Chapter 2777: A Bright Moon on the Lapel, Heart Full of Frost and Snow

The starry rivers, the long rivers, the celestial seas, the seas of consciousness—all fell silent.

Several dragons swam in the high firmament, while essences of the Way fell like grains of time.

A pristine white jade scroll unfurled from the sky, displaying the image of a ferocious demon on its snowy pages, a spectacle for all the world to behold!

Demonic energy still twisted in countless strands on the long scroll, and Yan Chunhui's face was clearly delineated on this ancient covenant.

Fortunetelling, all evils, flesh-cutting... these were mere preludes. Though bearing the infamous title of "Human Demon," they were only rehearsals for the true "Human Demon," mere scraps from the self-sacrificing demonic body that possessed the strengths of both human and demon races.

They were heinous humans, not true Human Demons.

The peerless masterpiece now before them featured the world's only Human Demon as its protagonist.

The Heaven Lord of Demon Slaying suppressed this demon.

Its demonic flames blazed sky-high, unwilling to be purified.

He roared within the painting, his voice hoarse: "True Monarch Jiang! There are two paths before me. One is honorable, but it leads to a dead end. The other is bloody and muddy, but I can still move forward."

Demonic energy surged from his brow, and streaks of blood spread in his eyes: "A path that can't be traversed, and a dirty path—tell me, which one is wrong?!"

For a "path," isn't the only correct outcome "arrival"?

Jiang Wang unfurled the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying, obtaining the righteous authority to slay demons, bestowed upon the human race since the ancient Human Emperor. Wielding this power, his sword light pierced into the painting, breaking the demonic essence like morning sun melting snow!

"The heavens have sun and rain, to regulate the four seasons for humanity. The earth has mountains and rivers, to benefit the common folk with fertile land and water."

"I believe there are those in this world who walk difficult paths, treading through mud and hardship, laboring themselves, starving their own bodies, and then forging an enduring will to bring glory to the human realm. They should not use others as sustenance, nor their corpses as bridges."

"True Monarch Yuheng once told me—our boundless freedom must not be built upon the harm of others."

"I won't debate these things with you."

"You have walked your path for three thousand years. Even sages cannot sway your heart, and I cannot change you."

Jiang Wang's wide sleeves billowed as he suppressed the demon within the book, truly appearing as a Heaven Lord descended to the world. With a sword in his right hand, he parted the starry sea, ending the entanglement of flying swords. With his left hand, he pressed out the Demon Slaying Seal, activating the ancient covenant of the Human Emperor's demon slaying!

"We meet here. It's simply that you have an account to give yourself, and I have an account to give myself!"

On this ancient covenant, this peerless scroll, a sword suddenly appeared. Long Xiangsi had entered the painting!

A famed sword of the world slew a famed painting. In this age, even from the East Sea to the Glacier Plain, no one was unaware of this sword.

The originally cold, terrifying demonic painting was now adorned with a horizontal streak of chilling frost.

Heaven slays all things with an intent to wither; even demons were like flowers meeting their end.

On the snow-white scroll, the demonic energy was wiped away in chunks, leaving emptiness. The smoky, polluted painting seemed to have its stains erased, large sections rendering to pristine white.

The Human Demon's image, named Yan Chunhui, also became clear-featured and handsome.

The demon was utterly severed, leaving only the human.

"We meet in this world; no one needs to account to anyone. Whether it's others or the past, it's merely a single sword slash—" Yan Chunhui's eyes suddenly opened wide on the scroll, like a hidden sword drawn, opening chaos in the sky! "Thank you for the sword, it will be my lifelong remembrance!"

Rip!

An invisible, formless sharpness, centered around him, shrieked within the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying, on the martial arts arena, in this world... blossoming like a begonia.

A sword-qi begonia, a flying sword that tore the world apart.

The sky had a gap, the earth had a rift.

The ancient covenant ripped with the sound of tearing silk!

All spectators were horrified, but Luqiu Wenyue, as the Prime Minister of the Daoist State, understood something.

It wasn't that Yan Chunhui's power suppressed the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying; rather, at this very moment, he was no longer a demon, and thus not a target for the Covenant's suppression!

She diverted a thought from her focus on the Primordial Evil Immortal. Frowning, she ultimately swallowed the words "useless benevolence."

Everyone in the world knew that Yu Xi gifted the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying to Jiang Wang, leading to his title "Heaven Lord of Demon Slaying." How could Yan Chunhui not know this?

