Futile Devices Scans

“Alright,” Wenren Li replied with a nod.

He gently stroked Chen Yixin’s hair, then wrapped an arm around his waist. With a shift of posture, he lifted Chen Yixin onto his back.

“A-Rong, accompany me to the Chaotic Ghost Domain.”

“Sure! I’ve long wanted to visit the Chaotic Ghost Domain,” Chen Yixin said as he wrapped his arms around Wenren Li’s neck. “But my master warned me that before forming my Nascent Soul, I must never set foot there.”

Even he did not understand why his master, Yun Yazi, had set such a rule. Yet it was an instruction given before Yun Yazi entered closed-door cultivation, and Chen Yixin had always obeyed it.

At these words, Wenren Li’s gaze cooled slightly.

That old man had always been remarkably persistent when it came to separating him from Chen Yixin.

“No matter,” Wenren Li said calmly. “Have you forgotten my father’s identity?”

A Ghost King of the Soul Transformation realm—the unrivaled sovereign among all ghost cultivators in the Taixuan cultivation world.

To ordinary cultivators, the Chaotic Ghost Domain was a perilous place. But to Wenren Li, it was little different from his own back garden. The wandering spirits there likely obeyed him even more readily than forest spirits obeyed nature.

“I didn’t forget,” Chen Yixin replied with a grin. “A-Li is a thirty-thousand-year-old antique after all.”

As he spoke, he leaned close and breathed softly near Wenren Li’s ear, his hand even wandering boldly across Wenren Li’s chest. Teasing others had become increasingly natural for him.

Wenren Li lowered his eyes and glanced at the misbehaving hand on his chest, but did not stop him.

Taking a single step forward, he vanished from the streets of Chaotic Demon City with Chen Yixin on his back. Within just a few breaths, they had already arrived at the entrance of the Chaotic Ghost Domain.

Wenren Li did not set Chen Yixin down.

Their figures appeared only briefly before vanishing again. Among the groups of cultivators gathered at the entrance, not a single one noticed their presence.

Outside the Chaotic Ghost Domain, the afternoon sun shone brightly.

Inside, however, dusk had already fallen into night.

Chen Yixin could even sense that the flow of time within the Chaotic Ghost Domain differed slightly from that of the Taixuan Realm. It was a world entirely self-contained.

They continued deeper inside.

Every cultivator they encountered was heading outward. The night within the Chaotic Ghost Domain was far more dangerous than the day—even Golden Core cultivators dared not remain inside after dark.

Chen Yixin looked around curiously at first. But as darkness thickened and the surroundings became harder to see, he stopped observing the environment and instead tilted his head to carefully study Wenren Li’s profile.

After a moment, as though recalling something amusing, Chen Yixin curved his lips into a faint smile and rubbed lightly against Wenren Li’s ear.

“A-Li…”

“I’m here,” Wenren Li replied.

His speed through the air did not slow in the slightest as he flew deeper into the Ghost Domain. Wherever they passed, the wandering ghosts parted and formed a path for them.

“A-Li…” Chen Yixin called again.

Wenren Li paused mid-flight. Supporting Chen Yixin’s waist, he turned around. A black cloak appeared around Chen Yixin’s shoulders, and the spiritual barrier surrounding them dissipated.

Clusters of ghostly spirits gathered beneath them, forming the shape of a lotus. Wenren Li and Chen Yixin descended onto the mass of spirits, which then carried them onward through the air.

“What is it that A-Rong wishes to say?”

Chen Yixin shook his head slightly, smiling.

“I just wanted to call your name.”

After explaining, he called again softly.

“A-Li…”

“I’m here,” Wenren Li answered once more, gently drawing him into an embrace.

Chen Yixin slowly rested his head on Wenren Li’s shoulder. His expression softened, his tone tinged with faint contemplation.

“I feel like… A-Li and I have been here before.”

The environment was bleak and desolate, yet his mood somehow refused to turn gloomy.

