Chapter 21: Radish King!!

They arrived at the agreed location, but there was still no sign of anyone from the Yuehua Sect.

The midday sun reflected off the water’s surface, dazzling their eyes.

Qi Jiangyuan stood three steps behind him in the shade. Beside him, Xie Suoyan was holding Shi Shouzhuo by the collar.

The middle-aged man hung his head, hair disheveled, his Daoist robes torn and tattered. His aura was faint, but he was still alive.

Can He seemed tired of standing. He suddenly squatted down, using a twig to dig aimlessly at the ground, muttering, “Why aren’t they here yet?”

That Jin Hua Zhenren was really too rude. He was the one who begged them to release the prisoner, and now he was dragging things out.

Qi Jiangyuan gave a soft “Mm,” his gaze fixed in the distance.

The mist there was thicker than usual, churning and rolling like something was about to burst through.

“They’re here,” Qi Jiangyuan said.

Can He followed his gaze. The fog parted, and a figure slowly emerged.

Jin Hua Zhenren wore plain Daoist robes, a jade belt at his waist from which bronze bells hung. Yet not a single sound accompanied his steps.

He still looked like a man in his thirties, with upright features and a refined, immortal-like air.

But Qi Jiangyuan’s pupils narrowed slightly.

Can He noticed it too.

Little Radish edged half a step closer to Qi Jiangyuan, clutching his sleeve and whispering, “Something’s not right about him.”

Something was definitely off.

Both of them were extremely sensitive to fluctuations in Spiritual Qi. Can He could sense that Jin Hua Zhenren had reached the Great Perfection Stage—the final realm for mortal cultivators, capable of going toe-to-toe with Qi Jiangyuan.

Jin Hua Zhenren stopped a few paces away. “Junior Brother Qi, it’s been a long time.”

Qi Jiangyuan didn’t acknowledge the title.

Jin Hua Zhenren’s gaze swept past Can He, pausing briefly on the youth’s face before shifting to Shi Shouzhuo.

“Shouzhuo,” he said gently, “I’m sorry I’m late.”

Shi Shouzhuo barely managed to lift his head. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

Qi Jiangyuan said coolly, “It has been a while. I see the Sect Master has broken through to the Great Perfection Stage.”

Jin Hua Zhenren replied, “I was extremely fortunate to come upon a rare opportunity.”

Can He let out a small snort.

The Great Perfection Stage shouldn’t be this quiet.

When a new Demon King rose, the flora across the Three Realms bloomed overnight, and the fragrance lingered for three days.

Even when Qi Jiangyuan broke through to the Ghost King realm, the midday sun vanished from the sky, and the ghostly moon hung overhead.

But Jin Hua Zhenren’s advancement into the Great Perfection Stage had been as silent as a drop of water falling into the sea—utterly undetectable.

Jin Hua Zhenren pulled out a jade bottle from his sleeve and said warmly, “I’ve brought what you asked for.”

Can He reached out. “Let me inspect it first.”

He took the jade bottle from Jin Hua Zhenren, uncorked it, and a surge of vibrant Spiritual Qi poured out like a tidal wave. Can He poured out a small amount, tasted it, and immediately frowned.

Not even as good as the stream water from the Longevity Ruins.

Qi Jiangyuan glanced down. “It’s genuine.”

Can He was deeply disappointed.

If he’d known the Sweet Spring tasted this awful, he wouldn’t have let Shi Shouzhuo be traded for it.

What a loss!!

But the deal had already been made—no backing out now.

Can He pouted and signaled Xie Suoyan to undo Shi Shouzhuo’s bindings.

Xie Suoyan let go and gave the weakened Shi Shouzhuo a push forward. A Yuehua Sect disciple immediately stepped up to support him, taking out a pill on the spot to begin treatment.

The exchange was complete.

But Jin Hua Zhenren didn’t leave right away. He sat down leisurely on a nearby boulder, looking like he was settling in for a chat.

Can He frowned and muttered, “Why isn’t he leaving?”

Qi Jiangyuan didn’t answer. A few strands of Soul Threads had already coiled around his fingertips.

