Volume 14, Chapter 898 – You Mustn’t Do Anything Foolish

Qi Huang looked at the list in her hand. Although it was densely packed with tens of thousands of names, her face showed no sign of distress. There were three reasons for this. First, out of the more than one million evil spirits, she was only tasked with finding relatives for a few tens of thousands… that was already fortunate. Second, those evil spirits had already contacted their relatives in advance using the Universal Communication Tubes; she merely needed to go to the agreed meeting points on the designated dates to find them. The ones who couldn’t be reached accounted for less than one-tenth. Third, helping these evil spirits locate their families was, in fact, also helping herself, so there was no need for complaints.

“I wonder how many of those tens of thousands of evil spirits remained in the Immortal Realm after they were scattered into the Cultivation Realm.”

Qi Huang sighed to herself.

“Young Mistress, I can guarantee it’s far more than you think. The Immortal Realm is vast and boundless. Many evil spirits, in order to escape the Immortal Alliance’s hunts, hide in places no one could imagine. They’ll never come out, even if it kills them… and there are definitely not just a few like that,” said An Xuan at her side.

As a maid with considerable strength, she naturally stayed close and accompanied Qi Huang everywhere.

“Sigh!”

Qi Huang let out another sigh. She was increasingly aware of just how naïve her plan had been.

“Tell me… with my current strength as a Monarch-grade Immortal, would I be able to suppress all thirty-two heart fragments?”

On the other side, Cheng Hongling abruptly changed the subject.

“What are you trying to do?”

Qi Huang’s face immediately tensed with vigilance.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to send all the evil spirits from the Immortal Realm into the Cultivation Realm? An Xuan said it before. The only way is to fuse all thirty-two heart fragments into a single body. Once that happens, all the evil spirits in the Immortal Realm won’t be able to escape my perception,” Cheng Hongling explained boldly.

“That absolutely won’t do. What if you can’t suppress them? Wouldn’t that turn you into a zombie?”

Qi Huang immediately objected.

Cheng Hongling smiled softly and said, “After all we’ve been through, I think what An Xuan said makes a lot of sense. Whether one lives or dies, whether they’re an immortal or a demon, those don’t define a person. What matters most is the ‘heart’. A pure heart matters more than anything else.”

“Yes, the heart is what matters most. Which is why I sincerely hope you won’t suffer any harm.”

Qi Huang spoke solemnly.

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Upon hearing this, An Xuan’s elegant brows furrowed slightly. She then slowly said, “Though Master’s heart fragments have already lost most of their Yin energy, with your current strength, you still can’t suppress thirty-two heart fragments. If you fuse them into your body, you will die, without question.”

“You hear that, my lady? Don’t do anything foolish.”

Qi Huang seized the chance to urge her.

“There might actually be another way. One that doesn’t require fusing all thirty-two fragments to achieve the goal,” An Xuan suddenly said again. Since she now understood the relationship involving the ‘Young Mistress’, she no longer found such titles strange.

“What method?” Cheng Hongling asked urgently.

“You both should remember, when Master was killed by the Celestials, her heart fragments scattered across countless worlds. Only part of them ended up in the Immortal Realm,” An Xuan reminded them.

“So?” Qi Huang raised a brow.

“So the Yin energy present in the Immortal Realm now only comes from a portion of Master’s scattered heart fragments. That means, you only need to fuse that portion of fragments, not all thirty-two.”

An Xuan explained carefully.

“Then why did you say before that we needed all thirty-two?” Qi Huang asked, clearly displeased.

“Young Mistress, this method comes with two conditions. First, you must possess the exact fragments that correspond to the ones scattered in the Immortal Realm. Missing even one won’t work. Second, you must correctly identify which ones they are. If you fuse the wrong ones, it’s just as bad,” An Xuan explained patiently.

Cheng Hongling’s beautiful eyes lit up. With a single thought, twenty-eight heart fragments materialized before them.

“Quick, try to recall—find those pieces. I don’t believe that the missing one out of twenty-nine would just happen to be from the Immortal Realm.”

She urged immediately.

“Wasn’t it twenty-nine? Why did you only bring out twenty-eight?” An Xuan asked curiously from the side.

“One of them is already fused into my body. Naturally, I can’t take it out, but as long as we can see it, that’s enough,” Cheng Hongling explained casually.

“You really plan to fuse more of these heart fragments? Just one already caused you unbearable pain,” Qi Huang said, looking troubled.

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“Enough with the whining. Don’t act like such a baby. You call yourself a man?” Cheng Hongling snapped, her brows raised in irritation.

Qi Huang had no choice but to comply. She focused all her attention on recalling the moment when Lu Yao had fallen, and centered her thoughts on the shattered heart.

As time passed, Qi Huang selected four heart fragments from the twenty-eight and said, “There were five that fell into the Immortal Realm. We’re still missing one… this plan won’t work.”

“Check the one in my body. Maybe it’s the missing piece?”

Cheng Hongling deactivated her Divine Sense shield, fully exposing herself for Qi Huang to scan.

“No need, I’m already familiar with that one. It’s not it,” Qi Huang said through clenched teeth, shaking her head.

