Immortal Dao is dead, I am the mastermind behind it all.

Meanwhile, on a makeshift stage at Chaoyang Lake, east of Langya Prefecture.

The drums and gongs were deafening, and the lights were bright.

The opera troupe is performing the classic play "Kuafu Chasing the Sun".

The martial arts actor Luo Hui plays Kuafu, a burly man who holds a peach wood staff and chases after a fiery red ribbon representing the sun on stage with bold steps and a majestic presence.

The citizens and low-level cultivators watching from below the stage were thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

As the plot reaches its climax, Kuafu, after overcoming countless hardships, finally catches up with the sun, but collapses due to extreme thirst.

"I'm so thirsty... I'm dying of thirst!"

The female lead's voice was filled with sorrow as she sang of Kuafu's yearning and resentment before his death.

"My ambition to travel ten thousand miles a day remains unfulfilled; my throat burns like smoke, and my life is about to end!"

"I wish I could drink in the depths of the rivers and seas, but alas, my strength is exhausted and my will is thwarted..."

The mournful singing echoed through the city, recounting the tragic end of an ancient deity.

As the song ended, Luo Hanchan hurried backstage to bring Luo Hui some water.

This obedient appearance made Luo Hui feel a little guilty.

He put all his heart and soul into the play, which made him distant from the people around him.

As her father, I have failed her and neglected to discipline her; I am truly unqualified.

Over the years, Luo Changting has been taking care of her.

"By the way, Xiao Chan, where's your brother?" Luo Hui suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen Luo Changting for the past few days.

Luo Hanchan was also slow to realize that their consciousness seemed to have been interfered with, and they consciously ignored Luo Changting.

……

Night, in a desolate place outside Chaoyang Lake.

"Finally, I've collected them all."

Luo Changting was pale, his forehead soaked with sweat. He had been secretly collecting materials on the Heavenly Demon Ritual for years.

Through the cognitive distortion of consciousness, he can make the members of the opera troupe ignore his existence so that they can concentrate on doing their own thing.

Before them, the Heavenly Demon Ritual, constructed from various bizarre materials, was emitting an unstable, eerie light.

The blood-painted array patterns twisted and distorted, like a venomous snake struggling in its death throes.

The abandoned infant's corpse at the center, serving as the core, was emitting a sizzling sound of decay, its resentment dissipating.

The bird egg placed on the sacrificial altar remained silent and still.

"But why... why won't it start?!"

Luo Changting clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, and once again forced the meager demonic energy within his body to stabilize the array patterns, based on the fragments of memories from the "past life" of the Demonic Sect disciple in his mind.

But the ritual was like a leaky sack, frantically devouring his power without any response. The backlash made his throat taste sweet, and he almost vomited blood.

Memory is fragmented, and the key points of the ritual always seem to be shrouded in mystery.

Despair, like icy water, gradually engulfed his heart.

The ritual failed, leaving me powerless. How can I protect my father and sister in this chaotic world? How can I seize that sliver of hope?

Just as his mind wavered and the light of the ritual was about to go out completely.

A cold and clear thought, as if directly imprinted on the depths of his soul, suddenly pierced into his chaotic sea of ​​consciousness like lightning breaking through dark clouds!

This is a pure understanding, a rewriting of the array patterns, an extremely subtle adjustment.

This "light of inspiration" came so suddenly, yet so naturally, as if it were a sudden enlightenment he had gained after much contemplation!

"!!!"

Luo Changting was trembling violently. He didn't have time to think about the source of this inspiration. His survival instinct and the other party's extreme desire for quantity made him subconsciously follow this guidance.

He channeled demonic energy through his fingertips, subtly altering each node of the array in a way he himself had never imagined.

"boom!!"

The ritual, which was on the verge of collapse, suddenly trembled!

The originally scattered resentment was as if it had been combed by an invisible hand, instantly becoming docile and concentrated, transforming into a dark stream that actively flowed towards the abandoned infant's corpse in the center.

The corpses rapidly dissolved, transforming into the purest form of yin energy.

