Chapter 973: Seeking Mercy

Just moments ago, with one unforeseen event after another and under the watchful eyes of the Nine Phoenix King, he had no opportunity to examine the item.

Qin Sang held the scale, examining it. He wrapped it in true essence, keeping it away from himself, then attempted to channel his true essence into it.

Suddenly, the scale vibrated faintly, and a phantom image materialized.

Qin Sang's gaze sharpened, and he secretly became wary. To his surprise, it was a palm-sized flood dragon projection, very similar to the one Yuan Zhu had conjured earlier, but miniature, like a wisp of a divided soul.

"You really survived!"

The flood dragon soul's eyes were identical to Yuan Zhu's as it stared at Qin Sang, its voice deep and resonant.

"You're a divided soul of Yuan Zhu?" Qin Sang asked, his thoughts racing. Hearing Yuan Zhu's words, he suddenly realized something and was inwardly shaken. "You knew I was an imposter?"

At this point, there was no need to conceal anything, so Qin Sang asked directly.

Yuan Zhu chuckled coldly. "Did you truly believe you concealed yourself so perfectly that no one would discover your human identity? Those Profound Armor Talismans are bound by everyone's blood essence. Even if no one had seen Saint Son Bi Jiu, exposing you wouldn't have been difficult. If I hadn't helped you conceal yourself, you would have long exposed yourself and been seen through by Gu Heng and Cai Yi. However, if you didn't possess this ability yourself, I wouldn't have been able to help. Since you could disguise yourself to such a convincing extent, I naturally went along with it..."

Hearing this, Qin Sang broke out in a cold sweat.

In fact, he wasn't without doubts. When they first met, Yuan Zhu had been unusually enthusiastic, spilling the entire story without waiting for Qin Sang to ask anything, which allowed Qin Sang to calmly fabricate excuses for himself.

Even though he had noticed these suspicious points, Qin Sang was helpless.

The circumstances were against him. Yuan Zhu had been constantly by his side, and the strength of Gu Heng and Fairy Cai Yi was no less than his own. He had no chance to escape at all and could only remain secretly on guard.

Later, seeing that the demon beasts made no moves and truly treated him as one of their own, Qin Sang began to suspect he might have been overthinking things.

Thinking back now, Yuan Zhu had been planning from the start. Before Gu Heng and the other demons arrived, he had revealed his identity as a transformed great demon to intimidate Qin Sang, making him afraid to act rashly.

He then seized that short time to subtly guide Qin Sang, displaying truly profound cunning.

Qin Sang snorted coldly. "If you had truly dared to make a move, it's still unknown who would have prevailed!"

He hadn't realized that a demon beast at the Demon Core stage could transform. He had mistakenly thought he encountered a great demon in the Transformation stage, which made him hesitant and afraid to act.

If Yuan Zhu had revealed his true nature, Qin Sang would have acted without hesitation. At that time, Gu Heng and the others had not yet arrived, and there might have been a chance to escape.

Qin Sang's thoughts raced. "You spared my life just so I would take this scale? Your true body is dead, and this wisp of remnant soul will dissipate sooner or later. Can you possibly use a remnant soul to restore your true body?"

However, the soul power of this wisp of spirit left by Yuan Zhu was extremely weak; it couldn't even be considered a divided soul. It would be impossible for him to even recover by occupying a refining corpse, as Bai had done.

The flood dragon projection said faintly, "Who said my true body is dead?"

"I had been planning this for a long time; how could I not have made preparations?" the flood dragon projection continued. "It's just that I didn't expect those demon kings to be so vicious. Not only did they treat us as disposable pawns, but they also left malicious contingencies on us to prevent our rebellion. All my previous preparations were rendered useless. Gu Heng and Cai Yi have probably not survived. Instead, it was a whim to leave you, fellow Daoist, that turned out to be crucial."

Qin Sang stared closely at Yuan Zhu, somewhat surprised. "Fellow Daoist truly has extraordinary means, managing to find a way to survive even in such a deadly situation. But since your true body is unharmed, what is the meaning of leaving this divided soul with me?"

After a moment of silence, Yuan Zhu said, "My true body will not die by the Nine Phoenix King's hand, but it will certainly be severely wounded. Engulfed in blood-fire and swept into the storm, I don't know how long I can last. Ironically, I had originally planned that if I couldn't kill the Nine Phoenix King, I could use the hurricane to escape. Now, I've inadvertently put myself into danger. Fortunately, I left a divided soul with you, fellow Daoist, so I can go rescue my true body..."

Qin Sang looked as if he had heard the greatest joke. "You want me to rescue your true body? Surely, fellow Daoist, you understand the principle that those not of our kind are bound to have different intentions? Humans and demons are like fire and water; why would I save you?"

"Admittedly, I did have my schemes," Yuan Zhu replied, "but I also saved you from the calamity of being besieged. And at the last moment, I warned you, allowing you to prepare in advance. Otherwise, you couldn't have escaped so easily. My merits and demerits can be considered balanced. You and I have no deep-seated animosity. As for the difference in bloodlines..."

Yuan Zhu's expression dimmed. "Do you think I still count as a demon? From now on, in this vast world, I will be without anyone to rely on, utterly alone."

Qin Sang fell silent. Thinking of Yuan Zhu's predicament, he couldn't help but recall his own past, fleeing from Yuanzhao Gate.

Both had been schemed against, both had struggled to survive.

However, Yuan Zhu was even more miserable than Qin Sang. Qin Sang could still seek refuge with righteous cultivators, but Yuan Zhu was abandoned by his own kind and couldn't integrate into the human race. Moreover, his body was bound by an unbreakable secret art, preventing any progress in his cultivation.

The path ahead was dark, without a trace of light.

The thought alone brought despair!

Yuan Zhu continued, "You're probably struggling to distinguish directions right now, and don't know how to leave the storm belt, are you? My divided soul secret art can sense the location of my true body within a certain range. And I discovered an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling in the storm belt; I have a way to discern directions by utilizing the cave's layout. My true body will also try its best to flee towards the cave dwelling. If you depart as soon as possible, you should be able to find my true body. As long as you rescue my true body, I will guide you out of the storm belt..."

"An ancient cultivator's cave dwelling?" Qin Sang asked, surprised.

The storm belt of Canglang Sea is very similar to the ancient immortal battlefield in Xiaohan Domain. Cultivators in Xiaohan Domain often discover ancient cultivator dwellings in the ancient immortal battlefield, so Canglang Sea naturally also has similar locations.

However, being entirely vast ocean, the number of extant ancient cultivator dwellings here is extremely small.

Furthermore, because hurricanes rage perpetually, most ancient cultivator dwellings long ago succumbed to the declining power of their restrictions, unable to resist the storms, and were silently destroyed.

The difficulty of finding ancient cultivator dwellings here far exceeds that of the ancient immortal battlefield, and no one has discovered any for a very long time.

Precisely because of this, though the storm belt around Canglang Sea is much vaster than the ancient immortal battlefield, cultivators here haven't found many valuable items, making it seem even more barren than Xiaohan Domain.

Yuan Zhu could actually discover an ancient cultivator dwelling here, and judging by his tone, its restrictions were intact, allowing it to be used as a cave dwelling—a truly profound stroke of fortune.

There should be no more secluded cave dwelling than this one.

Seven Kills Hall.

The change in the immortal restrictions alarmed many cultivators.

Nascent Soul stage experts searched everywhere, but found that all traces had been washed away by the power of the immortal restrictions, leaving almost no clues. It was insufficient to determine the identity or intentions of the other party.

Unable to discern anything, the crowd gradually dispersed, leaving only a few Nascent Soul cultivators still circling the area.