He was waiting precisely for the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying!

He created a Human Demon body, seized Human Demon power, and devoured the light of humanity, using a nearly perfect Human Demon form to fill the old regrets of an era. Yet, he also used this Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying to strip away his demonic nature, restoring him to his original self, Yan Chunhui.

The original Selfless Flying Sword!

His path... had never changed! Born from flying swords, rising by flying swords, he would also use flying swords to carve out an immortal future, an eternally brilliant starry sky.

At this moment, Yan Chunhui burst from the book, his sharpness unparalleled through the ages.

He tore open the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying, tore open the Human Demon body, tore open the dusty confines of so many years, truly resurrecting the era of flying swords streaking across the sky...

Bringing the ultimate sharpness to the human world, the strongest and most resolute flying sword!

The sharpness that once dominated an era...

Was now seen!

But no sooner had this invisible, formless sword-qi begonia blossomed than a pair of massive, monstrous demonic palms enveloped it.

Greeting Yan Chunhui, who burst from the painting, was a demon whose body spanned heaven and earth.

Its height seemed infinite, its breadth boundless; the entire unrestricted life-and-death arena was within its demonic grasp.

"I've waited long for you! I'm impatient!"

At this moment, the demonic ape's wicked eyes were outlined in red, its fangs stained black. Each exhalation from its nostrils produced black demonic smoke.

From the ancient covenant temporarily torn open by the flying sword, the surging demonic energy stripped from the self-sacrificing Human Demon body, like dragons leaping into water, was all swallowed into his belly!

One could see tiny blood beads trembling at the tips of his long fur.

These blood beads, faintly flame-colored and wreathed in soft light, were also manifestations of Dao essence, appearing like dewdrops on grass tips, forming one by one on this demonic body.

Jiang Wang possessed a Dao essence related to demons, named "Burning Truth."

This demon was not evil, but "stubborn."

Burning away worldly desires reveals a stubborn heart; tearing off elaborate rituals exposes true nature!

The Lust Demon indulged in desires, while the Demonic Ape was supremely true.

He unfurled a pair of massive hands, as if clenching and hammering the air. Upon closer inspection, his long-furred ape fingers clearly formed a tripod seal, with the Burning Truth Dao essence sparkling like tiny embers within it.

This divine cauldron, known as the "Mortal World Cauldron of Heaven and Earth," was cultivated by Emperor Wu of Great Qi.

Jiang Wang naturally didn't have so many threads of mortal karma, and the demonic ape only knew fighting and cultivation, but that didn't prevent him from forming this cauldron to nurture his true nature. With one powerful cauldron-hammer strike, the embers ignited—

An endless red!

Above and below, in all directions, there was nothing but raging fire.

This fire burned the heart upon sensing it, incinerated the eyes upon seeing it. Even the accidental crackle of a spark could instantly dissolve one's auditory perception.

The seven emotions flared intensely, the six desires raged wildly.

Supreme magical art,Mortal World Tribulation!

Yan Chunhui, cleansed of his demonic nature, emerged from the painting, only to plunge with a flying sword into the cauldron!

This boundless sea of fire was like a sea of suffering; he drifted within it, momentarily unable to find the other shore.

The tribulation fire burned sword qi, slaying the sword body.

Countless threads of sword light danced in this vast redness, intertwining within the sea of fire that burned karma, sin, and all else, eventually forming a pair of wistful eyes.

All the sword light was swept away by the Mortal World Tribulation Fire.

Yan Chunhui gazed out beyond the fire, his sword-eyes turning, watching Jiang Wang, who stood atop the colossal demonic ape's head, his robes fluttering, his emotions momentarily inscrutable.

His voice, like a small boat drifting in a sea of suffering, moved forward: "You knew all along that I would use the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying to take my final step?"

Jiang Wang simply replied: "Today, we decide on the Dao, not on demons!"

Before unfurling the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying, he had seen in those eyes, beneath the swirling demonic smoke, starlight like swords.

He had already understood—

Yan Chunhui had never changed his path.

Everything he did was to prove that the glory of the flying sword era was not fleeting like a meteor, but could endure eternally like the proud sun!

Human Demon was not Yan Chunhui's path.

It was merely Yan Chunhui's stepping stone.

In fact, he knew, but he allowed it. He even actively used the Ancient Covenant of Demon Slaying to cleanse Yan Chunhui's demonic embryo.

