Sludge suction system

The blood mist atop Kunlun Mountain solidified, and the figure of the Abbot slowly rose from between the brows of the sixteen jade-like corpses. The lotus mark on each corpse burned fiercely, squeezing out their last spiritual essence into a thick black paste. Qian Wanguan watched as the "Xuan" character incantation reappeared in Ayan's pupils, and the lotus pendant on her wrist shattered into dust. He finally understood—the Abbot had never resurrected them through the power of the jade-like corpses, but rather used their souls as fuel to ignite the deepest evil within the old bones.

“Three hundred years ago, I used ‘No Life’ to create a cocoon, sealing the old bones of the dragon turtle deep within people’s hearts,” the abbot’s fingertip traced Tian Xue’er’s lotus birthmark, and spiderweb-like black patterns immediately appeared beneath her skin. “Sang Xuan thought he was defying fate, but in reality, every drop of the jade maiden’s blood was nurturing the Gu for me.” With a wave of his hand, sixteen skeletons exploded simultaneously, transforming into a swarm of blood jade worms. The “Xuan” character incantation formed by the swarm enveloped the entire ice plain, scorching Tan Ge’s “Jie” character tattoo until it was a bloody mess.

Qian Wanguan felt the Ice Silkworm Gu within his body suddenly boil over, and his jade-like bones groaned under the strain. He stared at the lotus pattern on the abbot's sleeve—the pattern had now completely transformed into dragon-turtle scales, each scale's seam containing fragments of the jade figure's skull. "You're not the abbot at all, you're from the old bones..."

"Host? Container?" The abbot's laughter mingled with the sound of glaciers cracking. "No, I am 'Wusheng' itself. The moment the first person planted the evil thought of 'immortality' in their heart, I was born." He crushed the lotus pendant fragments in Qian Wanguan's palm. "Yuan Xiangya's spirit deer blood? The good intentions of the sixteenth generation jade maiden? They are nothing more than a medicinal ingredient to nourish the old bones."

Tian Xue'er, suspended from the abbot's fingertip by the blood-jade chains, saw in the distance, towards the mass grave, that Yuan Xiangya's remnant soul was being cocooned by a swarm of insects. The "Xuan" character incantation on the cocoon resonated with the abbot's scales, staining the snow atop Kunlun Mountain crimson. Tan Ge threw out his last "Jie" character with all his might, but it was swallowed by the abbot's scales the instant it touched him, transforming into another incantation within his body.

"Now, it's time for you to see the true meaning of the Unborn View." The Abbot raised his hand and summoned fragments of the ice coffin. The fragments pieced together in the air to form a massive altar. At the center of the altar lay Yuan Xiangya's remains. The lotus birthmark on her chest had been removed and was slowly burning as a guiding lamp for her old bones. Qian Wanguan was pressed against the edge of the altar, watching helplessly as his blood was channeled into the altar's grooves, merging with the spiritual liquid of the Jade People, Yuan Xiangya's blood, and Tian Xue'er's spirit deer blood to form a dark red river that watered the "Flower of Immortality" at the center of the altar.

“Every drop of blood imbued with obsession is nourishment for me,” the abbot said, his scales opening to reveal the dense “mysterious” incantations within. “And your regrets, your resentment, your yearning for life…” he pointed to Qian Wanguan’s pupils, “are the best food for the Gu worms.”

The icy plain suddenly trembled, and Qian Wanguan sensed something awakening underground. It was a being older and more evil than the Abbot, the source of all evil thoughts of "immortality"—the old bones of the Dragon Turtle. He watched the light gradually dimming in Tian Xue'er's birthmark and finally understood how terrifying the Abbot's conspiracy was: not to resurrect himself, but to use the souls of everyone to create an eternally unbreakable human world filled with evil thoughts for the old bones.

"Xiangya, I'm sorry..." His jade-like hand reached out in vain towards Yuan Xiangya's body, but when his fingertips touched the silver hairpin in her hair, he heard the sound of the lotus bell from three hundred years ago. The sound did not come from the outside world, but rose from the bottom of his heart, clear and pure, carrying Yuan Xiangya's last smile.

Suddenly, cracks appeared on the abbot's scales, and Qian Wanguan realized that his blood had congealed into lotus shapes in the river of the altar. Each lotus held a point of light from the Jade People—they had never truly been devoured, but had used his remorse as a seed to grow a new power to fight against darkness in the river of evil thoughts.

“So… good intentions never disappear,” he watched as more and more lotuses bloomed in the river of blood, “the most brilliant flowers will only bloom in the darkest places.”

