Chapter 2

Luo Han distinctly felt a pair of eyes locking onto her, empty, emotionless, lifeless. Without hesitation, the figure lifted his sword and slashed directly at her.
An overwhelming sword aura surged forward, shattering mountains, splitting the earth, sand and debris flying chaotically in its path. Luo Han could feel the forceful wind from the sword’s energy lash across her face. Fortunately, the temporal vortex closed right at that critical moment.
Behind the vanished vortex, a mountain abruptly split in two, collapsing with a thunderous roar.
Hiding inside the temporal tunnel, Luo Han clutched her pounding heart, muttering breathlessly, "Are you trying to scare me to death? What did I do to you?"
Around her, scenes rapidly reversed: scorched lands revived into green pastures filled with grazing animals, towering trees shrunk into saplings, seas turned into farmland, elderly turned into children. Time itself unraveled, restoring everything to a state before tragedy struck.
The spiritual energy the ancestors had gathered was immense, allowing Luo Han freedom in choosing her destination. After a moment's thought, she decided the solution lay in cutting the problem off at the root: she'd return to the very beginning and stop Ling Qingxiao’s rotten father from swapping the two children at birth.
Relaxing somewhat, Luo Han calmly waited for time to rewind. But before long, the temporal tunnel suddenly began to shake violently, flickering unstably as if it were about to collapse entirely.
Another violent attack crashed into the temporal tunnel, twisting and distorting it. Luo Han was abruptly hurled out, tumbling helplessly through empty space.
"What the hell are you chasing me for?!" Luo Han shouted furiously, caught entirely off guard as she was thrown violently from the time vortex. Now she understood why the original protagonists had been driven to desperation, forced into using forbidden magic. Even she, equipped with the cheat-like status of Heavenly Dao, had been attacked so fiercely that she barely recognized herself.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Luo Han finally looked around to assess her surroundings. She stood within a dark, bottomless abyss. Looking upward revealed no sky, only endless darkness, and looking forward revealed nothing but shadow and emptiness.
As far as her eyes could see, sheer cliffs and jagged stones stretched endlessly. Not a single living thing grew here. Luo Han had a sinking feeling: Could it be she’d been thrown into the Abyss of Absolute Spirits, the legendary forbidden realm from which none had ever returned alive?
She felt dizzy. According to the original plot, by the time Ling Qingxiao fell here, he had already suffered a thousand years of torture from both his mothers, and had been dealt a fatal blow by the female lead. He'd already become the Celestial Emperor, fully consumed by hatred. What use was she arriving at this point?
Luo Han rubbed her forehead anxiously, wishing desperately she were back taking exams. The Bodhi tree had claimed her parents—well, the beings she'd always known as her parents—had carefully trained her for many years to become a capable Heavenly Dao. Luo Han’s lips twitched bitterly at that thought. In truth, she'd spent her entire eighteen years immersed solely in ordinary human schooling, studying and taking exams. She’d never even heard the word "Heavenly Dao" before today.
They’d basically raised her free-range. She wasn’t sure if her Heavenly Dao "parents" hadn’t gotten around to teaching her, or if they’d found it too bothersome and decided to leave her in human society to fend for herself.
She strongly suspected the latter.
Letting out a deep sigh, Luo Han realized complaining wouldn’t change anything. Collecting herself, she decided her first priority was to locate Ling Qingxiao, her mission target.
Navigating the rocky, uneven terrain was exhausting. She had no idea how long she'd been walking, but her legs burned painfully, and she still hadn’t seen the slightest sign of life.
Stopping to catch her breath, she whispered in frustration, "Where on earth is he?"
Without warning, an invisible surge of killing intent struck from behind. Luo Han instinctively dodged backward, narrowly evading a powerful gust of wind that sliced deeply into the rock behind her, leaving a vicious crack.
Missing its target, the gust immediately changed direction and charged at her again.
Luo Han broke into a cold sweat. What kind of twisted place was this, where even the wind possessed murderous intelligence? Strangely, her senses were extremely heightened here, allowing her to pinpoint precisely the wind’s approach, despite it being invisible.
She scrambled clumsily, dodging several increasingly ferocious attacks, each more difficult than the last. When the wind grazed her hair this time, Luo Han lost her balance and crashed painfully to the rocky ground.
Sharp stones bit into her back. Ignoring her scraped hands, she tried desperately to stand again, but a piercing pain shot through her ankle, leaving her immobilized.
She was finished, she realized with despair. The wind gathered momentum again, surging toward her with lethal intent. Time slowed painfully, and Luo Han stared wide-eyed as the invisible blade approached, whipping up strands of her hair. At that critical instant, a translucent-blue ice barrier sprang up before her with a clear ringing sound. The wind collided fiercely against it, sending spiderweb cracks rippling outward.
The ice shield dissolved into tiny fragments of glittering frost, cooling her skin. Immediately afterward, a sword aura sliced through the air, shattering the wind into harmless wisps.
Dispersed, the wind struggled to reform. It hesitated before Luo Han, apparently wary of attacking again, before quietly dissolving back into nothingness.
Only then did Luo Han finally let out the breath she’d been holding, realizing she was momentarily safe. She swiftly turned around, eager to see who had saved her.
