Xiaoxiao watched all this somewhat dumbfounded.

So the Eternal Realm was manifested by Emperor Gu Yan.

Before she could recover from her shock, the scene before her eyes changed again.

However, this scene connected with those dreams she had previously experienced.

Wei Jie from his past life, covered in black scales, was in full demonic fury, murderously intent on killing his grandmother. At the moment when tragedy was about to unfold, the little black phoenix he had raised for a long time suddenly appeared, blocking that thunderous strike for his grandmother.

When Wei Jie, having finally controlled his demonic nature, saw his pet black phoenix lying on the ground barely alive, he immediately flew over and scooped it up in his hands.

His life had been lonely and bitter, never opening his heart to the disciples around him. Instead, the bird he had raised by his side for so long seemed more like his companion and family.

Now, seeing the little black phoenix injured by his hand and barely clinging to life, Wei Jie’s face covered in black scales, couldn’t help but show a trace of painful anguish.

He reached out to gently stroke the little black phoenix’s head, unable to stop himself from roaring angrily, “You are a foolish bird! When I entered demonic fury, even my disciples knew to stay far away from me. Why didn’t you know how to hide?”

That black phoenix had lived long in the mortal world and had long learned to babble like humans. Usually, it could chatter and converse with Wei Jie like a parrot.

Now, as it lay weakly in the black-scaled man’s hands, the sound it made was no longer its usual chattering noise. That parrot-like babbling became somewhat clearer: “Suffer… don’t cry…”

However, its pronunciation wasn’t standard, making it unclear whether it was telling its master not to cry or not to suffer.

But the black-scaled man could do neither at this moment.

He channeled his spiritual power into the little black phoenix’s body, gritting his teeth, “Little one, I won’t let you die! If you die too, what else in this world… can I hold onto!”

The little black phoenix blinked its moist eyes. After Wei Jie’s spiritual power was injected, it seemed more comfortable. It babbled again, half-understanding: “Don’t cry, next life become human, enter demons for you, suffer for you…”

The black-scaled man was amused by the little black phoenix’s words, though his laughter was mixed with too much pain and helplessness.

He knew that being born human was truly the little black phoenix’s long-cherished wish.

This little silly bird usually liked to hang various cloth strips and cotton balls on itself, dressing itself up to look human.

He remembered that not long ago, he had ordered someone to make it a colorful little bellyband. It was so delighted, flapping its wings daily wanting to wear it, then looking at itself endlessly in a small water basin, shaking its half-long tail…

But he had never thought that it wanted to become human to enter demonic fury and suffer for him… For a moment, he could only hold his little silly bird tightly, unable to speak.

Such a human-natured little creature was about to die and enter the endless cycle again…

Just then, the five phoenixes also appeared in the phantom, crying loudly, even leading the man toward some unknown destination ahead.

That man suddenly stood up, seeming to have made up his mind. Completely ignoring his grandmother’s calls, he picked up the little creature and departed in a cloud of dust.

Xiaoxiao was also in tears watching this. In her dreams, she had also spent day and night with the black-scaled man and little black phoenix, witnessing all their daily life.

Now seeing the little black phoenix near death, she couldn’t help but shed heartbroken tears.

Wei Jie also watched this scene, unable to stop himself from holding the struggling, sobbing girl tightly.

Now with the demon pearl attached to his body, he resonated with this past life memory. That pain was connected – he needed to hold the soft, fragrant girl in his arms tightly, relying on her body warmth to suppress that sudden surge of grief.

At this moment, the phantom changed scenes again like a shadow play. Now, the black-scaled man was holding the newly won statue of Zhu Jiuyin, standing in this very temple.

He placed the little black phoenix’s wounded body on the temple altar, addressing the goddess statue in the temple: “Lady Fu said that in this temple, as long as the sacrificial offering is substantial enough, wishes can come true. I’m willing to offer my demonic nature as a sacrifice to let this black phoenix continue living. If this wish can be granted, I’m willing to lose all my demonic nature…”

After saying this, he cut open his wrist, unhesitatingly letting fresh blood drip onto the little black crow.

A drop of his deep red blood fell below the little black phoenix’s half-opened eyelid, like a bright red mole…

But before his blood finished dripping, the wound healed automatically.

