Futile Devices Scans

“I find you pleasing to the eye, so I shall give you another small gift.”

The Heavenly Phoenix looked into Chen Yixin’s somewhat wary eyes and smiled lightly. Then he gently tapped a finger against Chen Yixin’s brow. His expression froze momentarily in surprise before he swept a hand across Chen Yixin again, pulling the Heavenly Phoenix Token out from Chen Yixin’s jade clasp.

“Someone tampered with it slightly, but it was indeed forged from my true blood, so it can still serve as a vessel.”

A streak of red light entered the Heavenly Phoenix Token before it returned to Chen Yixin’s hand.

“With this scepter, if you travel to the Voidwind Realm in the Upper Realm, you shall become that realm’s master. For the time being, it may serve as a place for you both to settle.”

The Heavenly Phoenix glanced at Chen Yixin’s slightly stunned expression and knew there was no need for further explanation. Chen Yixin had already understood what sort of tampering had been done to the Heavenly Phoenix Token.

At any point along his journey, had Chen Yixin wavered once and used the Heavenly Phoenix Token, it would have activated the formation left within it by the Phoenix Clan’s Emperor. He would have been directly drawn into the passageway and returned to the Upper Realm. That passageway had originally been the Heavenly Phoenix’s own route home.

But in the end, he never used it.

Even after falling, he had still remained here guarding this place.

“Also, keep this phoenix feather safe. It can withstand three full-powered strikes from an Emperor. I hope you will use it wisely.”

If used well, this phoenix feather could save Chen Yixin’s life three times. If used poorly, perhaps it would not even suffice once.

He gave it to Chen Yixin in the hope that he would live well, not so he could recklessly invite greater calamities through blind confidence.

“Yes,” Chen Yixin answered with a nod.

Then he hesitated briefly before asking,

“Ancestor, your reaction earlier seemed to indicate you recognize my Dao companion. I wish to know more about him.”

The reason Chen Yixin had never used the Heavenly Phoenix Token until now was not merely because his will was firm. It was also because he did not fully trust Father Chen.

If Father Chen had only been his father, then naturally he could trust him. But Father Chen was also a split incarnation of an Upper Realm Emperor, and because of that, Chen Yixin could not place absolute faith in him.

Now that he knew the Phoenix Blood Token had been tampered with, the guilt he had always carried finally dissipated.

Just as Father Chen had once told him, besides each other, he and Wenren Li could trust no one—including them.

Yet unexpectedly, this Heavenly Phoenix before him felt far more trustworthy than Father Chen ever had. Chen Yixin wanted to hear what he had to say.

At these words, a teasing smile appeared on the Heavenly Phoenix’s face.

“So now you’re no longer afraid I’ll start coveting him?”

Earlier, Chen Yixin had looked as though he feared the meat in his mouth would be snatched away, wary to the extreme. Yet now he no longer seemed afraid to let the Heavenly Phoenix know about Wenren Li.

“Even if you did covet him, it would be useless. A-Li can only belong to me.”

As Chen Yixin spoke, he lifted his chin slightly. Yet the vigilance in his gaze still deepened a few degrees unconsciously.

Could this Heavenly Phoenix truly have taken a liking to his A-Li…

“Indeed, it would be useless. I… we… already fell long ago.”

The Heavenly Phoenix shook his head with a soft laugh at Chen Yixin’s expression.

When gods fall, they truly perish completely—body and soul destroyed alike. The only reason this strand of soul consciousness still remained was because of the special nature of this secret realm’s location.

And at this moment, he was grateful for that special nature.

Slowly lifting his hand, he placed it atop Chen Yixin’s hair and gently rubbed it twice before smiling and stepping back.

“Your name is Yixin, correct?”

“Yes.”

Chen Yixin felt inexplicably baffled by the gesture, yet still nodded.

The very first thing he had done upon entering was tell the Heavenly Phoenix his name. Yet only now did the Heavenly Phoenix seem to truly remember it.

No—

It would be more accurate to say he now wished to remember it.

But this was not what Chen Yixin intended to dwell upon right now. His thoughts remained fixed on the possibility that the Heavenly Phoenix knew Wenren Li’s origins.

Changing his approach, he asked,

“Does my A-Li have some connection to you?”

