Chapter 925: He Who Has Virtue Shall Possess It

A piercing scream echoed beyond the heavens, instantly rippling across the entire wasteland. Wei Yuan’s heartbeat surged severalfold; blood spurted from his ears, leaving him deaf. His eyes swelled many times over, nearly bursting from their sockets!

Wei Yuan pressed both hands over his eyes, exerting all his strength to suppress the anomalies in his body. Yet swellings had erupted across his skin, many of them already ruptured.

Even the Wu tribe’s body could barely endure it; countless Li Wu exploded instantly, turning into pools of blood.

Only after the piercing scream from beyond the heavens faded did Wei Yuan manage to push his eyeballs back into their sockets. The blood in his ears congealed, and new tissue began growing rapidly—gradually, he heard sounds again, growing clearer by the moment.

He looked around and found only half the Li Wu still standing. Many corpses were reduced to lower halves; their hollow upper torsos had exploded into splatters of blood across the ground.

The remaining stumps of the celestial pillars continuously spewed black-red fluid—whether blood or something else, it flowed like a heavenly waterfall. It writhed as it retreated from the heavens, which then slowly closed in, gradually sealing the wound—but a dark red patch remained in the sky, like a newly healed scar.

Where the fourth celestial pillar should have fallen now lay a black-red ocean spanning ten thousand li. The dark, fleshy haze that had filled the heavens also contracted, and gradually, light returned to the world, temperatures rising once more.

The piercing scream from beyond seemed to harm the Flame Demons even more—vast numbers of them exploded and died; the survivors fled toward the celestial pillars. The three remaining pillars were no longer active; the Flame Demons who reached them first flew into the holes on their surfaces and began constructing shells to seal the openings. Those who couldn’t return gathered outside the pillars, standing in silent, orderly rows, awaiting death.

Over ten million Flame Demons stood outside each pillar. They stood motionless, like puppets drained of their spirit stones.

The Flame Demon supported the gravely wounded Ji Mu as they flew toward Rong Long. At this moment, Rong Long’s dragon head alone was larger than the combined bodies of two full-formed Law Bodies.

Ji Mu called out several times before Rong Long reluctantly opened one eye; its massive amber gaze fixed on them, finally responding.

The Flame Demon immediately said: “Hold on a little longer—I’ll go find Steel Ancestor. With its intervention, perhaps your life can be saved.”

Rong Long remained still. His voice echoed in the minds of the Flame Demon and Ji Mu: “It’s too late. My heart-phase world has already begun assimilation by the wasteland. It came from the wasteland—it must return to it.”

In truth, both the Flame Demon and Ji Mu had already seen Rong Long’s heart-phase world dissolving into the heavens and earth—they simply hadn’t wanted to accept it. The attack from the celestial pillars didn’t merely tear open flesh; it simultaneously struck the soul and spiritual sense. Once struck, the number of wounds on the body matched exactly those on the spiritual sense—and they could never heal.

The flames on Rong Long’s dragon body had gone out; its flesh gradually turned black, like solidified lava.

The Flame Demon gritted his teeth: “Still, we should try.”

Rong Long seemed to smile. “I was merely an ordinary Li Wu. Only when the wasteland faced crisis did heaven and earth grant me power and authority. It was circumstance that made me—not my own inherent excellence. So my death is no great loss. Many Li Wu are just like me.”

“Though we’ve destroyed the new celestial pillar, the old ones remain. I’ve merely bought the wasteland some time. Now, it’s your turn. Heaven and earth are impartial. I gave my all for them—and received abundant rewards. First, I truly comprehended the Dao of heaven and earth. Though only for an instant, ‘To hear the Dao in the morning, to die in the evening is enough.’ And this position of Heavenly Wu…”

Seeing Rong Long’s voice grow fainter, Ji Mu urgently asked: “After you die, what becomes of the Heavenly Wu position?”

Rong Long spoke slowly: “...He who has virtue shall possess it…”

The Flame Demon and Ji Mu exchanged glances, not understanding what Rong Long meant. But now, Rong Long, entwined with the broken pillar, had become a mountain stretching across the earth—no longer responding.

Suddenly, wind arose.

The wind howled forth, gently caressing the great mountain, as if bidding it a final farewell. Then the wind departed, and heaven and earth fell silent. The fiery sun returned, licking the fresh wounds upon the land.

Ji Mu suddenly felt overwhelming exhaustion. “Let’s go. There’s still cleanup to do. Many of the young ones might still be saved. But I don’t understand…”

The Flame Demon said: “Don’t say it if you don’t understand.”

“Why not say it? The Ancestral Wu can’t hear us now!” Ji Mu sneered, pointing toward the three distant celestial pillars. “That’s the blade—the blade that reaps us! For countless millennia, countless young Li Wu, countless geniuses, have been sacrificed—and still, this bottomless pit remains unfilled!”

“We fight the Liao clan, we fight the human race—we seize land, we seize treasures—but none of it belongs to us! We’re just nailed here, for thousands upon thousands of years, fighting wars we can never win! Why?”

“Stop talking,” the Flame Demon tried to halt him.

But Ji Mu pressed on: “The Ancestral Wu is afraid! It fears another Steel Ancestor rising among us, stealing its authority! For the past few million years, since it merged with the Dao, it has allowed no Wu to take even a fraction of its power!”

All authority belongs to it alone—it does as it pleases, kills whom it wishes! Is this vast heaven and earth the Wu clan’s? No! It belongs only to the Ancestral Wu—its own, with not the slightest connection to us!”

“You—you’re insane!”

“I’m not insane! You know this is true too! You know where the authority on our Heavenly Wu bodies truly comes from. It’s not heaven and earth’s authority—it’s merely scraps thrown to us by the Ancestral Wu! We’ve mistaken the Ancestral Wu for heaven and earth! Look at Rong Long—this is what a Heavenly Wu was meant to be!”

The Flame Demon fell silent for a long while, then said: “I know what you say is true—but this system isn’t without merit. The difficulty of becoming a Heavenly Wu has lowered; there are many candidates. The heavenly tribulation upon ascension is controllable, and most candidates pass without fatal harm. The hierarchy is clear, the requirements transparent—everyone simply needs to strive to meet them.”

Ji Mu said: “So we’ve become dogs fighting over bones, forgetting all bones originally belonged to all of us.”

The Flame Demon shook his head. “I just said—it’s not without merit. Take you, for instance. Without this system, you’d have died long ago in the tribulation.”

Ji Mu sighed. “I know. If the Ancestral Wu weren’t so intent on exterminating the Li Wu—if it allowed us even a breath of air, a glimmer of hope—I’d remain its most loyal dog.”

The Flame Demon glared at him. “Based on what you just said, you’re a born rebel! ‘Most loyal dog’? Hmph—even if the Ancestral Wu treated you better, you’d still find a reason to betray it.”

Ji Mu sighed. “Actually, no—I know my place. If I could live peacefully, eat and wait to die, I’d never dream of rebellion.”

“Then what you just said…”

Ji Mu tossed the Flame Demon a book. On its cover were four large characters: “Rebirth in the Abyss.”