"There are those considered villains, but who never chose to be evil.
There are those once called master... but who lacked the courage to keep their last disciple.
Perhaps... the deepest Dao, is the one that ultimately leaves behind a beating heart."
The Void Realm trembles – an unprecedented murderous aura descends.
As the Saint Venerable knelt before Lin Mo, the sky suddenly cracked into three.
From the rift, a blood-soaked hand dragged a figure from the black abyss.
His entire body was clad in armor made from the white bones of countless souls, his eyes shrouded in ash, yet still revealing an extreme, cold hatred.
"Lin Mo... the one who bears her Dao."
"You... are not worthy."
He was once a gentle youth, always following Zi Xuan like a shadow.
But after the great catastrophe where the Dao of Anarchy was annihilated, Zi Xuan let him survive – by erasing all emotions from his mind, pushing him into the Void Realm.
He survived, but without a heart.
He burned down the entire Linh Sơn Compassionate Realm – the place where the first Dao of the heart was taught.
He massacred hundreds of millions of beings in the Profound Court Sea – just because he heard laughter.
Every time he touched an emotion... he killed it, as if to take revenge on Zi Xuan.
"You... embraced her?"
"You... were imparted the Dao?"
"Then let me... kill you as I killed my own heart!"
Tả Mộng swung his hand.
Over three hundred "Shadow Heart Vapors" – illusionary souls formed from murdered emotions – surged forth like a tide.
Lin Mo could not stop them with Dao power.
He only... stood still.
"Did you once love your master?"
Tả Mộng roared:
"I don't remember anymore!"
"Then why did you still come... when you saw her Dao revive within me?"
A piece of Dao script appeared – not to attack, but to remind.
He used his own ash Dao to stir up each shattered fragment of Tả Mộng's mental thoughts:
The trembling call of "master" amidst the snowy sky.
The last tear shed before being pushed into the Void Realm.
And... the first smile Tả Mộng had ever seen in his life.
"You haven't lost everything."
"It's just... you don't dare to remember."
His entire body trembled violently like someone about to shatter.
A hoarse sound, as if from hell:
"Why... do I still feel pain?"
"I killed all my emotions, yet..."
For the first time in countless years, she did not speak of Dao, nor transmit scriptures.
She just silently embraced the one who had lost himself for her, whispering:
"I'm sorry...
Master was wrong."
A tear welled from the corner of Tả Mộng's eye.
A single drop – falling onto the ground already stained with blood and ash Dao.
That bloodstain... gave birth to a white flower.
The third Dao formed within Lin Mo – "Heart Flower Opens and Dies."
A Dao script never recorded in scripture:
"Destroy the heart to live.
Live again... to know you once had a heart."
Before his soul dissipated, Tả Mộng transmitted a strange passage to Lin Mo, whispering:
"If your Dao can truly live...
then... find those like me.
There are many more... who have lost their hearts, still waiting for someone... to remember them."