Xiaoxiao thought again—if the secret manual fell into that unmanned narrow valley, it was still better than being found by others.

Moreover, Master’s rambling writing style never had a clear focus. Even if someone saw it, they would probably think it was some scholar who loved writing unofficial histories, fabricating wild nonsense based on immortal cultivation tales…

After comforting herself this way, Xiaoxiao’s mood improved slightly, but she still looked around reluctantly.

Seeing her constantly looking down for something, Yu Ling’er asked what she was looking for. Xiaoxiao vaguely said her bundle was lost, and she had no change of clothes.

Yu Ling’er generously offered her dress to Xiaoxiao. When she had seen Wei Jie buy so many beautiful dresses for Xiaoxiao, she had been quite envious, so she pestered Tang Youshu to buy her two little dresses too.

Although the dress style wasn’t as luxurious as Xiaoxiao’s, it was charming and cute, with very flowing gauze.

It’s just that now Xiaoxiao’s arm scales had all turned golden—this was hard to match with clothing colors!

Xiaoxiao and Yu Ling’er rarely had such a moment of seeing eye to eye, both looking at the golden arm and sighing together.

Then Xiaoxiao found a pool in the back mountain, first soaking well and washing off the charred carbon debris on her body.

At this time, dawn was breaking. When the stream water reflected her face, Xiaoxiao looked carefully and felt amazed—she seemed to have become even more beautiful…

It wasn’t that her facial features had changed, but her eyes and brows now carried more aloof coldness than before, and even the corners of her eyes were slightly upturned like phoenix eyes, giving a sense of cold arrogance and sharpness.

The red mole at the corner of her eye had also become more vividly red. The expression flowing between her brows and eyes now seemed strange even to herself, as if… as if it had the cold, aloof feeling of those five phoenixes looking down on people.

Could it be that because five phoenixes were attached to her, she had also picked up some phoenix habits? Amitabha Buddha, Infinite Celestial Worthy! She didn’t like eating snake meat—she hoped she wouldn’t be assimilated by these phoenixes!

However, her current appearance did have the imposing dignity of a great sect master. Xiaoxiao felt that if she didn’t speak, she had even more presence of a great power than Ling Zhishan two hundred years later!

She looked again at the colored phoenix marks on her neck. Even scrubbing vigorously with water, those marks showed no signs of fading.

She just hoped they would behave and not always cause her trouble like the Demon Pearl.

Speaking of the Demon Pearl, Xiaoxiao closed her eyes and tried to sense its presence. The Demon Pearl was now silent as a cicada in winter, seemingly not even daring to sleep deeply.

When Xiaoxiao tried to speak with it, it finally said in a trembling voice: “You damn girl, you did this on purpose, didn’t you? Getting five phoenixes to attach to your body! If you wanted me to leave, I would obediently leave. But now with phoenixes attached to your neck, how the hell am I supposed to get out?”

Xiaoxiao still closed her eyes and asked: “Do you know why these phoenixes are attached to my body, and how to get rid of them?”

The Demon Pearl still spoke with a trembling voice: “If I knew, I would have told you long ago! Would I wait until now? But they just underwent nirvana and rebirth, and attached to your body, they’re all in deep sleep, which is why I dare to speak. He only brought out one black phoenix back then, but you brought out five at once? What exactly is your background to have such great supernatural power?”

Xiaoxiao knew this Demon Pearl was refined from the demonic nature within Demon Lord Wei Jie’s body, so it naturally experienced all the tribulations from Wei Jie’s original trajectory.

Hearing it mention the black phoenix, Xiaoxiao knew she hadn’t guessed wrong—the crow that Demon Lord Wei Jie brought out back then was a black phoenix.

Thinking of this, Xiaoxiao asked again: “Then… where did that black phoenix that the Demon Lord brought out back then go?”

The Demon Pearl heard this and let out several cold laughs: “An ominous thing not tolerated by heaven and earth—what other end could it have? He brought that thing out with his thoughts, and in the end, naturally…”

Before the Demon Pearl could finish speaking, Yu Ling’er’s shout came, asking if Xiaoxiao had finished washing. Wei Jie had roasted rabbit meat for everyone and told her to come eat quickly.

