His own face from three thousand years ago—still the same?
A chill shot up Xu Ying's spine, climbing from his tailbone to the base of his skull, then spreading through every limb. He wanted to laugh. He *did* laugh—a forced, hollow cackle as he glanced at the others, desperate to defuse the sheer absurdity.
This was too ridiculous. Far, far too ridiculous.
"A-Ying, this bird is lying to you!" The Great Bell clanged and vibrated furiously. "She wants to trick you into being her laborer—to risk your life for her, to shield her from disaster! You're only fourteen. How could she have seen you three thousand years ago?"
Yuan Qi poked his head from Xu Ying's collar, glaring at the Phoenix. "This big bird is conning you, plain and simple. I've read books for a hundred and twenty years, and not a single one has anything this outrageous."
Xu Ying shook his head with a smile. Reason told him this was a chick Phoenix trying to lure someone into taking her place, sacrificing themselves on her behalf.
He was just an ordinary person. He was fourteen. How could he have been born three thousand years ago? And wouldn't he have aged by now? Humans couldn't simply *not* age.
Zhou Qiyun had lived over three hundred years and was already white-browed. Though he still looked like a youth, his lifespan had essentially run its course—and he was desperately trying to ascend. If Xu Ying were truly three thousand years old, he would have died countless times over.
Moreover, he hadn't lost his memories. His childhood was seared into his mind—every detail crystal clear, even the fire that destroyed Xu Family Ridge. Every last thing.
Could his memories be false as well?
*This Phoenix probably tells this to everyone she meets,* Xu Ying thought. *Hoping to fool whoever she can.*
The Great Bell warned, "A-Ying, if we don't leave now, we'll be dragged into whatever is coming. I sense a powerful force heading this way!"
Xu Ying didn't hesitate. He leaped from the Paulownia branch—but as he did, the Phoenix's voice drifted through his mind, soft and wistful: "You don't remember what happened before the seal, do you? Of course not. Your seal hasn't been broken. Break it, and your memories will return. I can help you—if you help me survive this tribulation."
Xu Ying landed on a lower branch, his mind racing. *A seal? She's saying there's a seal inside me? Definitely a liar.*
But Yuan Qi and the Great Bell both froze. Xu Ying didn't know his childhood memories were fractured—but they had witnessed it many times.
Every time Xu Ying tried to recall his hometown, his memories went haywire. Each time he spoke his parents' names, different names emerged—never the same twice. And Xu Ying himself never noticed.
"Seventh Master," the Great Bell whispered to Yuan Qi, "every time A-Ying recalls his childhood, something goes wrong. Could it be a seal? Could someone have sealed away his memories from before age six?"
Yuan Qi stared blankly for a moment. "I'm just a snake. A month ago I was lying comfortably in Qin Rock Cave reading books. How would I know anything about this? Master Bell, just call me 'stupid snake' and stop asking me these bizarre questions."
The Great Bell pressed on. "Every time he recalls Xu Family Ridge, could his seal be loosening—allowing fragments to leak through? The different names he remembers as his parents—could they *actually* be his parents? Is it possible that A-Ying has lived through reincarnation cycle after cycle, his parents always residing in Xu Family Ridge, but in different eras?"
Yuan Qi tried his best to widen his eyes, but his eyelids kept fluttering. He stammered, "Look… I haven't actually read *that* many books. I don't like the dry classics—I prefer the strange tales and unofficial histories. I'm really not that cultured…"
The Great Bell continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Perhaps that's exactly what he's done—lived, died, reincarnated, lived again, cycle after cycle, spanning over three thousand years. He has witnessed an immense sweep of history."
Its voice grew excited. "Tell me—could A-Ying be even older than I am? Could I be the younger brother in comparison?"
Yuan Qi shrank into a corner of Xu Ying's collar, muttering, "I'm just an ordinary snake demon. How would I know any of this?"
