The Immortal’s "White Moonlight" Reborn - Chapter 23

The Shattering of Her Life Token

If one looked closely, they could see Wen Qiwu’s body trembling. A Demon Lord naturally possessed the keen observation to notice this; he assumed she was shaking from fear. It was only human, after all. For a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage to face his True Immortal presence, even if this was merely an external avatar with the strength of a Gold Immortal—the gap was not something a powerful weapon could easily bridge.

Though the Demon Lord did not recognize the bow in Wen Qiwu’s hands, the fact that it had pierced his Demonic Cauldron suggested it was, at the very least, a top-tier Immortal Artifact. But in the hands of someone who hadn’t even reached the Earth Immortal stage, its true potential remained locked.

What the Demon Lord did not know was that Wen Qiwu wasn’t trembling from fear or even from rage. She was, in fact, incredibly calm.

She trembled because her body and soul were in agony. As the Demon Lord suspected, her strength was insufficient to wield a Divine Artifact; the power of the Nine Tribulations Bow was recoiling upon her. The stronger the arrow she fired, the greater the pain she had to endure.

“For a Void Refinement cultivator to possess such a top-tier artifact… who is she?” the Demon Lord asked the Demon Seed beside him.

The Demon Seed remained silent for a heartbeat. “A common disciple who lucked into a treasure.”

“So it’s just luck. I thought” The Demon Lord had wondered if she was someone close to Yun Heng; few would casually gift a top-tier Immortal Artifact. If she were important to the Sovereign, he would have hung her soul on the outermost edge of his display as a trophy.

Since she was a nobody, he lost interest. He didn’t doubt the Demon Seed’s words.

“Handle her. Remember to bring back that bow; it’s a fine treasure.”

The Demon Seed neither nodded nor shook her head, staring blankly at Wen Qiwu, but the Demon Lord knew she had heard the order.

He didn’t ask why the Demon Seed had failed to notice Wen Qiwu earlier. After all, he hadn’t noticed her himself. Perhaps the girl possessed a cloaking treasure; he would check her body once she was captured.

Suddenly, array patterns flashed beneath Wen Qiwu’s feet. Golden chains snared her waist and limbs. She struggled, but as expected, she was immobilized.

This was a high-level array. Using standard methods, it would take her at least half an hour to break, time she didn’t have. The Demon Lord had already brought out another cauldron, intending to refine the remaining survivors of the Wenshen Sect.

And so, Wen Qiwu released the restraints on the power within her.

“BOOM!”

Tribulation clouds suddenly swirled in the sky. Purple-gold lightning flickered within the darkness, carrying a pressure that made the world tremble.

A spiritual storm erupted where Wen Qiwu stood, a vortex leveling the surrounding trees. At the center of that rampaging energy, her thin, frail figure remained upright.

She was at the Void Refinement stage not because she lacked talent, but because her soul could not withstand greater power. She had been forced to suppress her cultivation at the Great Perfection of Void Refinement, never daring to progress.

Now, she simply let go.

She broke through to the Unity (He-Dao) Stage instantly. The tribulation lightning shattered the chains binding her. Under the baptism of the storm, new wounds opened across her body while her powerful innate healing forced them shut just as quickly.

Lightning and pain blurred her vision. She saw the Demon Seed suddenly rushing toward her. Was it an illusion? She thought she saw a flash of panic on that face.

Wasn’t the Demon Seed supposed to be heartless and emotionless? Why would she make such a face? I must be seeing things, Wen Qiwu thought bitterly.

Without hesitation, she drew the bowstring amidst the falling thunder.

The second tribulation of the Cangwang Realm’s creation: The Lightning that Shatters the Earth, splitting the world into six domains.

This arrow, carrying the weight of heavenly lightning, whistled through the air, grazing past the Demon Seed’s silhouette.

Now that her strength had surged to the Unity Stage, the second arrow’s power far eclipsed the first. It chased the Demon Lord relentlessly. Sensing the danger, he summoned a massive surge of demonic energy to defend himself.

A deafening explosion rang out. The shield in front of the Demon Lord actually developed a visible crack.

The Demon Lord stared at the crack for a long time before looking up with a grim expression. He could no longer ignore Wen Qiwu.

But so what if she reached the Unity Stage? Until she reached the Earth Immortal realm, she was still a mortal. The difference in the essence of their power was absolute.

Just as he thought this, he realized the human girl’s power was still climbing!

Early Unity… Mid-Unity… Late-Unity… Great Perfection…

She was attempting to break through to the Earth Immortal Realm!

Madness! Pure madness!

The Demon Lord considered himself a madman, but he paled in comparison to the human before him.