Phoenix blood had already flowed from beneath the black phoenix, staining the goddess statue’s feet. The little black phoenix was still hoarsely murmuring: “Next life as human, enter demons for you, suffer for you…”

Accompanied by the imperfect babbling, that little black phoenix instantly transformed into golden powder, scattering into the shape of a lotus, then dissipating into the air again.

It was indeed a human-natured little crow. Even in its final moment, it couldn’t bear for Wei Jie to make deals with evil spirits. In the end, it voluntarily sacrificed itself first, dissolving and disappearing!

“Little one! Where are you? Little one!”

In the vast temple, only the black-scaled man remained. He looked down at the pool of blood at the statue’s feet for a long time without speaking.

“Heaven is unjust, always wanting to strip away everything I cherish. If that’s the case, I want to see whether heaven defeats me, or I defeat heaven!”

After speaking words similar to those in the Phoenix Secret Realm, he stood alone, accompanied by the setting sun’s afterglow, tightly gripping that universe-overturning divine statue, and strode out of the temple with large steps.

The moment he walked out, the scene changed again.

This time, it showed a somewhat old courtyard where, accompanied by loud cries, a baby girl was born.

Xiaoxiao looked in surprise at her long-deceased mother, who was wrapped in a head covering, holding a baby, and looking delighted. But after looking for a while, she exclaimed in alarm.

“Husband, look at your daughter – she has a red mole under her eye. People say that having a mole under the eye means a lifetime of toil… This child…”

A man with his back to Xiaoxiao laughed as he gently touched the red mole under the baby girl’s eye, teasing her while saying, “Nonsense! Although our family isn’t wealthy, we’re still well-off. How could I let my daughter suffer? It’s just that I’m not well-educated and don’t know what a good name to give her is. Wife, you’ve studied – you choose!”

Her mother pondered for a moment, but just then, the baby made babbling sounds.

After listening for a while, her mother laughed, “How is it that I hear the little girl saying ‘Xiao Xiao’? This child is truly miraculous – she can make sounds so soon after birth… Xiao Xiao? Well, let’s name her ‘Xiaoxiao’! The ancient poem says, ‘Bamboo wind can move waves, shore trees don’t block mountains.’ I only wish she’ll be like resilient bamboo, growing up safe and sound…”

Hearing her mother’s familiar voice, Xiaoxiao was in tears again. At this moment, she seemed to suddenly understand.

No wonder her fate was peculiar, no wonder Lord Can couldn’t see her past three lives even with those remnant pages, no wonder she had been dreaming of the little black phoenix ever since mistakenly entering the Eternal Realm…

It turned out the fortune teller was right – her fate was bad, stemming from her very roots!

The little black phoenix had prayed with its blood in the temple and reincarnated as a human.

And she – Cui Xiaoxiao – was the demon embryo nurtured from the demon clan’s divine tree by the goddess, representing the ominous black phoenix! No wonder such a fate chart was the extremely yin Ten Wounds destiny, rarely found in the world!

After the five phoenixes activated the time retrospection method and displayed Xiaoxiao’s past and present lives in this temple, they soared and cried loudly again, circling in dance.

As they continuously cried and danced, all visions disappeared.

That goddess statue that had originally been veiled and holding her head high actually began to slowly lower her head, and the veil gradually fell away.

Wei Jie looked intently and took two more steps forward, his pupils sharply contracting – because the face of that originally featureless goddess statue… gradually became exactly like Xiaoxiao’s!

When he turned to look at Xiaoxiao, he discovered that she was crouched on the ground in pain, her hands convulsively clawing at her back.

“Xiaoxiao, what’s wrong with you?”

“It hurts… my back, it feels like something wants to burst out…”

Wei Jie immediately went to support Xiaoxiao, but the next moment, she suddenly pushed him away forcefully, simultaneously tossing her long hair while screaming and leaping into the air.

The next moment, a pair of golden phoenix wings spread open on Xiaoxiao’s back, stirring up golden air waves in the dilapidated temple. Those magnificent, complex golden golden-feathered wings, combined with the golden scales on Xiaoxiao’s arms, dazzled people into a trance.

Wei Jie looked at the girl with flowing hair, her eyes and brows tinged with golden radiance, finding her extraordinarily alluring. Xiaoxiao, with demonic aura in her eyes, was almost unrecognizable…

Just then, the entire temple was also enveloped in golden light, and a golden pillar of light shot straight into the sky.

