This secret was truly beyond anything Mo Xi had expected. For a moment, he was completely speechless—Old Lord Sovereign had once tried to refine a spirit beast similar to the blood demon beast for Chonghua to use?
Mo Xi took quite some time to digest this before saying, “But if there really was such a spirit beast… why didn’t Chentan refine it back then?”
“Because although the spirit beast possessed the ability to purify the world, the process of refining it was ultimately far too cruel and dangerous,” Lord Sovereign said. “Therefore, Chentan classified it as a forbidden technique, while my father… he also failed to refine it.”
“However, in my view, the reason Father failed was not solely because of the difficulty of the technique itself. Since ancient times, those who accomplish great things require favorable timing, favorable terrain, and harmony among people—none can be lacking. When Father was cultivating the spirit beast, Chentan had already been dead for many years, making the spell scrolls difficult to decipher completely. This was unfavorable timing.
“And at that time, Daze City—that is, the place where Chentan sealed the blood demon beast—was still under the control of the Liao Kingdom, making it impossible to investigate the flow of spiritual energy. This was unfavorable terrain.
“Finally…”
He stopped and habitually began turning the Heavenly Pearl bracelet coiled around his wrist. “This undertaking was simply too dangerous. Naturally, Father would not announce it to the world and let everyone know. As for the few people who knew he was conducting the experiment, each of them had different opinions from the very beginning. Later, their disagreements became increasingly sharp and impossible to resolve. This was a lack of harmony among people.”
“With these three things working against him, accomplishing anything would have been difficult. Thus, Father’s plan ultimately failed. No one knows what happened to the immortal beast spirit he had refined halfway through. Perhaps it dissipated on its own. Perhaps he destroyed it himself. It has always remained a mystery.
“The cultivation of spirit beasts was subsequently erased from Chonghua’s history. And the only traces left behind—”
Lord Sovereign paused before saying, “Were the people who had been in close contact with the spirit beast back then. More or less, all of them underwent certain mutations.”
Mo Xi narrowed his eyes slightly. “…Who were they?”
“This is a highly classified secret. The records were destroyed within a single generation, so even I cannot know everything. At present, only three people can be confirmed.”
As Lord Sovereign spoke, the beads in his hand came to a stop. He rolled one of the pearls between his fingers.
“First, Zhou Xiao.”
“Zhou He’s father?”
“That’s right. Zhou He’s father, Zhou Xiao, the former Grand Elder of the Department of Arcane Arts. At the time, he should have been the foremost master directly responsible for refining the immortal beast. The mutation that appeared in him was an abnormal bloodlust.”
Mo Xi remained silent for a while. There had indeed been countless bloody rumors about the Zhou family.
Zhou He’s fondness for splitting people’s skulls open and poking around in their brains was no longer anything new. As for his father, Zhou Xiao, he had died relatively early, so Mo Xi had little impression of him. However, he did remember that this Grand Elder had always liked eating bloody raw meat during the year-end banquets.
He had never imagined that there was such a reason behind it.
“Then is Zhou He’s brutality also related to this?”
“Yes,” Lord Sovereign said. “As long as these mutated cultivators have excessive contact with their direct blood relatives, the effects will unknowingly seep into the other person’s body. So Zhou He’s fondness for blood and violence was indeed caused by the influence of his father, Zhou Xiao.”
“…And the second? Who was the second person?”
“It was Murong Xuan.”
Mo Xi was startled. “Murong Lian’s father?!”
Lord Sovereign nodded. “As Father’s biological brother, Murong Xuan was also directly involved in this conspiracy back then. But his situation was somewhat special. He had a dispute with Father very early on and stopped participating in the refinement. Not long afterward, he died on the battlefield. Therefore, the mutation caused by the spirit beast in him was not obvious, nor did it infect Murong Lian in any way.
“The reason I am certain he was the second person is because of his tomb.”
At this point, Lord Sovereign turned several more Heavenly Pearls on his bracelet before continuing.
“The graves of the fallen heroes on Battle Soul Mountain are all sealed with white jade. This type of jade is warm and gentle in quality and does not easily succumb to corrosion. It can preserve the deceased almost exactly as they were in life. But Father Wangshu’s tomb was an exception.”
“The tomb keeper once came to report to me, saying that the jade sealing Father Wangshu’s tomb seemed to be counterfeit. It had already begun to age and discolor after barely more than twenty years.
“So I ordered craftsmen to renovate Father Wangshu’s tomb. Unexpectedly, after the jade sealing the tomb was opened, the craftsmen discovered that the corpse inside had turned completely black from head to toe…”
“It had already undergone complete mutation.”
Mo Xi’s brows drew tightly together as he listened. He asked, “Does Murong Lian know about this?”
