From the moment she called out Shao You’s name, Yan Chaosheng’s heart grew cold.

It was also this that finally made him realize what a foolish thing he had done. Falling into the ice lake with her, he thought that if he had another chance to choose, he would never turn back.

He shouldn’t have craved such illusory warmth. How could he have entered the Ghost King’s Tomb for something so impractical?

Seeing her wake up and immediately move closer to Shao You, he felt even more mockery in his heart.

Let that romantic nonsense stay far away; don’t offend his eyes.

He admitted he regretted it, no longer having his head clouded by those illusory things. What Yan Chaosheng wanted most now was to survive.

Regardless of whether they lived or died, or how they expressed their deep love for each other here, he had to get out. So when he heard Shao You mention the Ghost Stone Dark Plum, his first reaction was to search for it.

When asking Shao You to borrow his sword, Yan Chaosheng had no confidence. To break open these strange reefs, he still had that heart-protecting scale he had painfully torn off.

Yet for some unknown reason, when he met Liu Shuang’s gaze, he was unwilling to take out this heart-protecting scale and let her see it.

Foolish, truly foolish.

Yan Chaosheng wasn’t sure if Shao You would lend his sword. In his impression, immortal lords all treasured their immortal swords like precious treasures. Many immortal swords would develop consciousness after tens of thousands of years, becoming like their right-hand men.

Yet this Lord Ji Mo didn’t hesitate at all and gave him the sword.

When Yan Chaosheng held it, though his face showed nothing, his heart felt an indescribable sensation. This was a true immortal lord—bright and clear, like the sun and moon.

He would never have the sordid thoughts that Yan Chaosheng often had, nor would he need to climb up by any means necessary like Yan Chaosheng did.

He had once pretended to look down on these people, but in truth, he admired them greatly. The more magnanimous they were, the darker the corner of his own heart seemed.

Yan Chaosheng held the sword and glanced at the young woman wearing Ji Mo Shao You’s immortal robe.

She blinked, perhaps thinking he would harm her, her eyes full of vigilance and fear.

She was perceptive. He did regret terribly—he must have been mad to come to this wretched place.

They hadn’t found the Ghost Stone Dark Plum.

When the ice cracked, Yan Chaosheng was very close to Liu Shuang and instinctively reached out to grab her. Yan Chaosheng had been cold in the flying snow for several hours, while she had been sleeping sweetly beside Ji Mo Shao You, protected by that man’s immortal robe. Her body temperature was warm.

His fingers inadvertently slid across the skin of her neck. He saw her eyes widen, looking like a dying little deer that had been shot.

Utterly terrified.

A surge of inexplicable anger rose in his heart, almost making him want to push her into the ice lake. In her heart, was he that bad?

He could only say coldly, “Summon your crimson pearl umbrella. At least it can support us for a while.”

The three of them barely managed to maintain themselves for a moment, but the Henggong Fish caught up. Yan Chaosheng’s heart sank continuously; it seemed they would die here today.

Even if he fully opened his demon eyes, it would be of no use. He felt somewhat unwilling.

Unexpectedly, Ji Mo Shao You sacrificed himself to block the Henggong Fish, using his immortal sword to send them temporarily away. Seeing Liu Shuang disregard everything and move toward Ji Mo Shao You.

He couldn’t tell whether the coldness in his heart was greater than the mockery.

Now, the demon bird that had saved them circled above their heads. Being of the same demon lineage, Yan Chaosheng naturally understood what it was saying.

It wanted to force them to go underwater to retrieve an egg.

Yan Chaosheng watched coldly, with no intention of moving, nor any desire to translate for them. He was extremely irritated now and only wanted to stay far away from Liu Shuang, this troublemaker.

If next time he were to…

Before he could finish his thought, the young woman beside him suddenly leaped into the ice lake.

Not only Yan Chaosheng, but even Shao You hadn’t reacted: “Immortal Liu of Chi Shui!”

She moved through the water, heading toward the sinking egg. The cyan bird’s cries became more urgent, anxiously circling where she had entered the water.

Soon, someone’s head emerged from the water.

The young woman was completely soaked, trembling as she carefully held an egg, flying up to the immortal sword. The cyan bird flew around her, its shrill cries unceasing.

Yan Chaosheng looked over.

Water dripped from the young woman as she stared blankly at the egg in her hand, with an expression of heartbreaking sorrow, as if the sky had fallen.

Shao You observed for a moment and said, “It has no vitality left.”

Yan Chaosheng watched coldly from the sidelines, with no intention of approaching them. No matter what she did now, it had nothing to do with him.

She raised her finger, trying to input immortal energy, but the gaudy egg, even after receiving her immortal energy, remained lifeless.

