Su Xue stood in the center of the radiant band of petals, intent on protecting everyone's lives.
The healer was in position; beneath the petals, neither death qi nor demon poison could draw near.
Zen Master Wu Hai and Jian Huaishuang immediately felt the pressure lift, and the wounds on their bodies began to heal at a visible speed.
As the brilliance from Su Xue washed over Poison-Wing, the golden light of the auspicious god within him seemed to resonate, instantly flaring with immense light.
"Roar—!"
Poison-Wing clutched his head in agony, falling to his knees and smashing the bone bricks of the floor into powder.
The death qi from the gu insects within him was forced into a frantic retreat by the golden light and the orchid fragrance, erupting from his Seven Orifices as sprays of black blood.
His malevolent aura was instantly suppressed, and a glimmer of clarity gradually returned to Poison-Wing's eyes.
"What... what am I doing?"
Poison-Wing gasped for air, staring at his blood-stained hands—blood from his own kind, and some of it his own.
Memories flooded back.
The cold coercion of the Toad Saint, the humiliation of being publicly fed gu insects, and the terror of nearly becoming a walking corpse.
"Poison-Wing, help us!"
Su Xue didn't have time to explain. Due to overexertion, her black hair was already turning white starting from the tips.
Maintaining such a large-scale purification while suppressing so much death qi and demon poison was an immense burden for her.
Poison-Wing did not hesitate.
He didn't even need to think.
He trusted Su Xue. Even if the world collapsed, she was the only one he would believe.
"Alright!"
Poison-Wing spun around. The claws that were originally aimed at Jian Huaishuang veered mid-air, thrusting violently into the chest of a corpse-transformed tiger demon that was about to ambush Su Xue.
Puchi!
The tiger demon's heart was ripped out and crushed.
Poison-Wing had defected in the heat of battle!
With a demon king at the peak of the second transformation of eerification joining them, supplemented by the control of the Plague Rat's Great Plague Heaven, Su Xue's potent healing, Jian Huaishuang's counter-attacking sword domain, and Zen Master Wu Hai's frenzied brawling, the situation shifted.
The tide of battle turned once more.
What had been a one-sided slaughter transformed into a balanced melee, and Chen Zhou's side even began to gain the upper hand.
Qianchan was now completely isolated and without aid.
The army of poisonous creatures under her command had mostly withered under the dual assault of the Plague Rat's corrosion and Su Xue's purification.
Qianchan's once magnificent vine dress was now tattered, her body covered in sword scars from Jian Huaishuang and festering wounds from the plague's corrosion.
"Poison-Wing, have you lost your mind?"
Qianchan shattered an approaching paper person with a whip of her vine, staring at the turncoat Poison-Wing with shock and fury.
"You dare betray the Exalted Saint? Have you forgotten who gave you the power you hold today?"
Poison-Wing spat a gout of poison fire, incinerating several of Qianchan's vines into ash as he snarled through gritted teeth.
"I do as I damn well please! Unlike you, I didn't throw away my dignity just to climb higher. What good end is there in being a dog for that old toad?"
"Being a dog?"
Qianchan laughed, her body trembling with mirth as the vines behind her seemed to dance to the sound of her laughter.
She dodged Zen Master Wu Hai's heavy bone monk staff while looking at Poison-Wing with contempt.
Even in her wretched state, she maintained the pride of a demon king.
"You fool, in this world, who isn't a dog?"
"Do you think that by siding with that skeleton, you're no longer a dog? You've simply switched masters to wag your tail for."
"I attached myself to the Toad Saint because he is strong. Using the resources of the strong to nourish myself and survive in this man-eating Southern Region is called skill, not being a dog."
As she spoke, Jian Huaishuang's sword qi arrived. A flash of cold light sliced away half of Qianchan's hair.
Qianchan didn't even flinch. She merely touched her severed hair with regret before her gaze skipped over the others to land on Su Xue, who was protected in the center.
Su Xue was shrouded in a light screen, holy and untainted by the dust of the world.
That was the appearance she loathed most in her life.
And it was also what she envied most deep in her heart.
"Qianchan, stop this."
Su Xue looked at the blood-soaked yet still frenzied Qianchan, a trace of pity flashing in her eyes.
She and Qianchan were both plant demons and had known each other for a century. Once upon a time, they had discussed the path of shapeshifting under the moonlight.
"The Toad Saint's momentum is gone. He even wanted to refine Poison-Wing into a puppet; how could he ever treat you with sincerity? If you surrender now, perhaps that lord could..."
"Shut your mouth, my dear elder sister!"
Qianchan cut Su Xue off directly, her eyes filled with loathing as if she had heard a sickening joke.
She naturally recognized this fifth demon king of the Southern Region, a senior of the old days.
After all, when she was still a tiny vine, she had received the grace of Su Xue's enlightenment and the nourishment of her rain and dew.
But Qianchan looked down on Su Xue.
In Qianchan's view, Su Xue had a thousand years of cultivation and a pure vegetation essence that made demons drool, yet she possessed a spineless heart.
A dignified demon king was so obsessed with a bit of care from humans before she had even gained sentience. Her nature was soft and lacked ruthlessness; she was a disgrace to the demon race.
Qianchan was also a plant demon and knew well the difficulty of surviving in a world where the strong devoured the weak.
Unlike beasts who were born with claws and teeth, they were born stationary and passive.
Therefore, she had spent her entire life fighting for every inch.
She turned herself into a poison vine, grew barbs, and learned to drink blood.
She envied Su Xue's unique talent, envied Poison-Wing for easily receiving rewards from the Exalted Saint, envied the Azure-Scaled Jiao Lord for having a flesh-and-blood relative he could trust his life with—she envied everything that lived better than she did.
