Baili Jingcheng, instead of presiding over the celebration banquet, had singled him out and called him aside, saying he had something important to say. This made Gu Baiqing feel uneasy. The two of them walked toward a place rarely visited by others.
When they reached a spot, Jingcheng suddenly said, “Baiqing, do you know? That fragment that was taken was once used by my younger uncle to forge spiritual weapons. Only weapons forged with fragments of the God-Slaying Sword were enough to contend with the Demon Venerable’s Sword Demon back then.”
This abrupt opening left Gu Baiqing somewhat bewildered. Then he suddenly remembered the matter of them not having retrieved the fragment, and opened his mouth to explain it a bit.
Jingcheng paused slightly, “I’ve already heard Li Xiuran explain it. You didn’t find Tianyuan Sect’s piece. I wasn’t talking about that, though, still, thank you for keeping it in mind for us.”
“Xuanli promised your younger brother that he would definitely help find it and return it to its rightful owner. Naturally, I had to mention it.” Gu Baiqing was also worried that Jingcheng might misunderstand and think they had privately kept it.
Jingcheng nodded and smiled, then looked at Gu Baiqing with a somewhat inscrutable gaze. “Baiqing, do you really like him that much?”
Gu Baiqing froze for a moment. It was the first time he had discussed his relationship with Xuanli with someone like this, and it felt a bit awkward, but he still nodded. “Mm. I like him very much.”
Jingcheng’s gaze trembled slightly. So… very unfamiliar.
Like a fool changed by emotions, just like that man who once gave up everything for love, only to discover in the end that he had been deceived.
Pitiful. Ridiculous.
“All right, I understand. I hope there’ll be a day when I can drink your wedding wine.” Jingcheng said lightly.
Gu Baiqing felt that something about Jingcheng was a bit strange. “Jingcheng, what exactly did you call me out here to say? The celebration banquet should have already started.”
“I just suddenly wanted to tell you about my little uncle.” Jingcheng said.
“At a time like this?”
Jingcheng nodded seriously. “Yes, at a time like this.”
Gu Baiqing frowned slightly. Actually, he didn’t really want to listen. After all, this matter might be related to Mo Xuanli, and he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hide it well and let Jingcheng notice something. But choosing this time to talk about it… Gu Baiqing suddenly remembered, during the report, it should have been mentioned that the Saintess and the Demon Venerable were related by blood. Others might guess she was a daughter, but the Baili family would most likely guess that…
Because they knew they had encountered the Saintess, and were afraid they might have learned something, so they simply chose to lay it bare?
Gu Baiqing held his breath and waited, and heard Jingcheng begin to slowly recount what he knew.
“Back then, my little uncle was already the number one person in the cultivation world, upright and friendly, with a character praised by all. He was someone everyone looked up to, a model for others to learn from. There was only one thing that was rather willful: he refused to accept the marriage alliance that Tianyuan Sect arranged for him. At that time, no one knew why. After all, the proposed partner was also a renowned fairy in the cultivation world, yet he stubbornly refused, even leaving home. Later, we found out that my little uncle had fallen in love with a low-cultivation, ordinary independent cultivator. Someone like that was absolutely unacceptable to the Baili family of Tianyuan Sect, who at the time sought to contend for the position of the number one immortal sect. So for that woman, my little uncle directly withdrew from the world, privately pledged themselves for life, and had children together.”
“At that time I was still young, and I always felt that whatever my little uncle did must be right. I also wanted to be like him and find a woman I truly loved to become my dao companion. But very quickly, something went wrong. Around then, the sect received a letter saying that my little uncle’s family of four wanted to come back together for a visit. Although the elders were furious, since there was already both a son and a daughter, they naturally accepted it in silence.”
“But right at that moment, the Demon Venerable suddenly led his army to invade the cultivation world. The immortal–demon war erupted directly, completely beyond everyone’s understanding. You also took part in that war, you should still remember how tragic it was. It swept across nearly the entire cultivation world; the number of deaths couldn’t even be counted. Even many places in the mortal realm were affected. My little uncle sacrificed himself and finally perished together with the Demon Venerable, winning a brief peace for the cultivation world.” Jingcheng paused slightly to catch his breath. “But actually… that immortal–demon war should never have happened.”
Jingcheng looked at Gu Baiqing and said, “In fact, the woman my little uncle married was the demonic race’s Saintess, Xuan Ji.”
“At the time, he had no idea that Xuan Ji was the demonic race’s Saintess. She must have used some method to completely conceal her aura, so well that even my little uncle couldn’t detect it. Even the mixed-blood child they gave birth to was hidden extremely well.”
