Return of the Demoness

Rui naturally felt dubious of Yaan's motives, whilst Yaan didn't trust this demoness in the least. However, the two of them possessed a curiosity that far surpassed their apprehension of one another. In fact, unravelling the mysteries of their fate could be said to be their greatest desire in this world!

"So you're saying that in this True-False Illusion World, the illusory version of me was dead-set on surviving, and did so by entering the stone ring held by the original version of you?" Rui summarised.

Yaan nodded. He didn't explain everything that happened, just this final important point. So long as they could recover the memories of the illusory Rui, there would be no need to explain anything anyway.

Rui sighed and shook her head.

"Unfortunately, I do not understand this ring at all. It only reacts to me, it only allows myself to enter. It is my ultimate armour, and my ultimate prison. There is no space within the ring, only an empty void."

Yaan wasn't dispirited in the least. In fact, he smiled.

"Rui, what is the strongest you have ever been whilst bound to this ring?"

"Hmm?" As she understood his line of thought, her eyes shone with an odd light and she replied:

"About as strong as I am now."

"I see." Yaan nodded. He immediately took out a vial of 6-Star Realm warrior blood essence.

"Perhaps this will help you to explore the ring further. I don't have any use for this anymore. It should be more useful compared to beast blood essence."

Rui stared at Yaan deeply. She looked at the vial in his hand, then glanced at the ring's powerful suction force that wanted to devour every last drop of the crimson fluid.

"There are five drops of blood in there."

"Mm." Yaan nodded. Use them all."

With that, he flicked the five drops of blood essence onto the ring. Rui could hardly believe his decisiveness. Was he not afraid that her soul would grow so strong that she could harm him?

Well, as she absorbed the blood essence, as her soul grew stronger and stronger, she finally became able to see through a portion of Yaan's concealment.

At least, she could now see the strength of his soul.

Truthfully, Yaan's illusion concealment was not very effective when it came to hiding his soul right now. His slaughterous soul was simply to overbearing.

When Rui finally reached her peak, she felt revitalised, filled with strength. She was confident that even with just her soul, she could easily kill any Rank 5 cultivator!

But…not Yaan.

She still could not see through him entirely. But now, she could see the soul that he had formed.

"Variant Slaughter Soul!" She narrowed her eyes. The way she looked at Yaan became very serious, not only because of the Variant Slaughter Soul, but also because she realised that he was actually cultivating the Four Paths Cultivation Technique…and had reached Rank 5!

And based on his concealment ability, it was certain that he had comprehended a dao to the immortal stage.

She realised that the 'child' she had chosen and nourished to become the perfect ingredient, was no longer a child, nor a mere ingredient.

Yaan stared at Rui's opaque soul. She was almost as solid as an actual person, stunning and awe-inspiring. Ordinary men would drop to their knees and worship her beauty. Ordinary women would lower their heads in shame.

This woman's eyes were cold and disdainful, but towards Yaan, they now contained a hint of wariness.

Because he clearly knew some things that she did not.

Yaan didn't care about that. He wanted Rui to learn about many of the things he had experienced, so that they could decipher the mysteries of their fates.

As for the fact that Rui's soul was now extremely powerful, as powerful as a True Immortal soul…

It didn't matter. She was just a soul in the end. Her power was temporary, any usage of her strength would result in permanent depletion. Besides, even if she attacked him with an all-out malicious strike, Yaan had confidence that he could defend himself.

"So, Rui…does the ring look any different?"

Hearing Yaan's question, Rui remembered the original point of him giving her this blood essence. She disappeared, heading back into the stone ring.

The stone ring became dormant, then the symbols vanished along with her.

A minute passed, then two, then three…

Yaan waited patiently. He was not worried that Rui had vanished, but instead felt excited. The fact that she didn't return immediately suggested that she had found something!

An hour later, she returned.

"And?" Yaan pressed.

"I found nothing…" She said, causing Yaan to feel disheartened. "But…I think I understand now. The key isn't in the ring, Yaan, the key is in you."

Yaan furrowed his brows, but as Rui remained silent, his expression slowly changed.

Right…the key was himself!

He had been the one to enter the illusion…

He had been the one to manifest the illusory Rui…

He had been the centre of that world!

Or at least, he had been at the centre of the portion of the illusory world that he experienced.

Yaan returned to the temple and sat down, closing his eyes. He ignored Rui, who watched him from a few feet away, as he sunk into the depths of his illusion comprehension.

The key lay within himself…

Slowly, a second stone ring appeared on Yaan's hand, barely visible due to it overlapping with the other one.

'No, that's not all!' Rui thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes sharply. 'He hasn't just manifested an illusory ring…he has manifested an entire illusion of himself!'

An illusory Yaan overlapped with the original Yaan.

The illusory Yaan started to become more solid, as the physical Yaan started to become more illusory. The two phased into and out of one another, continually and endlessly, until it became impossible to tell which was which.

Eventually, the oscillations became so extreme that the two completely fused together!

Rui's eyes widened as unexpectedly, she was suddenly sucked back into the stone ring.

