Rumble……
A thunderclap sounded, turning the entire sky a vibrant emerald green.
One streak of green lightning after another flashed wildly like writhing serpents, sending chills down the spine.
The wind howled fiercely as a colossal funnel cloud appeared in the sky, forming a shape of pure chaos.
At the very bottom center of the chaos, a faint green light suddenly descended like a pillar of light, enveloping Su Bai within, isolating her from the outside and forming a temporary barrier.
The aura of life continuously radiated from her body, nourishing the land around her.
“Wife, is this your trump card? The Sacrifice to Heaven ritual? Offering tribute to the heavens for power—how ancient and outdated. We cultivators follow the natural order to become mortals; defy the heavens, and we become immortals!”
Zhou Xuan’s expression remained unchanged as he gently advised, “Wife, give it up. When you get hit, stand at attention. That was what you used to say. Now that you’ve done wrong, naturally you must be punished.”
“Besides, with your Golden Core, what good is a sacrifice? Can it withstand a single palm strike from me?
“Yes, don’t even mention the Golden Core. Even if I were added to the sacrifice, the power gained couldn’t stop your casual strike, let alone break the formation…”
Su Bai’s voice was soft and calm, yet it gave Zhou Xuan an ominous feeling.
“But… what if we add the Tongtian Wood?”
A flash of green light suddenly burst from the small wooden hut, soaring into the skyward pillar of light.
It was the Tongtian Wood sapling that Su Bai had been nurturing by watering.
Lush and verdant, its leaves gleamed with vitality, its branches swayed gracefully, radiating vigorous life, slightly reviving the pale complexion of Su Bai.
The Tongtian Wood sapling was known as the spirit plant containing the most potent life force in the cultivation world.
It purified the meridians and marrow, nourishing all living things with infinite mystical uses.
There was even a legend that if it grew to full maturity and transformed into the Tongtian Divine Tree, it would bloom once every three thousand years and bear fruit once every three thousand years.
One fruit could grant a person the attainment of the Harmonious Dao Immortal Sovereign!
For the first time, Zhou Xuan’s expression changed.
He reached out in a palm strike, aiming to grab Su Bai and pull her from the sacrificial center, but it was already too late!
“Great Eternal Heavenly Dao, I offer the Tongtian Divine Tree sapling in sacrifice to you, please grant me your power!!!”
The green light fully merged into the pillar, unleashing unparalleled power; the world seemed to tremble!!
The surging, overwhelming force poured down endlessly like a roaring river, amplifying Su Bai’s strength, even making her feel as if she could ascend to the Harmonious Dao in a single step.
Clatter!!!
Countless formation arrays painted by a certain “fiend” shattered one after another on her body.
The verdant azure washed over her slender figure, and the boundless life force converged into a blue sun that illuminated the entire Xuantian Immortal Sect like a divine presence descending!
After three hundred years, the Azure Sun True Immortal had returned once more!!
“It worked!!”
The moment the plan succeeded, Su Bai almost felt an urge to howl to the sky.
Three hundred years! Three hundred years!
Her cultivation, her power, had finally returned!!
Feeling the roaring power within her body, Su Bai moved gracefully, as if she could crush that former self with a single gesture.
Yet she did not indulge too much in this borrowed strength.
Borrowed power was just that—borrowed, not truly her own.
Like water without roots, it would diminish bit by bit.
This was why the Sacrifice to Heaven method had been abandoned by cultivators.
But for now, it was enough.
“Please, two fellow Daoists, meet your deaths.”
Su Bai bowed slightly toward the two figures frozen in place.
In an instant, their bodies rapidly aged; a breeze blew through, and they dissipated like dust between heaven and earth.
At the same time, two Nascent Souls were forcibly drawn out, absorbed into the massive Azure Sun behind her as fuel, causing the sun’s radiance to blaze even stronger.
“Even borrowed power makes killing Nascent Souls as easy as slaughtering chickens, even if the opponents are severely injured.”
Su Bai felt the incomparable power surging within her, gently clenching her fist as the overwhelming energy tore tiny rifts in the space around her.
She then turned to the man beside her in white robes.
“Wife, for husband…”
“Shut up! You wretched fiend!!”
