The words shattered her.
They were heavy, suffocating, filled with pain.
Even now, she could still hear her fate being spoken to her—the voice of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor, telling her of the cruel destiny that bound her existence.
A fate she had long accepted.
A fate she had never tried to escape.
And that was why—
That was why she had done everything.
Everything to push him away.
Even when it tore her apart.
Even when her heart had screamed at her not to let go.
Because she loved him.
Deeply. Desperately. Completely.
And yet—her love had only ever led her to one choice.
To walk away.
To make sure he was never chained to the cruelty that would one day claim her.
But as she uttered those words, as her voice cracked beneath the weight of them—
Yun Che trembled even more.
His fingers clenched around her as if holding on for dear life.
Because in that moment, he understood.
He finally understood.
Everything she did… was for him.
Every sacrifice. Every painful decision.
Every moment of suffering—she bore it all, for his sake.
But he refused to let her go.
Not again.
His arms tightened around her, pulling her against him, desperate, unyielding.
"That cruel fate that blinded us… has long been shattered."
His voice was low but resolute.
A tremor ran through Xia Qingyue's body.
"?....."
Her breath hitched.
Her heart pounded.
Had she misheard him?
Had she dared to hope?
Yun Che slowly pulled back, just enough to look her in the eyes.
"Not long after you left… the Ancestral Goddess's Will appeared before me."
His grip on her hand tightened.
"She told me everything."
"Your birth. Your life. Your fate."
His gaze softened, but his voice held absolute certainty as he spoke his next words—
"I know everything, Qingyue."
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The Ancestral Goddess!!!!!!
The two surviving dragons felt as though their very souls had been shattered.
Shock. Disbelief. Horror.
They could not even speak.
Their minds spiraled, racing to find meaning in what they had just heard—desperate to reject the impossible truth that had just been uttered.
Even they—dragons born and raised in the Abyss, ancient beings who had spent their entire existence surrounded by the unknown—knew the legend of the Ancestral Goddess.
The First Being.
The Supreme Creator.
The one who had existed before all things.
Because of her— the Creation Gods and Devil Emperors came into being.
Because of her— the vast cosmos was woven into existence.
Because of her— the era of Gods and Devils was born.
She was the beginning of all. The supreme being who had existed since the very dawn of creation.
Yet—this Meng Jianyuan was saying that the Ancestral Goddess's Will had appeared before him?
What the fuck was he talking about?!!!
How could a being of such absolute supremacy, the very foundation of all existence, have revealed herself to him?!
It was madness.
It was blasphemy. Not too mentioned, in order to birth the Creations Gods and Devil Emperors, the Ancestral Goddess destroy herself in that process!
And yet—the way Yun Che spoke those words…
There was no doubt.
Not even a hint of hesitation.
He was not lying. He was not speaking out of arrogance.
He knew.
He had seen.
He had stood before the Ancestral Goddess herself.
But Yun Che paid no mind to their turmoil.
Their shock and confusion were irrelevant.
With a simple motion, he dispelled the Primordial Azure Dragon God looming in the sky.
The massive, suffocating presence vanished in an instant.
And with its disappearance—
The oppressive force that had been crushing the dragons into submission was lifted.
Unlike the Grand Elder Dragon, who still lay helpless beneath the Abyssal Dragon Lord's merciless claws, the other surviving dragon was suddenly free.
In an instant, the surviving dragon was about to erupt with every ounce of strength he had, his body already surging with power as he prepared to flee.
But he never got the chance.
"BOOOOOMMMMM!!!"
A massive claw—the Qilin's—swung down like a divine executioner.
The dragon's body was instantly pulverized, reduced to a mist of blood and shattered bones.
His soul barely had time to react before it was completely consumed—ravaged by the dense Abyssal Dust, torn apart until not even a fragment remained.
He didn't even have time to scream.
He simply ceased to exist.
The battlefield fell into silence once more.
Yun Che exhaled lightly, then turned back toward Xia Qingyue.
His gaze softened as he looked at her, his expression filled with something rare.
Something almost fragile.
"I'll tell you everything after this…"
His voice was steady, yet beneath it lay a quiet tremor.
"Just promise me… you won't leave me again."
