In the deathly silent palace chamber, the youth opened his eyes.

Two thousand years ago, the righteous path of both the upper and lower realms joined forces and, relying on the Heavenly Dao, barely managed to suppress the sinful dragon. The place of suppression was precisely near the Tianji Sect in the lower realm.

A thousand years ago, the grand ancestor of the Tianji Sect secretly set up a great formation, intending to tame the dying sinful dragon and make it his natal spirit beast.

But though his calculations were meticulous, he had not expected that the dragon had already become a demigod. Because the disparity in strength was too great, with no other choice, the grand ancestor retreated to the next best option—he sought to establish a Heaven-and-Earth contract to shackle that sinful dragon. Unfortunately, he went alone to contract the dragon and never came out again, meeting the end of body destroyed and Dao extinguished.

Those who coveted from all directions were horrified and never again dared to scheme against the sinful dragon. From then on, the formation was abandoned. The Scarlet Flame Flowers that bloomed from dragon blood devoured the formation and swallowed everything—no one could approach even a single step anymore.

But today, the long-sealed formation stirred.

Drip, drip—blood rolled down as the youth rose to his feet, and from it bloomed a Scarlet Flame Flower.

Wide black sleeves hung down, intricate and complex talismanic patterns rippling with golden radiance along the black hem.

Black hair, long enough to reach his pale ankles, covered his entire body. Though his attire was extremely austere, the collar hung loosely open, revealing clearly defined musculature. His skin was pale, marked with countless wounds—large and small, deep and shallow—adding a savage, untamed scent of blood.

He let out an extremely soft chuckle, and the black shadow vanished from the palace chamber.

In some corner of the deathly silent palace chamber, the dust-sealed Dragon Bone Sword did not know how many years it had slept. When the box was opened and it saw the light of day again, it froze in a daze for a full five seconds before buzzing and springing up—

“Ahhh—Ji Wushu, you bastard!! You finally let me out!!”

“I haven’t spoken for twenty years! I was suffocating to death!!”

The next second, a scabbard flew over and forcefully sheathed the gleaming long sword. The clamorous sword fell silent in an instant—only a single scream of “Damn you Ji Wushu, I’m your rib, be gentle,” lingered in the air, along with faint muffled sobbing trapped inside the scabbard.

“A useless sword. It’s even gathered quite a bit of dust.”

Though the youth’s eyes were smiling, his voice was covered in frost and snow. He flicked the scabbard lightly; droplets of blood fell from the blade.

The Dragon Bone Sword seemed to sense something and looked toward the Scarlet Flame Flower field in shock.

It shuddered, sensing surging killing intent, its blade trembling. Because it knew—at this very moment, the sinful dragon, calm and unhurried, was restraining his churning fury and murderous intent. These emotions were compressed and compressed again, becoming a softly spoken question, as light as falling snow—

“Flay them ten million times… how about that?”

In the cultivation world, spirit beasts at their peak only reached the Heaven tier. But clearly, Ji Wushu had long since surpassed that category. No one dared imagine what rank this dragon truly was. Back then, when he had been extremely weakened—his tendons drawn, skin flayed, inner core dug out—the Tianji Sect’s grand ancestor had still delusionally tried to contract him… and was cut into eight thousand pieces by this sinful dragon.

Even at a terrible cost, even on the brink of death. Even drenched in blood, with countless bones and tendons broken.

The proud and unyielding dragon god—what he hated most in this life was being treated like livestock.

He licked his back molars, lifted the sword, and walked away.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Shu Tiantian’s consciousness was extremely hazy. When her hand touched the dragon horn, the terrifying extreme cold of her Yin body instantly melted like ice and snow. Just by being near it, it felt as though her whole body were soaking in a warm, soothing hot spring.

Unfortunately, the place where the dragon horn lay was precisely the core of the ancient formation left behind in those years. The spot the Tianji Sect’s grand ancestor had fought to the death to reach, yet never stepped upon—this little girl, muddle-headed, simply hugged it.

Shu Tiantian’s already precarious sanity melted away in that warmth. Finding a comfortable position, she hugged the dragon horn, rubbing against it like a cat, obediently nestling against the dragon’s neck.

Before coming, the Dragon Bone Sword had already prepared itself. Though it had nearly gone stupid from being locked in the box for so long, its bloodthirsty nature still stirred with excitement.