At the same time, most of the islands that had been submerged by seawater suddenly rose from the terrifying waves, as if lifted by a giant hand, slowly ascending into mid-air.

The time that had been frozen on the island was instantly released.

Lady Fu, who had been moved to a different position, was caught off guard and drenched in the torrential poisonous blood, screaming in pain as she collapsed to the ground.

Tang Youshu and the others also suddenly came to their senses, looking around in confused panic, completely unable to understand how they had moved locations in an instant.

Just then, Lady Fu, writhing in pain on the ground, had already shed her human disguise, gradually revealing the demon clan characteristics of pointed ears and red eyes.

Despite her unbearable pain and festering body, she stared wide-eyed at the temple emitting the golden pillar of light, murmuring uncontrollably, “How could… how could there be a demon clan sacred light?”

After saying this, she led the water yakshas in a desperate sprint toward the demon clan temple, while Tang Youshu and the others, discovering Wei Jie and Xiaoxiao were missing, also hurried toward the temple.

Just then, accompanied by that golden pillar of light, Xiaoxiao, with spread golden wings, had soared into the sky, floating above the island like a golden statue.

Lady Fu stared blankly at Xiaoxiao. The demon clan saintess’ aura emanating from the girl was unmistakable. Lady Fu fell to her knees with a thud, just like those water yakshas, involuntarily prostrating before the girl in mid-air!

When Xiaoxiao’s demon clan saintess characteristics fully manifested, the aura she emanated had irresistible bloodline suppression over the demon clan people.

At the same time, the demon embryos still sleeping on the island, summoned by the saintess’s golden light, instantly grew and awakened, breaking through the earth and prostrating at the saintess’s feet.

Tang Youshu stared at this scene in bewilderment, while the little fox in his arms was also stretching its neck and whimpering, looking full of gossip but unable to speak.

Fortunately, Tang Youshu could guess the little white fox’s meaning, saying quietly, “You mean these are Xiaoxiao’s newly recruited Hehuan Sect disciples? They look too ugly, don’t they? I guess probably not… Taking such disciples would be quite difficult to manage, wouldn’t it?”

Meanwhile, Dong Yuan, who had just escaped from the demon path, was leaping from the sea onto the large ship that Lord Can had sent to receive him.

Lord Can also stood at the bow, looking in amazement at the island floating in mid-air and the golden pillar of light shooting skyward from the island’s high mountain.

“That… that’s a divine miracle?” Lord Can had always longed to become immortal, with an almost pathological desire for the immortal way.

Seeing such an astounding sight, his legs went weak, and he nearly knelt.

Dong Yuan looked at that skyward golden pillar with shock and uncertainty, murmuring to himself, “Impossible… how could the demon clan sacred light appear? Could the demon clan be reviving?”

Thinking of this, he frowned and reached toward his waist, only to discover that the statue of Zhu Jiuyin he had worked so hard to steal had vanished without a trace.

He had come to this sea and been at a disadvantage everywhere.

Although he had learned about Wei Feng’s whereabouts, seeing her fall into his mortal enemy’s embrace made his heart feel like it was being cut by knives.

Aside from a crown emitting ghostly green light, he had gained almost nothing.

And now, the demon clan that should have been eliminated long ago had survivors lurking on this floating island for hundreds of years.

These demons were robbing and deceiving humans of their lifespans – acts that heaven wouldn’t tolerate and that should bring down heavenly punishment. But this also involved many of Dong Yuan’s unspeakable deeds…

He had originally wanted to use his power to quietly and quickly resolve everything. But now that the demon clan temple’s sacred light was rekindled, it would surely alert the Heavenly Court…

Thinking of this, Dong Yuan’s brow furrowed involuntarily, no longer showing his usual calm and carefree demeanor.

The Heavenly Emperor had always followed the principle of the natural heavenly way. Since ending the great war with the demon clan, he had adopted a lenient self-cultivation policy toward the immortals.

As long as the upper gods didn’t go too far in their actions, the Heavenly Emperor would turn a blind eye with rare confusion. This was one reason why Dong Yuan had grown bolder, even daring to send his soul to the mortal realm.

