Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law.

Deep within the vortex of Guixu, there is neither light nor darkness, neither heaven nor earth.

Chen Mo's consciousness floated in the gray silence. After an unknown amount of time, his eyes suddenly lit up. He found himself in an ancient underground palace, the walls of which were covered with mottled runes that emitted a cold light.

There was a strange aura in the air, neither spiritual nor deathly, but a more primal power somewhere in between.

His body was almost completely shattered; his chest was sunken, his meridians were broken, his dantian was cracked, and his internal organs were damaged to varying degrees. If it weren't for the lingering medicinal power of the ancient vine still remaining in his body, keeping him alive until the very end, he wouldn't have survived until now.

"He was seriously injured."

An aged voice came from the depths of the underground palace. Chen Mo turned his head with difficulty and saw an old man in a gray robe walking slowly towards him. His face was thin and his eyes were grayish-white, as if reflecting the end of all things.

"Senior... thank you for saving my life." Chen Mo realized that this was the person who had saved him back then. His voice was hoarse, and every word he spoke aggravated his injuries.

The old man nodded slightly, sat down beside him, and placed his hand on his pulse. After a moment, he said, "Your meridians are shattered and your dantian is almost broken. It is a miracle that you are alive. This place is a secluded place of my Spirit Clan called 'Return to the Void Realm,' which is isolated from the outside world. You should stay here and recuperate in peace. Do not be anxious."

Chen Mo nodded. At this moment, he could barely move, let alone do anything else.

He only knew that the old man in front of him had no ill intentions towards him. As for why the old man had saved him, even if he didn't ask, he knew it was related to his background.

In the days that followed, the old man fed him a grayish-white pill every day and used his own spiritual power to unblock his meridians.

From the old man's few words, Chen Mo learned that his name was Cang Xuan and that he was an elder of the Spirit Clan.

In the first month, Chen Mo was able to sit up with difficulty. His broken bones began to heal, and his shattered internal organs slowly regenerated. The magical primal power within the Void Realm seemed to have a unique effect on healing.

In the second month, his meridians were reopened, his spiritual power slowly recovered, and the cracks in his dantian gradually healed. Chen Mo was able to walk and even began to try circulating his cultivation techniques to accelerate his recovery.

By the third month, his injuries had largely healed, and his physical condition had even surpassed that before the injury.

The medicinal power of the ancient celestial vine was completely refined over these three months, integrating into his flesh and bones, further enhancing his physical strength.

On this day, Tongxuan came to Chen Mo and said, "Your injuries have healed, and there is a bloodline power hidden in your body that has not yet been fully awakened. If you do not activate it, it will be a waste."

"I have something in my hand that can lend you a hand."

Chen Mo's heart stirred. He had long wanted to know what the remnants of the spirit communication clan and the spirit communication race were all about. Although Huang Yi and the others had told him some things, they were not very detailed, and he also needed to make a judgment from various aspects.

Tongxuan did not answer directly, but instead took out something from his pocket. A ball of crimson-gold light slowly rose and hovered between the two of them.

Within the light, a drop of crystal-clear blood, like a miniature sun, radiated a scorching and vast aura. That aura contained some ancient will, as if a three-legged divine bird soared within it, looking down upon the world.

"The life essence of the Golden Crow royal family," Cang Xuan said. "A supreme treasure left behind by the ancient Golden Crow clan. You possess the Golden Crow bloodline, and this item can fully awaken the Golden Crow bloodline within you."

Chen Mo stared at the drop of blood essence, feeling the terrifying power contained within it. Although he had doubts, he knew that this was not the time to ask questions.

He took a deep breath, took the blood essence, and put it into his mouth.

In an instant, a scorching heat that could burn everything surged into his limbs and bones, and Chen Mo's body turned crimson instantly, with golden lines appearing on his skin, like magma flowing in his blood.

The burning sensation was far greater than the experience when I first took the Golden Crow Blood Essence; it felt as if my whole body was about to be ignited and burned.

"Sit cross-legged and focus your energy." Cang Xuan shouted, placing a palm on Chen Mo's head. A surge of pure spiritual power flowed in like a tide, guiding the violent power of the Golden Crow's blood essence to operate in an orderly manner.

