“Phoenix?”

Yu Ling’er said in a low voice: “I know about this. Phoenix was once a goddess who fought alongside Emperor Dong Yuan. She also helped our fox clan before, but unfortunately, she later violated heavenly law and failed to successfully transcend tribulation. I heard she fell into the Underworld and could never be reborn…”

This was the first time Xiaoxiao had heard such a story. These five phoenixes from the Eternal Realm had once been the protective spirits of a heavenly deity?

Although Phoenix was a deity, she wasn’t as famous as Emperor Dong Yuan and Emperor Ancient Flame. The outstanding achievements she had made were all erased by the sin of massacring cities that she committed later.

Even the demon clan was a being of the three realms. To massacre cities on such a large scale without them having offended the human realm was simply outrageous! The goddess who committed this error naturally suffered heavenly punishment and wasn’t worthy of praise.

So Xiaoxiao had never really heard Phoenix’s great name before.

However, Xiaoxiao thought Phoenix might have sealed her protective spirits in Ghost Stone Cliff before suffering heavenly punishment. She had accidentally entered the secret realm and taken away these five phoenixes.

Fortunately, these five phoenixes were the protective spirits of a deity; otherwise, she might not have been able to withstand that deadly strike just now.

Dong Yuan had been searching bitterly for Phoenix’s trace for five hundred years. At this moment, seeing her protective spirit, how could he let it go?

For a moment, he ignored Wei Jie and attacked Xiaoxiao directly, determined to capture her and interrogate her personally.

Wei Jie naturally wouldn’t allow this. His eyes darkened, demonic energy possessed him, and he became entangled in battle with Dong Yuan.

Just then, Tang Youshu, who had been missing all along, came running back breathlessly and told Xiaoxiao and the others in a low voice about what he had discovered.

It turned out that the Talismonger Sect people had divided their work systematically. Cui Xiaoxiao, Wei Jie, and the others stayed here to deal with Lady Fu and Dong Yuan’s group.

While Tang Youshu had put on an invisibility talisman, avoided the island’s servants, and toured the entire island.

Old Master Tang, who was well-versed in the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, became increasingly alarmed as he walked. The entire island’s mountains and stones were arranged according to the gathering of yin energy – this whole island was a demon-transforming realm, an altar for brewing evil beings of heaven and earth.

Most terrifyingly, Tang Youshu discovered countless demon embryos on the island. They were each wrapped in blood-red embryonic membranes, buried deep under the hard soil like sleeping seeds, quietly absorbing nutrients and waiting for the day they would break through the earth.

What nourished the soil on this island were the successive waves of people who came to the island. They continuously nourished the island’s land with their greed and lifespans, and once these demon embryos gestating in the soil took shape, they would inevitably cause great chaos in the world, leaving people with no peace!

Xiaoxiao felt her scalp tighten and asked Tang Youshu, “When will these demon embryos break through the earth?”

Tang Youshu frowned and calculated with his fingers, saying in a low voice: “Demon embryos need a hundred years of gestation. Although separated from the mother body, despite being nourished by mortal lifespans, they grow slowly. Now they’re only about the size of fists. Looking at this, it will take about another two hundred years…”

Hearing this, Xiaoxiao’s mind stirred slightly.

Because there was something she had never been able to figure out – until she traveled through time, Great Qi’s realm had always been peaceful and prosperous.

But Great Qi had ultimately been deceived of two hundred years of national fortune. Calculating the time, the national fortune should have run out in her original time, but Great Qi seemed to have no great disasters or calamities, so how did it fall?

It wasn’t until Tang Youshu discovered these demon embryos and calculated that they needed two hundred years of nourishment and gestation.

In other words, if this island continued to exist, then in two hundred years, when the demon embryos broke through the earth and demon armies reappeared in the human realm, it wouldn’t just be Great Qi’s national fortune withering – all living beings in the world would suffer, and the three realms would be plunged into war…

It was just that among the three once valiant divine generals, both Emperor Ancient Flame and Phoenix Divine Lord were gone.

At that time, would those pampered divine beings have to rely only on Emperor Dong Yuan, whose heart was not right?

The more Xiaoxiao thought about it, the more alarmed she became, but now wasn’t the time to worry. They needed to find a way to quickly reclaim the divine statue and leave this island!

