"Happy to oblige."
Danya, clad in a cyan robes of light and soft fabric, raised his hand, and the sleeves billowed as wind poured into them. A cloud-thunder sword crackling with electricity appeared in his grasp.
Whether Danya’s words were sincere or not, Gu Junshi was indifferent.
All schemes and stratagems, or clandestine maneuvers, were but paper tigers before absolute strength.
Leaving Danya to deal with the Human Emperor, Gu Junshi flickered into the sky.
At this moment, the sky was heavy, threatening rain. The dark, overcast sky was as deep as an abyss, and the thick Yin energy had transmuted the thin air into something dense, cold, and oppressive.
In the boundless expanse above, she continued to control the "Yellow Springs Gate" to open.
Previously, Gu Junshi had exerted all her strength but could not open the "Yellow Springs Gate" even halfway. This was because the "Yellow Springs Gate" was no ordinary object. It was not a spirit artifact, nor a celestial artifact. It was a transit channel that transcended the six realms. By rights, only the power of a Nether God could activate it.
However, because she had abandoned her mortal flesh and reforged herself into a body of blue flame and Netherbone, she was able to command the "Yellow Springs Gate."
It was simply that her cultivation was still too shallow. Until now, she could only use the "Yellow Springs Gate" as a prop and could not unleash its true purpose.
After killing her husband to achieve enlightenment, her cultivation reached its zenith. She finally broke through the last hurdle of the Great Path of Heartless Cultivation. Although the "Heavenly Gate" had not opened, and this realm was sealed due to the Demon God, preventing ascension, the heavenly lightning arrived as scheduled, finally transforming her completely into a half-immortal body.
She knew that originally the Demon God intended to rely on the demon race to slowly devour the power of this realm to strengthen itself. In simple terms, it wished to gradually consume this small world, recover its suppressed power, and ultimately escape from the interstice between the two realms.
But Gu Junshi did not intend to play the game of "boiling a frog in warm water" with it. She used this opportunity of ascension to attract the Nine Heavens Violet Lightning to break through the realm and summon a vast amount of celestial energy. This celestial power was meant to temper her marrow and bones for ascension to the immortal realm, but since she could not ascend now, she decided to scatter it as an offering.
With this immense spiritual and celestial power, the Demon God only needed to accept it with grace.
However, even so, the Demon God could not completely fill that void. But with such a good opportunity for escape now presented, it would not be foolish to pass it up.
Indeed, as Gu Junshi had predicted, the Demon God sensed that the seal between the two realms had begun to loosen. It had been imprisoned for far too long, like seeing a ray of light in the darkness. It could no longer have a calm and rational mind to distinguish between fortune and misfortune.
Thus, sensing the situation, the True Demon made its choice. It immediately absorbed the demonic power of the demons in the Twenty-Eight Heavens, whose souls it had already marked, to supplement itself.
The demons residing in the Endless Sea suddenly had their demonic power utterly depleted. They never dreamed that their revered True Demon Lord would choose to sacrifice them so that it could leave that place of confinement.
Gu Junshi had also been closely observing all of this. She knew that what she had anticipated had happened without any surprises.
Calming her thoughts, she said, "When I was young, I often heard about dilemmas. In my ignorance, I struggled with whether it was more practical to sacrifice one person to save many, or more touching to save one person while ignoring the lives of others."
"And now, have you figured it out?"
Gu Er, within her consciousness space, asked her.
Gu Junshi thought for a moment and replied, "Later, I felt there was no need to trouble myself. Because those who generally face such problems have already had their choices seen through. If others cannot grasp your thoughts, who would gamble on a result that is guaranteed to lose?"
"But what if the other party intends to test you? Even if they can't be sure, they might still take a risk?"
"So, if it were me... I wouldn't give them even a chance to test."
Gu Junshi raised her eyes and looked upwards. Above, black vortices formed, separating the clouds from the firmament. In that dark and deep place, a colossal will, a force that seized all sound and movement, descended.
Within Fengdu City, everyone, regardless of their affiliation, trembled and froze.
That sense of death hovering overhead, that monstrous tsunami surging behind them, that feeling more terrifying and suffocating than any natural disaster, made them feel as insignificant as ants, utterly incapable of resisting the impending presence.
A phantom, it gradually materialized in the sky, incomparably powerful, like a hill, commanding wind and summoning lightning, holding the universe in its palm.
Ancient grand bells boomed, and they seemed to hear the sound of blood-red seas surging. The sky and earth were shrouded in gloom, and boundless, inexhaustible Yin winds howled, raising specters everywhere.
"Hahahaha... Thousands of years, the Heavenly Dao has imprisoned me for thousands of years, but you still cannot stop me from returning to the mortal world!"
What?! Has the Demon God truly been released?!
Everyone looked up at the sky in horror.
The current Demon God was still a mass of black mist whose contents were unclear. It had not taken human form, of course. As a demon, it did not need a human form; it could change itself at will.
