The Sky Deer Goddess's Heart-Possessing Demon — How Can You Make Me Believe You?
The Sky Deer Goddess’s Heart-Possessing Demon — How Can You Make Me Believe You?
On the cliff by the Boundary Marker Sea, Gu Changge stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his figure tall and slender, his white robes whiter than snow, transcendent and otherworldly, with divine bones and an immortal bearing—yet his expression was incomparably cold.
As his sleeves swept out, great stars seemed to fall one after another from the cosmos beyond the domain.
Heavenly fire rained down, fierce winds rose from the earth, and black, oppressive Grand Runes surged forth in wave after wave, vast and boundless, with no end in sight.
This was a majestic, overwhelming power—even the most ancient of runes could hardly construct such a terrifying spectacle.
The countless living beings within this treasure land all felt a dread that welled up from the depths of their hearts, as if they were facing a world-destroying demon.
Amid the howling, it was as if billions of heavenly demons were roaring; the grey fog abruptly swept in, enveloping all eight directions of heaven and earth.
This was a great force channeled from some indescribable, inconceivable dimension.
In an instant, all that remained between heaven and earth was a boundless expanse of grey, interwoven with all manner of chaotic, maddening auras.
Beneath such an aura, let alone ordinary Cultivators—even Sacred Emperor Realm beings who had cultivated for tens of millions of years would feel their hearts palpitate in terror, their Dao Hearts tainted by demonic energy.
“The legendary Morphing Demonic Domain, formless and traceless, one of the Nine Wonders of the World. It is said that any living being that falls into the demonic domain will ultimately become lost within it.”
“Yet from ancient times until now, Cultivators who have personally witnessed the Morphing Demonic Domain have been vanishingly few.”
“I always believed the Morphing Demonic Domain was some mysterious space that existed only in legend. I never imagined it would actually be a technique.”
“And so this is the identity you have been hiding. In the end, I was still careless.”
The Sky Deer Goddess gazed at the grey fog blotting out the sky, her slightly changed expression quickly calming as a Zen-like serenity and Buddhist nature emerged from her body.
She spoke softly, sighed, and then radiance flowed across her face as she began to chant ancient scriptures.
Her immortal skin glowed crystalline, accompanied by a delicate fragrance, as sheets of runes evolved from beneath her skin like an ancient immortal scripture, blossoming with light, dazzling and resplendent.
She was like a Buddhist lamp in the darkness, solemn and majestic, glorious and not to be underestimated, capable of driving back this grey fog.
Yet it still appeared utterly powerless, unable to achieve much effect.
This sight was like a single candle flame within a great abyss of darkness, able to illuminate only the small patch of area around her.
The Sky Deer Goddess’s brows furrowed slightly; growing ever more solemn in her heart, she sat down cross-legged where she stood, treasure light shining brilliantly.
One after another, imperial runes containing supreme divine might branded themselves into the void, attempting to resist this power.
At this point, she had already abandoned any thought of attack, knowing that with her current means, she could not contend against Gu Changge.
The moment Gu Changge revealed his true identity, she had already understood.
The methods Gu Changge had hidden simply exceeded imagination—they could no longer be measured by common sense.
An ordinary True Daoist would absolutely not be his match.
“Your discernment is not bad, to actually recognize the Morphing Demonic Domain.”
Gu Changge raised an eyebrow slightly, though his expression remained cold.
Weng!!
The next moment, billions of jet-black rays of light gathered from his palm, then pressed down toward the front, as if they could overturn heaven and earth.
Within the surging grey fog, two other colors were intermixed—black and white, representing life and death.
Black and white swept forth, transforming into Great Millstones of World Destruction, flowing with terrifying auras of annihilation as they rumbled down to crush everything from all directions of heaven and earth.
Within this Morphing Demonic Domain, Gu Changge was the absolute master.
Even a True Daoist could not hope to sense the rules of heaven and earth or the traces of the Great Dao, nor draw upon any power.
