But Pei Ziyuan was unwilling, unable to explain why.

Even though his dantian was rejoicing, his chest ached dully, and his bird body felt listless.

Temporarily suppressing the magma fire eruption, Pei Ziyuan quickly spat out that long, scallion-like finger.

He looked up displeased, warning: “If you dare take advantage of this lord’s inattention to pour your foul-smelling blood into my mouth again, I’ll kill you.”

Liu Changning’s eyes were tinged with a hint of a smile as she good-naturedly agreed while helping him smooth out his ruffled black feathers.

Her peripheral vision glanced at the sky. The previously gathered dark clouds hadn’t dispersed, but fortunately, they hadn’t increased either.

The trial grounds floated in midair, with the sun obscured by dark clouds, now appearing quite hazy and misty.

“What was wrong with that male cultivator you were staring at earlier? You seemed very angry,” Pei Ziyuan hesitated for a moment before probing.

Liu Changning narrowed her eyes, unwilling to say much, and warned: “Ancestor, if you encounter this person in the future, you must be more cautious. He… is from the demon race.”

Dropping this bombshell, a flash of fierceness passed through Pei Ziyuan’s bean-sized eyes.

Earlier at the Fuyun Inn, when Chen Xin was chatting with her fellow disciples, Pei Ziyuan had heard everything about the recent events in the spirit realm.

During these years of his closed-door cultivation, many things had happened in the spirit realm. But only one thing worried him: the demon race’s re-invasion of the spirit realm, which likely had intricate connections to the destruction of the Ten Thousand Demon Cave in one night.

Others might not know, but Pei Ziyuan understood.

The demon pool in that Ten Thousand Demon Cave nourished demon seeds. Once these demon seeds transformed into demon bodies, even ancient powerful beings in the world couldn’t eliminate them.

He was born as a practitioner of the Emotionless Dao, with the seven emotions and six desires serving as nourishment for that demon pool. This was information his father had obtained at the risk of his life by personally venturing into the demon realm a hundred years ago.

Fortunately, because demon seeds were not easy to nurture, the nourishment required for their transformation was the seven emotions and six desires stripped from cultivators who had mastered the Emotionless Dao.

In the entire spirit realm, it took tens of thousands of years for one person to master the Emotionless Dao, and it required millions of years to cultivate to the point of transcending tribulation.

Therefore, emotional demons couldn’t grow quickly.

This was also the reason why his father had concealed this earth-shattering secret back then. Otherwise, if this information spread throughout the spirit realm, he would become the target of everyone’s criticism.

The worst fate wouldn’t be death to eliminate the demon. Because he had half of the Vermilion Bird’s atavistic phoenix bloodline, he had three chances for rebirth through nirvana.

Each rebirth would inject new nourishment for the emotional demon.

His father wasn’t worried about him being killed by cultivators, but was concerned that after his soul dissipated on the path of life and death, he would be eternally imprisoned, neither dead nor alive, neither born nor dead, and then life would be worse than death.

The sect leaders of the ten major sects in the spirit realm were upright and righteous. But if there truly existed someone who threatened the survival of the ten major sects, even if it required combining the strength of all cultivators in the realm, they would nip the danger in the bud.

And he was the source of that danger.

So after the death of the previous palace master, his father, there was a special order. He could only reveal the matter of the emotional demon’s emergence before entering the cycle of reincarnation in this life.

He had now entered the Tribulation Transcendence stage in just three hundred years. In another three hundred years, or perhaps just a hundred years, he would have to face the tribulation and ascend, dying under the thunder tribulation, following the path of his mother.

To provide nourishment for the demon seed’s growth, a cultivator of the Emotionless Dao needed to continue cultivating until their soul dissipated under the thunder tribulation, only then would the nourishment be complete.

Roughly estimating the time, revealing the truth before he entered reincarnation wouldn’t be too late.

As long as the ten major sects joined forces to destroy that Emotionless Dao scripture, the demon seed would never take form.

Over these years, he hadn’t been idle either. He had been constantly searching for the whereabouts of that Emotionless Dao scripture. A few years ago, he had finally found a clue that it was in the hands of the Blood Demon Sect. Unexpectedly, when he came out of seclusion this time, the Blood Demon Sect had been completely wiped out.

Amidst the clouds of suspicion, a bitter smile flashed across Pei Ziyuan’s eyes. He raised his head, about to continue asking about the demon race news.

At the high platform in front, the elders of the ten major sects had now recovered their senses and sat back down on the purple sandalwood chairs at the head.