Was it Tianji Sect’s new successor, Chixiao? Some audacious Void Abyss fusion-stage demonic cultivator? Or someone from the upper realm, their greedy intentions undying?

—Until it saw Shu Tiantian lying beside the dragon horn, rubbing against and hugging the dragon’s head like a cat.

A tiny little bundle tightly hugging the dragon horn, her soft cheek pressed against it—an adorably naive figure, fragile as if a single poke could kill her… merely a Qi Refinement stage.

The Dragon Bone Sword sprang halfway out, dumbfounded: where was the Scarlet Flame Fire of the Scarlet Flame Flowers? Why wasn’t it burning her, burning, burning her?

The pale youth’s expression was as still as water. His black hair moved without wind. The sword left its sheath, and faintly, the sound of a dragon’s roar could be heard.

He recognized her.

Audacious beyond measure, courting death without knowing it.

Though he did not know why she was not being burned by the Scarlet Flame Flowers, there was no need to investigate further—she was going to die anyway.

The Dragon Bone Sword looked at that side profile, so beautiful it dazzled the eyes. The little medical cultivator leaned obediently beside the dragon horn like a snowflake, and even the sword could not bear it.

Yet the pale youth drew the Dragon Bone Sword. The gleaming tip pointed straight at her nose, his expression nothing but cold bloodlust.

Shu Tiantian had experienced a day full of shock and fright. Once she fell into deep sleep beside the warm dragon, she could not wake up for quite a while. Vaguely, it felt as if there had been an earthquake—perhaps even the earth splitting apart—but she was far too sleepy and simply did not open her eyes.

Sleeping sweetly and deeply, Tiantian did not know she had nearly been assassinated. She knew even less that, before the youth arrived, the instant her hand touched the dragon horn, the great formation had already been completed, and the Heaven-and-Earth contract had been established.

The sinful dragon had intended to kill her, but the Tianji Sect’s grand ancestor back then had been too cunning. The formation was complete, the contract already set. Though this contract could not command the sinful dragon, the sinful dragon naturally could not harm her in the slightest. Even if this person died, the sinful dragon’s heart meridians would suffer severe trauma.

Though the sinful dragon had once stirred heaven and earth, looking at his barely breathing true form now, one could tell his condition was extremely poor. He could only take human form and move with his primordial spirit. If his heart meridians suffered another severe blow this time, no one knew what might happen.

Thousands of years ago, he had slaughtered the Tianji Sect’s grand ancestor without blinking. Thousands of years later, with his true form barely alive here, he was actually unable to do anything to a mere little medical cultivator.

Those red-gold eyes, furious to the extreme, curved into a smile instead. Blood from the backlash seeped from the corner of his mouth, dripping down along his wide sleeve.

As for why this little Qi Refinement cultivator could approach the Scarlet Flame Flowers, the moment he drew near her, the youth already knew the reason.

Pale lashes lifted, and in those golden eyes was only ferocity.

He suddenly rose, laughing from extreme anger—his laughter chilling to the bone.

“A Heavenly Yin body. Good. Very good.”

The only thing in the world that could avoid the Scarlet Flame Heavenly Fire was a Heavenly Yin body—and she just happened to be wearing Tianji Sect robes.

That old undying Tianji Sect grand ancestor—what meticulous scheming.

His disciple’s disciple, Chixiao—what meticulous scheming.

The Dragon Bone Sword had always known its master was somewhat mad, but it had never seen him this enraged before. Trembling as it tried to retreat, it was seized by the hilt in that distinct, bony hand.

Schemes and calculations be damned—

A single sword strike that split mountains and tore earth apart. Sword qi swept away countless dust motes and living beings. The ground emitted a teeth-aching cracking sound as it split open, fracturing from the original point all the way to the Tianji Sect’s main gate a hundred li away!

The foundation split. The sect-protecting formation was forcibly torn open with a massive crack.

Immortal Lord Chixiao, calculating Shu Tiantian’s position, seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up—but in the next second, from the backlash of the sect-protecting formation, he violently spat out a mouthful of blood.

The compass fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, naturally destroying the calculated result as well.

He had awakened. Ji Wushu had awakened.

No one knew what had happened, but in this furious and ferocious manner, he threatened the entire cultivation world.