His eyes so often filled with wrath, with cruelty, with vengeance—
Were now filled with something else entirely.
Plea. Longing. Desperation.
He was not commanding her.
He was begging her.
Xia Qingyue's lips parted slightly, her violet eyes staring deeply into his—seeing the raw emotion in them.
A long silence stretched between them.
And then—she nodded.
"...Yes..."
The softest sound, yet to Yun Che, was everything.
Without another word, he summoned the Primordial Profound Ark once more.
The space before them shimmered, and the entrance to its inner world opened.
Xia Qingyue didn't need to ask.
She knew what Yun Che was planning to do.
With one last glance at him, she gave a small nod—
And then walked inside.
The moment she disappeared within, the entrance sealed itself shut, and Yun Che put the ark away.
His gaze darkened once more.
He turned back.
And now—his eyes locked onto the last surviving dragon.
The Grand Elder.
"You… are the Fog Monarch…"
The Grand Elder Dragon's voice trembled, his tone drenched in exhaustion and despair.
With everything that had happened—**the massacre, the darkness, the absolute devastation—**there was no longer any doubt in his mind.
He knew.
And yet—he didn't.
For as much as he tried to grasp the truth, it still slipped through his fingers.
Before him, the Abyssal Qilinlowered its massive head, bowing without hesitation as Yun Che stepped onto it, his figure standing atop the beast like an undisputed ruler.
The Qilin's enormous body shifted, its colossal frame now turning toward the Grand Elder, its presence looming over him like a divine executioner.
It made no sound.
Yet its glowing abyssal eyes remained locked onto him, unblinking, waiting for a command.
A single order—and it would end him.
But even as death loomed inches away, the Grand Elder murmured once more, his voice hoarse, his body trembling beneath the Abyssal Dragon Lord's claws.
"No… you are something much more…"
His bloodied gaze flickered toward Yun Che, his mind barely holding onto reason.
The blackened abyss in Yun Che's eyes…
The way he slaughtered the dragons without hesitation… without remorse… without a single trace of emotion…
This wasn't just the Fog Monarch.
This wasn't just a monster.
This was something worse.
Something far beyond comprehension.
"Just… how…"
His voice cracked.
"Why… did we… offend you…"
He spoke as if he had gone mad.
As if he was desperately searching for an answer—
One that no longer mattered.
"BOOOOOMM!!"
The Abyssal Dragon Lord suddenly tightened its grip, pressing its colossal claws deeper into the Grand Elder Dragon's broken body.
Then—
His legs exploded into a mist of blood and shattered bone.
"Ugh…!"
A deep, guttural groan escaped from the elder's throat, his body convulsing under the sheer agony. Yet—despite the unimaginable pain—he did not die.
The vitality of an Ancestral Dragon was too vast, too monstrous.
But it didn't matter.
It was enough to silence him.
To leave him crippled, helpless, broken.
The Abyssal Qilin slowly extended its massive head, its vast shadow swallowing the ruined battlefield as Yun Che sat upon it, his posture relaxed yet absolute.
From his high vantage point, he looked down upon the old dragon.
Expressionless.
Unfeeling.
His blackened gaze was a void, empty of warmth, empty of humanity—the gaze of a devil.
Not the Yun Che who cherished his family.
Not the Yun Che who had once known love, kindness, and hope.
This was the Yun Che of the Northern Divine Region.
The Yun Che who had embraced the abyss.
The Yun Che who had become the devil.
His voice was calm—too calm.
"Did you know…"
"When I first found out that I had a daughter in this world… I was extremely happy."
His words were soft, almost nostalgic.
Yet, to the Grand Elder, they carried a weight far heavier than the chains of death itself.
His bloodied, battered body twitched.
He could do nothing—except listen.
"She mentioned that she lived with the Ancestral Dragon Clan."
"At the time, I swore to myself…"
"That if you had treated my daughter well…"
"No matter what happened in the future—
I would have saved all of you."
The Grand Elder shuddered.
There was no anger in Yun Che's voice.
No hatred.
Just a quiet statement of fact.
"As I lived within the Dreamweavers Divine Kingdom… I heard that the Ancestral Dragon Clan took care of my daughter well."