This Heavenly Phoenix was an ancient Heavenly Phoenix whose existence stretched back farther than Chen Yixin could imagine. Hidden within those ages buried by time were surely countless secrets and conspiracies never meant to be known.

The only question was how deeply Wenren Li was connected to them.

Hearing this, the Heavenly Phoenix continued smiling faintly.

Then ripples stirred within his eyes as he answered softly,

“Yes.”

“Yixin…”

“Hm?”

Before Chen Yixin could continue asking, the Heavenly Phoenix softly called his name again. Then he stepped closer once more.

Chen Yixin lifted his head in surprise.

Within the Heavenly Phoenix’s shimmering eyes, he saw emotions he could not comprehend at all. Tiny glimmers of tears slowly gathered there, leaving Chen Yixin suddenly at a complete loss.

Surely his showing off his affection had not somehow emotionally devastated this Heavenly Phoenix…

“What’s wrong? If there’s something you need, tell me. I’ll do my best to help you accomplish it.”

“There’s nothing anymore. After seeing you, there truly is nothing left.”

The ripples within Heavenly Phoenix Qingruo’s eyes spread through his soul consciousness as the final strand of soul consciousness he had left behind in this world began to dissipate forever in a blaze of red light.

Chen Yixin reached out and grabbed the red robes that were already scattering into particles of light. His expression was confused, tinged with sorrow he himself could not understand.

“What do you mean by that? What does it have to do with me? Is my father your descendant, or… am I?”

“Silly child…”

The Heavenly Phoenix opened his arms and gently embraced Chen Yixin. Two tears of blood suddenly slid down from the corners of his eyes. At the same time, even more red light scattered from his body. The form Chen Yixin had still been able to touch gradually became transparent, and even the embrace itself began to feel unreal.

“Nothing else matters. You and Lord Li must live well. Live well in our stead.”

As these words fell, the red light surrounding Heavenly Phoenix Qingruo swept outward and completely entered the three plume feathers upon Chen Yixin’s forehead. An incomparably pure Heavenly Phoenix bloodline energy poured into them.

Chen Yixin was an Ice Phoenix, while Qingruo was a Fire Phoenix. Logically speaking, Qingruo’s bloodline energy should not have benefited Chen Yixin very much. Yet the instant all the red light entered him, the complete phantom of a Flame-Bathed Heavenly Phoenix appeared behind Chen Yixin, and the divine flame markings upon his brow instantly became complete.

Chen Yixin could clearly sense the enormous transformation and growth within himself happening in an instant, yet not a trace of joy appeared on his face.

He clutched the phoenix feather and the Heavenly Phoenix Token in his hands while waves of overwhelming sorrow crashed over him, pressing down so heavily he could barely breathe.

“Qingruo! Qingruo! Explain yourself clearly!”

Chen Yixin shouted, but within this crude little ancestral hall, there was no one left capable of answering his questions.

A full half-day passed before the strange phenomena surrounding Chen Yixin gradually faded. Yet his emotions had not improved much.

He stepped forward and placed a hand upon the wooden box Heavenly Phoenix Qingruo had entrusted to him.

He stood there for who knew how long before finally suppressing all his emotions completely. Only then did he store the wooden box within the jade clasp and turn to walk back toward the first palace hall through which he had entered.

As he passed the ruins of the second palace hall he himself had dismantled, he walked while simultaneously rebuilding the restriction palace.

This palace no longer shone with blazing red light. Instead, it glimmered with deep blue radiance, exactly the same color as Chen Yixin’s phoenix true form.

Driven by emotions even he himself could not understand, he wanted to restore this place as completely as possible.

He entered the first palace hall and retrieved the Burning Heaven Nether Palace that had been recovering atop the blood pool. Before the palace spirit could even greet him, blue light flashed from the ring, and Chen Yixin forcibly sent the palace spirit into slumber.

To be precise, Chen Yixin’s behavior could only be described as displaced anger.

The blood in which he and the Burning Heaven Nether Palace had soaked all this time was none other than Heavenly Phoenix Qingruo’s blood.

That fact made him furious.

Inexplicably furious.

He stepped back into the blood pool, but this time he did not float atop it. Instead, he sank into its depths.

