Chapter 1655: Red Plum Punishes the Heart, The Embarrassed Character Foretells Tears

"My dear Dao, for the upcoming battle, is our plan focused on the 'Dragon' or on people?"

"The Dragon."

"And after dealing with the Dragon, do we destroy it, or flee?"

"Flee."

"Oh? Aren't you tempted? This is an evil god, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You could 'slay a god,' become famous, and be celebrated by future generations."

"Leaving aside that this is merely an 'evil god,' not the 'Ancestor of Spells,' and therefore cannot truly be killed... My dear Xu, do you think it has any other tricks up its sleeve besides the 'Dragon'?"

"Yes!"

"How many?"

"I don't know. I only saw a fragment of its memory through the Illusion Sword Art, learning of a spell called 'Forbidden: Reversal of Prohibitions and Cycles.' It once obliterated a god, so be wary."

"Anything else? Elaborate."

"Nothing more."

"It's not that there's nothing more; it's that you don't know it."

"And you do?"

"I don't know either."

"Hmph, you say you don't know, yet you sound so certain – you truly are something... So, my dear Dao, how do you propose we snatch the 'Dragon' from it?"

"My dear Xu, I can tell you already have a plan."

"Hehe, my move might be a bit morally dubious, but it should work. Everything is ready; we just need the final touch – one more treasure!"

"What is it?"

"Your underwear."

Su Yin froze.

Dao Qiongcang couldn't see the expression on the other side.

But he saw the mist freeze in mid-air, and even the incantation for "Forbidden: Reversal of Prohibitions and Cycles" cut off abruptly.

He knew then that Su Yin's reaction to seeing the underwear was essentially identical to his own astonishment when he first heard the suggestion.

Humiliation!

Utter humiliation!

It wasn't just the profound contrast and humiliation of using a defiled object like underwear to replace the venerable 'Dragon' character from the original true stele.

What made Su Yin feel even more disgraced was the hand seal Xu Xiaoshou formed and the spell he chanted.

"'Spell: Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun'?"

How dare he?

Who was he to do this?

What was his standing, and what was hers?

Even if Su Yin, the Evil God, vehemently denied any connection to the Ancestor of Spells, one undeniable truth remained...

She was the Ancestor of Spells, and the Ancestor of Spells was her.

Spells and prohibitions were fundamentally one, merely diverging into righteous or evil paths.

In front of the progenitor of spells, a mere junior performing sorcery should have been a laughingstock. Yet, he had successfully exchanged the very foundation of her existence—the Dragon!

What was a mere piece of underwear?

Even if the underwear still retained some warmth and faintly carried a scent, what did it matter?

This particular 'Su sect' trickery was more disrespectful than stuffing ten pairs of used underwear onto Su Yin's head!

"Xu! Xiao! Shou!"

A voice verging on collapse tore through the cosmic space, transforming into sharp, conical mental spears that pierced rapidly towards Xu Xiaoshou.

With the 'Dragon' character gone.

Su Yin could already anticipate the unfolding events:

Either the opponent, emboldened by their ascendant state, would relentlessly pursue her until she was forced to fight to the death in this cosmic expanse;

Or, after acquiring the Dragon, they would simply turn and flee!

At that critical moment, time seemed to slow down, stretching out incredibly slowly and lengthily.

Su Yin's focus was absolute.

The moment she saw Xu Xiaoshou's face after he acquired the original true stele, it became utterly repulsive:

His eyebrows danced with exhilaration.

The muscles in his cheeks puffed up, betraying a smug delight.

In that fleeting fraction of a second, anyone could discern that every pore on his body reeked of a successful plot and the nauseating satisfaction of a petty victor...

He turned his head!

He turned his body!

He pushed off with his foot!

He motioned to Dao Qiongcang, and the two kindred spirits, having arrived swiftly, were now just as swiftly preparing to depart without delay...

"Flee!"

Once she confirmed that Xu and Dao's plan was to steal the 'Dragon' character and then disappear from her sight, as if washing their hands of the matter.