Lady Fu was earlier very good at setting traps. She first pretended to let Qin Lingxiao easily win the Demon Pearl, then lured the two big fish, Wei Jie and Dong Yuan, to take the bait.

According to Lady Fu’s calculations, one of the two big fish would always enter the pot first, and the remaining one would be easy to handle.

But unexpectedly, everyone who came to the island this time was a cunning person, each more calculating than the last, and both big fish escaped from the life-gambling game.

With no big fish to put in the pot, Lady Fu simply went invisible, leaving only that divine statue for the two to fight over until they perished on this demon island and became fertilizer for nourishing the demon embryos.

Tang Youshu looked worriedly at Wei Jie, who was entangled in battle with Dong Yuan, and said in a low voice: “I examined the entire island. This place is indeed composed of divine earth and fertile soil. This divine earth hardens when it meets water, so the entire ground is extremely hard. But at the true north corner of the island, there’s an unusually soft place. It should be this island’s vital point.”

Xiaoxiao was also watching the situation of Wei Jie and Dong Yuan’s entanglement. At this moment, Dong Yuan seemed murderous for some reason, his divine power greatly increased. Although Wei Jie could barely resist, he was clearly at a disadvantage.

Xiaoxiao waved her hand slightly, and the five protective phoenix spirits circling above her head immediately flew toward Dong Yuan with long cries, instantly dispersing his offensive.

Dong Yuan knew he shouldn’t easily provoke sorrow and joy in the human realm, but seeing Phoenix’s protective spirits being commanded by a cunning mortal woman was truly unbearable.

He only looked at Xiaoxiao darkly, his heart filled with uncertainty: When he saw the protective phoenixes just now, Dong Yuan had also suspected whether Xiaoxiao might be Phoenix’s reincarnation, but Phoenix had sunk into the River of Forgetfulness, her soul never to rise again – he had seen this clearly in the Reincarnation Mirror in the heavenly realm!

But Cui Xiaoxiao’s three lives couldn’t be penetrated even by the fragmentary pages of the Yin-Yang Record, which was strange everywhere.

Phoenix was indeed still in the underworld without reincarnating. It seemed this female liar had somehow stolen Phoenix’s protective spirits left in the human realm.

Such a female thief who had defiled divine protective spirits truly couldn’t be allowed to live!

Xiaoxiao also noticed his vicious glare directed at her.

However, Dong Yuan being like this was good, better than always wearing a false smile on his face while harming others.

Thinking this, Xiaoxiao called out loudly: “Dong Yuan, if you came down to the mortal realm with a brain, you should know this isn’t a place for showing off bravery and fighting fiercely. This entire island is an altar for nourishing demon embryos. A divine soul like yours is a rare, great tonic among ten thousand. That Lady Fu is trying to get us to fight so she can profit from it and catch us all in one net. Now that the divine statue is in your hands, finding a way to get out is the wise move. If you refuse, then we’ll fight to mutual destruction. Kill us, and this demon island will gain more nourishment and greatly increase in power. Believe it or not, even you, with your vitality greatly damaged, will find it difficult to leave the island then!”

Dong Yuan knew that Cui Xiaoxiao spoke reasonably. He had long sensed something very suspicious about this island.

But when he was in the heavenly realm, he had never sensed such a demon island in the human realm – could there be remaining survivors from the demon clan that he had once slaughtered to extinction?

It should be known that demons were of three types: human demons, demon spirits, and finally, the naturally born demon clan.

Those like Wei Jie and Cui Xiaoxiao, who became demons later, were considered human demons. Among demon spirits, it was most common for the demon clan to become demonic.

As for the naturally born demon clan, they were once beings who stood shoulder to shoulder with heavenly gods and wanted to divide the court with heaven and jointly control the human realm.

Later, the Heavenly Emperor’s three divine generals were invincible and greatly destroyed the demon clan’s spirit, but the demon clan resisted stubbornly and completely refused to submit to the Heavenly Court.

Phoenix listened to Emperor Ancient Flame’s words and decided to make peace with the demon clan. At that time, as a divine being, she removed her divine armor, put down her weapons, and entered the demon city alone to negotiate peace with the city lord.

After experiencing various twists and turns, they barely reached a consensus – the demon clan would retreat to the demon city and coexist with the human race and heavenly realm.

