“What? In such a rush to throw your life away?”

The heroine lunged like a stormfront. Nana Toki flicked her right hand, casual as brushing dust. A terrifying violet flame bloomed from thin air, swallowing Yiling Shen whole. Heat reared like fanged fire-serpents, gnawing greedily at every inch of her skin.

Fear hit first—Yiling Shen felt Nana Toki’s Spirit Energy like a brutal tide. She stumbled back, casting water wards, one after another. Each shimmering shield touched the violet fire and dissolved into clear mist on contact.

Under crushing Spirit Pressure, her defenses were nothing but paper screens.

“Don’t dodge now. You threw the first punch, and now you’re running. How’s that not shameless?”

Below, Nana Toki drove the flames in relentless waves. Disciples from nearby sects tried to help Yiling Shen. Nana Toki’s mind twitched—boom—thick pillars of fire erupted beneath their feet like opened wells, blasting the crowd into chaos.

In a blink, the Purple Bamboo Grove became a boiling mess.

Fire surged, wave on wave. The so-called righteous elites at Yiling Shen’s back buckled and broke. In moments, Nana Toki’s blaze had them routed, a scorched ruin.

She never even took a step. Most who came to “test” her lay crumpled on the ground, lives unknown.

Only Yiling Shen, heroine halo shining, still stood in front of Nana Toki—barely. She wouldn’t last long.

“What? Not continuing?”

Nana Toki strolled up, a mean grin on her lips. “Weren’t you calling me suicidal a moment ago? Why’ve you gone quiet?”

Her face screamed punch-me.

Yiling Shen said nothing. Her gaze stayed cold, locked on Nana Toki. After a long breath, she ground out through clenched teeth, “Feng Luo Luo! You’re bold. You dared attack other sects at the Demon-Slaying Conference. Aren’t you afraid of the disaster you’ll bring?”

“Tch. Don’t threaten me with that stuff, Heroine—uh, Yiling Shen.” Nana Toki laughed coldly. “I don’t have many virtues. Boldness is one.”

Her hand flipped. A bunch of violet flame shot straight for Yiling Shen’s face. Yiling Shen couldn’t dodge. She watched the fire hit her—helpless.

“Ah!”

The violet blaze slammed into her cheek. The horrific heat made her skin sizzle.

She fell and rolled across the dirt, panic stoking the flame. The more she writhed, the hotter it burned.

In moments, violet fire covered her head to toe.

Around them, the survivors sucked in a cold breath. Fear swelled in their chests. Plans to slip away sprouted like weeds.

Nana Toki saw Yiling Shen buried in violet fire, her figure gone. She didn’t trust it.

One thought, and the fierce blaze shrank at once. She peeled the flames back to see the corpse beneath.

The fire vanished. The ground stood empty.

Nana Toki’s face darkened. Inwardly, she cursed this plane’s Heaven as a thief.

Damn it, the heroine’s cheating again.

Is this world even playable?

She’d ground that heroine halo down to grit, and it still toggled the cheat. How shameless can it get?

The other sects glanced at the empty spot, then at the Purple Bamboo Grove. None wanted to linger.

They tidied what they could and fled, tripping over themselves.

Nana Toki didn’t care about their lives. She only told them to drag the dead disciples out, so her own master wouldn’t have to clean up the mess.

Then she went back inside to find Shrine Water.

“Luo’er, you treated those sects like that today. What if they return to trouble you later?”

Shrine Water watched their retreating backs, worry churning like rainclouds.

“Maybe we should move somewhere and hide.”

Shuiqin Lin didn’t worry at all. She tugged Shrine Water’s hand, bright-eyed and excited. “Master, don’t worry. Even if those sect disciples team up, they still can’t beat Senior Sister. They won’t later either. We can stay in the Purple Bamboo Grove and relax.”

Nana Toki: “...”

Look at this smug brat. Anyone would think she did the beating.

“Enough, enough. Keep me out of your boasting. Go train. Then you’ll be strong like me.”

She didn’t miss the chance to drill Shuiqin Lin. “You’ve lazed for two hundred years and only scraped to first-stage Nascent Soul. Your boosted lifespan isn’t even half of mine. Don’t make Master bury you early.”

“T-that won’t happen.”

Shuiqin Lin ducked her little head. The words weren’t wrong. She’d fished for two hundred years. If she didn’t work, she might really make Shrine Water see her off to the grave. That was the last thing she wanted. “I—I’ll live with Master and Senior Sister. All the way.”

“Then train. I’m not spending my years sweeping your grave until I drop.”

Shuiqin Lin: “...” Senior Sister, that’s cruel.

After driving off Yiling Shen, Nana Toki lingered in the Purple Bamboo Grove a few days, then set out for the junction of the Human and Demon realms.

The System’s teleport was random, and she didn’t trust that trash to sabotage her. She chose to fly herself.