“He was not in the imperial capital at the time, so he does not know. Moreover, this matter was far too cruel, so I ultimately did not tell him.”
“…”
Lord Sovereign sighed. “Actually, a person sitting in this position has far too many secrets to keep. There are some things I would rather not know myself. …Forget it. Let us put that aside for now. I will tell you about the third person.”
This time, Mo Xi did not need him to say it.
After hearing the first two cases, the identity of the third person was already obvious.
Mo Xi lowered his eyes and said quietly, “…The third person, if I am not mistaken, was the former Lord Sovereign himself.”
Lord Sovereign froze for a moment before giving a bitter smile. “You are right. The third person was Father. His mutation was—”
“An abnormal fear of the cold.”
“…Yes.”
At some point, the Chonghua ruler of that era had begun to become extraordinarily afraid of the cold.
Even though he was a fire-element cultivator, he liked to sit beside braziers and wrap himself in layers of fur. And his condition grew worse with every passing year.
At the time, everyone assumed that he was simply growing old and that his constitution was no longer as strong as it had been.
No one had expected that there would be such a truth behind it.
Lord Sovereign said, “At the time, Father did not know that his condition had been affected by the cultivation of the spirit beast. He also did not know that this influence could be directly passed down to his offspring. He continued to have frequent contact with me.
“He was the one among the three who lived the longest, so the influence he passed on to me far exceeded the effects the other two fathers had on their children.”
He lowered his eyes, his fingers gently stroking the string of beads, and said quietly, “I was weak in childhood, and my constitution was also of the **spiritual-flow type. As time went on, I developed Cold-Through Illness.”
His voice grew softer and softer. Beneath his long lashes, his eyes seemed like a dark river flowing with turbulent emotions. His thin lips opened and closed lightly.
“Father unknowingly brought me a lifetime of illness and suffering, yet because he eventually learned of my illness, he even began considering abolishing me as Crown Prince…”
Lord Sovereign let out an almost imperceptible sigh and did not continue.
On the Golden Hall, the water inside the Bixi water clock quietly dripped downward.
A new drop fell into the reflected pool, shattering the old stillness into shimmering ripples.
Even the simplest person would have a few secrets unknown to others, let alone a kingdom that had existed for many years.
Mo Xi had previously known only that Lord Sovereign suffered from this incurable illness. He had never known the origin of the disease, much less that it was connected to Old Lord Sovereign.
For a moment, he did not know what to say.
Lord Sovereign sighed. “…Enough. What happened in the past is no longer important. What is making me feel extremely threatened now is the fall of Daze City.”
“You heard me say earlier that Daze City was the place where Chentan sealed the blood demon beast. Ever since Chentan’s decisive battle with the Liao Kingdom, it has become a place that both Liao and Chonghua are determined to possess.
“Liao knows very well that if they want their demon beast to undergo Nirvana and be resurrected, Daze is a place they absolutely must control. As for us… whether for defense or for research, we must not hand Daze over to them.”
“So over these past several centuries, Chonghua and Liao have fought countless battles over Daze, taking turns occupying this former sacred ground.
“When the former Lord Sovereign was on the throne, Daze was still Liao territory. After I ascended the throne, Daze City was once again incorporated into Chonghua’s territory.
“And the very first thing I did after reclaiming Daze was to secretly dispatch people from the Department of Arcane Arts to Daze City to investigate the traces left by the blood demon beast’s seal.”
Mo Xi asked, “What were the results?”
Lord Sovereign shook his head. “If I were to reveal them publicly, I fear they would plunge the entire Chonghua into extreme panic.”
He paused before saying quietly, “The blood demon beast’s seal has already been undone.”
“!”
“During those more than ten years when Liao ruled Daze, they had already successfully broken the blood demon beast’s seal and rescued it from the depths of Daze Lake.”
Mo Xi’s pupils contracted.
“If the blood demon beast had already returned to Liao’s possession, why has there been no movement whatsoever during these past ten years?!”
“Because although the seal was undone, perhaps the blood demon beast had been too badly injured and too much of its primordial spirit had dispersed. Therefore, it remains in a state of slumber and cannot be controlled by Liao cultivators.”
“But you understand. The most difficult seal to undo has already been broken. As for its slumber… it will certainly be possible to awaken it again.”
Lord Sovereign sighed before continuing, “When I first heard this secret report, I was so anxious that I could not sleep properly for more than ten consecutive days. Day and night, I kept thinking—could the blood demon beast truly be incapable of being revived? Did Liao possess some great sorcerer with extraordinary mastery of magic who could restore the spirit body that had been sealed for hundreds of years? If so, how long would it take?”