But now with the demon clan’s revival and sacred light piercing the heavens, the Heavenly Emperor’s half-closed eyes would probably have to open…

Thinking of this, Dong Yuan looked at a ray of sunlight from the sky falling onto the ship’s rail. He instructed Lord Can behind him, “Help me watch over this body. I’ll go and return quickly…”

After saying this, Qin Lingxiao’s body suddenly fell straight backward. A transparent light escaped from his body and quickly rushed up to the clouds!

Lord Can knew this meant Upper God Dong Yuan had returned to the Heavenly Court.

At the same time, the original soul of Qin Lingxiao, whom he had possessed, barely awakened and tried to get up after suddenly opening his eyes.

The Ghost Sect disciples nearby were prepared. Before he could rise, a Soul-Stabilizing Blood Talisman was pasted on Qin Lingxiao’s face, fixing his primordial spirit again.

Lord Can waved his hand, signaling people to bind Qin Lingxiao and send him to the cage below deck. Such a good body wasn’t easy to find – Dong Yuan would still need it when he returned.

He had to help the upper god properly preserve this body. After all, he still needed to rely on Dong Yuan to seek methods for ascending to immortality.

But… what exactly had happened on that island?

Lord Can looked at the golden light still continuously shooting toward the clouds, squinting in fascination: This was divine power daring to break through the Heavenly Court! Truly enviable – how wonderful it would be if he could claim this power for himself…

Thinking of this, Lord Can’s somewhat aged face couldn’t help but reveal a meaningful smile full of endless greed.

Setting aside the turbulent waves on the mortal sea, at this moment in Dong Yuan’s immortal mansion in the Heavenly Court, a handsome emperor with divine symbols on his forehead slowly opened his eyes.

But before his soul could completely settle in his own body, a slap came swiftly toward his face.

Dong Yuan hadn’t expected that after receiving Wei Jie’s series of slaps, upon just returning to the heavenly realm, his immortal face would suffer another blow for no reason.

Having returned to his original body, he was no longer limited by mortal flesh and naturally wouldn’t endure such humiliation.

But when he looked up at the person who had slapped him, his eyes trembled slightly, then he quickly stood up and bowed, “Mother… why have you come?”

Standing before him was a goddess of extraordinary beauty with elaborately piled cloud-like hair. Purple qi surrounded her entire body, her head emitted faint golden light – clearly the profound immortal rank that only primordial great gods possessed.

The Heavenly Court’s Heavenly Mother Saint Rong Yao was now glaring at her son, “You have such audacity! If I hadn’t had a whim to seek you at your immortal mansion, I truly wouldn’t have known you dared to privately descend to the mortal realm and cause such tremendous trouble!”

Dong Yuan didn’t dare argue with Heavenly Mother Saint, only raising his head slightly to probe, “Father God… also knows of this?”

Heavenly Mother Rong Yao was also forcibly suppressing her rage, saying icily, “If the Heavenly Emperor knew of your deeds, do you think you could still be sitting peacefully in your cave mansion? He saw anomalies appear in the mortal realm and has ordered an investigation, but I’ve temporarily blocked the lower gods sent to investigate. Speak! What exactly did you go to the mortal realm for? Why did you clash with and disturb Emperor Gu Yan’s mortal tribulation? He only needed to endure one more tribulation to return to the Heavenly Court. You interfering from the sidelines – aren’t you afraid of chilling the Heavenly Court’s hearts?”

Hearing that the Heavenly Emperor still didn’t know, Dong Yuan felt slightly relieved.

He knew his father god was currently in closed-door cultivation and probably couldn’t emerge for a while. As long as his mother was willing to cooperate with him, just like in the past, it would only be making big issues small and small issues disappear.

After all, all the major and minor affairs of the Heavenly Court were now handled by his mother.

So he put on his gentle jade-like smile again, saying mildly, “Just feeling restless for a moment, went for a walk.”

Unfortunately, Rong Yao wasn’t like the habitually blind Heavenly Emperor. She wouldn’t tolerate any grain of sand in her eyes. Looking at her son, who wanted to muddle through, she said coldly, “Don’t think I don’t know – you just can’t give up and want to go to the Underworld to seek Wei Feng. Now the demon clan’s sacred light is about to pierce through the nine layers of auspicious clouds! Your father god closes his eyes, but the primordial upper gods in the heavenly realm aren’t just me and your father! This time you want to deceive heaven and cross the sea – impossible! Speak! What exactly is this demon clan sacred light about?”