Xiaoxiao didn’t respond and continued letting the Demon Pearl finish speaking, but the Demon Pearl seemed to have exhausted its vitality and fell silent again.

Xiaoxiao sighed, couldn’t care about admiring herself in the water anymore, quickly wrung out her wet hair, put on the dress properly, and shuffled in her shoes to eat this late midnight snack with everyone.

Wei Jie’s cooking skills were well-known. Even in the wilderness, with just some wild scallions and the salt and pepper he carried, he could roast rabbit meat to be crispy outside and tender inside.

He first broke off a rabbit leg for Xiaoxiao, then took a towel and went behind Xiaoxiao, naturally helping her dry her wet hair.

Xiaoxiao now had some attitude of “a scalded pig fears no hot water” and was too lazy to avoid such intimacies with Wei Jie, just letting him wipe. She was starving and needed to eat a few bites of fragrant meat to satisfy her hunger first.

Yu Ling’er watched Wei Jie carefully dry Xiaoxiao’s long hair and felt somewhat envious. Wei Jie was always cold and harsh with others, but he was good to Xiaoxiao.

This Cui Xiaoxiao had secured this disciple…

Around the campfire, everyone gathered in twos and threes to talk. After Wei Jie finished drying Xiaoxiao’s hair, he pulled her to a corner to eat and talk.

After eating half a rabbit leg, Xiaoxiao had the leisure to ask about Wei Jie’s progress.

When they found the remnant pages, they were already full of holes. She wondered if Wei Jie had successfully delivered them back to the Underworld.

Hearing her question, Wei Jie was silent for a moment and said: “I did deliver them, but Grandmother said whether we can get by, we can only leave it to fate.”

Xiaoxiao thought of the Wei family’s fate in the original trajectory and felt somewhat uneasy. She just didn’t know if delivering those hole-riddled remnant pages back could reduce the Wei family’s sins, at least avoiding the tragedy of family extermination.

Next, she told Wei Jie about seeing the new owner of Ghost Stone Cliff manor during the day, Princess Yongning.

Lord Can specifically transferred this manor to Princess Yongning before his death—there must be a conspiracy involved.

Unfortunately, Xiaoxiao wasn’t from two hundred years ago and knew very little about Princess Yongning.

Wei Jie had previously investigated Lord Can thoroughly and also knew something about Princess Yongning, whom Lord Can doted on.

This princess’s father was the Prince of Changshan, who by rights should be Lord Can’s half-brother, said to be born from the late emperor and a female Taoist, then fostered under a palace concubine’s name.

Although Prince of Changshan’s birth was somewhat improper, he was quite favored by the late emperor. Though he was also enfeoffed early, imperial grace and rewards never ceased each year, and one of Prince of Changshan’s younger sons had previously been adopted by Lord Can.

Hearing this, Xiaoxiao suddenly thought: If following the original trajectory, Lord Can would support this adopted younger son to ascend the throne, becoming a regent below only one person.

This way, the little princess’s father had an intimate relationship with Lord Can, the kind where they could send each other sons.

But if Lord Can was Xia Yuansong, then the adopted son was Xia Yuansong’s grandson. He supported his grandson to become the new emperor.

Could it be… Xia Yuansong abandoned the identity of Lord Can and set his sights on the Prince of Changshan, which is why he granted such an important place as Ghost Stone Cliff to the Prince of Changshan’s daughter?

Hearing Xiaoxiao’s analysis, Wei Jie slowly shook his head: “Prince of Changshan’s behavior is different from Lord Can’s. This prince likes drinking and entertaining guests, with endless flowing banquets daily. Although Xia Yuansong can return to youth, he probably can’t completely change his appearance, much less replace such a prince who loves pleasure and making friends. Otherwise, he would quickly be seen through by those familiar with Prince of Changshan…”

Xiaoxiao thought and said, “That Lord Can always act with deep planning. If he intended to replace Prince of Changshan, he should also be able to think of ways to deceive heaven and cross the sea.”

However, if there was a chance in the future, if she saw Prince of Changshan, she should be able to spot flaws. If she knew Lord Can’s whereabouts, at least the Crown Prince’s side could have taken some precautions.