When the enemy advanced, she retreated.

When the enemy retreated, she advanced.

Su Yin's imposing aura surged without reservation.

As the progenitor of spells, how profound was her mastery?

She immediately severed the half-finished "Forbidden: Reversal of Prohibitions and Cycles" and, targeting Xu Xiaoshou who was turning to flee, altered her technique with a new hand seal:

"'Spell: Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun'!"

Whether to flee or fight after obtaining the 'Dragon' character was a decision for Xu and Dao.

For Su Yin, with the 'Dragon' character lost, she was like a floating palace, constantly at risk of collapse.

Casting the Reversal of Prohibitions and Cycles required the supply of Ancestral Origin power.

Without the 'Dragon' character, how could she cast it?

Even if other methods existed, the fundamental requirement for manifesting spells was still Ancestral Origin power.

Without the 'Dragon' character, how could she even conjure spells?

"Force a spell?"

Su Yin didn't believe so.

In her current dire state, attempting to force another spell would harm more than just her foundation.

So if the 'Dragon' character was lost, she needed to retrieve it first. Whether to flee or fight afterward would be a separate consideration.

As for Xu and Dao losing the 'Dragon' character after obtaining it, and then facing her—who had regained the 'Dragon' character and was now vigilant—whether to fight or flee would be a third consideration.

Su Yin considered these points.

She believed her calculations in this critical instant were absolutely flawless.

And indeed, she was right!

Practitioners of 'Su sect' trickery were nothing but clowns.

After Xu Xiaoshou's scheme succeeded and he obtained the 'Dragon' character, he actually turned his back on an Ancestral God, even one in a weakened state.

This act was a grave disrespect.

No matter how weak her state, could she, Su Yin, not even use a lowly stealing spell like "Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun"?

Or perhaps...

Had she, an Ancestral God, given him the false impression that her state was so poor she couldn't even employ a minor spell like "Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun"?

"Ignorant!"

Her triumphant laughter lasted only a moment before Su Yin spat out a curse.

She dared not delay, for those two were still formidable in combat. Once they realized they had been outmaneuvered, they would likely return in a frenzy to attack.

After uttering the curse, Su Yin drew a bit more power from the 'Dragon' character.

"'Forbidden: Sacrifice Spirit and Forbidden Departure'!"

With a swift hand seal, she turned and fled.

Yes, Su Yin had no desire to fight them. Rest and recuperation were paramount.

While she could certainly fight.

It would be a pyrrhic victory, hurting the enemy a thousand while incurring eight hundred wounds herself.

A gentleman's revenge is never too late. Once she recovered even a fraction of her power from before the Divine War, Xu and Dao could be extinguished with a mere flick of a finger, rendering today's grudge as fleeting and insignificant as a wisp of smoke.

The starry sky was dead silent, eternally still.

The purple mist that was Su Yin remained stationary for a long time.

A spell had been cast, perhaps for a long time, yet she could only sense the black hole continuously devouring her 'mist,' nothing more.

The Sacrifice Spirit and Forbidden Departure spell had not manifested...

This inevitably startled the god, instilling a hint of fear. If those two were to return now, seizing this vulnerable moment...

"Phew!"

Su Yin's divine sense swept the area. When she detected no sign of those two rabid dogs returning, she instantly let out a long sigh of relief.

A starving camel is still larger than a horse.

Though she knew her own weakened state, the opponent didn't.

Su Yin!

Those two words alone could awe all prodigies of the current era!

"Knowing when to retreat in the face of difficulty, that is clever."

"But lacking that fighting spirit, they will likely never uncover the true meaning of the Dao in their entire lives."

Su Yin casually struck Xu and Dao's names from her mind, realizing she had somewhat overestimated their talents due to the multitude of variables introduced by the Divine Ruins.

How could such quitters achieve Daoic ascension, be deified, or hailed as Ancestors?

She borrowed another wisp of power from the 'Dragon' character.

"'Forbidden: Sacrifice Spirit Forbidden—'"

Before the spell could fully manifest, amidst the chaotic demonic energy, Su Yin sensed something amiss.

