The Emperor and Zhou Qiyun stood far apart in the Demon Suppression Hall. The Emperor looked agitated, yet his voice remained coldly calm.
"An ancient cultivator? Merely a demonic practitioner. Not the true path. Minister Zhou, the nuo arts are the righteous way. Do not stray."
Su Yan and Veyon exchanged glances. From the tone, the Emperor and Zhou Qiyun were not on good terms.
Zhou Qiyun studied the corpse on the shrine, his white brows rising slightly. "Your Majesty's wounds have healed?"
The Emperor's eyes narrowed. "I rule all under heaven. Who could harm me? Who would dare?"
Zhou Qiyun's frown smoothed. "Then I was wrong to worry. I thought the injuries I gave you years ago still troubled you."
The Emperor's incense aura flared. The hall's atmosphere grew crushing. Even Guo Xiaodie sensed the danger and fell silent.
Veyon broke the tension. "Why is this ancient cultivator seated on a shrine? He is no god. Is he absorbing incense offerings to turn his flesh into divinity?"
Zhou Qiyun's posture relaxed. "This cultivator reached the end of his lifespan and lacked confidence to face the tribulation. So he chose another path to extend his life."
The Emperor said, "Cultivators die. Gods do not—as long as incense burns."
They were both brilliant men. One look at the corpse's posture told them everything.
Zhou Qiyun's voice dropped. "But it is a false path. If incense could grant immortality, wouldn't every emperor through history still live?"
He recited softly, "Where are the kings and heroes of old? Only ghosts weep upon their graves. To become a god through incense is a dead end."
The Emperor's jaw tightened. "Which path is not a dead end? Even this cultivator, mighty as he was, exhausted his years and resorted to worship. Some people cannot see this truth. They press onward along the cultivator's road, thinking themselves unmatched—when in truth, they are fools."
Zhou Qiyun's eye twitched.
The Zhou family had spent centuries digging up ancient cultivator tombs and deciphering yao techniques. The Emperor clearly knew everything—and was mocking Zhou Qiyun's pursuit of longevity.
Veyon's head ached. She had tried to give them an escape route. They had taken it, then charged right back into conflict.
"Brother Yuan," Su Yan's voice rang from the doorway. "Come look at this vat! It's huge!"
Veyon turned. Su Yan was crouched beside the massive water vat outside, acting as if he'd never seen it before—when they had all just climbed out of it.
She understood immediately. She walked over and joined him in examining the vat's surface.
"Will they fight?" Veyon whispered.
"Don't know," Su Yan murmured. "But the Bell says there are three masters in the hall. The Emperor is one. Zhou Qiyun is two. So who is the third?"
Veyon shivered, glancing back at the smiling corpse on the shrine.
"You mean it's not dead? But it's clearly a corpse. If it were alive, wouldn't the Emperor and Zhou Qiyun have noticed?"
"They probably have," Su Yan said quietly.
Inside the hall, Elder Xiao's forehead beaded with sweat. If those two fought, bystanders would die first.
He cleared his throat. "Strange. If this cultivator sought to become a god through incense, why does he bear no incense aura?"
The Emperor and Zhou Qiyun both seized the lifeline. They knew full well that if they didn't back down, only blood would follow.
The Emperor stepped forward. "When a man dies, his light goes out. So does a god. After death, incense fades. This creature feared the tribulation and craved eternal life. A pitiful thing."
His words were aimed at Zhou Qiyun.
Zhou Qiyun's pupils constricted. "Your Majesty knows much about cultivators. It seems you've sought more than incense—you've found yao techniques as well. Your yang cultivation looks... irregular. Your Majesty, have you lost your way?"
The Emperor smiled thinly. "If others may seek demon arts, so may I."
Zhou Qiyun's temple throbbed.
Elder Xiao retreated to the vat, whispering urgently, "Young Master, Demon King Xu—what do we do?"
Su Yan's voice was barely audible. "If they move, we jump back into the vat."
Guo Xiaodie found her courage and pointed at the shrine. "Why are there so many talismans on his body? What do they mean?"
"An excellent question," the Emperor said, turning to Zhou Qiyun. "Minister Zhou must know."
