Not long ago, he received news from Shuofang City and had been sitting in contemplation of the matter.
The people of Fengdu Ghost City had not been without their intentions regarding the "Demon Breaking Arrow," and no one knew how many times they had acted, openly or covertly, but due to the perceived separation of Rongcheng, Huacheng, and Cibeicheng, everyone clearly understood that these outsiders from Fengdu supported each other, and naturally, their desires were never fulfilled.
However, something that no one could accomplish had been achieved by someone unknown, and Mu Tianhe was both astonished and somewhat doubtful of being suddenly struck by surprise.
Having lived in constant fear of his demon identity being exposed, his nerves would subconsciously tighten when considering matters, even prioritizing the worst-case scenario. While some might call it caution, Mu Nanxue felt her father was too timid.
Yet, it was precisely because of Mu Tianhe's disposition that over a thousand years, how many demons who had remained in the cultivation world were found by immortal sects and subsequently killed or imprisoned without a good end. He, however, had managed to hide in Fengdu and lived freely until now, even establishing a secret dwelling for demons.wap.kanshuwu.net
He was afraid there might be a problem with this matter, and after clarifying things with the Demon Lord, he directed all his suspicions towards the Four Ghost Kings of Fengdu.
Mu Family's eldest daughter's thoughts were similar to Mu Tianhe's; at this time, no one would consider a third party that had not attracted their attention at all.
Furthermore, she believed that the "Demon Breaking Arrow" appearing at such a time could be both good and bad for her, and she worried that this change might affect her subsequent plans.
No, it had already affected them.
Once the matter of the "Demon Breaking Arrow" spread, Rongcheng and Huacheng would likely become wary of everything in Fengdu. She had a premonition that the marriage alliance between the Mu Estate and Rongcheng would likely not go smoothly.
"Mu Tianhe, investigate this matter thoroughly and report back to me as soon as possible. Put aside the matter of Rongcheng for now!"
Mu Family's eldest daughter stood up, losing even the mood to maintain basic politeness. The long hem of her ink-wash robe brushed the ground as she strode a few steps to the door and instantly vanished in a black mist.
Mu Nanxue also stood up from her chair, but her mind was not particularly quick-witted; she could not fully understand the connection between the "Demon Breaking Arrow" and Mu Junshi's sudden change in expression.
Therefore, appearing as though she hadn't grasped what was happening, she instinctively intended to follow: "Sister, where are you going?"
Mu Junshi was no longer at the door, and naturally, no one responded to her question. Instead, Mu Tianhe approached her from behind, placed a hand on her shoulder, and stopped her: "Axue."
"Father?"
Mu Nanxue turned her head, only to see her father's solemn expression, as if he had mentally prepared himself to discuss something of great importance with her.
Mu Tianhe gazed at her, and as he looked longer, he felt that this daughter, who had been so troublesome and doted on him as a child, had suddenly grown up. In the unsparing intervals of his life, she had already become an adult.
A sense of sad sigh suddenly welled up in his heart. Some things should not be said so directly, yet he couldn't help but say: "Axue, she is not Gu Junshi, she is Mu Junshi. You can follow her, but you cannot trust her completely. Do you understand?"
Mu Nanxue truly did not understand. She pondered for a moment about her father's words, which could be considered "rebellious" for his daughter, and then said seriously, "Father, what are you talking about? She is my sister Gu Junshi. Didn't I tell you? I met her at the newcomer rankings competition, she saved me, and she told me..."
Her voluble voice suddenly choked off. An indescribable emotion or an incomprehensible distress tightened her heart. Her voice involuntarily lowered, and her entire body began to tremble: "Father, Father, I can't remember. I can't remember my sister's appearance?"
Her confused voice concealed a vast, incomprehensible panic. Just moments ago, she was still talking animatedly about Gu Junshi, but in a blink of an eye, she had forgotten who she was talking about.
Mu Tianhe knew, however, that this was because Mu Junshi had placed a very strong suggestion within Mu Nanxue's spiritual consciousness. She intended to substitute the real person, and this suggestion was extremely dangerous and overbearing. He had tried to secretly break it, but he had always been unable to remove it without harming Mu Nanxue's spiritual consciousness. More importantly, he did not dare to defy Mu Junshi.
