**Forbidden Arts (禁术)**: In cultivation fiction, forbidden arts are techniques that deliberately damage the cultivator’s body, spirit, or lifespan in exchange for a massive boost in combat power. Ji Yichuan’s multiple uses of these arts accelerated his Zifu’s collapse, turning what might have been a crippled life into a guaranteed, short-term death. This is a classic theme: the warrior’s pride in choosing a fiery end over slow decay. The cost is always explicit—here, the complete disintegration of the Zifu dimensional space.
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Definition
**Forbidden Arts (禁术)**: In cultivation fiction, forbidden arts are techniques that deliberately damage the cultivator’s body, spirit, or lifespan in exchange for a massive boost in combat power. Ji Yichuan’s multiple uses of these arts accelerated his Zifu’s collapse, turning what might have been a crippled life into a guaranteed, short-term death. This is a classic theme: the warrior’s pride in choosing a fiery end over slow decay. The cost is always explicit—here, the complete disintegration of the Zifu dimensional space.
Story context
This is it—the farewell. After the brutal battle at Oxhorn Mountain, Ji Yichuan’s body has reached its limit. The forbidden arts he burned through have collapsed his Zifu, leaving him with only a month to live. Ji Ning must face the one thing every cultivator dreads most: watching a loved one choose a glorious death over a crippled existence. Ji Yichuan passes peacefully, surrounded by his son and his lifelong brother, Whitewater Hound. But before he goes, he hands Ji Ning a beast-hide scroll—the names of the enemies who destroyed his maternal uncle and ruined his mother’s life. Then, after a winter of reflection and creation, Ji Ning writes a new sword manual for his clan, says goodbye to Qiuye, and finally leaves the Yan Mountains with Uncle White, stepping into the boundless world beyond. This chapter closes the Yan Mountains arc with raw emotion, a funeral pyre, and a promise carved into the wind.
Why it matters
Get your tissues ready, fellow Daoists. This chapter is a gut punch. Watching Ji Yichuan die—not in battle, but peacefully, with his son holding his hand—is one of the most emotionally mature moments in the series so far. The author doesn’t drag it out with melodrama; the death is quiet, intimate, and devastating. Notice how Ji Ning doesn’t rage or break down; he howls once, then composes himself. That’s the mark of a Dao heart forged in tragedy. The true emotional weight comes from the small details: the trembling hand, the fallen hand, the hound leaning against the chair.
Quick facts
Source novel
Desolate Era
First appearance
The Final Farewell
Chapter references
1
Type hints
Ji Yichuan death, forbidden arts, Zifu collapse
Guide tags
emotional goodbye, father-son, volume end
Appears in chapters
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