Jin Hua Zhenren brushed imaginary dust from his robes, then looked up at Qi Jiangyuan, his tone suddenly nostalgic. “It’s been years, and Junior Brother Qi is still as striking as ever. That gloomy, withdrawn little disciple from Yuehua Sect has now become a Ghost King in his own right. Truly, the world is full of surprises.”

Qi Jiangyuan’s expression didn’t change.

But in Can He’s mind, an image suddenly appeared—young Qi Jiangyuan, still childish, always wearing a sullen face, practicing swordsmanship alone in the most remote corner of the sect.

Jin Hua Zhenren continued slowly, “But with a Fate Pattern like yours, anyone else would’ve died young. Yet once you stepped onto the path of a Ghost Cultivator…”

He didn’t finish, but the jealousy in his eyes was barely hidden.

Can He blinked and turned to Qi Jiangyuan. “So you’re really a Ghost Cultivator prodigy.”

Qi Jiangyuan lowered his eyes to look at him.

Jin Hua Zhenren went on, “Back then, the Sect Master made an exception to bring you into the inner sect. Many elders were displeased, saying it was like inviting a wolf into the fold. Turns out, they were right.”

The atmosphere turned ice-cold in an instant.

Can He could feel the subtle shift in Qi Jiangyuan’s aura and instinctively tightened his grip on his hand.

Jin Hua Zhenren acted as if he hadn’t noticed anything. “Junior Brother Qi’s talent truly is astonishing.”

As he spoke, he suddenly sighed. “But the greater the talent, the more ominous the Fate Pattern.”

Qi Jiangyuan finally spoke. “Are you done?”

Jin Hua Zhenren smiled faintly and stood up. “I’m merely sighing with emotion. Junior Brother Qi, with your Fate Pattern, you deserved to be expelled from the Yuehua Sect, deserved to be hunted by cultivators across the land, deserved to…”

He paused, then said each word slowly and clearly, “be damned for all eternity.”

Can He’s head snapped up.

Not because of what was said, but because of the look on Jin Hua Zhenren’s face as he spoke.

That once-righteous face was now twisted with a hatred bordering on madness, a flash of blood-red flickering in his eyes.

Qi Jiangyuan raised a hand and pulled Can He behind him, ghostly energy surging around him.

But he was still a beat too late.

The bronze bell at Jin Hua Zhenren’s waist exploded with a sharp ring. The sound rippled outward as the ground lit up with blood-red array patterns. Countless runes shot out like venomous snakes, instantly forming a vast net that enveloped everything within a hundred-zhang¹ radius.

The killing array was complete!

The moment the array activated, Can He felt a powerful suction force pulling at him from below.

He stumbled, but Qi Jiangyuan had already wrapped an arm around his waist, Soul Threads lashing out to anchor onto the nearest ancient tree, using the force to leap into the air.

But the pull of the array was too strong. The Soul Threads lasted barely a breath before snapping.

With their support gone, the two plummeted downward. Qi Jiangyuan shielded Can He in his arms, his own back slamming hard against the mountainside with a muffled grunt.

Can He, tightly protected in his embrace, felt the world spin around him.

As soon as he regained his senses, he immediately wrapped his roots around Shi Shouzhuo’s neck and yanked.

A crisp crack echoed out—the neck snapped.

Shi Shouzhuo’s expression froze in an instant. His pupils lost focus, and his body crumpled to the ground.

Jin Hua Zhenren merely raised an eyebrow, not a trace of sorrow on his face.

When the youth struggled out of Qi Jiangyuan’s arms and looked up, his face turned pale.

The array had fully formed, the mist completely dispersed, revealing a dense crowd of figures.

Humans—and Demons.

Xie Suoyan couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

Leopard demons, snake spirits, wolf fiends, fox enchantresses…

All kinds, numbering in the hundreds. And the weakest among them were already at the Transformation Stage!

They wielded weapons, eyes gleaming with murderous intent, surrounding the two ghosts and one radish so tightly not even a drop of water could slip through.

And at the forefront of the Demons stood a single figure.

