Chapter 22: Past Matters 21

The disaster struck on an utterly ordinary morning.

The Golden Immortal Realm elder tasked with guarding the sect abandoned his cultivation to curse furiously. Everything had happened too suddenly—even now, he still couldn’t figure out how the enemy had infiltrated the sect or how he’d been sealed with a restriction.

After racking his brains, the only possibility was that there was a traitor within the sect.

So many disciples had simply come for morning lessons, only to meet their end at the sect. Seeing the corpses strewn everywhere, Elder Yin felt his heart bleeding.

The sect master had entrusted him with defending the sect, and he had sworn confidently that as long as he was there, all would be well. Yet the sect master had only been gone a few days, and the sect had fallen under his watch.

He had no face left to meet the sect master, nor the disciples who had suffered this calamity.

If he could, he would rather self-detonate and take these demon cultivators down with him. But sealed as he was, he couldn’t mobilize any power and could only watch helplessly as the disciples were slaughtered by the demon cultivators.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord knew exactly how to inflict the most torment, which was why he left this fish on the chopping block for last.

Meanwhile, Dong Shiyue’s master had infuriated the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord by sending her young disciple away, so she was dragged out first to make an example.

This elder was already gravely injured, leaving her with little ability to resist the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord needed to harvest a massive number of souls on this outing. He had already refined several sects, but the disciples of those minor sects were generally weak—none compared to the high-quality souls from Ask God Sect.

“Everything you’ve done to our sect today, our sect master will repay a hundredfold someday!” The voice of an Ask God Sect disciple reached the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord’s ears.

He killed the disciple with a wave of his hand. It was clear the words had struck a sore spot.

Ever since Yun Heng had rushed to the Border Region, the Demon Domain’s advantage had vanished in an instant. Though he had broken through to True Immortal Realm, he still lagged far behind Yun Heng. They had fought while retreating, and while the other two Demon Lords hadn’t said anything openly, who knew how they mocked him behind his back.

“Are all of Ask God Sect’s people here?” the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord asked the figure cloaked entirely in black robes beside him.

“…They’re all here,” the person hidden in the black robes nodded lightly.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord was paranoid, and this matter was too critical. He absolutely could not allow any survivors from Ask God Sect to escape like those from Tianyu Sect and report back. He needed time to refine these people, and Yun Heng could not discover it beforehand.

Even with the “person” beside him assuring him that no other living souls remained in the sect, he still swept his divine sense inch by inch over Ask God Sect’s lands to be sure.

Only after confirming there were no signs of life elsewhere did the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord fully relax. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then shifted his gaze to the Golden Immortal Realm elder.

“Indeed, your sect master is a major thorn in our side,” the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord admitted. But facing the Golden Immortal Realm elder’s furious and disdainful glare, he grinned: “That’s why I came for you all.”

Amid the shocked and uncertain expressions of Ask God Sect’s people, he continued, “Once I refine all your souls into a shield and place it before her, do you think she’ll be able to strike?”

“Shameless!” Elder Yin roared, veins bulging on his neck in rage.

The Demon Lord had no sense of morality; he took it as a compliment.

To the Demon Domain, Yun Heng was the biggest headache. For many years, the Demon Lords had plotted against her but failed to grasp her weakness.

That was, until decades ago, when the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord discovered a stray Demon Seed that had unexpectedly taken root and sprouted in Ask God Sect. That’s when he realized his opportunity had come.

Suddenly, the Demon Lord reached into the crowd and grabbed someone—Dong Shiyue’s master. Though covered in blood and on the verge of death, she had mustered her strength to secretly send a distress signal.

But not only did the signal fail to transmit, it was caught red-handed by the Demon Lord.

The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord clenched his fist in the air, and an evil spirit’s claw materialized to throttle the female cultivator’s neck. Too badly injured to resist, she struggled a couple of times before going still.

“Aren’t you curious why your distress signal couldn’t get out?” The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord sneered. “Because the array enveloping your sect isn’t the Sect-Protecting Grand Array anymore—it’s the ancient Heaven-Hiding Grand Array from legend. As long as you stay inside, not even Yun Heng, let alone the Heavenly Dao, will know what happened here.”