Hearing this, Wenren Li’s gaze tightened slightly. He said nothing, but the arm holding Chen Yixin pulled him a little closer.

Chen Yixin did not expect an answer for this strange feeling.

Closing his eyes slowly, he realized he could not sense any oppressive ghostly energy. Wrapped in Wenren Li’s arms, he did not feel cold either—on the contrary, there was an inexplicable warmth.

Half an hour later, the mass of ghost spirits dispersed.

They descended slowly onto the dark brown soil of the Chaotic Ghost Domain.

Wenren Li took Chen Yixin’s hand and led him forward. After crossing a suspension bridge, they arrived before a vast sea of clouds glowing with deep blue light.

It was not truly a sea of clouds.

Rather, it was the Soul Sea—the place where ghost spirits were born.

Its blue glow shimmered brilliantly, both beautiful and dangerous.

Yet what surfaced in Chen Yixin’s eyes was not awe, but confusion.

He tightened his grip on Wenren Li’s hand.

“A-Li… I think I’ve been here before.”

Otherwise, the overwhelming sense of familiarity could not be explained.

He must have come here once before—or at least visited a place extremely similar. Along with that familiarity came a sorrow too deep to articulate.

It felt as though he had once searched this Soul Sea relentlessly for something.

Something he had lost.

Something that had once caused him pain so unbearable that life itself felt impossible.

But what could it be?

From his days in the Chen Clan of Zhenhai to the past century within the Jade Cauldron Sect, he remembered every single day clearly. There should be no missing memories.

Wenren Li did not refute his words, nor did he affirm them.

Instead, he raised his hand.

From the deep blue Soul Sea, a cluster of glowing light drifted toward them.

Lifting Chen Yixin’s hand, Wenren Li lightly pricked his fingertip. A single droplet of blood emerged and merged into the glowing spirit.

“This is a Nether Armor Soul,” Wenren Li explained. “It will grow alongside you. Once it reaches the third rank, it can withstand three attacks from a Soul Transformation powerhouse without being destroyed. It can also protect your Sea of Consciousness from intrusion.”

“Intrusion?” Chen Yixin’s expression shifted.

A terrifying possibility surfaced in his mind.

Perhaps he had not lost his memories at all.

Perhaps they had been tampered with.

Wenren Li hesitated briefly, then nodded.

He wrapped an arm around Chen Yixin’s waist and swiftly led him away from the Chaotic Ghost Domain.

But just as they approached the entrance—

“Stop,” Chen Yixin suddenly said.

Wenren Li followed Chen Yixin’s gaze.

A group of cultivators had appeared.

They were disciples of the Jade Cauldron Sect—Xiao Zhe and the others.

“It’s them…”

Chen Yixin’s gaze cooled slightly. Turning toward Wenren Li, he saw him nod once.

Moments later, the voices of the group reached Chen Yixin’s ears clearly.

“Senior Brother Xiao,” a female cultivator named Shen Xiang said, “Master did say Senior Brother Jing shouldn’t risk danger lightly, but leaving him outside even for the Chaotic Ghost Domain seems excessive.”

She felt that if this continued, Jing Zhihua—so highly valued by the sect master and elders—would end up overly sheltered.

Xiao Zhe ignored her complaint and led the group toward Chaotic Demon City.

“If anything happens to him, none of us could bear the responsibility,” he said. “We don’t need merit—only to avoid fault.”

Shen Xiang frowned again.

“But why?”

Ever since Chen Yixin had been expelled from the Jade Cauldron Sect, speculation about Jing Zhihua’s identity had never ceased.

Some claimed he was the sect master’s lost child.

Others believed he was the reincarnation of some ancient ancestor of the sect.

“Things that are not meant for us to know—do not ask,” Xiao Zhe warned.

His gaze swept over the others, silencing further questions.

Chen Yixin and Wenren Li followed openly behind them.

Yet to those five cultivators—and even to passersby—they were no more noticeable than stones on the ground.

