The Identity of Sun Yang Venerable

A violent storm raged, with thunder and lightning.

The sudden appearance of the purple-skirted girl left Ji Xueruo completely bewildered. How could someone approach her so silently in front of the Serpent Ancestor?

Ji Xueruo found it difficult to describe the feeling this girl gave off. She was very beautiful, with a head of purple hair that shimmered in the firelight, but the roots of her hair were still silky black, clearly dyed purple later.

Good and evil intertwine on the left and right sides of her face, and this ambiguous temperament gives her a unique beauty.

Ji Xueruo had no time to appreciate the beauty of others; she was being strangled so badly that she could barely speak.

The brief moment of surprise could not stop the power surging within her; she felt a burning pain all over her body, as if all the blood in her body had begun to boil.

The purple-skirted girl leaned forward and then placed her hands on Ji Xueruo's snake head.

"If you accept the Sin Blood, then you are a sinner!"

The purple-skirted girl lost her composure and was clearly getting anxious.

Ji Xueruo didn't care about anything else. Behind the girl You Su was once again knocked away by the giant snake's head.

"I know you want to save him! Me too! But doing so will only lead to your own destruction!"

A Magic Array appeared in the palm of the purple-skirted girl, and a cool sensation flowed into Ji Xueruo's snake head.

What calmed Ji Xueruo down wasn't the insignificant calming spell, but the girl's words, "I want to too."

Ji Xueruo stared intently at the tiny figure before her. The purple-skirted girl read the meaning in her eyes and pursed her lips, saying:

"You don't need to know who I am, you just need to know that I'm here to help you."

The girl's voice was like a clear spring, telling her story in a gentle and persuasive way.

Ji Xueruo didn't believe that. Rather than helping her, she was there to help You Su.

The purple-skirted girl seemed to understand Ji Xueruo's meaning, and she deflated, no longer trying to hide anything.

"Of course, it's also to help him!"

The girl abruptly withdrew her hand, giving Ji Xueruo no time to react, and continued:

"The Qi Snake is here to force out the Dragon Blood within you! It's been pinned here because of that thing! It's been lying dormant for thousands of years to reclaim it! The power you're feeling now comes at a price!"

Ji Xueruo was stunned for a moment. After hearing the nameless girl's reminder, her agitation did indeed subside for a moment, but what followed was an even more intense struggle.

"You're insane!" The purple-skirted girl looked at her in disbelief. "Do you think sacrificing yourself like this is heroic? You're being foolish!"

Ji Xueruo immediately shifted her gaze from the purple-skirted girl, her pale snake eyes staring directly at the ancient giant snake that was raising its head and flicking its tongue high above.

Its defiant appearance seemed to say, "You want to devour me? Then come on!"

The purple-skirted girl seemed lost in thought, staring blankly at the white snake. Then, her gloomy expression vanished, and she burst into laughter.

"One or two... it seems he only likes lunatics!"

She also raised her head, and her voice suddenly became expansive:

"I'm not actually here to help you, I'm here to kill you! My master's mission is for me to stop the Qi Snake from reviving. If I kill you now, your Dragon Blood will rot completely into your bones, Qi Snake will never get what she dreams of! But I suddenly changed my mind. Since I have to complete the mission anyway, I have a more brilliant plan--"

Ji Xueruo lowered her snake-like eyes; she had heard the girl's words.

"Eat her before she eats you!!"

Suddenly, a layer of dazzling golden light covered Ji Xueruo's pale snake eyes, and she felt something sprouting from her forehead like a bamboo shoot breaking through the soil.

The torrential rain seemed never to stop, and the mournful cry of a giant whale echoed through the heavens and earth, like an ancient ballad, providing a magnificent melody for this ultimate battle that would shake the world.

The Qi Snake noticed the transformation of its prey in its cage, but its black agate-like eyes showed no fear, only the joy of impending harvest.

Ji Xueruo's serpentine body began to swell violently, actually managing to break free from the Qi Snake's bindings, while the purple-skirted girl had somehow already leaped up to a tall tree where no one had noticed her.

