At Fuyun Sect, outside the Mountain Gate.
At dawn, two patrolling disciples changed shifts.
A blue figure suddenly flashed before their eyes, catching both their attention.
But when they turned to look, they saw no one.
Puzzled, one of them tugged the other’s arm. “Senior Brother Wang…”
He gestured behind them.
The taller senior brother turned around.
And saw a swaying dark shadow hanging beneath the Fuyun Sect memorial archway.
It looked like a person.
Senior Brother Wang frowned. “Who’s playing tricks there?”
So saying, he walked toward the shadow.
The junior brother behind him was timid, but with his senior backing him, he mustered his courage and followed.
As they got closer, both detected a foul smell—a mix of sweat and blood.
The shadow hanging beneath the archway was a person, their black hair hanging loose like a broom.
His face was covered in blood scabs, and his clothes, soaked with blood, no longer showed their original color. At first glance, they didn’t recognize him.
Seeing this, Senior Brother Wang exchanged a look with his junior and quickly decided to take the person down.
Reaching out to check his breath, his fingertips detected a faint life force. Senior Brother Wang said in a low voice, “He’s still alive!”
He then cast a Dust-Cleansing Spell to remove the filth from the body.
“Ah!” the junior brother exclaimed. “Eldest Senior Brother!”
Senior Brother Wang looked closely and his expression changed too.
The person who had been severely wounded and hung upside down at the Fuyun Sect’s Mountain Gate, near death, was actually Ling Jiancheng!
Senior Brother Wang’s voice trembled. “Quick, quickly! Report to the Sect Master!”
The junior brother didn’t dare delay, got up, and ran.
Soon, the news that Ling Jiancheng had appeared bloody and half-dead at the sect’s Mountain Gate reached Bu Donghou and the Peak Lords.
At the Fuyun Sect Main Peak’s Sect Affairs Hall, several Elders worked together to treat him, barely saving Ling Jiancheng’s life.
After the spell ended, an Elder reported to Bu Donghou: “Sect Master, Jiancheng’s injuries are too severe. The one who did this was ruthless—his limbs are broken, his dantian shattered, all his bones crushed. In the future, I’m afraid…”
He didn’t need to spell it out; everyone present understood the consequences of such injuries.
Bu Donghou’s face was dark as water; the hall’s atmosphere was heavy and oppressive.
After a moment, Bu Donghou suppressed his rising fury and asked coldly, “Has Yuan Yi returned?”
The people in the hall looked at one another. The same Elder answered, “Immortal Venerable Yuan Yi and You Ying have also just returned and are waiting outside the hall.”
Bu Donghou’s face was as cold as frost. “Have him come in.”
Yuan Yi entered the hall slowly at the order.
Everyone turned at the sound and saw Yuan Yi looking haggard, a large bloodstain spreading across his chest, the blood at the corner of his mouth not yet wiped away.
Seeing this, Bu Donghou’s anger softened a bit, and he asked, “What happened on this trip to injure my disciple so severely?”
Yuan Yi and You Ying had already heard of the incident on their way here. Only upon seeing Ling Jiancheng lying in the middle of the hall did they understand just how severe the injuries were.
You Ying was stunned, then rushed to Ling Jiancheng. “Eldest Senior Brother!!!”
Only then did he understand what Immortal Venerable Yuan Yi had meant earlier by “won’t make it.”
“How could this be?” You Ying was devastated.
Yuan Yi’s gaze swept over everyone present, finally resting on a certain person as he spoke slowly, “The Immortal Ruins on Mount Yuliang were indeed my sister Yuanqing’s Immortal Abode.”
Bu Donghou frowned. “So?”
“Devil Lord Nangong Yin appeared at the Immortal Abode, attempting to capture Yan Zhao.” Yuan Yi was badly wounded, pausing every few words to catch his breath.
The moment the name Nangong Yin came out of his mouth, it was like a thunderclap in a clear sky.
The hall fell silent; the Fuyun Sect members were shocked. “Nangong Yin!”
Immediately, the elders began discussing among themselves.
“Why has this god of slaughter emerged early? What is she planning now?”
“Only those Devil Clan look down on us cultivators. Nangong Yin has gone too far!”
Bu Donghou raised his hand to silence the discussion and asked the original question once more: “How did my disciple Jiancheng end up like this?”
“Cough.” Yuan Yi cleared his throat. “Nephew Jiancheng, out of loyalty to his fellow disciples, couldn’t stand by and let those from the Devil Sect desecrate Yuanqing’s cave abode. He fought hard against the two Protectors, Jiang Ying and Lei Shuang. I, meanwhile, fought Nangong Yin… cough, cough, and was injured by her.”
From the crowd, Immortal Venerable Daoling narrowed his eyes at Yuan Yi and sneered, “Immortal Venerable Yuan Yi, could it be that, out of old sentiments, you deliberately held back?”
When Daoling spoke, all eyes turned to him, and then his words brought to mind the great battle three hundred years ago.
Yuanqing had been too close with a member of the Devil Clan. After returning from her travels, she had become pregnant with a Devil Child, which drained her immortal power, leaving her as weak as a mortal.
Daoling had discovered this matter. How could the Immortal Sect tolerate an Immortal Venerable carrying a fiend’s child?
At that time, when the Devil Child was first discovered and not yet fully formed, and the news hadn’t leaked, Bu Donghou ordered Yuanqing to abort the child and have her memories erased, as if it had never happened.
