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

Senior Brother?!

With a furious roar that shook the earth, Gu Wangjun flung the yin wind out, and Liu Xunkong was thrown dozens of meters away like a kite with a broken string, landing heavily on the ground.

At the same time, the blood-tinged mist around them slowly disappeared, revealing the true appearance of the fifth floor of the tower.

—It was a secret chamber surrounded by endless sacred runes, and its walls were engraved with extremely complex array runes.

Meanwhile, from Liu Xun Kong's body, which was lying on the ground, an extremely terrifying and dense demonic energy was slowly emanating.

31. Is it really just a coincidence?

How is this going?

Why did the surrounding mist suddenly dissipate? What are those complex and mysterious runes and formations etched on the surrounding walls? And why did Liu Xun Kong's remnant consciousness suddenly take this form?

The sudden turn of events left Duan Xingchen momentarily speechless.

Her gaze naturally settled on the shirtless Prince Gu before her. His muscular back and the bandages she had personally applied made it clear—

"Senior Brother...?"

Gu Wangjun turned slightly to the side, and Duan Xingchen saw his calm, expressionless face.

The usually honest and kind young man said in a heavy tone, "I told you, didn't I? Someone with Junior Sister's personality might suffer a great loss in the future."

Suffer a huge loss...

Duan Xingchen stared blankly as he shifted his gaze to Liu Xunkong, who was twitching slightly on the ground. What emanated from Liu Xunkong's body was a dense, cold, and gloomy demonic aura.

She still remembered that when that red light swept past her, piercing and shattering the yellow paper talisman, it turned into swirling black shadows... much like something evil.

correct!

Speaking of that red light, she clearly heard a familiar voice just now.

Duan Xingchen turned around and, as expected, saw the girl standing at the top of the steps, walking towards him with a disdainful look in her eyes.

"Senior Sister Lin Yuan—?" Duan Xingchen didn't know why Lin Yuan would appear here.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

At this moment, Lin Yuan's eyes were bloodshot, and even the double pupil of her right eye was stained with this blood.

She curled her lips into an impatient smile, her eyes filled with undisguised indifference as she looked at Duan Xingchen. With solemn and dignified steps, she approached Duan Xingchen and Prince Gu step by step.

Although her petite frame belied the gait of a queen's coronation, creating a subtle sense of incongruity, Duan Xingchen had no desire to complain at the moment.

More than complaining, she was curious as to why Lin Yuan was there.

"Is it strange?" Lin Yuan easily caught the word "doubt" in Duan Xingchen's astonished expression. She smiled faintly and explained, "When you first entered the secret realm, you must have seen some things that others couldn't see, right?"

"Eh?"

Memories were drawn back to not long ago.

Indeed, at that time... Duan Xingchen seemed to have seen what appeared to be a demon in that cave, but when he asked Gu Wangjun, the latter admitted that he hadn't seen anything.

She initially thought it was just her imagination...?

“Of course it’s not an illusion.” Lin Yuan looked at Duan Xingchen as if he were a silly child: “Since this is the tomb of a half-immortal of the demonic path, it will naturally be filled with demonic energy. The remnant consciousness of this half-immortal of the demonic path should also be inextricably linked to the demonic path. And you yourself are an ancient demon. If you say there is no connection, no one will believe it.”

“Judging from the current situation—” Lin Yuan chuckled, glanced at Duan Xingchen, and then turned her gaze to Liu Xun Kong, who was slowly getting up from the ground: “It seems that the remnant consciousness of this demonic half-immortal has set its sights on your ancient demon body.”

Liu Xun Kong's remaining consciousness slowly stood up, a hint of displeasure and apprehension flashing across his pale and gaunt face.

He staggered, his body shrouded in demonic energy to protect him, his piercing gaze like a sharp sword stabbing at Lin Yuan, a petite girl who looked no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, standing directly in front of him.

Liu Xunkong's expression darkened, and his first words were accusatory: "Who are you—? Why do you possess such heavy demonic energy..."

"He doesn't even recognize who I am. It seems he really is just a guy who became a demon by chance."

Faced with the questioning from the former demonic immortal, Lin Yuan crossed her arms, her eyes full of disdain: "A little demon like you is not worthy to know my name. Moreover, you are just a remnant consciousness. If your true self were here, I might consider making you one of my demon generals."

Liu Xunkong frowned: "I don't understand what you're saying."

Whether you understand or not doesn't matter. Just know that your end won't be good.

Lin Yuan glanced at Duan Xingchen beside her, then said calmly, "Who told you to try to use evil magic to seize someone else's body? If it were someone else, it would be one thing, but you dared to attack my people. You really have a lot of nerve."

You...your people?!

Duan Xingchen was stunned, wondering when he had become Lin Yuan's person?!