Tianjing looked at Liu Changning with a troubled expression, persuading gradually: “Young one, you’ve heard what the Pei Ancestor said just now. Elder Wood of the Li Gate must have misunderstood you, this junior. It’s indeed wronged you. The Ancestor here has a treasure-grade Spirit Gathering Banner, which shall be gifted to you as compensation.”

Upon hearing this, the other elders present inwardly cursed the old fox. Tianjing taking out a treasure to give away at this moment clearly had ulterior motives.

Sure enough, after throwing out a carrot, Elder Tianjing grinned with a benevolent smile and said: “Although the Pei Ancestor instructed Elder Ju of the Yushi Immortal Palace to take you in, if you have your own intentions, you can also choose for yourself. Accepting a master is something you must be willing to do. The ten major sects are closely connected, and whichever sect you join will add new blood to the cultivation world.”

Though these words were tactful, they were already quite shameless, avoiding the main issue and trying to persuade Liu Changning to reconsider and make a new choice.

Using benefits as bait, it could be said to be deeply scheming.

Ju Qu snorted heavily, looking at the chrysanthemum-like face of the old fox Tianjing, and said coldly: “Elder Tianjing really cares about face! Young one, you must think clearly. When Wood Yun slandered you earlier, Elder Tianjing had already believed it to be true!”

Liu Changning stood in front of the jade wall. She stepped forward twice, her face calm and composed, showing no trace of emotional fluctuation. She properly cupped her hands towards the two elders at the head.

Declining Tianjing’s offer, she said: “Thank you for your kindness, Elder. With my current cultivation level, I’m afraid such a treasure would be wasted on me. I don’t deserve it.” She lowered her eyes submissively, her words polite and her refusal without any impropriety.

Being publicly refused by a junior, Tianjing’s face didn’t look good, but he couldn’t lash out.

Only able to swallow this frustration, she snorted heavily: “Have you thought it through? On the path of immortal cultivation, your sect determines your future immortal journey. Once you enter a sect, you’ll understand that magical tools and talismans are also a form of strength.”

Liu Changning cupped her hands and replied coolly: “Thank you for your guidance, senior.”

Her tone showed little fluctuation, calm and restrained, facing the pressure of a Nascent Soul stage ancestor with composure.

This demeanor was completely natural.

Ju Qu stared at this woman, a satisfied smile appearing at the corner of his lips. It seemed their Yushi Immortal Palace had stumbled upon a treasure this time.

Thinking of this, he painfully extracted a jade hairpin from his own storage space and inserted it into Liu Changning’s hair from a distance using object manipulation.

“Since we’re giving a welcoming gift to the junior, of course it should be a presentable immortal tool. This old Daoist recently acquired a jade hairpin, a defensive immortal tool. I’ll give it to you, junior, to make you look more dignified. After all, you’re a disciple personally named by the Palace Master to be accepted into our sect.”

Upon hearing this, everyone was so shocked they almost dropped their jaws. Have immortal tools become so common now that they’re only fit for decoration?

Elder Ju was really splurging, putting Elder Tianjing to shame!

Sure enough, Tianjing was so angered that he was fuming, crushing the white jade teacup at the edge of the table.

Ju Qu, however, no longer paid attention to her. Looking at Liu Changning below, he retracted the smug smile from his lips and said seriously: “Alright, junior, we still need to follow the rules one last time. This old Daoist asks you for the final time, are you willing to join our Yushi Immortal Palace?”

Liu Changning met her gaze, the word “willing” not yet swallowed in her throat.

“Wait!” Colorful clouds rolled in the sky as an elderly Daoist with an immortal bearing arrived riding a spirit beast. The beast had wings and soared through the clouds.

The elder stepped out from the layers of clouds and entered the trial grounds.

Revealing his true appearance, this person was none other than the Nascent Divinity stage ancestor Daoist Qiu, the sect leader of Li Gate.

The ten Nascent Soul stage elders now had identical expressions, secretly muttering in their hearts, wondering what good fortune they had encountered today. On the day of selecting disciples, senior-level powerhouses kept intervening one after another.

Wood Yun, who had previously retreated to the Li Gate crowd, quickly appeared, a flash of cunning passing through his narrow small eyes as he knelt in salute.

Because Daoist Qiu was at the Nascent Divinity cultivation stage, he didn’t have as grand an entrance as the Tribulation Transcendence stage ancestor. The juniors knelt in worship, while the elders of the ten major sects only came forward and cupped their hands in response.

“May we know why Sect Leader Qiu has rushed here in such haste?”