The terror of this power lay in the fact that it ceaselessly devoured the strength, life, Source, and cultivation of the Cultivators trapped within.
It could be called all-pervasive, seeping into everything, fundamentally impossible to resist.
Many uninformed Cultivators had always regarded the Morphing Demonic Domain as one of the world’s wonders, like the Absolute Yin Heaven.
But none of them knew that this was merely one technique within the Taboo Demonic Arts.
Moreover, the Morphing Demonic Domain displayed by the Successor of Demonic Arts was but a rudimentary embryonic form, utterly incomparable to what Gu Changge had unleashed.
Whether in might or in level, there was no comparison.
Zheng zheng!!
In an instant, dazzling, resplendent radiance erupted here, its momentum towering, shaking the firmament.
All the great fog surged to devour, seeking to wrap around the cross-legged Sky Deer Goddess and drag her into an abyss of eternal damnation.
Within the Morphing Demonic Domain, there was not only terrifying devouring power.
There were also all the demonic thoughts and corrupt intentions of this world, penetrating everywhere—even those with the firmest Dao Hearts would find it difficult to endure.
“How much longer can you hold on?”
Gu Changge stood in the distance, watching her coldly, making no superfluous movements.
He was in no hurry to kill the Sky Deer Goddess.
Moreover, compared to killing her, a living Sky Deer Goddess was clearly of far greater use.
The barrier of Sky Deer City had been controlled by the Sky Deer Goddess for generations.
Therefore, if Gu Changge wanted to breach Sky Deer City and open its Formation Core, he could be said to have no choice but to start with the Sky Deer Goddess.
“You cannot disturb my Dao Heart.”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s face was slightly pale, but her expression remained calm.
She had great confidence in her own Dao Heart. Having cultivated for countless years, the myriad states of the world and its rolling mortal dust were all like passing smoke and clouds to her.
Weng!
The void trembled and hummed.
Buddhist light and Daoist rhythm interwove, and boundless, endless radiance emerged here.
In the void around her, those lit imperial runes burned continuously, seeking to grind away the great fog flooding toward her.
It was as if stars were falling one after another here, finally colliding and exploding.
Such fluctuations were far too vast and majestic, as if the very heavens were crashing down.
Aside from True Daoists, no one could withstand it.
Even she grew pale-faced, her body swaying unceasingly.
“This so-called Dao Heart—is it really that firm?”
Gu Changge was utterly cold; almost in an instant, his figure appeared before her.
He raised his palm and pressed down toward her; within his palm, an ancient treasure land seemed to evolve, then came rumbling down.
This aura was incomparably terrifying, ceaselessly grinding away at the imperial runes around the Sky Deer Goddess, their radiance dimming and swiftly shattering.
Faintly, it was as if billions of heavenly demons came howling, seeking to pierce through her lungs and spirit platform, to fall into her soul and Dao Heart.
Chi chi!!
“If the Dao Heart does not endure, how can one trudge forward on this path of cultivation?”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s expression did not change; to Gu Changge’s words, she replied simply.
At the same time, she once again displayed other Daoist divine abilities.
Clear light misted from her sleeves, transforming into ten million Dao Swords, each one sufficient to cleave apart the firmament; all ten million fell in unison with glorious, inextinguishable might, mounting a resistance.
At the same time, above her head, a peaceful and holy radiance emerged.
It was a lotus flower with nine petals, golden and dazzling, utterly resplendent, containing profound and unfathomable meaning.
This golden lotus was clearly some kind of innate object, bearing innate patterns and runes.
Daoist rhythm transformed into chains that pierced through with whistling sounds, as if to subdue demons.
Yet at this moment, one could clearly see wisps of black qi flitting across her face.
But she forcibly suppressed them.
The longer one remained in the Morphing Demonic Domain, the more severe the corruption of demonic energy became—even with her constitution, it was the same.
Given enough time, she would inevitably suffer tremendous effects.
If she could not escape, she would surely fall into a crisis of life and death.
