The light from the Divine Fire Pillars was blindingly bright, but in just an instant, the surroundings became dark again.

The noisy voices on Gufeng Mountain, the ringing of clashing swords, and the chaotic footsteps all around became increasingly blurred. Zanxing felt as if her body was being pulled toward somewhere very far away, dissolving into nothingness in that pulling.

On a mountain somewhere in Duzhou, in dense jungle, continuous fine night rain fell, moistening the earth that reeked of blood. A golden point of light suddenly appeared in mid-air, then grew larger and larger, rippling outward like water waves, causing even the air to twist and distort.

With a “splash,” someone tumbled out from within.

Zanxing groaned in pain.

The wounds that Gu Baiying had helped heal were only temporary. Having left Gufeng Mountain, the injuries scorched by divine fire began to truly spread their pain. It felt as if her bone crevices were filled with those fierce flames—every movement brought heart-piercing, bone-deep agony.

A whimper came from beside her.

Zanxing looked down to see Mimi lying beside her, struggling to keep her eyes open to look at her. Her once beautiful, snow-white fur was no longer recognizable. Zanxing bent down and lifted Mimi from the ground.

In her hand, she still clutched the Evening Star Hairpin, and around her wrist was tied the red hair ribbon that Gu Baiying had bound there. Back in Wufan City, when everyone had lost their Yuanli and the mirage woman pressed closer and closer, driving them to a dead end, Gu Baiying had also given this hair ribbon to her.

“It’s called ‘Zhuyan’—a gift from my master, the sect leader. It has an escape spell carved on it. As long as I channel my soul power into it, no matter what dangerous situation, it can help someone escape. It’s essentially a life-saving spirit artifact.”

The young man’s words echoed in her ears again.

Gu Baiying truly hadn’t lied. Before the Ten Thousand Killing Formation, with so many disciples from the cultivation world watching like tigers, she had managed to escape alive. But while she could survive in this corner, what would happen to Gu Baiying, who stayed behind? What awaited him was the crime of colluding with demons. Could Shaoyang Zhenren protect him?

Her heart was turbulent when Mimi, in her arms, stretched out a paw and gently scratched her. Zanxing looked down as Mimi opened her mouth and spat out a green pouch.

“Qiankun Bag?”

Zanxing reached out to take the Qiankun Bag. Before her incident, she had left the Qiankun Bag in her room. Hong Su had later come running to the Ten Thousand Killing Formation holding Mimi, and when Mimi charged in, she hadn’t expected the Yinlang Shi to bring the Qiankun Bag along.

She quickly opened the bag and pulled out all the talisman papers inside, stuffing them into her chest. Now that Zanxing’s Golden Core was destroyed and she had lost all her Yuanli, those heart techniques and pills were less useful than talisman papers. If she truly encountered danger, these talisman papers could still provide some resistance.

Seeing Zanxing stow away the useful items, Mimi tilted back her neck and swallowed the Qiankun Bag again. Zanxing held the Yinlang Shi, feeling her legs heavy as if filled with lead. She looked into the distance—desolate mountains and wilderness, misty night rain. She imagined that the entire cultivation world was now searching for her whereabouts. In this vast world, she couldn’t find a place to shelter.

“Let’s find somewhere to take shelter from the rain first.” Zanxing forced herself to endure the pain throughout her body and walked forward holding Mimi, trying to find a cave.

The night rain in the mountains was ceaseless. When the wind blew, it chilled one to the bone. The rainy roads were slippery and muddy everywhere. Zanxing walked too hastily and carelessly lost her footing, half her knee sinking into muddy water as she fell hard.

She wiped the muddy water from her face and was about to stand up again when she suddenly heard Mimi shriek beside her, arching her back and staring fixedly ahead.

Zanxing followed her gaze and saw what appeared to be a human figure among the tangled deep branches of the forest.

This figure approached from far to near, seemingly walking in this direction.

The pattering rain couldn’t mask the sound of the approaching footsteps. At first, these footsteps were unhurried, but gradually began to quicken. Just from listening to the footsteps, one could sense the joy on the newcomer’s face.

It was already too late to hide. Zanxing couldn’t help but hold Mimi tighter.

The newcomer carried a lantern. In the wind and rain, this flame remained completely still, the fire not flickering at all. As this person drew closer, the light gradually illuminated the mud before Zanxing and also revealed the newcomer’s face.

This was a youth of eighteen or nineteen, perhaps even younger.

He had a lively, approachable face with features showing considerable childish innocence. His long hair was loosely tied in a bundle at the back of his head, giving him an appearance of docility and gentleness. He wore robes of golden camel color embroidered with golden lotus flowers. Ordinarily, such bright colors would make someone appear frivolous and foolish if worn carelessly, but not on him—that golden camel robe perfectly complemented his eye color.

He had golden pupils.

This youth held a lantern in one hand and a white paper umbrella in the other, stopping in front of Zanxing and looking down at her curiously.

Zanxing slightly tightened her fists and spoke as calmly as possible: “Who are you?”

The youth was startled, as if he hadn’t expected Zanxing to ask this. After thinking with some difficulty for a while, he suddenly snapped his fingers. Silently, several black figures appeared around them.