The abbot's roar was drowned out by the sound of the lotus bell. Qian Wanguan felt something inside his body shatter—not the jade poison, but the lie of three hundred years. When the first Spirit Deer Blood Lotus bloomed in the center of the altar, he finally saw the terror in the abbot's eyes: the true nemesis of "no birth" was never a powerful force, but an inextinguishable faith in goodness, even if it was only a trace.

The lotus flowers in the River of Blood bloomed ever more profusely, and the abbot's scales peeled away one by one, revealing the already rotten human heart beneath. Qian Wanguan stood up and stood shoulder to shoulder with the luminous figures of the Jade People. He knew that this battle was far from over, but at least they had planted the first seed of hope within the abbot's conspiracy, a seed that would surely grow strong.

Steam rose from the blood-jade altar atop Kunlun Mountain. Tian Xue'er's lotus birthmark gradually dimmed beneath the "Xuan" character incantation on the abbot's palm. She was suspended upside down in the center of the dragon-turtle totem, the shimmering blue blood of the spirit deer meandering along the altar's grooves, each drop activating the black lotus at its heart, formed from the soul bones of sixteen generations of jade beings. Qian Wanguan, his limbs entangled by Sang Xuan's swarm of insects, watched helplessly as the abbot's scales pierced her throat. The instant the blood splattered onto the black lotus, a bloodshot pupil opened within its heart.

"The blood of the spirit deer draws the soul, the bones of the jade maiden form the embryo," the abbot's voice overflowed from the black lotus, each petal reflecting Tian Xue'er's terrified face. "This vessel is purer than Yuan Xiangya's." The black lotus suddenly burst forth with intense light, and Tian Xue'er's body began to become transparent. Her lotus birthmark transformed into thousands of light butterflies, but they were burned to ashes the moment they touched the abbot's scales.

Tan Ge's silver bell fell to the edge of the altar, emitting a broken, mournful sound. He stared at Tian Xue'er's fading fingertips and suddenly remembered what she had said at the mass grave: "Lotus flowers will bloom again after they wither, but once a person is gone, they are truly gone." At this moment, her smile froze on her lips, and her eyes reflected the last starlight from the Kunlun Mountains, the pure, unpolluted beauty she had protected with her life.

"No!" Qian Wanguan broke free from the swarm of insects and lunged at the altar. His jade-like hand had just touched Tian Xue'er's hair when the black lotus swallowed her whole. The abbot's scales closed up again, and the phantom of the dragon turtle appeared behind the black lotus, each claw stepping on the jade-like woman's skeleton, its mouth holding Tian Xue'er's gradually fading birthmark.

“Now, the new shell of the old bones is only missing the last step—” The abbot raised his hand and summoned Qian Wanguan. The spiritual liquid seeping from the gaps in the scales seeped into his wound. “Your regret can make this vessel even more perfect.” Qian Wanguan felt his soul being pulled out. Before his eyes flashed Yuan Xiangya’s smile, Ayan’s silver bell, and the spirit deer blood lotus seed handed to him by Tian Xue’er. But at the last moment, he heard the familiar sound of a lotus bell coming from under the ice.

The black lotus suddenly trembled violently, and Tian Xue'er's light butterflies flew out of the observer's body in reverse. Each butterfly's wing bore the marks of burning, yet when they converged into her phantom, they once again shone with a luminous blue light. "You've forgotten, the blood of the spirit deer... can burn away all lies." Her voice mingled with the roar of melting glaciers, and the birthmark on her chest lit up again. "And my soul will forever belong to myself."

The abbot let out a defiant roar, and the roots of the black lotus crumbled inch by inch in the light. Qian Wanguan saw Tian Xue'er's illusory figure lift up the jade maiden's soul within the black lotus, and the light spots imprisoned for three hundred years transformed into spirit deer blood lotuses, weaving a sea of ​​light on the altar. The abbot's dragon-turtle illusory figure was forced back by the sea of ​​light, and what was revealed where the scales had peeled away was the face of the first jade maiden whom he had personally killed three hundred years ago.

"So you were the one..." Qian Wanguan's voice was drowned out by the sea of ​​light. When Tian Xue'er's illusory figure turned around, he finally saw the determination in her eyes—the last chance of life that Yuan Xiangya's father had hidden at the bottom of the lotus pond, exchanged for thirty years of his lifespan.

The moment the black lotus completely collapsed, Tian Xue'er's phantom transformed into thousands of light butterflies, each wing imprinted with the character "解" (jie, meaning "resolve"). Qian Wanguan caught the falling spirit deer blood lotus seed. The "玄" (xuan, meaning "mysterious") incantation on the surface of the lotus seed had been burned away, revealing the true inscription engraved inside: "Awaken blood with blood, call soul with soul, the final chapter of good and evil begins in the human heart."