Saint Emperor Devourer of Heaven

Mu Ciyin didn't listen to Jun Wuxie; she had to carefully examine him herself, confirming that he was indeed only suffering from mental exhaustion due to severe consumption of his spiritual soul power before she could finally relax.

She sat beneath a large tree on the mountaintop, allowing Jun Wuxie to lean against her as he rested, her gaze sweeping across the surroundings.

Looking at the battle scars left behind, her heart remained unsettled for a long time.

The Ridge of Terror was undoubtedly a very special place, difficult to destroy.

This area, having just experienced such intense combat, only had some grass and trees damaged, and the slightly larger trees, apart from losing some leaves, had basically intact branches.

A mysterious energy and rules protected the plants, trees, mountains, and rocks here.

But this didn't surprise her, as it was something she already knew.

What unsettled her heart was the young man in her arms, her most beloved disciple.

Back in the Lower Realm, after learning about his growth history and personality, she had grown fond of him. Coupled with her optimism about his future potential, she disregarded the sect's age-old iron rule and accepted him as her personal disciple, giving him the token representing her identity as a life-saving charm.

Such a young man was truly rare. His talent and growth were heaven-defying enough, his heart was steadfast, and throughout his growth, no matter what he experienced or faced, he was never captured by desire, always maintaining his original aspirations.

Lowering her head and looking at the weary expression on his face, Mu Ciyin felt proud of him while simultaneously feeling a pang of heartache and self-reproach.

In her heart, he had always been her most beloved disciple, but what had she done for him these years?

This time, when he needed her so much, she, as his master, was disappointing and ultimately had to rely on him to kill the enemy.

Although she didn't know why his Dao of Talismans could ascend to that level in such a short time, she understood that there must be a price to pay for doing so.

He held too many secrets.

She felt incredibly curious about this personal disciple of hers, but she refrained from asking.

Everyone had secrets, it was just that Wuxie had more. As his master, if she were to ask, she wondered if it would put him in a difficult position.

Perhaps he didn't want to say, but he would be afraid of hurting her feelings, so he would hesitate and struggle, but she didn't want to bring him such trouble.

"Sleep, rest your head on your master's lap and get a good sleep."

She gently moved his body, allowing his head to rest on her legs, then gently patted his shoulder.

Although Jun Wuxie was very weak now, he had not lost consciousness. Seeing her acting like this, coaxing him to sleep like a child, made him feel speechless.

But he was truly too weak and needed rest to replenish his energy.

He quickly emptied his mind.

For some reason, he had a very grounded feeling, his whole being relaxed, and he quickly drifted into a dream.

Mu Ciyin looked at his sleeping face, a slight smile appearing on her extraordinary and refined face, and her beautiful lips were also slightly pursed, revealing two small dimples.

At this moment, she truly had the feeling that he was her disciple.

Now he was particularly quiet, no longer the assertive young man with his own opinions on everything when he was awake.

Mu Ciyin took out an icy jade comb from her person and slowly and gently combed his somewhat messy, thick black hair, arranging it neatly.

"These years, your master has been absent from your life. From now on, your master will not be. Once the Ice Heart Pavilion relocates to your dynasty, your master hopes to do as much as possible for you."

Mu Ciyin combed his hair, put away the icy jade comb, and sat quietly under the tree on the mountaintop, guarding him like this.

Time gradually passed into the night.

The sky within the Ridge of Terror was already gloomy, and the darkness of night made it impossible to see one's fingers.

In the darkness, strange sounds could be heard from time to time within the Ridge of Terror, like someone screaming, or someone crying, or someone sneering.

The wind was particularly strong at night, and the Yin Sha energy was very dense, blowing out from the deeper regions of the Ridge of Terror, wrapped in an aura of darkness, making people feel cold all over and uncomfortable in their hearts.

Even a Hunyuan Saint Realm powerhouse like Mu Ciyin, upon sensing this dark aura, felt a sense of discomfort in her heart.

"This area has not been entered by anyone for many years."

In the middle of the night, a voice suddenly rang out among the gloomy and terrifying mountains.

The voice was very calm, as if filled with emotion and sighs.

Mu Ciyin was shocked. Where did this voice come from?

She sensed and searched her surroundings, but found nothing.

If an unknown being had come nearby and she had not noticed it, it would be somewhat unbelievable.

After all, her soul realm was higher than her cultivation realm, already infinitely close to the Eternal Saint Realm.

Mu Ciyin didn't speak, protecting the sleeping Jun Wuxie with one hand, secretly preparing for battle with the other, her pair of ice-snow-like, transparent, and deep eyes blooming with ice-blue runes, carefully observing her surroundings.