When Zanxing saw the faces of those black-clothed people, her spine went cold: “Mo Sha!”

These black-clothed people all had red pupils. She had seen them in the Xumi Jiezi Map. Now that Zanxing had lost all her Yuanli and her Golden Core had dissolved, she was no different from an ordinary person and couldn’t distinguish demon aura. If she hadn’t seen Mo Sha’s faces before, she truly wouldn’t have recognized them.

This baby-faced youth was a demon!

Seeing Zanxing’s wary appearance, the youth seemed very pleased and suddenly laughed. When he smiled, two round dimples appeared in his cheeks, quite adorable.

He spoke, his voice clear and sweet as honey: “I finally found you.”

Like a thunderclap overhead, in a flash of lightning, Zanxing suddenly understood. She looked at the youth before her and said, “It’s you? You killed the Chihua Gate disciples and framed me!”

“It’s me.” The youth nodded happily: “It was indeed me. Do you have anything you want to ask me?”

In an instant, many scenes flashed before Zanxing’s eyes, but in the end, her first question was: “What happened with Senior Sister Zi Luo? Since she’s not a demon, why would she work for you? Since she worked for you, why did you kill her?”

She had been led by Zi Luo into the small courtyard where Chihua Gate disciples were cultivating. Admittedly, even without that incident, the demons would have found ways to expose her identity. But what Zanxing couldn’t understand was that Yinfeng Sect disciples had investigated and found that Zi Luo wasn’t of demon blood. Zi Luo had grown up on Gufeng Mountain since childhood—why would a sect disciple work for demons?

“That’s what you want to ask?” The youth seemed somewhat disappointed upon hearing this. But soon, he bent down and extended the white paper umbrella in his hand forward, shielding Zanxing from the fine rain overhead. He said, “I didn’t kill her. She’s still alive, right before your eyes.”

Zanxing was somewhat confused. When she saw the snow-white paper umbrella overhead, she couldn’t help but feel her scalp tingle.

From a distance, the umbrella seemed to have patterns on its surface that looked like ink wash paintings. Only when she got close could she see clearly that these weren’t ink paintings at all, but figure after figure of people. These figures, old and young, male and female, densely covered the entire umbrella surface. Some ink marks were deep, others shallow. The newest and most vividly colored was a purple-clothed woman, spirited and beautiful, but lacking her former gentle, heroic smile—her expression was rigid and defeated.

“Senior Sister Zi Luo!” Zanxing was both shocked and angry, looking at the youth: “What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything.” The youth looked at her innocently. Setting down the lantern in his hand, he lovingly caressed the umbrella surface before him: “This is called the Ashura Umbrella—my natal spirit artifact. It has an ability called soul capture.”

Zanxing stared at him intently.

“The cultivation world has a technique called Divine Travel—one can separate their primordial spirit and enter another’s body.” He seriously explained to Zanxing: “I used the Ashura Umbrella to capture her soul, then filled her body with my primordial spirit. The person you saw on Gufeng Mountain was my clone. Do you understand now?”

Zanxing’s heart grew increasingly cold.

Zi Luo had died long ago. During these days of interacting with people on Gufeng Mountain, it had all been this person’s clone. Zi Luo was like a puppet, but because she wasn’t of demon blood, no one detected it.

It was after they returned from the treasure grounds that Shaoyang Zhenren ordered disciples not to leave the mountain. Since Zi Luo had met her end before that, it seemed they had been living with this demon for quite some time.

“Do you have any other questions you want to ask me?” The youth bent down slightly, looking at her with anticipation.

Zanxing gripped the Wuyou Stick beside her and asked: “Who are you?”

“You’ve already asked me that question.” The youth said, “My name is Gui Yansheng.”

“Gui?” Zanxing frowned: “What’s your relationship with Demon Lord Gui Diao Tang?”

Don’t blame her for overthinking—this name made it very difficult not to associate with the Demon Lord.

Whether it was Zanxing’s imagination or not, when she asked this question, the youth’s eyes seemed to darken for a moment. But soon, he smiled again: “You figured it out.”

“So you are…”

“The Demon Lord’s son.” He smiled, but there was no trace of amusement in those golden pupils.

For a moment, Zanxing felt very confused. In that book, “The Demon Queen’s Confession: On Our Wedding Night, I Discovered My Husband’s Illegitimate Son,” she had speculated that Demon Lord Gui Diao Tang might have an illegitimate son. She had always thought she was that illegitimate son hidden in the human world, but she hadn’t expected it to be Gui Yansheng before her. If that was the case, why would “Miss Yang” collect so many demon records? Why would she manifest the Demon Lord’s seal and be discovered as having demon blood?

Zanxing looked up at Gui Yansheng: “Why did you frame me?”

Gui Yansheng stared at her with interest: “You’ve finally asked the most important question. But I need to think about how to answer you—where should I start? Oh right,” he tilted his head as if remembering something: “You still don’t know your own identity, do you?”

“What is my identity?”

He smiled at Zanxing, his dimples shallow on his cheeks. After smiling for a long time, he slowly said: “You are the Demon Lord’s daughter, my half-sister.”