Zhou Qiyun shook his head. "I am ignorant. Your Majesty's wisdom surely exceeds mine."
The tension snapped back like a drawn bow.
Guo Xiaodie slunk outside, then brightened. "There's a vat out here! What a beautiful vat!"
Veyon and Elder Xiao shared a look. If the Emperor and Zhou Qiyun couldn't de-escalate, the dynasty itself might end today—and none of them would survive the aftermath.
Su Yan's gaze drifted to the plaque above the doors. Bird-seal script. Ancient and unreadable to most.
But he could read it.
He stretched lazily and smiled. "I know what those talismans mean."
Both masters turned.
"They're seals," Su Yan said.
"Even a child can see that," the Emperor said coldly.
"But neither a child nor Your Majesty noticed what they seal. The talismans bind his primordial spirit, his qi, and his flesh. They make his body flawless—sealed tight at every point."
Zhou Qiyun's interest sharpened. "Go on."
"He cultivated a flawless-body art, but it was imperfect. The talismans compensate. They are seals he placed on himself."
The Emperor frowned. "He sealed his own acupoints to preserve his essence and achieve longevity? Remarkable."
Su Yan shook his head. "Wrong again, Your Majesty."
The Emperor's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "You mock me?"
"He didn't seal himself to keep his essence from leaking out. He sealed himself to keep something else from getting in."
The Emperor and Zhou Qiyun froze. Outside, Veyon, Guo Xiaodie, and Elder Xiao stared at the shrine.
Something else? Getting in?
"Nonsense," the Emperor snapped. "His brow is split open. Flesh pours from the wound. If he sealed himself, how could that happen?"
"The seal was broken from the outside," Su Yan said. "Something forced its way in through that gap. It nested in his body and took control."
A chill spread through the hall.
"Cultivators have inner worlds," Su Yan continued. "The Xiyi Domain. That thing devoured his primordial spirit and now pilots his corpse."
Zhou Qiyun's face darkened. "These are guesses, Su Yan."
Su Yan gripped the door rings and pulled the heavy doors shut, leaving only a crack. "If you don't believe me, there's a fallen talisman on the floor. Press it to his brow. If he doesn't want to be sealed, he'll react."
The two masters looked at each other. Then at the talisman.
Zhou Qiyun bent and picked it up. He reached toward the corpse's brow.
The corpse grinned.
Its mouth split to the ears. Rows of needle-sharp teeth gleamed. Its eyes rolled back, revealing slitted pupils.
Su Yan slammed the doors.
Thunder shook the mountain. Light blasted through the cracks—blades of radiance that sliced through distant peaks. The entire hall convulsed.
"Demon King Xu," Guo Xiaodie shouted. "What got inside him?"
Su Yan looked up at the plaque above the doors. True Void Cave Heaven Demon Suppression Hall.
"A Heavenly Demon," he said.
The ancient cultivator had been a demon-sealer. Now the demon wore his skin and sat upon his shrine, pretending to be a god.
The doors trembled. Blood seeped through the cracks.
Then silence.
The doors opened from within. Zhou Qiyun staggered out, covered in blood, his white brows stained crimson. A bone jutted from his thigh. He looked nothing like the untouchable patriarch of the Zhou family.
He grabbed Su Yan by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "Were you trying to kill me?"
Su Yan hung limp. "I thought a man bold enough to face the ascension tribulation could handle one ancient cultivator. If you can't exorcise a demon, how can you survive the heavens?"
Zhou Qiyun's cold eyes bored into him. After a long moment, he set Su Yan down.
"Never again," he said quietly.
Su Yan rubbed his neck. Behind Zhou Qiyun, the Emperor emerged, equally battered, leaning against the doorframe. Blood trickled from his lips.
Two of the most powerful men in the empire had nearly died in that hall.
The Emperor studied Su Yan, divine light flickering in his eyes. "My gaze can kill. But not today."
He coughed, spraying blood, and gripped the door to stay upright. "You have the bones of a rebel."
Su Yan whispered to the bell, "Could you kill them both right now?"
"No," the bell admitted.
Su Yan smiled. "Your Majesty, this was all a misunderstanding."
Veyon stepped in. "Then why would a Heavenly Demon and a god join forces to attack the phoenix?"