Gu Baiqing’s gaze flickered, his chest tightening slightly.
“They had a daughter and a son. The daughter was named Baili Xuanyue, and the son… had no name. Because the moment that child was born, Xuan Ji took him away, saying he was ill and needed treatment. My little uncle never even saw that child, so he had no idea that his son was not only a mixed-blood, but also the most dangerous kind.”
Gu Baiqing’s expression stiffened somewhat.
“The Demon Venerable attacked the cultivation world because he discovered the existence of that child. It wasn’t until the Demon Venerable had fought his way to the doorstep and turned against his own sister that my little uncle learned the whole truth. He was deceived, completely deceived. Not only had he married into the demonic race, he had also fathered a mixed-blood, and had even brought into the world the end of all things… the Primordial Demon. In fact, that woman approached him from the very beginning to create the Primordial Demon, because they discovered that the stronger the cultivator who paired with the demonic race, the stronger the child would be.”
This time, Gu Baiqing was truly shocked. It was… deliberate creation, just like those mixed-blood children beneath the divine tree?
No, that wasn’t right. In the fanfic, it had been mentioned that although the ending was bad, Immortal Baili Jin and Xuan Ji truly loved each other. Otherwise, Xuan Ji wouldn’t have wanted to hide Mo Xuanli’s existence, nor would she have turned against her own brother… Perhaps she regretted it later. Perhaps she truly fell in love with Immortal Baili Jin, and wanted to continue deceiving herself and live on that way?
Baili Jingcheng looked at Gu Baiqing and said, “My little uncle was not at fault. He was deceived. The demonic race has always been adept at bewitching people’s hearts. Later, my little uncle atoned with his life to make amends to the world. But those two children disappeared. Our Tianyuan Sect then began, under the pretext of eradicating mixed-bloods, to lead the cultivation world in slaughtering mixed-bloods across the land. Indeed, one reason was to cover up my little uncle’s mistake, preserve our Tianyuan Sect’s reputation, and protect my little uncle’s lifelong good name. But I believe the primary purpose was still to eliminate that most dangerous child.”
“As for other mixed-bloods, that’s another matter. At worst, they would become troublesome members of the demonic race. With a bit of mercy, letting them off wouldn’t amount to an unforgivable crime. But you should understand what evolving into a Primordial Demon represents. No one has the right to sympathize with that child. His existence itself is original sin. Those who help him, who assist him, are enemies of everyone. Killing him is also for his own good, does he want to become a Primordial Demon and lose his own consciousness?”
Gu Baiqing’s face had already turned extremely unsightly. He realized that Baili Jingcheng was deliberately telling him all of this.
“If that child is already very powerful, then… once he transforms, the entire cultivation world will not be his opponent. Even before he transforms, wanting to kill him would already be extremely difficult. The only chance is for everyone to work together with one heart. So, Baiqing… at the critical moment, as the strongest person in the cultivation world, you should understand the mission you bear. You will… follow your mission, won’t you?”
Baili Jingcheng said this far, believing that Gu Baiqing understood his meaning.
Gu Baiqing naturally understood as well. Suddenly, he gave a faint smile: “Jingcheng… let me tell you one honest truth… I came into this world with only one mission.”
Jingcheng’s expression changed slightly.
“That is to protect my lover!”
Gu Baiqing struck instantly, and Jingcheng had long been prepared. At the moment Gu Baiqing attacked him, he did not counterattack; instead, he focused on the ground, pouring all his spiritual power into it.
In the instant he was knocked flying, array patterns began to spread beneath Gu Baiqing’s feet. In a split second, Gu Baiqing was trapped within the formation.
Gu Baiqing immediately wielded Morning Snow and slashed toward the formation.
“Baiqing, you really won’t listen to advice. We’ve been friends for many years, do you think you can easily escape my formation?” Jingcheng covered his injured shoulder as he stood up and said somewhat angrily.
“Baili Jingcheng, you still consider me a friend?” Gu Baiqing was furious to the point of laughing instead.
“It’s because we’re friends that I must urge you to turn back from the wrong path. As long as your Zixiao Sect is willing to secretly cooperate with us, we can quietly deal with Mo Xuanli. That way, neither of our two sides will be affected.”
“Go to h*ll with ‘won’t be affected.’ Who are you going to deal with? My dao companion?” Anger also climbed all over Gu Baiqing’s face.
“He is not your dao companion. He is nothing but a mixed-blood, something that should never have been created. And haven’t you two still not formed a dao companion contract? Everything can still be salvaged!”