Yaan slowly opened his eyes. He realised that the ring had become dormant again, so he supplied it with a few drops of Rank 6 beast blood essence.

The ring lit up with red symbols, then finally, Rui returned.

She stared at Yaan deeply, with a gaze very different from before.

Yaan looked back at her with a faint smile.

"It seems that your plan worked, Rui."

"Indeed…and now, we have a lot to talk about."

"Yes." Yaan nodded. "Yes we do."

The current Rui was not as strong as before, since the fusion process had reverted her to her weakened state. Yaan reawakened her in a stable condition, but did not give her more than this.

The two understood each other now.

They both knew that originally, Rui had schemed against the young, naive Yaan, planning to cultivate him into the perfect medicinal ingredient; a medicine which she would use to establish herself a perfect body.

But now, Yaan was walking the Four Paths Cultivation Technique. Rui did not have any methods to make use of a cultivator pursuing this path. And besides, she realised that the current Yaan was too cautious, he would never give her the opportunity to do something like that.

Their relationship was strange to say the least. They had both gotten in one another's way, but they had also both helped one another over the years.

And most importantly, they were connected by karmic links…they were connected by some sort of fate.

They discussed this matter for some time, but in the end, they could not come to any solid conclusions. Even though he wanted to learn the truth, Yaan withheld some information from Rui, and he was certain that Rui did the same from him.

After all, he had no intention of mentioning anything regarding the fragments of the Primordial Devil to anyone. That information felt extremely dangerous.

What he did show to Rui, was the abyssal blood sword.

When she saw this sword, she nodded in praise, assessing that it was a good treasure.

It was an immortal treasure, but the term 'immortal treasure' was extremely vague. At the Foundation Step, treasures were split into different types based on the four paths of cultivation, but immortal treasures were all so unique that there was simply no point in doing this.

Essentially, the abyssal blood sword grew stronger the more it killed. It devoured the vitality of its slain enemies, which was why its victims always turned into shrivelled corpses.

Currently, Yaan was not truly 'using' the abyssal blood sword. He was swinging it around, allowing it to kill and feed, but he was yet to bind it as a treasure.

Usually, trying to bind this treasure as a mortal would be suicidal, but Yaan possessed the Slaughter Variant Spirit Soul. This meant that if he attempted to bind the treasure, there was a chance that he wouldn't die.

In the end, he pushed the idea of binding this sword aside for now, deciding to further strengthen his soul before attempting something so dangerous.

Yaan next consulted Rui on his cultivation. She agreed with his idea of adapting the Fiend Foundation into something that could benefit the soul via slaughter, but she disregarded the idea of creating a simple spell to achieve this.

Using killing to cultivate was nothing simple, how could it be achieved with a mere spell? If there was a spell which could do this, it would most definitely need to be a dao spell.

"Rui, you have extensive experience with the Fiend Transformation Technique, right?" Yaan asked. "You even created your own sect based on using this technique to nurture disciples. You even wrote an entire alchemy book based around using fiends as medicinal ingredients! Do you have any ideas?"

Rui pondered for a time, before sighing and shaking her head.

"Right now, no. I never dived deeply into the mysteries of the soul, though I have had some insights since being trapped in this form for so many centuries. My best advice is that you go out and kill. Attempt to refine the Slaughter Aura into your soul rather than your Vital Qi. If nothing else, I will be able to observe and perhaps deduce a superior method going forwards."

In the end, Yaan agreed to try this method, since this had also been his first idea.

Yaan's immediate agreement made Rui realise that he had truly changed over the years. However, she was also wary, aware that his Slaughter Soul was affecting his personality quite severely…

As the Slaughter Soul grew stronger, this would only get worse and worse.

Yaan didn't go out right away, instead, he first waited for Ga Shu to return.

Ga Shu came back with many medicines which would assist him through Nirvana.

"Nothing can truly help one through Nirvana. Nirvana relies on oneself and one's own efforts." Rui stated plainly.

"I know. But these medicines can at least help to maximise the benefits that he reaps from the blessing, whilst minimising the damage from the calamity. It won't be much, but it will be something."

"You trust this person?" Rui asked after glancing at Ga Shu.

"Ga Shu…earnestly wants to serve me, from the depths of his heart. He no longer has any other desires in this life." Yaan replied, not explaining anymore than this.

Without any further words, the pair watched as Ga Shu began his ascension.

Yaan had already set up many formations all around the area, blocking off the sight of the Heavenly Blessing from any potential onlookers. It was impossible to completely hide heavenly events from the world, but this protection was better than nothing.

Ga Shu sat on the wooden swing, smiling as he stared at his wife's grave. As the pristine golden cloud formed high above his head, enveloping the entire atmosphere and shrouding the entire region in golden dust and sparkles, Ga Shu smiled, but he didn't even bother to look up.

"Freya, look…the heavens are blessing me. Maybe If I stay near to you, they will also bless you in your next life…"

Endless golden pillars of light shone down on Ga Shu's body. Droplets of gold formed within the cloud, which fell down and were sucked into the vortex of light, directly entering him.