His words drifted into the silence—
But what followed… was something the Grand Elder did not wish to hear.
"I was truly happy…"
Yun Che's voice was low, almost eerily calm.
"I even swore once more that… if the world of the Abyss were ever to be destroyed… I would spare nothing to save all of you."
His words lingered in the air, but they were not a promise. Not anymore.
Because now, the past no longer mattered.
"Then, in the Pure Land…"
His tone darkened, and with it, the very world around them seemed to shift.
The surrounding abyssal dust thickened, twisting and swirling as if responding to his fury. The oppressive darkness deepened, an unseen force pressing down like an executioner's blade, its suffocating weight making it impossible to even breathe.
It was corrosive. Malevolent. Suffocating.
Yun Che's blackened eyes gleamed with a cold, seething rage.
"That was when I finally learned the truth."
The Grand Elder Dragon's body trembled violently.
Not just from his wounds—but from what was to come.
At that moment, the pain in his broken body and shattered soul became meaningless.
He let out a soft sound—barely more than a whisper at first, but soon, it grew.
A chuckle.
Then a laugh.
A bitter, broken, mocking laugh.
"Hahaha…"
It was not laughter of amusement.
It was the laughter of a man who had already accepted his fate.
A laughter that mocked his own clan.
Their arrogance.
Their blindness.
Their downfall.
But Yun Che's expression did not change.
He only continued, his voice growing sharper—his anger bleeding through every word.
"The truth of how you treated my daughter…
The daughter of me and Shen Xi.
The very daughter of the First Dragon God!"
The air crackled with unrestrained killing intent.
"Instead of treating her as you should have—"
"Instead of honoring her, protecting her—"
"Instead of raising her like a princess—"
"YOU DARED TO TREAT HER AS NOTHING MORE THAN A TOOL?!!!"
The instant his final words thundered through the battlefield—
"DIE!!!!"
Yun Che raised his hand, and a storm of darkness erupted around him.
His profound energy, now fused with the corruptive abyssal dust, plunged downward like a judgment from the heavens.
Back then, Yun Che had sought a way to forge a flame capable of slaughtering a God.
His plan had been to merge the Eternal Calamity's Flame with the Abyssal Dust, creating a power so destructive that not even a deity could withstand it.
Yet—he had failed.
Perhaps it was because his cultivation at the time had been too low.
Perhaps it was because he had been approaching it the wrong way.
Whatever the reason—he had been forced to push the idea aside.
But in the past four years, he had gone back to the basics.
Before attempting to create the ultimate fusion with Eternal Calamity's Flame—he first experimented with mixing his darkness profound energy with the Abyssal Dust.
And at long last—he succeeded.
The result wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful as he had once envisioned.
But it was terrifying in its own right.
Far, far more devastating than just pure darkness profound energy.
Far, far more corrosive than the Abyssal Dust alone.
It was a power that twisted the laws of destruction itself.
And now—the Grand Elder Dragon would experience it firsthand.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!"
The abyss itself seemed to erupt, the sky trembling under the sheer magnitude of the unleashed force.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
A scream tore through the battlefield—one of unimaginable agony.
The Grand Elder Dragon's body convulsed violently, his soul writhing as a searing pain unlike anything he had ever felt engulfed him.
His flesh corroded.
His bones burned.
He was being devoured—
And frozen at the same time.
The corrosive darkness ate away at him, while an unholy frost locked his agony in place, refusing to let him succumb to death's embrace.
But Yun Che—despite his rage—was controlling it.
He had yet to fully unleash the abyssal devouring force.
He was letting him suffer.
Letting him feel every single moment of his body and soul unraveling.
Soon—almost all of the dragon's skin had melted away.
His once-pristine golden scales were no more.
His mighty dragon bones were now exposed—
And even they, the most indestructible part of his being,
Were now showing signs of corrosion.
The Abyssal Dust was eating into his very core.
Yet—he was still alive.
Forced to endure.
Forced to face his sins.
His bony fingers twitched endlessly, as if desperately clinging to the last remnants of control.
Even the screams he wanted to unleash—were drowned out.
Yet—he still lived.
It wasn't that Yun Che harbored a personal vendetta against the Grand Elder Dragon specifically.