However, this wasn’t what Dong Yuan wanted. Just when the Heavenly Emperor and demon clan’s contract was formed, he used the pretext of delivering the heavenly scroll for the peace treaty to trick open the demon city’s gates, smashed the spirit pearl that supported the demon city’s barrier, led countless heavenly soldiers into the city, and slaughtered the demon clan to extinction.

In Dong Yuan’s view, bloodthirsty species like the demon clan did not need to exist at all.

The Heavenly Emperor’s peace treaty with the demon city lord was completely Phoenix’s woman’s benevolence. Rather than letting the tiger return to the mountain, it was better to eliminate the roots.

But this way, it made the Heavenly Emperor appear faithless, so naturally, someone had to bear the responsibility.

Even now, Dong Yuan believed he had done nothing wrong. It was just that the one who bore the responsibility for causing the Heavenly Emperor to break his promise was Phoenix. If Phoenix hadn’t been quarreling with him at the time, claiming she wanted to sever all ties with him, he wouldn’t have let her bear the responsibility.

What he regretted most was his poor judgment, which caused him to forever lose the woman he loved… The demon clan was the root of all this tragedy!

Now hearing Xiaoxiao say this island was full of demon embryos, Dong Yuan’s eyes immediately narrowed, and he temporarily retreated, no longer entangling with Wei Jie.

However, after retreating to one side, Dong Yuan’s gaze unconsciously turned to Cui Xiaoxiao again – how had he not noticed before that Cui Xiaoxiao’s eyes… were similar to Phoenix’s, both with phoenix-tail-like flirtatious eye waves, with an indescribable quality in their gaze…

It was just that at this moment, Cui Xiaoxiao was worriedly touching Wei Jie’s chest and arms, checking if he was injured.

Not knowing what Wei Jie whispered to her, she looked at him with reproach and angrily bit her lip lightly.

Such a scene of tender affection immediately stirred up Dong Yuan’s nearly buried memories.

When Phoenix was on good terms with him, she had also glared at him angrily like this and would habitually bite her lip…

When he associated any connection between Cui Xiaoxiao and Phoenix, the fire in Dong Yuan’s heart blazed again!

Could it be… that Emperor Ancient Flame had betrayed his trust, seducing and having an affair with Phoenix in the Underworld…

With this slight thought, a surge of jealousy welled up in his heart, but his primordial spirit in the human realm couldn’t have great emotional fluctuations! This was taboo!

Emperor Dong Yuan quickly sealed two acupoints on his spiritual platform, not allowing himself to think further.

At this moment, Xiaoxiao was indeed angry with Wei Jie. Earlier, Xiaoxiao had originally wanted to gamble against Dong Yuan herself, but who would have thought that at the crucial moment, Wei Jie would push her behind him and, ignoring her obstruction, write his name on that evil ledger.

So when Xiaoxiao cried earlier, only she knew that she wasn’t acting.

Everything had contingencies, and “gambling” was such a harmful thing! What if Wei Jie lost? Wouldn’t he fall into the trap and be killed?

She had come back over two hundred years to this time, and all along this unlucky journey, she had been taking on misfortune for him. His life was no longer just his own – she had a share in it too. How could she allow him to make decisions without consultation?

Now that she had a chance, Xiaoxiao just wanted to pummel this guy hard. His nerve was really big! He dared gamble with anything!

Although Wei Jie was receiving Xiaoxiao’s punches, he felt very satisfied in his heart.

Seeing Xiaoxiao looking at him with red-rimmed eyes, those flowing eyes completely reflecting only him.

His heart was extremely peaceful for a moment. If it weren’t for Dong Yuan also seeking this divine statue, Wei Jie wouldn’t have wanted to look for this divine statue at all.

Because he was afraid – afraid that after Xiaoxiao got the divine statue, she would leave without a word and return to over two hundred years later.

At that time, where would he go to find Xiaoxiao? Would he have to wait two hundred years to see her again? Thinking of such endless, long nights was truly unimaginable and would drive one mad!

Now, seeing Xiaoxiao so worried about him that her eyes reddened, Wei Jie’s heart was filled with indescribable sweetness. He couldn’t help but embrace Xiaoxiao and gently rock her.

If there weren’t so many irrelevant people around at this moment, he would want to kiss this girl properly.

Unfortunately, someone obviously couldn’t stand such tender affection. Dong Yuan silently watched them and suddenly spoke to Xiaoxiao: “You called for us to stop just so Wei Jie could be lovey-dovey with you?”