A Cat Spirit.

Cat ears peeked faintly through his hair, and a tail swayed lazily behind him.

He held a small dried fish in his hand, nibbling on it. When he noticed Can He looking over, he even blinked at him.

Jin Hua Zhenren stood at the edge of the array, staring at the three trapped figures. The smile on his face had vanished completely, leaving only seething, poisonous hatred.

“Qi Jiangyuan,” he said slowly, “did you really think I’d trade Sweet Spring for a worthless nobody?”

He formed hand seals with both hands, frantically channeling Spiritual Power into the array’s core beneath his feet.

The blood-red runes flared with blinding light. Jin Hua Zhenren’s expression twisted into a vicious grin. “The timing is perfect, the setting ideal—everything is in my favor! Today, I will annihilate your soul!”

The blood-colored runes shot skyward, and the terrifying crushing force of the array began to contract inward.

But just as Jin Hua Zhenren was basking in his triumph, convinced of his victory—

“Crack… crack-crack…”

A faint but distinct cracking sound suddenly echoed from the core of the array.

Jin Hua Zhenren’s grin froze.

From the center of the array, spiderweb-like cracks began to spread across the runes.

The fractures spread rapidly, covering the entire formation in the blink of an eye!

Then, with a thunderous crash, the entire array collapsed. The blood-colored barrier shattered into countless points of light, and a massive backlash surged outward like a tidal wave.

“Pfft—!”

Caught off guard, Jin Hua Zhenren coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face turning ghostly pale. He staggered back several steps before barely managing to stay upright.

Qi Jiangyuan’s tone was flat. “This patchwork mess of an array? You thought that would work?”

Can He, on the other hand, was hopping mad. He pointed at Jin Hua Zhenren’s nose and shouted, “What were you thinking?! You actually dared to pull this in the Longevity Ruins?! Don’t you know I’m the boss around here? Setting up a trap on my turf to kill me—have you lost your damn mind?!”

Xie Suoyan had finally caught up, eyes widening in realization.

That whole time, the Little Highness squatting on the ground poking around with a stick wasn’t playing in the dirt—he’d been sensing the ley lines, sabotaging the key nodes of the array’s core…

“I miscalculated,” Jin Hua Zhenren muttered, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. He raised his hand again, Spiritual Power gathering in his palm.

He refused to believe that even after exhausting the Yuehua Sect’s remaining strength and bribing hundreds of Demons, he still couldn’t take down a gravely ill Ghost King and a mysterious little demon!

“Kill!” Jin Hua Zhenren roared.

The sect disciples and Demons behind him charged in unison.

Without the support of a formation, then brute force it is!

The leopard spirit roared and lunged forward, only for his ankle to suddenly tighten. Looking down, he saw radish roots had already wrapped around him.

He let out a vicious laugh and slashed down with his claws, severing the roots with ease.

But the moment the roots hit the ground, they regrew. Even more radish tendrils surged forward, wrapping around his weapon.

Not deadly, but incredibly annoying.

“What the hell is this?!” the leopard spirit roared, flailing and tearing at the roots in frustration.

Can He simply kept channeling more roots. For every one that was cut, ten more sprouted—an infuriating nuisance.

The bear spirit raised his massive hammer high, aiming to smash Qi Jiangyuan’s skull. But halfway through the swing, Soul Threads suddenly wrapped around him and yanked hard.

He staggered backward. Looking down at his chest, he saw a gaping hole pierced clean through by the Soul Threads.

His massive body crashed to the ground.

Qi Jiangyuan didn’t even glance at the corpse. His Soul Threads swept out toward the remaining Demons and human cultivators, reaping lives with ruthless efficiency.

The rate of casualties far exceeded expectations.

Jin Hua Zhenren’s face darkened.

He hadn’t expected that even without the suppression of a formation, these two would still be so terrifying in combat—and their teamwork was shockingly seamless.

He suddenly turned toward the Cat Spirit and barked, “Why aren’t you doing anything?!”

“What’s the rush?”

The Cat Spirit narrowed his eyes, gaze drifting over Can He.

