Chapter 24: The Flame, Never Extinguished

"Protect Suiren." The Three Pure Ones were so anxious that they even unleashed the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation. Since the Lord of Huanmu was far away, they could temporarily set him aside. A dazzling, icy sword light streaked across the sky, directly slashing toward the surging river around Suiren.

Boom~~~

A torrential river immediately surged upward, colliding head-on with the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.

The sword light shattered, and the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation was sent flying backward.

"Save Suiren." Ji Ning and the Buddha Jue Ming also fought desperately to break through, but the surging river around them completely suppressed them, and they could not advance.

"Don't even think about leaving." The Lord of All Demons easily intercepted the black-robed Ji Ning and the Tathagata Buddha.

For a moment, the mighty cultivators of the Nuwa camp wanted to save Suiren, but none could get close.

"Shennong, be careful." Fuxi shouted anxiously.

Boom~~~

A surging river swept in.

The Heart Demon Lord had transformed into six rivers: two rivers suppressed Ji Ning and the Buddha Jue Ming, two rivers were strangling Suiren, and the last two rivers attacked in other directions. Shennong, commanding the 'Pangu Heaven-Opening Formation,' was fighting in close quarters, charging ahead, and was closest to the Heart Demon Lord.

The river rolled on. Shennong tried to retreat, but the boundless bamboo forest kept blocking him. Soon, the river surrounded Shennong.

"Bang, bang~~~" Under the assault of the surging river, the Pangu Heaven-Opening Formation led by Shennong began to totter, on the verge of collapse.

"Not good."

Everyone in the Nuwa camp changed color.

Suiren was an Ancestral God, and his divine body could turn into flames. He could hold out for a long time against the 'Heart Demon Lord,' and though he seemed in danger, he could still last a while. But Shennong was weaker; the Pangu Heaven-Opening Formation could not withstand the Heart Demon Lord for long, and he would likely die soon.

"Three Pure Ones, Fuxi, protect the Three Realms." Suiren's voice suddenly rang through the void, followed by a voice of infinite calm: "The flame, never extinguished..."

Though the voice was calm, it made one's heart tremble.

Suiren, whose whole body had been covered in faint flames but still holding on, suddenly blazed with light. Then the light condensed into tiny flames. Suiren vanished completely, leaving only eight flames.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle~~~"

Eight seemingly faint flames rose and fell in the river.

These strange flames seemed to possess endless vitality. Though the surrounding river surged violently, it could not extinguish them; instead, the river sizzled and was continuously consumed. The river shrank and thinned, and the flames floated on it. Gradually, one flame was extinguished, then two... As the river was nearly exhausted, all the flames were extinguished.

Suiren's aura vanished completely.

Suiren was dead.

"Pfft. Pfft. Pfft." As Suiren transformed into flames, arrows also fell one after another onto the river, first attacking the river that had entangled Shennong. As the river weakened, it could no longer threaten Shennong.

The arrows were extremely fast.

Though the Heart Demon Lord went berserk at the end and attacked quickly, Suiren's outburst caused the Heart Demon Lord to die faster.

"I am not reconciled, not reconciled, not reconciled..." Amid the surging river, the voice of the Heart Demon Lord, full of endless resentment, echoed. Under Houyi's arrows, his river was continuously consumed, rapidly diminishing until it vanished completely into the void.

...

The entire void fell silent.

Both the Non-Interference Sect and the Nuwa camp were silent.

Everyone felt somewhat stunned. This great calamity had been instigated by the Heart Demon Lord to break free from the Heavenly Dao. As the former 'king' of the Non-Interference Chaosworld, the Heart Demon Lord's reputation was known to all present. The Nuwa camp had been anxious and fearful; the power the Heart Demon Lord displayed was terrifying.

But...

He died just like that?

"How could this be?" The Blackclothed Godking stared blankly at the scene. Seeing his master emerge, he was especially happy. After all, in the current Non-Interference Sect, he was the nominal leader, but the actual leader was the Lord of All Demons! Many of those old-timers didn't care much about him. He had thought to rely on his master as a big tree, but... his master, the Heart Demon Lord, had died just like that!

"Is this fate?" The Lord of All Demons sighed softly.

