Chapter 752: Ancient Secrets

The red light was swifter than lightning. Feng Juechen only saw a flash, and before he could even react, the red light struck his forehead and instantly disappeared into his body.

Immediately, a sensation of countless steel needles piercing his soul surged wildly, causing him to let out an incomparably shrill scream. His consciousness instantly collapsed, and he fainted.

The red-clothed girl's eyelashes were slightly lowered, her gaze cold and clear, as she maintained her posture, rapidly reading Feng Juechen's memories. A mere ten breaths later, the red light exited his body and vanished into thin air. His memories had been completely read by the red-clothed girl, without a single omission.

At the same time, she also erased all memories he had of seeing her.

The red-clothed girl slowly retracted her hand, a strange light flickering in her eyes. She turned away, no longer looking at the unconscious Feng Juechen, nor did she make another move against him. Her small, snow-white hand lightly swiped in front of her, and instantly, a long spatial rift appeared before her. It persisted with a menacing hiss, neither shrinking nor vanishing.

"Though you've lived two lives, your fate in both is so tragic, so pitiful that I don't even wish to kill you."

With a cold murmur, the girl stepped into the spatial rift and then vanished as the rift closed.

Back in Floating Cloud City, Yun Che quickly arrived at his small courtyard and began to focus on recovering his profound energy and injuries. The battle with Feng Juechen had been far less tragic and perilous than he had expected. He still found it a bit unbelievable that Feng Juechen, with nearly forty percent of his power remaining, had been so overwhelmingly defeated by him.

"Jasmine, I always felt that Feng Juechen's state was a bit strange," Yun Che wondered. "Is profound demonic energy inherently that weak in its sustained power after a large consumption?"

Yun Che waited for a while but received no response from Jasmine.

Is she sleeping? No, the demonic poison in her body has been cleared, so she shouldn't fall into a deep sleep with her consciousness completely sealed.

While pondering, Yun Che sank his consciousness and entered the Sky Poison Pearl.

In the world of the Sky Poison Pearl, only Hong'er was sound asleep, completely unaware of his arrival. But there was no sign of Jasmine, nor could he feel her aura.

"..." Yun Che pondered silently for a moment. He didn't leave the Sky Poison Pearl, but stood there waiting for Jasmine to return. Although Jasmine no longer needed to rely on the Sky Poison Pearl, she still shared his life, and her soul body couldn't stay away from him for too long. She would return before long.

As expected, Yun Che had only waited for a short while when a red light flashed before him, and Hong'er gracefully reappeared, her milky-white little face completely expressionless.

"...Are you waiting for me?"

"You couldn't have gone to... find Feng Juechen, could you?" Yun Che asked, his face full of suspicion.

"Hmph, you guessed correctly," Jasmine said, turning her face away. Her lips unconsciously tilted up slightly, seemingly displeased that he had guessed what she just did. "But don't worry, I didn't kill him. I merely found out some things I wanted to know from him."

"So, you already know all his secrets?" Yun Che asked, surprised.

"Hmph, more or less."

Yun Che's spirits lifted, and he immediately asked, "Then where did his power come from? What happened to him during those years? Why did he want the Heaven Smiting Divine Sword?" Since Jasmine had said "more or less," she must know practically everything. The various anomalies surrounding Feng Juechen had always lingered in his mind, so now that Jasmine had the answers, he naturally had to press for clarity.

"It seems you're quite invested in Feng Juechen's affairs," Jasmine said indifferently.

"I'm just very curious," Yun Che said, frowning. "In just four short years, his power astonishingly surged to such an extent; it's simply inconceivable. The profound energy he used was unlike anything I'd ever seen, and the 'Heaven Smiting Divine Sword' he mentioned today carried many strange implications. I always feel that a huge mystery is hidden behind Feng Juechen, making it impossible for me not to dwell on it."

"It's far more than just a huge mystery," Jasmine said, her slender brows furrowing slightly. "What's recorded in his memories is far more interesting than I imagined!"

Although she said "interesting," Jasmine's expression was clearly somewhat grave.

This undoubtedly multiplied Yun Che's already strong curiosity and suspicion several times over. Previously, when Jasmine exclaimed "Eternal Night Illusory Devil Tome," her tone was very abnormal. Now it seemed the complexity of this matter was far beyond anything he could imagine.

"It wouldn't be another one of those things I'm not allowed to know, would it?" Yun Che asked cautiously. Jasmine kept many things from him, and if she didn't want to tell him something, she wouldn't reveal a single word, no matter what.

Jasmine glanced at him, then proudly turned her face away. "Although this matter is quite troublesome to explain," she began, "but since you want to know so badly... Hmph, I'm in a good mood today, having gotten rid of the demonic poison, so I can tell you. However, every word I am about to say, you must never reveal a single bit of it to anyone you meet in the future."

"My heavens, it's that serious..." Yun Che said with a righteous expression, "There's probably no one in this world who understands me better than you. Don't you know whether I'm someone who doesn't understand the gravity of things?"

"Hmph, when it comes to women, you've never known the gravity of things!" Jasmine snorted coldly.

Yun Che was speechless.