Two more arrows followed. Sensing true danger from the uncontrollable variables surrounding Wen Qiwu, the Demon Lord decided to kill her immediately. He didn’t even want her soul anymore—he would erase her from existence.

Blood poured from Wen Qiwu’s mouth. Usually, a tribulation of the heart follows the lightning, but it had been delayed. She exploited this gap to charge toward the Earth Immortal stage; she needed Immortal Power to control the fifth arrow.

“Wait… that bow… It’s the Nine Tribulations World-Falling Bow! How could the Demon Emperor’s weapon be in the hands of a human!” Certain fragments of ancestral memory made the Demon Lord’s head throb. As the Divine Artifact’s power stacked, it resonated with his inherited memories.

He finally recognized the bow. Tens of thousands of years ago, the Demon Emperor had used nine arrows to crush the ambitions of the Demon Realm. She had slain True Demons and ground the Demon Lords’ pride into the dirt. Even though the Demon Emperor died in that battle, the demons of that era were too terrified to ever step foot outside their realm again.

The Demon Lord of Ten Thousand Souls hadn’t lived through that war, but the memories he stole from his predecessor contained the terror. Seeing Wen Qiwu aiming that silver bow at him made his skin crawl.

This person must die!

But… she won’t survive this either.

The Demon Seed stood frozen. No one knew Wen Qiwu’s physical condition better than she did. Wen Qiwu was burning the last of her life force in exchange for this power.

Why? Why didn’t you stay at the Reflection Cliff?

The array covering the Wenshen Sect was only a prototype. The true Heaven-Veiling Array was at the Reflection Cliff. As long as she stayed there, no one could have found her.

But she had come out. She had severed her own path to survival.

The Demon Lord wanted to kill the new owner of the bow as quickly as possible to erase the shadow that had loomed over the Demon Realm for millennia.

“Even if you reach the Earth Immortal stage, the gap between an Earth Immortal and a True Immortal is wider than that between a Qi Condenser and a Unity cultivator! You cannot handle this power! You think you can kill my avatar with that? A joke!”

The Demon Lord’s voice was sharp with a fear he hadn’t even realized he felt. In the next second, the words caught in his throat.

Wen Qiwu took a jade pendant and tied it to the arrow. The jade dissolved into a streak of light, merging with the shaft.

The pendant was a protective charm Yun Heng had given her, containing three of the Sovereign’s full-power attacks.

This True Immortal power momentarily woke the Divine Artifact. With her forced cultivation, Wen Qiwu barely managed to hold the bow steady.

This was a power that could truly shoot down the sun.

The Demon Lord’s attacks were neutralized by the artifact’s aura. He prepared to dodge, thinking the girl could fire one or two arrows at most, but never a third. As long as he avoided the strike.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his right shoulder.

He tried to move, but his body wouldn’t obey. He looked back in shock and found that the person pinning him down was the Demon Seed—the one he believed would never betray him.

Why would a heartless, emotionless killing machine do this?

The Demon Seed didn’t answer. She only looked at the distant Wen Qiwu, whose consciousness was fading. There was a trace of desolation in the Demon Seed’s eyes.

Was she truly heartless? She didn’t know. She only knew that from the moment she gained awareness, there had been a faint, flickering obsession in her mind.

[I must find a way to cure Little Sparrow. I must save her.]

Who is Little Sparrow?

That was the first question the Demon Seed had asked upon coming into the world. Then, she saw a well-behaved, beautiful child in her memories. The child would hug “[her]” legs and call her “Elder” in a sweet voice. But the child was very sick, and “[she]” wanted to heal her.

I want to heal her, too.

This intent was born long before any order from the Demon Lord. In the Demon Seed’s heart, the scales had tipped toward Wen Qiwu long ago. She didn’t care if anyone else lived or died; she only wanted this child to live.

Wen Qiwu was losing control of the artifact. Guided only by her obsession, she released the string. At the final moment, she seemed to see the scene in the distance. Startled, she instinctively shifted the arrow’s path slightly.

This arrow burned away everything she had left.

“Chirp.”

At the very end, she thought she heard the sound of a little blue bird.

That day, it seemed a second sun fell upon the Wenshen Sect.

In the distant borderlands, the jade pendant that Yun Heng always wore suddenly shattered.

The fragments of the Life Token fell from the air. The Immortal Sovereign froze, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Pure white jade shards drifted past her. She instinctively reached out to catch them. But the battlefield shifts in a heartbeat; her distraction gave the enemy an opening. Blades and swords pierced her body, yet she felt no pain.

Perhaps the pain in her heart had already eclipsed everything else.

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