But Yuanqing refused at the cost of her life, and Yuan Yi pleaded for her. So Bu Donghou gave Yuanqing three days to reconsider and confined her in the Back Mountain Profound Cave to reflect.
During this time, Immortal Venerable Daoling advised Bu Donghou, suggesting they use Yuanqing’s imprisonment as bait to lure out the fiend who had been with her.
The plan was flawless, but unexpectedly, it wasn’t the child’s father who showed up—it was Devil Lord Nangong Yin.
Nangong Yin, having just ascended to the position of Devil Lord, led a host of devils to attack Fuyun Sect, demanding Yuanqing’s release.
A great battle erupted on Tianzhu Peak. Yuanqing had such close ties with the Devil Clan, so Yuan Yi should have placed righteousness above family ties, yet at the crucial moment, he hesitated.
Had Immortal Venerable Daoling not intervened in time and severed one of Nangong Yin’s arms, Fuyun Sect’s losses might have been even greater.
After Yuanqing was captured, Daoling offered another plan to the Sect Master: use Yuanqing to restrain the Devil Clan.
They tried to force Yuanqing to reveal who the child’s father was, but Yuanqing refused no matter what.
As the child grew day by day, Yuanqing’s body was too weak, and she gave birth prematurely.
It was a girl with congenital deficiencies, destined not to live from birth.
Bu Donghou told Yuanqing, “This is karmic retribution—the evil fruit of you, a high-ranking Immortal Venerable, having relations with a fiend!”
Yuanqing, as if gone mad, seized the child and made a decision no one could accept.
She used her own life in exchange for Yan Zhao’s.
This was Fuyun Sect’s unspoken past, an experience everyone involved in that battle desperately wished to forget.
Bu Donghou had ordered everyone to swear a Soul Oath, forbidding them from ever revealing the sect’s scandal.
Thus, the official story became that Devil Lord Nangong Yin, driven by ambition, led her forces to attack Fuyun Sect and killed Yuanqing.
And the child Yuanqing left behind became the iron chain that kept the Devil Clan in check.
From the throne, Bu Donghou fixed his eyes on Yuan Yi. “Is that truly so?”
Yuan Yi let out a humorless laugh, his tone turning cold. “Bu Donghou, you have never trusted me.”
“Remember, your name is Yan Zhao—Zhao as in ‘to right a wrong.'”
In the unseen, a voice echoed in her ear.
The voice was familiar, meant to be gentle, yet somehow it sounded like weeping blood.
Yan Zhao, plagued by nightmares, slept restlessly.
Her body trembled, and she suddenly opened her eyes to deep night and cold moonlight.
She was holding the little fox in her arms; Bi Lan was meditating under the tree.
They had left the Immortal’s Cave Abode and hadn’t decided where to go. As long as it wasn’t back to Fuyun Sect, they’d take it one step at a time.
The little fox was awakened by Yan Zhao’s arms suddenly tightening.
It opened its eyes and turned its head, seeing Yan Zhao awake with a poor complexion under the moonlight.
During this time with Yan Zhao, it had noticed that Yan Zhao sometimes had nightmares at night. It didn’t know what she dreamed of, but she’d wake up in a cold sweat.
It was for this reason that, when it had to leave briefly before, it had thought to make Yan Zhao a straw fox.
It had hoped to help Yan Zhao sleep more peacefully, but luck wasn’t on its side—just after it left, Yan Zhao woke up.
Yan Zhao’s breathing was rapid, and it took her a while to calm down.
The little fox leaned over and nuzzled Yan Zhao’s chin with its nose.
The cool, moist sensation seeped into her heart. Yan Zhao gradually relaxed, her shoulders dropping, but she held the little fox even tighter.
The fear left by the nightmare was dispelled by the little fox’s affectionate nuzzling. Yan Zhao buried her face into the soft fur of the fox’s neck and took a deep sniff.
The little fox looked disgusted.
Bi Lan was still absorbing qi, but Yan Zhao couldn’t sleep.
Holding the little fox with one arm, she pinched the small golden bead on her necklace with her other hand.
It was a subconscious habit when she had nothing else to do.
She had only heard from that mustached Daoist that Immortal Venerable Yuanqing gave her this Magic Treasure because she was frail, but she never knew how to use it.
She couldn’t cultivate and naturally lacked the Dharma Power to use it.
But today seemed different.
As Yan Zhao pinched the bead, she suddenly felt a surge of heat flow from it, seeping into her fingertips.
“Eh?” Yan Zhao looked down, puzzled, and held the bead up to the moon.
In the night, the faint golden light emanating from the bead became visible.
Yan Zhao felt a subtle, elusive power.
With a thought, the scene before her suddenly brightened.
Night turned to day; the surroundings changed—lush vegetation, birdsong, and fragrant flowers.
A deep palace courtyard, a pavilion with a gentle breeze.
It was that Immortal’s Cave Abode.
Yan Zhao’s ears caught an unfamiliar sound from the rooftop.
She looked up, slightly startled.
An Immortal Venerable in white robes held a jug of wine, with a graceful posture, pouring and drinking by herself.
When Yan Zhao finally turned and saw her, she suddenly curved her eyes into a bright smile.
Her brows and eyes were clear, like a drunken moon chasing the wind.
“My silly daughter, come have a drink with me?”
Yay! Mom is slightly alive!