In the distant darkness, there were still people watching, but they didn't come over. In their eyes, this was Chen Jing's sacred temple, and it couldn't be entered lightly. Moreover, in front of the river temple that year, there had been a cultivator who had fallen, making it a place of bad omen. Ordinary cultivators wouldn't dare to set foot there easily. Even Chen Jing didn't know that among the major sects, some disciples would be told by their masters when they went down the mountain: unless absolutely necessary, don't go to Qujiang Xiuchun Bay, and especially don't go there to subdue demons and exorcise evil spirits.

  The river water was still surging, rushing towards the Mausoleum of the Marquis, and the big red shrimp body was in the waves. He also had a River God symbol on his body, but it wasn't within the river domain, so every time there was danger, he would hide in the waves. However, at this moment, Yu Ling was trapped in a desperate situation, the tower on her head was getting lower and lower, and she felt that the Soul Mirror in her hand was getting heavier and heavier, and the black light could no longer support the Tower of Suppressing Demons.

  Her body slowly dissolved in the golden light, turning into a cloud of black smoke that didn't disperse but instead wrapped around the Soul Mirror.

  "Received."

  A low, stern voice echoed through the sky, like a heavenly command, and the Golden Light of the Demon-Suppressing Tower surged greatly. The light was so bright that it made the cultivators around feel dazzled. Countless symbols appeared on the tower, and the golden light transformed into a wisp of black smoke. The Soul-Reflecting Mirror wrapped around the wraith, which then dissipated into the golden light and disappeared without a trace. Many people were left wondering if the Demon-Suppressing Tower had actually captured the wraith or not.

  The Demon Tower was withdrawn, and after a brief rotation in the void, it disappeared. When it reappeared, it was already above the head of the giant red shrimp. The giant red shrimp let out a loud cry, but without any resistance, it was sucked into the Demon Tower.

  The Taoist did not stop, heading straight for the Qu River. After traveling halfway, he suddenly threw out the Demon Tower from his hand. In the river waves, a small black and white snake quickly swam to the side, its speed so fast that it seemed to disappear in an instant. When it reappeared, it was already several meters away.

  However, the Demon Tower seemed to be able to detect the demonic energy on the snake's body. The black and white snake was naturally Yin Jiu, who struggled to escape, but under the Demon Tower, no matter how hard he tried, he could not escape. Moreover, his body seemed to be pressed down by the tower.

  Suddenly, a strong suction force pulled him in, causing him to involuntarily fly backwards. How could he be willing? His body twisted in mid-air, and amidst a flash of golden light, he suddenly disappeared, only to reappear quickly. However, when he reappeared, he was no longer in the form of a small snake, but had transformed into a giant serpent over ten meters long. Its eyes were one red and one white, as if one eye was the sun and the other was the moon.

  The nine yin incarnation was no smaller than the previous green jiao, but its body still flew towards the demon-suppressing tower. The closer it got, the smaller it became. No matter how hard it struggled and roared, it couldn't escape from the golden light's restraints. Twisting and rolling, cracks appeared on its snake-like body, and in the end, it was still sucked into the demon-suppressing tower.

  The Taoist didn't stop, holding the golden light flashing Tower of Suppressing Evil Spirits towards Xiu Chun's curved path. However, at this time, the river waves were only a few miles away from Ba Ling, rolling and approaching instantly. Everyone was watching this Taoist, his hand on the golden tower became the master of heaven, no one paid attention to the life-and-death struggle being performed in the city of Ba Ling.

  In the city of Balin, this place seems to have already left the mortal world. The people in the city of Balin look up at the sky and can only see rolling black clouds, the vast blue sky that used to be there is no longer visible. Death is no longer something they fear, they have gone mad. In the entire sky, all that can be seen are souls with flames burning on their bodies, rushing towards the dark sky, like fireflies, wanting to dispel the darkness in the sky. Or as if to rescue a butterfly that was trapped in the depths of darkness and was faintly visible.

  In the city, on the ground, Yan Zhong crawled, tears streaming down his face. No one could hear what he was saying, but it seemed like everyone was screaming in their hearts the same words that he was muttering from the corner of his mouth.

  "All you celestial gods and immortals, if you can hear my prayer, please end our suffering in Ba Ling. If you cannot hear me, then I hope that there will never be any more gods or immortals in this world, never again, forevermore."

  There was Xi Cheng guarding stupidly, standing there, looking at the souls of those familiar people burning wildly in the black clouds, his hoarse voice shouting: "If there is a next life, I would be a devil in hell, devouring all the hypocritical gods in this world."

  The Northern City Guardian slowly drew out the knife from his waist, stroking it gently as he muttered: "Seeking gods and Buddhas is not as good as seeking oneself. I wish for a clear and bright future life, no seeking of gods, no worship of Buddhas, no yearning for immortals." As soon as he finished speaking, the knife in his hand swept across his neck, and fresh blood splattered onto the altar. But on the corpse's body, a soul suddenly burst forth, holding a large knife and with flames burning on its body, it charged towards the sky.

