Chapter 54

Wen Qiwu had originally planned to wait until this matter was over before finding a secluded spot to have a good talk with her senior sister. Although she was a bit angry, she always remembered that her senior sister was afflicted with a heart demon and was like a patient. When she realized her senior sister had followed her, Wen Qiwu felt in her heart that it was just as expected.

Wen Qiwu had already convinced herself inwardly, but she hadn’t anticipated such a turn of events. Seeing her senior sister still being stubborn, in a fit of anger, she exposed the truth.

Her senior sister’s back stiffened for a moment, and Wen Qiwu let out a light hum.

She flapped her wings and flew from the Azure Luan King’s hand to Yun Heng’s shoulder, pecking at her senior sister in annoyance. But she truly couldn’t bring herself to use much force, so that peck was no different from a tickle.

Her senior sister probably wouldn’t quibble—unless she could think of a perfect excuse to extricate herself. Otherwise, given her senior sister’s personality, she’d rather admit it in this situation. And if her senior sister truly had the ability to fool her, she wouldn’t have exposed her identity so quickly in front of her.

“A Que…” Yun Heng’s voice carried a hint of pleading, like a child who had done something wrong. She raised her hand in front of her shoulder, wanting Wen Qiwu to come to her palm.

But Wen Qiwu didn’t budge. Did her disobedient senior sister still want to pet her fluffy self? She pecked at her senior sister’s fingertip again, refusing to let her stroke her head.

Yun Heng retracted her hand with a dejected expression. “A Que, I know I was wrong.”

She simply couldn’t rest assured leaving Wen Qiwu to come to such a dangerous place like the Endless Tree Sea alone. So as soon as her junior sister left, she left a puppet behind at the sect to deceive the Medical Immortal, then used a secret technique to rush to the Myriad Forest Domain in half a day’s time.

While ill before, she had coaxed her junior sister into telling her more about what had happened in the Myriad Forest Domain, learning quite a bit about Gao Fu in the process. Upon arriving here, she orchestrated a “chance encounter” with that person, and through Gao Fu’s introduction, she naturally ended up traveling with her junior sister.

She figured that as long as she helped her junior sister obtain the item and escorted her out of this forest, she could immediately find an excuse to leave, and the identity of Yu Hengwei would never appear again—her junior sister wouldn’t notice anything amiss.

Unfortunately, she had come in too much of a hurry and hadn’t covered up many things properly. It wasn’t long before a small mishap exposed her, and her junior sister was definitely very angry. How should she coax her when they got back?

For a moment, Yun Heng wasn’t sure whether this matter or the True Demon Remains was more troublesome.

Her senior sister always admitted fault the fastest, but whether she would change was another matter. Wen Qiwu averted her gaze—her senior sister was getting more and more skilled at acting pitiful, and she was unfortunately prone to softening.

“Wait until I deal with that True Demon Remains, then I’ll come back and accept punishment, alright?” Yu Hengwei asked softly.

“…Senior Sister, do you even remember how many injuries and ailments you have? A hundred years ago, I absolutely wouldn’t have said anything, but how can you face an enemy alone now?”

The True Demon’s remains were temporarily trapped, but the newly erected barrier above was already on the verge of collapse. It wouldn’t be long before that thing broke free. The surroundings were filled with terrifying pressure. Even a Earth Immortal Realm cultivator like Wen Qiwu could stand here unaffected only because Yun Heng was shielding her from the True Demon’s might, but she could see the other birds trembling in fear.

This monster wasn’t an ordinary True Immortal Realm one—it was remains from the Divine Realm. Back then, even the half-baked Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord couldn’t compare to a single finger of it. A hundred years ago, her senior sister without injuries or heart demon entanglement could have handled it without issue, but now, even if her senior sister could defeat it, she probably couldn’t emerge unscathed.

“It’s just a chunk of remains…” Yun Heng thought for a moment and rephrased, “If we don’t stop it now, once it leaves the Endless Tree Sea and recovers more power, the entire Cangwang Realm will turn into a hellscape.”

At present, Yun Heng was the only True Immortal Realm in the Cangwang Realm capable of fighting it. If this monster escaped, she’d inevitably be the one cleaning up the mess—that was the responsibility of an Immortal Venerable. And among that, there was Yun Heng’s selfish motive.

Because her junior sister was here, she wanted the place where her junior sister lived to be peaceful and worry-free.

Wen Qiwu naturally understood the consequences of letting this chunk of remains continue to grow, so her question was how Yun Heng could face it alone.

“I’ll go with you,” Wen Qiwu said.

“No!” Yun Heng rejected Wen Qiwu’s proposal without a second thought.

She couldn’t even guarantee her own safety—how could she let her junior sister accompany her? What if she got hurt? Yun Heng absolutely wouldn’t agree.

“Senior Sister.” After resting for a while and recovering some strength, Wen Qiwu transformed into human form. She hugged her senior sister from behind. The warm, soft, and sweet scent made Yun Heng’s gaze blur for an instant.

She couldn’t refuse her junior sister’s closeness; the attitude that had just firmed up softened uncontrollably.

“A Que, you still can’t face a True Immortal Realm directly yet. Wait until later…” Before Yun Heng could finish, Wen Qiwu interrupted her.

