At the same time, hearing the clamor of the evil Ghost Immortal, the veteran Heavenly Masters on the periphery tightly clenched their magical artifacts, fully prepared to fight to the death.
But as Wu Suowei called out Mi Ke's name, the giant array that had already been laid out bypassed the step of activating each array node one by one and was instantly fully activated.
Golden array patterns erupted from the ground, crisscrossing and enveloping the entire barren mountain. Their offensive and defensive power was instantly maxed out, firmly trapping the entire battlefield and isolating all internal and external energy.
For everyone inside the array, the oppressive pressure weighing down on them was instantly halved.
Without needing any further instructions, the Heavenly Masters scrambled to their feet. Following their original assignments, each performed their duties, further pouring all of their power into the array.
In the core area of the array, the moment the evil Ghost Immortal was suppressed by the array, a flash of fiery red robes stepped in to save Wu Suowei.
It was Ming Yi.
This time, he no longer held back in the slightest, completely unleashing all of the power he had suppressed for a century.
His red robes fluttered wildly as malevolence surged. The power of a Ghost Immortal erupted without reservation, and a murderous aura soared straight into the sky. With the support of the array, he forcefully withstood the evil Ghost Immortal's thousand-year pressure head-on.
As two powerhouses of the Ghost Immortal Realm confronted each other head-on, the energy of heaven and earth fell into violent chaos. The mountain forest trembled, wild winds howled, and the entire space began to slightly collapse.
Fortunately, Wu Suowei's array preparation was thorough enough, and Mi Ke had continuously enhanced herself with several Tarot cards, reaching the absolute limit of her empowerment.
Her casting speed far exceeded expectations. In just a few breaths, the ritual of petitioning Heaven was already mostly complete.
Rumble—
The dark sky suddenly erupted. Thick black clouds rolled and surged as dense streaks of purple lightning tore through the sky, carrying the supreme punishing power of the Heavenly Dao as they crashed down one after another.
Dozens of purple lightning bolts locked onto the evil Ghost Immortal with absolute precision. The violent power of heavenly tribulation poured down, brutally striking his black-robed body.
The evil Ghost Immortal was furious. He had never expected that he would still underestimate these interlopers and fail to sever the transmission of the truth.
Unwilling to be destroyed and refusing to accept the ruin of his thousand-year layout, the black mist around him expanded frantically. Suppressing his vengeful hatred, he forcibly broke free from the shackles of the heavenly lightning, turned, and attempted to flee.
But there was no escaping the punishment of the Heavenly Dao.
The falling heavenly lightning transformed into a boundless cage of lightning runes, firmly locking down the surrounding airspace and sealing off all his retreats. Entwined in lightning, it pressed in step by step, continuously obliterating his immortal body and cultivation.
Without a human witness, lacking that crucial piece of testimony, although the intensity of the Heavenly Dao's punishment remained undiminished, the speed of its descent was not as decisive.
To the evil Ghost Immortal, this process was no different from being carved up with a dull knife.
Driven into a corner, a flash of crazed determination swept through the evil Ghost Immortal's eyes. If he couldn't have a good ending, then no one else would have it easy either.
He fished out a pitch-black object, poured the entirety of his remaining lifetime cultivation into it, and violently struck it toward the boundary of the realm.
Crack—
The barrier between heaven and earth shattered. A rift was torn open at the boundary between the mortal world and the Underworld, and biting yin winds and chaotic souls came gushing out.
He forcibly slipped into the crack between yin and yang for one final struggle, attempting to use the chaos of the barrier between the two realms and the disorder of the current situation to evade the pursuit of the divine punishment and preserve his ruined body.
But how could the purple lightning that had already descended be recalled? It still pursued him, striking and killing him within the gap between yin and yang.
Although this punishment was swift, it also exacerbated the further tearing of the rift.
The souls of countless dying mortals were drawn in by the chaotic energy, involuntarily straying into the boundary between yin and yang. The boundary between life and death blurred, leaving mortal souls displaced and creating endless hidden dangers.
At the same time, the malice and resentment suppressed by the Underworld broke free from their shackles, escaping wildly through the void rift and slowly infesting the mortal world thread by thread.
If these evil thoughts were allowed to spread, in less than half a month, the entire city—and even the entire region—would be infested with malevolence, with unimaginable consequences.
At the peripheral array nodes, several old Heavenly Masters stared at the rift. Feeling the unchecked spread of malice, their hearts were filled with despair and panic.
A rift appearing between yin and yang was a catastrophe that could no longer be salvaged by human hands.
With the massive emotional rollercoasters of today, any observer without a sufficiently resilient heart would have had a stroke on the spot.
“It is not without a solution.”
“We only need someone to fill the void with their body to stabilize the order once more.”
Just as everyone was at their wits' end and filled with despair, a calm male voice rang out from the other end of the communication device, drowning out Ou Li's wails.
It was Ming Yi.
Bai Ci had a bad premonition, and she felt her connection with Ming Yi gradually severing.
Without a shred of hesitation, and ignoring the protests of the Heavenly Masters beside her, she turned and sprinted toward the direction of the rift.
As she ran off, Ming Yi's voice came through the communication device again, replying to the players who were eagerly volunteering to “let me fill it.”
