Xiaoxiao was thinking these thoughts when she suddenly heard faint wind sounds coming from the mountaintop. Following the sound, she looked up and discovered that at some unknown time, a towering and magnificent temple had abruptly appeared on the summit.

That wind sound… was coming from inside the temple.

For some unknown reason, Xiaoxiao felt that the temple was extremely familiar, as if… she had been there before.

Accompanied by the sobbing wind sounds, Xiaoxiao suddenly felt her entire body becoming somewhat itchy. Looking down at her arms, she saw the golden scales that had long since formed there, and now these scale-covered areas were experiencing waves of itching. Something seemed to be about to emerge from her back as well…

As for Lady Fu, seeing those water yakshas prostrating and paying respects toward Xiaoxiao, her expression couldn’t help but tighten.

Water yakshas were the demon clan’s first-rate valiant demon warriors. Even the city lord couldn’t make them cower and prostrate on the ground in fear, unless… it was the saintess representing the demon clan’s reproduction who possessed this kind of absolute bloodline suppression.

But how could this be possible!

The demon clan hadn’t had a saintess appear for a thousand years.

Back then, the ebony divine tree enshrined in the temple that could propagate the demon clan’s sacred bloodline was stolen by Wei Feng. The demon clan also suffered a massacre by heavenly troops and has declined ever since.

If a saintess were to appear, why would their demon clan need to be trapped in this place, barely surviving?

Although she couldn’t understand the reason, Cui Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie were even more powerful than she had imagined, having just beaten that upper god Dong Yuan until he was completely helpless.

Wanting to devour their spirits to nourish the demon embryo probably wouldn’t be as simple as imagined. However, since they had already climbed Zhangwei Mountain, trying to easily descend would be extremely difficult.

This Zhangwei Mountain was a sacred mountain bestowed upon the demon clan by Zhu Jiuyin.

In ancient times, it was because the demon clan found this divine mountain that they gained a foothold in the three realms. From then on, the previously nomadic demon clan could finally settle down and live peacefully.

Unfortunately, when the heavenly army massacred the city, even the demon clan members who had fled to Zhangwei Mountain’s temple couldn’t escape. They were pursued and killed by the heavenly army, their blood spilling across the mountaintop.

Perhaps it was the demon clan’s blood that awakened Zhangwei Mountain’s ancient divine meridians, activating its teleportation power, finally allowing the remaining demon clan members on the mountain, including Lady Fu, to disappear together from the demon city.

Afterward, this demon mountain appeared on the floating island formed by Xi Rang, and Lady Fu and the remaining clan members began their grand plan to revive the demon clan.

However, when the demon city was attacked, the ebony divine tree enshrined in Zhangwei Mountain’s sacred temple, which could nourish the demon clan’s lifeline, vanished without a trace, thus severing the demon clan’s lifeline.

They could no longer reproduce the demon clan and could only produce demon warriors like the water yakshas. To nourish those formed demon embryos, they could only continuously lure human clan members to the island to absorb their lifespans to nourish the demon clan.

However, the human clan’s offering of lifespans required voluntary consent. For this reason, this place became a perpetually prosperous gambling ground, using gold, silver, and precious stones along with human greed to tempt those people to willingly surrender their lives.

Thinking of this, Lady Fu couldn’t help but look toward the empty sacred temple on the mountaintop. That temple now no longer contained the divine tree, only countless clan members’ memorial tablets, waiting for her, this widow, to offer the heads of the demon clan’s enemies as sacrifices for their salvation.

And now, the main culprit behind the demon clan’s tragedy had climbed onto the island. Lady Fu naturally wouldn’t let Wei Feng’s reincarnation escape easily!

She just hadn’t expected those newly hatched water yakshas to be so useless. But it didn’t matter, she still had her trump card…

Thinking of this, she suddenly smiled seductively and pursed her lips to emit a long whistle.

Although those water yakshas remained prostrate and motionless, Xiaoxiao felt a swift wind attacking from behind.

She turned to look and saw that it was Qin He with blood-red eyes, suddenly attacking them.

Qin He had previously accepted a demon pearl won from gambling on the demon island to save his life. Although he appeared unharmed at first glance, how could accepting gifts from the demon island come without a price?

The demon pearl on his body was from the previous generation’s demon city lord. In just an instant, he became a puppet of this demon island.

