He himself resolved to head to Bright Heart Island.
“He said the opportunity was rare,” Di Chun explained. “Have Li Xuan inform everyone of the Demon Bright Realm and Demon Clan’s collusion first, to prepare defenses early. He’d go to the island to see if he could find a way to counter the Rotten Flesh Giant Demons and Azure Flame Commander.”
“Jiang Immortal Lord truly has courage and strategy. If he uncovers the key to defeating the Demon Bright Realm and Demon Realm’s joint army from this trip, it’ll be a monumental achievement.”
“In any case, he said not to worry—he’d return as soon as possible.”
…
In the days before Jiang Chen’s return, the allied army dared not slacken.
After learning of the Demon Bright Realm and Demon Clan’s collusion, they swiftly reorganized strategy, mobilizing every sect’s garrison disciples and placing the entire Unstained Immortal Realm on unprecedented war footing.
Under Xia Yunjie’s leadership, they mobilized all Immortal Lords skilled in formations for full-domain scanning across the Unstained Immortal Realm, probing for spiritual fluctuations or spatial rifts from possible Demon Bright Realm teleportation arrays. They also rushed construction of various small teleportation arrays to link with the Demon Bright Realm’s Dawnbreaker Army, ensuring quick troop deployments and coordinated response when critical.
Moreover, they formed a new intelligence division from capable Demon Immortals in the army to collate information and analyze the Demon Bright Realm and Demon Clan’s movements day and night.
Beyond continuing elite scouts into Demon Clan territory, they carefully selected Demon Immortal mixed-blood disciples to infiltrate the Demon Bright Realm, uncovering the Demon Court’s intentions and the secrets of the Rotten Flesh Giant Demons’ creation.
Xia Yunjie: “I’m also thinking… the best would be to drive a wedge between the Demon Clan and Demon Bright Realm.”
Everyone was on the same page.
Immortals and demons had never coexisted peacefully since ancient times.
Even if they allied temporarily, it could never be ironclad.
If anything, their alliance was this flimsy precisely because both sides harbored schemes: join forces to take the Unstained Immortal Realm first, then turn on each other. Each had their own ghosts in mind.
Thus, Zhao Lixuan finally understood the oddities of the earlier battles.
The Immortal Clan’s allied army hadn’t advanced triumphantly because the demon forces were weak.
Twenty years ago, when top powerhouses like Zhao Lanze and Yu Changxin were at their peak, the Demon Clan had nearly overrun the entire Unstained Immortal Realm. Now, with even stronger Rotten Flesh Giant Demons and covert Demon Bright Realm support, how could they fight so feebly?
Now the truth was out.
Though the Demon Clan had borrowed the Demon Bright Realm’s path for a surprise assault on Immortal Capital, they distrusted and guarded against their “allies.”
Neither dared commit fully against the Unstained Immortal Realm, fearing the snipe-and-clam struggle would let the other profit. This left the frontline demon forces lacking momentum, giving the immortal army its openings.
And now, they had to exploit this fatal rift to the fullest!
Fortunately, the allies had long planted numerous spies in the Demon Clan, sending more elites after war broke out and retrieving valuable intel:
Tu Ji’s frontline efforts to hold the line had only fueled Prince Ji You’s greater dissatisfaction.
The prince even openly promised his subordinates: anyone helping him topple Tu Ji would be rewarded with the Demon Clan’s marshal position once he inherited the throne.
To undermine Tu Ji’s reputation in the Demon Realm, Ji You and his faction not only refused support under pretexts but spread rumors of her soft-heartedness and poor command everywhere. They even sent men disguised as bandits to raid her supply troops.
Hearing this, the gathered immortals couldn’t help sighing.
“How tragic…”
Even Xia Yunjie and others who had witnessed Tu Ji deceiving Yu Rumu twenty years ago now felt sympathy for her plight.
She fought wholeheartedly for the Demon Clan, yet got stabbed in the back—effort unrewarded and enemies on both front and rear. And her saboteur was the demon emperor’s legitimate son, whom she could never openly challenge as his foster mother.
With Tu Ji’s scheming nature, she surely sensed these hidden arrows.
It must chill her heart.
Not to mention, while she knew the Demon Bright Realm had ulterior motives, she might not realize they’d already secretly forged a shocking number of Rotten Flesh Giant Demons.
