Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Deep within the withered roots of the sycamore tree, a faint light appeared.

The light was weak, even somewhat dim.

A seed slowly emerges.

It was grayish-white all over, with cracks all over its surface, making it look like a dead seed.

But Gu Xiang heard the sound.

thump.

thump.

That was the sound of a heartbeat.

The seed was pulsating, resonating with the same frequency as the exquisite heart within Gu Xiang's chest.

Su Qing stared at the seed.

Her hands were shaking.

This was the last chance for survival left by the Phoenix Emperors, and also her and Gu Xiang's only hope to live.

An aged voice boomed in their minds.

The voice was hollow, indistinguishable between male and female, carrying only endless vicissitudes.

"Nirvana is the attainment of life through death."

"To be reborn, one must sever ties with old ways."

"The Confucian scholar has lost all his noble spirit, and the fox demon has shattered his thousand-year-old elixir."

"Only by transforming into a mortal body can one bear the power of Nirvana and be reborn."

Gu Xiang's hand froze in mid-air.

Su Qing's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Dissipate all cultivation?

To become a mortal?

The sound continued to echo.

"You have to give up something to gain something."

"If one covets this extraordinary ability, one can only cling to this withered tree and turn to dust together."

Gu Xiang slowly withdrew his hand.

He stood up straight, his tattered bright red wedding robe fluttering in the wind.

He smiled.

His smile was extremely cold.

"absurd."

Gu Xiang uttered these two words.

He pointed to the churning black mist overhead and the dark, shadowy figure that blotted out the sky in the distance.

"Outside, there are gods and Buddhas everywhere, as well as demons and monsters."

"You want me to disperse my righteous energy so that her demon core will shatter?"

"Having become a mortal, how will I survive?"

"What can we use to stop that phoenix that devours the heavens?"

"What will you use to protect my wife?"

The aged voice paused for a moment, then rang out again.

"That's the way of Heaven."

"No destruction, no construction."

"Go to hell with the laws of heaven."

Gu Xiang cursed.

He was a scholar and used to be very particular about etiquette.

But ever since he became prime minister and witnessed the cannibalistic nature of the world, he has only believed in the principles at hand.

Might makes right.

Cultivation is the essence of reason.

Without cultivation, one doesn't even have the right to kneel and beg for survival.

"I, Gu Xiang, have spent my whole life studying and have cultivated a noble spirit."

"So that I won't kneel to heaven or earth, and can protect the people around me."

"If I have to become a cripple just to survive, then I'd rather not have this life."

Gu Xiang took a step forward.

His heart, which had seven orifices in its chest, was pounding wildly.

Golden blood surged through the veins, producing a roaring sound like a rushing river.

"Since it's a dead seed, I'll use this heart to force it to mature."

He raised his hand and pressed his palm against the grayish-white seed.

With righteous indignation mixed with his heart's blood, he recklessly poured it into the seed.

sizzle.

A wisp of blue smoke rose from the surface of the seed.

It is resisting.

A deathly stillness surged forth from the seed, creeping up Gu Xiang's arm.

Gu Xiang's arm instantly withered, and her skin turned ashen, as if it had lost all its moisture.

"Gu Xiang! Stop!"

Su Qing screamed.

Her crimson-gold vertical pupils were fixed on the seed.

Su Qing pushed Gu Xiang away.

She stood in front of Gu Xiang, and the nine tails behind her instantly exploded.

"Are you out of your mind?! Don't you even know this is a trap?!"

"Get out of the way."

Gu Xiang got up from the ground.

His withered arm was trembling slightly, but his eyes remained unchanged.

"We have no other way out."

"The phoenix is ​​watching, the heavens are watching."

"I have no choice but to gamble."

"I bet my heart is harder than his demonic energy."

Gu Xiang reached out his hand again.

Su Qing suddenly turned around and grabbed Gu Xiang's wrist.

Her fingernails dug deep into Gu Xiang's flesh.

"no."

"You are the prime minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and you bear the lives of countless people on your shoulders."

"If this is a trap, then I'll be the one to take it."

