Chapter 7
That night, beneath the cold silver glow of the moon, Fen Huang and Chu Siyen met alone in a quiet chamber of the Chu Mansion. Chu Siyen's expression was cold and demanding as she stepped forward and slammed an old, tattered book onto the low table between them.
"Fen Huang," she said, her voice like ice. "Who is Fen Hao? And who is his mother?"
Fen Huang sat in silence, the weight of her question pressing heavily against him. His eyes darkened, but he remained calm. Chu Siyen's gaze sharpened.
"At the very least… are you still loyal to the Immortal Realm?" she asked, her tone unyielding.
A weary sigh escaped Fen Huang's lips. He lifted his eyes to meet hers, his expression softening.
"Siyen… you know you're like a sister to me," he said quietly. "So… can you keep this secret?"
Chu Siyen didn't flinch, her face as unreadable as the night sky.
"Speak," she said.
Fen Huang took a deep breath and began to share the truth he had hidden for so long. His words were measured, his voice low and heavy with burden.
"The truth is… Fen Hao carries the blood of the Devil Realm. He is a royal… born from a lineage that has long been sealed away."
Chu Siyen's eyes widened in shock, her calm mask cracking as she took a step back.
"Are you out of your mind?" she demanded, her voice sharp. "A devil royal? Do you understand what that means?"
Fen Huang's gaze didn't waver.
"You know I'm not an idiot," he said, his voice steady. "Devils… they are not what we think. Yes, they're powerful—frightening, even—but they are not all bloodthirsty monsters. There's something more. When Fen Hao was born, there were forces trying to take him away—forces from the Devil Realm. That's why I fled with him here."
Chu Siyen let out a long, slow breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly.
"So now… you're going to let that boy go to war against his own people?" she asked quietly.
"I think there's more to this than we understand," Fen Huang said. "It doesn't make sense. If the Devil Realm is truly so prosperous, with its abundant spiritual energy… why invade us at all? Why would they risk so much?"
He leaned back, his eyes distant as he spoke.
"I never got the chance to find real answers," he said softly. "I was constantly on alert, hunted from the moment I left the Devil Realm. If I could search deeper… I believe we might uncover truths that would change everything."
"You're saying… the Devil Realm itself may not be the enemy," Chu Siyen said slowly.
Fen Huang nodded.
"When I escaped, at least ten Immortal King Realm cultivators chased after me," he said with a faint smile. "Did I forget to mention… I broke through to the Immortal King Realm while I was there?"
For a moment, Chu Siyen was silent, stunned by his calm admission. Then she sighed, her expression thoughtful.
"If what you're saying is true… we need to investigate this," she said. "It's strange. With just a single prophecy, the entire Immortal Realm has begun to prepare for war… without truly understanding what they're facing. It feels… wrong."
The room fell silent, the weight of their conversation settling over them like a shroud. Outside, the night wind whispered against the wooden walls, as if the world itself was listening
Fen Huang and Chu Siyen continued to speak in the shadows of the night, their hushed voices barely audible over the faint creaking of the old mansion's wooden beams. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the manor, the Chu twins—Chu Linyun and Chu Nanyun—moved quietly through the halls. Neither of them spoke of their shared purpose as they slipped from their separate chambers, each driven by an unspoken worry for Fen Hao.
They arrived at the same time, their hands pausing at the door to Fen Hao's guest room. Their eyes met, and an awkward silence fell between them. Normally, Nanyun would have cracked a joke to lighten the mood, while Linyun would have met her with cold indifference. But tonight, neither of them found their voices.
A sudden, pained whisper broke the silence—Fen Hao's voice, ragged and raw.
"Zi…yen… please… please… Dragon… save her… you have to… you're a chaos dragon… do something…"
The twins' hearts clenched at the anguish in his voice. Was it jealousy that made their breath catch? Or was it the raw, unfamiliar pain in Fen Hao's murmur? They couldn't say—but they knew they had to help him.
Without a word, they pushed open the door and rushed inside. Fen Hao was writhing in his sleep, sweat beading on his forehead, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His face twisted in torment, tears gathering at the corners of his closed eyes.
"Fen Hao… Fen Hao!" Linyun called, her usual cold tone softened with concern.
"Wake up, please!" Nanyun pleaded, shaking his shoulder.
But he was locked in a nightmare too deep to reach. In that moment, the twins exchanged a glance of understanding. They would do whatever it took to save him.
Drawing a deep breath, they invoked their family's ancient divine-level technique: Soul Step. This forbidden art allowed their spirits to separate from their bodies, slipping like silvery threads into another's soul—even into an unconscious mind.
The twins' souls entered Fen Hao's subconscious, descending into a realm of horror.
They found themselves standing in a landscape of endless blood and bodies, the air thick with the stench of death. Corpses of both the Fen and He families lay twisted and broken, the ground beneath them slick with crimson. At the summit of this mountain of death stood a young man with white hair and blood-red eyes. He was like a demon, his cold fury freezing the air around him.
"I told you not to touch her, didn't I?" he snarled, his voice low and deadly. "I warned you."
He was speaking to a young man with the face of He Liyantian, but older—like a twisted reflection of what he might become. This older Liyantian only laughed, a hollow, chilling sound.
"Heh… heh… heheheee… Good for those bitches who thought they could play with a devil's heart," he sneered. "And you—don't even think about escaping after slaughtering so many. The Iron Sovereign will come for you soon."
