Chapter 1229

My Dao… how could you deprive it?! He let out a hoarse roar; the dim origin‑star core in his sea of consciousness burst at this moment with its final, fiercest light! That light was his resilience since crossing over, his obsession with the Return‑to‑the‑Void principle, his determination to protect his companions! It was the true‑self will that transcended techniques and realms!

Origin star indestructible, Return to the Void… from the heart!

Boom!

A brand‑new force burst forth from his nearly dried‑up body! This force no longer relied solely on the chaotic Return‑to‑the‑Void qi from outside, but sprang from his own will, tempered through trials and unyielding! Gray light reignited on him, yet it was no longer the previous deathly stillness, but carried an overbearing and resolute aura of "my will is law, my mind is the Void".

He abruptly raised his head; the chaos in his eyes vanished completely, leaving only an extreme purity of "nothing". He no longer tried to "annihilate" the demon realm, but instead turned himself into a moving "Return‑to‑the‑Void singularity"!

He shot up from the ground and actively collided with Yan Buji's finger that severed the Great Dao!

A soundless collision erupted between them—no energy shock, no radiant light, only a conceptual clash! Yan Buji's "depriving" will and Han Wuxian's "I am the Void" true‑self will slammed together fiercely!

"Huh?!" Yan Buji's face showed shock for the first time. He felt his "depriving" power, upon contacting the opponent's pure will, vanish like a mud ox entering the sea, being devoured and dissolved by a more fundamental, absolute "nothing"! After being partially severed from the Great Dao by him, the opponent instead forged another path with his own will, directly commanding—and even becoming—the Void!

"Impossible!" Yan Buji roared, demonic light of desire swelling around him, countless desire‑law chains appearing out of thin air, like countless tentacles wrapping toward Han Wuxian, seeking to contaminate and devour him together with his newly born will!

Where the heart points, myriad desires turn to void!

Han Wuxian's voice was calm and icy, carrying an indifferent insight into essence. He let those desire chains wrap around his body, but when they touched the surface layer of gray radiance condensed from his true‑self will, they encountered their bane, swiftly dissolving and snapping! His will had become so pure that external desires could not disturb it.

He took a step forward, piercing layer after layer of desire obstructions, arriving before Yan Buji. They stood less than ten zhang apart, eyes locked.

One side was the demon lord who commanded all beings' desires, his demonic might towering.

The other side was the embodiment of all things' end, his will like steel, the Return to the Void.

"Yan Buji, your 'ego‑desire' Dao stirs external desires, controls others' hearts, seeming omnipotent." Han Wuxian spoke slowly, his voice as if from the depths of ancient extinction, "But do you know that only by severing all external desires and seeing the true mind can one touch the true… ultimate of the Dao?"

"Your demon realm, your desires, your deprivations… are nothing in my heart."

As his words fell, Han Wuxian extended his finger like a sword, pointing at Yan Buji's glabella. This finger held no trace of energy, only his true‑self Return‑to‑the‑Void will, forged through life and death, broken and rebuilt, pure to the extreme!

Yan Buji's pupils contracted sharply; from that finger he sensed an unprecedented crisis—a threat surpassing power levels, pointing straight at the root of his existence. He bellowed, pushing his "ego‑desire" Dao to the extreme, as billions of sentient beings sunk in desire appeared as phantoms around him, condensing into an impregnable "Myriad Desire Heart Shield" before him.

Yet Han Wuxian's finger, like piercing through illusions, ignored that desire‑laden heart shield and struck directly at Yan Buji's glabella!

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Yan Buji's body jerked rigid; the vortex of desire that commanded everything in his eyes suddenly ceased spinning, replaced by an incredulous bewilderment… and emptiness. His surging demonic qi and radiant demonic light receded like a tide, vanishing swiftly. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, but no sound came out.

"My… desire…" he gasped out a few words, his eyes utterly dimming.

The next moment, his body, starting from the pointed glabella, turned silently and soundlessly into the finest dust like weathered sand, drifting away. No explosion, no scream—only a utter stillness of existence being erased.

With Yan Buji's annihilation, the entire Desire Demon Realm lost its core support, beginning to accelerate collapse and dissolution. The variegated sky shattered and peeled away; the wailing earth turned to nothingness; the lingering desire demon shades emitted their final shrieks before also dissipating.

The towering demonic qi shrouding the Myriad Soul Mountains, as if stirred by an invisible hand, began to slowly dissipate. Sunlight, after who knows how many ages, finally pierced the demon clouds again, showering upon this long‑suffering land.