Immediately afterwards...

"Snap!"

A crack appeared on the shell of the bird's egg.

There was no demonic pressure as expected, no terrifying demonic energy raging, and not even a trace of evil.

Only a calm, profound gaze, seemingly able to see through all things in the world, quietly emerged from the crack and "landed" on Luo Changting.

Luo Changting stood frozen in place, his whole body ice-cold.

He felt no connection to any contract, nor any oppression from a superior being.

There was only a chilling feeling of being completely seen through, with nowhere to hide.

There was no chick in the cracks of the eggshell, only a bottomless darkness, and two gazes like cold stars in the darkness.

That gaze... was like that of an observer high in the clouds, scrutinizing him, this ant that had intruded into their field of vision, with a hint of barely perceptible interest.

Immediately afterward, before Luo Changting could react to the eerie silence, several items appeared out of thin air on the ground in front of him:

A bottle of pills, a scroll exuding ancient demonic energy, and several high-quality spirit stones, enough for him to cultivate for several months.

The items were few, but they were exactly the cultivation resources he urgently needed, especially the leather scroll, which exuded an aura that made the demonic seed within him leap with joy.

The cracks in the eggshell quietly healed, and the unsettling gaze vanished.

The lakeside returned to silence, with only the rustling of the night wind through the grass and Luo Changting's heavy, disordered breathing.

……

In the distance, inside the Feiguang Prefecture cave.

Shen Moyan slowly opened his eyes, and a wisp of demonic energy at his fingertips quietly dissipated.

In the water mirror in front of him, Luo Changting's blank, back view was reflected.

"My first attempt at teleporting items using mind projection was pretty good."

He murmured, a barely perceptible smile curving his lips.

Through the lurking Six Senses Fireflies' understanding of the ritual, and the teleportation array patterns he had studied over the years, Shen Moyan easily altered the ritual.

That's right, what descended was not the thought of a celestial demon, but the divine thought of Shen Moyan.

Even if Luo Changting knew he had been set up, he would accept it willingly.

After all, it was he who took the initiative to approach the Heavenly Demon with a wish.

All I need to do is hide behind the scenes, pretend to be a demon, and guide him.

"Um?"

Shen Moyan let out a soft exclamation and looked towards the water mirror.

Suddenly, Luo Changting collapsed to the ground, his face contorted in pain.

……

Luo Changting curled up on the ground and fell into a restless sleep.

Fragments of shattered memories, like bubbles rising before a drowning person's eyes, with a cold, sticky feel, surged into his consciousness.

The ritual he had just performed had caused a strange change in the demonic seed within him.

He saw it; it came from the remnant soul of that demonic sect disciple who had not been completely annihilated:

"Has the head been found...?" A restless thought roared.

"This is Yan... a collaboration with the sect... His head... otherwise, sect leader..." Another, even more majestic will rolled over like thunder.

"I sense... in the east... where the earth's veins converge..." The thought was strongly directed in a certain direction.

"...eyes...ears...outline the face...only then can you find the 'mouth'..."

The final fragment points to a method of searching, mentioning a face and a "mouth".

Luo Changting suddenly woke up, drenched in sweat, his heart pounding.

Although those thoughts were chaotic, the core information was sharply etched into his mind.

The Six Hells Demon Sect is searching for a long-lost head!

This head seems to be hidden somewhere in the eastern part of Langya Prefecture, at the intersection of the earth's veins. You need to outline the location of a "face" to find its "mouth".

And that "head" itself was an incomparably terrifying demon!

"elder brother!"

Luo Hanchan found him in a secluded place and called out loudly, her voice filled with worry.

Luo Hui and the opera troupe followed closely behind her.

"You brat! What are you doing here?!"

"It really worried everyone in the opera troupe for a while."

Amidst the shouts and reprimands of the crowd, they embarked on their return journey.

"Brother, what happened to you just now?"

Luo Hanchan held the other person's hand and asked with some concern.

Luo Changting forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart and forced out an ugly smile:

"It's nothing, Xiao Chan, I just had a... strange dream."