She was extremely anxious: “Qing Luan.”

The demon bird overhead also grieved, each cry more sorrowful than the last.

She seemed to remember something and hesitantly raised her head, looking at him.

Yan Chaosheng kept his face cold, expressionless as he stared back at her. He frowned inwardly—why was she looking at him like that?

Since waking up, she had never looked at him with such hopeful and suddenly enlightened eyes.

Sure enough, after a while, she moved over, carefully holding that ugly egg, and asked tentatively, “Do you want to save it?”

“No,” he said coldly, just wanting her to stay away from him, to go as far as possible. Disaster star!

“Look at it, doesn’t it feel familiar?”

Yan Chaosheng responded with a cold laugh.

Familiar? A dead egg—was she mocking him for also being of demon lineage? Moreover, what daydream was she having, thinking that he, a small disciple who had almost no cultivation left, could save an egg that had lost its vitality?

Why didn’t she ask Ji Mo Shao You if he could save it?

Yan Chaosheng expressionlessly said, “Young Lord, if there’s nothing else, return the egg to that demon bird.” This statement carried somewhat of a somewhat mocking tone. That demon bird probably also knew that this egg, having been in the Henggong Fish’s belly, had lost its vitality. Now, with its demon eyes, it was shedding tears of blood.

Yan Chaosheng gazed at those bloody tears, calmly lowering his eyes.

Along his journey, he had seen many such partings among the demon race. When he was young, he had especially wanted to have his mother, someone to protect him. Later, as he grew up, he understood that things he didn’t have, no matter how much he yearned for them, would never belong to him.

These things that couldn’t be changed no longer moved him.

The young woman pointed to her neck and said, “This is the life meridian. If you save it, I’ll give you all my cultivation. Although it’s not much, it’s still three hundred years. This way, you can participate in the great competition when you return to the sect. How… how about it?”

By the end, she grew increasingly nervous, looking at him expectantly.

“Is the Young Lord begging me?”

She immediately nodded. “Yes, yes!”

Yan Chaosheng was silent. He glanced at her wrist, curved his lips, and said, “Exchange for three hundred years of cultivation?”

“Yes, I won’t deceive you. Lord Ji Mo can be our witness.”

Shao You frowned but didn’t say much.

“I’ll consider it,” Yan Chaosheng said indifferently.

She immediately pushed the egg to him, so quickly that Yan Chaosheng thought she assumed he had agreed.

Yan Chaosheng would not agree.

For demons to save their kind, there was indeed a way—that would be to divide out one’s heart meridian, using his heart meridian to continue the vitality of this ugly egg.

How long it could last was uncertain, but once this egg was damaged, his heart meridian would also be damaged, and from then on, life and death would be up to fate.

He wouldn’t save this egg, just as he wouldn’t be so self-deluded as to think that Liu Shuang was kind to him because she had feelings for him.

Yan Chaosheng thought coldly that after she had caused him such misery, was he just toying with her? Had she taken it seriously?

Liu Shuang frequently glanced at Yan Chaosheng, who was holding Qing Luan, still in egg form, with indifference.

She watched nervously, always feeling that he might throw the egg down at any moment.

Now the giant cyan bird was carrying them through the Ghost King’s Tomb. It had begun snowing again in the Ghost King’s Tomb, but this time they didn’t need to worry about being swallowed by a Henggong Fish. From Shao You, Liu Shuang finally learned about Qing Luan’s bloodline—this demon bird was a descendant of the Qing Wo.

Originally also a divine bird, it later caused havoc in the mortal realm with Huang Yi, leading to drastic weather changes and countless mortal nations being destroyed and families broken. It was suppressed by immortals working together. Later, the entire clan fell and became demon birds.

They initially lived on Mount Buzhou in the west, but after becoming demon birds, with nowhere in the world to belong, they disappeared to an unknown location.

Unexpectedly, they would encounter Qing Wo in the Ghost King’s Tomb.

No wonder, Liu Shuang thought, little Qing Luan was only seven hundred years old yet so powerful, able to accompany Yan Chaosheng to the battlefield. Born as an ancient divine bird with terrifying destructive power, even after falling to become a demon bird, its innate bloodline power couldn’t be underestimated.

Mortals would change color at the mention of Qing Wo, hating and cursing it.

Although her little Qing Luan had never done anything wrong, it was still hated by everyone. In her previous life, Liu Shuang had asked about Qing Luan’s bloodline, and Yan Chaosheng had indifferently said, “Just an ordinary demon bird.”

He never mentioned anything about Qing Luan’s background.

Liu Shuang only knew that both Qing Luan and Chi Yuan had been rescued by Yan Chaosheng, but she never knew that seven hundred years ago, when he encountered Qing Luan, he had lost his vitality.