“Baili Jingcheng, I knew you were conservative, I didn’t expect you to be this stubborn. After seeing everything Mo Xuanli has done for the cultivation world, you can still say such things. Don’t you think you’re ridiculous? For the sake of a mere possibility, you plot to murder a person, let alone that this person is even related to you by blood.” Gu Baiqing was so angry his face turned red.
“No! He is a mixed-blood, a Primordial Demon, and has no blood relation to me!” Jingcheng still refused to acknowledge this point even now. “You’re blinded by emotion, Baiqing. If you won’t help, then you can only stay here and clear your head properly. I believe your sect will agree.”
After Jingcheng finished speaking, he turned to leave.
“Baili Jingcheng, he is your little uncle’s son! He is your cousin!” Gu Baiqing roared. He had no relatives; he truly could not understand why relatives could be worse than strangers.
“I said… no.” Jingcheng said coldly. “And you trust him that much? Even my little uncle’s pillow companion deceived him, do you think you can be so lucky? An existence born already riddled with stains has no qualification to be trusted. If you believe, then you are naïve, you are foolish.”
Gu Baiqing’s face alternated between pale and green, feeling that it was impossible to reason this through. But watching Jingcheng’s figure about to disappear into the distance, he grew even more anxious. He didn’t know what Jingcheng planned to do in secret, but he knew he could not let Xuanli face alone the moment when his origins were completely exposed by everyone around him.
That child was strong on the outside but soft on the inside. Even if he wouldn’t collapse, he would probably want to cry. He had to be by Little Mo Dog’s side.
And just at this moment, suddenly a howl that pierced through the edges of the clouds rang out, accompanied by bizarre fluctuations of spiritual power. Even this place was affected by it.
Jingcheng, who had not yet left, changed his expression drastically, as if thinking of something. He cursed under his breath, “D*mn it,” and rushed out.
Gu Baiqing’s entire body stiffened. That was… Xuanli’s voice… What happened to Xuanli? This is… the aura of a mixed-blood… Could it be that the half-step immortal seal…
Gu Baiqing instantly panicked and immediately began crazily slashing at the formation. The formation could be broken, but it would take time.
【Demonization Value 1 1 1】
【Cultivation Progress 】
【The mission target is currently in grave danger. Please take action immediately, Host】
【Plot change detected, issuing emergency task…】
【Fifth Quest, Task 1: Prevent demonization, escape safely, successfully complete the breakthrough, enter early-stage Immortalization cultivation. Key reminder: if escape fails, the Host’s mission will completely fail.】
“strategy satchel!”
Gu Baiqing flew over at full speed. When he saw that scene, his entire heart seemed to split apart.
“He is a mixed-blood, and also the future Primordial Demon! If we don’t kill him now, once his cultivation rises further and he evolves into a Primordial Demon, that will be the day our cultivation world is destroyed!”
The little hero whom everyone had admired and respected just half an hour ago was now utterly miserable, suffering all manner of humiliation. A single sentence determined Mo Xuanli’s life, negating everything about him.
All because of his birth.
Thunder like the collapse of heaven!
Gu Baiqing’s eyes turned red. Countless bolts of lightning struck toward the entire plaza. Anyone who tried to attack Mo Xuanli would be struck by lightning and forced to retreat several steps. Amid countless cries, people fell all over the ground.
Everyone raised their heads in shock. They saw a black figure wrapped in blue lightning descend from the sky, carrying the killing aura of the Tribulation Crossing stage that intimidated the entire field, yet gently holding that terrifying mixed-blood.
Everyone was dumbfounded, staring blankly. That was the person hailed in the cultivation world as the clearest one with the most desireless and detached state of mind, yet now he was tightly holding someone who emitted the filthy aura of a mixed-blood and was also the most frightening existence of the future.
“Gu Baiqing, he is a mixed-blood, did you make a mistake?!”
Someone suddenly shouted.
But Gu Baiqing did not hear it at all. He held Mo Xuanli, looking at his face full of tears from pain, unconscious. Those one-red, one-black eyes trembled lightly; the remaining black was shifting, he was still struggling to maintain that last bit of black.
Looking at him gazing at himself with a pleading look for help, yet without focus.
At this moment, Gu Baiqing’s rage could no longer be suppressed, yet he still carefully channeled spiritual power into Mo Xuanli, making him feel a little better.
The seal was indeed gone.
That was why the mixed-blood identity had been exposed.
Why did it become like this, what on earth happened… Suddenly, Gu Baiqing’s expression changed, he sensed something different inside Mo Xuanli’s body.
He had once come into close contact with it, so it was… an origin bone?
Wait!
