The sky shattered.
Not like glass.
Like reality itself had been torn apart.
Golden cracks spread across the heavens above Qingyun Sect, revealing an endless darkness beyond.
Every cultivator on the mountain looked upward in terror.
Bai Yue lowered her sword.
“No…”
Her voice was barely audible.
“The Fifth Seal.”
Lin Xue stood at the center of the mountain.
The Soul Lotus floated above his wrist.
All ten petals were open.
Golden light surrounded him and Mo Yuan, connecting their souls with a single luminous thread.
The Creator stared at them.
His expression had completely changed.
“You shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
Lin Xue looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because the tenth petal requires two souls to willingly surrender their fate to each other.”
His eyes narrowed.
“And Heaven never allows that.”
Mo Yuan stepped forward.
“Then Heaven has a problem.”
The Creator’s gaze turned cold.
“You think this is victory?”
“No.”
Mo Yuan raised his sword.
“We think it’s a beginning.”
The Creator laughed.
A terrifying wave of darkness exploded from his body.
The mountain shook.
Trees were uprooted.
Stone buildings cracked.
Several disciples were thrown from the courtyard.
“Protect the disciples!” Elder Shen shouted.
Bai Yue immediately raised her sword.
A silver barrier appeared around the lower sect.
Lin Xue looked at Mo Yuan.
“We need to move him away from the sect.”
Mo Yuan nodded.
“Agreed.”
The Creator heard them.
“You think distance will save them?”
He raised his hand.
The darkness followed.
Lin Xue lifted his palm.
Golden light collided with it.
BOOM!
The impact sent both forces across the mountain.
Lin Xue stumbled.
Mo Yuan caught his shoulder.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
Lin Xue smiled.
“You’re starting to sound like me.”
“I’ve had a good teacher.”
Lin Xue almost laughed.
Even now.
In the middle of chaos.
Mo Yuan could still make him smile.
The Creator watched them.
His expression darkened.
“You still laugh.”
Lin Xue looked at him.
“Shouldn’t I?”
“After everything you’ve remembered?”
“Especially after everything I’ve remembered.”
The Creator stared at him.
“You remember the first life.”
“Yes.”
“You remember the ninth.”
“Yes.”
“Then you remember what happens when you choose him.”
Lin Xue’s smile disappeared.
“You die.”
“And he follows.”
Mo Yuan answered calmly.
“Not this time.”
“Then prove it.”
The sky darkened.
Thousands of black blades formed above them.
They fell.
Mo Yuan stepped forward.
A massive golden wolf appeared behind him.
It roared.
The blades shattered against its body.
Lin Xue raised both hands.
The Soul Lotus expanded.
Ten enormous petals spread across the sky.
Every falling blade disappeared.
The Creator stared upward.
“You’re using the Lotus itself.”
Lin Xue nodded.
“Because it’s mine.”
“No.”
The Creator’s voice became furious.
“It belongs to the first soul.”
Lin Xue looked at him.
“Then perhaps you should ask that soul.”
The Soul Lotus suddenly pulsed.
A voice echoed from within it.
Lin Xue’s own voice.
“I choose.”
The Creator froze.
Another voice followed.
Mo Yuan’s.
“I choose.”
The golden thread became brighter.
Then the two voices merged.
“We choose each other.”
The entire mountain fell silent.
Something changed.
The crimson seals appearing across the sky began to crack.
One.
Two.
Three.
The remaining heavenly seals trembled.
The Creator stepped backward.
“No.”
Lin Xue stared.
“What are you afraid of?”
“The end.”
“For yourself?”
“For everything.”
The Creator looked toward the sky.
“The seals aren’t merely prisons.”
“They hold the boundary between realms.”
“If they break…”
Lin Xue’s expression changed.
“What happens?”
“Heaven falls.”
“And the mortal world falls with it.”
Silence.
Lin Xue looked at Mo Yuan.
Mo Yuan looked back.
Neither spoke.
Then Bai Yue suddenly shouted from the mountain peak.
“Lin Xue!”
He looked up.
“Don’t break the seals!”
“Bind them!”
Lin Xue’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Bai Yue pointed toward the Soul Lotus.
“The tenth petal isn’t meant to destroy the seals!”
“It’s meant to rewrite them!”
Lin Xue understood.
The Soul Lotus wasn’t a weapon.
It was a key.
A bridge.
A way to change the rules without destroying the world.
He closed his eyes.
The Lotus responded.
Golden light spread through his entire body.
He could feel countless souls.
Every life.
Every memory.
Every version of himself.
Mo Yuan.
Always.
He reached toward that connection.
Then whispered,
“I choose freedom.”
The Lotus released a wave of golden light.
The seals stopped cracking.
Instead, their crimson color slowly changed.
Red became gold.
The black fissure in the sky began closing.
The Creator stared upward in disbelief.
“You changed the laws.”
Lin Xue opened his eyes.
“No.”
He looked at Mo Yuan.
“We did.”
The Creator lowered his head.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
A strangely peaceful smile.
“Then perhaps…”
“…I can finally rest.”
His body began dissolving into golden dust.
Lin Xue’s eyes widened.
“Wait.”
The Creator looked at him.
“Why are you disappearing?”
“Because I was never meant to exist after you awakened.”
“You’re part of me.”
Lin Xue stepped forward.
“Then come back.”
The Creator shook his head.
“I cannot.”
“Why?”
“Because someone must remain outside the cycle.”
He looked toward Mo Yuan.
“Protect him.”
Mo Yuan nodded.
“I will.”
The Creator smiled.
Then he looked at Lin Xue.
“And this time…”
“Live.”
His body disappeared.
The sky became clear.
The mountain stopped shaking.
The Soul Lotus slowly returned to Lin Xue’s wrist.
Silence.
Then—
A soft golden petal drifted from the sky.
It landed in Lin Xue’s palm.
Words appeared.
Five seals remain.
Lin Xue stared.
His expression changed.
“Five?”
Mo Yuan looked at the message.
“The Fifth Seal was awakened.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are there still five?”
Lin Xue slowly looked toward the horizon.
Because he finally understood.
The Fifth Seal had not been destroyed.
It had been transformed.
And if five remained…
Then the first four had only been the beginning.
Far beyond the mountains, five ancient stars appeared.
One by one.
Their light connected.
Forming the shape of a lotus.
Bai Yue’s face went pale.
“The Heavenly War…”
Lin Xue turned.
“What war?”
She looked at him.
“The war that ended the previous age.”
“It has begun again.”
Mo Yuan stepped beside Lin Xue.
This time, there was no hesitation.
Whatever awaited them…
They would face it together.