She wanted to try riding her cutesy axe for flight, but the “cool factor” was too low, and steering was a nightmare. In the end, she switched to a longsword Shrine Water had given her.

The junction lay across the South Sea waters. Nana Toki arrived just as Chiliao marshaled a grand army to invade the mortal world.

Last time in the South Sea, she’d thought Nesting Phoenix had slaughtered all the sea beasts, with no seals laid. Apparently not.

Human-shaped demons rolled out in ranks, one wave after another.

The Oceanward Tower, once standing proud on the coast, was gone. No trace remained. Chiliao must have wiped it out.

Nana Toki didn’t care. She slipped past the demon army and headed straight for the nexus.

Through the gate between realms, she stepped back into the bamboo grove she’d visited before.

By the lakeshore, Jiang Chen had been waiting for a while.

He saw Nana Toki step through and flew over, coming to a stop at her side.

“Here. The Phoenix Fire you wanted.”

He was more decisive than Nana Toki expected. He flipped his hand, and a bright yellow flame carrying a powerful aura floated in his palm.

She didn’t doubt him. She took it directly and cupped her hands in thanks. “Demon King, you’re refreshingly straightforward.”

She hadn’t expected him to hand over Phoenix Fire without fuss. She was ready for bargaining. No need, it seemed.

Jiang Chen had never seen this humble side of Nana Toki. He rolled his eyes and prepared to leave. “If that’s everything, Miss Feng, I’ll go.”

“Hm? What? Not chasing the Phoenix’s descendant anymore?”

She remembered how he yearned for the phoenix line. Why give up so fast?

“Don’t mock me, Miss Feng. After your attitude last time, what was there to chase?”

At that, his aura turned a shade plaintive.

He’d never expected this absurdly strong Great Vehicle Stage woman to have… a mirror-polishing kink. And the target was the phoenix he’d sought for years in the Demon Realm. If that got out, the Demon Realm would be scared to death.

“If you’re willing, have the phoenix descendant send a Phoenix Flame to my realm. I’ve nurtured the Phoenix Fire for hundreds of years. It helps keep the pressure between realms balanced, so the elders stop nagging me.”

Getting Phoenix Fire from Biluo’s Yellow Springs in the Nine Abysses had earned him no end of lectures.

He’d be hearing it again upon return.

Nana Toki: “...” Being a Demon King isn’t easy.

“For the record, I’m not giving my lifebound Phoenix Flame. Not even a thread.”

Jiang Chen: “...” Stingy woman.

“Any Phoenix Flame works. Phoenix Fire nurtures all flames. Even if it’s not lifebound, it can be raised into one. And don’t worry about your phoenix losing essence by handing you lifebound flame. The thing’s vitality is absurd.”

He narrowed his eyes at Nana Toki. “You didn’t know, did you?”

“...” How would I? I’ve never even seen a phoenix.

“But since you’re here, why not witness a miracle with me?”

Nana Toki cradled the Phoenix Fire and glanced at Jiang Chen. “Saves you a trip to the Human Realm. To be honest, I don’t want to go to your Demon Realm again. The Purple Bamboo Grove is way too far. Coming here eats time.”

Jiang Chen: “...” This woman has no shame.

Nana Toki didn’t plan to revive Nesting Phoenix in the Demon Realm.

She chose the South Sea in the Human Realm.

The System had said phoenix nirvana was much like a cultivator’s tribulation—a heaven-and-earth phenomenon that unleashes crushing Spirit Pressure, burning life for thousands of miles to ash. Jiang Chen wouldn’t let her rampage on his domain.

Hence their arrangement.

The South Sea was broad. She wasn’t worried about collateral damage. Worst case, Chiliao gets burned again.

Minor details. Nana Toki didn’t care.

At the center of the South Sea, she summoned the crystal coffin holding Nesting Phoenix’s body. She set the Phoenix Fire gently between its brows.

She and Jiang Chen retreated to a safe distance to watch.

The bright yellow fire drifted down, thinning to a film of flame that wrapped Nesting Phoenix’s body completely.

Then, visible to the eye, a scarlet-gold beam slammed down from the sky, striking Nesting Phoenix.

The Spirit Energy and life in that light made both Nana Toki and Jiang Chen shiver, even from afar.

In an instant, the world shook. The sea howled.

A phoenix cry speared into the heavens, keen and ringing.

Crimson fire billowed, flooding the sky. Whoosh—an earth-shaking roar, as if the whole world trembled.

The sea beneath the coffin frothed like boiling broth.

Walls of water surged, vast and unstoppable, turning to clear white mist in midair. The wind rolled that vapor, again and again, weaving a dreamscape like the immortal isles of legend.

Suddenly.

The gale froze. The towering waves hung mid-crest, time paused on the sea.

Before Nana Toki and Jiang Chen’s minds caught up—

The mist tore away. Beneath the crystal coffin, the South Sea had become a boundless ocean of fire.

Nesting Phoenix was entering nirvana.