Chen Mo gritted his teeth, enduring the surging heat in his meridians, and circulated his cultivation technique according to Cang Xuan's guidance. Within his dantian, the golden crow phantom encountered the essence blood like a fish encountering water, greedily absorbing it.

In the depths of the left eye, vibrant green emerges; in the depths of the right eye, a somber grayness of utter stillness flows.

Between the two, a crimson-gold flame quietly ignited, like the rising sun at dawn, containing both the hope of life and the power to end the darkness.

Time lost its meaning in the Realm of Return to Nothingness. After an unknown amount of time—perhaps several days, perhaps several months—Chen Mo's aura began to undergo a qualitative change.

Crimson-gold flames burst forth, transforming into a pillar of light that soared into the sky, illuminating the entire underground palace as if it were daytime. Within the flames, the faint silhouette of a three-legged golden crow could be seen, soaring with outstretched wings and emitting a silent cry, as if announcing the return of an ancient divine bird. At the same time, the grayish-white aura of death intertwined with the crimson-gold solar fire, forming an unprecedented and unique aura that contained both vitality and the sense of impending doom.

Chen Mo's aura rapidly increased, quickly reaching the peak of the fourth realm. The bottleneck of the fifth realm was as fragile as paper under the impact of this ancient bloodline.

"boom--"

With a muffled thud, it felt as if something within Chen Mo's body shattered, and something else was reborn. A surge of immense spiritual energy, like a burst dam, coursed through his body, widening his meridians several times over, and expanding his dantian many times over. Fifth Realm, Breakthrough.

His cultivation continued to rise, progressing through the early, middle, and late stages of the fifth realm, until he was close to the peak of the fifth realm before finally slowing down.

Chen Mo opened his eyes.

His left eye was a deep gray-white, as if reflecting the end of all things. His right eye was a blazing crimson gold, like an inextinguishable sun.

He stood up, feeling the surging power within him, and clenched his fist. His bones crackled slightly, every muscle brimming with explosive power. The depth of his spiritual energy was several times greater than before. More importantly, he vaguely touched upon something deeper, a realm belonging to rebirth and rebirth.

After a long while, Chen Mo turned to look at Cang Xuan and asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for more than three months: "Senior, now that my injuries have healed and my cultivation has broken through, can you tell me who I really am?"

Cang Xuan stared at him, his gray-white eyes seemingly able to see through the depths of his bloodline, all the way to the origin of his soul. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke: "You are a descendant of my Spirit Clan."

"The Spirit Clan?" Chen Mo raised an eyebrow, as this was within his expectations. He then shared the information he possessed and asked, "What about the Immortal Cult and the Bitter Sea group saying I'm a remnant of the Spirit Clan? Is it related to that incident tens of thousands of years ago?"

Chen Mo needed to know the truth; he didn't want to remain in the dark any longer.

"Remnants of the Spirit Clan?" Cang Xuan sneered, a cold glint flashing in his gray-white eyes, his tone suddenly turning sharp: "Those are their slanderous words that distort the truth. Listen carefully, the real remnants of the Spirit Clan are the traitors who sided with the Spirit Clan and betrayed the Human Clan back then. And my Spirit Clan is precisely the hero who killed those traitors and helped the Human Clan defeat the Spirit Clan."

Chen Mo was startled and cupped his hands, saying, "Please explain in detail, senior."

Cang Xuan slowly stood up, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the mottled rune wall deep in the underground palace, as if gazing at the distant ancient times.

"Did you know that in ancient times, the human race allied with the demon race to wage war against the spirit race?"

"I know a little bit." Chen Mo nodded. He had cultivated in the Tianxing Realm for many years and had heard about that period of history. He only knew that the human race and the demon race overthrew the rule of the spirit race, but the details were vague in the historical records and the records of the major sects were different.

Cang Xuan said, "Initially, the human race was no match for the spirit race, suffering countless casualties. In their time of crisis, it was our Spirit Clan that came to our aid. As descendants of intermarriage between humans and spirits, the Spirit Clan possesses the strengths of both races. They can cultivate human techniques to temper their physical bodies and souls, and they can also master the supernatural powers and methods of the spirit race. These hybrid descendants are the ancestors of the Spirit Clan. They did not disappoint the human race's expectations, turning the tide of the war at a crucial moment. Ultimately, under the leadership of the human race, they defeated the spirit race, wiping out or driving out the main force of the warlike spirit race from the Tianxing Realm. The remaining spirit race members either submitted or went into hiding in the deep mountains and marshes, never daring to invade again."