The light of the Iceheart Pure Spirit Array finally steadied; the surviving demon‑slaying alliance cultivators gazed at this unbelievable scene before them, at the demon lord's dust slowly drifting in the sunlight, at the solitary figure standing amid the collapsing demon realm, staggering yet still upright, and fell into a deathlike silence.

Immediately, earth‑shaking cheers and sobs of survivors erupted!

"We won! We won!"

"Yan Buji is dead! The demon chief has been overthrown!"

"Alliance Leader Han! It's Alliance Leader Han who won!"

Old Wang Tie burst into tears, heedless of everything as he rushed toward the direction where Qing Lin and Xiao Ran had fallen. Elder Li and the others began to fully tend to the wounded.

Han Wuxian stood alone where he was, sunlight falling on his paper‑white face; he sensed his cultivation empty as air and his soul nearly shattered, then glanced at the strand in his hand— the purest "ego‑desire" essence left from Yan Buji's annihilation— his expression complex.

The news of that final battle spread like wildfire across the cultivation world. Return‑to‑the‑Void Dao Lord Han Wuxian, in the Myriad Soul Mountains, turned his body into the Void, with a single finger annihilated the Great Vehicle Demon Lord Yan Buji, utterly destroyed the Desire Demon Realm, and saved the masses from peril. His deeds were forged into legend, widely sung. The surviving demon‑slaying alliance cultivators each returned to their sects, being hailed as heroes. The Flowing Cloud Alliance, Gentle Wind Valley, Heavenly Craft Sect, Hundred Herbs Valley, and Sword Pavilion reached unprecedented prestige.

Han Wuxian's name shone like the midday sun, honored as the foremost person of the present age, revered by myriad cultivators.

Yet, as the protagonist of the legend, Han Wuxian was unusually low‑key. In the deep, now‑purified Myriad Soul Mountains where the Netherworld Sect once stood, he opened a modest cave dwelling and shut himself away. The outside world only said that the alliance leader had suffered massive losses in the final battle and was now in seclusion to recover.

Inside the cave, Han Wuxian sat cross‑legged. His aura was more profound and inwardly restrained than three years prior, yet a faint fatigue and gravity lingered in his brow. Though the battle seemed a victory, only he knew its peril and cost.

Forcibly embodying the Void with his true‑self will, though it ultimately erased Yan Buji, it also nearly exhausted his life essence and soul foundation. Over these three years he relied on the residual power of the origin‑star core and the top‑tier pills continually sent by Wang Tie and others, barely stabilizing his injuries, restoring his cultivation to about mid‑Unity Dao, yet wishing to return to his peak—or go further—he felt the path ahead shrouded in fog.

What troubled him further was the sealed strand at his fingertip, belonging to Yan Buji's "ego‑desire" essence; over these three years it occasionally transmitted an extremely faint, almost imperceptible throb. It seemed… not fully dormant, still maintaining an extremely secret link with some existence in the dark.

"Is this an illusion? Or… has Yan Buji not truly perished?" Han Wuxian opened his eyes, gazing at the black qi at his fingertip that flowed like a living thing, a flicker of doubt crossing his chaotic pupils. He had repeatedly probed with his Return‑to‑the‑Void will; this essence truly had lost all activity, leaving only pure energy and law fragments. Yet that intermittent throb was like a thorn in his heart.

He shook his head, suppressing the unease. Perhaps it was merely the lingering influence of demonic thoughts. The urgent task was to swiftly restore his strength and clarify his future path. Using will to command the Void is an unprecedented road, with no precedent to follow; each step must be explored on his own.

Meanwhile, in the far west, far beyond the Myriad Soul Mountains and even beyond the known territories of all sects, lies a desert forgotten by mankind. It is called the Forgotten Sand, its spiritual energy exhausted, all things withered, even the hardiest sand beasts struggling to survive. Only the eternal gale rolls up endless yellow sand, whimpering as it tells of desolation.

In the deepest part of this desert, a thousand zhang beneath the ground, lies an extremely concealed natural cavern formed of ancient rock. Inside the cavern there is no light, only absolute darkness and stillness.

Yet within this absolute stillness, a point of black spark, barely perceptible like a candle‑end in the wind, hovers suspended at the cavern's center, flickering faintly.

This spark is so weak it seems about to sputter out any moment, yet it emits an aura of desire utterly alien to this dead‑still desert—extremely pure and ancient. It is not Yan Buji's overbearing, plundering, all‑controlling "ego‑desire", but a far more primal, deep‑seated urge, like the most basic instinct of survival and existence at the dawn of all things!

This lingering spark of desire is precisely Yan Buji!