[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete":3,"chapter-starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-98":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Starting from the Apocalypse, I Alone Severed Eternity",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2312480,4518,"Chapter 98: The Heart Demon Creates a World; The Sage","starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-98",98,"\u003Cp>Longyu Mountain, inside a guest room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi and Longyu True Person stood facing each other, both with white hair, one young, one ancient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person said: “Before returning, if you wish to leave this realm, you must understand its true nature.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This realm is in fact the heart demon of a celestial immortal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heart demon, heart demon—how can you leave without breaking the heart demon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi was stunned, recalling the realm’s oddities: “Could this heart demon be the demon god?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person nodded: “Yes, it is the demon god.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The celestial immortal’s honorific title is Hong Zhen Da Miao Ci Hui Tian Zun.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The heart demon has seized her manifestation in this world and wields her identity to tyrannize.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi asked: “If the essence of this world is the heart demon, how can we oppose it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Will your current actions truly succeed?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person smiled: “Of course they cannot succeed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Since this realm is born of the heart demon, it is merely a tangle of the immortal’s torment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Had you traveled beyond Yizhou early on, you would have found that apart from Yizhou, the other eighteen provinces do not exist.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Outside lies a formless, boundless abyss—a chaos without light or shadow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus, no earth immortals can arise, nor ever be born.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi suddenly understood: torment is something you constantly recall, cannot resolve, yet cannot forget.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You mean this realm cycles.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When the immortal is troubled, this realm manifests. When the immortal forgets, this realm vanishes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus it repeats endlessly, without end.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person regarded Fang Shi with approval: “Correct. You still have some insight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is one essence of this realm—so all my actions have already been played out within its narrative, repeated countless times.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi asked: “Then you must know what comes next.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person said: “Of course. Do you know that on Anning Longyu Mountain, every corner is infected by the demon god?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For instance, my beloved disciple Zhang Cheng is one of them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Last night, he killed Zhang Zihui, whom you escorted back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi felt no emotion: “This plot twist is sudden. But given the heart demon’s power, it’s normal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person teased Fang Shi: “You’re cold. That little girl followed you for days.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You were almost her only support—yet you’re so heartless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi replied calmly: “The sage is not benevolent—he treats the people as straw dogs. Just as the sages of this realm enforce rules that apply equally to all beings, human or monster.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, it was her own choice. In this realm’s cycle, this has happened countless times.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person shook his head: “But what of beyond this realm?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The immortal’s torment has a prototype—real Yizhou once had Zhang Zihui and Zhang Cheng.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They loved each other deeply; their lineage flowed down to the present, and that person is you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi remained calm: “I’ve already guessed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ever since I learned Dao script, I understood the Zhang family’s communication jade token was never wrong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am indeed their descendant—but I am also an orphan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The government raised me; I have no connection to their family.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let alone take pride in their bloodline.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person sighed: “The world turns, seas become mulberry fields—a thousand years have passed; all is changed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only gods and immortals are immortal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After composing himself, Longyu True Person continued: “Under normal circumstances, my actions cannot break the heart demon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But with you, it’s different—you are the variable, the one that escapes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your existence is like injecting vitality into stagnant water.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The world’s trajectory will change.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi frowned: “But strength still decides everything. You must see my cultivation base.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m just an ordinary Qi Refiner—what merit or ability do I have to confront the heart demon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fate of this realm is like a torrent. Even if Fang Shi is new water,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>he cannot alter its course—his end will surely be like a mantis trying to stop a cart, dying pointlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person shook his head: “You’re no ordinary Qi Refiner. What ordinary Qi Refiner possesses Foundation Establishment power?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, if your strength is insufficient, I can lend you mine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi’s confusion deepened: lending power—when he grows strong, Longyu True Person weakens.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This act is like transferring strength from left hand to right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neither side’s fundamental strength changes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, this doesn’t make sense. If I’m strong and you’re weak, we still can’t defeat the enemy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No—you can!” Longyu True Person declared firmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I cannot, because the immortal herself forbids it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In her mind, I am utterly incapable of defeating the heart demon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus, even if I possessed power greater than the heart demon, the outcome would still be failure.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi probed: “Master, what is your true identity?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A spiritual sense cultivator shouldn’t know celestial matters or the realm’s essence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is Longyu True Person truly only a spiritual sense cultivator?