A crimson-gold flame ignited on Su Qing's body.

That is the Phoenix True Fire.

It is also the primordial fire of the Celestial Fox clan.

She was willing to use her own life to refine that seed.

"I am a demon, with thick skin and flesh."

"It won't burn me to death."

As Su Qing spoke, she reached out to grab the seed.

She had only stretched her hand halfway out when Gu Xiang stopped her.

Gu Xiang grabbed her waist and held her tightly in his arms.

"What are you doing!"

Su Qing struggled.

"Don't move."

Gu Xiang lowered his head.

His lips pressed against Su Qing's lips.

There is no beauty.

There was no tenderness.

Only a resolute decision is possible.

An immense and terrifying life force surged wildly into Su Qing's body through their intertwined lips and teeth.

That was Gu Xiang's noble spirit.

That was the power he gained by overdrawing his seven-aperture exquisite mind and his lifespan for the rest of his life.

"Hmm!"

Su Qing's eyes widened.

She wanted to push him away.

But Gu Xiang was holding on too tightly.

Iron arms like hoops.

"If we're going to be reborn, let's do it together."

Gu Xiang opened his mouth and pressed his forehead against Su Qing's forehead.

His face was as white as paper, and his hair was turning yellow and falling out at a visible rate.

"I'll give you my life."

"Burn it with fire."

"We are husband and wife, one. We will die together, and we will live together."

Su Qing's tears flowed down her cheeks.

She sensed it.

The life force within Gu Xiang's body was rapidly draining away, while a constant stream of life force was being poured into her body.

That idiot.

They're really working their hardest.

"it is good."

Su Qing gritted her teeth and uttered the word.

She no longer resisted.

She mobilized all the power within her body, along with the righteous energy that Gu Xiangdu had brought over, and transformed it all into Phoenix True Fire.

boom!

Crimson-gold flames rose from their bodies.

The flames engulfed the grayish-white seed.

Zizizi!

Black smoke billowed from the seed, accompanied by a mournful scream.

That was the wailing of the demonic thoughts left behind by "Phoenix".

……

Outside Luofengpo.

It was completely dark.

It wasn't night.

They are wings.

Countless strange black birds burst out from the black mist.

They look like phoenixes, but their bodies are covered in rotting flesh and their feathers are as black as ink.

That was a black phoenix transformed from a vengeful spirit.

It is the army of "Phoenix".

"kill!"

A cold command echoed from the void.

The Black Phoenix army swooped down, heading straight for the defensive perimeter where Shenmu was located.

"My goodness!"

Tu Ling lay on the ground, clutching the broken seal tightly in his hand.

A layer of earthen-yellow light covered the ground, protecting an area of ​​about 100 feet in radius.

boom! boom! boom!

The black phoenix crashed into the light shield and exploded into wisps of black smoke.

The light shield trembled violently, and it was covered with cracks.

The earth spirit was bleeding from all seven orifices.

It's a radish that's become a spirit; it's never seen anything like this before.

"Big sister! Brother-in-law!"

"I can't hold on any longer!"

"Those beasts are too vicious!"

The earth spirit howled and spat out another mouthful of blood essence onto the seal.

The light shield lit up for a moment, then quickly dimmed.

A huge black phoenix broke through the black mist.

Its claws gleamed with a cold light as it fiercely clawed at the top of the light shield.

Click.

The light shield shattered.

The earth spirit screamed in agony as it was blasted away by the backlash and crashed heavily into the mud.

It reverted to its original form.

A large radish, its leaves all wilted and its body covered in cracks.

"It's over..."

Tu Ling closed his eyes in despair.

The black phoenix's claws were already above its head.

Just then.

A golden light shone from beneath the sacred tree.

……

Beneath the sacred tree.

Gu Xiang's body was so withered that it was unrecognizable.

He was like a skeleton in human skin.

But his eyes were frighteningly bright.

He looked at the seed bobbing in the flames.

The demonic energy has been almost completely burned away.

But the seeds still showed no signs of germinating.

It is waiting.