*If you don't save me, I'll die here.* The chick Phoenix's divine sense rippled through Xu Ying's mind, converting to sound.
Xu Ying turned to meet her gaze—then jumped from the Paulownia tree.
The Phoenix chick fell silent. She sensed the enemy approaching. There was no point in begging now. All she could do was prepare for battle.
*I did see him,* she thought, bewildered. *Three thousand years have passed, and he still looks the same?*
Xu Ying passed Yuan Weiyang and called out loudly, "Something is about to happen here. It will be dangerous. Everyone should leave immediately!"
Yuan Weiyang turned to the beautiful woman. "Madam, there is danger approaching. We should descend and talk elsewhere."
The woman waved dismissively. "That rogue's words are not to be trusted. If we miss this chance, who knows when we'll encounter a Phoenix again? Empress Zetian comprehended the Phoenix Bone and conquered the world as a female sovereign. This is our opportunity."
Yuan Weiyang felt a prickle of unease. She knew Xu Ying would not lie to her. She bowed apologetically and leaped from the tree.
Guo Xiaodie hurried after her. "Brother Weiyang, wait! Help me catch that rogue and drag him to Eunuch Chen!"
Yuan Weiyang sighed but couldn't shake her off.
The beautiful woman smiled and shook her head, turning to the young man beside her and Xiao Bo. "Weiyang has become quite dashing these past two years. He's clearly of marriageable age now. Xiaodie seems fond of him too. They met as children. Why not choose an auspicious date and let the Yuan family matriarch meet Xiaodie? And have Weiyang visit the Guo family to meet my sister."
Xiao Bo's heart lurched. He stammered, unable to speak.
The beautiful woman's smile turned cold. "Does Xiao Bo think our Xiaodie isn't good enough for the Yuan family? Is it the Guo family that's beneath you, or the Li family?"
Xiao Bo groaned inwardly.
The Yuan family was scarce in heirs. Before Yuan Weiyang was even born, she had been burdened with the hopes of reviving the Yuan family. When she turned out to be a girl, the family matriarch decided to raise her as a boy—and to the outside world, she *was* a boy.
These past few years, Yuan Weiyang had grown into her looks. She was naturally striking and drew the attention of many girls. She had not disappointed—her talent was extraordinary, her comprehension terrifyingly sharp.
But she was still a girl. How could she possibly court the precious daughters of the Guo and Li families?
Xiao Bo coughed hastily. "Excuse me—this rogue is quite capable. This old servant should go check on the Young Master and the Miss, lest something go wrong!"
He leaped from the Paulownia tree, and the moment he touched the ground, he saw a mass of dark clouds racing toward the mountaintop from the horizon. The clouds moved terrifyingly fast. Before Xiao Bo had even steadied himself, they had arrived.
He looked up, puzzled. "These clouds…"
A foul stench hit his nostrils. Then, from the mountainside below, chaos erupted. Someone screamed, "Watch out! Something from the Cangwu Abyss has climbed the mountain—it's already devoured several people!"
Xu Ying looked down and saw crimson flesh scaling the cliff face, consuming everything in its path. The flesh seemed to be growing—or perhaps crawling—sending up enormous serpentine tendrils dozens of zhang long, their gaping maws snapping savagely in every direction.
*That foul stench I smelled earlier—it was this?* Xiao Bo's heart raced.
Then lightning split the sky. The approaching dark clouds burst open, unleashing a torrential downpour. Through the rain and lightning, an enormous shape was vaguely visible—a being with a long beak, like a bird's, like a dragon's.
At that moment, Guo Xiaodie was chasing Xu Ying with Yuan Weiyang, dragging her along. The girl was practically vibrating with excitement. "Brother Weiyang, let's corner him by the lake and strip him bare—then we'll see where he runs!"
Yuan Weiyang coughed. "Demon King Xu, we're far from the Paulownia tree now. No one will follow us here. You can stop running."
Xu Ying halted and turned, smiling. "I thought Brother Yuan really intended to help her catch me."