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person laughed: “I’m just an ordinary mortal who stumbled onto the Dao by chance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I never imagined I’d go so far—beyond my own Dao, beyond Dao as self, finally beyond the Great Dao.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But the farther I went, the more I realized I could not change the world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I once had great ambitions, but a hundred years passed in the mountains; when I returned to the world, I was already an immortal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The sage’s heavenly law loomed above me—I sat on thorns, yet changed nothing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Langxie Yu Ji is our lesson—he sought to save the people, but was beheaded by a mortal king.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The sage’s heavenly law played no small part in that!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi was not surprised by Longyu True Person’s identity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was horrified that an immortal could die at a mortal’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Isn’t the sage just the heart demon’s creation—a rule to restrict cultivators’ actions?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person sighed: “If the sage were merely the heart demon’s creation, how could there be a method to forge spiritual roots?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The sage truly possesses great virtue—but her mindset is too detached.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heaven and earth have no benevolence—they treat all things as straw dogs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But I do not. I see the world’s suffering and am pierced to the heart.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A single spell could summon heavenly dew, making wheat and rice pile high.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet because of the sage’s heavenly law, nothing is done.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The sage’s heavenly law is a greater restraint for immortal beings—not merely a heart demon’s trick.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is the punishment that severs the Three Flowers atop the head and the Five Qi within the chest.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No matter how powerful an immortal, after this punishment, they become mortal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Without immortal power, one cannot change the world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even a single spiritual sense cultivator from a great clan is beyond one person to oppose.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi was shaken—he finally understood the origin of the heart demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hong Zhen Da Miao Ci Hui Tian Zun held great compassion, wishing for universal harmony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That the elderly be cared for, the strong be employed, the young be nurtured, and the widowed, orphaned, lonely, and disabled all be provided for.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the Tian Zun truly possessed such power—for an immortal like her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A single spell could alter all worldly ills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Any injustice could be resolved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the sage’s heavenly law dominated the Dao itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Tian Zun acted, she would face heavenly punishment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus her heart grew blocked—and the heart demon was born.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the heart demon, being the vessel of negative emotion, easily twisted the Tian Zun’s noble vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hence this realm became this monstrous thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The sage must be immortal—but how can she be so rigid, deaf to later voices?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longyu True Person sighed: “The sage, the sage—long gone, no one knows where.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Her form has vanished from the multiverse—how could she hear any voice?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And don’t call me ‘Master’—she is me, yet I am not her.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am merely the lingering regret left behind in this realm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi continued: “Then the jade bones outside are your remains—but who is that golden corpse?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long Yu, the True Person, sneered dismissively: “Naturally, it belongs to my ungrateful disciple—your so-called ancestor, Zhang Cheng.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When I took him as my disciple, it was only because I pitied him—his family had been destroyed by the Zhang clan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Still, he had a bit of talent—he managed to win the Zhang clan’s legitimate daughter.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But since then, he never walked the right path.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After becoming an official, he oppressed the people, and it only grew worse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He even built an underground city for himself, waiting to become an immortal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Once you leave, don’t hold back—kill when you must.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi asked again: “And what of you, Elder? Won’t you act? My homeland is also your homeland—won’t you watch as the lives of your own land are slaughtered?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where is your great compassion, Elder?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi knew this would easily offend the immortal before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the situation on Blue Star forced him to speak this way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With an immortal’s protection, China’s future would improve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the sages’ heavenly laws, Fang Shi had a hunch—they wouldn’t last forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, the Lady of Luck had plainly told Fang Shi before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gods cannot be deceived; decrees are not eternal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he didn’t know the relationship between heavenly law and decree, the sages weren’t fools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They forbade immortals—but not deities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was highly likely that heavenly law and decree were the same thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long Yu, the True Person, shook his head: “Since the Celestial Sovereign severed her heart demon, she is merely the Celestial Sovereign—not an immortal anymore.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am but a lingering obsession—nothing more, nothing less.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A wave of disappointment rose in Fang Shi’s heart, but he quickly shook it off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lean on a mountain, and it falls; lean on a person, and they leave—better to rely on yourself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heaven moves strongly; the noble person strives unceasingly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your humble disciple understands. Then, Elder, next is the destruction of the heart demon—I’ve reached the time to leave this world.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1656,"2026-06-20T12:43:33.559Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b6517234b16a2350ee30fc11fba21179fde3b62a3f85c7053fac687f653a6153","starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-99","starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-97",109,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstarting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-cover.jpg"]