Volume 11, Chapter 724 – Whoever Wants to Be a Woman Can Be One

“Turn evil? If I truly wanted to turn evil, I have countless methods. Why waste a bottle of Heaven-Deceiving Water just to trade with you?”

Cheng Hongling explained coldly.

“That’s true enough.”

Zhen Feiyan nodded thoughtfully, then continued guessing on her own: “If it isn’t for that, then perhaps you just want to leave yourself or your relatives and friends a way out? Could it be that you’ve offended some powerful enemy? With such a doppelgänger, it’s hard to imagine anyone still being able to threaten your life.”

“Are you going to trade or not?”

Cheng Hongling was starting to grow impatient.

“No trade, but I can give it to you.”

Zhen Feiyan stretched out her jade-like hand and directly broke off her middle finger. She said, “I’ll give you this finger. If you want it to release Yin energy, just tear open that outer layer of skin.”

“No need to gift it. I don’t like to randomly owe others favors. You keep the Heaven-Deceiving Water.”

Cheng Hongling picked up the severed finger, stood, and left. The Heaven-Deceiving Water remained on the stone table.

Zhen Feiyan let out a helpless laugh. She had truly wanted to offer goodwill, but the other party simply refused to take the bait.

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A few days later, Shuiyu Valley, now fully prepared, reopened. Qi Huang, as the so-called guest grand elder, was naturally invited onto the stage to give a speech.

Looking at the seven or eight hundred beauties below, if this had been in the past she would have panicked. But now, subconsciously, she already regarded these women as sisters. Thus, her words flowed smoothly and logically, far beyond expectations, and the beauties below looked up at her with starry-eyed admiration.

When the upper echelon of Honghua Sect learned of this, each of them felt a deep sense of crisis. They hurriedly bestowed Cheng Hongling with the title of grand elder as well.

At first Cheng Hongling wanted to refuse, but under the persistent persuasion of relatives and friends around her, she finally accepted. It wasn’t because she was vain, she was simply struggling to protect herself now and had no energy to tangle with such trivial matters.

In the days that followed, Cheng Hongling also attempted to rescue the doppelgänger. But as assimilation deepened, Qi Huang became more and more like a woman. She was growing immune to Cheng Hongling’s beauty, so success never came.

On this day, Ai Xing finally arrived at Honghua Sect. She purchased a residence rightfully like an ordinary person and settled down, then immediately began using her Yin-Yang Eyes to observe Cheng Hongling and Qi Huang.

The first thing Ai Xing needed to confirm was naturally whether what she had seen at the Immortal Alliance headquarters had been real. Only then could she pursue the deeper truth.

The moment she entered her room, she unleashed her Yin-Yang Eyes to scan the entirety of Honghua Sect. Soon, she overheard some disciples mentioning the Cheng family’s address, and following the trail, she found Cheng Hongling and Qi Huang.

Ai Xing eagerly observed Cheng Hongling. The results proved that the Yin-Yang Eyes were indeed reliable, what she had seen at the Immortal Alliance headquarters was true. The scene inside this girl’s Sea of Consciousness was exactly the same as then.

Ai Xing immediately grew vigilant and then turned to observe Qi Huang’s Sea of Consciousness. Once again, it was exactly the same as what she had seen at headquarters.

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‘Truly strange… how can there be such a bizarre cultivator in this world?’

Ai Xing exclaimed in wonder, then became utterly engrossed in her observation, so much so that she abandoned sleep and food. At this point, curiosity completely dominated her, and she forgot her mission. She wanted nothing more than to uncover the truth.

Naturally, Qi Huang and Cheng Hongling remained entirely unaware. The Yin-Yang Eyes were unlike Divine Sense, which could be felt; no matter how high one’s cultivation, there was no way to defend against it.

That day, Qi Huang was once again called inside by the refined soul.

“My lower body has completely disappeared.”

Huang Jing looked at his featureless lower half, his face ashen with despair.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as it hasn’t become a mere ‘valley’, I will definitely find a way to control this assimilation power soon.”

Qi Huang’s tone was calm, nothing like the agitation of before.

Huang Jing fell into even deeper despair. He understood that the longer this dragged on, the more the main body’s personality would become feminine. When that time came, whether he would even want to be a man anymore was uncertain.