This gave the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord ample time to refine them, just as he had with those previous sects that had vanished without a trace.

“The array…” Elder Yin’s pupils shrank. Though not versed in formations, he knew their Sect-Protecting Grand Array couldn’t just change like that. Altering an array of this level would take years, and the elders guarding it wouldn’t notice?

Those selected to guard the grand array were experts in the field—no way could someone tamper under their noses undetected. So…

Elder Yin glanced around. Of the two Earth Immortal Realm and above elders left to guard the sect, one was him, and the other was Lu Qiaoyi.

He was here now, but Lu Qiaoyi was nowhere to be found.

Was she truly missing, or was she actually a traitor from the Demon Domain?

A chill ran through Elder Yin. Lu Qiaoyi was one of the people the sect master trusted most; no one, including them, had ever suspected her. If she really was a traitor and lurked by the sect master’s side after the informed ones died, would the sect master even notice?

“Won’t you beg for mercy? Beg, and maybe I’ll give you a quick death.” The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord then turned to the bloodied female cultivator with interest.

Dong Shiyue’s master forced a cold sneer. She wouldn’t believe a word from the Demon Lord.

“Very good. I always admire people with backbone.” The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord produced a small bronze cauldron from his sleeve, then drew a scythe-like weapon with his other hand.

Black mist seeped faintly from the scythe. The captured female cultivator closed her eyes. The others wanted to save her but were powerless, forced to watch the scythe descend.

At that moment, the sky darkened slightly—the sun, already dimmed by the blood mist, lost a bit more light.

When the Cangwang Realm had first formed, its inaugural calamity was the fall of the sun—an apocalyptic event. The arrow representing the Sunset Tribulation, once loosed, made even a True Immortal Realm incarnation sense the danger.

Without hesitation, the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord yanked the black-robed figure in front of him. The arrow shattered the cauldron in his hand and tore off the black robes.

“Boom!” The top-grade demonic artifact exploded, and the trapped vengeful souls scattered in escape.

Blood trickled down the black-robed person’s cheek, exposing the face they had carefully hidden.

“Cough…” After loosing the arrow, Wen Qiwu felt a surge of qi and blood in her chest. She panted lightly—for her current state, using a divine artifact was still too taxing.

But when she saw the face of the black-robed person beside the Demon Lord, the stifled blood in her chest rushed upward. A sweet, metallic taste filled her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.

That cauldron was the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord’s treasure. Though wealthy, such high-grade items were rare for him. But he had no time to grieve it, for the greater concern was the one who had made him sense danger!

Yet when he saw who had loosed the arrow, surprise flickered in his eyes. It was a cultivator whose body looked in terrible shape, and her cultivation was merely Void Refining Realm. How could a mere Void Refining cultivator make him sense danger?!

“Why is it you?” Wen Qiwu murmured.

She stared at the person beside the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord—a face she knew intimately, the elder who had raised her from childhood and cared for her all these years!

That face… belonged to Lu Qiaoyi.

She wore black robes, pure Demonic Qi surging around her, but her face no longer held its former liveliness and warmth. It was like a lifeless puppet devoid of humanity.

Wen Qiwu instinctively assumed Elder Lu had been controlled by the despicable Demon Domain scum, twisting her into this state. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her heart, she silently undid layer after layer of seals on her divine artifact.

She knew the price she’d pay, but for the sect members still alive and to save Lu Qiaoyi, she had no regrets.

Moreover, she’d just heard the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord threaten to use the sect members against her senior sister. She wouldn’t let that happen.

“You know each other?” Perhaps because Wen Qiwu’s strength seemed ant-like to the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord, his initial shock faded into vigilance, replaced by contempt. A mere Void Refining cultivator dared to kill him?

“What a silly question. You’ve been here for decades—how could you not know the people here?” The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord said to “Lu Qiaoyi,” “Want to say hello? I permit it.”

Decades? But Elder Lu had clearly been in the sect for centuries!

“Lu Qiaoyi” gazed at Wen Qiwu with no emotion, as if looking at roadside grass or stone. More precisely, her eyes were empty, like a refined puppet.

Seeing her reaction, the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord smirked. As expected of a Demon Seed—no improper emotions for others, making them all the more useful tools.