When Mu Nanxue had brought the "Gu Junshi" she recognized to him years ago, she had repeatedly told him that "Gu Junshi" was her long-lost sister, and also his illegitimate daughter who had been living outside.
Mu Tianhe had been extremely shocked by this matter at first, not believing nor disbelieving.
Because in his youth, he indeed did not know if there was an illegitimate daughter living outside. Later, after hundreds of years of cultivating his character, he had gradually forgotten his past absurdities.
But he soon learned the truth.
This Mu Junshi, who had changed her surname from "Gu" to the Mu family's eldest daughter with Mu Nanxue's guidance, was not his illegitimate daughter. She was the Lord of the Abyss from the demon realm.
Her arrival had both terrified Mu Tianhe and turned his life upside down once again.
She had given them a secret manual for cultivating demonic arts, a high-level manual from the Abyss, and it was precisely because of this that the Mu Estate's strength had improved by a large margin in just a few years. However, it was also because of this manual that they could not resist any of her commands.
She had a blood-red eye on her forehead, which was the mark of the Demon Lord, and she could even possess a dual will, one from herself, and one from her status as the Lord of the Abyss.
She was both a vessel and a medium, and more importantly, a puppet for passing down the will of the Lord of the Abyss.
She told them that she would reopen the seal between the Abyss and the cultivation world, releasing the demons. Her people would not always live in humiliation in the dark and barren abyss purgatory.
And this happened to be the wish Mu Tianhe had been striving for all these years, so he had obeyed Mu Junshi's commands. However, he did not know what to do with his daughter.
Her obsession and preference for "Gu Junshi" often conflicted with the suggestion placed by Mu Junshi. This, in turn, would cause her to feel a sense of dissociation.
The real her was wary and disgusted with this fake "Mu Junshi," while the one influenced by the suggestion had to suppress her true desires to get close to and protect Mu Junshi, and still firmly believed that Mu Junshi was the sister she recognized from the newcomer rankings back then.
If this continued division went on for a long time, he worried that one day her spiritual consciousness would completely descend into chaos, and she would completely lose herself.
"Axue, don't think about it. It's fine if you can't remember. After all, if you see her, you'll remember, won't you?" He was never a particularly loving father, but at this moment, seeing her so flustered and lost, as if silently pleading for him to save her, he truly wanted to beg the Demon Lord to lift the suggestion for Axue.
Even though he knew the Demon Lord had deliberately kept Axue under her control, using her to restrain the former self and the loyalty of the entire Mu Estate.
Mu Nanxue was stunned for a few seconds after hearing this, then murmured, "Yes. As long as I see my sister, I will definitely remember."
—
In the underground chamber of Ghost Suo Slope, Gu Ye Jin's door was half-ajar. He was sitting upright in the room. There was no light in the room, and as he was blind, he did not need a lamp.
Suddenly, in the darkness, green phosphorescent flames ignited in the four corners of the room. Gu Ye Jin heard the movement and realized something had trespassed into his territory, and he immediately stood up.
The temperature in the dim room seemed to have risen significantly, but this did not make Gu Ye Jin feel much warmth. Instead, another intense and heart-stirring sense of tension began to spread and take root in his heart.
He could not see what was happening in his room through normal vision. If he could, he would have noticed a powerful force, nurtured in the darkness, gradually taking shape.
It was like moonlight falling on a verdant meadow and moss, or fireflies, bright or dim, flying high and low, or vines hanging like a waterfall...
This power, which did not belong to the eerie darkness but was by no means holy light, was reviving beside him.
The shadow taking shape in the firelight stood there. Although Gu Ye Jin could not see it, he could sense its presence by feel.
But he could not move. He clearly felt that his body was still in peak condition, without any restraint or curse, yet he could not move.
It was as if... his soul had frozen his body.
The shadow's humming, echoing, and complex voice, indistinguishable as male or female, said faintly, "Ghost Infant, it's time to wake up."
Immediately after, a finger or a cold object gently touched his forehead. Gu Ye Jin's eyes widened to their limit, and his entire being felt as if a mental tsunami had temporarily rendered him unconscious.
As a portion of his sealed memories was completely restored, everything he had previously seen, in his mind, and in his heart, which had been maliciously distorted, veiled, and deluded by others, became clear and vivid in his mind once again. The imprint of another person's suggestion remained, but it could no longer arbitrarily control his consciousness and perception.
