The mottled stone walls are covered with old bloodstains and scratches, and the marks from dragging chains are of varying depths, all bearing the horrifying traces of torture.
In the deepest part of the dungeon, a thin figure huddled on the cold stone floor.
Ling Shuang’s disheveled hair clung to her pale, swollen face. Her body was covered in wounds, and her clothes were tattered and could no longer cover her body. Her skin, covered in bruises and scars, was exposed to the cold air, making her look extremely wretched and miserable.
The once aloof and proud fairy is now tormented to the point of being weak, with lifeless eyes, swollen body, and no strength to even lift her hand.
The pain of being locked in her soul and devoured by her body for days, the lingering wrath of the Heavenly Dao, and the endless humiliation had long since shattered all her pride. She was left with only a breath of life, barely clinging to her existence, suffering bitterly in endless darkness and despair.
The dungeon was deathly silent year-round; no human voices could be heard there, only the mournful sound of the wind.
But when that familiar figure in green robes appeared at the prison gate, the dying Ling Shuang suddenly froze, and a faint light suddenly burst forth in her dim and empty eyes.
She thought it was a hallucination in her dying moments, blinked hard at her swollen and sore eyes, stared intently at the figure, and her thin body trembled violently uncontrollably.
It’s David.
It really is him.
The boy who had been missing and whom everyone had been waiting for has returned.
The grievances, pain, and despair that had been building up for months burst forth at this moment.
She tried to speak, but her throat was dry and hoarse, unable to utter a sound. Only hot tears uncontrollably welled up in her eyes and slowly slid down her swollen cheeks.
His eyes held an overwhelming excitement, a sense of relief at escaping death, and a profound emotion at finally seeing the light after enduring darkness.
As David gazed at the pitiful figure in the prison cell, the last languid smile in his eyes vanished completely, leaving behind only a chilling stillness.
With a wave of his hand, golden primordial Dao energy swept across, instantly shattering the restrictions on the prison and the iron chains that bound his soul, turning them into ashes scattered across the sky.
He then turned and entered the spacious inner hall of Tian Shu, found a clean and elegant plain-colored Taoist robe, returned, and gently handed it to Ling Shuang.
He didn’t say anything more, nor did he show any deliberate pity. He simply said softly, “Put them on first.”
Ling Shuang’s fingertips trembled as she struggled to take the clothes, using the dim light to barely cover her wounds and disheveled appearance.
After doing all this, her tense mind completely relaxed, her vision went black, and she almost fainted on the spot, but the tears in her eyes never stopped.
David stepped forward, and a wisp of gentle Daoist energy slowly flowed into her body from his fingertips, soothing her severely damaged soul and meridians, and suppressing the surging pain and coldness throughout her body.
“It’s alright now.”
His voice was calm, yet carried a reassuring strength: “Everyone who bullied you has paid the price.”
Heng Xuan is dead, and the Tian Shu Sect will be completely destroyed. No one can harm you in the slightest.
Ling Shuang leaned against the cold stone wall, looking at the boy in front of her, choked with sobs, unable to speak. All her words turned into two lines of hot tears, which silently streamed down her face.
David carefully helped her up and escorted her slowly out of the dark dungeon that had imprisoned her for so long.
The moment she saw the light of day again, Ling Shuang squinted slightly, looking at the sky above her as it gradually cleared up from its grayness. The gloom that had been weighing on her heart for so long finally dissipated.
In the following days, David traveled all over the main peak of Tian Shu, looting all the spirit stones, rare and precious materials, ancient cultivation techniques, rare spiritual herbs, and refining materials that the sect had amassed over tens of thousands of years.
The endless resources that the Tian Shu Sect had once squeezed from the entire Twenty-Six Heavens were all left untouched and ended up in David’s hands.
These resources, accumulated over millennia, possess a profound and rich foundation, sufficient to nourish countless cultivators. Now, they are all returned to the public sphere, to be redistributed in the future to nourish all living beings in this broken world.
After clearing out all resources and eliminating the last remaining remnants of the Celestial Pivot, David stepped into the air and stood in the center of the vast sky of the Twenty-Sixth Heaven.
All living beings in the entire world, whether they are cultivators hiding in the deep mountains or ordinary beings barely clinging to life, can clearly see that figure in green robes, hanging high in the nine heavens, like a newly born ruler of the world.
The next instant, the vast and boundless golden primordial Dao aura surrounding him fully bloomed.
This is the lost true root of heaven and earth of the Twenty-Six Heavens, lost for countless ages; it is the most orthodox and purest origin of the Heavenly Dao.
The Daoist energy flowed across the vast wilderness, sweeping through the eight directions, slowly flowing along the veins of heaven and earth, gradually repairing the shattered sky, the broken spiritual veins, and the decaying rules of heaven and earth.
The parched earth began to thaw and life returned, the depleted spiritual veins slowly revived, the gray sky gradually cleared and brightened, the broken patterns of the rules were completely smoothed out, and the violent aura of heaven and earth completely dissipated.
The twenty-six heavens, ravaged by time, were gradually restored to their original state and returned to clarity through his single-handed efforts.
There will be no more tyrannical divine punishment, no more unbalanced rules of heaven and earth, and no more shackles of the divine that oppress all living beings.
A new world of stability, peace, and justice was born.