Moreover, from beginning to end, Gu Changge had not actively attacked even once, merely watching her resist there.
This made the Sky Deer Goddess’s heart sink ever deeper.
Hong!!
“I would very much like to see just how long your Dao Heart can hold out.”
Gu Changge spoke indifferently, once again shaking his robe and striking out with streak after streak of divine light—like divine swords, like heavenly blades, like heavenly auroras—bearing supreme divine brilliance as they crashed down to slaughter the Sky Deer Goddess.
The imperial runes around her rapidly dimmed, the Dao Swords she slashed out also collapsed, and the light upon her body swiftly faded.
“I don’t believe you can maintain this Morphing Demonic Domain forever.”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s gaze remained fixed on his face, calm as an ancient well, like an old monk who had entered deep meditation.
“But in my view, your current state is not good.”
Gu Changge struck again; behind him, billions of strands of grey fog surged, vast and mighty, completely enveloping her.
Buddhist shadows crumbled, heaven and earth fell silent, as if plunging into boundless, endless darkness.
This was a power from the unknown, seeking to drag her into it.
Yet the Sky Deer Goddess still resisted; billions of golden lotus flowers emerged behind her.
Buddhist light shone universally, seeking to disperse the greyness of this place.
Golden lotus flowers accompanied her, utterly astonishing—each golden lotus seemed rooted in space itself, grand and boundless.
For a time, her surroundings seemed to transform into a Buddhist Kingdom, within which heaven and earth resonated, auroral light misted, and divine Buddhas chanted, seeking to take her in.
It had to be said, the Sky Deer Goddess’s methods were truly astonishing—worthy of a veteran True Daoist.
Were it not for the constraints of the world’s environment, perhaps she would already have stepped into an even higher realm by now.
To resist for so long within the Morphing Demonic Domain, and even continue displaying powerful methods.
“Truly beyond my expectations.”
“But what meaning is there in pointless persistence?”
Gu Changge’s expression was cold and calm. He shook his head and reached out his palm once more.
This time, he employed no other methods; instead, divine light blazed within his palm, transforming into a crystalline, translucent divine mirror.
This mirror rapidly expanded, finally projecting images within the void.
“What—”
The instant she saw the images within, the Sky Deer Goddess’s expression changed.
The very moment her state of mind wavered, all the demonic energy of this place surged and swept toward her.
The Sky Deer Goddess finally could not hold back—a mouthful of blood sprayed out, dyeing her white robes red, and the Buddhist shadow manifested behind her cracked inch by inch, crumbling into powder.
Her body trembled lightly; the black qi grew denser and denser, covering her entire face, black and heavy, as if she had been poisoned.
But looking closely, one could see wisps of black qi coiling and darting about her body.
At this moment, she could no longer even see the scene before her clearly; everything had become incomparably blurred.
“You—”
She, who had always been calm and untroubled, could not conceal the fury on her face as she glared fixedly at Gu Changge.
“What is it? Shouldn’t this be a perfectly normal development?”
Gu Changge could not help but laugh, though his eyes remained cold.
“You truly are despicable!”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s eyes were ice-cold, filled with rage.
Within the images before her were none other than Lin Wu, Lu Luo, and the others whom she had expended great effort to rescue.
But now, Lin Wu and the others were in a terrible state—some wounded, some dead.
Lin Wu especially was grievously injured, a wound across his chest that had nearly torn him apart.
His face was filled with grief, shock, fury, and disbelief.
And the Lu Luo she had painstakingly rescued was now a woman with an entirely different, unfamiliar face.
She wore a cold sneer, longsword in hand, piercing through Lin Wu’s body.
How could the Sky Deer Goddess not understand now—the Lu Luo she had rescued back then had been nothing but an impostor.
The real Lu Luo, Gu Changge had never brought out at all; whether she lived or died, there was no way to know.
She had never imagined Gu Changge would be so treacherous and despicable. When rescuing Lu Luo, she had never even considered such a thing.