Otherwise, once that treacherous king brewed up some conspiracy again, it would probably be another world catastrophe…

After everyone ate their midnight snack, it was time to catch up on sleep.

No matter how much Xiaoxiao’s cultivation improved, three meals a day and regular rest were unchangeable. After meditation and quiet cultivation, she had to sleep.

Moreover, she had narrowly escaped death and just wanted to sleep well to recover her spirits.

The one who understood her best was naturally her chief disciple. While she was bathing earlier, he had silently cut dry grass, made a grass mattress, and spread clothes on it.

This way, Xiaoxiao could sleep beautifully on the dry, insulated grass mattress.

When Xiaoxiao lay on the grass mattress, she couldn’t help pulling Wei Jie’s hand to see if his wrists had healed.

But Wei Jie misunderstood, thinking she didn’t want him to leave, so he stroked Xiaoxiao’s hair and said: “Be good, rest assured, and sleep. I’m not going anywhere—I’ll guard you like this.”

After speaking, he sat beside Xiaoxiao and began meditating cross-legged.

He hadn’t told Xiaoxiao the truth. Although the blood from his wrists was easy to recover from, the heart’s blood he shed while crying earlier was most damaging to his vitality.

Having half succubus bloodline, he naturally had the weaknesses of the succubus clan—that is, he couldn’t be greatly saddened or emotional. Once emotional and crying, he always harmed himself. However, Wei Jie had no regret about the bloody tears he shed earlier.

He knew it was precisely with this bit of his heart’s blood that he pulled Xiaoxiao back from death’s door.

But he needed to quickly regulate his breathing and meditate to strengthen his foundation and vitality. Moreover, for the next several days, he shouldn’t use true qi in combat, or it would easily disturb his dantian’s true qi…

Xiaoxiao looked at Wei Jie’s profile as he regulated his breathing and felt her heart grow slightly sweet.

With Wei Jie’s eyes closed, she could look at him without restraint.

Although Wei Jie stubbornly refused to admit it earlier, Xiaoxiao guessed that he must have thought she wouldn’t make it, so he shed bloody tears…

From childhood to adulthood, it seemed only Mother had ever shed tears for her. But Mother had died early.

She had thought that in this lifetime, besides Mother and Master, she would never again meet someone who would be sad and cry for her.

Wei Jie—this name that once made her tremble with fear, somehow now felt suffused with indescribable sweetness when silently recited in her heart.

Thinking of this, Xiaoxiao fell asleep with a smile at the corner of her mouth.

But Wei Jie, who had been meditating, suddenly opened his eyes and gazed toward the Buddha Palm Phoenix Viewing Platform in the front mountain.

There seemed to be moving shadows there, probably also looking toward the back mountain…

At this very moment, on that high platform, Princess Yongning was still looking into the distance with her hand shading her eyes, murmuring: “There’s no movement at all. Where are the legendary phoenixes?”

Last night, she heard from mountain craftsmen reporting to guards that phoenixes and immortals were flying in the sky, so she specifically hurried here by carriage to see. Unfortunately, after finally reaching the high platform, everywhere was quiet, with only occasional bird and beast calls—no phoenixes at all!

Just then, someone behind her said coldly, “When phoenixes come to the world, it’s a once-in-a-millennium spectacular sight. How could it be seen casually? If there are any, time will tell—you’ll eventually see them.”

Hearing this, Princess Yongning turned to look at her father behind her, still somewhat disappointed: “They say praying to phoenixes is most effective. I hoped to see phoenixes to pray for your blessings, Father. Otherwise, with your injuries not healing, what should we do?”

As she spoke, she looked with heartache at the bandages wrapped around Prince of Changshan’s face.

Father had been attending a night banquet earlier, boating on the lake, when unexpectedly they encountered bandits attacking the boat. Fortunately, he was rescued by guards in time.

But the bandits had splashed vegetable oil on the boat and set it on fire. Father was unfortunately disfigured, though he was treated by a divine physician. Recovery would still take over a month.

Princess Yongning felt sorry for her father, which is why she wanted to pray to the phoenixes and accumulate some blessings for him.

