"Li Qiong! Hand over the Heaven-Severing Scripture, and I'll make your death painless!"
"This is the end, traitor! The righteous sects stand united beneath the heavens. Your den is sealed. You will die here!"
"Li Qiong, for the sake of that cursed technique, you slaughtered cities, crippled holy mountains, and desecrated sacred temples! You've long lost your humanity!"
"You devil! Three centuries ago you ruined my cultivation, shattered my ancestral roots, and erased my entire clan from the Mortal Plane! My hatred is eternal!"
Thunder cracked above the peak of Blackpine Sky Ridge, where a furious storm blazed across the heavens.
Wind howled through the mountain crags. Black clouds rolled like dragons, and white lightning split the sky—illuminating the scorched battlefield where one man stood alone.
White lightning struck again and again, painting the blood-soaked earth in harsh white light.
In the heart of the storm, drenched and battered, stood
Li Qiong, the man feared across ten thousand realms as the Heaven-Defying Demon, stood like an immortal. clad in shredded emerald robes, his skin a deathly pale that suggested he could collapse at any moment. Blood seeped from countless wounds, pooling into a crimson sea at his feet. Not a single weapon remained in his grasp.
Surrounding him were thousands: patriarchs of the major sects, divine-blooded warlords, and sword saints, veteran elders and impassioned young prodigies. Their treasures hovered beside them—floating swords, flame orbs, talismans, ice chains, thunder spears—all overflowing with divine will. And yet, none dared take the first step.
For six hours, the world held its breath.
The sky burned with the red light of dusk. The last sun of the final day.
Li Qiong opened his eyes. They were deep like ancient wells, unfathomable and unblinking.
He should've been dead.
His body was broken—ribs shattered, spine on the last stand, "Blood leaking from everywhere". His skin was pale as a corpse,
And yet... he laughed.
At first it was a wheeze, like air escaping a punctured lung.
Then it grew—wet, raw, bubbling through the blood in his throat.
"Then louder. Louder. Until the storm itself bent beneath it."
"He... hehe... ah... hahaha—HAHAHA!!"
Li Qiong threw his head back, and howled.
It wasn't the laugh of a hero. It wasn't the laugh of a villain. It was the laugh of a man whose fate was already sealed, whose bones were grinded to dust, whose blood had burned itself dry—and yet refused to kneel.
The storm above paused. Even the thunder faltered.
Blood gushed from the corner of his mouth, but he kept laughing.
His arms flared open, his spine barely holding, trembling like a puppet with cut strings—but still he stood.
Still he laughed.
Even the beasts—half-dead, crawling—whimpered at the sound.
Even the divine masters lost their hope.
Even the cultivators who had come to slay him... stepped back.
"Ah, right. Of course it's me. The villain of the tale. The scapegoat. The walking disaster you point to when the heavens shake.
You fear what you can't control, and I? I stopped asking for your approval the moment I realized your praise meant nothing."
"If justice truly ruled this world, I would not have had to build my power in graves and shadows.
But I learned this: fairness is not given—it is taken, bone by bone, from the hands that deny it."
You fools
"Is this it?! THIS is the might of the so called righteous allience? This is the 'righteous fury' you all preach?!"
"Pathetic!
"Look at you—all of you. Crawling like rats after gnawing on the bones of mortals!"
His laughter cut through the moans of the dying. Around him, not a single cultivator dared move.
"Oh, you're all so brave when you outnumber your enemy a thousand to one. So noble. So righteous."
"Your morality is weakness dressed as virtue.
You speak of fairness while kneeling to the strong.
you plunder from the weak— boasting your bravery and yet."
He raised his voice, spitting blood.
"Yet here you are. None of you want to take the final step."
Thunder cracked overhead. Lightning bathed his soaked figure in white.
"What's wrong?
Afraid?
Look at me. I'm about to collapse. My soul is flickers. My foundation is crumbles.
A few brave sword cultivators tightened their grips, but none moved.
"You feel it, don't you? The pressure that still lingers? What do you think I've left behind here? A trap?
He leaned forward slightly. The puddle of blood beneath him rippled.
"Maybe this whole ridge is the final formation. Maybe you're already inside it. Maybe it's all a fart.
The cultivators flinched.
"Go ahead. Take the first step."
Lightning revealed their hesitation. All around him—disciples, masters, sword emperors, beast tamers, array elders—they stood with torn robes and gasping, sweat and blood dripping into the mud.
"Justice? Righteousness? Empty labels for those who lost but wish to be remembered kindly.
It took me five thousand years to peel apart the veil of immortality. And you thought... I would just hand it over. I bled for every line.
"You call me a demon—but I touched the face of eternity while you were still begging for breakthroughs! You fear me because I made it to the top while you're begging for oppurtunities
He took another step forward.
The wounded cultivators screamed and backed away.
Lightning flashed.
His voice boomed louder than the thunder.
"You came to kill me? Fools. You should have come to kneel. And now..."
"You hear that, righteous dogs? Not one of you moves—because you know! You sense the sting of my last act! Your treasures, your jewels, your divine laws... they're all lies! When I seized the essence... of immortality!"
"The sun sets on the last peak, and even heaven must bow to time, What is glory, if not the flicker before nightfall?"
He looked toward the sky, rain mixing with blood on his lips.
"You call me demon because I reject the weakness of mercy. In this world, tomorrow has no promise, and only the unyielding survive."
"I never fought for justice, glory, or pity—I fought because to yield was to die."
"I cultivated the Heaven-Severing Scripture... I walked the path eyes open, where even immortals flinched. I shattered the shackles, I touched the eternal. Let the world call me demon—let them curse. My Will echo longer than their sanctity."
"I did not defy heaven to live—I defied heaven to be free."
The peak trembled.
Thunder roared once more.
Lightning struck the mountainside, shattering stone and air.
Li Qiong's gaze swept the crowd—one final time.
"If you won't make a move... then I will."
A golden halo erupted from his body—his final act. The cultivation base of five centuries ignited in a radiant pulse of divine flame.
"He's igniting his soul!"
"Stop him! Don't let the scripture obliterate!"
"Seal the peak! Stop him!"
But it was already too late.
His eyes blazed like dying stars.
"Heaven may sever my path. But it cannot sever my Will."
"If I cannot ascend..."
"I will ensure no one else ever will."
He smiled.
"In the blaze of his final breath, Li Qiong saw a quiet valley—green, peaceful. Once, she had rested her head on his chest Li Qiong remembered her smile more clearly. 'If you must walk alone, at least let a part of you carry me.' He had. Long ago. And still, he had no regrets.
"Let my mind break a thousand times—each shard will walk the same path again."
And in that moment, he exploded into light.
A massive pillar of golden and red qi surged skyward like a sword severing the heavens themselves.
One final, echoing laugh carved itself into the bones of the world. he was smiling
The man who defied heaven vanished within a storm of divine flame—taking countless legends with him.
"The heavens wept. The peak was no more. But his Will lingered, eternal."