No—that's not the point.

"Seize the physical body?"

Duan Xingchen stared at Lin Yuan with a bewildered expression, immediately making the connection to the vanished talisman.

Could it be... that the talisman wasn't meant to release Liu Xunkong's remaining consciousness...?

Faced with Duan Xingchen's doubts, Gu Wangjun couldn't help but twitch his lips: "If Yuan'er had arrived any later, or if my reaction had been any slower, the remnant consciousness of this demonic half-immortal would have invaded your body the moment you felt pity and your mind wavered, and completely devoured your consciousness with his remnant soul."

Duan Xingchen's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth in astonishment: "How could this be..."

Could it be—

Was the heartbreaking and sympathetic memory that Liu Xunkong mentioned earlier just a lie deliberately fabricated to make her lose her composure?

Including that memory with Qu Wenxue... Could it also be...?

“Now—” Lin Yuan pinched her delicate chin and smiled faintly, “it’s time to put an end to this absurd and boring farce.”

She raised her head, almost tilting her snow-white neck back to look at Prince Gu because of the height difference—

"Big guy, the rest is up to you."

"Hey—" Gu Wangjun turned around and glanced at Lin Yuan, asking in a teasing tone, "Yuan'er, aren't you going to come up?"

"..."

Lin Yuan's expression froze for a moment, then her pretty face flushed red, and she coughed twice.

"I...I have no interest in fighting with such a weak little demon. You can deal with this piece of trash."

[It's clearly because I can't beat them]

In her mind, the real Lin Yuan ruthlessly exposed the rhetoric of that little girl who called herself the Demon Queen.

"Shut up, you're so annoying!"

An embarrassed blush appeared on the little queen's face—after all, with most of her cultivation sealed, she was probably the weakest fighter in the entire Yuntian Academy.

On the other side—

Liu Xun Kong's expression grew increasingly grim; at this moment, he knew he was no match for Prince Gu.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to keep Gu Wangjun out of the fog and only bewitch Duan Xingchen.

"Humph."

Liu Xunkong snorted coldly and quickly took a step back before Gu Wangjun could make a move.

The next instant, the demonic energy around him transformed into a swirling hurricane that enveloped him. Without uttering a single word or offering any explanation, he vanished from their sight in the blink of an eye.

run away?

So decisive?!

Even Gu Wangjun was somewhat taken aback. He had thought that Liu Xunkong, who was now a former half-immortal, should not be too weak, even if he was only a remnant of his former self.

As it turned out, Liu Xunkong was quite decisive and chose to leave directly.

Moreover, judging from his appearance, it seems that his claim of being bound by the Five-Jeweled Pagoda is also a lie.

"What?...They ran away already...How boring."

The little queen pouted; she had thought she could at least see a good show, but her mood wasn't very good at the moment.

Our junior sister's feelings can't be described simply as "bad".

The girl kept her head down, her expression indescribably complicated. She bit her lower lip, and there was a hint of grievance hidden in her eyes.

After all, it's not pleasant to have your compassion trampled on and deceived.

Gu Wangjun noticed the change in Duan Xingchen's mindset, took two steps forward, grinned, and patted Duan Xingchen's shoulder with his usual silly smile.

The girl looked up and met Gu Wangjun's reassuring smile. Her nose tingled with emotion. "Senior Brother, I..."

Okay~

Gu Wangjun smiled and placed his hand on Duan Xingchen's head, gently rubbing it twice: "It's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright~"

The warmth of her palm reminded the girl of a kind old man from the past.

She lowered her head, her little face flushed, and gave a barely audible "hmm".

……

"Tsk."

Upon seeing this scene, the little queen clicked her tongue and silently cursed in her heart, "Humans are just so damn pretentious." Then, in order to break the atmosphere that seemed to be something only she hadn't integrated into, she pointed to something not far away.

"Hey, stop with the sentimental stuff and just explain that thing, okay?"

That thing?

Following the direction the little queen pointed, Gu Wangjun and Duan Xingchen saw a dark blue coffin.

The coffin itself isn't that important; what's important is—

At this moment, a scroll is placed on the coffin.

—A tattered scroll.

Gu Wangjun and Duan Xingchen exchanged a glance and saw the surprise in each other's eyes. They immediately stepped forward and took out the scrolls they had collected from the first four floors, piecing them together.

finally--

"This is……"

The complete picture scroll was presented before Duan Xingchen's eyes. The rest of the picture was the same as what he had seen before. Qu Wenxue stood majestically in the desert like a war god, with an extremely cold expression.

The previously missing chest and abdomen areas have been completed this time.

The jet-black armor, as always, gave off an extremely oppressive and solemn feeling, but none of that mattered. What mattered was that the fifth layer of the painting contained more than just the armor covering the body.