Gu Ye Jin gasped for air, his entire back drenched in cold sweat. The absurd actions he had committed over the years, as well as his foolish behavior of recognizing an enemy as his master, were all reawakened.
He gritted his teeth tightly, trying to control his incessantly trembling teeth: "Monarch..."
"Do you remember now?"
He could not look directly at the shadow, only staring fixedly at the ground. His body hunched like a bow, agitated by an invisible, trembling force, both resilient and fragile: "I remember."
"Forcing you to remember everything now is not necessarily a good thing for you, but this stems from my selfishness. I need you to do something immediately, so I have awakened you at this moment."
"No..." he suddenly spoke urgently and hoarsely. He wanted to explain something, or perhaps plead for something, but the words got stuck in his throat, and he swallowed them back.
He knew very well that now was not the time: "Ghost Infant is very grateful that the Monarch has awakened me at this moment, allowing me to no longer be lost in confusion and painful struggles..."
What he said was the truth.
"So, please give me your instructions, Monarch."
"Ghost Infant, you must make Mu Junshi believe that the disappearance of the Demon Breaking Arrow from Cibeicheng was the work of the Ghost King of Shuofang."
Gu Ye Jin did not question or ask for reasons, and directly agreed: "Ghost Infant understands."
The shadow paused, then its tone suddenly became softer and more ethereal than the night wind, until it disappeared.
"She is already here. Remember what I said, do not easily trigger the other will within you, do not let Mu Junshi awaken it, and do not let her become suspicious of you."
The green phosphorescent fires in the four corners of the room were suddenly extinguished with a "poof." The shadow disappeared at will, and at the same time, Mu Junshi indeed arrived.
When she appeared in Gu Ye Jin's room, she was accompanied by a thick, fishy, and cold violent aura, like the eerie, cold demonic energy from a battlefield just traversed after a massacre. Her eyes still held a fierce glint: "Was the matter in Cibeicheng the work of the Shuofang Ghost King?"
Without a wasted word, upon her arrival, she demanded the answer to the question from the Ghost Infant.
The Ghost Infant had long become accustomed to her aura over the years, but at this moment, he still couldn't help but stiffen.
He was no longer Gu Ye Jin, but he remembered the shadow's final words, which were both admonishing and warning, and he tried to maintain his composure: "He used the Blood Gourd to move Cibeicheng into it, and then, by inducing a large amount of death qi, he caused the city's vital energy to be greatly depleted."
Due to the suggestion, he was unable to lie to her, so to gain her trust, he could only use conceptual substitution and vague phrasing.
Mu Junshi, confident in her own abilities, did not suspect the loyalty in Gu Ye Jin's mind, which had not disappeared due to the suggestion. She completely believed his words.
She then asked, "What does he intend to do? Does he plan to deal with the border cities at this time?"
"He does intend to deal with the border cities. Destroying Cibeicheng is only the first step, but before that, he needs to form an alliance with the other three city lords."
"They've already reached this point."
Hearing the hesitation in her tone, the Ghost Infant, as was his habit, tried to alleviate her worries by saying, "If the Monarch is unwilling..."
"No, this is very good. I originally planned to use the marriage alliance with Rongcheng to intensify the conflict between the three cities and Fengdu. The Four Ghost Kings would never tolerate the Mu Estate's eldest daughter marrying into an external immortal sect, but now, it seems everything is proceeding very smoothly, so smoothly that it makes one feel..." She paused, unable to find the right words: "Strange."
"Over the years, the eldest daughter has been trying to deepen her ties with the three cities, and the three cities also intend to manipulate Fengdu's influence more. The original peace was disrupted with the awakening of the blood slaves, and they are no longer content with stability. So, the eldest daughter need not worry, everything is unfolding naturally."
Mu Junshi thought for a moment. She was suspicious and cunning, but the delicious fruit about to be obtained had numbed some of her senses.
She lightly believed Gu Ye Jin.
Her entire attention was focused on Fengdu Ghost City.
"The Shuofang Ghost King has indeed benefited from my efforts. If I hadn't used Rongcheng's leverage to successfully send the blood slaves into Cibeicheng, planting this hidden danger and condensing the ghost qi within the city, how could he have proceeded so smoothly... By the way, how is his Blood Demon Art cultivation progressing now?"