“A-Li,” Chen Yixin said quietly, “I once loved someone… very much.”

“I don’t know whether the memories I have are still real. But I’m certain that I once loved someone.”

Even now, the matter still lingered in his heart.

Yet after the betrayal of Jing Zhihua and Zhou Yan, and the abandonment by the Jade Couldron Sect, many things had already faded in importance. He had believed he had let that past go.

But now that the thread had been pulled loose again…

Some things still refused to settle.

Especially now, when he suspected his memories themselves were flawed.

“A year and five months ago,” Chen Yixin continued, “the master of the Tianji Sect secretly revealed a seven-character prophecy.”

“Heaven’s lost pearl—

the path to immortality appears.”

It meant that among the Taixuan Realm there existed a child of the Upper Realm. Should that person attain the Dao, it might become the salvation of the cultivation world—perhaps even break the barrier that prevented cultivators from advancing beyond the Soul Transformation realm.

As the youngest elder of the sect, Chen Yixin naturally knew of this secret. He even helped investigate possible candidates among the disciples.

But he had never imagined—

That person would turn out to be Jing Zhihua.

Whoever the heavenly child was, Chen Yixin would have had no objection.

But it had to be Jing Zhihua.

“I spent forty-nine years in the Burning Heaven Nether Palace,” Chen Yixin said quietly, “protecting a single wisp of his soul so it could reincarnate.”

“But the truth now tells me… he was never the one I was meant to protect.”

“He was never the Dao companion I failed to complete the final wedding rite with in the Nether Palace.”

“The one I tried to protect… may have been devoured by him.”

“Or perhaps their soul scattered during reincarnation.”

“Or perhaps… when they once shielded me from a tribulation, they had already perished.”

If that were the case—

How could Chen Yixin continue maintaining the title of betrothed Dao companion with Jing Zhihua?

He had told Jing Zhihua directly that once he formed his Nascent Soul, their engagement would be dissolved.

Jing Zhihua was a child of the heavens. Chen Yixin would not demand repayment for everything he had done. After all, the title of “fiancée” had never belonged to him in the first place.

But what Chen Yixin never expected—

Was that Jing Zhihua had long resented him for that very title.

Even after enjoying every benefit Chen Yixin had given him as his supposed betrothed, Jing Zhihua still hated him.

In truth, Chen Yixin did not care about Jing Zhihua’s hatred.

What truly wounded him in that calamity…

was the reality that the person he had once loved had already died.

As Chen Yixin spoke softly to Wenren Li, they followed Xiao Zhe and the others into the guest courtyard where they were staying.

Standing in the small yard, Chen Yixin lifted his gaze.

Jing Zhihua pushed open a door and stepped outside.

Their eyes met.

“Chen… Yixin…” Jing Zhihua murmured.

His tone and gaze were strange—an expression Chen Yixin could no longer understand.

And he no longer needed to.

“I’m still alive,” Chen Yixin said coldly. “That must disappoint you.”

“Tell Zhou Yan and that old man Deng: what they owe me, I will collect personally.”

“As for you… the things you used that belonged to A-Hua—return them all to me.”

Jing Zhihua did not answer.

His expression shifted several times before he finally let out a cold laugh.

“You treated me as the substitute for a wandering soul… and now you’ve found another substitute—a Soul Transformation powerhouse…”

“Pfft—”

Blood spilled from his mouth again.

His body trembled slightly.

Then, under his own disbelieving gaze—

He dropped to his knees before Chen Yixin and Wenren Li.

Even if Jing Zhihua truly were some heavenly child of the Upper Realm, he was still only a late-Foundation Establishment cultivator.

If Wenren Li wished him to kneel—

then kneel he would.

“I am not a substitute,” Wenren Li said.

His gaze lowered toward Jing Zhihua. Within his indifferent expression, a trace of mockery surfaced.

“A heavenly child of the Upper Realm…?”

He gave a quiet, disdainful scoff.

“Heh.”

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