But even if she had been suspicious, she likely would have found it very difficult to discover the truth.
Given Gu Changge’s shrewdness, he would absolutely never have allowed her to notice anything amiss.
In the end, all her efforts had been in vain—not only had she failed to kill Gu Changge, she had dragged herself, Lin Wu, and the others down with her.
“Tell me, in this state, how can you still fight me?”
Gu Changge’s words held no ripple of emotion, yet at this moment they seemed to stir the billions of demonic shadows between heaven and earth, all of them charging toward the Sky Deer Goddess.
Faintly, she beheld a terrifying, hell-like scene.
Hordes of demons ran rampant, heavenly demons ravaged, devastation stretched as far as the eye could see.
The once-prosperous, ancient Sky Deer City had become a ruin—corpses everywhere, flames burning everywhere, walls collapsed, pavilions reduced to ash.
Her disciples lay dead in pools of blood, their bodies covered in wounds, long since devoid of life.
Great armies came slaughtering; the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains fell; endless flames of war swept over everything.
The cities, territories, and living beings she had once protected had all turned to ash, reduced to ruined cities in this battle.
She even saw herself personally opening the barrier of Sky Deer City, bringing about the city’s destruction.
This was the scene she least wished to see in her heart. Though her heart told her all of this was an illusion, not truly happening,
she still felt regret and anguish.
It was as if she had already foreseen what the future would bring.
“Impossible...”
“This is all fake. I am still trapped within the Morphing Demonic Domain.”
“This is merely your trick.”
The Sky Deer Goddess shook her head, as if she understood what all of this was.
Yet her face was covered in black qi, and the light upon her body gradually dimmed; the black qi coiled around her, finally settling slowly into silence.
“True or false, false or true—how can you be certain that what you see now is not a corner of the future?”
“This so-called Dao Heart of yours is, in truth, nothing but a flaw.”
Gu Changge’s eyes remained utterly cold. With merely a press of his palm, the imperial runes and Buddhist shadows around the Sky Deer Goddess snapped inch by inch, swiftly collapsing.
From all directions of heaven and earth, countless streams of grey fog wrapped around her, seemingly forming an enormous black cocoon.
Strands of rules hung down, the Great Dao rumbled with astonishing might, and black demonic energy permeated the air.
The Sky Deer Goddess raised her head somewhat blankly, her gaze gradually shifting from hazy to clear.
But the golden lotus flowers behind her abruptly turned pitch-black, sinister and wicked.
Demonic energy had seeped into her very bones!
However, unlike the Demonic Seed, hers was a Heart-Possessing Demon.
Though the two differed by only a single word, they were entirely different—for the Demonic Seed was imposed by an external object and could be controlled by another.
The Heart-Possessing Demon, however, was a matter of one’s own heart turning demonic, sinking far deeper, acting entirely according to one’s own will.
“It seems you have thought things through.”
Gu Changge looked at the woman whose aura could be called utterly different from the Sky Deer Goddess of before, and asked with some interest.
The Sky Deer Goddess of before had given off a holy Buddhist nature, transcendent and otherworldly, untouched by dust, like a Buddhist lotus.
But the current her possessed an entirely different wickedness—more like a demon lotus, rooted and growing where demonic energy ran rampant.
“What you said is right. How could that scene not be a glimpse of the future?”
“If I wish to prevent all of this from happening, the only way is to have Sky Deer City submit, minimizing casualties.”
The Sky Deer Goddess nodded, her gaze restored to calm.
If one did not sense the aura upon her, one might even think she was not much different from before.
“However, I do not believe you.”
Hearing this, Gu Changge gazed deeply at her, as if to see through her completely, then smiled faintly.
“I will prove it to you through my actions.”
The Sky Deer Goddess met his gaze frankly, her eyes calm and serene, her flawless face showing little ripple of emotion.
“Is that so?” Gu Changge smiled, then said indifferently, “If you wish to prove yourself to me, then go now and open the barrier of Sky Deer City, and while you’re at it, tell me the correct route to the Aether Abyss. Otherwise, how can I believe you?”