Through the gloom stood a figure clothed in layers of pristine white robes, now tragically stained with fresh blood from severe injuries. Standing amidst the jagged rocks with a sword in hand, his beauty was heartbreakingly perfect yet perilous, like shattered moonlight in an endless night.
For a moment, Luo Han forgot herself, simply staring in stunned silence—until the tip of the sword moved slightly. The person who'd saved her just moments ago now pointed his blade directly at her, his voice cold and hoarse:
"Who are you?"
It took Luo Han a long moment to recover her voice. "I...I'm Luo Han."
Never had she imagined she'd be threatened twice by the Celestial Emperor himself in such a short span.
Trying to sound as gentle and harmless as possible, Luo Han continued cautiously, "I don’t mean any harm. I'm here to save you. Could you...maybe lower your sword first? This position is giving me serious trauma."
She vividly recalled her last moments before falling through the temporal vortex. Ling Qingxiao had calmly looked in her direction from atop the clouds and then swung his sword, casually cleaving mountains and splitting the earth. She hadn’t seen his face clearly back then, but the empty, emotionless look in his eyes had been unforgettable:
No feelings, no desire—only pure killing intent.
Though it was her first time meeting this version of him, the way he pointed his sword at her now felt exactly the same. Luo Han was absolutely certain this man was indeed Ling Qingxiao, the ultimate villain who nearly destroyed the world.
She couldn't help but notice how devastatingly handsome he was—coldly ethereal, aloof, and pristine as moonlight. Frozen in place by his intense gaze, she absurdly wondered why the female lead hadn't chosen this gorgeous yet tragic man, instead remaining stubbornly devoted to the male lead who treated her cruelly.
Judging by the timeline, Ling Qingxiao had just been abandoned by everyone he trusted and betrayed by the heroine’s dagger, plunging him into this abyss. This moment marked his descent into darkness.
She worried silently: Had she arrived too late? If Ling Qingxiao has already blackened, determined to destroy everything, what could she possibly do? She was the Heavenly Dao—if the six realms flourished, she thrived; if all creatures perished, she'd eventually vanish too.
The Bodhi tree had made it painfully clear they only had enough spiritual energy to open the temporal passage once. If she failed to change Ling Qingxiao’s heart, he would inevitably destroy the world, taking her and everyone else down with it. If Heaven itself was gone, what use would the Heavenly Dao be then?
Luo Han didn’t dare move, trying desperately to reason with Ling Qingxiao: "I’m really here to save you. Please lower your sword first. Let’s just talk this through."
Ling Qingxiao’s blade remained fixed, utterly unmoving. He coldly scrutinized the woman before him. She’d mysteriously appeared at the bottom of this abyss, dressed in exquisite robes clearly crafted from rare treasures, yet she seemed completely devoid of cultivation. Even at the brink of life and death, she hadn't used any spiritual power.
Either she truly had no cultivation, or she was an exceptional actress.
Unmoved, Ling Qingxiao asked frostily, "Why are you really here?"
"I swear, I’m honestly here to save you!" Luo Han felt like crying but had no tears. "You have to believe me. My only purpose is to help you."
Seeing his continued icy skepticism, Luo Han stretched out her wrist, offering her pulse openly to him: "If you don't believe me, you can check my meridians yourself. I have absolutely no cultivation, so I couldn’t harm you even if I tried."
She felt she’d displayed enough sincerity to melt even the most hardened heart. However, she hadn’t expected Ling Qingxiao to genuinely take her up on the offer. A stream of spiritual energy immediately entered her veins, circulating thoroughly through her body.
Luo Han was speechless. Considering how guarded Ling Qingxiao currently was, could she really save him from turning dark?
Ling Qingxiao's spiritual power ran a complete cycle through Luo Han’s meridians and dantian, genuinely finding no trace of cultivation. He was truly surprised—most celestial infants began absorbing spiritual energy immediately upon birth. Only ordinary mortals had meridians entirely untouched by spiritual power.
But how could a mortal survive long enough to appear alive at the bottom of the Abyss of Absolute Spirits? Furthermore, her earlier evasions of the deadly wind had demonstrated agility far beyond ordinary human limits.
Yet despite his doubts, the fact remained: the woman posed no immediate threat. Ling Qingxiao withdrew his sword without another word, turning away abruptly, clearly unwilling to continue interacting.
Unfortunately, he was already at his limit. Blocking the attack earlier had depleted what little spiritual energy remained. After only a few steps, his blood surged violently, his meridians burned, and the wound where his dragon core had been brutally extracted throbbed relentlessly. He’d barely held himself together while speaking to Luo Han, and now he simply couldn’t endure any longer. With a sudden collapse, he fell unconscious to the rocky ground.
Luo Han was dumbfounded—one moment the terrifying villain was coldly pointing a sword at her, and the next, he had crumpled to the ground. Grimacing in pain herself, she carefully got to her feet, cautiously approaching his fallen form. "Hey, are you alright?"
She wasn't sure if getting too close might provoke another deadly strike from the villain. Yet, just then, a soft glow emanated from Ling Qingxiao’s body. Moments later, a long, graceful dragon tail, covered in dazzling silver scales yet deeply wounded, emerged from beneath him.
Luo Han stared blankly, muttering in disbelief, "Holy…"
In the gloom of the abyss lay a breathtakingly beautiful man, unconscious amid jagged stones, his lower body transformed into a silver dragon tail glimmering gently in the dark like moonlit snow.