Chapter 86: Hidden Worries

Wen Qiwu flew down from the parasol tree branch, stepped on the soul on the ground as a foothold, and then hopped over to Qing Tuan’s side.

The two little birds snuggled together, and the clean one didn’t mind the bloodstains on the other as it rubbed up against her.

When Yun Heng picked up the person’s soul, she heard the two little fluffballs muttering something nearby. Although she couldn’t understand them, from Qing Tuan’s increasingly proud little expression, it seemed her junior sister hadn’t held back on the praise.

Yun Heng couldn’t help but smile a little. Her originally icy expression softened, making the guy on the ground truly believe she was someone with gentle methods.

“S-spare me! I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Please spare me!” After clearly assessing the situation, the demon cultivator immediately offered up the intelligence they wanted.

It had heard Wen Qiwu just say something about reading memories—wasn’t that soul-searching? Falling into these people’s hands, it knew it wouldn’t end well for it.

“You’re volunteering to confess?” Yun Heng finally looked it in the eye.

“Y-yes! Don’t let my weak strength fool you—I’ve served by the Wise Master’s side for a long time and know many things even the Demon Lord doesn’t! It will definitely be useful to you, so…” Before the demon cultivator could finish, an interrupting voice cut in.

“Believing a demon cultivator is less reliable than trusting me to hand over my entire treasury.” Bai Jiao arrived a step late, but she caught exactly what the demon cultivator had said.

She let out a cold laugh, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

The creature’s previous actions had already proven it was a demon who would stop at nothing to achieve its goals. Words from something like that weren’t very credible—better to just soul-search and save the trouble.

The demon cultivator didn’t recognize Yun Heng, but it knew Bai Jiao. At the sound of her voice, its entire soul flickered unsteadily.

But then it thought again: the master of the City Lord Mansion had already been swapped out, so her appearance worked in its favor!

Yet soon it sensed something wrong, because her eyes brimmed with loathing and a malice that wanted to dice it into a thousand pieces. That kind of emotion absolutely came from her true heart!

“You…” Shouldn’t she be the demon seed? How could a demon seed stand with them against its own kind?

The demon cultivator’s soul trembled faintly. The City Lord before it seemed like the real deal. Previously, the demon seed hadn’t absorbed Bai Jiao’s soul—the Wise Master had said her soul had scattered, and with the implantation a step slow, it hadn’t captured her remnant soul.

Now, thinking about it, was there a possibility that Bai Jiao’s soul had escaped? Then the one before it was…

The demon cultivator lowered its head, eyes filling with terror. The City Lord of Merfolk Moon City held grudges to the bitter end. Falling into her hands—who knew if that would be worse than soul-searching?

“Me what?” Bai Jiao looked at it with a mocking half-smile. “You want to ask why I’m still alive? Or why I’m not one of you? Where’s that fake?”

Its thoughts pierced, the demon cultivator shuddered. It painfully closed its eyes—this time it had truly been careless. Why hadn’t the Wise Master come to save it yet?

Right after, it heard Bai Jiao’s voice, unmasked in its malice.

“Yun Heng, soul-search it first. After you’re done, hand the soul over to me. I have scores to settle with it, and I’ll avenge you too. I guarantee it’ll regret ever coming into this world.”

“I’ll tell everything! Really, everything! Give me a chance!” This time, the one in charge of Merfolk Moon City matters was the Wise Master. Many years ago, he’d already set his sights on the Dragon Gate! He wanted the Dragon Clan’s inheritance to fall to the Demon Domain. You, City Lord, were the biggest obstacle, and since the Cang Sea Domain is the farthest from the Demon Domain, it’s hard for them to make a move here. So he planned to have the demon seed replace you, then have the demon dragon help the demon seed unify the Cang Sea Domain—that way, the Cang Sea Domain would be in his grasp…”

The demon cultivator spilled the Wise Master’s general plan in one frantic breath, as if afraid Bai Jiao wouldn’t let it speak.

“The Wise Master?” Bai Jiao looked at Yun Heng in confusion. “Have you heard of this demon?”

Yun Heng shook her head. She hadn’t heard of this demon either.

“Chirp chirp.” Wen Qiwu rubbed against her little mom. Qing Tuan tilted her head in thought, then indicated she hadn’t heard of it either.

“You’re not just making up some random person to fool us, are you?” Scales quietly appeared on Bai Jiao’s hand. She made a grabbing motion over the soul—as if clutching nothing—yet it drew a agonized scream from the demon cultivator.

“It’s true! I really didn’t lie to you! The Immortal Master has lived for many years but never publicly revealed his identity—only successive Demon Lords and a few close attendants know of him!” Fearing they wouldn’t believe it, the demon cultivator quickly raised three fingers and swore to the Heavenly Dao that it spoke the truth.

“The Wise Master… he’s very powerful. Even that Immortal Venerable from the Ask God Sect unknowingly stepped into his trap! If not for all these upheavals this time, even a True Immortal Realm cultivator might not have escaped his schemes!”

“Ho, that impressive?” Bai Jiao hadn’t believed it at first, but when she saw Yun Heng’s face still somewhat pallid from blood loss, her own expression turned grave despite herself.

Yun Heng’s sickly appearance was really because of him? If so, no matter who this Wise Master was… he had to die! Letting a venomous snake like that lurk in the Cang Sea Domain meant she could never sleep soundly again!