He absolutely did not approve of Yan Chunhui's actions, but in terms of the pursuit and dedication to the Dao, both of them were on their respective paths.

On this River-Gazing Platform, as the chief arbiter of the Yellow River Meeting, he wished for Yan Chunhui to make his decision with his sword, to die as the sole True Monarch of flying swords in this era, and not as a demon!

This was each pursuing their ideals, this was Dao deciding against Dao.

"The Yan Chunhui who has returned to the path of flying swords, the strongest Yan Chunhui... is the only one worthy of my supreme sword!" Jiang Wang extended his hand, and Long Xiangsi gathered light and form, grasping it in his palm.

He had not walked the path of flying swords, yet at this moment, his sharpness was in no way inferior to Yan Chunhui's!

Amidst the blazing roar of the Mortal World Tribulation Fire, Yan Chunhui surprisingly fell silent.

He indeed never had the intention of falling into demonhood, but not out of a sense of good or evil.

It was simply because he could not forget flying swords, could not forget his brilliant galaxy. He had to be Yan Chunhui, using flying swords as his small boat, leaping through the nine heavens, traversing the sea of stars, to reach that supreme height.

He had always treated demons as merely a tool for cultivation... and humans too. He studied humans and demons in the same manner.

He would stop at nothing to reach that starry sky, never caring about anyone's feelings.

But how could someone say... "not on demons"?

We met by chance, and today we decide between life and death.

Do you care who I am?

Do you care how I die?

He actually wanted to laugh.

What tenderness was this?

How could abandoning one's own life or death not be called foolish?!

Yet, with his sword-thread eyes, he looked into Jiang Wang's eyes and saw that unwavering serenity.

He suddenly understood that it was not benevolence, but the gaze of one seeking the Dao. He had seen that very gaze reflected in his own eyes countless times in the creek water!

At this moment, he inexplicably felt a tremor, as if he had found a true kindred spirit, as if after three millennia of solitary travel through the long night, he had seen another sword-shaped torch, another brilliant starry sky!

Today, we decide on the Dao, not on demons!

"Yan Chunhui... wishes to make a decision with you!"

Everything at the Yellow River Meeting was greed, was struggle, always just for the sake of survival and seeking the Dao; for this, he cared about nothing. Only at this moment did he truly wish to use his own Dao to verify Jiang Wang's Dao.

Seekers of the Dao on the River-Gazing Platform, travelers throughout history!

In the sea of mortal fire, starting from his sword-eyes, sword threads intertwined to form a brand new human figure.

Three millennia of accumulated Dao essence, vast as mountains and seas, blocked the Mortal World Tribulation Fire for him.

The demonic embryo had transformed, a sword embryo reborn!

"The Eternal Sword Venerable is dead, the Selfless Sword Monarch is gone. The 'Selfless' is extinguished, only 'Self-at-the-end-of-the-road' remains. The path of flying swords was cut off long ago; ahead lies an endless abyss!"

His voice whistled through the sea of fire, like a red carp leaping to cross the Dragon Gate.

Yan Chunhui's new body, cleansed of demonic intent and transformed from a sword embryo, trod the sea towards the high heavens. He reached a certain point, seemingly the edge of the sky, and finally stopped.

If he couldn't leap out of the current realm, he couldn't leave this sea of fire.

The Mortal World Cauldron of Heaven and Earth, the supreme magical art Mortal World Tribulation, and all the demonic energy of a peak Human Demon as fuel... the Demonic Ape's sea of tribulation within its palm was truly boundless and infinitely vast.

The Heaven Lord had ascended to the world's summit, while the challenger lingered before it.

Sword light swirled around him, and Yan Chunhui sighed softly.

"Three people have walked here."

"Jiang Mengxiong shattered a sword with a punch, using it as a step to walk another path."

"Xiang Fengqi trod through the void, bearing the weight of an era, forcibly using flying swords to continue his path, and ultimately fell to his death from a cliff."

"I was earlier than all of them. I was the first person to reach this place after the flying sword era shattered. I was also the last one to hold firm here after the path of flying swords reached its end."

"I wanted to forget the void of an era, to forget that flying swords had reached their end, to pretend I was still walking beneath that brilliant starry sky, able to leap like a fish and become a dragon. Because of this, I reached the peak... a half-demented peak of flying swords! But I could not go further."

"The Valley of No Return is a path from which there is no turning back."

"At first, I did not cultivate demons."