When Qin Lingxiao, who had been possessed by Dong Yuan, retreated from the underground cave earlier, he hadn’t followed along but had hidden behind the mountain rocks. Now he was being controlled by Lady Fu to attack Cui Xiaoxiao.

Because of the five phoenixes’ manifestation, Lady Fu was certain that this young woman was the demon clan’s enemy, determined to make her blood splatter across the demon island to comfort the souls of the departed clan members.

At this moment, Qin He had been completely demonized by the demon pearl. Even his body had taken on a beast-like state, moving on all fours as he charged wildly toward Xiaoxiao and the others.

Wei Jie positioned himself in front of Xiaoxiao and immediately knocked Qin He back with a shock.

After being knocked back by Wei Jie’s force, Qin He immediately spat out a mouthful of fresh blood that splattered onto Tang Youshu’s arm.

Tang Youshu let out a muffled grunt of pain and urgently said, “Not good, there seems to be deadly poison in his blood!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the wound on Tang Youshu’s arm rapidly spread, and in no time, it had festered into a mess.

This Qin He, contaminated by the demon pearl, seemed to have refined himself into a poison demon. Just one mouthful of blood was so lethal!

After being knocked back, Qin He crouched on the ground with blood-red eyes, beginning to make croaking sounds in his throat like a toad, and his body began to continuously expand like a frog.

This abnormal condition caused everyone to retreat repeatedly. When Qin He pounced again, Wei Jie narrowed his eyes at his still-expanding body and suddenly shouted, “Not good, scatter quickly!”

Before his words finished, Qin He’s body suddenly burst open, transforming into a shower of blood that attacked everyone.

They had already witnessed the power of his poisonous blood. Now his entire body had exploded, scattering into a rain of blood filling the sky! If it splashed on their bodies, they would either die or be severely injured.

Wei Jie promptly manifested a qi shield to block it, but the blood water that Qin He had transformed into after fusing with the demon pearl seemed to have corrosive properties, passing through the qi shield without obstruction and splashing toward them.

At the critical moment, Wei Jie embraced Xiaoxiao, prepared to use his own body to shield her from that torrential blood water, while Tang Youshu also endured his severe pain, preparing to use his body to protect the little white fox.

However, those fox clan members were going to suffer. They had nowhere to hide from this torrential, poisonous blood.

But when they tightly closed their eyes, waiting for the poisonous blood rain to strike, the blood rain filling the sky didn’t fall for a long time.

When Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie turned their heads to look, they were amazed to discover that those blood droplets were all suspended in mid-air. Everyone except the two of them seemed to be frozen in time.

Xiaoxiao looked at Wei Jie’s hand in surprise. In his hand had once again appeared the statue of Zhu Jiuyin that had been taken away by Dong Yuan.

At this moment, the entire statue was emitting a faint golden light. It seemed that this time-controlling divine statue had instantly frozen time, causing all people and objects to fall into stillness.

Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie looked at each other, seeing that Lady Fu was also motionless, while Tang Youshu was also tightly holding the little white fox, half-crouched in place.

“This… what exactly is happening? How did this divine statue come back?”

Wei Jie furrowed his brow and thought, then said, “This demon island has strong gambling habits, but it seems to value gambling ethics highly. This divine statue was something I won at the gambling table, so that Dong Yuan probably couldn’t take it away by robbery.”

Xiaoxiao nodded admiringly. Zhu Jiuyin was originally a god who controlled time. This magical treasure that could reverse two hundred years of time could naturally freeze time with ease.

She just didn’t know what had triggered it to freeze time, allowing them to avoid the disaster of poisonous blood splashing in their faces.

No matter what, they quickly took advantage of this frozen moment. Wei Jie moved Tang Youshu and several fox clan members to a safe place.

Then he very conveniently moved Lady Fu under the poison demon blood. When time resumed, she could enjoy the poisonous demon blood she had brewed herself.

However, Wei Jie felt this wasn’t satisfying enough. To eliminate future troubles, he thought about it and simply drew out the Heaven’s Punishment Sword, preparing to finish off Lady Fu with one strike.

But just then, he caught sight of Xiaoxiao seeming to be attracted by something, suddenly flying toward the empty temple on the mountain.

Wei Jie, afraid that something would happen to her, immediately flew after her as well.

Upon entering the temple, Wei Jie grabbed Xiaoxiao’s arm. “Xiaoxiao, what’s wrong with you?”