Only the pair of massive, blood-red evil eyes indicated its identity. Within them were filled with malevolence, wickedness, and all negative emotions. If someone with shallow cultivation were to look upon them, they might fall into madness.
"Do not gaze directly!"
A sharp shout timely restrained many who wished to pry.
But there were also those who acted too quickly, who looked directly at the blood-red eyes without thinking.
Their pupils constricted, and in the next second, their faces contorted in pain, veins bulging. They clutched their heads and wailed, then lost their minds and fell into extreme confusion. Those beside them, seeing the situation, immediately struck them unconscious, but they themselves broke out in a cold sweat.
"Did you help me escape from the two realms?"
At this moment, a divine sense, domineering and powerful, locked onto Gu Junshi.
Gu Junshi's expression stiffened. She could feel that the Demon God had not fully escaped yet, nor had its power recovered to its true level. But even so, the Demon God was still more formidable than she had anticipated.
She composed herself, cupped her hands, and said, "Yes. Does the Demon God still remember me?"
The Demon God gazed at Gu Junshi with its blood-red eyes, filled with killing intent, for a moment, and then saw through her origins and experiences. She was ruthless and capable of great deeds.
Although it had always disdained and rejected those not of its kind, at this critical juncture, having such a capable helper was not a bad thing.
"You... the only female cultivator in the past thousand years to achieve ascension, so it is you."
Gu Junshi smiled faintly, "It is I."
"Killing your husband to achieve enlightenment, and killing the Son of the Heavenly Dao at that, you are indeed a talent worth nurturing, hahahaha..." The Demon God's rampant laughter echoed like thunder in the ears of all beings across the realms.
This statement sounded somewhat familiar.
Gu Junshi: "..."
"You are not of the demon race, why do you assist me? Do you know that this small world cannot withstand my power? If my true body descends to this realm, all life force within it will be devoured by me."
She knew how to answer this question.
"What does this realm have to do with me? I was originally meant to ascend to the upper realm. If I am favored and guided by the Demon God, then whether it is the immortal realm or the demon realm, Junshi is indifferent." She said humbly.
The Demon God stared intently at Gu Junshi. "You are indeed different from ordinary female cultivators. Your heart is hard and your lungs are cold. Both husband and child can become stepping stones for your ambition. It is a pity you are not a demon."
Gu Junshi’s expression remained unchanged. "Thank you for your praise, Demon God. Those who accomplish great things are not bound by trivialities. Excessive emotional ties only hinder my progress in realizing my aspirations. Now that everything is settled, Junshi wishes only to serve the Demon God wholeheartedly."
"Gu Junshi—"
A shrill female voice, filled with hatred, exploded nearby. Rulan, bathed in blood, her eyes blazing red, glared fiercely at her.
"You have actually allied yourself with the demon race! You killed my brother! For ascension, you abandoned the lives of your husband and child. And now you want to destroy the six realms for this demon. Why have you become like this?"
"Ah, it's you."
Gu Junshi glanced over and quickly remembered Rulan.
"We are on different paths. What problem is there in following the Demon God?"
"What path are you cultivating?! Are you even human?!"
Facing her hysterical roar, Gu Junshi calmly replied, "I am clearly no longer human."
"When my brother was very young, he told me something. He said he came to this world for someone, but later when he grew up, he forgot about it. When I saw him again, he seemed changed. He told me he finally remembered that person."
"You know who that person is, but you killed him. You killed the one who knew you would bring disaster to the world, yet was still willing to believe you could change for the better."
Rulan, with tears welling up, choked out her words.
She did not know much, but there was one thing she was certain of.
Her brother, whose heart had originally contained only the common people and the great path of Buddhism, had, day by day, carved out the image of a person. It was completely etched into his heart, making it so that even if he meditated daily on liberation through detachment, on dependent origination and emptiness, and emptiness and dependent origination, he could not erase it.
"Change for the better?" Gu Junshi said, "I have always been this way. The good and bad in your eyes are not me, so how can I change according to your wishes?"
"Don't quibble. I admit I cannot argue with you, but today you must pay for my brother's life!"
Rulan’s long sash swept out, forming a sharp spiritual energy circle. But before it could approach Gu Junshi, it vanished.
At this moment, Lu Ziyin and Yan Tianjiao, their spiritual energy depleted, arduously broke through the defenses and arrived. Far behind them, following them, was Mu Nanxue, disguised as a ghost cultivator.
"Did you not say you would be loyal to me? Then let me see if you truly have no lingering attachment to this small world. These insignificant bugs from your past, resolve them with your own hands, and I will help you become a demon!"
The Demon God’s deep and chilling voice, besides making one's heart feel cold and tremble, also possessed a sinister seductiveness that could bewitch people.
"Run, she has now become an immortal. How can we possibly contend with her!" Lu Ziyin anxiously grabbed Rulan, trying to pull her away.
But Rulan stubbornly clenched her jaw, refusing to let go of her desire for revenge for her brother.
"I won't leave! I only regret being blind back then, thinking her character was as pure and noble as a orchid. In reality, she is a demon star, dark and poisonous!" Rulan cursed venomously.