Jasmine extended her arm, and with a sweep of her small hand, she placed a small sound-isolation barrier around Hong'er. This barrier, of course, was not to prevent Hong'er from eavesdropping, but to avoid disturbing her peaceful sleep.

Such a casual gesture yet it displayed Jasmine's almost subconscious care for Hong'er.

Jasmine always dotes on Hong'er, but she's always so fierce towards me... Yun Che thought with a sour feeling.

"In the ancient era, the Age of Gods," Jasmine began, "other races were all considered lowly and humble beings. The primordial chaos was divided into Yin in the north and Yang in the south. The southern chaos was the world where the ancient gods existed, while the northern chaos was the world of the ancient devils. The Divine Race and the Devil Race each occupied half of the primordial chaos. The two races, being Yin and Yang opposed, were hostile towards each other. However, they rarely provoked conflict and had little interaction, coexisting peacefully, much like two parallel worlds with opposing attributes."

Jasmine began to explain, but the content of her explanation left Yun Che bewildered. He couldn't help but ask, "This... what does this have to do with Feng Juechen?"

"Don't interrupt!" Jasmine snorted heavily. "All of this, of course, has to do with Feng Juechen."

Yun Che: "..."

"The reason gods and devils are powerful is that they were born from the primordial power of chaos and grew under its primordial aura," Jasmine continued. "That purest, most powerful, and ultimate energy of heaven and earth from the dawn of chaos is what I referred to as 'Grandmist Qi' when I taught you the Great Way of the Buddha. Although the heaven and earth energy you absorb through the Great Way of the Buddha is also vital energy, its level, compared to 'Grandmist Qi,' is many, many levels apart—a complete world of difference."

Yun Che naturally remembered "Grandmist Qi." Jasmine had once said that if the Great Way of the Buddha could be cultivated to the tenth stage, it could draw upon the most ultimate power of heaven and earth—Grandmist Power! However, she had also said that for a human body, cultivating the Great Way of the Buddha to the sixth stage was already the limit.

"After the Age of Gods, it became impossible for true gods to appear," Jasmine continued. "The fundamental reason is that the Grandmist Qi within the primordial chaos has long become too sparse to nurture divine-level bodies and powers. Furthermore, as the chaotic world becomes increasingly turbid, Grandmist Qi will only grow weaker year by year, ensuring that true gods will never reappear. By now, the primordial chaos might not even possess the pure and ultimate Grandmist Qi it once had."

"In that ancient era, the gods were the supreme beings. The countless planets, star realms, and independently existing minor worlds today, some formed naturally from chaos, but a significant portion were created or modified by the gods. And over ninety percent of the races today were also created by the power of the gods, including humans, beast races, elves, Dark Realm Race, and Wood Spirit Race..."

"Dark Realm, Wood Spirit... Races? What kind of races are those?" Yun Che blurted out instinctively. He had never heard of these two races; neither in the Azure Cloud Continent nor the Illusory Demon Realm were there any records of them.

Jasmine shot him a glance, seemingly annoyed that he had interrupted her again. But she only let out a soft hmph and, finally, with patience, continued, "The Wood Spirit Race, like elves, is a race extremely close to the power of nature. They can communicate with plants and, to a certain extent, control them. This race has very low profound energy talent, making them humble and weak. Coupled with their unique power and 'constitution,' if they fall into the hands of outsiders, the consequences are particularly tragic... They would be enslaved and used as tools to find or cultivate medicinal ingredients. Even worse, some are directly used to refine spirit medicines or medicine spirits! In my world's auctions, Wood Spirits are often put up for sale. Because this race is becoming increasingly rare and is on the verge of extinction, their selling price keeps rising."

Yun Che: "..."

"The Dark Realm Race, on the other hand, is a race that can freely change forms and feeds on darkness. They have no distinction between male and female and can reproduce autonomously. This race is not small in scale, but can only exist in places shrouded in Yin energy. Their profound energy cultivation limit is extremely low, but they possess the ability to seize the souls of living beings and rapidly increase their own strength by devouring those souls."

"Feeds on... darkness...?" Yun Che's eyes widened. He could understand feeding on plants, morning dew, even west winds or excrement, but feeding on darkness... what in the world was that?

"Darkness" is something that can be eaten?

"Hmph! Ignorance!" Jasmine said disdainfully. "Given your limited experience, you probably only know of humans, beast races, and demon races. In this vast primordial chaos, there are hundreds of races, big and small. What you know is less than a drop in the ocean! Not only are there races that feed on darkness or light, but there are also races that feed on dreams, or even space. It is rumored that in the ancient era, there even existed a race that fed on time..."

"What the—...!" Yun Che's mind almost crashed. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to eat dreams, space, or time...

"Never mind," Jasmine said, crossing her delicate arms over her chest and adopting an arrogant posture that seemed to disdain all living beings. "You haven't even stepped out of a tiny Blue Pole Star. You probably won't be able to understand these things in your lifetime. Talking so much to you is a complete waste of breath."

"And the Age of Gods ultimately came to a complete end," Jasmine continued. "The reason for its end, as I mentioned to you long ago... was because of a sword."

"Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword!" Yun Che murmured softly.