Xiaoxiao wiped her tears on Wei Jie’s collar, then turned her head slightly to look at Dong Yuan: “You’ve already gotten the divine statue. Why don’t you leave here first? After we get off the island, we can have our showdown.”

Xiaoxiao spoke reasonably. Now wasn’t the time for internal strife. Even if they wanted to kill them, they had to wait until after successfully leaving the island.

At this moment, looking around again, there were no more noisy voices in the outer hall’s gambling den, only some gamblers’ corpses lying on the ground who had lost their lives.

But soon, these corpses turned into piles of white bones, as if all their nutrients had been absorbed by the earth. Then those bones quickly weathered, becoming wisps of dust and smoke that scattered in the sea wind.

When both sides stopped fighting, this gambling hall seemed to lose its reason for existence and disappeared in an instant.

Where were the pavilions and the earthly paradise? All they could see were continuously dissipating white bones and jagged, strange rocks, and hills.

This island seemed starved, endlessly devouring all living beings on the island. Its biggest target was this group of people still alive on the island.

Xiaoxiao thought of her previous life – since Wei Jie had been able to win the gambling game and return, it meant this demon island could still be successfully escaped from.

Remembering her master’s earlier instructions, she said: “Let’s go to the true north corner and take a look.”

Just then, she noticed that Qin He was following behind Dong Yuan without crying or making a fuss, seeming not to mind at all that the divine being had possessed his son’s body.

She couldn’t help but ask: “Old Master Qin, you don’t seem too worried about your son?”

Qin He was stunned for a moment, then said with a composed face: “When a divine being descends to the mortal world, he always needs a body to inhabit. My son is fortunate to be able to assist the divine being in the human realm – this is his great merit. When the divine being returns to the heavenly court, he will naturally return my son’s body.”

Such words from the mouth of a devout believer would be completely fine. But from a father’s mouth, it was fucking worse than a beast!

Think of how Qin Lingxiao, worried about his father, had risked danger several times and tried every means to extend his father’s life. Although Qin Lingxiao wasn’t exactly an upright person and was rather narrow-minded, he was filial and had done everything possible for his evil, heretical father.

But conversely, this Qin He, upon learning his son had been possessed, didn’t even beg Dong Yuan for mercy, but instead spoke such matter-of-fact words.

Who knew how sad and heartbroken Qin Lingxiao, now suppressed by the divine soul, would be if he heard these words personally?

At this moment, the sea island was bare all around, while the surrounding waves became increasingly turbulent.

Xiaoxiao had naturally yin-yang eyes and could naturally see clearly that beneath the hard ground under her feet, countless demon embryos were contained.

Although separated by thick layers of soil, every step gave her a scalp-tingling feeling.

She looked up at the surrounding waves again and suddenly said: “…Why do I feel… this island is getting smaller?”

Wei Jie quickly looked around and said in a deep voice: “It’s not an illusion. This island is gradually sinking…”

Dong Yuan also sensed something was wrong, but he didn’t seem anxious. He just stood far from them, looking down to examine the statue of Zhu Jiuyin he had seized.

At this moment, the statue’s eye sockets were still two empty holes. It seemed they needed to be inlaid with suitable objects to activate the statue.

Just then, Lady Fu’s cold voice suddenly came from the sky: “Phoenix’s protective spirits appeared on the island. Could it be that Phoenix’s reincarnation has landed on the island? Hmph, someone whose hands are stained with demon blood also dares to land on this island? Whoever it is, don’t think of leaving the island alive!”

Tang Youshu was well-versed in immortal realm legends and had also heard a bit about the grudges between the Phoenix Divine Lord and the demon clan. Now it seemed this island truly had countless connections with the destroyed demon city!

Cui Xiaoxiao was naturally sociable. Hearing that Lady Fu wanted to be irreconcilable enemies with her, she immediately cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted toward the sky: “Lady Fu, I don’t know about those sins you mentioned! How about you come out and we sit down to chat? There might be some misunderstanding here!”

Lady Fu angrily said, “What’s there to chat about? Back then, Phoenix broke faith and betrayed trust. First, she convinced our city lord to make peace with the Heavenly Emperor. She guaranteed that as long as we were willing to make a peace treaty with the Heavenly Emperor, she would ensure the demon city’s safety. But we believed her words, only to be tricked into opening the city gates and suffering city-wide slaughter! This blood debt – even after thousands and tens of thousands of years, our demon clan can never forget!”

