Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

He looked at Zhang Ruoxue, who looked completely bewildered, and said in a low voice, "She doesn't need to say it, I'll say it."

"Say...say what?"

For some reason, Zhang Ruoxue suddenly felt a pang of heart palpitations.

She looked around but didn't see any familiar faces.

Tell me about your injury—

When this matter was mentioned, the uncle's expression darkened, and his tone became inexplicably dejected.

"And then there's the matter of that demon."

79. The outcome is irreversible.

"I didn't expect you to come in person."

"To be honest, I didn't expect it either. Not to mention you guys, I myself am still not over it. It was just a moment of impulse."

"Even the ancient demons of yesteryear could act impulsively?"

"Who would know about something like that?"

She spread her hands, seemingly without any expression, and without any feeling what she was about to face.

Or rather, she had already prepared herself mentally, so nothing that happened surprised or caught her off guard.

What are you here for?

"What? In my current state, what can I possibly do?" She looked at them mockingly and retorted, "You shouldn't be so cowardly as to be afraid of me right now."

"I was just curious... I shouldn't have."

"Yes, it really shouldn't be... but I really should have done it."

"What exactly are you here for??"

……

She paused, then said:

"They came seeking death."

.........

Inside the pharmacy, Zhang Ruoxue and her two companions sat around a wooden table. Xu Yanliu sat next to Zhang Ruoxue, staring at her father with a gloomy look.

Her eyes held a hint of dissatisfaction and resentment throughout, but this resentment was not directed at the older man.

Zhang Ruoxue also noticed that there seemed to be wet tear stains under Xu Yanliu's eyes, and her eye sockets were also slightly red.

She appeared to have just been crying for a short while.

Zhang Ruoxue couldn't imagine Xu Yanliu crying no matter what. Perhaps in her mind, someone as free-spirited and unrestrained as Xu Yanliu wouldn't cry.

It seems something happened that she was unaware of—during the time she was asleep.

"Tell me about your injury first..."

The uncle, unusually, did not cross his legs. He held the wine gourd with his left hand and, facing the two of them, his expression seemed somewhat unnatural: "Ruoxue, you should know that your injury was left by a blow from a Buddhist saint. The mark of Buddhist judgment has taken root in your body and soul. If you leave it like this, even if you don't die, you will become a cripple."

"Useless person..."

Perhaps because the ending the uncle described was completely different from the current ending, Zhang Ruoxue clenched her fists a couple of times with some unease—she was not suffering from the pain of the judgment mark at the moment, but instead was full of vitality.

What happened between these two drastically different outcomes?

That's what she wanted to know.

"But in reality, we can indeed prevent you from becoming a cripple. What the uncle can do is help stabilize your physical body and soul. Although we cannot completely erase the existence of the mark, we can at least make you less painful. However, due to the existence of the mark, you will no longer be able to cultivate."

"In other words, your cultivation level will be permanently frozen at... the peak stage."

Zhang Ruoxue's face turned pale; the inability to cultivate was an absolutely unacceptable fact for her.

It's even... equivalent to becoming a cripple.

The reason she stayed in the Netherworld was to improve her cultivation, so that she wouldn't be the worst and weakest among everyone.

She didn't want to be a burden to everyone anymore.

Perhaps sensing her fleeting pain, the uncle comforted her, "Don't worry, your physical body and soul have been strengthened, and the Judgment Mark within you has completely disappeared."

"Disappear...?" Zhang Ruoxue seemed puzzled by the uncle's words: "Didn't you just say that you can't erase the mark?"

"He didn't erase it..."

Xu Yanliu's voice sounded unusually weak compared to usual.

Zhang Ruoxue turned around in surprise, staring at Xu Yanliu's slightly pale face: "What...does that mean?"

"You also know that that kid is a celestial demon from the ancient era, right?"

Faced with her question, Zhang Ruoxue nodded without any particular reaction. In her view, this kind of identity was completely irrelevant: "This... I know Xiaohan is..."