The white-haired boy—Fen Hao, yet not Fen Hao—smiled coldly. He raised his hand and pointed, and the very air split apart. From the crack in space, an army of soldiers poured forth, each bearing the same golden devil mark upon their foreheads.
"Kill everything that breathes," he ordered, his voice a thunderous whisper. "I want to bury them all with my heart."
The older Liyantian's face twisted in fear and rage.
"Fen Hao… you dare—!"
But in that moment, a flash of gold and white tore through the nightmare. A girl with the same white hair and blood-red eyes as Fen Hao appeared beside him, her presence calm and resolute. A golden dragon coiled protectively around them both.
"Let's go," she said, her voice gentle as she embraced Fen Hao. "Let's bring them back home."
As she spoke, the ground began to shudder and crack. The air itself seemed to crumble like dry earth, and with a final, echoing roar, the world of Fen Hao's nightmare collapsed.
The Chu twins felt themselves being wrenched away, their souls tearing free from the vision. They gasped, blinking back into the quiet darkness of Fen Hao's room, their bodies trembling. Fen Hao lay still, his face once more calm, though pale.
Without a moment's hesitation, they hurried out of the room and ran through the mansion's silent halls. When they finally reached Chu Siyen, they burst in together, faces pale and breathing hard.
"Mother!" Nanyun gasped.
"We… we saw everything…" Linyun said, her voice unsteady.
"There were so many dead—our people, the Fen family—He Liyantian was there, but older… and Fen Hao…" Nanyun's words tumbled out in a panicked rush. "It wasn't just memories, it felt real… it felt like… like something even you and Father can't see clearly!"
Chu Siyen's eyes widened in shock. She glanced at Fen Huang, who had just arrived behind them, his face already grim.
"Show me," Chu Siyen ordered softly. She and Fen Huang followed the twins back to Fen Hao's room.
Inside, the air was thick with a strange, trembling energy. Fen Hao still lay there, but now his black hair and blue eyes shifted back and forth, fading to white and red, then back to black and blue, over and over again. His brow furrowed in pain, as if his soul itself was at war.
Chu Siyen's heart clenched at the sight, a flicker of dread in her eyes.
After arriving at Fen Hao's room, Chu Siyen turned to Fen Huang, her expression solemn.
"Fen Huang… can I use the Soul Step technique on him? We need to understand what's happening."
Fen Huang nodded, his eyes hardening.
"Bring me in. I want to see for myself."
The Chu twins stepped forward, determination written across their faces.
"We want to go too," they said in unison.
With a deep breath, Chu Siyen raised her hands, her fingers weaving a complex pattern in the air. A faint glow enveloped them as she began the ancient soul technique. Their bodies fell still as their spirits were pulled forward, slipping past the physical realm and into the depths of Fen Hao's mind.
They found themselves drifting in a strange, dreamlike void—a fragment of memory. Chu Siyen's breath caught in her throat as she took in the scene.
"Fen Huang… this boy's soul is on the brink of breaking apart," she murmured. "What has he been through…?"
Before them, an enormous building took shape, towering white and gold. It radiated an ancient, oppressive power. At the grand entrance stood a woman clad in white, her hair like moonlight, her presence both ethereal and chilling.
"Stop troubling him," she said calmly. "Come here."
Without waiting for a response, the woman extended a hand. In a blink, she drew Fen Huang, Chu Siyen, and the twins into a new space—a realm like the endless, star-filled sky, where the cosmos themselves seemed to swirl around them.
Chu Siyen narrowed her eyes, her voice cutting through the silence.
"Who are you? And what are you doing in his soul?"
The woman's lips curved in an amused smile.
"Me? I am his murder—and the reason I'm here? Well… he ate me and locked me in here." She laughed softly, a sound that sent chills down their spines."What a cute little bastard, right?"
The twins stiffened, while Fen Huang's eyes burned with a sharp light.
"Also…" the woman continued, tilting her head playfully. "This is his consciousness… for eating me. Though I can't say it's all bad. Hmmm… oh, you don't get it, do you?"
She leaned closer, her red eyes glinting like blood.
"This is his hundredth time in this time loop. Every time it ends, he goes back—memory intact. Why he doesn't remember this time? Because I sealed those memories myself. His soul is in pieces… you think he can endure more pain?"
She let out a soft sigh, her eyes flickering with distant amusement.
"Ah, I know… I can read your thoughts. Devil enemy? Chaos realm protectors? Stop—it's so noisy. Search for the answers yourselves."
"Why am I telling you all this?" She let out a low chuckle. "Because… you know how he died in his first and second lives? The first time—he was stabbed in the heart by you two girls." She gestured toward the twins. "The second time—he self-destructed, taking this realm down with him."
The woman's voice turned almost singsong.
"The twentieth, the thirtieth… so many times, he killed everyone. Not you two, well… most of the time, he died by your hands. And yet… he still loves you both. What a good boy, hm?"
The air around them seemed to grow colder, the woman's smile sharpening.
"Good work, little birds. But don't tell him any of this—if you do, the memory seal will break, and he will go mad."
The Chu twins' faces went pale, their breaths shallow. Chu Siyen's fists clenched, her mind racing.
"You—" she began, but the woman simply raised a finger, and their vision shattered like glass.
I am Not the one who pushed you into the devil's world, fen Huang; that was my sister.