“Only a body with immortal bones can be used as the material.”
The wind was fierce, the sky was heavy, and the path ahead was lit by the gradually dispersing thunderlight.
She bypassed the panicked crowd and ran forward, with only one thought in her mind.
Find Ming Yi and stop him.
If someone had to sacrifice themselves for this, why couldn't it be her?
But Bai Ci was still a step too late after all.
Underneath the thunderlight that was dispersing into points of light across the sky, she arrived just in time to witness the scene of transformation.
The sharp, murderous red robes were losing their intense color inch by inch. The fiery red slowly dissipated and faded, finally transforming into a pristine, spotless white.
Shedding the ghost to become an immortal, breaking the evil to return to truth.
Bai Ci thought, rather inopportunely, of the special skill named “Immortal Transformation” on the Rain's Message panel.
Washing away a thousand hatreds of the mortal world, a body of cloud bones becomes a flying immortal.
It sounded like some sort of prophecy.
Under the purification of his immortal power, the malice drifting wildly across the sky rapidly melted away into nothingness.
The rift that was enough to overturn the order of the mortal world also healed, shrank, and completely closed up bit by bit as he filled it with his body.
The tremors of heaven and earth gradually subsided, and the chaotic order of yin and yang returned to stability once more.
The catastrophe was completely ended by his body alone.
The young man in snow-white clothes stood quietly between heaven and earth. There was no longer a hint of malevolence around him, only a gentle and clear immortal radiance. His eyes were still cold and elegant, but they no longer held any sharpness.
He slowly turned his head, his gaze landing on Bai Ci.
All his obsession and gentleness were condensed in this single look.
Ming Yi spoke softly, his voice gentle and clear, drifting on the evening breeze to fall beside Bai Ci's ear.
“The blind man once cast a divination for me.”
“I said, since you are my other half, then what difference does it make whether you are the one to see this future or I am?”
In the next instant, Bai Ci clearly sensed that her connection with Ming Yi had severed.
Completely, cleanly, without a single thread of connection remaining.
As a benevolent soul, Bai Ci existed by relying on Ming Yici. The dress that was about to shed its red hue and turn white along with Ming Yi stopped changing after the connection was severed.
The remaining faint red color solidified on the surface of her soul, while her body began to turn transparent bit by bit.
Like a phantom about to disperse with the wind, she slowly faded, her traces of existence washing away.
“This is for the best.” Ming Yici gazed at her increasingly transparent figure, his eyes shimmering with his final gentle entrustment as he turned to look at Wu Daoqing.
“Wu Daoqing.”
“Protect her for me.”
“Guide her into reincarnation so she may obtain a new life, free from tribulations and hardships, free from obsession and delusion.”
This was the final gentleness and fulfillment he had spent a hundred years to leave for his only other half.
Time flowed by.
In the blink of an eye, many years passed.
The green young Daoist priest from back then, who had just set out and didn't understand the ways of the world at all, had long since shed his youthful immaturity.
Wu Daoqing was now the most experienced and reputable veteran Heavenly Master in the Heavenly Master Association. Time had smoothed over his rashness and innocence from those years, settling into a uniquely calm and steady aura.
Over the years, the supernatural cases he had handled were countless, and there were almost no fierce ghosts or bizarre entities, big or small, that could stump him.
But that day on the barren mountain when the white-clothed figure filled the void and became an immortal remained a brand he could never forget in this lifetime.
It was also from that day onward that he silently guarded an illusory promise, waiting for a reunion that he did not know when would arrive, or if it would even happen at all.
On this evening, the rain was continuous.
Lincheng University had been struck by a bizarre murder.
The deceased was a young female university student. Her death was peaceful without any signs of struggle, and the cause of death was a mystery.
Dressed in simple civilian clothes, Wu Daoqing stood tall and steady outside the police tape, his calm gaze sweeping over the details of the scene inside the room.
Beside him stood a young apprentice who had only recently entered the sect. The youth's features were immature, filled with curiosity and a touch of awe as he carefully observed the traces in the room, completely bewildered by what he saw.
After holding it in for a long time, the apprentice finally couldn't help but ask softly, “Master, the scene is so clean. Did you spot any clues?”
A clean, clear female voice suddenly drifted gently from behind and to his side, answering the apprentice's question.
“They played Pen Fairy.”
With a loud buzz in his brain, Wu Daoqing's body froze instantly.
After all these years, the voice he thought he had long forgotten, the gentle tone he thought he would never hear again, now echoed with absolute clarity beside his ear, unchanged in the slightest.
At this moment, time seemed to flow backward, piercing through the barrier of several years.
Wu Daoqing's chest heaved violently. With an urgency that bordered on panic, his body slowly turned around, inch by inch.
Standing quietly there was a young woman holding a simple white umbrella.
She wore a clean and simple light-colored hoodie, her figure slender and tall, her features delicate and gentle.
The apprentice beside him only felt that the girl's appearance was a bit sudden. He subconsciously took a step forward and asked, “Excuse me, classmate, this is a crime scene. Outsiders aren't allowed to get close. Who are you? Why are you here?”
“My name is Bai Ci. I'm a freshman at Lincheng University.”
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