Something about this Radish Spirit’s aura felt… off.

There was a strange, instinctive urge to lower his head in submission.

He quickly shook his head, trying to banish the absurd thought.

Must be his imagination. Just a radish spirit, after all.

The Cat Spirit’s figure blurred, leaving only an afterimage as he shot forward with incredible speed, heading straight for Can He, who was still harassing the leopard spirit with his roots!

Can He immediately summoned more roots to intercept. “Are you with the humans or the Demons? Can’t you see this poor little Demons’s getting bullied here?”

The Cat Spirit replied lazily, “I don’t know. He gave me a bunch of dried fish, so I came.”

As he spoke, he broke through the wall of roots and closed in on Can He!

Can He choked.

Damn it! Qi Jiangyuan was right—just a few dried fish and he’s bought!

The Cat Spirit declared, “You two can stop showing off! Today, our cat clan is here to… uh… kill two birds with one stone—no, wait, burn our bridges!”

He stumbled over his words, scratching his head in frustration, his tail puffing up. “Anyway! We’re mortal enemies now!”

Can He blinked. “How are you even less literate than I am?”

The Cat Spirit flushed with embarrassment and rage. “None of your business! All of you, get them! Take them alive!”

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, he surged forward again, claws slashing straight for Can He’s face!

Can He didn’t even have time to react.

At the critical moment, Qi Jiangyuan’s Soul Threads spread out like a net, blocking the Cat Spirit’s assault from all directions.

But there were simply too many cat spirits, and they excelled at coordinated attacks. The Soul Threads couldn’t hold them all off for long.

Can He gritted his teeth and redirected his roots to snatch their magical artifacts instead.

The snake spirit’s staff, the wolf spirit’s bone chain… anything that looked remotely like a magic tool, the roots would latch onto, twist, and yank.

The sound of shattering filled the air.

The spirits were dumbfounded.

They’d seen all kinds of fighting styles, but this one—specifically targeting and destroying magic tools—was just plain rogue!

The Cat Spirit shrieked, “My jade pendant! That was passed down from my ancestors!”

Can He shot him a glance. The roots tightened—and the pendant crumbled to dust.

The Cat Spirit trembled with rage. Without his artifact, he suddenly seemed clumsy and disoriented, quickly forced back by Qi Jiangyuan’s Soul Threads, several bloody gashes appearing on his body.

The next moment, the sky above the Longevity Ruins went dark.

Thick Yin Qi surged in from all directions, blotting out the light and dropping the temperature sharply.

Within the Yin Qi, countless dark figures emerged.

At their head stood none other than the Ghost Master, holding his Discipline Ruler. Behind him stretched a dense formation of Ghost Realm elites.

The Ghost Master raised the Discipline Ruler and brought it down hard on a cultivator who had tried to sneak up on Can He.

The cultivator didn’t even have time to groan—blood streamed from his seven orifices, and his soul was shattered on the spot.

Yin Qi clashed with Spiritual Qi, and the battlefield erupted into a deafening cacophony of battle cries and slaughter.

But amid the chaos, Can He heard soft, trembling sobs from not far away.

It was the ginseng spirits of the Longevity Ruins!

Most of them had weak spiritual power, timid and naive. In this chaos, even a stray sword aura could easily kill them!

Can He’s heart clenched. He immediately used his roots to scoop up several little ginsengs who were huddled together, crying at the edge of the battlefield.

The ginseng spirits were shaking with fear, still clueless about what was happening. “Can He, what’s going on…?”

“It’s so scary…”

While rescuing them, Can He hurried to comfort them. “It’s okay now. Stay hidden and don’t come out.”

Jin Hua Zhenren watched this scene, fury boiling in his eyes.

His carefully orchestrated ambush had been completely upended by the Ghost Realm. Qi Jiangyuan had clearly been prepared for this all along!

He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood essence into his palm and reforming the array.

The formation that Can He had just destroyed lit up once more.

But this time, the glow was dimmer, and its range shrank rapidly.

The pressure surged. The entire space began to collapse inward. Can He let out a muffled grunt as most of his roots were crushed by the force of the array.

