abyss for him, a sharp, agonizing pain shot through his fractured heart.
"Li'er, don't die. Our debt... we still have to settle it."
Cang Yaochen whispered before the darkness claimed him. The turbulence carried them for an eternity until it spat them out into an unknown world.