Clap clap clap… 

Xiaoqing lightly applauded. “3,000 years for a flower to bloom, and 3,000 years to bear fruit. The bodhi seed’s effect is indeed marvelous. You should’ve already sensed it outside by now, but they could not possibly know why. Of course, their gazes are too superficial and their knowledge is too shallow. The Godseal Spark… perhaps it itself didn’t expect to face the Wolfbane this time. If your demon form was a little bit weaker, there would be no chance for a spiritual sense battle… You are ignorant… of what this Godseal Spark is sealing…”

So… that’s why the butterfly had been surprised when it appeared?

“What is it?” Xu Yangyi gritted his teeth and asked.

Xiaoqing was silent for a few seconds and said coldly, “Perhaps, you have heard of the great name of Xuan-Yuan’s Three Demons. But at that time, there were also Eight Great Demon Kings only second to them… This Godseal Spark is sealing a remnant soul of Butterflymother Southflower. One of the Eight Great Demon Kings along with myself. Her honored title: the Jade Firmament Demon King. Her true body is eternally suppressed in the Kunlun Mountains’ Death Valley. And what she is most skilled at is searching for hosts, reincarnation in another’s body.”

“You can understand it as a parasite, or a struggle over demon form. It can attach itself inside any demon body. The host is unable to detect it. However… only a coincidence of fate can create a twin demon soul such as caterpillar fungus. Due to instinct, she almost wouldn’t dare to attach herself onto a demon form at such a level as Wolfbane. But this time… it is man-made.”

Xu Yangyi took a deep breath. Kunlun Mountains’ Death Valley… The Eight Great Deadlands?

The Eight Great Deadlands? Eight Great Demon Kings?

However, what he cared for right now was not this.

“Man-made?”

Xiaoqing curbed her smile. “Man-made… this is the first matter I want to tell you of here.”

“Because of a Godseal Spark’s characteristics, your demon form manifested. But, Wolfbane has always been passed down through one bloodline. Apart from your kin, it is impossible that someone would know that the Wolfbane’s blood flows in your veins. Not even I once saw through it on that day!”

“So…” Her smile became even colder. “Who planted the Godseal Spark inside you?”

“They obviously knew that Butterflymother Southflower was not the Wolfbane’s opponent, and that moreover isn’t to mention a wisp of a remnant soul. And who… would want to force you to demonize?”

BOOM!

Like a clap of thunder, Xu Yangyi’s mind exploded. The answer was too straightforward. So straightforward that he almost didn’t need to consider it.

He leveled his gaze at Xiaoqing and gritted out, “My relatives… some of them are still alive?”

Apart from this, he couldn’t find another answer!

“That’s right,” Xiaoqing chuckled. “In your clan, someone has not died. This person’s realm, to know of such a great secret as Butterflymother Southflower… perhaps they have already transcended Core Formation. Perhaps… they have surpassed not just a single realm.”

Even if Xu Yangyi was already mentally prepared, he still couldn’t help but tightly clench his fists upon hearing these words.

Godseal Spark… 

Regardless of who had planted it in his body… the Godseal Spark had changed his entire life!

“Who.” His voice was calm, yet this calmness contained a seething killing intent!

“I do not know,” Xiaoqing said without the slightest care. “This is the first thing I want to tell you of. Remember at all cost…” Her eyes narrowed, and she said with seemingly deep meaning, “Your body is Wolfbane. And that dreadfully ugly caterpillar fungus on the Wolfbane belongs to the remnant soul of the butterflymother. You prevailed over Zhuang Zhou, and you received a thread of her memories. At the same time… you have also obtained her hatred… a hatred of certain death.”

Xu Yangyi inhaled deeply. He asked no further.

Xiaoqing eyed him and suddenly laughed. “I have already told you the second. Have you still not realized?”

Xu Yangyi’s brows faintly wrinkled. The bodhi seed in his mind was operating at extreme speed. Xiaoqing’s words emerged again one after another.

In a Godseal Spark’s life, it awakens twice. The first time within ten years… 

Ten years… 

A bead of cold sweat seeped out from his head. His heart seemed to be stabbed into a bloody mess by a thousand blades. His body was somewhat trembling. After a long time, he raised his head and said shakily, “It was me… I killed my parents?”

Xiaoqing did not speak.

“That’s impossible.” Xu Yangyi’s heart ached with dripping blood. He clenched his teeth and stepped forward, staring straight into Xiaoqing’s eyes. “It was that crow…”

“You still want to play naive?” Xiaoqing looked at her fingernails and said apathetically.

“Say it!” Before her voice even fell, Xu Yangyi’s shout was already ripping through the air. Even the surrounding clouds drifted apart a little.

“Very well.” Xiaoqing indifferently brought her eyes up. “Yes.”

“From the beginning, you have been chasing after your own shadow. But, you must remember that the true killer is not you, but the person who planted the Godseal Spark in your body. You need not feel guilty because of this.” She said without a trace of emotion, “Otherwise, that would be a bit too dull.”

Xu Yangyi bit his lip and spoke no more.

Somethings didn’t need to be said. They only needed to be done.

Presently, the perpetual fog that had been shrouding his eyes had finally cleared somewhat. The largest stone in his heart had also fallen to the ground.

His parents… hadn’t been killed by demons. No, a demon had killed them, but the true killer was someone else!

Unexpectedly, it was his own kin! Furthermore, they were still alive in the world!

And their realm… quite possibly transcended Core Formation!

He didn’t speak again, but glared firmly at Xiaoqing. After ages, he used a voice so calm that it bordered on grimness to say, “Yu Qinglin, has everything you said been true?”