Gu Baiqing’s chest suddenly tightened, as if his soul had been struck heavily by something.
He began to tremble uncontrollably, the arms holding Mo Xuanli unconsciously groping along his back and spine.
Had he… overlooked something?
Gu Baiqing suddenly recalled that time in the secret chamber of the Immortal Medical Valley, when he first saw records of the origin bone, Mo Xuanli suddenly lost control, holding onto him and crying out in pain, saying it really hurt.
So… Mo Xuanli… had already… already had his origin bone dug out by someone.
So the little Mo Dog who had been painstakingly cultivating by his side all this time originally had no origin bone at all. Without an origin bone, his potential was restricted; whether ascending to immortality or falling into demonic cultivation, advancement would be comparatively difficult. That was why it had been so arduous for him, far from being merely because the seal had thrown his spiritual roots into chaos. It was because he lacked the origin bone upon which those with mixed-blood physiques rely for cultivation…
Little Mo Dog had always known his cultivation would be difficult, yet he still cultivated according to his master’s wishes. He still struggled upward, becoming a genius praised by everyone.
So every breakthrough had in fact been even harder than Gu Baiqing had imagined; what he had seen was not even one ten-thousandth of what Little Mo Dog had endured?
…When was it dug out?
Was it before Little Mo Dog came to the Zixiao Sect?
How young was he?
It was…
Gu Baiqing’s eyes filled with mist. He was so afraid that he dared not think further, only tightening his arms around Mo Xuanli more and more.
Putting it back in… must have hurt as well, right? In so many previous crises, the seal had been intact; this time it had been shattered directly by the impact, so… did it hurt badly?
Gu Baiqing felt as if something were lodged in his throat, his heart aching so much that every part of his body hurt along with it.
“Xuanli… I’m here. It doesn’t hurt anymore, doesn’t hurt anymore. Master is here, Master will protect you.”
Li Xiuran, standing to the side on alert, suddenly saw Gu Baiqing like this. Confused and unable to understand, he could only guess that Mo Xuanli’s condition was even more serious than imagined. But the current situation was even worse, they had to quickly think of a way to escape.
As if sensing a familiar aura, Mo Xuanli’s pupils slowly focused as he looked at Gu Baiqing. Even though his entire body hurt terribly, at the instant he saw his master, his eyes lit up.
“Master?”
“I’m here.”
“Master… I’m sorry.”
Sorry for what?
Sorry to whom?
No, it was others who owed you an apology.
Gu Baiqing said in a low voice, “It’s not your fault. Rest well and recover. We’ll leave shortly.” Gu Baiqing’s spiritual power flowed within Mo Xuanli’s body; he knew that Mo Xuanli, now having regained his origin bone, would recover faster than before.
“Master…” Mo Xuanli seemed to be gradually regaining consciousness, and also gradually becoming aware of the current situation. A flash of panic passed through his eyes, before finally settling into dead stillness.
And the clamorous sounds below, voices questioning Gu Baiqing, grew more and more numerous. Mo Xuanli heard them as well. His eyes flicked from side to side, and for an instant he seemed to want to say something.
Suddenly a voice rang out, “Junior brother… you…”
It was Fu Zhiyi.
Then another voice followed.
“Baiqing, come back. You didn’t know before, but now you should see clearly, he is a mixed-blood. Although you value affection, do you really want to destroy everything of your own for a mixed-blood? And disregard everything in this world?”
It was Baili Jingcheng.
“Gu Baiqing, Li Xiuran, you two mustn’t persist in your delusion. Look at the power he’s releasing, he is extremely likely to become the Primordial Demon in the future! If we don’t kill him now, when will we?”
It was He Jingyuan.
Then there were countless voices.
Gu Baiqing felt a slight push. He didn’t know what Mo Xuanli meant by it, but he had no patience to probe it any further.
In that instant, Gu Baiqing felt as if his scalp exploded. In front of the entire cultivation world, he suddenly lowered his head and kissed Mo Xuanli.
In a flash, heaven and earth fell silent.
Only a few knew of the relationship between the two, but at this moment, everyone knew.
This master–disciple relationship was abnormal; Mo Xuanli was a mixed-blood, and Gu Baiqing was also abnormal.
Gu Baiqing bit down hard on Mo Xuanli’s lips, until blood was drawn. Then, looking at the stunned, dumbfounded Mo Xuanli, he gave a slight smile.
Then, supporting Mo Xuanli with one arm, he raised Morning Snow in his hand.
“I, Gu Baiqing, and Mo Xuanli have already formed a dao companion bond. Whoever wants to kill him, I will kill! Don’t force me to make a move!”
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