Thus, after careful deliberation, the allied leadership unanimously agreed: before the decisive battle at Crimson Meteor Pass, it was necessary to have a good talk with Tu Ji.
Yu Rumu hadn’t expected that, after twenty years, his reunion with Tu Ji would come as he joined Yin Canshang, Chu Fusheng, and others on a mission to the Crimson Meteor Pass frontline, trying their utmost to convince her to face reality.
Likewise, Zhao Lixuan had to persuade someone too.
But his task was much easier.
He and Mo Qing had known each other since childhood, even exchanging letters frequently during the first two years after their initial descent to the Human Realm.
Back then, the Unstained Immortal Realm had not yet split apart, the Demon Bright Realm had not yet declared independence, and Mo Qing was not yet the Lord of Cloud Cliff Pass.
Even now, according to Duan Shuheng, Mo Qing still staunchly advocated for peace and had no interest whatsoever in taking part in this conflict.
Things progressed even more smoothly than expected.
In truth, there was no need for any persuasion at all—Mo Qing had already acted on the conscience befitting a city lord during the prior seizure of several Unstained Immortal Realm cities. He had unilaterally opened the gates to evacuate the civilians within, an action that provoked intense fury from his allied Demon Clan prince, Ji You, who had him taken prisoner on the spot.
But could a Demon Clan prince, even as an ally, dare to casually imprison a Demon Bright Realm general?
The move immediately sparked outrage among a great many demon immortals, leading to fierce infighting within the city.
And when Zhao Lixuan arrived, it was just in time to witness Mo Qing leading his personal guards in breaking through the encirclement. He had even seized a key to a forbidden area in the Demon Realm from Prince Ji You!
…
Meanwhile, Jiang Chen finally crossed layer upon layer of the Floating Life Sea and set foot on Bright Heart Island.
Wildflowers bloomed vibrantly across the island, swaying in the breeze, reminiscent of that hillside behind Fu Xi Palace where Zhao Lixuan had once planted golden needle vegetables for him. He pushed through the flower clusters toward the ruins deep in the island’s heart.
Amid the crumbled walls and shattered remnants stood a pool of clear spring water—Di Chun had once said that this spring could reflect the truth of one’s deepest desires.
But why…
When he tried to peer into the Demon Bright Realm’s conspiracies or search for the whereabouts of Lan Ze Immortal Lord’s soul, the water mirror stubbornly showed only the figure of a man he had never met.
He watched for a good while, yet he could only follow along with this man’s memories. Gradually, he realized that this person was the previous generation’s Immortal Emperor, Wu Fu.
By all accounts, the people of the Immortal Realm lived out their lives either passing peacefully after several centuries or ascending to completion.
The exact outcome often depended on one’s aptitude. Those with extraordinary talent, like Zhao Lixuan’s parents, ultimately shattered the void to ascend to higher realms.
And the successive Immortal Emperors, as the pinnacles of the Immortal Clan, had nearly all achieved merit and ascension without fail.
Only the previous Immortal Emperor had suddenly dropped dead more than thirty years ago.
This had even given rise to rumors of a “curse on the Imperial bloodline.” The matter remained a topic of endless speculation, with the Immortal Court keeping it strictly taboo. Even Yu Changxin, who had held great power in the Immortal Court at the time, knew nothing of the details.
Because when it happened, he had been away on business in the Human Realm, not present at the scene.
Rumors also swirled that Demon King Su Zhen had met a similarly abrupt end around the same time, with whispers linking the two deaths.
But regardless of any connection, these old grudges from the previous generation should have had nothing to do with Jiang Chen.
He hadn’t even been born yet, and besides, he had been an orphan from birth.
How could the enmities of the prior era possibly drag him into them?
Until the scenes in the water mirror shifted, revealing a stunning demon immortal serving at the Immortal Emperor’s side—that woman had skin whiter than snow, with a blood-red teardrop mole at the corner of her eye.
Vaguely, something stirred in his memory.
It was as if… before he had ended up abandoned on the streets, when he was still very small, he had once had a home. A pair of snow-white, warm hands had gently caressed his cheek, lulling him to sleep with a soft, tender hum.
That woman was breathtakingly beautiful, yet always carried an air of lingering sorrow, marked by the red teardrop mole at her eye’s corner.
That was his mother.