From the original true stele of the Dragon, the power being drawn was no longer that of the Dragon Ancestor, and the process was no longer difficult.

Instead, it was the power of the Holy Ancestor, readily accessible!

A jolt.

Su Yin's thoughts skipped a beat, and a dreadful premonition arose within her.

Wrapped in purple mist, she manifested a hand of Su Yin and fiercely wiped across the 'Dragon' character stele.

*Rip…*

The veneer peeled away.

The disguise dissolved.

The Heavenly Mechanism Dao patterns and the surrounding space fractured slightly.

That rather heavy ancient stele, after being wiped, transformed into something remarkably light: a visibly faded red boxer brief, clearly well-worn.

Shaken open, the front of the underwear appeared normal, as any ordinary pair would.

But turned over, one could see a small, slightly mischievous design, indicative of the underwear's owner.

On the left buttock, a small, dopey-looking cartoon Heavenly Mechanism Puppet was printed, with short arms and legs, but a very large head.

The starry sky was dead silent.

The starry sky was, by nature, silent.

In reality, at this very moment, what died was Su Yin's heart, and what fell silent was her soul.

"Ah!!!"

Upon seeing that adorably cheerful robot head, utterly devoid of life's troubles, Su Yin completely, inside and out, collapsed.

Demonic energy surged rampantly, invading the purple mist and threatening to consume her last shred of clarity.

"No..."

"It can't be..."

"Absolutely not... Absolutely impossible..."

Su Yin murmured distractedly and helplessly, her thoughts as muddled as the liquidizing purple mist of her form—utterly bewildered!

Underwear?

How could it be underwear?

I retrieved the original true stele, so why is it this... filthy object?!

Su Yin instinctively wanted to discard this unknown person's zodiac year underwear—no, she wanted to crumple it, obliterate it, utterly destroy it.

But it was just a pair of underwear.

And what fault lay with underwear?

*Gurgle…*

*Cough…*

*Chirp…*

The demonic energy twisted.

The mist-like Su Yin emitted twisted and chilling sounds, whose meaning was completely incomprehensible to outsiders.

But even if outsiders were present, they were destined not to hear her madness, for sound could not travel through the starry void.

"Poof!"

The mist-like Su Yin exploded one last time, scattering soul blood and fractured fragments of will across the void, her entire form demonizing into countless monstrous, clawed, and fanged beasts.

The red robot underwear deformed under a demonized Su Yin's massive hand, nearly shattering.

The fingers of the massive hand then pried open, and the underwear, swallowed into the maw of the monstrous beast image, was abruptly regurgitated.

"Hehehe..."

With a deafening boom and grotesque laughter, an immense and uncontrolled surge of demonic energy exploded within the black hole, as if driven mad.

Suddenly, the demonic energy retracted, and a three-headed, six-armed Su Yin materialized, stepping into the starry void. Her expression was stern, and her emotions were as calm as a deity indifferent to the fate of all creation.

She had six arms.

With only two fingers, she delicately picked up the underwear, raising it before her three Su Yin eyes.

Not to sniff it, but because she could sense some hidden power within the underwear; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to draw on the Holy Ancestor's power.

"Interesting."

Su Yin's lips curled into a sneer, and a cold voice emanated from her.

She reached a hand into the underwear and, after fumbling for a moment, seemed to trigger something.

"Click!"

The underwear split open.

Instantly, a golden, sacred, and dazzling light shot skyward.

The light was blinding!

So blinding that even though it contained only a small amount of Holy Ancestor power, Su Yin had to brace herself mentally before daring to touch it.

Yet, the moment Su Yin's mist touched it, the light's fragile essence was exposed.

As the brilliance faded, what emerged from the red underwear was merely a golden Sword of Holy Judgment.

This sword was very familiar.

Back outside the Divine Ruins, when Xu Xiaoshou first drew his sword, thirty million Swords of Holy Judgment had bowed in distant reverence, a truly magnificent sight.