The Dragon Bone Sword buzzed with vibration, yet saw the sinful dragon turn and walk away with sword in hand.

The direction—of course—was toward the fusion-stage demonic cultivator within the Void Abyss.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

The Void Abyss had three great demonic cultivators at the Fusion stage who served as city lords, each occupying one of three great cities. Other forces, large and small, survived in the cracks between them.

Of course, that was only because above their heads loomed the Void Abyss’s old ancestor—Ji Wushu.

Ji Wushu had slept for twenty years; they had only dared to stir for twenty years.

It was only after Yuan Jingzhi, a protector of Ghost Domain City, was killed that everyone learned Ji Wushu had awakened.

From the moment Ji Wushu was disturbed awake last night, to today when they keenly sensed that the long-abandoned great formation seemed to show unusual movement, the three Fusion-stage demonic cultivators all grew restless—

They sharply realized that something seemed to have happened to Ji Wushu.

Before the great demon king, the three city lords who usually fought each other like hostile roosters sat together for the first time to discuss how to seize the opportunity.

It continued until just before dawn, when a knock sounded at the window.

The three great cultivators, already impatient, shouted in anger and blasted the window open—only to see Ji Wushu leaning against it.

The long-haired youth raised his head, his eyes filled with violent malice.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

When the sun was already high, Shu Tiantian finally woke up. That feeling of soaking in warm water had been so comfortable—Shu Tiantian stretched in satisfaction, only—

She kept feeling that something extraordinary had happened yesterday…

She lowered her head and was so startled by her position that she nearly fell off the dragon.

Shu Tiantian finally understood what that extraordinary thing was—last night, when the extreme cold of her Heavenly Yin constitution flared up, she had… crawled over and hugged the dragon.

After all, this dragon looked like the kind that could breathe fire. Shu Tiantian was not surprised.

She carefully climbed down from the dragon. While climbing down, she could not help placing her hand against a blood vessel somewhere on the dragon, trying to sense its meridians and breathing—but suddenly froze.

Its soul was shattered to pieces. Its meridians were shattered even worse. As for the condition of its sea of consciousness, Shu Tiantian did not dare probe it—but… there was no breath at all.

Whether using 21st-century medical knowledge or the instinct of a genius medical cultivator in the cultivation world, no matter how she looked at it, Shu Tiantian could only reach one conclusion: this dragon was most likely dead.

That made sense. Its soul was shattered into fragments, its meridians ruined beyond repair—its death seemed quite normal.

No wonder nothing happened when she slept hugging the dragon yesterday…

Shu Tiantian did not feel afraid—only a bit sad. A dragon… this was a pure Eastern dragon, more beautiful than any dragon she had seen in totems or films. The feeling was like seeing a national treasure giant panda pass away.

After thinking for a moment, she walked around nearby, picked several white daisies, and walked toward the dragon’s corpse.

By the time the Dragon Bone Sword pinned one of the Fusion-stage city lords to a pillar, demonic cultivators were already strewn across the ground. These demonic cultivators had committed every evil imaginable—yet they had provoked someone even more wicked.

The three Fusion-stage city lords were no match for Ji Wushu. Yet Ji Wushu simply refused to kill them.

They were furious, in pain, resentful—but completely helpless.

For hundreds of years, Ji Wushu had watched them like raising venomous insects—cruelly yet with interest—as they repeatedly tried to kill him. He never delivered the final blow, only watched them slaughter each other.

The Void Abyss had always been like hell itself. Countless times, demonic cultivators had tried to replace Ji Wushu, yet every attempt ended in failure.

This time was no different.

—No, perhaps it was different. Because this time, Ji Wushu was truly enraged.

They were terrified, believing Ji Wushu had discovered their attempt to tamper with that great formation—to brazenly try to treat Ji Wushu as their own natal spirit beast and command him.

They had all thought that this time might be different—perhaps Ji Wushu had finally grown tired of this game and would completely end everything. Yet under their fearful gazes—

Ji Wushu, walking through pools of blood with his sword turning in his hand, that utterly complete demon—

Beside his long black hair, by his ear, there was an extra delicate white flower.

First one flower, then two… until finally it became a wreath.

…?

And in the end, amid everyone’s horrified and utterly baffled expressions, at the center of the wreath, a small white cloth draped down to cover it.

On it were written large characters:

In mourning.