The Heart Demon Lord had secretly stirred up everything, and the Lord of All Demons, who had been aloof from worldly affairs, felt anger in his heart. But now, they were already locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Nuwa camp, and they could not retreat. They had no choice but to follow the Heart Demon Lord in annihilating the Nuwa camp.

But now, the Heart Demon was dead, truly dead. The Heart Demon, who had not died even in the ancient cataclysm, had died this time.

Last time, he could still merge into the Heavenly Dao, but this time, after escaping from it, the Heavenly Dao would never allow him to merge again. So this time, facing Houyi's arrows, he had no escape.

...

"Suiren."

The Nuwa camp felt no joy, only grief. When they saw Suiren transform into those flames, the Three Pure Ones, Tathagata, Ji Ning, Fuxi, and the others all felt sorrow in their hearts.

"Big brother." Tears welled up in Shennong's eyes. "For my sake, why did you have to do this?"

The six rivers were equivalent to the Heart Demon Lord's divine body.

The smaller the divine body, the weaker its power. Suiren, in his final desperate struggle, burned away one and a half rivers, greatly reducing the Heart Demon Lord's divine body and weakening his power. With Houyi's arrows, Shennong was able to escape disaster.

"Don't think too much. Suiren was already in a hopeless situation. If he hadn't fought desperately, he would have been killed by the Heart Demon Lord anyway." The Three Pure Ones sighed in consolation. "He just didn't want both of you to die... Better one survive than both."

"Mm." Shennong nodded slightly, but could not hide his grief.

The mighty cultivators of the Nuwa camp gathered together.

"Houyi." Everyone turned to look at Houyi, who flew over from afar. His face was pale, but he remained very calm.

"Are you alright?" Kuafu, commanding the Pangu Heaven-Opening Formation, asked immediately.

"I won't die." Houyi nodded with a smile. He quickly flew to Ji Ning and Jue Ming's side.

"Senior brother Houyi." Ji Ning looked at Houyi. "We owe you a lot."

"Without Houyi, our Nuwa camp would have been hard-pressed to escape this calamity." The Buddha Jue Ming beside him also sighed. "I never expected that behind this calamity was the Heart Demon Lord. His strength was truly terrifying, even more so than in the ancient cataclysm."

But Ji Ning could sense the weakness in Houyi's aura. He didn't understand what Houyi's arrows represented, but he could feel that Houyi had paid a great price.

"What a pity about Suiren." Houyi sighed softly.

"His body turned into a flame, passed down without end. A flame burning with life... that is the true undying flame." The Buddha Jue Ming pressed his palms together. "Amitabha."

Ji Ning nodded slightly.

In ancient times, Suiren had led the human race from obscurity to rise step by step. He had witnessed the deaths of countless human heroes, and thus he had comprehended the 'undying flame.' But this 'undying flame' could only unleash its most terrifying power when one truly harbored the thought of sacrifice.

Though the Nuwa camp was grieving, everyone now had full confidence. They had taken control of the entire situation. Hadn't they seen that 'Old Man Yuan,' 'Bamboo Ancestor Mozhu,' and 'Lord of Huanmu' had all temporarily retreated? Without the Heart Demon Lord, the Non-Interference Sect had lost all confidence.

"Three Pure Ones, Tathagata."

The Lord of All Demons merged his two divine bodies into one, standing in the void, and spoke calmly, "The situation in this battle is now very clear. This calamity was stirred up by the Heart Demon to escape from the Heavenly Dao. And the Heavenly Dao of the Three Realms... deliberately lured us because there were too many living beings. In this battle, we have also suffered considerable losses, which should lighten the burden on the Three Realms. I think we should cease hostilities."

"Cease hostilities?" Shennong, his face full of grief, said in a low voice, "Do you mean to say that the Non-Interference Sect still wants to return to the Three Realms?"

"The Three Realms are also the home of my Non-Interference Sect." The Lord of All Demons sighed.

"Hahaha..."

The Three Pure Ones laughed coldly. "What a joke! We gave you a chance back then. Even before this calamity, our Nuwa camp did not want war. But you kept provoking, madly provoking, even wreaking havoc in the Three Realms, assassinating the relatives and friends of many mighty cultivators. Are all these things to be simply written off? Besides... we were foolish once. Do you expect us to be foolish a second time?"