“Later, my master traveled the human world… Sorry.” Xiao Kun said this, then added, “I didn’t know the Myriad Phenomena Blade belonged to the White Jade Palace and failed to return it in time.”
Chaosheng hurriedly clarified, “It’s not what you think. Le Wan Shuang was the last divine servant in the White Jade Palace. Back then, they were so bored on Kunlun Mountain that they all went down to the human world. Everyone just took treasures casually when they left, at most saying, ‘I’m taking this to use,’ and Chang Ge never stopped them. However, the technique you cultivate is quite miraculous.”
Chaosheng examined Xiao Kun closely, utterly astonished. “You practice water-element techniques, yet you wield an earth-element divine weapon, borrowing the clash of attributes to trigger an explosion of magical power… Truly impressive! You are a genius!”
Xiao Kun had not expected that Chaosheng would uncover everything from his background to the techniques he cultivated throughout his life in just a quarter of an hour. He was utterly speechless.
Chaosheng said full of admiration, “You must be an unparalleled genius.”
Xiao Kun felt embarrassed and hurriedly replied, “It was mere coincidence and fate, Your Highness. You overpraise me.”
Chaosheng began flipping through the books again and asked, “What happened next? How did you become a Grand Demon-Exorcist?”
He was not actually very interested in Xiao Kun’s life story, but with such a handsome man before him, anything he said was entertaining. Thus, Chaosheng pretended to be deeply invested.
“Later, Great Liao’s Grand Demon-Exorcist Yelu Huan’an passed away, so my master ordered me to succeed him in that duty and take charge of the Exorcism Division,” Xiao Kun answered. “Capturing demons and performing exorcisms could be considered a small contribution to the common people. Before his death, Lord Huan’an passed down the warning of the Heavenly Demon Rebirth. The Heavenly Demon’s previous reincarnation occurred during the Tang Dynasty’s Tianbao era, but I don’t know…”
This fell within Chaosheng’s knowledge, so he couldn’t resist showing off a bit in front of the handsome brother. He said to him, “You don’t know about this. Let me explain it to you.”
Xiao Kun replied, “Please instruct me, Your Highness.”
“The prophecy of the Heavenly Demon Reincarnation was left by the first Grand Demon-Exorcist. Do you know who the first Grand Demon-Exorcist was?” Chaosheng asked.
“I don’t know,” Xiao Kun said. “Over thousands of years, ancient records have long been buried in the sands of time. There are no records at all from ancient times. Ah, wait—I read a name in the Mysterious Bird Ancient Scroll… Zi Lv!”
Chaosheng said gravely, “Correct! The first Grand Demon-Exorcist was named Zi Lv. He defeated the first Heavenly Demon in history. When the demonic qi dispersed and the Demon Seed was sealed, he declared, ‘In a millennium, I shall return,’ thus beginning the cycle of prophecy.
“In truth, the emergence of ‘demons’ takes human baleful qi as its foundation. When baleful qi fills the mortal dust and cannot be purified, the Demon Seed gains these external forces and seeks to rise again. In a sense, then, ‘demons’ are created by humans themselves. For there were no demons in the era before humans existed. During the era of the Three Kingdoms, with their wars claiming tens of millions of lives—great battles like Guandu and Chibi gave birth to the unwillingness and grief of the dead across Shenzhou.
“Thus, the Demon Seed awakened in Nanzhong but was suppressed by exorcists and failed to devour Shenzhou or complete its true reincarnation.
“The later Qin-Jin conflicts were a continuation of the baleful qi born from the slaughter of the Five Barbarians’ invasion of the passes, with nowhere for it to go. This time, the Heavenly Demon truly reborn.”
“See?” Chaosheng gestured for Xiao Kun to look up at the giant tree in the White Jade Palace.
“Lord Jumang—that is, this tree—connects to the veins of the Shenzhou Great Land. Whenever the land fills with baleful qi, Lord Jumang begins to shed its leaves. Ten years ago, when I arrived at the White Jade Palace, many of its leaves had already turned black.”
Xiao Kun nodded and said, “In other words, Lord Jumang sensed the baleful qi of the human world.”
Chaosheng nodded. “Since ancient times, Grand Demon-Exorcists have drawn on the power of Ming Wang and Dipamkara to suppress Shenzhou’s demonic qi and purify the world. You have the Mingwang True Sword and the Heart Lamp, right?”
“I… to my shame, I have neither,” Xiao Kun said.
Chaosheng and Xiao Kun stared at each other.
Chaosheng: “This…”
Xiao Kun looked quite depressed.
“Then how do you perform exorcisms?” Chaosheng asked, full of doubt.
Xiao Kun said, “From childhood, I learned the Blood Sacrifice Blade Technique from my master, which allows me to slay demons and evils with it. I don’t know the reason why.”
Xiao Kun made a motion of drawing his hand across the blade and pulled out his knife to show Chaosheng. Chaosheng’s expression twisted as he said, “It looks like it hurts just looking at it.”
“There’s no other way,” Xiao Kun said honestly. “This is one of my few signature skills.”
Chaosheng inspected Xiao Kun’s slender fingers and beautiful palms and suddenly understood.
Chaosheng said, “You use the Bone Phosphorus Light? Ah, of course! You have the bloodline of the War Dead Corpse Ghosts, so you can wield the ‘Ghost Fire’ among the seven true fires—equivalent to using the light of death to break demonic barriers.”
It was as if a dreamer had been awakened by a single phrase; Xiao Kun understood as well.
