When I woke up, the entire cultivation world was talking about my master.

Having just been carelessly tossed out of the illusion, He Jingxuan lay half-lying on the ground, rubbing his slightly dizzy head, muttering in a daze, "Huh? I was almost at the threshold of advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, how did I get thrown out like this..."

The flower spirit was quite kind; it nourished them by placing them in the pure spiritual energy of plants and trees, making them feel warm and comfortable all over.

However, when He Jingxuan looked up, he was dumbfounded.

Just a moment ago it was a comfortable spiritual warm bed, but now it has instantly turned into a regional map, with waves of heat rolling around and a burnt smell on the tip of my nose.

"It's so hot!! Holy crap, who started this fire?!"

Setting fire to the mountain will land you in jail for life!

He Jingxuan screamed and jumped up, frantically patting his burning clothes.

Not long after, he shivered from the cold again.

The air, which had been scorching hot just moments before, was now as cold as the depths of winter. Looking down, the scorched earth beneath my feet was covered in frost.

Good heavens, it's like experiencing both ice and fire.

Before everyone's astonished eyes, a pure white line of ice suddenly rose from the edge of the sea of ​​fire, extending rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the raging flames seemed to transform into a frozen lake in an instant!

"The karma and karmic fire have all been frozen!"

The flames, still curling, were frozen inside the translucent ice crystals.

Frozen for thousands of miles, invincible.

At the same time, the cultivators who had been imprisoned in the illusion were released one after another.

As snowflakes continued to fall, at the center of the spiritual energy fluctuations, Yi Chen's dark robes gradually turned frost-white due to the icy spiritual energy.

He looked down at the child he was holding in one arm.

Are you injured?

Chu Xianlan shook her head numbly.

Why did everyone else turn back into normal after leaving the illusion, but he's still a little kid?

There was a sense of helplessness, like not being able to land a punch on Hua Ling's face.

"Master, please put me down..." He squirmed in Yi Chen's arms, trying to prove that he was reliable, "I can walk by myself."

Yi Chen didn't let go.

Instead, they lifted him up a bit to make him sit more steadily.

"Sit still."

The tone left no room for refusal, so Chu Xianlan could only nod awkwardly and sit obediently in her master's arms, her stiff little hands unsure of what to do.

Yi Chen saw his embarrassment, paused for a moment, and said in a low voice, "You can hold onto my clothes, it's alright."

Bi Deng saw from afar that Immortal Lord Jixue was holding a child in his arms, and he was puzzled.

In this desolate wilderness, where did the immortal lord come from with his child?

As a result, he met Yi Chen's icy gray eyes from afar, and his heart skipped a beat.

That gaze was so penetrating, as if it could see through his skin and into his heart, sending a chill down his spine.

He hadn't expected everyone to emerge from the illusion so quickly, nor had he anticipated that Yi Chen would extinguish the karmic fire so easily. His plans were completely disrupted, and he couldn't help but feel flustered.

But having come this far, there is no room for retreat.

Bi Deng adopted a concerned expression and quickly approached the group: "Are all the immortals and fellow Daoists safe and sound? The Flower Sea Illusion is far too dangerous, and I was truly worried about your safety, so I had no choice but to resort to this measure..."

"Father—! Save me, Father—!!"

A heart-wrenching cry interrupted his words, and Bitden turned his head at the sound.

On a high platform not far away, his son knelt on the ground, his body a mess. His once round face was now bruised and swollen, looking like a flattened pig's head.

Tears and snot streamed down her face. Terrified, Bishi struggled and writhed, letting out a pig-like scream.

"Daddy! Waaaaah, Daddy!! They hit me, they're all bullying me—!! It hurts so much!!"

Behind Bisch, several figures draped in cloaks stood silently.

One of them roughly grabbed Bisch's arm behind his back and held him down tightly.

Biden shouted angrily, "Release my son at once! First you framed the immortals, and now you've committed this kidnapping! What exactly do you want?!"

He turned to look at Chu Xianlan and the others, his eyes glistening with tears. "It's all my fault for failing to properly manage the herb gatherers and for my incompetence in governing them. This has dragged you all into this... I, Bi, am truly ashamed!"

Seeing that he was still pretending, the thin herb gatherer at the front sneered.

"Lord Bi, haven't you finished your act yet?" The man's voice was hoarse and unpleasant, his tone filled with a deep sense of tragedy and sorrow.

Upon hearing his words, Bitden felt a pang of panic, but his expression remained calm.

"Shut up! If you have any grievances, take them out on me! My son is innocent!"

"innocent?"

The man suddenly raised his foot and kicked Bi Shi hard in the back!

"Ah—Dad! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" Bi Shi screamed and fell to the ground, tears streaming down his face.

The man smiled.

"Innocent? You and your son... which one of you is innocent?"

He turned his head, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over every cultivator below. "Do you really know the conditions for harvesting the Spiritless Immortal Sprout? Do you want to know what kind of shady business this esteemed City Lord of Shuangyun City is up to in private?!"

"It's a half-demon! Only a filthy half-demon could pluck the Spiritless Immortal Sprout without destroying it! You've all been fooled by that old dog Bi!!"

According to the herb gatherers' original plan, they trapped the cultivator in the Flower Sea Secret Realm, and then used Bi Shi as a bargaining chip to force Bi Deng to remove the collar around his neck that controlled his power, so that he could seize this only opportunity to escape Shuangyun City and flee to the legendary Peach Blossom Spring.

But now, everything is ruined.

They underestimated Bitden's ruthlessness and never imagined that he would go so far as to burn down the entire Valley of Darkheart to cover up the matter.

Even if we can't escape, we'll drag Bitden down to hell with us and let him taste the pain.

Everyone was surprised and doubtful upon hearing this.

"A half-demon?!"

"But...isn't the bloodline of a half-demon forbidden? How could City Lord Bi dare to do such a thing! Besides, we haven't sensed even a trace of a half-demon!"

"My God, Shuangyun City... they're keeping a group of half-demons as herb gatherers? We've been dealing with half-demons all this time!?"

"Impossible, that person must be talking nonsense."

At this moment, a murmur of astonishment erupted from the surrounding crowd.

Half-demons are omens of calamity, intolerable to the laws of Heaven. They should be killed immediately upon their appearance. Who would be so audacious as to deliberately raise a half-demon?

Standing beside He Jingxuan, Su Yun was stunned for a moment, then murmured, "Senior Brother, we...we actually walked with a half-demon for so long...?"

Chu Xianlan was also slightly stunned, and couldn't help but tighten her grip on Yi Chen's sleeve, her eyes subconsciously searching among the cloaked figures on the high platform.

Ah Li.

That cautious young herb gatherer had once helped him when he was kidnapped by Xie Qingying.

Soon, he found the slender figure in the corner. The girl stood quietly among the other half-demons. What was she thinking at that moment?

"What?! You're half-demon!"

Biden pointed tremblingly at the herb gatherer, his face filled with unspeakable shock, as if he were truly learning about this for the first time.

"You dared to sneak into the city without my knowledge! I've treated you well all these years! How could you do this! Now you've even kidnapped my son, spreading rumors and slandering my innocence!"