Using the resonance between the phoenix feather and Qingruo’s true body to guide him, Chen Yixin searched beneath the water for several days before finally entering the true center of the Heavenly Phoenix Secret Realm.

There rested Qingruo’s phoenix true body, the very thing Father Chen had once insisted Chen Yixin must find.

By using the Heavenly Phoenix’s remains, even after returning to the outside world, Chen Yixin would need only ten thousand years of cultivation to recover the strength of a half-step Emperor from the Upper Realm.

Yet as he walked forward step by step, he merely reached out and touched the plume feathers of the Heavenly Phoenix remains before storing them together inside the wooden box that held the ashes of Qingruo’s beloved.

He believed that was the best resting place for those remains.

He desired strength, but not strength obtained in this manner.

“In this world, only I can gather immortal light, and only I can gather souls. I swear upon my Dao heart that one day there will come a time when the two of you reunite after your souls are restored.”

Thus, he could no longer fulfill Heavenly Phoenix Qingruo’s wish regarding the Heavenly River.

As his words fell, a crystal glowing with red light flew from the wooden box. This was Heavenly Phoenix Qingruo’s bloodline essence crystal. Qingruo’s determination to fulfill Chen Yixin’s wishes was equally resolute.

Chen Yixin reached out his hand. The crystal circled once around his palm before directly entering his chest. There, another crystal now existed, continuously tempered by the flow of his blood.

Chen Yixin had stubbornly chosen to preserve the remains, but this crystal would still shorten more than half of his future cultivation time.

To pursue strength, he was capable of using ruthless means, yet above such ruthlessness, Chen Yixin still possessed principles he refused to trample.

The Heavenly Phoenix had already given him far more than he should have accepted. He could not accept these remains, nor could he permit anyone else to destroy them.

From the center of the secret realm, Chen Yixin returned to the palace halls above. The blood within the pool had already dimmed considerably, though otherwise the place had not changed much.

Chen Yixin continued walking until he returned to the place where he had first entered this secret realm—a field of crimson Phoenix Flowers burning like fire.

He searched carefully for three entire days, yet still failed to discover any mechanism for leaving.

“I refuse to believe this place has no exit besides the passage to the Upper Realm.”

Chen Yixin left the flower field and searched throughout the rest of the secret realm, but there truly existed no other exit aside from the single passage leading directly into the Upper Realm.

“Forget it. I’ll cultivate first.”

There was no possibility Chen Yixin would obediently follow Father Chen’s wishes and return to the Upper Realm like this. At this point, he truly could only wait for Wenren Li and Yinzi to come find him.

The Heavenly Phoenix crystal within his chest was continuously tempered every day, steadily strengthening his physique. When he transformed back into his phoenix true form, he no longer resembled a tiny fledgling bird. Though not yet fully matured, relying solely upon his phoenix body, ordinary immortals were no longer his match.

Chen Yixin devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation, losing all sense of time.

One day, when he finally felt all preparations were complete, he at last immersed his consciousness into the jade pendant located at the center of his sea of consciousness, beginning his attempt to unravel the restrictions there.

Some answers perhaps did not require others to tell him.

Perhaps he himself had once known them.

While Chen Yixin was cultivating and unraveling restrictions with all his might, Wenren Li and Yinzi had already spent nearly three years traveling through the void.

They attempted to reconstruct the web of void fissures before the immortal gate in order to calculate the precise location of the Heavenly Phoenix Secret Realm.

“Father, don’t worry. We’ll definitely find Mother.”

Yinzi’s strength had surpassed what it once was, and traveling through the void had become increasingly effortless for it. Combined with Wenren Li’s breakthrough, the void—which ordinary cultivators dared not linger within—had become a place they could move through freely.

Wenren Li gave no response.

Several pebble-like objects floated before him, rising and falling as though carrying out incomparably precise calculations.

“Wrong. Continue east.”

Three days later, Yinzi suddenly cried out in alarm,

“Here! It has to be here! I can smell the phoenix’s scent!”

It was not Chen Yixin’s aura, yet it still belonged to the Phoenix Clan. This had to be the Heavenly Phoenix Secret Realm Chen Yixin had entered alone back then—the place Father Chen had called the Northern Sea Water Palace.

“Yes.”

Wenren Li had sensed it as well. For the first time in three years, an emotional fluctuation finally appeared upon his otherwise calm expression.