Yun Heng carefully recalled the ancient texts she’d read. Her memory was excellent, and she was certain the title “Wise Master” appeared in none of them.

Either he’d hidden himself extremely well, or… he’d changed names before and later took on the title of Wise Master.

If he was truly formidable, Yun Heng thought the latter more likely.

“How many demon seeds are there in the Demon Domain?” Yun Heng asked the demon cultivator.

“There are about a dozen scattered outside now! The Wise Master wasn’t sure of the demon seeds’ effects, so he made a batch of a dozen or so and distributed them to the Demon Lords to test. But the Demon Nurturing Pool in the Demon Domain has countless ones! They’re stripped from the True Demon—very unstable—so the Wise Master improved them. In just a few years, thousands upon thousands could hatch!”

The demon cultivator’s words rang an alarm bell in the hearts of the two women and one phoenix. The scariest thing about demon seeds was how they silently replaced your closest loved ones, with no visible changes on the surface. Bai Jiao had reacted quickly and been lucky to narrowly escape, but not everyone could be as fortunate as her.

The Immortal-Demon War a century ago had devastated the Five Domains precisely because those dozen demon seeds had quietly “taken root and sprouted,” stabbing the major sects in the back while they united against external enemies.

What happened to Yun Heng and Wen Qiwu wasn’t unique. A dozen demon seeds had nearly turned the Five Domains into chaos—what if there were now thousands?

“Where is the Demon Nurturing Pool?” Yun Heng immediately demanded.

“The Demon Nurturing Pool is in—in…” The demon cultivator’s voice suddenly turned hoarse. It widened its eyes, and Yun Heng could clearly see the terror in them.

Not good!

The Demon Nurturing Pool was so crucial that the Wise Master surely wouldn’t allow those in the know to reveal it. To prevent leaks, he’d definitely planted restrictions on all who knew—as soon as they tried to divulge the exact location, their souls would be directly obliterated.

This demon cultivator clearly didn’t know about it, or it wouldn’t have spoken. Perhaps the Wise Master had always intended to silence it.

Even soul-searching probably wouldn’t work… encountering these secrets would force its soul to self-destruct. The mastermind was meticulous and wouldn’t let true secrets fall to them.

Yun Heng acted decisively, grabbing the soul and beginning the soul-search. Whatever fragments she could seize now.

Her time was short—after just one or two breaths, the soul under her hand exploded.

She captured fragments of its memories: scattered scenes, including an undersea chamber and its plotting with a black-robed figure about the Dragon Gate…

The black-robed person looked up, and through the demon cultivator’s eyes, Yun Heng saw its face: an unremarkable old man, save for those pitch-black eyes like devouring vortices.

She had finally seen the mastermind’s appearance. This was the so-called Wise Master.

“Boom!”

The demon cultivator’s soul detonated, and the already crumbling walls around them fully collapsed.

As the dust settled, Bai Jiao coughed twice and fanned away the gray with a fan she’d produced. The demon cultivator wasn’t strong—its explosion posed no threat to immortals of Golden Immortal Realm or above like them.

Yun Heng shielded the little phoenix fluffball in her arms, while Qing Tuan perched on her shoulder.

“Chirp chirp chirp!” Qing Tuan seemed a bit puffed up. She’d finally caught this prey, and someone had gone and killed it!

“Chirp chirp!”

“Little Mom says not to worry—she’ll go catch that black rat herself,” Wen Qiwu said.

Yun Heng thanked Qing Tuan, then shared the memories she’d just extracted with her.

Qing Tuan squatted silently on Yun Heng’s shoulder for a long while. “Chirp.”

“Little Mom says that guy looks a bit familiar!”

“You saw what he looked like?” Bai Jiao had Yun Heng share the acquired memories with her too, so she could investigate.

After obtaining the demon cultivator’s memories, Bai Jiao thought for a moment and cursed loudly. “I saw him in a secret realm, and then I nearly got killed! It must’ve been that old bastard’s doing!”

If she hadn’t decisively abandoned her body and escaped with part of her flood dragon bloodline, she wouldn’t be alive now.

Qing Tuan racked her brains, but finally sighed in defeat. Her memories weren’t as clear or complete as the Phoenix Lord’s main body, so she couldn’t pinpoint the person from them.

He must not have been important, or she wouldn’t have forgotten.

Qing Tuan gave up thinking and turned to help Wen Qiwu preen her feathers instead.

Wen Qiwu helplessly sent a transmission to her senior sister: [Little Mom doesn’t remember.]

Yun Heng rubbed her head. [It’s fine. Let’s check out their secret chambers first.]

“Chirp?” At that moment, Qing Tuan noticed the parasol tree branch in Yun Heng’s hand. She seemed to pause, then tilted her head and chirped.

She was asking where it came from?

“This is a gift from the City Lord,” Wen Qiwu said, pointing at Bai Jiao with her wing.

Qing Tuan glanced at Bai Jiao, who inexplicably tensed up. She recognized this as the bird that had clawed her at sea—fierce one! So both of this clan’s last survivors were with Yun Heng?!

Qing Tuan merely glanced before her gaze returned to the parasol tree branch.

“Chirp.” She chirped softly.

Then Qing Tuan suddenly flew up, grabbed the branch with her claws, and it vanished in an instant. Before Yun Heng could react, a whole small parasol tree—roots and all—smashed down right in front of her.

“Chirp chirp!” You give her this to play with instead.