Qi Jiangyuan frowned as well. Under the suppression of this strange formation, his Soul Threads slowed and weakened, becoming sluggish and unresponsive.

Jin Hua Zhenren’s eyes gleamed with madness. “Qi Jiangyuan, do you really think you can still win?”

He raised his hand, and his aura erupted.

This time, there was no attempt to conceal it.

Can He’s pupils contracted sharply. “You…”

This wasn’t the pure Qi of the orthodox Dao—it was Demonic Qi, long since forbidden in the Three Realms!

Qi Jiangyuan’s expression turned grim, finally confirming his earlier suspicion. “You’ve fallen to the demonic path.”

Jin Hua Zhenren stepped forward, his plain Daoist robe corroded at the edges by the Demonic Qi.

“Hah, so what if I have?!” Jin Hua Zhenren let out a manic laugh. “They used to say my Yuehua Sword Technique was peerless, unmatched among my generation! But ever since you joined the Yuehua Sect, I—first disciple of the Sect Master—couldn’t even withstand three of your moves!”

His voice rose higher, nearly a roar. “What are you, anyway? A vile, sinister creature… You must’ve used your Fate Pattern to influence me. No, you must’ve stolen my Dao! Stolen my path! Stolen my destiny!”

Jin Hua Zhenren could still recall that day vividly.

In front of countless onlookers, the sword technique he had always prided himself on was effortlessly dismantled by Qi Jiangyuan.

His master averted his gaze, unable to hide his disappointment. The junior disciples whispered among themselves.

Every glance, every murmur, had driven into his skull like nails, tormenting him for thirty thousand years!

“I held a sword at three, formed my foundation at seven, and the sect poured all its resources into me—why?! Why you?!”

“Thirty thousand years ago, you died from your injuries. That battle shattered my Dao Heart. I’ve trained day and night ever since, but I’ve never made another breakthrough. Now, with my lifespan nearly spent, and you—” Jin Hua Zhenren’s voice turned hoarse, his agitation mounting, “You, a cursed creature who should’ve been scattered to the winds, have become the Ghost King, just one step away from immortality.”

“Why?! The heavens are unjust!”

No matter how high one cultivated, lifespan was still limited.

Only by becoming an immortal could one live as long as the heavens, truly free.

Can He couldn’t help but curse, “What the hell is wrong with you? If you can’t beat someone, then train harder! Your mind’s a mess, always obsessed with envy and resentment! No wonder you’ve hit a wall! Serves you right!”

“Seems to me you never cared about the Dao at all. You just wanted to hog all the sect’s resources, and now that it’s your turn to face hardship, you can’t handle it!”

Jin Hua Zhenren feared death but was unwilling to accept it.

Afraid of his dwindling lifespan, of turning to dust, he had taken a crooked path, using some unknown dark art to forcibly raise his cultivation—only to completely fall into demonic ways.

There was no turning back.

Jin Hua Zhenren’s face turned ashen with rage at the blunt rebuke.

Qi Jiangyuan said calmly, “So you went to Daoxi Mountain for help—and they turned you down.”

Jin Hua Zhenren’s face changed drastically. “You really were conspiring with Daoxi Mountain against the Yuehua Sect!”

He recalled how, just days ago, he had swallowed his pride and knelt before Daoxi Mountain’s sect master, begging for aid.

He had hoped Daoxi Mountain, as a fellow righteous sect, would help suppress the Ghost King who threatened the Three Realms.

But that sect master had only looked at him coldly. “Jin Hua Zhenren, this is an old grudge between your Yuehua Sect and the Ghost King. It has nothing to do with Daoxi Mountain, or with the righteous path. Please leave.”

An old grudge, was it?

Clearly, Daoxi Mountain had seen the Yuehua Sect’s decline and was content to sit back and watch the flames. They might have even been secretly colluding with Qi Jiangyuan all along, ready to divide up the last remnants of the sect’s foundation!

Jin Hua Zhenren gritted out his words through clenched teeth. “If he won’t help me, then don’t blame me for finding my own way!”