"Heh..."

Su Yin's lips twitched again, as if in a sneer of disdain, or perhaps simply struggling to maintain her composure.

She was about to grasp the Sword of Holy Judgment, to investigate its true nature.

Why had the 'Dragon' character turned into underwear?

Why was a Sword of Holy Judgment, of all things, inside the underwear?

Were these countless twists and transformations merely meant to humiliate her—Su Yin, the brainless Evil God, the god without a plan—or did they conceal some deeper, insidious plot?

Su Yin did not touch the Sword of Holy Judgment.

The moment the sword appeared and perceived the power of the stars, some pre-set "program" seemed to activate.

"Snap."

The sword shattered.

The underwear floated.

The surrounding space fractured, blossoming into swirling plum petals that drifted, floated, and rose due to weightlessness, like the curtain call of a flawless drama.

The curtain call persisted, unending, immortal.

Su Yin's three eyes twitched, fixed on the phenomenon, until the red plum vanished. Yet, nothing of significance was branded into her mind.

She racked her brain, remembering only the color of those plum blossoms...

Very red!

Extremely red!

She only remembered the robot with short limbs and a large head...

Very awkward!

Extremely awkward!

"Hahaha!"

Su Yin's eyes bulged, driven to madness, she suddenly swelled, exploding into masses of repulsive demonic energy, like bursting maggots.

Her own escape, the encounter with Xu Xiaoshou, the truth behind the two "Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun" techniques...

When the second world of that Illusion Sword Art shattered, when she realized the Sword of Holy Judgment's purpose was to maintain the "second world" after Xu and Dao had fled...

The truth, finally, was revealed!

Xu Xiaoshou had never used "Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun."

The moment he appeared, his second world immediately replaced this space. What she had seen and heard as "'Spell: Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun'" was merely her own hallucination.

In essence, Xu Xiaoshou had simply taken out the underwear, then done nothing, waiting for her to perform the "Stealing the Sky and Replacing the Sun" spell herself, thereby actively transferring the 'Dragon' character into his hands.

And she had done it.

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

The demonic Su Yin continuously expanded, swelled, and inflated, while rumbling explosions emanated endlessly from the mist.

Accompanying and sweeping across this starry expanse were visible streaks of murderous intent, along with uncontrollable murmurs and roars, now completely unleashed after losing all restraint:

"Xu Xiaodao... Shou Qiongcang..."

"No, Dao Xiaocang... Xu Shouqiong... No! It's..."

"Xu! Xiao! Shou!"

Killing someone was a simple matter, and even 'Su sect' trickery was tolerable.

How could the Holy God Continent, a land of spiritual grace and genius, give birth to such a vile individual as you, and nurture such a foul, odious heart?

Traitor! Villain! Rebel!

The demonic Su Yin coalesced into a face of pure demonic energy, tilting her head to stare intensely at the location of the Divine Ruins.

Sanity...

No, sanity was gone.

Her sixth sense, that of an Evil God, told her that rushing there would be unwise; the Divine Ruins were now the opponent's territory, and it would be a thankless endeavor.

But at this moment, all three of her eyes were red, and her mind was consumed solely by the image of that awkward robot.

Unbearable!

Absolutely unbearable!

A gentleman doesn't let a grudge fester overnight!

If this hatred remained unavenged, what kind of Su Yin would she be? What sort of god would she be enshrined as, or ancestor acclaimed?

"Die!!!"

Burning with endless murderous intent, the demonic Su Yin's body ignited with crimson light, transforming into pure speed as she fled towards the Divine Ruins.

But she had lingered here too long.

"Snap."

It was like a string had snapped.

Su Yin suddenly could no longer sense the aura of the Divine Ruins.

That place must have been thoroughly refined by someone using the Heavenly Realm Core, taken over, and with an entire plane manipulated, it vanished without a trace.

"Snap."

Su Yin's heartstring, too, snapped.

She stopped in the void, bewildered and helpless, maintaining her soul-will blood escape and continuously burning herself, clearly having lost her way.

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha!"