“But…” Chen Mo hesitated upon hearing this, “Since the Spirit Clan has rendered meritorious service to the human race, why are they now being slandered as ‘sinners’ and ‘remnants of the Spirit Clan’? Why are the Immortal Cult and the Bitter Sea calling for the Spirit Clan’s destruction?”

Tongxuan sneered, his eyes filled with mockery and sorrow.

"Because after the war, the major powers within the human race, such as the Immortal Cult and the Sea of ​​Bitterness, have become wary of our Spirit Clan. They covet our control of the supreme treasure and fear that our growing strength will one day threaten the human race's dominance like the Spirit Clan did. Therefore, they fabricated lies, distorted the truth, and slandered our Spirit Clan as 'remnants of the Spirit Clan.' They said that the Spirit Clan were spies left behind by the Spirit Clan, a scourge lurking within the human race. They demoted meritorious officials to criminals and launched a siege that lasted for thousands of years."

Tongxuan's voice gradually turned cold: "They are not deceived; they know the truth, yet they acted deliberately out of self-interest and fear. Our clan tried to defend itself, tried to prove its innocence, but they don't care about the truth at all. What they want is our clan's most precious treasure, our clan's inherited secret techniques, and the supernatural abilities our clan inherited from the Spirit Clan. Do you know where the Immortal Golden Body of the Immortal Cult and the 'Silent Buddha Light' of the Sea of ​​Bitterness came from?"

Chen Mo shook his head.

Tongxuan sneered: "When they besieged our clan back then, they stole a large number of books and secret techniques from us. After hundreds of years of modification and integration, they became their current techniques. But what they learned was only the tip of the iceberg. The true core of the supernatural laws has always been in the hands of our clan. That's why they hunted down our survivors even more frantically, trying to eradicate them completely and seize all the inheritance."

Chen Mo fell silent.

He recalled how pale and powerless Venerable Ganan's Nirvana Buddha Light was in front of Cangxuan's Void Domain outside the Starry Sky Small World, and how dim the Immortal Golden Body of the Immortal Sect Master was under that gray and lifeless silence. It was not a difference in cultivation level, but a difference in origin.

One is a superficial skill learned by stealing techniques, the other is the essence of bloodline inheritance.

"Then my Golden Crow bloodline..." He asked his last question. Since he was a descendant of the Spirit Clan, how could he have the bloodline of a demon beast?

Tongxuan looked at him, his gaze softening slightly: "Your ancestors were a branch of the Spirit Clan, and also the most powerful one. Back then, your branch's ancestor tasted the benefits that intermarriage with the Spirit Clan brought to his descendants, so he also intermarried with the Golden Crow of the Demon Clan. Therefore, you possess the bloodlines of the Human, Spirit, and Demon Clans. However, you are too far removed from the generation of your branch's ancestor, making it difficult for your bloodline to awaken on its own. The drop of Golden Crow royal blood essence you consumed before truly awakened your Golden Crow bloodline."

Chen Mo lowered his head and looked at his hands.

The bloodlines of humans, spirits, and demons coexisted within him. He recalled some of his past experiences; it turned out that everything had a root cause.

Chen Mo remained silent for a long time before slowly standing up and bowing deeply to Cang Xuan.

"I will never forget the kindness of my seniors in saving my life and imparting their knowledge and wisdom."

Cang Xuan helped him up and waved his hand, "No need for formalities. I saved you not only because you are a descendant of my clan, but also because you carry the hope of my Spirit Clan to reappear in the world. For tens of thousands of years, my clan has been hiding in the Ruins of Return, barely surviving, but we have never given up the idea of ​​clearing our names and returning to the Celestial Star Realm. Your appearance may be that opportunity."

Next, we will help you fully awaken the Spirit Clan bloodline within you. At that time, you will master the most powerful killing techniques available. (End of Chapter)