He suddenly pointed at Qi Jiangyuan. “If I refine your soul, I can use the Ghost Dao to break through my bottleneck and ascend!”

The Cat Spirit, still locked in battle, perked up her ears at those words. Her tail twitched uneasily, hesitation flashing in her eyes.

Soul refining was a forbidden art across all Three Realms.

When Jin Hua Zhenren had approached the cat clan, he’d only said they were going after a Ghost King, promising to split the Ghost Realm afterward.

He never mentioned that he’d already fallen to demonic ways—or that he was planning to refine souls…

Can He’s face twisted in horror. “You’re refining souls too? That’s vile!”

“Vile?” Jin Hua Zhenren sneered, the Demonic Qi around him growing denser. “The great Dao is a path of struggle! Once I ascend, who would dare say a word against me?”

This time, the Demonic Qi swirled with countless twisted human faces—souls Jin Hua Zhenren had devoured over the years!

Filthy Demonic Qi surged toward the two of them.

Jin Hua Zhenren looked over and said, “Little Radish Spirit, don’t be in such a rush. Once I’m done with Qi Jiangyuan, you’re next.”

Can He had no strength to argue. “…I’m a Ginseng.”

Jin Hua Zhenren sneered. “Ginseng? You’re just a radish. You grew up around ginseng and now you think that makes you one of them?”

“They’ve known all along you weren’t ginseng. They just couldn’t be bothered to expose you.”

Can He felt as if he’d been struck by lightning.

He whipped his head around to look at the ghosts of the Ghost Realm.

Led by Xie Suoyan, they all guiltily avoided his gaze.

Can He: …………

The Ginseng Spirits, however, were completely baffled. “What? How could Can He be a radish?”

“Exactly! Didn’t he grow up in the Longevity Ruins like the rest of us?”

“But how did a radish even get into the Longevity Ruins…?”

Xie Suoyan finally came to his senses. “Damn!”

That old bastard was truly vile! He was trying to shake the Little Highness’s state of mind with this!

“Little Highness, don’t believe him!” Xie Suoyan shouted, swinging his iron chain to fend off a wolf demon. “You’re the strongest ginseng in the Three Realms!!!”

Can He steadied himself, then exploded with rage. He shouted at Jin Hua Zhenren, “What business is it of yours? I can be whatever I want!”

“Whether I’m ginseng or radish, I’ll still beat you so bad you’ll be picking your teeth off the ground!”

But the Demonic Qi had already arrived.

Qi Jiangyuan’s Soul Threads snapped one after another in the onslaught.

The Ghost King’s face grew paler and paler, his Soul Body beginning to turn faintly translucent.

Worse still, he could feel the power within him slipping away.

Because… he was a ghost without a corpse.

With no physical anchor, every bit of power he used made him weaker. At this rate, he would eventually vanish completely.

Jin Hua Zhenren knew Qi Jiangyuan’s condition like the back of his hand. “Qi Jiangyuan, feeling your Soul Body thinning out? Power slipping away? That’s the tragedy of a ghost without a corpse!”

He didn’t delay any longer. Pressing his hands together, the Demonic Qi condensed into a massive palm, radiating a destructive aura as it lunged at Qi Jiangyuan.

“Today, I’ll see to it that the Ghost King falls for good!”

Can He stared at the terrifying giant palm—then suddenly moved.

He turned and threw himself toward Qi Jiangyuan. Under everyone’s stunned gaze, he wrapped his arms tightly around him and began pouring his Spiritual Power into him with all his might.

Their cultivations nourished each other. The fading of Qi Jiangyuan’s Soul Body halted, and it even began to solidify again.

Jin Hua Zhenren froze for a moment, then roared in fury, “Radish Spirit, you’re asking for death!”

The giant palm of Demonic Qi veered toward Can He.

Can He didn’t dodge or flinch. He simply held his position, transferring Spiritual Power, eyes closed, ready for death.

But the expected agony never came. He opened his eyes to see the massive palm hovering above his head, tangled in countless root tendrils and Soul Threads.