Guo Xiaodie jumped, clutching her chest in alarm, staring wide-eyed at the two of them. "You're *together*? What are you going to do? Don't you dare—the whole mountain is full of Guo family guards!"
Xu Ying's expression shifted. He flashed to their side and called out, "Master Bell!"
Guo Xiaodie shrieked, thinking he meant to assault her—but in the same instant, countless blood-flesh serpents surged up from the mountainside, scaling the rock. Enormous lumps of rotting flesh, reeking of blood, launched themselves through the air, about to crush them all!
*CLANG!*
The Great Bell flew from behind Xu Ying's head. The patterns of all things shimmered across its inner surface while strange figures bloomed on the outer wall. The bell's toll sent waves of thick, luminous light expanding outward in layered rings, releasing a cascade of Dao sounds that deflected the blood-flesh serpents.
The moment the serpents touched the light barrier, they hissed and crackled, charred black, and recoiled involuntarily.
More blood-flesh serpents were climbing from below, swarming toward the Paulownia tree.
On the tree, numerous Nuo masters had been meditating on the Dao Manifestations of various divine birds—members of the Cangwu Sect, imperial heirs, and Guo family scions alike. Now they scrambled in panic. Casualties were devastating.
The beautiful woman and her husband, seeing this, finally understood Xu Ying had been telling the truth. They fought back with all their strength.
The divine birds nesting on the Paulownia tree took flight, battling the blood-flesh serpents. Serpents were slashed apart and burned to ash—but some divine birds were seized and dragged into the writhing mass.
The rotting flesh crept higher and higher from the cliffs below, gradually encircling the Paulownia tree and scaling its trunk.
The beautiful couple fought desperately, their hearts cold with fury and fear. *What *is* this thing crawling out of the abyss?*
Beside the Phoenix, three Azure Luan birds—all enormous, with luminous pearls hovering above their heads—looked up at the dark clouds. The colossal shape within the clouds roared like thunder, then lunged toward the Paulownia tree!
The three Azure Luan spread their wings and rose to meet it, their qi and blood surging skyward. The pearls above their heads blazed with blinding radiance, the Luan pushing them to their absolute limit.
They were burning their own lives to fuel the pearls. Even if it shattered them to pieces, they would hold that thing at bay.
At that precise moment, the Great Bell's toll reached the clouds. The colossal being—its malice towering to heaven—flinched at the sound, startled, and glanced toward the source.
In that instant of distraction, the three pearls struck. They punched three gaping, bloody holes through its body.
The Azure Luan shrieked, their talons raking toward the creature's eyes. The beast howled in pain and tore them apart with its claws—but in that same heartbeat, the Phoenix chick surged forward. Using her own body as a sword, she pierced straight through its skull, entering from the forehead and exiting from the back.
"You ambushed me!" the colossal being roared. It commanded the storm of blood rain and thunder, then hurtled away into the sky. In an instant, the clouds vanished, the sky clearing to a deep, pristine blue—as if the tempest had been nothing more than a hallucination.
Around the Paulownia tree, the blood-flesh serpents that had been wildly attacking the divine birds and Nuo masters suddenly went limp. They collapsed, their flesh losing all vitality, emitting a putrid, rotten stench.
The Great Bell had been fighting the siege of the flesh when it withered and decayed. It paused, stunned.
Listening to the colossal being's departing roar, the Bell went quiet. "That's the Celestial God my master sealed in the well on Little Stone Mountain…"
Then a lovely voice drifted into Xu Ying's ear: "Thank you, Dao Brother. You really do have a sharp tongue but a soft heart—saying you wouldn't help, yet helping me anyway."
Xu Ying recognized the voice as the Phoenix chick's. He froze. *Wait—when did I save her?*
The Phoenix chick's voice came again, soft and lingering: "Please wait a few days, Dao Brother. Once this little one has recovered, we shall meet again."