Chapter 409 - 408: The White Tiger Falls, Yet a Greater Calamity Descends

Lin Yuan brought his fist down!

The impact shattered Bai Sha’s skull and drove his body deeper into the crater. The Demon Lord’s enormous frame convulsed once, then fell still as the last traces of his vitality dispersed into the ruined battlefield.

Bai Sha was dead!

This time, no silver-white light emerged from his chest, no phantom Primordial Spirit appeared to restore his body, and no crimson scar flared with renewed vitality. The nineteen lives that had sustained him were gone, and the White Tiger’s bloodline could no longer reverse the destruction of his physical form.

Lin Yuan remained still for several breaths, allowing his perception to sweep across the corpse and confirm that the Demon Lord’s vitality had truly vanished. Only after he was certain that no hidden circulation remained did he withdraw his hand and allow the rain to settle around him.

The battlefield remained silent.

The surviving demons stared into the crater, unable to accept that their Warlord had fallen. Bai Sha had been one of the most feared Demon Lords in the Hollow Beyond, a peak Void Refinement powerhouse whose bloodline granted him nineteen lives and made every battle against him increasingly dangerous.

Yet Lin Yuan had defeated him without relying upon Bai Qingyue’s weapon or allowing another cultivator to intervene. He had endured the White Tiger’s overwhelming strength, uncovered the principle behind his regeneration, and dismantled the mechanism that allowed the Demon Lord to turn death into power.

Emperor Tianxu slowly lowered his halberd. His expression was difficult to describe, caught between relief and disbelief as he looked toward the crater, where Bai Sha’s enormous body lay motionless. He had witnessed the White Tiger kill Emperor Xiyan with a single casual movement, and he had watched Lin Yuan survive attacks that would have destroyed most cultivators at the same cultivation level.

Emperor Nanheng’s flames flickered around her shoulders. She had initially believed that the battle would end only when the Human Couple exhausted every available treasure or Bai Sha finally overwhelmed them through his superior cultivation, yet Lin Yuan had found a way to defeat the Demon Lord by understanding the deeper principles of his bloodline.

Emperor Beiming remained silent, his Black Tortoise aura slowly stabilizing as he examined the ruined battlefield. The death of Bai Sha should have brought relief to the orthodox forces, but the immense demonic pressure still spreading from the Hollow Beyond reminded him that the Warlord had never been the greatest threat hanging over the Nine Provinces.

Ku Ming descended toward the crater, his red skin still marked by the injuries he had suffered when Bai Sha shattered the Indestructible Karmic Wheel. He looked at the fallen Demon Lord, then at Lin Yuan, and a complicated expression crossed his face.

"Benefactor Lin, you have done what many ancient cultivators believed impossible," Ku Ming said. "I knew the Dao of Three Rebirths was extraordinary, but I never imagined it could be used to dismantle a bloodline phenomenon at its source."

Lin Yuan glanced at the monk. "His ability was powerful, but it still depended upon a connection between the phantom Primordial Spirits and his physical body. Once I understood that relationship, the remaining problem was finding a way to separate them without allowing him to consume their power."

Ku Ming slowly nodded. "A simple explanation for a feat that would have cost countless cultivators their lives."

Lin Yuan did not respond. He had no interest in boasting about the battle, especially when the surrounding world was continuing to deteriorate, and the death of Bai Sha had done nothing to weaken the immense presence looming beyond the shattered Nine Heavens Ward.

He turned toward the Golden Immortal Beast.

Bai Qingyue had already descended from its back, the Sun Shooting Bow held in her left hand. The weapon remained dormant beneath the restrictions of the damaged world, but its dark star-iron frame still carried the traces of the solar power it had unleashed earlier. Her gaze moved over Lin Yuan’s torn robes, lingering briefly upon the blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Are you injured?" she asked.

"Nothing serious," Lin Yuan replied. "The final few exchanges were more troublesome than I expected, but I can recover."

Bai Qingyue studied him for another moment. She had watched him dismantle Bai Sha’s regeneration, and although she had trusted that he would find a way to defeat the Demon Lord, seeing him return from the crater and continue fighting had not made the danger any less real.

"You could have told me what you intended to do," she said softly.

Lin Yuan’s expression eased. "I only understood the complete mechanism near the end. If I had been wrong, I would have needed you to intervene, but I wanted to make certain that you would not have to risk yourself while the world’s laws were unstable."

Bai Qingyue’s lips pressed together. "You are not the only one who can take risks for the person you love."

"I know." Lin Yuan reached for her hand, holding it briefly before turning his gaze back toward the sky. "That is why I intended to finish the battle before it reached you."

Bai Qingyue looked at him, and the tension in her expression gradually softened. She did not argue further, but she did not release his hand immediately either, allowing the quiet moment to linger amid the devastation.

Then the surrounding sky trembled.

Lin Yuan’s expression changed, and the Dao Fruit of Three Rebirths rotated within his Primordial Spirit. The silver-blue rain that still lingered above the crater became unsettled, while the golden-purple thunder flickered weakly before retreating toward his body.

The change did not come from Bai Sha.

His corpse remained motionless, and no trace of his former killing intent lingered in the surrounding space. Instead, the disturbance originated far beyond the Grand Court, where the already fractured structure of the Nine Provinces was being subjected to a force that dwarfed anything the White Tiger had possessed.

Lin Yuan slowly lifted his head.