Xiaoxiao looked around in confusion, “I don’t know. I always feel like some voice is calling to me… I had to come here.”

Wei Jie gazed intently at Xiaoxiao before him. When she looked around in confusion, he always had the illusion that she might leave him at any moment, never to be seen again.

At this moment, Xiaoxiao was staring intently at a goddess statue standing in the temple.

This goddess wore a light veil over her face, making her features unclear, but she had a pair of golden-feathered wings on her back and held a pair of precious swords in her hands.

However, perhaps because it had experienced the fires of heavenly warfare, this statue was severely damaged, with only half of those golden-feathered wings remaining.

Just then, a phoenix’s cries suddenly rang out, and Xiaoxiao’s five phoenix guardian spirits circled upward once again.

Amid the phoenix cries, the surroundings suddenly darkened, manifesting streams of light and shadow.

Xiaoxiao suddenly discovered that she and Wei Jie seemed to have arrived at the banks of the Underworld’s Wangchuan River.

A bright light accompanied by five phoenixes heavily crashed into the river. Those five phoenixes continuously wailed and cried out, as if calling to the person at the bottom of the river, but no one responded for a long time.

That light shadow resembling a woman’s form blurred into a mass, gradually sinking into the river.

After an unknown amount of time, an unusually tall man wearing a black hooded cloak stood by the river, his back to Xiaoxiao and the others, coldly addressing the gradually dimming light shadow at the bottom of the river, “You’ve refused to come out for so long that you’ll miss reincarnation and sink deep into the bottom of Wangchuan River.”

From the bottom of the river came a woman’s gentle sigh, “Emperor Gu Yan, who practices the way of heartlessness, didn’t expect you would still care about others’ life and death…”

Hearing this, Xiaoxiao was secretly shocked, not expecting to see a phantom of Emperor Gu Yan when he was still in the Underworld.

Then the person he was talking to now, could it be the original master of the five phoenixes, that Goddess Wei Feng?

It seemed this temple allowed the five phoenixes to manifest some old scenes they had once witnessed.

Wei Jie also raised his eyebrows, looking at his past life’s back. This feeling of watching himself was quite mystical.

Just then, that Emperor Gu Yan said coldly again, “If not for your past distinguished military achievements, I naturally wouldn’t care about you. For one willfully reckless divine son, you don’t want to live like this? I think you’re not like a goddess, but rather like a resentful woman from the mortal world!”

Xiaoxiao felt her heart sink hearing this. It seemed that no matter how many lives he experienced, Wei Jie’s sharp tongue was passed down through generations without any waste.

She just didn’t know if Goddess Wei Feng at the bottom of the river was struck to the heart.

After hearing Emperor Gu Yan’s words, the soul at the bottom of the river chuckled softly, “It seems my misplaced affection has become a laughingstock among all the gods… I willingly accept punishment not because of heartbreak, but to atone… I wronged those three thousand demon clan members. Suffering heavenly punishment and falling into the Underworld is deserved… “

When she said this, Wei Feng’s words became low and tinged with pain, as if she was recalling the scene of personally witnessing the slaughter of demon city women and children.

As the master of the Underworld, Emperor Gu Yan had long been accustomed to life and death, so the demon city tragedy wouldn’t move him. He only said coldly, “So you’ve decided to never emerge, to sink forever at the bottom of this Wangchuan River? Then I was meddling… “

After saying this, he prepared to turn and leave. But from the river came a clear voice, “Emperor, please wait… I know that although you are cold to others, you have a noble character and are very different from Dong Yuan. I have something I’d like to entrust to you. I wonder if you could agree?”

Emperor Gu Yan didn’t speak, but he also didn’t turn around, seemingly prepared to listen to what the dead spirit at the bottom of the river had to say.