“That makes sense.” The uncle nodded knowingly. “Nowadays, everyone in the world thinks that Buddhism is killing demons for the sake of all living beings, but as you know, both the Jin Yao Dao Alliance and Buddhism have become somewhat distorted. I know of more than one case of internal strife within Buddhism, and there have even been instances of defection.”

"The Buddhist cultivation methods were originally designed to target the demon race. Although the sage who founded Buddhism had the heart to save all living beings, most of the demons at that time were inherently cruel. For the safety of all living beings, the sage specially created a path to deal with the demon race. The power of this path can suppress many demons."

"The same applies to the Buddhist and Taoist Judgment within you. If the mark of Buddhist and Taoist Judgment were to be placed on a demon, he might be judged to the point of annihilation."

"but--"

The uncle's expression suddenly turned serious. Although he hadn't seen Zhang Xiaohan make a move, the intense fluctuations of demonic energy outside the door were enough to make him understand, even if he were a fool.

"Because Buddhism and Taoism are the great paths specifically designed to eradicate the demon race, he thought that if he wanted the Judgment Mark in your body to disappear, he only needed to disable the function of this Judgment Mark."

"so……"

Now that things have come to this point, even Zhang Ruoxue should understand.

—What exactly did Zhang Xiaohan do?

"He infused your soul with his demonic essence..."

Yes, this is the only way to save Zhang Ruoxue.

The only way.

“That is the origin of the demon race. Compared to the Buddhist and Taoist judgment mark, your soul is insignificant. The judgment mark immediately targeted that kid’s demon origin and tried its best to destroy it.”

"No matter what, he was a celestial demon from ancient times. He survived this battle, but his essence must have been severely damaged..."

"This is... the truth behind the disappearance of the Buddhist and Taoist judgment within you."

The truth was revealed at the cost of Zhang Xiaohan suffering severe damage to his origin.

Xu Yanliu lowered her head, her face so dark it looked like it was about to drip water, and her left hand gripped the scabbard tightly, as if she wanted to crush it.

Zhang Ruoxue sat there blankly for a moment, then suddenly jumped up from the stool.

My gaze kept wandering around—

"Where is Xiaohan? Where...where is he now?"

Surprisingly, no one answered him when faced with this question.

The middle-aged man also fell silent, placing his hands on the wooden table and nervously crossing them into a cross.

Xu Yanliu lowered her head even further, her forehead touching the table, making her seem to shrink, her delicate body trembling incessantly.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense, and Zhang Ruoxue's expression became increasingly grim.

She left the table and began looking around, pacing back and forth: "Xiao Han... Xiao Han?"

No one answered.

Not even a familiar dog bark.

Zhang Ruoxue took a deep breath, staring blankly at the spot, and turned her head—

That chilling gaze, that unbearable gaze, finally fell upon Xu Yanliu and Xu Laoliu.

"Where...did Xiao Han go?"

The girl asked this question.

"..."

Silence remained.

Xu Laoliu didn't want to talk about it, and neither did Xu Yanliu.

But they all knew they had to say it, because it was real, not a dream they could wake up from and pretend nothing had happened.

Her lips were pale and trembling, Xu Yanliu raised her head—

Her face was streaked with tears, and the tears kept falling uncontrollably.

"She...is gone..."

“Go…” Zhang Ruoxue blinked, a bitter smile playing on her lips. “Go where…?”

"..."

Xu Yanliu stopped speaking and continued to keep her head down.

Instead of him, it was her father who told her the whole truth.

"She knew that the Demonic Alliance and the Buddhist sect were targeting her, not you, so she..."

"I went to the Ash Demon Alliance in person."

“She left in the room. I hadn’t been watching her all the time so as not to disturb her… I left this behind before she left.”

The man took out a small object from his arms and handed it to Zhang Ruoxue.

It was a scarlet collar that had been torn off.

……

The Ash Demon Alliance...

Buddhism...

In order not to implicate the two humans, Zhang Xiaohan went to the Ash Demon Alliance alone...