Chapter 167: The Demon Clan Princess’s Fiery Rebirth

Shen Yan stepped into the tomb passageway, and the smell of blood grew stronger. He instinctively touched his phone, but just as the terminal interface loaded half a line of notice, it was pushed back by a violent wave of data fluctuations.

“This door… I’ll open it.” Luo Li stepped forward, her voice soft, yet no one dared to underestimate her words.

She stood before the stone door carved with ancient patterns and closed her eyes. Her purple-red hair stirred without wind, the pair of cat ears atop her head fully extended, and nine fox tails slowly unfurled behind her like a burning flower. A wisp of purple flame ignited at her fingertip, gently touching the stone door.

“Hum—”

The terminal suddenly projected a holographic image. The scene showed the Demon Clan’s grand hall from twenty years ago, a river of blood flowing across the floor. A woman in lavish robes held an infant in swaddling clothes, tucking a jade token into the child’s embrace as she whispered, “Live on, and trust no one… not even Father.”

Shen Yan’s pupils contracted. The infant’s face was unmistakably Luo Li’s as a child.

The image flashed by, but Luo Li’s body trembled violently, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. The Demonic Fire instantly spiraled out of control, crawling up her arm, threatening to consume her Spirit Soul.

Ye Zhao drew her sword, ready to charge forward, but Shen Yan grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t move!” Shen Yan roared. “This is her trial. External interference will only cause the seal to blow us all up!”

Gritting her teeth, Luo Li pressed both hands firmly against the stone door. Her pupils turned vertical, and an ancient Demon Mark appeared on her forehead. The flames shifted from violent to restrained, slowly seeping deep into the stone door.

“Click.”

A soft sound echoed as a crack split the stone door.

At that moment, a dark shadow swooped down from a crevice in the dome, moving so fast it left only an afterimage. Ye Shi’er, holding a Blood Scythe, sneered and hurled a bone spike. The object gleamed with an eerie light, striking directly at Luo Li’s shoulder blade.

“Luo Li!” Yu Xiaotang screamed.

The bone spike pierced flesh, blood splattering. A drop of demon blood landed squarely on Shen Yan’s phone screen.

The terminal instantly displayed a popup window: 【High-dimensional key injection detected. Source: Demon Clan First-Generation Priest Protocol. Run ‘Nirvana Protocol’?】

Without hesitation, Shen Yan pressed “Yes” firmly.

The ground rumbled violently as a massive Formation Diagram emerged from all directions, centering on Luo Li. Her body became entwined with streams of light formed from demon blood, slowly rising into the air. All nine tails ignited with purple holy flames, old wounds healed, Demon Marks reforged, and her aura surged with each passing moment.

“Is this… rebirth?” Pei Yue murmured.

“Not ordinary restoration,” Shen Yan stared at the terminal. “It’s using the power of the seal to defy fate and alter destiny. With every breath she takes now, she’s redefining her own bloodline.”

Before his words faded, a floating command token—the Star-Shattering Token—rose abruptly from the center of the altar. Its surface was covered in flowing code, alive and slowly rotating in mid-air.

Ye Shi’er’s eyes lit up, his Blood Scythe sweeping horizontally as he lunged straight for the altar.

“Trying to steal something?” Yu Xiaotang snorted, flicking out three pieces of Talisman Paper that stuck to the ground, forming a triangular sealing formation. She stuck out her tongue slightly, drawing talismans rapidly while muttering, “No firewall this time—let’s go with a ‘Self-Destruct Tracking Curse’!”

Ye Zhao’s sword left its sheath, Sword Qi arching like a rainbow, blocking Ye Shi’er’s path. The two clashed for an instant, tearing through the air. Ye Shi’er’s scythe scraped across Ye Zhao’s shoulder armor, sparks flying.

“You’ve improved,” Ye Shi’er laughed. “Pity you still can’t stop me.”

“I’m not fighting alone,” Ye Zhao responded coldly, her sword technique suddenly accelerating.

Shen Yan seized the opportunity to approach the Star-Shattering Token, reaching his right hand toward the swirling light. Just as his fingertips were about to touch it, Ye Shi’er abruptly accelerated, his Blood Scythe slashing toward Shen Yan’s wrist.

