The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

The Demon King's withered fingers trembled slightly, and his lips twitched several times, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Hongxiu was already sobbing uncontrollably, kneeling at the Demon King's feet, nodding repeatedly: "Your Majesty, it's true, it's true! He really is the princess's child, your own grandson!"

The Demon King slowly raised his hand and tremblingly reached out towards Shen Yifei.

His hands were so thin they were just skin and bones, with prominent veins.

Shen Yifei felt a pang of sadness and reached out to grasp that hand. It was icy cold, almost devoid of warmth.

"Lan'er...is your mother...still alive?"

"My mother..." Shen Yifei paused for a moment, "My father told me that she is still alive, but he doesn't know where she is."

Shen Yifei didn't tell the truth. Shen Changtian told him that Youlan had gone to the ruins of the Five Elements Demon God, but no one knew exactly where she went.

Furthermore, the Demon King has only just recovered, and it's unclear whether that treacherous and cunning Bewitching Heart has left anything behind that I haven't discovered.

Therefore, some secrets are better known to as few people as possible.

After the battle of bewitching the mind, Shen Yifei discovered that attacking the mind was even more exhausting than a direct fight between two people; some things were truly impossible to guard against.

From then on, I always kept something in reserve in everything I did.

The Demon King closed his eyes, and two streams of murky tears slid down his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry to Lan'er... I'm so sorry to her..."

Shen Yifei held the Demon King's withered hand, feeling as if he were holding a piece of dry branch that had been dried for a hundred years.

He had many questions he wanted to ask, but looking at the old man on the verge of collapse, he swallowed his words.

My closest family member in this world is now as weak as an oil lamp that could be blown out by the wind at any moment.

Shen Yifei channeled the power of the five elements within his body into the Demon King's meridians to nourish his damaged soul.

Hongxiu knelt beside him, wiping away her tears, and advised, "Your Majesty, you have just woken up and are still weak. Please don't be too sad."

After a long pause, the Demon King choked out, "Lan'er back then... had eyes and brows just like yours... the year she ran away..."

The Demon King's voice trailed off as he spoke.

Shen Yifei felt a tightness in his chest and didn't know how to comfort him. He simply held the Demon King's withered hand and slowly transferred the power of the five elements to him.

That's all he can do now.

After a long while, the Demon King finally recovered, opened his eyes, and looked at Shen Yifei carefully.

"Your father... is Changtian?"

"Yes."

The Demon King's lips moved, and after a long while, he said in a muffled voice, "Back then, I didn't let Lan'er be with him. Now that I think about it, I was wrong."

"Grandpa, let's not talk about the past. Your health is the most important thing. Get well first."

The Demon King sighed heavily, closed his eyes, and said nothing more.

Shen Yifei stood guard by the side until the Demon King had completely fallen asleep before quietly getting up and leaving the main hall.

Ye Ling stood outside the hall and saw Shen Yifei come out. She asked calmly, "How was it?"

"He's still alive, but his body is severely damaged, and his soul is almost completely shattered. It's a miracle that he's still alive after the Bewitching Heart has been draining his consciousness for so many years."

Ye Ling was silent for a moment. "What Huo Xin absorbed was not only the Demon King's lifespan, but also the life force of the entire Demon Vein. The entire Demon Realm is now empty. Even if the Demon King awakens, it will not be able to regain its former glory for a while."

"Putting aside the glory for now, my mother's situation is a deep worry for my grandfather. I need to find her as soon as possible so that some mysteries in my heart can be solved!"

Liu Mengli clung to Shen Yifei's arm with a grin: "Master, if you want to ask about our mother, I can help you."

Shen Yifei raised an eyebrow: "You can help me? You know about my mother?"

"I don't know, but I can see." Liu Mengli blinked her peach blossom eyes. "The power of reincarnation can trace cause and effect. Although my abilities haven't fully recovered, I can still see the general outline."

"Then look quickly! Where is my mother? Is she in Wan Shuo's ruins?"

Liu Mengli shook her head: "Not now. Your grandfather's soul is too weak, and the causal threads are almost completely broken. I need to wait until he recovers a bit before I can trace Princess Youlan's whereabouts through him. If you try to trace back now, your grandfather might die."

Although Shen Yifei was anxious to find his mother, he knew that Liu Mengli was not joking, so he had to suppress his anger and nodded, "Then let's wait for my grandfather to recover first."

The Demon King's recovery was much slower than Shen Yifei had anticipated.

The delusional thoughts had lingered in his mind for too long, like a poisonous vine deeply embedded in the roots of an old tree. Even if the vine was pulled out, the rotten roots would still be secretly eroding him.

The Demon King's waking hours were getting longer and longer, but his energy was noticeably less than when he first woke up.

Shen Yifei had to transfer a wisp of the Five Elements power to him every day to nourish his soul, and Xinghe also prepared soul-nourishing pills, feeding him three times a day, which barely kept his old life stable.

Hongxiu's days were also difficult.

Her demonic roots were destroyed by her bewitching mind. Now, although she has returned to the Demon Palace, she is like a useless person, only able to do things like serving tea and water.

That afternoon, the Demon King leaned against the soft couch in his bedchamber, feeling slightly better than he had been the previous two days.

He watched as Shen Yifei fed him medicine, a look of kindness appearing on his face: "Yifei, you've been by my side these past few days, neglecting quite a bit of important business, haven't you?"

"Grandpa, what are you saying? You're my own grandpa, who else would I stay with if not you?" Shen Yifei put the medicine bowl aside and rubbed the back of the Demon King's neck. "Besides, my matters aren't urgent."

The Demon King sighed: "Your mother's temperament is like mine, very stubborn. I had Hongxiu accompany her precisely because I was afraid something might happen to her; Hongxiu's constitution is special..."

"Grandpa, I know this."

Shen Yifei repeated what Yun Zhonghe had told him before.

According to his understanding, Hongxiu was a regeneration pill that the Demon King had placed beside his mother.

If anything were to happen to her mother, Hongxiu would give her life to save her mother's life.

After listening to Shen Yifei's story, the Demon King nodded slightly. "Your friend only sees a small part of her role. Hongxiu, I watched her grow up from childhood and consider her my own daughter."

Shen Yifei sensed a great secret in the Demon King's words, but he didn't rush to ask. Instead, he gave the Demon King another sip of warm water and waited for him to finish speaking.

The Demon King drank some water and leaned back on the soft couch to catch his breath. "That girl Hongxiu is no ordinary demon. She comes from the Xuanpin lineage, a lineage that died out among demons tens of thousands of years ago, leaving only her."

"The Xuanpin lineage?" Shen Yifei had never heard of this name.

"The Xuanpin bloodline is the mother of all bloodlines." The Demon King's tone was extremely solemn. "People of this lineage are born with the ability to refine the essence of any bloodline, so since ancient times, the Xuanpin lineage has been the living alchemy furnace of the Demon Clan's royal family."

"Are you saying that Sister Hongxiu is a living alchemy furnace for refining essence blood?"

"Yes." The Demon King nodded. "The 'Regeneration Blood Pill' that Yun Zhonghe told you about is actually just the most rudimentary application of this lineage's abilities. Hongxiu's most important function is to help you refine your essence blood!"