At the very end of the underground palace, there was a blaze of fire as radiant as the sun, spreading out like countless strands of aurora. One could vaguely see ornate feathers swaying in the wind, and even fleeting silhouettes of birds appearing momentarily before vanishing.

This was like a sacrificial ground, a temple scattered with shattered pill furnaces and ghastly human bones.

Massive, ancient stone steps led upward—a staircase ascending to the main hall.

Su Youzhu felt a familiar aura surging through the air. It was the same godly might that had once left her breathless on the Haiqing Highway, as if transporting her back to that stormy night, forcing her to relive despair and rage.

"Youzhu."

Lu Zijin raised her hand and gently stroked her trembling back. In truth, she also recognized the source of this aura, for even though she had arrived late on that highway six months ago, she had still sensed that overwhelming divine might.

Now was a moment of peril; they had to calm down.

Because they both knew that the person most affected by this wasn't themselves.

The faint sound of footsteps came from behind.

Gu Jianlin initially didn't understand why they had suddenly stopped. But as he felt the golden brilliance washing over him, his chest seemed to clog with mud, his breathing turning labored, almost suffocating.

And not just that—his head felt like it was splitting open, and terrifying hallucinations flooded his vision.

A torrential stormy night, the highway signs drenched in rain, tree branches swaying in the gale, the world ablaze in a raging inferno.

The blinding, searing light of headlights pierced through the storm. A massive truck engulfed in fierce flames growled like a monstrous beast as it hurtled forward. Beneath the windshield, the driver sat as lifeless as a corpse, indifferent and cold. A terrifying ghost shadow loomed over the highway, bearing nine grotesque and horrifying heads, each with eerie human faces. Some seemed to cry, others appeared to laugh.

The Ghost Car Ancestor!

Darkness overwhelmed the skies as Gu Jianlin heard the rumbling of a collapsing world.

Someone held him tightly, warmth long lost seeping into the embrace.

"Don't be afraid…"

That person stroked his head and softly whispered, "It's just a nightmare, like when you had a fever as a kid. Once your mom gets you some cold medicine, you'll sleep it off, and everything will be fine when you wake up."

The man's voice was so ordinary, so casually casual.

Yet it brimmed with an unbearable tenderness.

As if he already knew his own fate.

Gu Jianlin barely opened his eyes, glimpsing the familiar silhouette suspended in midair. The elemental turbulence of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire gathered above his head, and wings unfurled behind him, faintly shimmering with the ethereal tail of a phoenix.

His figure, too, began to burn, releasing a roar of fury.

Gu Jianlin desperately wanted to reach out, to call that man back.

Or perhaps run to him, to die alongside him.

But he could do nothing; this was just a hallucination.

That ferocious ghostly shadow seemed to shroud the entire world in its tempest and downpour, its overwhelming divine might filling the heavens and earth.

And yet, in the final instant, Gu Jianlin saw something.

The overwhelming divine might didn't come from the Ghost Car Ancestor!

It was a god standing tall atop the Sky Dome. No matter how the storm battered, its flames remained unextinguished. When it cried out, the world itself burned. Its wings blanketed the heavens, and its phoenix tail stretched to the ends of darkness.

Like the sun piercing the night.

Boom!

Gu Jianlin let out a rare roar of fury and agony. That beam of light was like thunder splitting the chaos, nearly tearing apart his memories. After six long months, he finally delved back into the recesses of his mind and beheld the truth of that fateful car crash.

His head throbbed with piercing pain, forcing him to his knees as he clawed desperately at his skull.

"Xiao Gu!"

Lu Zijin quickly grabbed his shoulders, her face paling in fright.

Su Youzhu couldn't bear to see him in such torment. She knelt beside him, enveloped him in her arms, pressing him tightly against her chest. Using her warmth and softness to ease his suffering, she raised her head and coldly commanded, "Where's the Priest? Yingzhou people, hurry!"

Yuuki Yocchi approached and gasped in shock.

For the boy's spirituality and mental state were in utter chaos—a condition he had inflicted upon himself.

The Priest pathway wasn't as simple as recklessly throwing around Holy Light. It required extremely delicate micro-manipulation, practically to the molecular level. A healer needed exceptional medical expertise; otherwise, they could do more harm than good. As a student of a Great God, Yuuki Yocchi's survival skills were, of course, impeccable.

But in the present situation, even she was at a loss.

"Save him!"

Su Youzhu held the boy tightly in her arms, gripping a blade to her own throat. "Do it now!"

When Da He Wang saw this scene, he thought to himself that this was classic behavior—how was it that the Great God's lineage, from teacher to student, always ended up being threatened at knifepoint to save lives?

"Hurry up already! Why are you just standing there?!"

Mr. Liu also grew anxious.

It wasn't the time to hesitate; they had to try anything to save him.

Da He Wang stood guard at the passageway, his sniper rifle roaring with incessant fire.

Yuuki Yocchi once again pulled out a Shinto talisman from her pocket. This was a medium combining Forbidden Spells and the native practices of Ying Province, enhanced with the power of the Priest pathway into a Combined Skill. She began to twirl and chant, "Flowers in the wind, reflections in water, may the gods above the Heavenly Plain shelter me with their blessing. I bestow this divine grace upon you, banishing the evil, driving away the demons!"

She pointed to the heavens with one hand, then to the boy. "Go!"