At the same time, her heart sank.

If she had successfully killed Yan Chaosheng earlier, Qing Luan would have had no chance of survival. Not just Qing Luan, but also Chi Yuan, Su Lun, and even Chang Huan later on.

They all lived because of Yan Chaosheng. Su Lun had once said, “Without the Demon Lord, we might have long since had nowhere for our souls to return.”

Perhaps the later developed Cang Lan Immortal Realm was also related to Yan Chaosheng.

Grandfather Tree had said that once a demon accidentally trespassed into Cang Lan, and the immortal lord who came to kill that demon only focused on burning Cang Lan with extreme fire, not caring about the life or death of the little demon who had just awakened its spiritual consciousness.

It was a demon-ghost great person, who blocked that extreme fire and took the demon away, allowing Cang Lan to remain unharmed.

Therefore, when Yan Chaosheng later fell injured into Cang Lan, Grandfather Tree recognized him at a glance and could tell Liu Shuang who Yan Chaosheng was.

In that case, if Yan Chaosheng were gone, it was very possible that many people would die.

But if Yan Chaosheng lived, what would be the fate of Kung Sang?

Liu Shuang frowned, feeling truly troubled for the first time. If she didn’t kill him, Kung Sang would be in danger. If she did kill him, what about the living beings in part of Cang Lan, and Chang Huan, who was like family to her?

Liu Shuang was caught in a dilemma.

Now it seemed only one solution remained: eliminate his hatred for Kung Sang, then drive him out of Kung Sang. From then on, let him go wherever he wanted to learn skills, as long as he didn’t form a grudge with Kung Sang, the immortal realm wouldn’t be destroyed.

Hadn’t the later Feng clan and Kun Lun still been fine? Yan Chaosheng had even helped Kun Lun.

This meant he clearly distinguished between love and hate. If there was no enmity between them, he wouldn’t bother to destroy Kung Sang for no reason.

Liu Shuang’s heart caught. If only she had been reborn earlier, she definitely wouldn’t have framed him or caused him to lose his cultivation.

The grudge with Bai Yuxiao had also grown larger. How could she remove his resentment and then drive him out of Kung Sang, making him go as far away as possible?

After pondering hard, her eyes lit up.

First, find a way to return his cultivation, then apologize to Bai Yuxiao, and then marry Mi Chu, whom she hated most, to him!

Then let him and Mi Chu establish their sect. This way, he would get the white moonlight he missed in his previous life and would surely be satisfied. Mi Chu was still from Kung Sang; he certainly wouldn’t destroy his wife’s hometown.

The more Liu Shuang thought about it, the more she felt it was a brilliant idea.

Two plagues sent away at once—it couldn’t be more perfect. Let Mi Chu follow him to live a miserable life in the Ghost Realm, while also protecting Kung Sang—killing two birds with one stone.

The urgent matter now was to first get Yan Chaosheng to save little Qing Luan.

Qing Wo carried them for an unknown length of time before a broken bridge appeared ahead.

It nudged Shao You with its head, indicating that Shao You should step onto the broken bridge.

Below the bridge was floating ghost energy, and the other end was completely unclear.

Shao You pondered for a moment, put away his sword, and indeed stepped onto the broken bridge.

Qing Wo used its enormous body to block Liu Shuang and Yan Chaosheng, indicating they didn’t need to follow.

Liu Shuang watched as Shao You’s figure grew distant and finally disappeared. She thought that Qing Luan’s mother should be trustworthy… right?

She took out the Transmission Mirror, which glowed with a rippling light. Liu Shuang sighed in relief—whatever happened, they could now escape.

If they hadn’t been lucky enough to encounter Qing Wo, they couldn’t have found this place.

Yan Chaosheng sat cross-legged on the ground, eyes closed in meditation.

The bird egg was casually placed beside him, as if he had tossed aside something dirty. Qing Wo, for some unknown reason, listlessly remained beside him, showing no anger at this. Instead, like Liu Shuang, it gently nudged the little bird egg closer to Yan Chaosheng with its claws.

Extremely careful, very ingratiating.

Its cries were like weeping and lamenting, making listeners heartbroken.

Liu Shuang watched with curiosity. How did Qing Wo know that Yan Chaosheng could save their child?

Unfortunately, Yan Chaosheng, sitting cross-legged, remained unmoved. He opened his eyes and said coldly, “Stop crying. It’s noisy.”

Qing Wo closed its mouth.

Liu Shuang stared in amazement. So Yan Chaosheng could communicate with Qing Wo.

Thinking that she could no longer kill Yan Chaosheng but instead needed to match him with Mi Chu, then drive him away, making him leave the immortal realm, Liu Shuang picked up the bird egg and placed it in his arms.