In the fleeting flash of firelight, beside her stood a man with a distorted face, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Master."

The young woman bowed respectfully, but couldn't help feeling uneasy about her presumptuous decision.

Allowing Ji Xueruo to devour the Qi Snake was nothing short of a high-stakes gamble, and almost certainly a losing one.

She sighed inwardly once again, realizing that her master's face was terrifying beyond words; even the most unruly child would stop crying the moment they saw it.

The disfigured man nodded slowly. "Yes, you did a good job."

Zi Yiyi was clearly somewhat taken aback. She had always appeared clever and quick-witted in front of this master she had taken in six months ago, but now she still showed a hint of doubt:

"Does Master want her to live?"

"I never wanted her to die."

The disfigured man's voice was a gentle one, completely at odds with his appearance, always making people feel as if they were bathed in a spring breeze, as if the surrounding outbreak of war had nothing to do with him.

"But if she is devoured by the Qi Snake, then the Five Continents will face a huge problem."

Zi Yiyi couldn't understand why her master was so calm and collected, as if he was certain that the weak Ji Xueruo would be able to turn against such a powerful ancient serpent god.

"No, if she dares, she definitely can do it," the disfigured man replied confidently.

Zi Yiyi raised her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because there are some people in this world who can do whatever they want," the disfigured man replied softly.

"Is this what they call the chosen one?" Zi Yiyi didn't understand, but she envied such people.

To everyone's surprise, the disfigured man shook his head with a bitter smile, "No, no, it's just because these people have some powerful backing..."

"Backstage?"

Zi Yiyi was even more puzzled upon hearing this. After becoming a disciple of her master, she had gained a deeper understanding of the entire Five Continents.

The snake clan is now in decline, and this young clan leader lost her mother at a young age. Her enemy is her own father. Such a pitiful person can only rely on herself, and she is able to lead the snake clan to prosperity through her own abilities.

Where does someone like that get any powerful backing?

"Yes, her backing is extraordinary..." The disfigured man looked at the sky with a sense of loss.

In the sky?!

Zi Yiyi was even more shocked. Her first reaction was that it referred to Ji Xueruo's deceased mother, but the clever girl immediately remembered the story her master had told her before the mission, which was about the origin of the snake clan.

Zi Yiyi didn't know if people really fly to heaven after they die, but she knew there were indeed people in heaven, and five of them!

To punish the Qi Snake of the outer realms, the Star Zhao Immortal Ancestor stripped it of its bloodline obtained through unjust means and then used it to give birth to the snake race.

Could the Divine Ability- powerful Immortal Ancestor have guessed that the Qi Snake was not actually dead, and thus left behind a contingency plan?

And this backup plan is the serpent clan, who inherited the Sin Blood!

"But if she devours the Qi Snake... wouldn't that just be another Qi Snake?"

Zi Yiyi could not hide her shock. Faced with this seemingly omniscient master, she still chose to ask the question that had been bothering her.

"Shh..."

The disfigured man raised his index finger in a shushing gesture, then turned his gaze away and whispered a reminder:

"Heaven is watching from above."

The original intention of this statement was to advise people to constantly reflect on themselves, but Zi Yiyi understood that her master meant it literally. Those who presumptuously discuss the immortal ancestors will be punished by heaven; this is a universally accepted principle among all cultivators.

The disfigured man looked at Zi Yiyi with doting eyes. It was clear that he liked this new disciple very much, and he saw his own reflection in Zi Yiyi.

"From now on, follow your senior brother and be a proper Evil Cultivator. You won't need me for your future cultivation."

Who would call themselves an Evil Cultivator? What's the difference between that and advising someone to be a good bad person...?

Zi Yiyi's inner grumbling vanished in an instant, quickly replaced by her attention drawn to the disfigured man's second half of his statement.

This statement doesn't sound like it's about expelling accomplished disciples from the school; rather, it sounds like an aging master bidding farewell to his students.