Gradually, in the direction of the deeper parts of the Ridge of Terror, she faintly saw a pair of looming eyes.

Those eyes were dark red, flashing and disappearing from time to time, but every time they appeared, the bloodlust and evil in them made her spine tingle.

"Living beings, do not enter. Those who enter without permission will lose their souls and bodies."

The voice sounded again, but it didn't seem to be speaking to Mu Ciyin, but rather a subconscious soliloquy.

"Who exactly are you?"

Mu Ciyin finally spoke.

"Who am I? I've also forgotten who I am…" The voice was somewhat dazed, and after a long silence, it said, "I might be your hand…"

Upon hearing this, Mu Ciyin couldn't help but be stunned, subconsciously looking at her own hand.

But when her gaze landed on her hand, she froze, her beautiful pupils gradually contracting.

What did she see?

She saw that beneath the icy skin of her hand, dark red blood streaks actually emerged.

These blood streaks were densely packed like blood vessels, constantly spreading, and soon they would spread to her entire palm.

Such a scene was too terrifying.

Mu Ciyin had never imagined that she would encounter such a bizarre event!

She was not a small cultivator, she was a super powerhouse of the Hunyuan Saint Realm, yet she had suffered without even realizing it.

Even at this moment, she didn't know what the situation was, didn't know why her hand would become like this!

After the initial shock, Mu Ciyin immediately guided the laws and true qi of her cultivation to her palm, contending with it. It took a long time before she gradually gained the upper hand, causing the terrifying change to slowly subside.

"Perhaps, I am your eyes."

The dark red blood streaks on her hand had not completely dissipated when the voice sounded again. The voice was originally very calm, but at this moment, it felt so strange and cold.

Mu Ciyin knew it was bad when she heard these words.

Sure enough, as soon as the voice fell, she felt a stinging pain in her eyes, and her vision began to blur, the world before her turning blood red, a blurred blood red.

She felt that liquid was about to seep out from her eye sockets, blood-red liquid, filling her eyes, making her originally beautiful eyes somewhat terrifying.

She hurriedly guided the laws and true qi to her eyes.

"Maybe, I remembered wrong, hehe." The voice was finally no longer so calm, becoming sinister and sharp, "Am I your heart?"

This was a question, sounding very strange.

Mu Ciyin's delicate body trembled violently, only feeling that her heart was pinched hard by someone at that moment, a feeling of bursting, a piercing pain.

"What kind of evil spirit!"

Mu Ciyin wrapped her heart with the laws and true qi, took Jun Wuxie in her arms and soared into the sky, a streak of sword energy cutting through the night sky, the light of ice-blue blooming, illuminating the mountains and rivers.

The sword energy was like the light of a flying immortal, breaking through the long sky, directly slashing towards the pair of terrifying eyes in the depths of the Ridge of Terror.

"Hehe."

The voice laughed, sounding farther and farther away, and the blood-colored eyes also disappeared.

Mu Ciyin's laws and true qi spread throughout her body, suppressing all the strange changes on her body.

But she found that every time she stopped, the strange changes in her body would immediately recur.

Looking inward, she saw dark red blood streaks spreading on her bright red heart, and her eyes were the same, just like the situation on her hands.

"Curse, this is the power of curse…"

Mu Ciyin's heart couldn't help but sink. She realized what this was.

This power of curse was quite strange, making her unable to detect where the root of the curse lurked within her body, unable to eliminate it from the source.

She remembered the curses of dark creatures in several major Doomsday torrents in the past.

In addition to the Darkest Curse, there was also a very terrifying curse. Although its effect was not as fierce as the Darkest Curse, it was difficult for people to detect and eradicate. Once contaminated, it would be difficult to get rid of for life.

She didn't expect that she had only just arrived in the depths of the Ridge of Terror, far from its core area, and had encountered this kind of curse.

What kind of being did those eyes belong to before?

Was it the ghost of a dark creature from that year, or was it that some dark creature from that year had not died at all, and had been lurking in the depths of this Ridge of Terror?

Thinking of this, she hurriedly looked at Jun Wuxie, examined him, and found that he showed no signs of being cursed, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Her moth eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and she began to think about how she had been cursed without even realizing it.

"Hmm?"

She landed on the mountaintop and sat down again because she found that the curse in her body was actually growing, becoming stronger.

Although it was relatively slow, this trend was terrifying. If she didn't curb this momentum, she would be swallowed by the curse sooner or later.