Hearing her words, Cui Xiaoxiao was shocked, not expecting that the goddess punished by heaven had committed such a despicable, bloody crime!

Just then, the five-colored phoenix that had returned to Xiaoxiao’s neck suddenly became slightly hot, making Xiaoxiao cry out involuntarily.

Wei Jie frowned and looked down at Xiaoxiao, extending his long fingers to gently stroke her neck, asking: “Why is it so hot?”

Xiaoxiao shook her head and leaned into Wei Jie’s embrace, asking in a low voice: “What should we do? Are we going to be trapped here by the demon clan?”

Dong Yuan stood to one side, watching coldly, finding the sight of this man and woman snuggling together very irritating.

Thinking this, he suddenly struck out, a ray of light instantly attacking the embracing pair.

Cui Xiaoxiao had to dodge to the side, but in an instant, she was drawn into Dong Yuan’s embrace.

Dong Yuan’s hand gripped Xiaoxiao’s delicate chin tightly, completely ignoring that his strength had reddened her skin.

He lowered his head to carefully examine Xiaoxiao, trying to find traces of his old love on her face.

Seeing Dong Yuan treating Xiaoxiao so frivolously, Wei Jie was so angry that demonic energy arose. He immediately wielded the Heavenly Punishment Sword to attack Dong Yuan.

Dong Yuan was prepared and immediately raised an energy shield, shocking Wei Jie back.

The current Wei Jie was no longer the Lord of the Underworld who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Having shattered his divine essence, how could he still be worthy of being a divine being’s opponent?

The current Dong Yuan had abandoned the pampered young master’s body and taken on Qin Lingxiao’s sword cultivator body. Gradually adapting to the new body, he was like a tiger with wings, his divine power once again unleashed to the extreme.

Having isolated Wei Jie, Dong Yuan could interrogate this female thief.

“Speak! Why are Phoenix’s protective spirits on your body?”

Xiaoxiao’s chin was painfully gripped by him. She angrily twisted her head to dodge and tried to activate a water summoning talisman to attack Dong Yuan.

But before she could deploy her magical power, her body was bound by something and couldn’t move at all.

After changing bodies, the fully unleashed divine power was terrifyingly formidable – mortal bodies were just ants that could be crushed at will.

Dong Yuan lowered his eyes, showing no divine compassion or mercy, only saying coldly: “Speak quickly, or I’ll break your neck!”

Cui Xiaoxiao took a deep breath and said honestly, “I just accidentally wandered into an Eternal Realm and discovered five phoenixes. I didn’t steal anyone’s things – these five phoenixes stubbornly attached themselves to my body.”

While speaking, Dong Yuan had already personally used his long fingers to lift Xiaoxiao’s collar, revealing her slender collarbone and the circle of phoenix totems below it.

Yes, even this totem looked exactly like Phoenix’s.

Dong Yuan’s hands were trembling slightly. Phoenixes were supremely spiritual creatures, difficult to subdue, yet they served one master for life.

In all the heavenly realm, only Phoenix could subdue five phoenixes and take them as protective spirits.

If it was truly as Cui Xiaoxiao said, that these five phoenixes had actively attached themselves to her body, then she… wouldn’t she truly be Phoenix’s reincarnation?

His little Phoenix… had truly returned to the human realm?

Just as he was in disbelieving wild joy, Dong Yuan thought of another matter. The Phoenix Secret Realm and the spirit stone sealing Emperor Ancient Flame’s divine essence were both at Ghost Stone Cliff. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like an agreement made for past and future lives!

Phoenix, did you truly betray me and get involved with Emperor Ancient Flame?

Thinking this, Dong Yuan’s grip unconsciously tightened again, staring intently at the young woman in his embrace.

She had been so brazenly intimate and flirtatious with other men right before his eyes all along.

And he had foolishly worn a green hat for hundreds of years without realizing it!

The reason Phoenix couldn’t reincarnate for so long seemed to be gradually becoming clear: was she unwilling to be reborn, or was someone interfering so she couldn’t be reborn?

Emperor Ancient Flame, you’re truly something, actually daring to privately hide and monopolize my woman!

Thinking this, accompanied by the gradually approaching turbulent waves around them, Dong Yuan couldn’t help but once again glare murderously at the adulterous Wei Jie outside the energy barrier.