I died young at the start, but I'm reincarnated with unlimited skill points!

"Did you see that?"

Deep within the illusion, a whisper, seemingly formed from his own voice, echoed softly.

"This is what you call 'protection'?"

"You remain in your prime, while they grow old and die one by one."

"You stand on the clouds looking down on all living beings, but beneath your feet are one lonely grave after another that you built with your own hands."

The voice grew closer and more seductive.

"The path to immortality is a road paved with the bones of one's closest relatives."

"This shattered world, this dam on the verge of collapse, this Abyss Lord on the verge of restoration—what will you use to protect it?"

"Let it go."

"With your insight into the light beyond the boundary and your cultivation at the Great Perfection of the First Grade Golden Core, you might find a glimmer of hope by traveling west to live in seclusion."

"Why bother sacrificing yourself for a bunch of ants that will eventually die?"

In the illusion, the lonely graves scattered all over the ground suddenly cracked open, transforming into hands reaching out to him, as if trying to hold him back, or as if demanding his life.

Even the most steadfast cultivators, upon reaching this place, would likely waver in their resolve and succumb to demonic possession amidst the grief of losing loved ones and the endless loneliness.

However, Su Yu simply stood there quietly.

He neither swung his sword to shatter these illusions nor argued with the seductive voice.

He simply looked over calmly.

I've seen Su Cheng's relieved and contented smile on his deathbed, I've seen Song Qingwan pass away with a smile on a snowy day, I've seen Qing'er's peace, and I've seen Lin Xiu's contentment.

As I watched, a slight smile slowly crept into his usually calm eyes.

You're right.

Su Yu finally spoke, his voice not loud, but it made the entire turbulent illusion pause.

"This road was indeed paved with the bones of our closest relatives."

"I have buried the old people of the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, the wives and concubines of the Qianlong Su family, and my proudest eldest son."

"I have watched generation after generation being born before me and dying before me."

He raised his head, meeting the outstretched, withered hands reaching towards him, his expression serene and without a trace of gloom.

"But you miscalculated something."

"I have never regretted loving them because they will die."

As soon as those words were spoken, the withered hands that were about to claim lives suddenly froze in mid-air.

"Seung-ah's life was as brilliant as a shooting star. She died smiling, without regrets."

"She managed the household well for most of her life, and she passed away with a smile on her face, without any regrets."

"Each of them lived to the fullest extent possible within the limits I could give them."

Su Yu slowly took a step forward, stepping over that lonely grave.

His steps were extremely light, yet it seemed as if he had stepped on the Achilles' heel of his inner demons.

"I have been to this world, loved the best people in this world, buried them, and said goodbye to them."

"This is not a shackle on my path to immortality."

His gaze transcended the illusion, as if piercing through layers of clouds, and landed on that real and broken world, yet still worth protecting.

"This is the thing that Su Yu, who has lived four lifetimes, would never want to lose."

No regrets.

Two words, falling lightly.

But it was like a thunderclap, exploding loudly throughout the entire illusion of inner demons.

"Buzz—!"

The lonely graves scattered across the ground, the withered hands filling the sky, the seductive whispers.

Faced with Su Yu's serene and enlightened composure, everything melted away like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun, utterly powerless.

Inner demons are simply demons within the heart.

It can amplify your fears, tear open your scars, and exploit your obsessions.

But it could not do anything to a heart that had accepted all regrets and reluctance, yet still chose to move forward with a smile.

Su Yu's state of mind, having experienced the carefree spirit of his first life as a martial arts legend, the forbearance of his second life as a ninth-rank inferior being, and the sedimentation and accumulation of his third life of reincarnation, has long been as profound as an abyss and as vast as the sea.

For him, this was less of a tribulation and more of a retrospective experience.

And just as the inner demons completely dissolved.

Deep within Su Yu's true spirit, that already enlightened state of mind quietly rose another level during this reflection on facing the life and death of his loved ones.

[With a pure and untainted heart, one can break free from attachments even in the face of death for loved ones.]

[Mood +3.]

The cold, mechanical sound flashed through the depths of my soul.

The illusion shattered completely, and Su Yu slowly opened his eyes.

High above, the dark thunderclouds, after the last inner demon tribulation dissipated, finally let out a reluctant roar and slowly dispersed in all directions.

The wind stopped, and the rain ceased.

A vast vortex of spiritual energy descended from above his head.

The overwhelming spiritual energy of heaven and earth, mixed with the power of prayers rising from the human world, surged wildly into his body like rivers flowing into the sea.

Within his dantian, the perfect golden elixir of humanity, under the dual infusion of heaven and earth and all living beings, finally shattered and was reshaped!

A cyan nascent soul, sitting cross-legged with features identical to his, slowly rose from the shattered core.

Nascent Soul, complete!

From the mundane to the sacred.

Beneath the capital, countless mortals gazing at the celestial phenomena erupted in thunderous cheers.

They had no idea what was happening in the sky, but instinctively they bowed down in the direction of the imperial city, offering their most sincere blessings to their emperor who had reigned over the world for two hundred years.

Strands of faith, following the unseen cause and effect, lingered around Su Yu.

Su Yu hovered in the heavens, looking down at the human world below that was cheering for him.

If it were anyone else, they would be feeling triumphant and self-satisfied at this moment, looking down on the world.

But there was no joy in Su Yu's eyes.

He slowly raised his head and looked in the direction of the boundary wall covered by wind and snow.

So what if it's a Nascent Soul?

He knew better than anyone that for a Nascent Soul cultivator to face the Lord of the Void Refining Abyss was like an ant trying to shake a tree, or an egg striking a rock.

And the barrier that sealed off the boundary was loosening day by day.

The sleeping Lord of the Abyss is awakening inch by inch.

He looked down at the newly formed Nascent Soul in his palm, then gazed at the peaceful and prosperous world he had painstakingly built inch by inch over two hundred years.

The wind and snow howled, blowing his long, black hair.

"Even reaching the Nascent Soul stage isn't enough."

Su Yu exhaled a breath, which condensed into a fleeting wisp of white mist in the cold wind of the heavens.

"I don't have much time left."

"I can't get that far on my own..."

He stood with his hands behind his back on the clouds, his gaze calm and profound, as if trying to find a path that no one had ever walked before between this vast world and the masses of people below.

That night, news of Emperor Su Yu's successful tribulation and the completion of his Nascent Soul stage spread throughout the world.

The whole country rejoiced.

But no one knew that at the moment their human emperor ascended to the pinnacle of the holy realm...

What he was thinking about was how to break the deadlock by defeating a Void Refinement expert two levels above him.