Chapter 49: Fortuitous Encounter

Lu Shiyuan had set out on this journey originally to borrow a path through Kunlun and catch up with the group that had departed ahead of her. Little did she expect that the moment she set foot in the former Immortal Realm, an inexplicable and intensely powerful sensation would surge within her.

After some inner struggle, she was no longer in any hurry to rush back to Yedu.

She had a feeling that the mystery of her origins—which had plagued her for so long—might finally be unraveled here, providing her with a definitive answer.

Besides, even if she managed to catch up quickly, her current strength wouldn’t allow her to help Shang Si in any meaningful way. It was better to stay and investigate thoroughly. Who knew? She might even stumble upon some unexpected opportunity.

With that in mind, Lu Shiyuan cast a deep glance in the direction of Yedu, then turned and plunged into the hazy fog on the opposite side.

It was less like fog and more like smog; drawing it into her lungs was poisonous. The moment she realized this, Lu Shiyuan circulated her spiritual power to shield her heart meridians, blocking the toxic particles outside.

The Immortal Realm—once a holy land revered by all beings of the Six Realms, shrouded in misty immortal qi—had swiftly lost its exalted status after the last immortal perished. It became a forsaken deathtrap, the burial ground of immortals that no one dared approach.

The deeper she ventured into the center, the more shocked Lu Shiyuan became. The grand complexes hidden amid the smog bore no resemblance to the dilapidated ruins on the outskirts. Through the palaces and structures preserved in these central layers, she could faintly glimpse the prosperity of the Immortal Realm in its prime.

Pink and white lotuses still bloomed vibrantly in the lotus ponds, their broad green leaves interconnected, the water beneath crystal clear.

It felt as though the master of this place had only just departed moments ago and would return at any time.

Though she had never been here before, a single glance allowed Lu Shiyuan to vividly reconstruct in her mind the daily lives of the immortals from long ago.

Every building, every vista, every blade of grass and tree felt all too familiar to her.

Lost in this sensation, she wandered onward for an unknowable stretch of time until she came back to herself and realized she had stopped before the gates of a palace.

Looking up, she saw several ancient characters gilded in gold overhead: Yuhua Palace.

Meanwhile, Yedu had descended into utter chaos.

Shang Si and the others had reacted immediately, rushing back via Kunlun, but they were still one step too late.

The Jiao Dragon Clan had mobilized in full force, allying with several major families from the Demon Realm to shatter the seal beneath Yedu. The Million Resentful Spirits poured out, scattering across the Three Realms in the blink of an eye.

The vast majority fled to the Human Realm.

By the time Shang Si returned, swarms of resentful spirits blanketed the skies above Yedu City in oppressive, ink-black clouds. Hua Qiu and Nan Jin led the city’s soldiers in a frantic effort to clear away the foul creatures, but they made little headway—their numbers were simply overwhelming.

The resentful spirits slaughtered indiscriminately and multiplied without end. Without the aid of the underworld’s ghostly troops to help cull them, the defenders’ kill rate couldn’t keep pace with their spawning.

As long as lives kept dying, more resentful spirits would keep emerging—until every living being was extinguished and the Three Realms held no life at all.

“A Si, you’ve seen what Yedu looks like now,” Tang Mo said. He had led Lin Xiao and the others through the chaos and finally breached the barrier around the central Imperial City. In the span of a single daze, he appeared before Shang Si. “At this point, there’s no point chasing whatever plot the Jiao Dragon Clan hatched. If we don’t deal with these rampaging resentful spirits soon, the Three Realms are finished.”

His voice was hoarse, his ink-black robes caked in layer upon layer of filthy bloodstains.

When the seal broke, he had naturally emerged from the depths to help Shang Si hold Yedu in the interim. Qingzhi and Yun Qu hadn’t been idle either. Of Yedu’s Six Great Ghost Generals, everyone was present except Lu Yue, who remained stationed at the Reincarnation Pool.

This was the most complete assembly in thousands of years, brought about by an unprecedented crisis that threatened the Three Realms.

Tang Mo, chief among Yedu’s Six Great Ghost Generals, had been guarding deep beneath Yedu for so long that even a fossil like Lin Xiao had never laid eyes on him—only heard his name. Yet those signature blood-red eyes struck fear into the heart at a single glance.

Having suppressed resentful spirits with nothing but his flesh and blood for a millennium, the baleful aura clinging to him was more than any ordinary person could endure. Even low-level disciples from the sects might suffer qi deviation from meeting his gaze.

“Not at all,” came a voice from behind Shang Si. A handsome youth stepped forward. Lin Xiao, wise beyond his tender years, knitted his fine brows in disagreement. “That Jiao Dragon Demon was able to infiltrate Yedu, break the seal right under the noses of the Ghost Generals, and escape unscathed—its power is no longer what it once was. We need to plan this carefully.”