No—his goal was far more precise.
He wasn't trying to kill the dragon.
He was trying to break him.
Piece by piece.
Layer by layer.
Until nothing remained—except submission.
To kill the Grand Elder would be too easy.
But to have him kneel? To have him surrender his soul?
That required patience.
Yun Che wanted to plant a slave seal on the elder dragon—to make him his.
But such a seal required absolute submission.
Even the smallest resistance within the dragon's soul could cause the process to fail.
That was why he was not rushing.
That was why he was letting the pain linger.
Because by the time the dragon's will had completely crumbled—there would be no resistance left.
At last, the dragon's screams faded into silence.
Only ragged, shallow breaths remained.
Yun Che gazed down at him, his voice calm yet chilling.
"Tell me why you had my daughter collecting the Five Treasures."
The Grand Elder shuddered.
But before he could even register his words—
Yun Che raised his other hand.
A brilliant, pure white light radiated from his palm, a stark contrast to the abyssal darkness that had nearly devoured the dragon alive.
And then—it descended.
A wave of divine energy surged into the Grand Elder's mangled body, restoring what had been destroyed at an unnatural speed.
The agonizing **burns, the corrosion eating away at his bones—**they began to heal.
The intolerable pain dulled.
Relief washed over him.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the Grand Elder Dragon felt his body regain some semblance of strength.
His clouded, bloodied eyes struggled to lift—
And when they did—
They met the gaze of the man who had just healed him.
"I..."
The Grand Elder Dragon hesitated, his broken, trembling form struggling to form words.
But before he could utter another sound—
A flame appeared before his eyes.
Not just any flame—a darkness so deep, so pure, that even the profound energy wielded by the Owl Butterfly Divine Kingdom paled in comparison.
It was absolute.
And in the next instant—
It descended upon him.
"UGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
The battlefield once again became filled with agonized screams.
The flames devoured him.
His scales melted.
His soul burned.
But just as before—when the screams faded into silence—
A radiant white light erupted once more.
The unbearable agony vanished as the divine power mended his ruined body, piece by piece.
It was not mercy.
It was torture.
The Grand Elder's breathing was ragged, his will crumbling.
"Kill me..."
The words were nothing more than a hoarse whisper.
A plea for release.
But Yun Che did not grant it.
Instead—another attack followed.
This time, it was not fire.
Sometimes, it was freezing ice, locking his body in an endless state of torment.
Other times, it was pure white lightning, tearing through him like divine punishment.
The cycles of heaven and hell rotated endlessly.
Pain.
Relief.
Agony.
Healing.
Over and over again.
The Grand Elder's mind splintered.
He no longer knew how long it had been.
How many times had he died?
How many times had he been revived—only to suffer again?
And then—once more—
A white light surged forth.
His body was restored.
His soul repaired.
But now—he was broken.
Not physically.
Mentally.
Completely.
Then—Yun Che's voice echoed once more.
Calm. Unwavering. Inevitable.
"If you don't want to go through that again, tell me why you had my daughter collect the Five Treasures."
A final, agonizing shudder passed through the Grand Elder Dragon.
And then—
He submitted.
"Yes... Yes.... I will tell you...."
The moment the attacks ceased, the absence of pain felt like heaven itself.
Gasping for breath, he immediately answered.
"The Dragon Lord told Long Xi that if she were to collect the Five Treasures, it could bring back someone whose soul is in a suspended state between life and death… and that they could be revived."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yun Che's eyebrows twitched the moment he heard those words.
Long Xi had told him very little about what had happened to Shen Xi—but now, it was clear.
There was more to it.
Much more.
Shen Xi wasn't just "resting" in the Ancestral Dragon Clan's Ancestral Tomb.
If Long Xi had been tasked with collecting the Five Treasures to bring her back—
Then Shen Xi's situation was far worse than he had imagined.
She wasn't merely asleep.
She was trapped in a state between life and death.
A sharp, twisting pain gripped Yun Che's soul, raw and suffocating.
But he swallowed it down.
He could not break now.
He needed answers.
His voice remained firm, but beneath it—there was a hint of urgency.