A critical moment!

Shen Yan tapped his phone screen with his left hand, and the Terminal erupted with a burst of green light. The residual energy from the newly activated “Nirvana Protocol” was forcibly called upon, and a new program was instantly compiled.

“Dynamic Refraction Shield, initiate!”

A hemispherical light shield appeared out of thin air, powered by Luo Li’s newly awakened Demon Power, enveloping the entire Altar. The Blood Scythe struck the shield, only to be deflected by the Data Stream, forcing Ye Shi’er back three steps.

“What kind of nonsense did you write?” Ye Shi’er stared at the green light, his tone fluctuating for the first time.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Shen Yan gasped for breath. “This isn’t magic—it’s a System Patch.”

Luo Li landed, her Nine Tails swaying gently as she stood beside Shen Yan. She glanced at him without speaking, but her tail quietly wrapped around his arm.

“Do you remember what happened when you were young?” Shen Yan asked softly.

“I remember,” Luo Li nodded. “The day my mother sent me out of the palace, she said my father was no longer the same. She told me to hide the jade talisman and wait for someone who could understand Code.”

Shen Yan’s heart trembled. He looked down at his phone, where the Terminal was automatically parsing the flowing text on the surface of the Star-Shattering Token. That Code was actually of the same origin as the Source Code Spiritual Root within him.

“So… you’re the Key?” he looked up.

“No,” Luo Li shook her head. “The two of us together make up the complete decoder.”

Yu Xiaotang leaned in, clutching her last talisman: “Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and merge!”

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Ye Zhao rapped her on the head with her sword sheath.

Pei Yue silently walked over, putting her Silver Needles back into her Medicine Pouch. “I can feel it—this place won’t hold much longer. Space is distorting. If we don’t act now, we’ll all be buried here.”

Shen Yan took a deep breath and reached out again toward the Star-Shattering Token.

Ye Shi’er roared, gathering all his Demonic Energy into the Blood Scythe, preparing to forcibly break through the shield.

At that moment, the Star-Shattering Token suddenly began rotating on its own, and the Code Flow surged wildly. The Terminal frantically issued alarms: 【Warning! External Command injection detected! Protocol conflict!】

Shen Yan felt a sharp pain in his head, as if countless Memory Fragments were colliding. He saw the scene of his father’s death, the moment he was abandoned in the mortal world, Ye Shi’er kneeling in the darkness, holding a shattered heart core…

“Stop!” Shen Yan shouted, slamming his finger onto the Enter Key on his phone.

The program forcibly overwrote the previous one, and the shield’s strength instantly doubled. Ye Shi’er was thrown back, crashing into the stone wall and spitting black blood.

The Star-Shattering Token hovered in mid-air, its light swirling, the Code now still.

The five of them stood at the edge of the Altar, none daring to act rashly. Only the sound of heavy breathing remained in the air.

Shen Yan stood at the forefront, his phone still connected to the Nirvana array, his right arm trembling slightly from the recoil. Ye Zhao stood guard on his left, her sword pointed at the ground, ready to fight again at any moment. Pei Yue sat cross-legged, regulating her breath, her gaze fixed on Luo Li’s condition. Yu Xiaotang hid behind a stone pillar, clutching her last emergency talisman, her eyes locked on Ye Shi’er’s every move.

Luo Li stood beside Shen Yan, her aura far stronger than before. She looked up at the Floating Command Token and whispered, “It’s waiting for you to input the password.”

Shen Yan didn’t move.

He knew that once he reached out, some things could never be undone.

Ye Shi’er slowly rose from the ground, wiped the blood from his lips, and smiled: “Brother, do you really think you can rewrite fate?”

Shen Yan turned to look at him, speaking word by word: “I’m not trying to rewrite fate.”

“I’m going to reinstall the System.”

He raised his hand, palm aimed at the Star-Shattering Token.

The Terminal’s last line of code flickered: 【Confirm execution of initialization program? Y/N】

His finger hovered above the confirm key.

(End of Chapter)