The moment the roots touched the Soul Threads, there was no backlash, no rejection.

Qi Jiangyuan’s Soul Threads merged seamlessly into the roots, as if they were always meant to be one. A brilliant light flared, and the Demonic Qi was actually pushed back a little.

Can He was stunned.

Jin Hua Zhenren was stunned too.

Qi Jiangyuan looked at the interwoven roots and Soul Threads, his gaze complicated.

Jin Hua Zhenren stared hard at Can He. A wildly absurd thought suddenly burst into his mind, and his eyes twisted with crazed jealousy.

“So that’s it… So that’s it!” He burst into laughter. “No wonder no one ever found your corpse, Qi Jiangyuan! You really went that far!”

Can He stared at the scene, and suddenly, fragments of memories from thirty thousand years ago surged forth.

…

Back then, he had been a dim, unawakened seed, drifting for unknown reasons until he landed at the convergence of spiritual veins.

In the Longevity Ruins, all the plants and spirits were blessed with abundance—except for Can He, who had no Spiritual Power.

The neighboring ginseng’s roots formed a dense web, draining all the nutrients from the soil. Can He had never even touched sunlight or rain.

He lay in the cold earth, slipping into unconsciousness, his spiritual awareness fading.

Until one day, a blood-soaked figure fell into the Longevity Ruins, cloaked in surging Yin Qi so intense that even the unawakened Can He trembled from it.

The body collapsed directly atop him. Blood, thick with boundless resentment, seeped into the ground like a living thing, wrapping around Can He with irresistible force.

It was as if an invisible hand pried open his core and poured all that dark, filthy power into him.

In that instant, he stopped slowly absorbing the pure Qi of heaven and earth.

Instead, he began to ravenously devour all the turbid energy and Spiritual Qi in the Longevity Ruins.

Filth became nourishment. Resentment turned into cultivation.

Can He’s dim spiritual awareness exploded into growth under Qi Jiangyuan’s infusion.

What was once a fallen corpse became the kindling for a radish’s path to Dao.

Thirty thousand years later, Can He finally understood.

Why the Black Marsh waters of the Ghost Realm never harmed him.

Why, the moment he first saw Qi Jiangyuan, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.

So the two had long since fused together, inseparable in both body and soul.

Only by entwining their spiritual breaths, allowing both forces to circulate in a complete cycle, could they break through their shackles.

The Great Dao—it had always been hidden within this tangled web of karma.

Jin Hua Zhenren instantly understood and turned to attack the weaker cultivator, Can He!

If Can He died, Qi Jiangyuan wouldn’t survive either.

Can He paused in thought for just a moment, then suddenly did something that left everyone utterly stunned.

No warning. No words.

He reached out, wrapped an arm around Qi Jiangyuan’s neck, and under countless shocked gazes, kissed him on the lips.

From afar, the Demon Race, humans, and ghosts all stared in slack-jawed disbelief.

What the hell?!

This was a life-or-death battle, a moment hanging by a thread!

How did it suddenly turn into a kiss mid-fight?!

Even Qi Jiangyuan’s pupils widened slightly in that instant, a flicker of surprise flashing through them.

But the very next moment, he understood Can He’s intent.

The instant their lips met, Yin Qi and Spiritual Qi completely merged.

Can He could clearly feel Qi Jiangyuan’s Yin Qi flowing into his meridians, awakening long-dormant power within him one by one.

His own Spiritual Power surged back without reservation, nourishing Qi Jiangyuan’s Soul Body.

The barrier of their shackles began to loosen—then shatter.

The Spiritual Power within Can He’s body began to surge uncontrollably, rising higher and higher!

And along with it, an aura that made every Demons tremble slowly awakened within him.

The Demon Race was especially sensitive to the aura of their own kind.

“This is…” The nearby Cat Spirit’s tail puffed up in shock. “The aura of the Demon King?!”

Xie Suoyan wasn’t far off either, and his face turned deathly pale.

Memories flashed before his eyes like a spinning lantern.

Ahhhh!!! He’d actually given the Demon King smutty books to read!!

Translator’s Notes