He had no intention of letting “Lu Qiaoyi” greet Wen Qiwu; that line was just a test.

“Elder Lu…” Wen Qiwu’s lips trembled, her expression turning childlike in helplessness. She realized the sect’s downfall was due to Lu Qiaoyi acting as an inside agent, allowing the Demon Lord to invade so easily.

But why? Lu Qiaoyi had entered the sect at age five; the sect was her home. She had no reason to help these demon cultivators slaughter it.

“Junior Sister Wen! Don’t be fooled by her! I know now—I know! She’s not Elder Lu! She’s a Demon Seed! Elder Lu probably died long ago, and the Demon Seed parasitized her body, replacing her!” A shrill voice echoed over Hearing Dao Mountain.

“Oh? Someone in Ask God Sect actually knows about Demon Seeds.” The Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord looked at the speaker, surprise in his tone. Demon Seeds were a Demon Domain secret—unexpected that an Immortal Domain person knew. “Correct. She is a Demon Seed.”

“I-I…” The one stared down by the Demon Lord shrank back but then stiffened his neck to meet the Demon Lord’s gaze. “We just learned this recently. Without solid proof, the sect master told us to keep investigating.”

“The Demon Domain’s three current Demon Lords extracted seeds from the True Demon who perished alongside the Demon Sovereign tens of thousands of years ago and cultivated them. Rumor has it these seeds can enter a living being on the brink of death, seize their last breath, and continue living in that body. Ordinary methods can’t detect them!”

These words struck Wen Qiwu like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Her hand trembled on the bow. She looked at “Lu Qiaoyi” and asked, “Elder Lu… should I call you Demon Seed?”

“Lu Qiaoyi” remained a puppet without self-awareness, unresponsive to Wen Qiwu’s quavering questions.

In the end, the Demon Lord answered for her: “Yes.”

Wen Qiwu’s last shred of hope shattered. Her body swayed, nearly toppling.

So Elder Lu had passed decades ago, and the one accompanying her all these years was a demonic thing wearing Elder Lu’s face?

Wen Qiwu didn’t even know when Elder Lu had been replaced. In her memory, Elder Lu’s personality and behavior had never changed. Had it happened before she joined Ask God Sect?

Seeing her on the verge of collapse pleased the Demon Lord, so he explained her confusion.

Demon Seeds were the Demon Domain’s secret weapon because, upon birth, they seized the original host’s memories. Using those, they mimicked every action and trait perfectly. A newborn Demon Seed was a blank slate without self, so once it flawlessly replicated the host’s personality, even the closest companions could hardly spot the flaw.

“Demon Seeds are heartless and emotionless, making them the most reliable weapons. We don’t need to worry that they’ll let emotions cloud their judgment.” On the contrary, the people around Demon Seeds would instead harbor unrealistic expectations toward them because of their feelings.

Such scenes had played out countless times before. Nearly every sect that had been annihilated had experienced something similar, and the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord loved savoring the painful and despairing emotions of those involved.

“I’ll only ask you one thing.” There was no point in saying anything else. Wen Qiwu’s eyes reddened as she nocked another arrow, runes like flowing symbols tracing across the silvery-white Nine Tribulations Bow. “Was my master’s death related to you?”

Back then, when Elder Lu had ventured into danger to seek medicine for her, her master had gone to the rescue, but she never returned. Wen Qiwu now suspected that the incident was connected to “Lu Qiaoyi.”

A dark gleam seemed to flicker in the Demon Seed’s eyes, but Wen Qiwu was too far away to be certain if there had been even a hint of warmth in her expression.

The Demon Seed nodded, admitting that the matter was indeed connected to her.

Wen Qiwu painfully closed her eyes. She had a rough idea of when the other party had replaced Elder Lu.

If not for seeking treatment for her illness, neither Elder Lu nor her master would have met with misfortune, giving the Demon Domain an opportunity to exploit.

Clear tears slid down from the corners of her eyes. Then Wen Qiwu opened her bloodshot eyes, the vulnerability in her gaze replaced by killing intent and resolve. The divine weapon in her hand buzzed in response to her will—she would spare no cost to save the sect and make all the enemies stained with the blood of her loved ones and fellow disciples pay the price!