She heard Wei Feng say in a low voice, “I am a phoenix who has cultivated immortality. I should belong to the demon immortals, and originally should have been heartless. But during cultivation, I traveled the mortal world and developed the seven emotions and six desires, which I still haven’t refined and purified. Compared to you and Dong Yuan, I’ve fallen to the lower level of cultivation. Although my cultivation is limited, I’ve always felt that the living beings of the three realms naturally have their way of survival. Only by achieving balance among the three realms can they coexist without worry… Even gods should have restraints. Otherwise, willfully reckless gods would be no different from the demon clan. Now that the demon city has been destroyed and the demon clan has been almost completely slaughtered, the Heavenly Realm no longer has any restraining troubles, but this makes me very worried… So when the demon city was destroyed, I took the demon city’s divine tree and nourished it with my primordial spirit. Even though it experienced heavenly tribulation, it didn’t perish. It just suffered some damage and needs to be nourished by the extremely yin silt at the bottom of Wangchuan River. I haven’t reincarnated precisely for this divine tree. With it, the demon clan can rest and recover, and one day they can be restored.”

After hearing these words, Emperor Gu Yan was silent for a long while before finally speaking, “So you weren’t just a woman trapped by love. I underestimated you. But you want to nurture demons, doing such things that risk universal condemnation. Aren’t you afraid of being devoured by demons and losing your soul forever?”

Wei Feng smiled bitterly, “Even as the Heavenly Emperor, one may not fully understand the causes and consequences of worldly affairs. I owe the demon clan thousands of fresh lives. Repaying one life isn’t a loss. It’s just that the demon clan is too warlike, with a murderous nature. If this divine tree nourished by my primordial spirit can refine their demonic hearts and give them more compassion and kindness, then what does it matter if I’m devoured by it?”

As she spoke, a tender sprout gradually grew from the bottom of the river, enlarging and budding.

Emperor Gu Yan frowned at the flower bud that had suddenly appeared on the river of the dead, continuing coldly, “Since it’s your life, you naturally make your own decisions. If you’re willing to feed yourself to demons, I won’t interfere. As for its life and death, that depends on its fortune.”

After saying this, he turned to leave again.

But Wei Feng’s gradually weakening voice called out to him again, “Divine Lord, my consciousness is about to scatter and be completely absorbed by this flower. It was born in the extremely cold place of the Underworld and has never received sunlight or rain, or dew. If it’s influenced by the evil spirits at the bottom of the river, it will grow crooked. I have a presumptuous request – could you, in your spare time, recite Buddhist scriptures for this flower so it can feel the sound of compassion?”

Emperor Gu Yan seemed to find such a request extremely absurd. He laughed coldly and said, “You said yourself that I practice the way of heartlessness. Do you think I would do something as boring as reciting scriptures for a demon flower?”

The voice from the bottom of the river became much lower and weaker, smiling bitterly, “I naturally know… I just always hoped you could… I was indeed asking too much… May you be well hereafter… Wei Feng bids farewell here…”

Accompanied by gurgling sounds, the river surface returned to deathly silence.

Emperor Gu Yan stopped in his tracks and turned to look. That large flower bud had slightly opened, growing into a pitch-black half-lotus.

When Emperor Gu Yan turned to leave, only that black lotus stood in the water, quietly resting on the river surface amid the wailing and sobbing of the resentful spirits at the bottom of the river.

Although it was just a phantom, Xiaoxiao, as an observer, felt as if a very long time had passed. Just as she couldn’t endure this deathly silence any longer and was about to speak, that tall man in the black hooded cloak appeared again by the river.

He looked coldly at that thin, weak lotus that was becoming increasingly black, finally withdrew his gaze, sat by the river, opened a scripture book, and began to recite in a low voice.

As a deity, his low voice was magnificent and resonant. The sound of scripture recitation caused ripples to rise on the river surface.

And that frail little flower seemed to finally find a direction to look up to, shyly blooming two petals, with a faint golden light emerging at the edges of the pitch-black petals.

So for the time that followed, the cold emperor seemed to come to the river day after day to recite scriptures.

And that flower bloomed larger and larger, each black petal seeming to be dusted with gold powder.

It seemed to have gained human nature. Whenever the man sat cross-legged by the river, the lotus would gently sway, striving to hold up its petals to make itself bloom more charmingly.

Only the man’s gaze would never linger on it, coldly and methodically, emotionlessly reciting the same Buddhist scriptures over and over.

But such days were ultimately broken by someone. It seemed someone was trying to break into the Underworld, stirring up endless waves on the Wangchuan River surface.

Someone shouted, “Emperor Gu Yan, hand over Wei Feng! She keeps refusing to reincarnate – are you creating obstacles for her?”

What followed was Emperor Gu Yan driving away the intruder and fighting with him.

Looking at that person’s appearance, Xiaoxiao’s first instinct was that the smiling tiger was Dong Yuan.