“I’m not discussing it with Senior Sister.” Wen Qiwu, who had always been like a ball of cotton, hardened her voice. She had rarely shown such dominance in front of her senior sister. Yun Heng’s lips trembled slightly, and for a moment, she couldn’t speak.

“Don’t worry, I know my own limits and won’t clash directly with the True Demon,” Wen Qiwu softened her tone again. “I’ll just help Senior Sister control your injuries.”

Her fingertip traced over Yun Heng’s heart. Her senior sister had a serious injury there; Wen Qiwu had once accidentally seen a faint scar remaining. External wounds could always be healed somehow, but the problem was the obsessive delusions emerging from the heart wound—they were incurable by medicine and could only be overcome by her herself.

Flames ignited on Wen Qiwu’s body—pure white flames tinged with azure that weren’t hot at all, but had extreme restraining power against evil and foul things, including heart demons.

In this period, she had learned many of the Phoenix Clan’s inheritance secret arts, and one secret technique was perfect for this moment.

Her figure blurred and vanished, leaving a wisp of firelight that burrowed into Yun Heng’s heart.

“Crack!” The barrier above let out a mournful groan as the True Demon Remains was about to break through.

The Azure Luan King had served the previous Demon Sovereign for many years and knew quite a few Phoenix Clan secret techniques, so she immediately recognized what spell Wen Qiwu had used. But she didn’t understand why Wen Qiwu would deploy it at this critical juncture.

It wasn’t until a True Immortal Realm-level pressure erupted from that human that the Azure Luan King, while incredulously sending her clan’s children to the rear, stammered with trembling lips, “Yun Heng Immortal Venerable?”

The sword intent laced with ice-attribute immortal power blatantly declared her identity.

That immortal who had been trying to compete with them for the phoenix was Yun Heng Immortal Venerable?

Tch, what a thorny situation.

A few restless birds secretly clicked their tongues. It seemed the plan to stealthily snatch the little phoenix would have to be put on hold for now. If the opponent had only been Golden Immortal Realm, those plans weren’t impossible to try.

But they weren’t giving up entirely. Immortal Venerable or not, as long as they were competing with the Feather Race for the phoenix, the birds absolutely wouldn’t yield.

Wen Qiwu had helped Yun Heng suppress her injuries. Yun Heng hadn’t felt such a relaxed body and clear mind in a long time. Though the effect was temporary, without those injuries and ailments dragging her down, this chunk of remains was no longer a threat.

She clutched her warm heart, and the smile at the corner of her mouth made the Azure Luan King, who knew the Immortal Venerable well from afar, shiver.

She drew her divine sword and proactively pierced the barrier above.

The True Demon Remains, caught off guard, was directly impaled through its body.

Its body leaned more toward the formless, but even ethereal souls could be frozen by Yun Heng’s ice.

Under Yun Heng’s unrestrained killing moves, the remains retreated step by step. Half its body shattered into chunks of ice, and the blood-colored mist emanating from its body moved along with it. Even the “clouds” raining down from the sky turned into blocks of solid ice.

Yun Heng’s sword intent slashed through the sky, cutting off the remains’ supply line via the “rainwater.” The monster let out a shrill screech, but its divine sense attacks were all blocked by the phoenix’s secret technique.

The Feather Race had already withdrawn to a farther distance; many weaker birds had reverted to their original forms, using their feathers to keep warm.

That Immortal Venerable’s moves looked spectacular, blanketing everything in silvery white wherever they passed—it was just a bit too cold.

“It’s too cold around that Immortal Venerable. Won’t the little phoenix freeze?” a worried bird fretted.

“The True Demon’s remains won’t hold out much longer. Once the Immortal Venerable returns, we must warm up our little phoenix. Ah-Chou!” A Earth Immortal Realm bird sneezed.

Phoenixes loved warmth, and that Immortal Venerable was like a block of ice—indeed not suited for raising a phoenix. The Feather Race kings exchanged glances; they really needed to take the little phoenix back.

Until the True Demon’s final chunk of body turned to solid ice, and Yun Heng’s sword intent swept through, shattering it into countless snowflake-sized fragments.

She sheathed her sword. The flames around her body and heart coalesced into human form beside her. When that wisp of firelight left her heart, Yun Heng felt a pang of reluctance.

Wen Qiwu’s face was somewhat pale. While sustaining the souls of those birds and maintaining the secret technique, she had inevitably consumed a great deal of immortal power.

But as long as her senior sister wasn’t injured, it was fine. Seeing Yun Heng’s face full of worry, Wen Qiwu subconsciously wanted to give a reassuring smile, but then she remembered what her senior sister had done and realized she couldn’t give her too good an expression right now, so she tightened her face again.

“A Que…” Yun Heng didn’t dare say much. She wanted to hold her junior sister’s hand, but Wen Qiwu dodged, leaving her only a sleeve hem.

A sleeve hem it was, then. Her junior sister was still soft-hearted toward her—at least she hadn’t tossed her here directly.

Yun Heng clutched Wen Qiwu’s sleeve hem, comforting herself inwardly, then quickened her pace to catch up and talk to her junior sister.

But at that moment, a pupil that should have gone dark lit up with demonic light in one of the ice chunks, and the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed.

It was at this point that the rift entrance to the Phoenix Lord Tomb abruptly opened wide, with endless flames spewing forth from within.