"Spring Heart, Soul Eater, Blood Drinker, Head Chopper, Face Revealer, Flesh Cutter, All Evils, Fate Teller... and then Selfless. Finally, Selfless!"

He spread his arms, his hair unbound, his intent seemingly mad: "But I cannot forget that calamitously broken flying sword, cannot forget the star-rain of that night. I cannot make this world forget that the era of flying swords has passed!"

A strange, self-mocking smile appeared on his face: "Many people no longer believe the flying sword era has passed, because they don't even remember flying swords."

After standing for a long time, he felt bewildered.

"Later, I thought—the human era of flying swords is over, but what about demons? There's no path left in the current world, what about the Ten Thousand Realms Desolate Tomb that represents the end of all things?"

"Hence, the Human Demon was born."

"I wanted to use 'forgetting' to erase the regrets of the era, but I found I couldn't. The void of the era could only be filled by another eternal path, and I had to borrow the surging tide of humanity to uplift it. The light of humanity was the final key to a perfect Human Demon body, and the Yellow River Meeting was the most glorious event of this age. What I sought was not available elsewhere; I could only find it on the River-Gazing Platform."

He looked at Jiang Wang from within the sea of fire: "True Monarch Jiang! It's not that I deliberately obstruct you; it's that the Dao is here, and I must advance!"

"You are right, today we decide on the Dao."

"I must thank you for not deciding based on demons! You returned me to the sword!"

"But have you truly understood the consequences... do you know what kind of sword you will face by unleashing this Yan Chunhui?"

He indeed had the potential to become a transcendent being if he were to fall into the Ten Thousand Realms Desolate Tomb and proceed solely on the path of the Human Demon.

The barren and desolate Ten Thousand Realms Desolate Tomb would surely welcome his newly formed race.

But then he would no longer be Yan Chunhui.

And it's not certain he would have reached this point.

"Traversing the sea of suffering day after day, wielding a sword in solitary song year after year, when will... winter depart and spring return?"

In the vast, boundless celestial realm of the Mortal World Tribulation Fire, Yan Chunhui... took a step!

With that step, he saw the immortal. The Immortal of Ten Thousand Immortals, standing atop the colossal demonic ape's silhouette, as if at the world's apex, holding Long Xiangsi, lightly leaped into the sea of tribulation, appearing directly before Yan Chunhui.

Today, he was a seeker of the Dao, and also an obstructor of the Dao.

At this moment, both participants of the unrestricted life-and-death arena were within the colossal demonic ape's embracing palm.

The sea of fire in the palm was like a sea of suffering; two seekers of the Dao met, piloting small boats.

Jiang Wang said nothing.

For having come this far, there was no need for words.

He already knew Yan Chunhui's persistence, knew Yan Chunhui's path, but whether he knew or not, he still had to advance like this. Because his path was here.

He simply held his sword, he simply walked through the sea of tribulation. The flames parted for him, and the sword light draped over him like a cloak.

Ten thousand immortals came to pay homage, and the sea of tribulation also surged.

His Dao was equal to the heavens; the Mortal World Tribulation Sea was boundless!

Only... the hum of a sword.

Yan Chunhui held a sword-finger upright before him with one hand, and pointed to the sky with the other!

"Yan has nothing of value but the bright moon and clear breeze. Today, I offer you a cup of bright moon; I invite you to drink with me!"

Frosty light pierced through the full-sky red, and a bright moon rose in the boundless sea of tribulation!

This bright moon was not a lunar disk, nor a manifestation of Dao essence, nor a shape of sword qi. It was the primordial, unparalleled conceptual form of the "bright moon" that stood in the ancient starry dome, shining upon all heavens and myriad realms.

It was the true bright moon!

In the final era of flying swords, the Selfless Sword Monarch, Taishu Bai, drew wine from the moon and placed his flying sword within the immortal bright moon, intending to use this ancient moon to make his sword light shine eternally—thereby extending the meteor-like fleeting moments of the flying sword era.

From then on, throughout all heavens and myriad realms, wherever there was thought, wherever the bright moon shone, a flying sword would descend.

Finally, he broke his sword, leaving only an old, empty cup in the bright moon that illuminated all worlds for eternity... night after night, year after year.

Today, Yan Chunhui brought this cup, filled with a bosom full of bright moonlight and a heart full of frost and snow.

The moon in the sky, the sleepless heart—all transformed into cold light traversing the heavens.

This was the final flying sword!