"If your Lord told Long Xi about that… then your Lord must also know how to bring someone back from such a state using the Five Treasures, right?"
For the first time in what felt like an eternity—
Hope flickered in Yun Che's heart.
"...No."
The Grand Elder's response was blunt, final.
Yun Che's heart sank.
His fists clenched as he opened his mouth to follow up with another question—
But before he could—
The Grand Elder continued.
"It was… all fake… a lie… a made-up story… just to keep Long Xi bound to the Dragon Clan."
His voice was weak, hollow.
There was no hesitation. No deception.
Perhaps it was because his body, heart, and soul had been completely crushed by fear.
Perhaps it was because he no longer had the strength to lie.
Or perhaps—he simply knew it didn't matter anymore.
But sometimes—
The truth was the cruelest thing of all.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
".....It was all made up?....!!!!"
Yun Che's eyes widened, his entire body tensing as an uncontrollable rage surged within him.
The storm inside him threatened to explode.
"....Yes...."
The Grand Elder Dragon spoke with a trembling body, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Our Lord… made up that lie… for Long Xi."
"....."
Silence.
A silence so heavy, so suffocating, that it felt as though the world itself had stopped breathing.
For a long, long, long time—
Yun Che could not think.
Could not breathe.
Could not contain the sheer, seething wrath that threatened to consume him whole.
He had spent years cultivating his control, sharpening his mind, ensuring that no force—not even his own fury—could ever dictate his actions.
But without Li Suo's divine energy constantly healing his body and soul…
The storm inside him raged unchecked.
He was going to lose control. And he did.
And then, his voice came out—low, lethal, filled with an unspeakable darkness.
"So you lied."
"You lied… to the granddaughter of the Primordial Azure Dragon God."
"To your very Ancestor—the Progenitor of the Dragon Race."
"You lied… just to keep her captive by your side."
His voice shook.
Not from fear. Not from pain.
But from pure, unfiltered rage.
Rage that had nowhere to go.
Because the **Dragon Lord—**the one who should have suffered his wrath—
Was already dead.
Or worse—reborn as the Abyssal Dragon Lord, now serving him.
There was no one left to punish.
And yet—his rage demanded a target.
"Hahahaha...."
A sound left Yun Che's lips.
A laugh—cracking, distorted, laced with fury.
He had planned to turn the Grand Elder into his slave.
But now?
He changed his mind.
The Abyssal Dragon Lord's claws—a monstrous abomination of abyssal corruption—dug deeper, pressing harder into the charred, broken body of the Grand Elder Dragon.
"Ugh..."
The piercing pain jerked the Grand Elder back into a moment of clarity—
Only for him to be met with something far worse.
Something bizarre.
Something terrifying.
From Yun Che's left palm—
A black flame erupted, so dark it seemed to devour all light, its heat scorching the very fabric of existence.
And from his right palm—
A swirling mass of Abyssal Dust coiled, raw and corrosive, a force that devoured all it touched.
One—a flame that could consume the soul.
The other—a force that eroded existence itself.
And together—
They would become something the world had never seen before.
The flame slowly swirled, its dark embers flickering as it merged with the Abyssal Dust.
What was once pure black flame began to shift—its color dulling, twisting—until it became something new.
A corrosive gray flame.
A fire that did not simply burn.
A fire that devoured.
Had this happened at any other time, Yun Che would have been pleased—even elated—by the success of his experiment.
A flame fused with the Abyssal Dust, turning into something far beyond destruction itself.
But now—
He didn't even realize what he had done.
Because at this moment—
His fury had reached its absolute limit.
It was no longer contained.
No longer controlled.
His anger had consumed him.
And from it—
This flame of pure annihilation was born.
Without a word, without hesitation, Yun Che let go of the flame.
It descended.
The Abyssal Dragon Lord released its grip and stepped back, retreating without a sound—
As if acknowledging that this was no longer its place.
The moment the flame touched the Grand Elder's body—
There was no scream.
There was no wail of agony.
There was no sound at all.
The Grand Elder Dragon, an ancient being who had lived for untold millennia—
Was simply swallowed.
The gray flames engulfed him whole.
And then—
He ceased to exist.
There was nothing left.
Not even ash.
Not even a soul.