She knew she was now witnessing the scene of Dong Yuan breaking into the Underworld to demand someone, only to be blocked by Emperor Gu Yan.

The two fought together, but Emperor Gu Yan was superior.

The Emperor Dong Yuan fell into disadvantage and seemed somewhat unable to save face. He suddenly sneered, “Emperor Gu Yan, you truly have good scheming. Being in the Underworld, your cultivation has improved rapidly. But don’t forget that when Wise Ancestor calculated your fate in the Heavenly Court, he said that although your way of heartlessness is powerful, it also has flaws and defects. You have one natural enemy in this life. If a black phoenix reappears, your cultivation will be destroyed, and you can only be reborn as a human, experiencing numerous tribulations…”

Emperor Gu Yan didn’t seem to believe in fate calculations, even if the one making them was the enlightened Wise Ancestor.

“Black phoenix? Such evil creatures haven’t appeared for ten thousand years and require demon spirits to evolve. You’ve already slaughtered the demon clan to extinction – where would you summon a black phoenix to deal with me?”

Dong Yuan also knew black phoenixes were hard to find, but thinking of what he had inadvertently obtained from his mother, he wanted to try it.

He took out the evil spirit summoning talisman he had stolen from the Holy Mother, which bore a black phoenix design. Silently chanting, in an instant, the sky and earth changed color, with thick clouds rolling everywhere.

Xiaoxiao, as an observer, could see clearly. She saw that the lotus flower on the Underworld’s Wangchuan River finally bloomed completely. In the flower’s heart was a tiny creature like a hummingbird. The black lotus rapidly withered and died, while that little hummingbird grew larger and larger, flying rapidly toward the Underworld gate.

Right at the Underworld gate, the phoenix’s cries suddenly rang out. A black phoenix emerged from the Underworld gate with spread wings, letting out a loud, shocking cry.

Dong Yuan was delighted to see this, not expecting his attempt to succeed.

But unexpectedly, that black phoenix didn’t do as he wished and attacked Emperor Gu Yan. Instead, it charged toward Dong Yuan, crying loudly as it pounced on him.

Xiaoxiao, watching from the side, was also stunned… How was this different from the mythological descriptions? This black phoenix was taking sides from the start!

When she turned to look at the Wangchuan River surface behind her, that black lotus had already disappeared without a trace.

The two gods and one phoenix were locked in combat again, and victory was quickly decided. Both Dong Yuan and Gu Yan were severely injured, and that black phoenix was also struck by Dong Yuan, crying out in pain.

“Damn beast!” Accompanied by Dong Yuan’s angry roar, he raised his hand to deliver a killing blow to the black phoenix, but was blocked by Gu Yan again.

Dong Yuan no longer wished to continue fighting and fled with tremendous fury. His divine essence was severely damaged. If he couldn’t find a way to repair it, he might fall into the mortal realm!

Emperor Gu Yan glanced at the black phoenix and immediately sensed the black lotus scent on it.

He hadn’t expected that Dong Yuan’s summoning of evil spirits would birth a little black phoenix from that black lotus that hadn’t fully grown.

But this was understandable. After all, this black lotus had absorbed Wei Feng’s primordial spirit to grow into a demon embryo. It had both phoenix form and demonic essence – transforming into a black phoenix was perfectly normal.

This little black phoenix wasn’t fully grown yet. If it appeared in the world too early, it would probably be mercilessly eliminated by heavenly law, thus disappointing Goddess Wei Feng’s sacrifice… Thinking of this, Emperor Gu Yan waved his hand and sealed the black phoenix in the Eternal Realm manifested by his divine power.

The five phoenix guardian spirits that had been wandering in the Underworld let out hostile cries and also charged into the Eternal Realm before it closed.

Their master had become nourishment for evil spirits, so they were filled with endless hostility toward this black phoenix, chasing after it to peck its feathers.

However, the six birds immediately transformed into eggs upon entering the divine realm, waiting in the divine realm to be revived and hatch again. Emperor Gu Yan couldn’t worry about whether the six birds could get along peacefully.

He had injured Dong Yuan and would inevitably be punished by the Heavenly Court. It seemed Wise Ancestor’s fate calculation was accurate – when the black phoenix reappeared, it truly was the beginning of his tribulation…

The scriptures he had recited might as well have been fed to dogs.