The battle at the Abyssal Eye had shaken the heavens.Though the Shepherd of Heaven's Dao had retreated, it unleashed the Edict of Final Dharma:
Celestial qi reversed its flow; earth veins withered; spirit springs ran dry. Overnight, every sacred herb on ten thousand peaks turned to ash.Chaos erupted across the cultivation world.
Golden Core cultivators plummeted to Foundation Establishment. Nascent Soul elders saw their lifespans slashed. Some lost their very Dao Foundations—reduced to ordinary mortals overnight."The Great Dao has abandoned us!" wailed entire sects.
"Offer incense! Beg Heaven's mercy!" cried new cults, rising like weeds in the ruins.And Xie Wuchen returned from West Wasteland—white robes stained with dust, wooden sword dimmed.Yet with every step he took, a phantom blue lotus bloomed beneath his feet… and did not fade.—This was the Sign of the Heart-Lamp: proof that true Dao still burned within.Bai Ying walked beside him, voice low:"This 'Final Dharma' isn't a natural calamity—it's Heaven's self-defense. It fears you'll ignite the people's inner fire… so it cuts off their fuel first."Xie Wuchen gazed ahead:
Mountains once wreathed in immortal clouds now stood barren.
Where cultivators once soared on swords like rainbows, people now trudged through mud on foot."It severed spiritual energy," he said calmly, "not the Dao itself.
The Dao resides in the human heart—not in mountains or rivers."They reached Zhongzhou—and found a city in ashes.Amid rubble and charred beams, hundreds knelt before a newly erected statue, chanting prayers.
The idol's face was blurred, but on its forehead gleamed a single character: "Shepherd."
Its incense burner smoked with that familiar crimson powder—the same used in the Cauldrons."Another fragmentary cauldron manifesting as a deity," Bai Ying frowned. "It's rebuilding its harvest through faith."Suddenly, a child's wail pierced the air.An old woman rushed forward, clutching her grandson. Seeing Xie Wuchen's white robes, she collapsed before him:"Immortal master, save my boy! He… he's forgetting his mother!"Xie Wuchen knelt. The child's eyes were hollow, yet he clutched a faded cloth doll—stitched by his mother's hands.Gently, Xie Wuchen touched the boy's brow. A soft blue lotus shimmered.In an instant, tears flooded the child's eyes:"Mama… don't go…"The grandmother wept uncontrollably:"Three days ago, he dreamed his mother was crying. When he woke—he couldn't remember her face…"Xie Wuchen's chest tightened.
Heaven's Dao wasn't just stealing karma—it was erasing love from memory itself."Take me to the statue."The idol loomed ten zhang tall, wreathed in incense smoke.Xie Wuchen drew his wooden sword and pressed its tip to the earth.
Blue lotuses spread from his feet like roots sinking into the world's bones."What all beings remember… becomes my Dao Foundation."He closed his eyes and began chanting fragments of the Sutra of No Dust—
not for purity, but for bearing weight.The city trembled!Across the ruins, memories surged back into the people's minds:
—a mother's laugh,
—a father's back,
—a lover's promise…Countless emotions rose as luminous motes, swirling into the blue lotus around Xie Wuchen!The statue shrieked. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface—
a cauldron-shaped phantom emerged, jaws open to devour this "excess karma.""Too late," Xie Wuchen opened his eyes, azure flames burning within.
"Today, I ignite a Heart-Lamp with the memories of all living beings—
to haunt your man-eating Dao… forever."His wooden sword swept forward.No flash. No thunder. Only a single azure scar slicing the sky.The statue exploded.The cauldron-phantom wailed and dissolved. The incense burner shattered; the crimson powder turned to ash.The people stood frozen—then collapsed, sobbing.
At last, they remembered why they lived.Bai Ying stared in awe:"You… you used collective emotion to refine a fragment of Heaven's Dao?!"Xie Wuchen sheathed his sword. The lotus faded.He looked toward the horizon and whispered:"Not me. Them."Just then, the sky split open—a crimson rift bleeding across the heavens.Sect Master Xuanwei descended on clouds, followed by three hundred Qingming disciples. Each held a jade slip, faces set with grim resolve."Xie Wuchen!" Xuanwei's voice boomed like temple bells. "Surrender the Core of Remembrance! Seal your Dao Foundation! Or in three days, Zhongzhou will be erased by the Silent Annihilation Thunder Calamity!"Xie Wuchen didn't flinch."So even you, Master, have become the Shepherd's hound?""Silence!" Xuanwei roared—but sorrow flickered in his eyes. "Do you not understand? If you refuse, a million souls will perish!"Bai Ying cried: "He's forcing you to sacrifice yourself!"But Xie Wuchen smiled.He turned to the crowd and called out:"People of Zhongzhou! There is a way to withstand the thunder—but it demands each of you surrender your most painful memory.
Will you do it?"Silence.Then—an old farmer raised a trembling hand:"I will! As long as I keep the taste of my wife's noodle soup… what's a little pain?""I will!" "I will!" — the cries swelled like a rising tide.Xie Wuchen nodded. He sat cross-legged on the scorched earth.The blue lotus bloomed again—its petals unfurling into countless threads, weaving into every heart.Xuanwei's face paled:"You dare… gather the will of the people to forge a Lamp of Human Dao?!""Why not?" Xie Wuchen closed his eyes.
"Heaven's Dao devours humanity—so I shall nourish the Dao with humanity.
It seeks silence…
I choose—to burn."The lotus shot skyward, transforming into a colossal lamp suspended above Zhongzhou.
Its wick? The child's tattered cloth doll.Three days later, the Silent Annihilation Thunder fell.Ten thousand violet bolts crashed down—only to be swallowed whole by the Heart-Lamp.
Its flame did not dim. It blazed brighter.Xuanwei gazed upward, then let out a long sigh.
Slowly, he tore his jade slip to pieces and turned to his disciples:"From this day forth… Qingming Sect protects the Dao—not Heaven."And far above, in the unseen heights of the Nine Heavens,
that ancient bronze wheel
grew another layer of rust.(End of Chapter Eleven)