  Dong Cheng stood upright, gazing stubbornly at the sky with crimson eyes. Although he was now silent, the people beside him were repeating his previous loud cries behind his back: "The gods do not protect humanity, what use are the gods? I implore all the heavenly gods, beg of you to dissipate along with the clouds in this sky."

  He stood like that, staring straight at the sky, when suddenly a burning soul burst forth from his body and flew upwards into the heavens, higher and higher until it entered the dark clouds. The burning soul saw the city god who had once protected the people of Ba Ling but was now on the verge of annihilating them all.

  That step by step was forced into desperation and hatred, bursting out in an instant, the flames on his body grew stronger, he pounced forward, pouncing on the former city god who had driven the people of the entire city to death, frantically biting him until he himself dissipated.

  However, one soul dissipated, yet several more rushed up. Endless. Chen Jing now only had one thought, to kill the Qin Yang in front of him. He didn't dare think about how many people were still alive in the city, and he never thought of leaving. This idea disappeared since he saw the people of Ba Ling City worshiping in front of the temple, seeing the longing for survival in their eyes. He himself was also human, and had never thought that he was a god beyond humanity.

  The butterfly is a sword, and the butterfly flutters around Qin's body, this is the sword struggling to kill.

  The butterfly landed on Qin's head, then fell onto his hand, and sometimes flew in front of his eyes. It seemed that the Heavenly Sword couldn't bring any harm to Qin, but Chen Jing knew that Qin was indeed hurt, not physically, but internally, his intangible soul consciousness was wounded by the sword.

  Just like the burning souls on Qin's body, those souls seemed to be unable to hurt Qin at all, but they were burning Qin with their own soul fire.

  Chen Jing didn't know how deeply this hurt Qin Yang, but he knew it must have had some effect, because Qin Yang was no longer as strong as when he first came out.

  Chen Jing didn't know how long it had been, nor did he know how much longer he could hold on. He also didn't know how many people were still alive in the city. At this moment, his ears seemed to pick up the sound of waves, and he discovered that there was someone beside him. When he focused his attention, he felt that she looked familiar. Upon closer inspection, he saw that her hand was holding a sword with a symbol on it. Immediately, he thought of the sword symbol he had given to a woman named Gu Mingwei at the Gu residence.

  Another person who had dealings with me has died.

  Gu Mingwei died, she didn't know at first, she just felt that her body suddenly became much lighter, a bit floating, and heard a thud in her ears. She looked down and saw her own body lying on the ground, with a pale face, obviously already dead.

  Gu Mingwei looked at the body lying at his feet and was surprisingly calm, thinking to himself: "I'm dead too, I've finally died."

  She had been so fearful of death, yet after knowing she was already dead, she was that calm, without a hint of fear, and even felt some sense of liberation. When her soul separated from her body, the scene in front of her changed instantly, although the sky and earth didn't change much, but in her eyes, there was an earth-shaking transformation.

  She saw countless people rushing towards the sky like moths flying into flames, and countless people extinguished like lamps.

  She watched all of this and suddenly remembered a phrase that a teacher her family had invited over when she was young once said: "Humans are not like grass or trees, yet the gods in heaven look upon them as if they were."

  "Are humans not like grass and trees?" Gu Ming whispered to herself, a question she had never asked before, one that had been buried deep in her memory. Yet now it kept emerging: "Humans are not like grass and trees, but the gods of heaven view them as such."

  She had known since she was a child that there were countless spirits in the world, and many immortals lived in those deep mountains. As long as one revered them with a pious heart, they could gain their protection. She had always thought so until she grew up.

  But all of this changed as she gazed up at the pitch-black sky and made a decision just like the 200,000 people of Balin.

  "If I were a blade of grass, let me be burned, and let the flames that I ignite illuminate the faces of those gods hidden in darkness."

  She soared into the air, her soul engulfed in a raging inferno, yet she herself was unaware that on the strands of hair behind her, a seven-colored ribbon still lingered, its vibrant colors still visible amidst the flames.

  And what she didn't know was that after she flew up into the sky, the souls below all gathered towards her, as if there was some kind of attractive force on her body, and it seemed like she was the queen of the fireflies in the sky. Those who drew near were all absorbed into the seven-colored ribbon, making the colors on the ribbon even more vibrant.

  When Chen Jing found her, she had been there for a while. She knew that the butterfly was Chen Jing at this time. In her heart, she still remembered the scene when she first saw Chen Jing in the Gu's house. At that time, she didn't know that Chen Jing was the river god of Jinghe River.

  Remember when sunshine was bright and beautiful, eyebrows and eyes smiled in the spring breeze. But just this blink of an eye, it has become a world upside down, bloody rain and empty sky.