After Gu Xiang dissipated the last trace of his cultivation.

"The benevolent person loves others."

Gu Xiang suddenly spoke.

His voice was hoarse, yet it possessed a penetrating quality.

"I read the books of sages and worthies to learn how to govern the country and bring peace to the world."

"Benevolence is not weakness."

"Benevolence is invincible."

"I don't need to dissipate my power."

"Because my path is for all living beings."

Gu Xiang suddenly reached out and grabbed the scalding hot seed.

He did not press the seeds into the soil.

Instead, he pressed it into his own chest.

It was pressed into that exquisitely beautiful heart.

"Take the heart as the soil."

"The people are the water."

"Open it!"

Gu Xiang roared.

Direction of the capital city.

Countless faint white lights rose up.

That is the power of will.

It is the prayer of millions of people in the capital.

It was the roar of 300,000 soldiers in the North.

This is what the villagers of Gujia Village have been hoping for.

Gu Xiang saved the capital and guarded the nation's borders.

Now, the cause and effect have come back to haunt us.

The white light traveled thousands of miles and instantly converged on Luofeng Slope.

They passed through the black mist, through the flames, and burrowed into Gu Xiang's body.

Boom!

A loud bang.

Gu Xiang's emaciated body instantly filled out.

That's not the restoration of flesh and blood.

It is a golden statue.

Golden lines spread along his veins, covering his entire body.

The seed of Nirvana that was pressed against his chest cracked open.

There were no green shoots.

Only light.

Pure golden light.

The light flowed along Gu Xiang's arm and toward Su Qing.

Su Qing looked up.

A loud phoenix cry rang out from her mouth.

hold head high--!

The nine fox tails behind her vanished instantly.

Instead, a pair of enormous wings appeared.

Wings of crimson gold.

Each feather shimmered with a molten lava-like luster.

Those are the wings of a true phoenix.

It's not a phantom.

It is a physical entity.

Su Qing's aura began to surge.

Casting the tripod, transforming into a form, penetrating the mystery, the Great Sage...

They advanced with unstoppable momentum.

They only stopped when they reached the threshold of the quasi-emperor.

She opened her eyes.

The original vertical pupils disappeared, replaced by a pair of majestic phoenix eyes.

She looked at Gu Xiang.

Gu Xiang was also looking at her.

The two held hands tightly.

Golden light erupted from them in all directions.

boom!

The light swept across.

Those black phoenixes that rushed in didn't even have time to scream before they turned into ashes.

The black mist was torn apart.

The long-lost starry sky was revealed.

Tu Ling lay in the mud pit, staring blankly at the scene.

It saw that the scholar was radiating golden light, like a god.

It saw the older woman, with wings spread behind her, exuding an air of unparalleled nobility.

"Goodness..."

Tu Ling swallowed hard.

"This time we've really latched onto a powerful patron."

The light dissipated.

The sacred tree has regained its vitality.

The withered yellow tree trunks turned back to green, and tender leaves sprouted from the branches.

Gu Xiang let go.

That seed of Nirvana has disappeared.

It merged with the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart, and also with Su Qing's demon core.

From then on.

You have me I have you.

Our destinies are intertwined; we will meet again in life and death.

Gu Xiang looked down at his hands.

Her skin was as clear and smooth as jade, shimmering with a faint golden light.

His noble spirit remains.

And things have changed.

It has become more substantial and more domineering.

"phoenix."

Gu Xiang looked up and gazed westward.

His gaze seemed to pierce through thousands of miles, and he appeared to see the figure sitting on the coffin.

"This round."

"I won."

【Green Jade Table - Nirvana】

Withered roots, cold ashes, and dead; hear the demonic words, urging one to abandon.

A loyal heart burns like a raging fire.

A raging storm, black feathers, a loyal minister and a wicked son, vowing to defy the heavens.

A golden light soared into the sky, and the phoenix wings spread wide to sweep away demons and monsters.

With united will, we can achieve great things.

We were born and died together, our hearts were connected, and this hatred must eventually be washed away.