With his seniority and strength, he had every right to weigh in.

He wasn’t alone; the elders from the other major sects who had rushed over wore equally grave expressions.

In truth, the hardest hit wouldn’t be Yedu or even the Demon Race, but the hundreds of millions of powerless mortals in the Human Realm.

Resentful spirits possessed meager magical power. Even the lowliest disciples guarding the sect’s gates could deal with them without breaking a sweat—but that was only true for cultivators. When it came to ordinary mortals without the slightest ability to fight back, these spirits would unleash a slaughter without mercy. From this day forward, the Mortal Realm might well descend into a living hell for a long stretch of time.

What was more, the Jiao Dragon Clan was pulling strings from the shadows.

“Issue the Summons to All Living Beings,” Shang Si said. Once the summons went out, representatives from every race would come. It had been issued once before, ten thousand years ago, when the Six Realms had fallen. She lifted her chin slightly, exhaled a heavy breath of stale air, and glanced toward Tang Mo. “Today’s crisis belongs to all the Three Realms. In five days’ time, at Yedu, the beings of every race will gather to deliberate.”

Her words left no room for further debate.

The Ye Lord—a figure who had long been a lightning rod for criticism from the Mortal Realm’s sects during times of peace—had now become the rock everyone leaned on. In this dire situation, she kept their panic from spiraling out of control.

“But once the summons goes out, will anyone come from the Demon Realm?” After a moment of silence, one of the elders standing behind her voiced his doubt.

After all, the Jiao Dragon Demon had caused this mess, and it hailed from one of the Demon Realm’s great clans. With a mere rallying cry, it could summon countless lesser clans to its side.

Shang Si’s vermilion lips parted as she prepared to respond, but Lin Xiao beat her to the punch.

He let out a sly chuckle. “Whether those old monsters show up or not is beside the point. What the Shang Girl is doing here is drawing a clear line between friend and foe. We’ll soon see if today’s chaos was the work of the Demon Realm’s hundred clans in concert, or just the Jiao Dragon Demon stirring up trouble on its own.”

Hearing Lin Xiao articulate exactly what she had been thinking, Shang Si held her tongue.

She nodded faintly. “Precisely.”

Sorting allies from enemies was the utmost priority right now.

At her words, the group finally eased a little.

Just then, Qingzhi’s voice drifted down from above. “The Fire Phoenix Clan will come.”

Everyone looked up to see a lithe figure descending from midair. She passed straight through the central barrier and landed not far behind them.

Even at a moment like this, Qingzhi’s tone remained as soft and gentle as ever. She brushed at the bloodstains marring her skirt sleeves, her fine brows knitting slightly as she spoke in measured tones. “Qin Xinying sent me a message. She’s on her way to Yedu.”

Which meant the Phoenix Demon Clan had likely been kept entirely in the dark about the whole affair, from beginning to end.

The feud between dragons and phoenixes had raged for millions of years without cease. The Jiao Dragon were merely a sidelong branch of the dragon lineage, their bloodline impure to boot. For such an offshoot to rank above the Fire Phoenix Clan? The Qin family could never stomach that.

Qin Xinying’s arrival would serve not only to affirm the Phoenix Demons’ position but also to seize the chance and crush the Jiao Dragon once and for all.

Otherwise, if the Jiao Dragon were allowed to run rampant, the consequences would be dire. The Three Realms would plunge into chaos, the Mortal Realm would run red with blood, and even the Fire Phoenix Clan’s standing would teeter on the brink of collapse. Phoenix Demons represented the purest remnant of ancient bloodlines in the Three Realms. Even after countless generations, when their blood power had thinned to near transparency, they remained the ideal mates for breeding superior offspring among the Jiao Dragon Clan.

It was a pity, then, that intermarriage between the two clans had ceased after their massive clash three hundred years prior.

The Phoenix Demons hardly suffered for it—the bloodline always followed the mother—but for the Jiao Dragon, already a diluted offshoot of the dragons, it was a grave blow.

The Jiao Dragon Clan boasted formidable warriors, mostly males, innately lascivious, brutal, and savage. They bred readily enough, but the quality of their progeny left much to be desired. Left unchecked, it would take no more than ten thousand years for their already tenuous dragon bloodline to vanish entirely.

Offspring of pure blood were the cornerstone of their survival. If the Fire Phoenix Clan wished to avoid being wholly devoured by the Jiao Dragon down the line, they had only one path forward.

At that thought, Qingzhi suddenly recalled the time she had spent lingering with the Fire Phoenix Clan.

On one stormy night, hounded to the point of exasperation, she had confronted Qin Xinying—the Young Clan Leader herself—demanding to know how one ought to cope with an unrequited love for a woman.

Qin Xinying’s reply had been simple.

She had said that the Phoenix Demon Clan had its own secret arts.