The golden light enveloped the entire region, but every spec of light, dust and rain, landed on Ga Shu.

As this all happened, Ga Shu sighed.

"This is life…being 'blessed' after losing the most important person in your life…"

After a certain period of time, the golden phenomena stopped. Ga Shu continued sitting for some time, and Yaan did not disturb him.

Two hours later, Ga Shu finally stood. He turned with a sad smile towards Yaan, who stood in the temple doorway silently.

"I apologise for taking so long, my lord. I was simply lost in thought."

"It's fine." Yaan nodded lightly. "Ga Shu, how do you feel? How much has your Life Essence expanded by?"

After experiencing Nirvana Blessing, a cultivator would gain a deeper understanding over Life Essence.

Every drop of Life Essence represented a year of life.

Every living being was born with a certain amount of Life Essence. This amount could be increased via healthy practices, or decreased via unhealthy practices.

Aside from that, ageing naturally decreased Life Essence, whilst cultivation was essentially the pursuit of increasing Life Essence.

One drop of Life Essence was equivalent to one year of life. Living one year of life would decrease a being's Life Essence by one drop.

This was the case for mortals and Foundation Step cultivators at least. It was also true for Nirvana Life Realm cultivators, but that seemed less relevant, because…

"I gained 18,000 drops of Mortal Life Essence." Ga Shu smiled.

Rui sighed deeply when she heard this.

"The dao of life is too impressive, it truly grants more Life Essence than any other dao. Most cultivators with an immortal stage dao only gain around 5,000 drops. This gives him a huge advantage when facing Nirvana Death."

Rui spoke to Yaan from within the ring using Spirit Sense. Now that Yaan possessed a Variant Spirit Soul, he could also use Spirit Sense…unfortunately, due to his soul's slaughter variant, his words were always filled with boundless killing intent whenever he spoke using Spirit Sense. This didn't bother Rui at all, though.

"How many will I gain?" Yaan asked curiously.

"A lot." Rui stated simply. "Following the Four Paths Cultivation Technique, you will gain Life Essence for all four paths of cultivation, meaning four times more than you would have otherwise gained. However, likewise, your Nirvana Death Calamity will be four times more terrifying. And your Nirvana Rebirth, your Immortal Ascension tribulation…well, there's a reason that nobody has ever passed it before."

Yaan remained silent for now, watching for some time, whilst Ga Shu marvelled at his newfound power.

"Ga Shu, remain here for some time. I'm going to investigate to see if anyone noticed the blessing."

Ga Shu paused, but then nodded seriously.

"Of course my lord. And if anyone does come asking questions, I will immediately cut all ties with the Bloody Totem Province, becoming a renegade cultivator."

Yaan paused for a moment.

By doing this, the Bloody Totem Tribe would remain as a Rank 5 tribe and would have to be treated as such. Ga Shu doing this would be a truly generous act of self-sacrifice.

"Thank you, Ga Shu…"

With that, Yaan departed.

Yaan flew around the area. He was not checking for actual people, but for signs within the countless formations he set up. If anyone, aside from an immortal saw the Heavenly Blessing, then he would be able to find signs of that within the formations.

Luckily, there were no signs. This region of a surrounding 5,000 miles circumference had become an absolute no-go zone for all people. This region was known as the Red Demon's territory, nobody was to enter unless invited.

Yaan had already explained to Rui the laws in this land. Initially, she was honestly shocked to learn that they had somehow crossed over to the Blood Plane, but she adapted quickly, understanding the war flower law, as well as the purpose of this law implemented by the War Flower Empire.

"They are trying to inspire courage, strength, bloodlust and unity in the people. The system is created to force people to stick together, but it also forces people to fight. Essentially, the entire War Flower Empire is a tempering grounds to produce powerful, loyal soldiers."

Rui said this, but even she was shaken by the scale and might of the War Flower Empire.

She knew that no immortal, no matter how formidable, could possibly control an empire of this size…

Regardless, right now, Yaan was seeking out the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader. She had already been informed by Ga Shu previously that Yaan might be arriving, so she had prepared a grand welcoming for him.

Seeing the streets laden in crimson beast fur carpets, the warriors standing to attention on all sides, and the giant feast waiting for him at the end, Yaan's eye twitched.

Yaan tried his best to remain polite.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I did not come here for festivities. We are going to continue our campaign against the Kingdom of Lunar Song."

The Bloody Totem Tribe Leader and the other 5-Star Realm warriors felt like they must have misheard him.

"L-Lord Red, sorry…d-did you say…a-against the Kingdom of Lunar Song?" Someone asked with a stiff smile, feeling like they must have misheard him

"Indeed." Yaan nodded. "We will not attack their main tribe, nor will we attack their branch tribes…"

Everyone exhaled in relief.

"But we will attack everyone else."

Hmm…?

"Every other tribe in the kingdom I mean."

Hmm?

"Only after having defeated those rabble, will we crush the Lunar Song Tribe itself."

Hmm?!