“…”
Lord Sovereign raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed his brow, saying quietly, “Lord Xihe, do you understand now why I am so desperate to send someone absolutely loyal to Liao as a spy?
“We must know every movement of the blood demon beast. Otherwise, there will not be another Chentan capable of guarding Chonghua’s gates.”
Mo Xi asked in a low voice, “Then what exactly is the blood demon beast’s current condition?”
“It took Gu Mang an entire year to finally uncover information related to it.
“After the seal was broken, the blood demon beast was placed back inside a spirit-storage pouch to be nourished. But Chentan’s destruction of it back then was simply too severe. So no matter how carefully it is worshiped and nurtured, its power continues to weaken.
“To this day, there is still not the slightest sign of recovery.”
Seeing Mo Xi’s expression relax slightly, Lord Sovereign said, “But do not take comfort too soon. I also used to think that the threat posed by the blood demon beast had essentially been eliminated and that there was no need to worry excessively.
“Until later, when the Department of Arcane Arts cultivators in Daze City secretly reported to me that they had discovered a trace of the blood demon beast’s remnant soul in the lake where it had once been sealed.”
Mo Xi remained silent for a moment.
Then he suddenly understood.
His eyes widened. “So the reason the blood demon beast has still not awakened is not because it is truly incapable of recovering, but because Liao is missing this strand of soul?”
“Exactly,” Lord Sovereign said.
“Back then, Chentan shattered the blood demon beast’s soul completely. One strand of its remnant soul escaped from the seal and sank into the lake without any consciousness.
“It is precisely because this strand of soul is missing that Liao has been unable to awaken their nation’s greatest weapon from its slumber for more than ten years.”
“Thus, this strand of soul has become an absolutely crucial factor in the contest between Chonghua and Liao over victory and defeat.”
“After learning of this, I immediately ordered people to search the lake for the blood demon beast’s remnant soul. However, this was like searching for a needle at the bottom of the sea. It took six or seven years before, just a few months ago, we finally narrowed the search area down to a range that could actually be investigated.”
“But that area was roughly a hundred li of lake and marshland. If we continued searching by ordinary methods, it would still take several months.
“I wanted to eliminate this potential threat as quickly as possible, so I took a risk.”
Mo Xi said, “…What?”
Lord Sovereign raised his pale fingers and pointed to his own head.
“Summoning.”
“Because I was infected by the spirit beast when I was young, I developed Cold-Through Illness. But at the same time, I also carry some trace of the spirit beast’s aura within me.
“The blood demon beast and that spirit beast belong to the same lineage. As long as I exert myself to the utmost, I can more or less use that aura to summon it.”
Mo Xi pursed his lips, almost finding it unbelievable.
“Lord Sovereign has been unconscious these past few days because you were trying to sense the traces of the blood demon beast’s remnant soul?”
“Yes. So this time, when the cold illness struck, what I needed was not immediate relief, but to let it develop naturally.
“The more severe the cold illness became, the stronger the spirit beast’s aura within me would become, and the easier it would be for me to sense the blood demon beast’s exact location.”
“And just yesterday, I finally confirmed the precise location of that remnant soul. I was planning to immediately send people to retrieve it…
“But when I came to court today, I learned that Daze City had already fallen.”
The cold atmosphere inside the great hall suddenly became oppressive to the extreme with the slight movement of his lips and teeth.
Lord Sovereign closed his eyes and gripped the armrest of the Dragon Throne. The veins on the back of his hand bulged sharply.
He said grimly, “Liao…”
“It must be that Liao has finally discovered the secret behind why the blood demon beast cannot recover.
“Now that Daze City is in their hands, once they successfully locate it, and the final strand of soul falls into the hands of the Liao people, what awaits Chonghua will not be a stalemate over one city or two.
“It will inevitably be a repeat of Hua Po’an’s battle back then.”
Blood-colored mist seemed to fill his eyes.
“Lord Xihe, do you understand how serious this is?
“This matter concerns the very foundation of the nation. I absolutely cannot reveal the truth to anyone who may harbor even the slightest second thoughts.”
“The fall of Daze is far more serious than it appears on the surface.
“So I will immediately dispatch an army to reclaim Daze. You will command the entire army.
“But you must understand clearly: the purpose of this expedition is not the city.
“It is the blood demon beast’s remnant soul within the lake and marshland.
“You must find it as quickly as possible.”
He paused before saying, “Otherwise, once the blood demon beast’s soul is made whole and it undergoes Nirvana to be reborn, let alone Chonghua…”
“The entire cultivation world will be plunged into chaos.”
“At that time…
“It will inevitably become a catastrophe across the Nine Provinces, with suffering and devastation throughout the Four Seas!”