They continued flying deeper inward, though neither dared recklessly enter.

Outside the crystallized boundary of the secret realm were ten void beasts similar to Yinzi.

Yinzi could utterly overwhelm one of them alone without issue, but ten together were beyond its ability to handle.

“Father, go find Mother. I’ll hold them off for you.”

Just as Yinzi was about to charge forward, Wenren Li grabbed one of its whiskers.

“No need.”

As his words fell, Wenren Li pointed a finger forward. One void beast instantly shattered into nothingness.

The remaining nine startled beasts lunged forward simultaneously. Yet Wenren Li continued fighting them alone.

In merely half an hour, all the void beasts that would have required Yinzi to risk its life were slain.

Yet even then, Wenren Li’s expression did not relax in the slightest. Instead, he became even more vigilant.

Yinzi, though unaware of the reason, sensed the same danger and had already begun trembling uncontrollably.

“Father?”

“What vile creature dares trespass into the Prison Realm!”

From within a void fissure, a golden-armored immortal stepped out. He held a longsword in hand, and the pressure radiating from him completely surpassed that of any cultivator in Taixuan. This was a true immortal. As for what rank he possessed, Wenren Li would have to wait until he revealed his true combat strength before making a judgment.

“Father…” Yinzi’s nervousness became even more obvious. Wenren Li had indeed become much stronger after advancing, but not yet to the point where he could contend against a true immortal. It voluntarily floated forward another distance.

“My mother is an Upper Realm Immortal Lord! If you dare touch us, he’ll cut you into pieces! Slice you apart piece by piece!”

“I guard the Prison Realm. Even if an Immortal Lord steps inside, I would still cut him down without hesitation!” The immortal was utterly unmoved by Yinzi’s threat. He raised the longsword in his hand, preparing to annihilate both Wenren Li and Yinzi together.

A sword light spread across the heavens and swallowed both Wenren Li and Yinzi whole. Just as the immortal was about to sheath his sword, he suddenly turned his head, terror appearing in his eyes.

Wenren Li emerged safely from the other side while holding Yinzi in his arms.

“You demon actually possess some skill. Take another sword strike from me!”

That previous attack had only used thirty percent of his strength. This time he would hold nothing back. He poured all ten-tenths of his power into the strike. If an immortal like him failed to slay a mere cultivator, the immortals of the Upper Realm would laugh about it for an entire epoch.

Under this strike, even the void surrounding Wenren Li and Yinzi fractured with cracks. A trace of mockery appeared in the immortal’s eyes as he returned his sword to its sheath and turned away.

Yet at that moment, he heard a soft sigh.

“Too late…”

From the moment the immortal underestimated Wenren Li and Yinzi with that first attack, his fate of falling had already been sealed.

The immortal lowered his head and saw that the section of void where he stood had been covered by a silver spiritual vine net.

“I am Li. I govern life and death.”

Wenren Li spoke mysterious incantations, and finer vines began growing from the spiritual vine net surrounding the immortal from front and back. They pierced directly into the immortal’s body.

Only a trace of savagery appeared upon the immortal’s face before both his expression and movements froze completely.

“Die.”

At Wenren Li’s command, all light vanished from the immortal’s eyes.

The spiritual vine net dispersed. Wenren Li staggered back three steps and wiped away the blood at the corner of his lips. He had forcibly endured the immortal’s first strike in order to set up this vine net.

“Come. Let’s go bring A-Rong back.”

With a wave of Wenren Li’s hand, the immortal’s corpse was stored away. He had no time to inspect the treasures upon the body. What he wanted more now was to see Chen Yixin again—Chen Yixin, from whom he had been separated for thirteen full years.

At the very moment Wenren Li had been swallowed by the sword light, Chen Yixin inside the secret realm had also halted his cultivation.

His brows furrowed slightly.

“A-Li is injured…”

His strongest aspect now was his divine soul. Within his divine soul existed Wenren Li’s life soul. He could not sense everything, but he could vaguely perceive Wenren Li’s safety.

Anything more detailed—such as the exact nature of Wenren Li’s injuries or his current condition—remained beyond Chen Yixin’s ability to discern.

Murmuring softly, he rose and walked toward the Phoenix Flower field.

As long as he cut through the air here using the Phoenix Blood Token, the path leading to the Upper Realm would open for him.

In truth, he still did not wish to leave Taixuan at this moment. But if he continued remaining trapped here, he would be even less able to interfere with whatever Wenren Li was facing.

Perhaps after returning to the Upper Realm, he could find another method of returning to Taixuan.

“Go… or not go?”

He had already cultivated within this secret realm for nearly another three hundred years. The restrictions within the jade pendant had also been unraveled until only the final restriction remained. If he wished, he could open it at any time and recover the memories and soul of his previous life.

Yet because of an indescribable concern lingering within his heart, he had delayed unsealing this final restriction.

And similarly, he remained unable to decide regarding the passage before him.

“Master, if you remain here, your cultivation will be unable to advance further. Although Taixuan contains many ancient secret realms, the Upper Realm is still the place most suitable for your growth.”

Chen Yixin was a born divine race, so naturally the Upper Realm suited him best. The one suited for Taixuan was only Wenren Li.

“Master…”

“That’s enough,” Chen Yixin interrupted the palace spirit.

He sat cross-legged within the Phoenix Flower field, his expression gradually becoming resolute.

“I should trust A-Li.”

Chen Yixin closed his eyes, then abruptly reopened them.

A thin crack slowly appeared in the sky before him. From within that crack stepped out a silver-haired man, along with a silver little ball.

“A-Li… A-Li!”

Chen Yixin almost believed it to be a hallucination born from excessive longing. Yet his Eye of Restrictions could never deceive him.

This truly was Wenren Li.

This truly was his A-Li.

Chen Yixin shot forward like an arrow, slamming into Wenren Li hard enough to push him half a step backward.

“A-Li, you came.”

“I came.”

Wenren Li wrapped his arms tightly around Chen Yixin as well. All the longing in his heart ultimately condensed into only those three words.

“Wuuu… and Yinzi too. Yinzi also came to bring Mother home.”

Yinzi bounced around twice by itself, trying to draw at least some of their attention over to it. But Chen Yixin clearly valued his man more than his son. He continued clinging tightly to Wenren Li without letting go, unwilling to separate even for a single second.

Wenren Li carried Chen Yixin back down into the Phoenix Flower field. The two of them continued embracing each other for a very, very long time. They held each other until poor crying Yinzi became bored enough to fall asleep on its own, yet they still could not bear to part.

“A-Li, I missed you.”

Chen Yixin had not realized he could become this sentimental. He had suppressed his longing for so many years, and now that he had finally seen Wenren Li again, all those feelings boiled over without pause.

Beyond holding tightly onto him and refusing to let go, Chen Yixin no longer knew what else he could do or say.

“I missed you too. Cough…” Wenren Li gently stroked Chen Yixin’s hair while holding him tightly in his arms. He completely understood Chen Yixin’s feelings, yet he still could not suppress a soft cough.

Injuries caused by immortal power were not so easy to heal.

Chen Yixin’s brows furrowed slightly. At last he pulled himself a little away from Wenren Li. Raising a hand, he pressed a fingertip lightly against Wenren Li’s lips, his expression instantly turning cold.

“You really are injured? Who hurt you?”

Wenren Li pulled Chen Yixin back into his embrace. The excessive coldness on Chen Yixin’s face gradually softened once more.

“I’ll recover after resting for two days. Don’t be angry. I already killed him.”

But Chen Yixin was not so easily fooled.

He knew very clearly that with Wenren Li’s cultivation, there was no one in Taixuan capable of injuring him. An injury severe enough to make him cough blood absolutely could not have been inflicted by an ordinary person.

“A-Li, are you going to deceive me too?”

As he spoke, Chen Yixin opened his mouth and bit down on Wenren Li’s earlobe, deliberately using some force.

What Chen Yixin hated most now was deception. Whether done with good intentions or bad intentions, he hated it all. He did not want Wenren Li to treat him that way too.

“No. I know you dislike it. I won’t.”

Wenren Li did not dodge Chen Yixin’s bite, yet the faint redness spreading across his face could not be concealed. Enduring one’s beloved biting one’s earlobe like this was not something an ordinary person could easily withstand.

“Mhm.”

Chen Yixin was fairly satisfied with Wenren Li’s answer. His sharp teeth finally released Wenren Li’s earlobe, though it had already been bitten bright red. Moist and glistening, it looked strangely alluring.

For some inexplicable reason, the anger and killing intent within Chen Yixin were soothed somewhat by that alluring sight.

He returned to a comparatively obedient expression and leaned back into Wenren Li’s embrace before murmuring softly,

“Then A-Li must tell me everything—how you were injured, and how you killed your enemy.”

Wenren Li did not hide anything. He carefully recounted to Chen Yixin the battle against the immortal outside the secret realm. In the end, he even told Chen Yixin about his current strength.

“With my current combat power, immortals who ascended within the last ten thousand years are no match for me.”

But in the Upper Realm, immortals who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years existed in batches upon batches. Their current strength was still far from sufficient if they returned there.

“We need to leave this place as quickly as possible. His death definitely alarmed certain people. If we delay any longer, we truly may be unable to leave.”

There was one thing the palace spirit had not been wrong about.

This secret realm had brought Chen Yixin tremendous improvement, yet because of its special nature, he could not undergo heavenly tribulation here, and therefore could not truly advance.

If he remained here for too long, returning to the Upper Realm would truly become his only option.

And clearly, only Chen Yixin himself could pass through that passage. There was no way for Wenren Li and Yinzi to accompany him through it.

Chen Yixin stood up from the flower field. After taking two steps, he suddenly paused.

He lifted his wrist, only for Wenren Li to seize hold of it.

“What are you trying to do?”

Wenren Li’s tone was extremely stern.

Chen Yixin, who originally felt his actions were perfectly reasonable, suddenly became somewhat guilty.

“My blood contains true phoenix spirit essence. It can help you recover more quickly…”

Under Wenren Li’s increasingly colder gaze, Chen Yixin’s voice grew weaker and weaker.

He personally did not think there was anything wrong with it, but in Wenren Li’s eyes, this was the worst flaw Chen Yixin possessed—and the one most in need of correction.

“A-Rong, do you know how I feel every time you bleed?”

As Wenren Li spoke, he released Chen Yixin’s wrist. That hand slowly moved to rest upon Chen Yixin’s chest.

“Do you know how I felt here?”

Clearly, Wenren Li—after succeeding in this breakthrough—had already recovered most of the memories from his previous life.

And those memories were all about him and Chen Yixin.

That naturally included the great battle recorded within the palace spirit’s memories, the battle that had shocked the Upper Realm.

“How did you feel?”

Chen Yixin asked dryly.

Though he understood Wenren Li’s feelings, being scolded like this still made him feel wronged.

His cheeks puffed up slightly as he lifted watery eyes to look at Wenren Li. He looked both stubborn and aggrieved.

“I like A-Rong. I cherish A-Rong. I don’t want you to be injured for me or bleed for me. I want you to be well.”

Watching Chen Yixin being forced into desperate situations while he himself could do nothing…

Watching Chen Yixin bleed out all his divine phoenix blood for him while he remained powerless…

Watching Chen Yixin plant him within his own chest while he still could do nothing…

At that moment, Wenren Li had once thought that even if everything were destroyed, he still did not want Chen Yixin to suffer like that.

“A-Rong… I can’t bear it.”

He would rather die himself than bear to see Chen Yixin do such things for him.

“But I’m the same too! I want A-Li to be well too.”

When Wenren Li was injured, Chen Yixin simply could not stand it. It hurt to look at him. It felt unbearable. He just wanted Wenren Li to recover quickly.

“Then do you want me to treat others well instead?”

Chen Yixin truly did not think he had done anything wrong. He even started arguing irrationally.

Of course, he was deliberately twisting the argument in the worst possible direction.

Under Wenren Li’s gaze, Chen Yixin shrank his shoulders slightly before proactively scooting closer and kissing Wenren Li lightly on the cheek.

“A-Li, I was wrong. How could I possibly treat others well? I only treat you well.”

“Mm.”

Wenren Li answered with a soft sigh.

He knew Chen Yixin had fully understood his words.

It was simply that even after understanding, Chen Yixin still did not believe he had done anything wrong.

If faced with the same situation again, Chen Yixin would still make the exact same choice.

Could Wenren Li blame him?

No.

Nor should he.

The person he ought to blame was himself—his own helplessness.

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