Their faces had already turned a sickly shade of blue, lips drained of every trace of color. Their cultivation had fallen all the way down to the Golden Core stage. The shadow of death loomed over everyone.
Still, no one dared relax.
All eyes were locked on the formation. No one was thinking about ascension anymore. All they wanted now was for the formation to succeed. At the very least, they wanted their sacrifice to mean something.
The array kept brightening, but everyone could see it clearly now—the energy needed to fully activate it was far beyond what they had left. Not even close.
Realizing that made despair tighten their chests.
Song Wanníng's face grew even heavier. Even though she was already injured by the monsters, she didn't care about that. What tore at her heart was seeing the others like this.
Her attacks grew faster, fiercer, desperate.
Everyone was losing rhythm.
From early Golden Core, to late Foundation, to mid Foundation... then Qi Refinement tenth layer...
Third layer...
Yun Yangzi and the others' cultivation was plummeting like a collapsing mountain, leaving only a sliver of energy to barely hold on.
The array shone brighter and brighter, almost fully lit, but at that exact moment, their cultivation was completely drained.
Despair washed over them. The finish line was right there.
Hope had been within reach...
And now, that light in their eyes flickered out, leaving behind nothing but pain and regret. Even then, the formation didn't stop its pull. It kept devouring their strength, their life force, until their bodies withered away like dying flowers.
"Father!"
Baili Shang's heart dropped. He could only watch helplessly as the Demon King and the other Seniors collapsed, while he had to keep fighting the monsters in front of him.
Despair pressed down on every heart.
Just as everyone was losing hope, Song Wanníng suddenly darted forward. She charged straight into the center of the formation without a trace of hesitation. In the next instant, every bit of energy in her body erupted like a storm.
The fading formation burst to life again, roaring with violent power.
She stood in the middle like a divine figure descending from the heavens, radiating a terrifying aura that silenced the battlefield.
What startled everyone most was the surge of demonic, ghostly, and beastly energy spilling out from her body.
"Wanníng!"
Baili Shang's voice broke. When he realized what she was doing, his eyes burned hot.
Was Song Wanníng... planning to sacrifice herself for the array?
One person's energy could never sustain it.
Xuan Yan's heart jolted as well. He stared at her in shock, but there was nothing he could do except keep slaying the monsters around them to buy her time.
Song Wanníng stood at the very center, eyes filled with unwavering determination.
These people were all brought here by her. That meant she was responsible for them. When there was nowhere left to retreat, she'd take the front herself. Even if it only bought them a few more breaths of time, it was worth it.
"Wanníng!!"
"Song Daoyou!!"
The few who were still barely alive shouted her name in panic, their eyes red. They'd already accepted their own sacrifice, but now she'd joined them too. She could've saved herself at the very last moment, could've escaped...
"Why go this far..."
They looked at her through a blur of tears, hearts aching with regret and admiration. Her cultivation dropped rapidly. She looked like a balloon losing air, her spiritual power fading at a terrifying speed.
But she only smiled faintly. "Since I was the one who gathered you all here, I won't just stand by and watch you die. Even if I die, I'll die before you do."
There was a quiet, gentle light in her eyes as she spoke.
Song Wanníng had always been someone who met sincerity with sincerity. She never betrayed kindness.
Death wasn't frightening. From the day she stepped on the cultivation path, she'd already accepted it. To be reborn once, to avenge her hatred—that was already more than she'd ever dared to hope for.
For her, that was enough.
If she had any regret, it was failing the Heavenly Dao's trust, slipping at the very last step. She looked up at the sky as her cultivation fell from Golden Core to Foundation... then to Qi Refinement...
But there wasn't fear in her eyes. There was defiance.
Even if she couldn't personally destroy the Heavenly Dao of the Mùsù star system, that didn't mean she was afraid of it.
When the last drop of energy left her body, her cultivation hit zero. The array was only a hair's breadth from completion. Staring at the small gap that remained, a faint regret passed over her expression.
So it failed after all.
She sighed softly, accepting it.
"Sister!!"
"Wanníng!!"
"Song Wanníng!!!"
The cries rang out together.
She looked down to see the little ones, Baili Shang, and Xuan Yan all staring up at her in anguish.
In the blink of an eye, her black hair turned snow-white. Her skin sagged, wrinkled, aged in an instant. If she weren't a cultivator, her true age would've already shown long ago.
So she just smiled gently and waved her hand, unconcerned.
The few who'd been drained by the array lifted their heads. They met each other's eyes, tears glistening, and smiled faintly—like people waiting for judgment, calm and ready to face death.
But then, everything changed.
The array absorbed all of Song Wanníng's power, yet the trace of Immortal Qi within her hadn't been touched.
When she could no longer provide any energy, the array suddenly pulled that Immortal Qi out.
That missing piece snapped into place, and in an instant, the formation blazed to life, shining with blinding brilliance.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted. Countless streaks of light shot outward like stars scattering across the sky.
The array's runes flared violently, blasting Song Wanníng and the others away.
Bang!
She hit the ground hard, coughing up blood again and again, every breath like tearing her lungs apart.
The others crashed down too, bleeding from every pore.
All of them looked up in disbelief as the array began to turn, the seal within it starting to blur...
Far away in the Immortal Realm, Mo Yang Xiānzūn's heart leapt.
The seal trembled wildly. The monsters trapped inside were stirring, roaring, howling—
The guards nearby felt the disturbance and rushed over.
"Xiānzūn, is something wrong?"
They were pale with fear, trembling as they stared at the quivering seal. If those monsters broke out, they'd be the first to die. There were too many of them. The guards couldn't even hope to fight back.
Mo Yang Xiānzūn's face remained calm. "It's fine."
He gestured for them to withdraw and stayed alone by the seal.