Chapter 191: Confess and Be Lenient

"No, I mean my name is Bu Yaolian. 'Bu' as in cloth, and 'Yaolian' as in shameless." The Immortal, thoroughly subdued, answered every question politely.

The Immortal Fairy frowned, "Why such a strange name?" *Lu Yang thought to himself, 'What right do you have to call someone else's name strange?'*

The Immortal sighed, "I didn't want to be called that either. Explaining this would be a long story."

"Tell me slowly," the Immortal Fairy said. She conjured a small stool, sat on it, and propped her head in her hand, ready to hear the Immortal's tale.

Yun Zhi and Lu Yang also listened quietly from the side.

The Immortal began truthfully, "I don't know where my consciousness came from, nor how I was born. A long, long time ago, I first developed a faint awareness. It was very weak, allowing me only a blurry perception of myself, like looking at flowers through a fog, not seeing them clearly."

"I felt power from unknown sources continuously gathering within me, making me gradually stronger. However, my consciousness remained hazy and indistinct; I couldn't discern external matters."

"I could also sense many memories filling my consciousness, but at that time, I had no capacity for thought. I simply absorbed these vast memories without being able to organize or process them."

"My consciousness gradually grew stronger. Faint, indistinct voices began to sound around my awareness, calling out 'Immortal.' The term 'Immortal' existed in my memories, but I still couldn't process them, so I didn't know what an 'Immortal' was."

"I don't know how long passed – perhaps hundreds of years, perhaps thousands. Then, suddenly, my consciousness became clear, like someone pulled from drowning, regaining full awareness of the outside world."

"And the first words I heard after my consciousness cleared were: 'Great Immortal Bu Yaolian, please save your devout followers, save this world!'"

"'Bu Yaolian' became my name. I originally had no name; it was the Cult Master who called me 'Bu Yaolian,' and that's how I acquired it."

"Once I had a name, I could finally process the vast memories from before and understand what they signified."

"In my memories, I saw someone accidentally discover a secret realm and wander into it. There, they learned about an ancient immortal who protected humanity, named the Immortal. This Immortal possessed an Immortal Dao Fruit, capable of resurrection. After leaving the secret realm, that person founded the Immortal Cult, attempting to revive the Immortal."

"The Immortal Cult grew powerful, and more and more believers joined. They pleased the Immortal through slaughter, invoking the Immortal's true name to revive them."

"It was then that I understood: I was the Immortal being revived by the Immortal Cult. As long as someone truly believed in me, prayed to me, and offered sacrifices, I would gain their memories."

"The Cult Master prayed to me, and I manifested through a statue, responding to his expectations."

"I possessed the Cult Master's memories; everything he knew, I knew. I saw that he was severely injured and needed a century of quiet recovery. Considering he was my most devout and powerful follower, I intervened to heal him."

"As I gained my name, I could feel a mass of golden light within my grasp. Combining this with my memories, I deduced that this was the Immortal Dao Fruit."

"I used part of the Immortal Dao Fruit's power to heal the Cult Master."

"But I didn't know if I was truly the Immortal. My earliest memories came from the first believer, memories from over ten thousand years ago. I had no recollection whatsoever of ancient times."

"For instance, when the Cult Master asked me who had refined all the stars in the sky, I couldn't answer. But I couldn't admit my ignorance either, so I told him that such matters were on a much higher level, beyond his comprehension."

"I wasn't sure how the believers would react if they knew my true state, so I could only pretend to have awakened from a long ancient slumber."

"Remaining in a soul state indefinitely was clearly unsustainable. So, I told the Cult Master that I needed to possess a body, return to my peak power, and save the world."

"The Cult Master believed me. He gathered all cultivators at the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment stages and organized a competition, from which I would select a suitable host for possession."

"And then you chose me?" Lu Yang asked.

The Immortal nodded helplessly. "Indeed. Of all the people I could have chosen, I had to have poor judgment and pick you, only to be thoroughly beaten."

"If I had chosen anyone else, my possession would have succeeded."

The Immortal's revelations explained several questions: why he didn't know ancient techniques, why he needed to possess a body, and why his name was Bu Yaolian.

However, some questions remained that even he couldn't explain.

For instance, who exactly was he? Where did he come from? And how did the Immortal Dao Fruit appear?

Lu Yang looked at Senior Sister and the Immortal Fairy with expectant eyes. This was clearly a situation that required experienced elders to step in.

The Immortal Fairy's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. She seemed to be pondering something, appearing less than entirely reliable.

Senior Sister had been quietly listening to the Immortal's account from beginning to end, discerning whether his experiences were genuine or fabricated.

Senior Sister believed the general account was likely true.

Noticing Lu Yang's gaze, she knew her junior brother had many more questions and hoped for answers from her. She spoke, "Venerable Daoyan, the Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Strategy Sect, proposed a hypothesis: that there was originally no Immortal in this world, no Immortal Dao Fruit. The Immortal Cult was, in essence, *creating* an Immortal."

Lu Yang nodded secretly, thinking, *The old veteran is indeed reliable.*

Upon hearing Yun Zhi's words, the Immortal abruptly looked up. *'Where did this Venerable Daoyan spring from?'* he thought. *'How dare he question the existence of my Dao Fruit?!'*

*Does he know how much effort I put into forming this Dao Fruit?! The other four, like Ying Tianxian, were all incredibly envious!*

Lu Yang suggested the Immortal Fairy listen to Senior Sister first, and settle accounts with Venerable Daoyan later.

Yun Zhi continued, "Where souls come from and where they go is a problem that the cultivation world has been unable to explain to this day. Venerable Daoyan believed that human thought is a kind of power, and if there are enough human thoughts, and they are powerful enough, a soul can potentially manifest."

"Of course, this is merely a hypothesis and cannot explain how the first soul was born. However, your situation aligns with this hypothesis."

"The Immortal Cult has existed for a total of fourteen thousand years since its establishment. Over these fourteen millennia, at least millions of cult members have been praying to a non-existent Immortal. Such a long period, with massive amounts of collective thought, could absolutely create a soul – which is you, the Immortal."

"However, your emergence might also require an additional condition: killing."

"Have you considered where the power you just used, those resentful demonic energies, came from?"

"Humans are the pinnacle of all beings, the darlings of heaven and earth, born with 'spirituality.' Demonic cultivators strip this 'spirituality' from people through slaughter, transforming it into their own power."

"Believers committed boundless acts of slaughter to please you, creating immense negative karma. The power gained from this slaughter became your power – the power of a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator."