The corner of Wenren Li’s mouth curved at those words, his expression full of indulgence and affection. He stopped Chen Yixin, lowered his head, and kissed him between the brows. “All right.”
No matter how fierce Chen Yixin became, Wenren Li would still think it was good. He would still think Chen Yixin was adorable.
Chen Yixin’s lashes trembled. He lifted his eyes and glared at Wenren Li again. “Didn’t I tell A-Li I’m going vegetarian for the next few days? You’re not allowed to seduce me.”
After speaking, he gripped Wenren Li’s hand tightly and pulled him forward. His face remained perfectly composed, but the tips of his ears had already turned red. Whether Wenren Li meant to seduce him or not, Chen Yixin had clearly been seduced.
“Greetings to the Demon Lord and Demon Consort. This way, please.”
When they reached the mountain gate, Ze Fang, who had remained behind at Lingxu Sect, came out to receive them.
In accordance with Chen Yixin’s orders, they had fought without holding back. All Ten Demon Generals—ten Soul Transformation experts—had attacked together. Lingxu Sect had never expected Chen Yixin to target them first. They had exhausted every method at their disposal, but in the end, they still lost.
Even now, news of Lingxu Sect’s fall had not yet reached the Immortal Alliance headquarters farther behind the lines. Once it spread, the entire cultivation world would probably be shaken.
“Go treat your injuries. Leave the matters here to A-Li and me.” Chen Yixin only needed one glance at Ze Fang to know he had been injured in the previous night’s battle. Fortunately, the injuries were not severe. A little medicine from Qiu Yi followed by several days of meditation would be enough.
Ze Fang bowed again. “Yes.”
After Ze Fang left, Chen Yixin and Wenren Li continued deeper into the sect under the guidance of other Demon Guards. They were going to see Lingxu Sect’s Sect Master and several elders. Since those men had been captured alive, their condition was naturally poor; every one of them was close to death.
The appearance of Chen Yixin and Wenren Li surprised the surviving Sect Master and elders somewhat. Chen Yixin had no interest in wasting words with them. He stepped forward and offered them a choice. “Surrender or die.”
The moment he spoke, an aura that was almost terrifying to them descended over the three surviving experts of Lingxu Sect. Already barely clinging to life, they truly felt as though they were standing directly on the border between life and death. Only someone who had personally endured that kind of pressure could understand its terror.
“Divine scion… why do you keep company with demons?” The long-bearded old Daoist who had spoken so indignantly at the Lingshan meeting forced out enough breath to question Chen Yixin.
Chen Yixin turned his gaze toward him. The Demon Guards had reported everything that happened during the Lingshan meeting, so Chen Yixin already knew just how deeply this old Daoist hated anything he considered “demonic.”
“What is a demon? What is an immortal? You are not qualified to define either A-Li or me.”
Chen Yixin took another step forward. He lifted one hand and lightly swept it in the long-bearded Daoist’s direction. The man who had still been gritting his teeth and refusing to die a moment earlier went blank-eyed.
Then he was dead.
“What about the two of you? Do you intend to follow him… and die?”
Chen Yixin had not even finished speaking before Lingxu Sect’s Sect Master and the only remaining elder shook their heads violently. “We are willing to surrender.”
Chen Yixin gave a faint nod in approval and retreated two steps before looking toward Wenren Li.
Wenren Li raised a hand. Two points of silver sigil-light flew out and entered the brows of the two men. Both immediately fell unconscious, and from that moment onward, their lives and deaths rested entirely within a single thought from Wenren Li.
Yet Chen Yixin and Wenren Li did not leave Lingxu Sect after that. Instead, they entered the forbidden grounds behind the sect.
Chen Yixin wrinkled his nose. The suspicion in his mind became another degree or two more certain. The “xu” in Lingxu Sect truly shared an origin with the Divine Ruins forbidden zone of the Upper Realm—even the aura was nearly identical.
“This insignificant one is Xin Ming, guardian of the forbidden grounds.” At the entrance stood a handsome young man who bowed slightly in greeting. Chen Yixin and Wenren Li both looked toward him, yet he showed neither fear nor discomfort. His composure was nothing like that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.
“My master has been waiting inside for the two of you for quite some time.”
Chen Yixin tightened his grip around Wenren Li’s hand, his gaze locking onto Xin Ming before he finally nodded. “Lead the way.”
Lingxu Sect’s forbidden grounds were actually the entrance to a small secret realm. Once Chen Yixin and Wenren Li entered, the aura of the Divine Ruins became even clearer. Clusters of black fog drifted around them, and through the haze one could faintly glimpse magnificent palaces, jade towers, divine treasures, and immortal artifacts seemingly close enough to touch.
But anyone who truly dared reach out would find those beautiful illusions transforming into scythes that took lives. Combined with the Divine Ruins’ suppression of divine and immortal power, even an Immortal Emperor entering the Divine Ruins would never dare charge around recklessly.
Chen Yixin was extremely familiar with this. In the past, he had spent a considerable amount of time trapped within the Divine Ruins forbidden zone and had even used its dangers to kill many Immortal Lords and Immortal Kings. Even so, he had never once underestimated how dangerous the Divine Ruins truly were.
Based on the information Wu Fei had uncovered, Chen Yixin had already suspected a connection between Lingxu Sect and the Divine Ruins. But now that the suspicion had actually been confirmed, he was still surprised.
Neither Chen Yixin nor Wenren Li questioned Xin Ming along the way. It was obvious that he was far more than some insignificant cultivator of Lingxu Sect. Both of them also wanted to meet this “master” of his. Killing Xin Ming here would accomplish nothing.
“The Divine Ruins first appeared in the Primordial Era. At that time, it was merely the Dao Ground of a Divine Lord. After so many eras of change, however, it managed to survive by drawing upon the Void Origin.”
Nearly every cycle of Heaven and Earth left behind some forbidden zone in the Upper Realm. Some were removed in later ages, while others endured. The longer one had survived, the more dangerous it generally was.
Wenren Li quietly explained this to Chen Yixin. His expression was not particularly grave. His eyes could see through illusion, so these deceptive visions had no effect on him, and neither did the aura of the Void Origin.
“But this is only a fragment cut away from the Divine Ruins. It cannot be considered the center.”
Why anyone had severed a fragment of the Divine Ruins and brought it into Taixuan was something even Wenren Li could not immediately explain. Perhaps once they met Xin Ming’s master, the reason would become clear.
They walked for nearly two hours before Xin Ming finally stepped aside. “My master is waiting just ahead for the two of you.”
Chen Yixin and Wenren Li followed his gaze and saw a black pavilion draped in fluttering white silk. Through the fabric, the vague outline of an adult man could be seen. This was clearly the “master” Xin Ming had spoken of.
After speaking, Xin Ming retreated two steps and was swallowed by the black fog behind him. He had not died; he had simply left the small secret realm.
“You wanted to see A-Li and me. We’ve come. What is it? We haven’t even met yet, and you’re already afraid?”
Chen Yixin continued forward with Wenren Li’s hand in his and immediately began mocking the “master” who refused to show his face.
At Chen Yixin’s words, all the white silk around the pavilion rolled upward, revealing the figure sitting cross-legged at its center.
Chen Yixin’s pupils contracted slightly, and his expression immediately became serious. His lips pressed together, but he said nothing more.
Wenren Li, meanwhile, met the man’s raised gaze directly. Their two auras collided.
For a moment, neither side gained the slightest advantage.
“An Otherworld Demon monarch?”
Wenren Li raised one hand slightly. A mass of silver spiritual power gathered in his palm. If he threw it now, the exchange would become a genuine battle.
“Lord Li, you are me, and I am you. If I am an Otherworld Demon monarch, then Lord Li must be one as well.” The man finally spoke. Aside from a slight difference in tone, his voice sounded exactly like Wenren Li’s.
And it was not only his voice.
Aside from the white robes he wore, the man looked exactly like Wenren Li.
Standing together, they were like two reflections in a mirror.
“You’re an Otherworld Demon consciousness born from A-Li’s original body, aren’t you?” Chen Yixin narrowed his eyes. Seeing another person who looked almost exactly like Wenren Li already made him uncomfortable. The instant he considered what this creature might have been born from, that discomfort transformed directly into surging killing intent.
“I was born within the Divine Tree. Therefore, I am Lord Li. I am the former Great Emperor Yuxu. The Otherworld Demons are merely my servants.”
Dressed entirely in white amid the murky fog of the secret realm, he looked almost like a genuine Immortal Lord. One hand rested on the ancient zither before him. The moment he plucked a single string, the silver spiritual power in Wenren Li’s palm vanished.
Only after saying this did he finally look toward Chen Yixin, whose killing intent was practically overflowing beside Wenren Li. His expression shifted faintly, and the corner of his mouth slowly curved upward. “As for Lord Yi… you are still this lord’s beloved.”
“You bastard. Coveting A-Li’s identity wasn’t enough—you dare covet me too?”
Chen Yixin stepped forward. Blue divine flame surged from beneath his feet, and an enormous blue wave rolled directly toward the counterfeit Wenren Li.
The man had originally remained completely calm, but as the divine flame approached, he retreated several steps in succession. Its power was clearly beyond what he had anticipated.
Wenren Li could not harm him.
Chen Yixin’s divine flame could.
“You’re nothing but a puppet of Nangong and Dongfang. Say you’re A-Li again, and I’ll destroy that skin you’re wearing!”
Chen Yixin was furious. His divine flame surrounded the man from every direction, sealing off the sky and ground alike. Since this creature had personally shown himself, escaping would no longer be so easy.
“You know Nangong…? Of course. You were the phoenix egg raised in my Yuxu Palace. Naturally, you would have seen them.”
Chen Yixin’s words clearly affected him. Since the day his awareness was born, Nangong and Dongfang had continually told him that he was Wenren Li—that he was Great Emperor Yuxu, the sole Great Emperor who once ruled the Divine Realm.
Yet Chen Yixin was calling him a puppet.
“Heh. Nangong and Dongfang themselves probably aren’t as bold as you are, daring to use the Divine Ruins to come meet A-Li and me.”
Chen Yixin spoke while taking one step backward and tightening his hand around Wenren Li’s again. Wenren Li’s continued silence had begun to worry him.
“My divine flame will never harm A-Li in the slightest. But you don’t even dare touch it. Do you know why?”
Chen Yixin faced him coldly. The divine flames surrounding the man stirred restlessly.
“Why?” The man’s face darkened as he asked in a low voice. He too felt that Chen Yixin’s divine flame should not be capable of harming him, yet he simply did not possess the courage to touch it.
“Because my divine flame is the natural bane of Otherworld Demons. You may be wearing a shell that resembles A-Li, but in essence you are still an Otherworld Demon. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and touch it. Let’s see whether this lord can burn you into nothing!”
At this point, the truth was clear enough. This person could not possibly be a clone or divided consciousness of Wenren Li. He was merely another vicious contingency left behind by Nangong and Dongfang, specifically intended to deceive Chen Yixin, An Cheng, and the old followers who still remembered the past.
The man’s face became gloomy. A talisman seal in his hand began to burn. He was preparing to escape the small secret realm and return to the Divine Ruins in the Upper Realm.
At that moment, Wenren Li, who had remained silent for so long, finally spoke.
“Still.”
“Extinguish.”
At his command, Chen Yixin’s divine flame surged forward.
A broken, muffled cry came from within. The man disappeared beneath the flames, and then there was no sound at all.
Chen Yixin beckoned with one hand. What remained was an arm-length piece of silver severed wood. This had merely been one of the puppet’s clones; his true self still remained somewhere in a heavenly palace in the Upper Realm.
Chen Yixin did not withdraw his divine flame. He continued burning the silver wood within it, turning it over and over until every trace of aura left by another person had been erased. Only then would he feel safe giving it to Wenren Li.
Wenren Li withdrew his gaze from the silver wood and looked toward Chen Yixin instead. He gently pulled Chen Yixin into his arms, his voice low and certain. “A-Rong. Thank you.”
Even Wenren Li himself had hesitated when he sensed that same-origin aura. Chen Yixin had not. Chen Yixin had been more certain than Wenren Li and more decisive than Wenren Li.
He was Wenren Li.
He was the former Great Emperor Yuxu.
No other proof was necessary.
If Chen Yixin said he was, then he was.
“What is there to thank me for? That was only one clone. Right now, I want to tear his true self into ten thousand pieces!”
The puppet’s consciousness could not have existed for very long. It had probably only appeared after Chen Yixin and Wenren Li descended into the Lower Realm one after another. Above it, there were likely other intelligent Otherworld Demons conspiring with Nangong and Dongfang.
“My divine flame still isn’t strong enough to burn his true body to death directly. They can all wait for me!” Chen Yixin buried his face against Wenren Li’s neck and ground his teeth audibly. He was clearly furious.
Wenren Li gently stroked Chen Yixin’s back to calm him. With a wave of his hand, he took Chen Yixin out of the small secret realm. At the same time, the secret realm and its entrance compressed into a small sphere, which Wenren Li caught in his palm before it disappeared.
“A-Li, you have to believe me. I could never mistake you. You are my A-Li, and you are my Great Emperor.”
Once Chen Yixin’s anger subsided, he immediately began reassuring Wenren Li instead. Wenren Li’s silence earlier still worried him.
“Mm. I know.” Wenren Li had barely answered before Chen Yixin dragged him back to their command tent at the military camp.
While Wenren Li was still momentarily distracted, Chen Yixin pounced, knocked him onto the bed, and efficiently began stripping off his clothes. When Chen Yixin failed to find the mark he wanted to use as proof on Wenren Li’s body, he anxiously leaned down and kissed Wenren Li instead.
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