“You sure about that? Don’t forget. We share a main body and doppelgänger bond. What’s the point of lying to me?” Cheng Hongling grinned teasingly.

“Ugh! Curse this damned Soul Resonance…”

Qi Huang cursed in frustration, half-angry, half-embarrassed.

“Well? With my current strength, can I suppress these five heart fragments?” Cheng Hongling asked An Xuan eagerly.

“With just five, there shouldn’t be any major issue,” An Xuan replied without hesitation.

“You’re certain?”

Qi Huang pressed, unconvinced.

“Absolutely. If you don’t believe me, you can always use a zombie as a test subject. Let them serve as the vessel, the effect is the same. And trust me, they’d be more than happy to volunteer,” An Xuan suggested.

“No way. We’ve worked so hard to collect our… I mean, our ancestor’s heart fragments. Scattering them again would only bring us more trouble,” Cheng Hongling rejected the idea without a second thought, leaving Qi Huang no chance to weigh in.

“Enough chatter. You two stand guard for me. I’m going to fuse these four fragments now,” Cheng Hongling said decisively.

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“Hold up! I haven’t even agreed to this plan yet, and you’re already rushing into it like a greedy little fox,” Qi Huang protested helplessly.

“Oh, right. I forgot. We should first investigate the current situation in the Immortal Realm. No need to hurt any innocents,” Cheng Hongling said, suddenly remembering.

“You really don’t have to be that cautious. I said it before, after so many years of indoctrination by the Immortal Alliance’s upper ranks, cultivators in the Immortal Realm no longer resist Heaven. All they care about is how to curry favor with the Heavenly Dao. They’re all our enemies, and they deserve to die,” An Xuan reiterated.

“Still, let’s look around. Maybe there are some righteous individuals or sects left. We can’t let any villains off the hook, but we also must not harm a single good person,” Cheng Hongling insisted stubbornly. That was her guiding principle in life.

With their decisions made, the three women set off. On one hand, they sought out the families of evil spirits on the Xiannu Planet. On the other, they investigated the state of various sects throughout the Immortal Realm. This process would take at least one to two years to complete.

At the central tower of the Immortal Alliance’s main headquarters, Lu Hong was once again attempting to contact his ancestors in the Heavenly Realm. The process required blood sacrifice, and the success rate was extremely low. So his figure had grown even more hunched than before.

Even so, Lu Hong remained unwavering. He slashed his wrist, letting his essence blood flow into the jade basin atop the altar table. Then, he dipped paper money into the blood, burning them sheet by sheet inside the incense burner, and finally closed his eyes to sense the presence of his ancestors.

Time passed slowly. This time, Lu Hong’s luck wasn’t bad, one of his ancestors responded.

“Which descendant is trying to contact me?”

The ancestor’s voice echoed in Lu Hong’s mind.

“I am Lu Hong, the 507th descendant of the Lu Clan, and currently the Grand Elder of the Immortal Alliance in the Immortal Realm. May I ask which esteemed ancestor you are?”

Lu Hong introduced himself with utmost respect.

“I am Lu Wei, the 110th generation descendant of the Lu Clan. You may call me Great-Grandfather. I’ve heard about you from Grandson Lu Chao,” came the reply.

“Greetings, Great-Grandfather! Most of the times I’ve performed blood sacrifices, I’ve only managed to contact Ancestor Lu Chao!” Lu Hong explained.

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“I’ve heard you’re not doing well, so let’s skip the formalities. What do you need from me?”

Lu Wei got straight to the point.

“In that case, forgive me for being blunt. Let’s get down to business.”

Afraid of losing the mental connection, Lu Hong wasted no time and quickly gave a concise account of the current situation in the Cultivation Realm. Then, he made two humble requests:

“First, I hope you can help me access the Celestial Star Chart to track the evil spirits’ whereabouts. Second, I beg the Heavenly Court to lift its restrictions so that we may use assimilation powers to pursue those evil spirits.”

“Those are outrageous requests. The Celestial Star Chart is a sacred treasure used by the Heavenly Court’s upper echelons to monitor all worlds. I may hold a post in the Heavenly Court, but I’m of low rank and have no right to view it. And as for the second… forget it. Assimilation power is a thorn in the Five Elements Heavenly Dao’s side. Who in the Heavenly Court would dare authorize its use? Not even a Heavenly King would take that risk.”

Lu Wei’s tone was filled with disapproval.

“Great-Grandfather… is there really nothing we can do? The Heavenly Court’s deadline is almost upon us,” Lu Hong said, sounding discouraged.

“I can try to help with the first. But the second? Not a chance,” Lu Wei relented slightly.

“Thank you, Great-Grandfather!”

Lu Hong forced himself to rally and offer thanks.

“No need to be so formal. I’ll try to gather information for you. But frankly, I’m very concerned that, in your condition, you won’t be able to contact me again,” Lu Wei said with worry.

“Don’t worry, Great-Grandfather. For the Immortal Alliance, even if I bleed myself dry, I will reach you.”

Lu Hong bit his lip and vowed.

With that, their communication ended. Lu Hong’s face was filled with disappointment.

“Must I really take that final step…?”