“Impudent.” Xiaoqing didn’t rebuke, but instead laughed, “You could not believe it. However, what worth is there in my deceiving you?”

“Although Danxia Temple’s seal has already loosened, I am still unable to leave. Each time I leave for the outside… even if my true body’s spiritual sense leaves, I consume decades of longevity. In order to have this conversation with you, I have wasted a hundred years, just in order to fool you? Or do you think that your life is more precious than mine?”

Taking several deep breaths, Xu Yangyi’s forced down his heart’s soon-boiling killing intent. He nodded at Xiaoqing, expressing his thanks.

“Such trivial gratitude, who do you think you are?” Xiaoqing said insipidly. “I demand a true gift of thanks.”

“I have nothing to thank you with. Plus…” Xu Yangyi said emotionlessly, “I don’t want to thank you at all.”

“You do,” Yu Qinglin said in a low voice. Xu Yangyi didn’t see, but her hand was already starting to tightly wring behind her. There was no favor without cause or reason. If there was, that was because even greater benefit was sought.

A faint, cold smile emerged in her heart.

Eternal medicine? The Flying Immortal Pill?

All were utter nonsense!

It was true that Fahai wanted to get her to waste her longevity! Yet someone as short-sighted as he simply wouldn’t know the true meaning of a Godseal Spark! The true secret hidden away!

“Agree to my request.” Xiaoqing narrowed her eyes and studied Xu Yangyi. “If you form a Nascent Soul in the future… you must do something for me. When the time comes, you will understand everything.”

“Why?”

“There is no why. Agree, or do not agree,” Xiaoqing said calmly. “Nonetheless, I am not fond of forcing people to do something. Therefore, I will have you see something.”

She gently waved her hand. A screen of light flickered between the two of them.

It was the image… of a massive plant! It covered the earth and blotted out the sun! And beside the plant, Titanspirit and Ancientpine were waiting for battle!

A wooden sword covered in talismans, golden light radiating throughout half the sky, an insect in a sea of fire. Even here, he could sense the great qi contained in these things.

“These are the Dao Masters…” Xiaoqing said as if she was pointing out. “In your world, they, are your heavens. In that case, guess. What do you think your heavens want to do to you?”

Xu Yangyi said nothing. Instead, he coolly observed the massive plant.

“

That

 is your symbiotic demon form. It is not only you, but also the remnant soul of Butterflymother Southflower.” Even Xiaoqing, upon seeing the completely formed Wolfbane, also held a flash of moderate caution in her eyes. Immediately though, she regained her bearings as usual. “This is a battle array that the Core Formation masters have set up to slay you at all cost. How dangerous and endless a bloodline inheritance is. Could it be that you thought you would be able to sweep through the world once you left?”

She freely teased the light orb in front of her. The light orb was faintly pulsing.

“After you leave, you will immediately become one with the Wolfbane. You are still you, an insignificant Qi Condensation cultivator. Apart from death, I cannot imagine another path that permits your leave.”

“But… I can send you somewhere,” her voice was brimming with enticement. “A place… absolutely no one would discover… So long as you reach Foundation Establishment, you can then leave from there. If you do not reach Core Formation, then don’t return to China.”

Xu Yangyi didn’t retort. Confronted with supreme power, refusal was without the slightest usefulness.

“Where?”

“Have you heard… of ‘Inside’?” Xiaoqing said indifferently. “The cultivation world’s ‘Inside’... a place that the cultivation world hides the greatest secret… Junior, think well. Why is it now the End of Days? Should you all still not have people who can attain Core Formation? Are the various kinds of heavenly treasures not lacking? Talent? Ridiculous. Without the support of resources, talent is lower than dogshit.”

Inside?

Xu Yangyi was reticent. This word was too foreign. So foreign… that regardless of any media, even Daomaster Ancientpine hadn’t mentioned it!

Could he not mention it? Was he unwilling to mention it? Or did he not dare to mention it?

Or maybe… Ancientpine simply hadn’t mentioned it to him?

“I ask you another question. Those cultivators of vast and shocking renown in your age, have you once seen them? Has any media reported their whereabouts?”

Xu Yangyi shook his head. This was something that he was also once skeptical about. Sunnihilator was such a supreme genius, yet no one knew where he was. No one in Sunnihilator’s legion even knew!

“They… are all ‘Inside’?” he said lowly.

“If I am not wrong, they surely are.” Xiaoqing smiled.

Silence reigned again. Several minutes passed, and Xu Yangyi nodded. “Alright.”

“Oh? So easily accepted?” Xiaoqing raised a brow, finding the matter somewhat unexpected.

“Why shouldn’t I agree?” Xu Yangyi had already cooled down completely. He took the fury in his heart and forced it to the bottom. He mustered as much composure as he could and said, “My path is still very long.” He stowed his gaze and looked calmly at Xiaoqing. “Remember your words. As a senior, keeping promises is basic common sense.”

Xiaoqing stared blankly. Which words?

After a second, she recalled. Giggling laughter like a silver bell echoed throughout space. She seemed to hear the greatest joke, her laughter insatiable.

“Fine.” She only stopped her unbridled laughter ten seconds later. Merely the smile on her face still hadn’t abated. “As long as you can rise above me, then you can push down my body every day. And yet what of it?”

Xu Yangyi only nodded in silence.

Xiaoqing’s smile vanished, and she seriously measured Xu Yangyi. “On the contrary, I have underestimated you.”

“In several thousand years, no one has dared say these words to me. Even musing of it is their sin. Yet you have voiced such… and I actually still want to leave you a path to survival.”

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