Su Bai raised her hand as if swatting a fly; every movement carried the weight of the world itself, directly blasting Zhou Xuan until he coughed up blood.
He flew back like a kite cut loose, crashing heavily against the Azure Sun Peak’s rocky cliff, gouging a deep pit.
Su Bai stepped forward, her figure flashing as she instantly appeared before Zhou Xuan.
Before he could speak, she reached out and grabbed his neck, lifting him single-handedly from the pit.
A fully realized Nascent Soul cultivator, half a step into Divine Transformation, was in her hands like a helpless fledgling.
“This time, I simulated three major regrets.
First, failing to climb higher within the Immortal Alliance and secure a seat in the front three rows;
Second, the elixir solidified and my nature changed to female, and I have yet to find a solution;
Third is you, you wretched son and traitor!!”
Su Bai’s voice was cold enough to cut flesh like an ice blade.
Zhou Xuan’s face turned bright red but he could not speak, his innocent eyes fixed on her frosty, stunning face.
“I raised you with bitter toil, yet you repay me like this.
I don’t know if your nature is truly this way or if you were possessed by someone else, but as I said: whoever you are, when you get hit, you must stand at attention.”
“I… am… not… afraid… of… dying.”
Zhou Xuan’s face flushed, but he didn’t struggle, barely managing to utter these words.
“I have done nothing to betray my master or my mother.
I know master and mother cherish me most, so everything I do is for a better life for us all.”
Hearing this, Su Bai laughed with rage!
What kind of monster had she raised!!
“Fine, fine, fine!” she said three times, disappointment and fury mingling in her gaze.
“Unrepentant, your crime increases by one degree.”
“I originally planned to give you a quick death, but it seems…”
Pfft!!
A hand pierced straight through Su Bai’s chest.
Crimson blood splattered all over Zhou Xuan’s face.
He stared in horror at the hand impaling Su Bai’s heart, shaking his head frantically, panic-stricken.
“Master, it’s not me, I didn’t—”
“Of course it’s not you.”
Su Bai gently smoothed Zhou Xuan’s hair, then slowly gripped the hand that pierced her heart.
Her voice was soft but carried an unrelenting chill.
“Disciple, you pride yourself on being a demonic cultivator, right? Let me show you what true demons are!”
“Betraying master and ancestors, severing all feelings and intentions, seeking but never obtaining, loving but parting, without kin or friends, rejected by heaven and earth—this is the demon! This is the demon you boast of being!!”
“I no longer wish to kill you; I want you to live.
You love me, cherish me, right?
Then I want you to experience the feeling of ‘loved one’ being killed by your own hands, dying in your arms!!”
“I won’t let you die easily.
‘Death’ is too easy for you.
You often like practicing formations on me, so I will plant a curse on you.”
Blood gushed continuously from Su Bai’s chest, staining her clothes and the earth beneath their feet.
Yet the smile on her face grew even more radiant.
“From now on, you will spend every day and night in regret.
Everything you pursue will turn to illusions.
You will understand how your actions caused you to lose what you believed to be the most precious thing in this world.”
“You will have no descendants, no burial place, no moment of peace.
From now on, under the sun’s light, as if bathing in molten lava, all demonic cultivators who died without rebirth in the Everlasting Realm will watch over you.”
Su Bai’s voice grew faint, but every word was clear in Zhou Xuan’s ears.
Until the last trace of life slipped away, until the last restraint was lifted, until the final curse was etched into his soul…
Zhou Xuan suddenly lunged forward, clutching Su Bai’s now cold body.
His eyes were hollow and desperate.
He opened his mouth to speak but could only emit dry sobs.
A breeze blew through, and the body dissipated like dust, vanishing between heaven and earth.
The man froze, then dropped to his knees.
His eyes were swollen red as if washed with water, tear stains of blood streaking deep within his eye sockets.
“Master, mother, I really know I was wrong!!
I won’t be a demonic cultivator anymore!!
Please forgive me!!
You clearly cherished me most!
Little Black really knows he was wrong!!!
Please come back to life, please, sob sob…”
…
[Simulation of five hundred years, you died.]
To You, 500 Years From Now