Yan Chaosheng turned to look at her, his tone chilly: “What are you doing?”

“Have you decided? Whether to save Qing… Qing Wo’s child.”

“I’m not in a good mood,” he said coldly. “I won’t save it.”

Liu Shuang instinctively wanted to ask why he wasn’t in a good mood, but then thought that she wasn’t in a good mood either, and Shao You didn’t look too happy either. Anyone in the Ghost King’s Tomb couldn’t be joyful. She immediately expressed understanding.

But she could wait; Qing Luan couldn’t. If not saved soon, it would truly die completely. What if it became a stupid bird?

Qing Wo, beside them, was almost in tears.

Liu Shuang steeled herself and pulled at her collar. “How about you absorb a hundred years of my cultivation first?”

Their eyes met, and he said nothing.

Liu Shuang couldn’t discern his thoughts, assuming it wasn’t enough. She painfully said, “Two hundred years. I can’t offer more for now; any more and I won’t be able to take you all out of here.”

“Is the Young Lord serious?” He laughed coldly. “Fine then.”

Liu Shuang moved over slowly, feeling for the first time what it truly meant to offer one’s neck for slaughter.

There were two ways to transfer cultivation. One was involuntary, where the person absorbing another’s cultivation followed an evil path and forcibly took it, often resulting in divine punishment. The other was through the life meridian, voluntarily giving it to another, along with one’s bloodline power.

The life meridian was on the left side of the neck, connected to the spiritual essence and heart, where various spiritual powers regenerated endlessly.

With too many unexpected events before, by chance, Yan Chaosheng was no longer willing to save Qing Luan. Anyway, it was just three hundred years of cultivation with bloodline power, which could be cultivated back. Qing Luan couldn’t die because of the changes she had brought.

Honestly, Liu Shuang was very nervous now.

She approached Yan Chaosheng, tilting her head slightly, feeling his gaze fall on her neck, yet he said nothing.

She closed her eyes and urged, “If you’re going to take the spiritual power, do it quickly.”

Lest Shao You return and stop her.

This was terrible. His breath drew closer, blowing on her skin. Liu Shuang admitted that she felt completely unwell, wanting to kick him away and also wanting to reconsider. However, with Qing Luan already a dead egg, she truly couldn’t back down.

After a while, the young man still showed no movement.

She opened her eyes to frown at him. What was going on? Was he trying to torment her before taking her spiritual power? The corners of his eyes had a faint redness, and he glared back coldly.

“You’re still not moving. Could it be that you’re going back on your word?” Liu Shuang said.

He replied mockingly, “If the Young Lord is willing to part with three hundred years of cultivation, how dare this disciple refuse? This disciple is merely afraid the Young Lord will change her mind, as before, and falsely accuse and retaliate.”

Bringing up the original owner’s dark history at a time like this.

Liu Shuang coughed once. “I really won’t harm you again.”

She took out a recording pearl, aimed it at herself and Yan Chaosheng, and said, “Today, I hereby witness that I am forcing my disciple Yan Chaosheng to save an egg, and allowing him to take two hundred years of my cultivation. This is the record.”

Liu Shuang put away the recording pearl and gave it to Yan Chaosheng: “Now you can rest assured.”

She crouched in front of him, closed her eyes, and said, “Take the spiritual power now.”

Yan Chaosheng lowered his eyes, seeing the young woman’s hands resting on her knees, slightly clenched due to nervousness, and glanced at her white, soft neck.

He lowered his head, stopping just before touching her skin, his eyes changing, his thoughts unknown.

Liu Shuang had already waited for a while, still seeing no movement from him. She was getting angry, wondering if his suspicion would ever end. She opened her eyes, about to glare at him.

A slight coldness touched her neck, something cool falling on her skin.

From her angle, she could see Yan Chaosheng’s ink-black hair cascading like a waterfall as he buried his face in her neck. She was startled for quite a while, gritting her teeth to avoid trembling from the cold.

After a moment, she felt something was wrong and asked puzzledly, “Has the cultivation been transferred?” No, she didn’t feel weak.

Yan Chaosheng raised his head, giving her a cool glance.

“If the Young Lord is unwilling to transfer cultivation, there’s no need to force yourself. This disciple’s spiritual power is too low to forcibly take the Young Lord’s spiritual power.”

Liu Shuang: “…” Could it be that she was so contrary to her heart, saying she was willing to exchange, but unwilling to let Yan Chaosheng take her spiritual power to save Qing Luan? No, she truly wanted to save her little Qing Luan.

Yan Chaosheng turned his back, his Adam’s apple moving slightly.