The air at the peak of Wuhen Cliff was colder than any mortal wind—dead still, as though even nature held its breath.
Crown Prince Longxuan landed on the craggy ridge, sword in hand. What he saw froze him in place.
Lin Xuanji(Mo Tianzun) stood near the edge, his white robe torn and soaked with blood. His hair was tangled, face pale from exhaustion and injury. Before him, Deity Liu Shengjie's blade hovered just a finger's width from Xuanji's heart.
"You—shouldn't love him, my Prince!" Liu Shengjie snarled, not yet noticing Longxuan had arrived. His voice echoed through the mountain like thunder. "This isn't Lin Xuanji! This is Mo Tianzun! The Demon Lord soul transfered in another body!"
Xuanji didn't move.
His eyes, once proud and unreadable, were wide with something like dread—but not from the blade at his chest. No… it was the fear of what Longxuan would say next.
The Crown Prince took a step forward.
And did nothing.
Not a single twitch of surprise. Not a single gasp.
Just silence.
Xuanji's heart cracked.
'He knows…?'
Shengjie whipped around, finally sensing Longxuan's presence. "You knew?" he hissed, eyes narrowing. "You knew, and you still followed him?"
Longxuan didn't answer.
He only looked at Xuanji.
"I did," he said at last, softly, as though offering a truth long buried. "And I stayed."
Shengjie's breath caught.
Xuanji's knees trembled.
The world seemed to tilt.
"You fool," Shengjie spat, his voice laced with disbelief and fury. "He will destroy you. He will destroy everything! He is the source of the chaos that once split heaven and hell!"
He gritted his teeth, fingers tightening on the hilt. "Fine."
"If you won't listen—then watch."
With a sudden surge of divine strength, Liu Shengjie shoved his blade into Xuanji's abdomen—not deep enough to kill, but enough to stagger him.
And then—he pushed.
"No—!" Longxuan cried, lunging forward.
But it was too late.
Lin Xuanji fell backward over the edge, blood trailing behind him like a ribbon of red silk in the wind.
His eyes never left Longxuan's.
And Longxuan's scream shattered the silence.
"XUANJI!"
The cliffs were known as Wuhen—Without Trace. Infinite depth. A cursed canyon where time bent and nothing returned. Ghosts howled below. Beasts writhed in the dark. And a barrier around its edge made descending after someone impossible—one could neither fly down nor climb out.
Hewas gone.
Gone.
"No—nono—" Longxuan dropped to his knees at the edge, fists pounding the stone, eyes wild. "Xuanji… Xuanji…!"
But then—
A new voice spoke behind him.
Cold.
Authoritative.
"Son."
Longxuan turned his head slowly.
Standing tall in crimson robes, imperial seal gleaming on his chest, was the Emperor himself.
His father.
"I did not expect my heir to love a demon," the Emperor said calmly, though his eyes burned with anger and disgust. "Is this the disgrace you bring to the throne?"
Longxuan stood, sword trembling in his hand.
"Father—he's not—!"
"He's the Demon Lord," the Emperor snapped. "And now the world will fall into chaos again because you allowed him to live."
And behind the Emperor, Liu Shengjie stood calmly.
A satisfied smirk touched his lips.
Everything was falling into place.
The Crown Prince would be stripped of trust.
The world would fear the return of Mo Tianzun.
And Liu Shengjie, revered by the deities, would rise even higher.
Just a few more years, he thought, gripping the sleeve where a faint ritual mark had begun to glow beneath his skin. A few more years… and this world will kneel to me. All of them.
He closed his eyes and heard the sound of thunder in the distance.
But not even thunder could match the storm now forming in Longxuan's heart.