Hearing his daughter’s such filial piety, Prince of Changshan, his face wrapped in bandages, said in a hoarse voice characteristic of smoke damage: “Already injured like this—how could prayers help? The physician said I just need to slowly recuperate. You’re about to get married, yet you run around everywhere daily. Return to the palace tomorrow to prepare for the wedding.”

Hearing her father’s words, the usually willful Princess Yongning obediently agreed.

Since Father was burned by fire, his temperament had greatly changed. He no longer enjoyed drinking and feasting all night, and disliked seeing outsiders.

This would have been unimaginable before, but people facing great changes having personality changes wasn’t strange.

After hearing Father say he wanted to stay on the high platform to enjoy the breeze and clear his mind, Princess Yongning withdrew to rest at the manor.

Prince of Changshan stood on the high platform with his hands behind his back, gazing at the densely forested back mountain.

He had arrived much earlier and naturally saw the entire scene of Xiaoxiao battling the five phoenixes.

One not accepted by heaven’s mandate… truly formidable, actually able to counterattack and burn five phoenixes!

It seemed Wei Jie’s fire tribulation was still borne by that girl!

Her fate was tough enough—able to withstand this great tribulation with a body not yet fully demonized.

Since this was so, he wanted to see whether Cui Xiaoxiao would become a demon or an immortal next!

Thinking this, Prince of Changshan’s bandage-wrapped face trembled slightly, as if smiling.

After watching for a while, he finally turned and left the high platform with his hands behind his back. His pace down the steps was slow and showed some aged frailty, quite inconsistent with his prime middle-aged years.

However, he soon gradually straightened his back and relaxed his hands, walking down the mountain like a steady middle-aged man.

As for the group resting in the back mountain, besides Xiaoxiao, none slept again.

Because Xiaoxiao had said today was the memorial day of Lingshan Talismonger Sect’s founder, Tang Youshu’s precious bamboo basket still contained incense, candles, paper ingots, and other sacrificial items.

They were just waiting for the sect master to wake up before going to the grave to pay respects.

Unfortunately, the sect master seemed to have lost too much vitality fighting phoenixes and showed signs of sleeping indefinitely. Despite Wei Jie’s repeated calls, Xiaoxiao didn’t wake up.

Yu Ling’er couldn’t help worrying: “Is Xiaoxiao… sick? I’ve never seen her sleep in like this before!”

Wei Jie reached toward Xiaoxiao’s forehead and neck, discovering that where the phoenix patterns were imprinted on her neck was hot!

Xiaoxiao also seemed restless in her sleep, her tightly closed eyelids trembling constantly, as if trapped in deep nightmares…

Xiaoxiao was indeed dreaming.

She even knew she was trapped in a dream she couldn’t wake from, because she had returned to that phoenix valley again.

It’s just that those five phoenixes resting on the branches seemed much larger than when she first saw them. They seemed unable to see her, contentedly standing on parasol tree branches preening their feathers.

Xiaoxiao’s sharp eyes immediately spotted a gray egg lying alone in the grass under the parasol tree. But this eggshell was unbroken, still intact.

She remembered Wei Jie saying this was a black phoenix egg representing bad luck, deliberately pushed out of the phoenix nest.

Without maternal incubation, it could only slowly grow cold, waiting to dry and petrify.

Xiaoxiao looked at the egg’s lonely appearance and felt quite sorry for it, wanting to go pick it up.

Just then, the leading red phoenix suddenly let out a shriek. The phoenixes became alert and spread their wings to fly toward the valley entrance.

Xiaoxiao looked in that direction and saw a figure descending from the sky, accompanied by a fishy wind as it landed at the phoenix valley bottom, startling the phoenixes into long cries.

After seeing the newcomer, though knowing it was a dream, Xiaoxiao couldn’t help being frightened.

Because that strange person… looked so much like Wei Jie!

But unlike Wei Jie’s lazy and unrestrained demeanor, this man with similar features to Wei Jie had mottled snake scales covering half his face. His strong arms gripping Yu Tiandou were similarly covered with dense snake scales. The whole person looked gloomy and dark, those purple eyes also tinged with an irresolvable killing intent. The entire person had an intimidating demonic aura.

He clearly couldn’t see Cui Xiaoxiao, but when Xiaoxiao met his gaze, she still couldn’t help being shocked by his emanating killing intent, temporarily unable to move.

