“Little Yoko, Little Yoko!”
In his unconscious state, Xiao Lingyu faintly felt someone calling his name. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, yet carried a hint of unfamiliarity.
He wanted to wake up, but his consciousness remained murky and indistinct, unable to fully clear. Something seemed to be covering his vision—completely dark and indistinguishable.
“You bastard, didn’t you say Xiao Yoko would wake up today?” Old Ghost Head shouted furiously at Qing Ming.
Qing Ming’s expression remained indifferent. “His cultivation is too weak. If he can’t wake up, what does that have to do with me?”
“You—!” Old Ghost Head was so angered his face twisted in frustration.
Qing Ming continued watching the opposite side with an unbothered gaze. For countless years, he had only been able to helplessly guard that body, unable to awaken him no matter what he tried. Now, seeing the liveliness of that angry expression—so vivid, no longer that pale stillness, even flushed faintly from rage—Qing Ming felt that everything he had endured was worth it. He could not help but murmur softly, “Qing Yi, it’s good that you have awakened.”
Old Ghost Head’s fury instantly dissipated at those words. Still forcing himself to stay irritated, he said, “Don’t think I’ll forgive you just because you said that.”
Qing Ming gave a soft laugh, his gaze indulgent. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Why would I need your forgiveness?”
Those words reignited Old Ghost Head’s anger. The question he had buried deep in his heart, never daring to ask, finally burst out. “You betrayed my trust, forced me out of my body and sealed me inside the Netherworld Bracelet—don’t you owe me an explanation?”
Qing Ming leaned casually against a low couch by the window, his expression unchanged. “So Qing Yi, you’ve always been dwelling on this matter. Then what do you think my reason was?”
“To take revenge on me!” The words circled in Old Ghost Head’s heart, yet he did not dare say them aloud.
Qing Ming did not even need to guess his thoughts; a glance at his expression told him everything. “You think I was taking revenge?” Seeing Old Ghost Head’s guilty look, Qing Ming let out a cold snort. “So you know you were in the wrong toward me.”
Old Ghost Head immediately felt guilty, yet still forced his argument. “How was I ever wrong toward you?”
Qing Ming raised a brow. “If you weren’t wrong toward me, why would you think I’d take revenge?”
Seeing Old Ghost Head once again choked into silence, Qing Ming sneered. “Lun Yue Immortal Lady, Li Ling’er, Jia Yi Immortal Lady, Bai Wan’er—Qing Yi, your romantic entanglements are spread all over the ancient world. Do I need to continue listing them one by one?”
Old Ghost Head looked at him awkwardly. After a long pause, he muttered, “I don’t like female cultivators. You know that.”
Qing Ming gave a faint scoff. “If you don’t like female cultivators, then why did you form a dao companion bond with Lun Yue Immortal Lady? That news spread throughout even the demon race.”
Old Ghost Head cautiously probed, “You sealed me because of that, didn’t you?”
Qing Ming’s expression became unreadable as he looked at him. Inside, he sighed. How did he end up falling for such an idiot?
Seeing Old Ghost Head’s expression shift from guilt to certainty, Qing Ming’s lips curved slightly. “No.”
“No?” Old Ghost Head stared in disbelief.
Qing Ming adjusted his posture. “First explain your situation with Lun Yue. Then I’ll tell you the reason for your sealing.”
Realizing Qing Ming would not let it go, Old Ghost Head reluctantly explained. In summary, his sect pressured him due to his master’s declining lifespan, and Lun Yue Immortal Lady had also been forced into marriage arrangements. Their “dao companion bond” was purely nominal, meant to satisfy obligations and resolve pressure.
He glanced at Qing Ming’s expression, then added hurriedly, “I truly have nothing with her.”
Qing Ming’s expression remained calm, though his gaze softened slightly.
Old Ghost Head quickly pressed, “So now you can tell me the reason, right?”
Qing Ming asked instead, “Before I sealed you, did you notice anything unusual in your sect?”
Old Ghost Head frowned. “Unusual?”
Qing Ming sighed. As expected—Qing Yi had always trusted his sect too much to notice anything. He changed the question.
“Do you know what happened in the ancient world after I sealed you?”
Old Ghost Head hesitated. “The war between humans and demons caused the Great Ancient Collapse?”
Qing Ming let out a cold laugh. “More accurately, it was humanity’s greed that triggered it. The demon race was merely collateral damage.”
He glanced at Old Ghost Head’s doubtful expression. “You remember when Buzhou Mountain suddenly erupted in heavenly fire, burning for forty-nine days without being extinguished?”
Old Ghost Head tried to recall.
Qing Ming continued coldly, “You don’t remember because you were busy guarding Li Ling’er during her seclusion. No wonder you had no time for such major events.”
Old Ghost Head lowered his head in guilt.
Qing Ming went on, “Before the heavenly fire at Buzhou Mountain, the Heavenly Mechanism Disk enshrined at its peak had already gone missing.”
“What?!” Old Ghost Head cried out in shock.
Qing Ming remained unsurprised. “The Heavenly Mechanism Disk was a sacred artifact. Its loss alone should have been enough to alarm the world. But instead, the three races only blamed each other.”
He looked at him. “Then do you remember the ancient oath—that the Heavenly Mechanism Disk belonged to no race?”
Old Ghost Head nodded instinctively.
Qing Ming’s tone turned mocking. “But humanity forgot.”
“You’re saying…” Old Ghost Head’s face changed drastically.
Qing Ming turned away slightly. “Your sect brother, Hua Yao, originally had average talent. Yet after the Buzhou Mountain fire, his cultivation advanced explosively. Within ten years, he reached saint-level power. You never found that strange?”
Old Ghost Head’s heart grew cold.
Qing Ming continued, “And your master, Nine Void True Person, was supposed to have near-infinite lifespan as a quasi-saint—so why did he die prematurely in his prime?”
Old Ghost Head shook his head slowly.
Qing Ming’s voice lowered. “Because of heavenly punishment.”
He explained how fragments of the Heavenly Mechanism Disk were distributed and used to force enlightenment, planting hidden dangers within cultivators’ bodies. Humanity’s rise was followed by sudden deaths of their strongest geniuses—not by demon hands, but by the balance enforced by Heaven itself.
Old Ghost Head listened in shock, his understanding of the past collapsing piece by piece.
Qing Ming continued, revealing how humans once proposed using Qing Yi’s time-reversal technique to redo history—a plan that would have doomed him entirely.
Old Ghost Head finally understood why Qing Ming sealed him.
“…So that’s why you sealed me.”
Qing Ming nodded. “Because you would have died if you were involved.”
He continued explaining the collapse of the ancient world, the divergence between Qing Ming and Jing Zhan, the death of Cang Ye, Jing Zhan’s disappearance, and how he sealed away Old Ghost Head’s body while preserving his soul.
Eventually, Old Ghost Head asked, “Why did I only awaken now after so long?”
Qing Ming admitted he did not know. He had tried countless methods, but only recently sensed the opportunity for awakening tied to Xiao Lingyu.
Then Qing Ming explained the connection between the Tianlan Realm, the Chutian Secret Realm, and the scattered relics of the ancient world, as well as Xiao Lingyu’s reincarnation and its role in changing fate.
Finally, Qing Ming concluded softly, “The lower world is already a dead realm. It may collapse at any moment.”
Old Ghost Head’s expression froze.
“What…?