She offered flattery and loyalty to the Toad Saint not just to gain power and survive.
It was to carve out a place for herself in this cruel Southern Region, to earn a chance to breathe, and to fight for a future where no one would dare to trample her at will.
If a plant could only depend on others, rely on their protection, beg for mercy, and live on charity, how was that different from the moss under a vine or the parasites on a giant tree?
One would forever live in the shadow of the strong.
But Qianchan refused!
She wanted to be more ruthless and poisonous than anyone else. She wanted to walk a path that no predecessor had ever taken.
But now, perhaps the tide had truly turned against her.
The corpse-transformed demon soldiers had been mostly cleared out. Poison-Wing and that monster called the Plague Rat were watching her like predators.
Qianchan simply stopped defending. She allowed the vines behind her to weave into a massive thorn throne.
She sat down boldly, looking down at Su Xue. Even in this desperate situation, her aura did not diminish in the slightest.
"Su Xue, do you know how hard it is for demons like us who were born from plants?"
"We are born to be eaten, to be fodder for demons, to be ingredients for the strong."
"You were lucky. Before you even transformed, you were raised in a greenhouse by human cultivators. Someone watered you, and someone shielded you from the wind and rain."
"Even the Heavens favored you, giving you such great talent."
"But what about me?"
Qianchan pointed at her own face—glamorous yet hideous, with half of it now rotting.
"I was a poison vine growing in a pile of corpses."
"To survive, I had to drive my roots into dead bodies to drink blood and snatch food from maggots."
"To avoid being bitten to death by other poisonous insects, I had to grow poison thorns all over. To become strong, I even devoured my own sisters who were born with me, struggling to survive."
"I am wicked, I am poisonous, and I am unscrupulous."
"But so what?"
"I used my own ability to crawl out of the mud to reach the position of demon king today. I look down on you—a fine spirit herb that turned itself into a potted plant."
"What right do you have to tell me to stop?"
Su Xue's body trembled at the words. Her lips moved, but she was momentarily speechless.
A potted plant...
She had always thought she was practicing a way of communion.
Su Xue believed this world belonged neither to demons nor to humans, but to all living beings.
All things had spirits; why must it always be a fight to the death?
She wanted to save Qianchan, just as she had wanted to save the Jade Toad back then, and just as she had saved Poison-Wing.
"Qianchan, no matter what you think, only by living is there hope."
Su Xue took a step forward, the light in her eyes still gentle. "You have already been eroded by death qi. If you don't turn back now, you will truly..."
"Stop being so hypocritical."
Qianchan looked at the pity in Su Xue's eyes and felt it was the greatest insult she could receive.
"I only want power. As long as it makes me stronger, I want it!"
"As for your so-called hope..."
Qianchan let out a cold laugh, her gaze sweeping over the surroundings. "Do you think that Bone Temple Master you sided with is any better? You've merely traded a wolf's den for a tiger's mouth."
"See, even you are doubting. Even you feel you are a hypocrite."
Seeing the flicker of hesitation in Su Xue's eyes, Qianchan laughed even more happily, as if she had won a battle more important than life and death.
"That's more like it."
Qianchan took a deep breath and looked around.
That useless Toad Saint had locked himself in that jar for so long without a sound; it seemed things were going poorly for him too.
Even his gu insects were being suppressed; something must have happened inside that jar.
This Black Bone Hall would be her final resting place today.
Qianchan had spent her life calculating and fighting, but she hadn't expected to bet on the wrong side in the end.
"Losing is losing; there's nothing to complain about."
"However..."
Qianchan slowly stood up. Her once seductive body began to burn violently. She was burning her cultivation, burning her entire life force.
The intense pain instantly washed over her—more agonizing than a shredded heart, more painful than having her bones stripped.
Her demon core cracked inch by inch, her origin burned wildly, and her soul was ground down bit by bit.
The extreme pain of such incineration was enough to make any being with a steadfast will collapse in screams.
Not everyone had the courage to go this far. Burning oneself to self-destruct required enduring immense pain and letting go of all attachments to the world.
Even in a desperate situation with no way out, most beings would instinctively curl up.
They would beg for a sliver of illusory survival or humbly pray for a quick end.
But Qianchan did not. She calmly straightened her disheveled clothes; even covered in blood, she would maintain her final dignity.
"My life has been quite a vivid performance."
"Even if I die, I will die spectacularly, so that all of you remember me!"
"You want to catch me and use me as flower fertilizer? You want my flesh and blood demon body to claim credit?"
"Keep dreaming!"
Qianchan flung her arms wide, as if embracing death, or performing a final dance before the curtain fell.
Her body began to disintegrate, turning into a sky full of fluttering poison petals.
"This is my final gift to you all."
"Hahahahahaha!"
BOOM—!!!
Amidst her wild laughter, she detonated her lifelong cultivation and the demon poison of the peak of the second transformation of eerification.
With Qianchan's self-destruction, countless poison vine flowers—stunningly beautiful yet lethally toxic—bloomed in the air.
Every flower was the condensed essence of her life.
Breath-takingly beautiful, yet touch them and die.
Since she could not reach the peak, she would become the fires of calamity.
She would burn this world and everyone along with her!
The massive impact instantly swept through the entire Black Bone Hall, as toxic gas and death qi intertwined into a storm of destruction.
Su Xue's expression changed drastically. She hadn't expected Qianchan to be so resolute.
She summoned the last of her strength to expand the orchid light of her life-protection to its limit, shrouding everyone within it.
"Qianchan..."
Watching the poison flowers withering across the sky, a single tear finally fell from Su Xue's eye.
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