Those five phoenixes were attracted by the demonic nature of this scale-covered man. They excitedly performed their pre-meal dance, then began besieging the scaled man together like they had with Xiaoxiao, wanting to feast.

Unlike Xiaoxiao’s panicked dodging, this scaled man was extremely vicious in his attacks, every move aimed at the phoenixes’ throats. He even tried several times to bite the phoenix’s necks with sharp teeth, causing phoenix blood to splatter.

He even tore off beautiful tail feathers from two phoenixes, making them cry out like fighting roosters.

Xiaoxiao watched silently from the side with a sense of “learning something”—so this was how to deal with these fierce birds, using methods for killing chickens and slaughtering sheep. Compared to this, she had been far too gentle before!

Unfortunately, a good man couldn’t fight five birds. When those five phoenixes breathed fire together at the man, the scaled man had nowhere to escape and was burned to charcoal like Xiaoxiao.

But he also used his last strength to slash those five phoenixes to the ground with one sword, breaking their necks.

Those five phoenixes also began burning spontaneously, falling to the valley bottom together with the scaled man.

Though knowing he wasn’t her disciple Wei Jie, Xiaoxiao still couldn’t help wanting to call out to him, but her throat seemed compressed by something, and she couldn’t make a sound.

Xiaoxiao could only watch helplessly as he collapsed weakly on the grass, flames still burning on his body…

Xiaoxiao had personally experienced that burning agony—it was extremely painful!

But that man stubbornly endured without making a sound, only grinding his teeth in pain, then roaring like a demon: “Heaven, how long will you force me!”

That cry contained the tragic despair of understanding worldly suffering!

Xiaoxiao felt her heart tremble violently, tears unconsciously overflowing her eyes. She wanted to embrace that man covered in wounds, but she seemed frozen and couldn’t move at all.

The man’s body was burning, and he crawled with difficulty toward the stream, seemingly wanting to extinguish the flames on his body and cool down.

Unfortunately, he had no strength left and couldn’t crawl halfway.

But just then, perhaps attracted by that burning heat, the gray egg that had fallen under the parasol tree rolled toward the man’s direction in a gust of wind.

At this time, the man still had True Crimson Fire unextinguished on his body—he was extremely hot all over.

But that egg seemed to have found a fluffy mother bird, trembling its shell as it burrowed toward the man’s burning arm. The man’s skin was burned, and being bumped by the egg hurt terribly, making him groan.

That egg seemed afraid of being abandoned again, immediately snuggled obediently against his elbow, carefully yet greedily absorbing the heat from his body.

The man felt that when this egg pressed against him, the heat from his body was absorbed, and that burning pain was greatly relieved.

When he finally caught his breath, he reached out his charred hand to grasp that egg, squinted to examine it, then placed it on his chest again.

Now that the gray egg more joyfully absorbed the hot air from the man’s body, the eggshell began to turn slightly reddish.

After those five phoenixes killed by the man underwent nirvana and rebirth, they became much smaller and no longer dared approach the man who glared at them with dead fish eyes. They obediently flew to perch on the tree, tilting their heads to watch the egg in the man’s arms.

Xiaoxiao didn’t know how long she had watched, only feeling the light in the phoenix valley dimming and changing constantly. When that man finally slowly sat up, the eggshell in his arms also began cracking.

When a wet, black little creature emerged from the eggshell, that charcoal-black man was shocked by its ugliness and couldn’t help frowning as he threw it away.

The newly hatched chick seemed hurt from being thrown and couldn’t help making tender “gah gah” cries that sounded somewhat like… a crow.

This chick had deep imprinting instincts. Even though mercilessly slapped away by the man, it still flapped its tiny meat wings and persistently rolled back, very pitifully nestling back into the man’s arms. It even used its tender little beak to peck at his slightly cracked charcoal shell, then made two more appeasing “gah gah” calls to the man.

It felt the man was also black as ink, making mother and child quite a matching black pair—the pitch-black mommy had no right to dislike its ugliness, right?

Unfortunately, the man’s heart was colder and harder than his scaled exterior. He mercilessly pushed away the little chick, then stood up, preparing to leave.