“No problem.”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s eyes rested on his face. Hearing this, she showed not the slightest hesitation or resistance; instead, she nodded very earnestly.
“You agreed so readily—how am I supposed to believe you?”
“After going to such lengths to capture you, do you think I would let you leave so easily?”
Gu Changge was somewhat taken aback at her words, but he still smiled, not believing the current Sky Deer Goddess’s words.
Even if she had been tainted by demonic energy, she could not possibly change so quickly.
If he let her go, would all his efforts not have been wasted? As for control and the like—at the level of a True Daoist, how much effect could that even have?
The current Sky Deer Goddess, though her Dao Heart had turned demonic and her conduct might differ considerably from before,
her starting point remained unchanged—to block the invasion of the Upper Realm and protect Sky Deer City and the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains.
“Then what must I do for you to believe me?”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s brows furrowed, then quickly smoothed out as she asked, as if seriously considering this question.
“That is not something I need to consider.”
“What you should be doing—isn’t it figuring out how to make me believe you?”
Gu Changge raised an eyebrow, then reached out to cup her exquisite chin, leaning down to stare into her eyes.
Seeing that the Sky Deer Goddess’s expression did not change in the slightest, without the faintest hint of resistance, he could not help but smile. “Now you won’t even resist? But it is precisely because of this that I believe you even less.”
With that, he released her chin. With a sweep of his sleeve, the towering grey fog enveloping this treasure land dispersed, as if everything had been nothing but an illusion.
The sky cleared once more; from the shores of the Boundary Marker Sea not far away, rumbling sounds came again.
The battle fluctuations here had alarmed many Cultivators and living beings, but before they could step into this place, they had already been suppressed and slain by Ah Da, who had received his orders—they would not disturb Gu Changge.
The Sky Deer Goddess seemed to fall into deep thought, seriously pondering Gu Changge’s words.
“I will persuade the Cultivators and living beings of Sky Deer City to abandon resistance and submit to the Upper Realm.”
“But you must guarantee that you will not harm them, and minimize casualties as much as possible.”
She then spoke again, laying out her own plans and intentions.
“Do you think any of that is possible?” Gu Changge still smiled, somewhat mockingly.
“When the city is on the verge of falling, nothing is impossible,” the Sky Deer Goddess said.
“After all this talk, you still want me to let you go? Before I trust you, I advise you to abandon that notion.”
“Otherwise, I really will kill you.”
Gu Changge’s brows furrowed, his expression somewhat cold as he swept a glance at her.
“Why won’t you believe me?”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s brows knitted tightly. Gu Changge did not believe her—and right now, she was, in the end, nothing more than a prisoner.
The fall of Sky Deer City was only a matter of time. Unless a miracle occurred in this epoch, the scene she had witnessed was a true corner of the future.
If she wished to save the people of Sky Deer City, then the necessary sacrifices absolutely had to be made.
“I don’t need you to breach Sky Deer City.”
Gu Changge spoke indifferently. In his plans, even without the Sky Deer Goddess, as long as Lu Luo was in his hands,
he could force Lin Wu to submit.
As a Fortuitous One, Lin Wu would surely be able to access Sky Deer City’s Formation Core.
Now, with the Sky Deer Goddess added, it was equivalent to holding one more bargaining chip.
When the time came, how would Lin Wu choose? That was not hard to guess.
For most Fortuitous Ones, valuing sentiment and loyalty was usually expressed toward themselves and those connected to them.
The lives and deaths of everyone else were, in truth, unimportant to them.
Moreover, from the earlier incident where Lin Wu would rather hand over the Immortal-Killing Gourd to save Lu Luo, his temperament could already be seen.
Among those who came to rescue Lu Luo this time, there were no other clans or forces; they all chose to watch coldly from the sidelines, indifferent and uninvolved.
Even if Lin Wu said nothing aloud, he likely harbored resentment in his heart long ago.