“Assimilation power? What assimilation power?”

Ai Xing was baffled.

She continued observing day and night, and soon made another discovery: Cheng Hongling’s true Spiritual Wisdom Soul wasn’t Qi Huang, but the one she herself had imprisoned inside her Sea of Consciousness.

“If Cheng Hongling’s Spiritual Wisdom Soul isn’t Qi Huang, then how can the two interact like master and doppelgänger? And why would she imprison her own soul, while letting an outsider serve as her doppelgänger?”

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Ai Xing’s mind was in chaos. She gradually realized that this was far more complicated than she had originally imagined.

As time passed, Ai Xing uncovered something even stranger: Qi Huang appeared to be entangled in a kind of assimilation power. Among her three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls, six of the corporeal souls had already transformed into female souls. Only the three souls and the half-assimilated soul remained, barely holding on, and even that half-assimilated soul was on the verge of collapse. Thus, she was desperately seeking ways to save herself.

‘If that’s the case, then doesn’t it prove that Qi Huang used to be a man?’

Ai Xing speculated. With further observation, her suspicion was confirmed, Qi Huang had indeed once been a man. The process of becoming a woman was utterly unbelievable, she had been feminized by Cheng Hongling’s human skin mask, which carried that so-called “assimilation power”.

As for why Qi Huang was so strong, it was simply because she had a straightforward and brutal method of becoming stronger: using ghost tomatoes to fortify her Divine Sense.

At this point, Ai Xing’s goal became clear, she needed to uncover the origin and usage of this assimilation power. Qi Huang’s strengthening method, on the other hand, she could only covet from afar, since it was impossible to replicate.

After an entire month, Ai Xing finally traced the assimilation power back to Lu Yao. Without delay, she hurried back to the Severed Immortal Sect to report to the Sect Leader.

“Let me straighten this out!”

The Sect Leader of the Severed Immortal Sect needed time to digest the flood of information. After a long silence, he began confirming: “So you’re saying that in some world there existed a powerful zombie named Lu Yao. To rebel against Heaven, she somehow obtained a foreign Heavenly Dao power, the very assimilation power that can turn men into women.”

“Yes. I don’t know what happened afterward, but this assimilation power was ultimately inherited by Cheng Hongling. Its manifestation is the ‘blood-tear’ that appears on her right cheek. To preserve her dignity, she tried to split this blood-tear off into a doppelgänger. But lacking sufficient strength, she only managed to separate a piece of facial skin.”

Ai Xing continued.

“I see… I had always said it was impossible for her to advance three levels in a single year. So it turns out she was only at Unity Realm yet forced herself to cultivate a doppelgänger.”

The Sect Leader suddenly understood, then repeated what he’d just pieced together: “And that doppelgänger, Cheng Ling, sought absolute freedom. So she fled Honghua Sect with that mask of skin, only to be picked up by a man named Huang Qi.”

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“Yes. Huang Qi, in order to placate his family, wore the mask to pretend to be a woman. Unexpectedly, once he put it on, he couldn’t take it off. Both his body and soul gradually assimilated into a woman, thus becoming today’s Qi Huang.”

Ai Xing confirmed.

“Hearing it like this, it does connect cause and effect and makes logical sense. Still, the matter is too fantastic. If it weren’t you telling me directly, I would never believe that such a bizarre thing could exist in this world.”

The Sect Leader marveled.

“Indeed. Even in the cultivation world where evil spirits abound and strange events are endless, I’ve never heard of something that could gender-transform a person… and with just a piece of human skin, no less.”

Ai Xing agreed.

“So you’re certain that this assimilation power truly lies in Qi Huang now?”

The Sect Leader solemnly asked again and again.

“Yes, I can confirm this with absolute certainty. The blood-tear on her face is the best proof.”

Ai Xing spoke with unwavering resolve.

“Hahaha! For the sake of all living beings, my Severed Immortal Sect has fought the Immortal Alliance for thousands of years, sacrificing countless predecessors. Who would have thought that today, this Sect Leader would find a shortcut? As long as we capture Qi Huang, then whoever wants to be a woman can be one! The mortal world will never again suffer a shortage of women!”

The Sect Leader burst into crazed laughter.