For the past six months since she became a disciple, she has been in awe, and she admires her master, who is almost omniscient and omnipotent, to the point of complete reverence, no less than when she first met the Hua Jing, First Seat.

Strictly speaking, this was the first sect that Zi Yiyi formally became an apprentice to, even though it was an evil sect. Upon hearing the disfigured man's farewell words, she felt a pang of reluctance deep down towards the Evil Cultivator she so vehemently hated.

"Master... I don't have any senior brothers, only senior sisters. My senior brother died under the sword of Lotus Sword Venerable a year ago," Zi Yiyi replied.

Upon hearing this, the disfigured man bowed and laughed apologetically, saying:

"I've taken on so many disciples in my life that I've forgotten who's who. Just follow your senior sister and learn well; she's a good girl too."

Zi Yiyi didn't intend to ask any further questions. She wasn't even sure if her master really remembered who her senior sister was. It wasn't the first or second time that she had mistakenly called her senior sister Cai Ling's name as Shuhua. Her senior sister was used to it, but she still found it somewhat unbelievable.

A person who can remember so many things can't even remember the names of his own disciples.

The reason given by her master was also absurd. "I have taken in too many disciples in this life," but only she and her senior sister were left in the sect.

"Does Master remember my name?" Zi Yiyi asked for the first time ever, as this man had never called her by name before.

"Zi Yiyi," the disfigured man replied softly, "I am your last disciple in this life, of course I will remember your name."

These words filled Zi Yiyi with a secret joy that felt like she had been flattered, but she also sensed a deeper sadness within them.

"Is Master deliberately forgetting his disciples' names?"

After spending half a year together, Zi Yiyi knew that the disfigured man almost never talked to his disciples about anything outside of missions. But today, her master was different, like a final act of tenderness before parting, which gave her the courage to ask more questions.

"I've sent so many disciples away. If I remembered every single one of them, the sorrow would be enough to crush my will. How could I possibly live to see this day of atonement?" The disfigured man closed his eyes; his eyes were the only intact thing on his face.

Zi Yiyi seemed to be deep in thought. Her master had a well-proportioned figure and a clear voice. Apart from his face, he didn't look like an old man at all. But she knew that her master must have lived for a very, very long time, otherwise how could he know so many secrets?

It seems that Master's reasoning was not unfounded; he really did take in many, many disciples, and perhaps he didn't even use the identity of Evil Cultivator.

"Is Master leaving?" Zi Yiyi asked softly.

"Yes... this world no longer needs me." The disfigured man sighed slowly. "I am just a sinner trying to atone for my unforgivable sins. Now I must face my own judgment."

Zi Yiyi was somewhat dazed. She didn't know the sins her master carried, nor what kind of judgment he would face, but she knew that after tonight, the world would truly undergo a dramatic change.

The disfigured man looked at the two giant snakes, one black and one white, locked in combat, and smiled before vanishing like smoke in the wind.

Zi Yiyi didn't try to stop her, because she was so surprised that she completely forgot to try.

She could see clearly the man's eyes before he left; they were eyes that burned like the sun.

She had only ever seen such sacred eyes in one person: the lofty and unapproachable True Immortal Zhengyang.

The confusion surrounding her identity filled her with immense doubt. She had thought she was an Evil Cultivator risking everything to infiltrate under the nose of a True Immortal and secretly carry out her schemes, but now she discovered that the True Immortal Zhengyang, whom she had been constantly on guard against, was the one who had given her the mission?

Her master's disfigured face flashed into her mind once more, the scalded flesh twisted together like a flowing vortex.

Zi Yiyi suddenly had a strong intuition that this face could change into anything, and that the True Immortal Zhengyang was not his true identity.

"Who... are you...?"

In the center of the ruins, two giant snakes wrestled together like fighting dragons, while a raging storm swept across the land.

The Evil Tide surging from the north was no longer human, but true evil spirits. Each of them was like a monster beyond the limits of imagination, carrying the stench of the seabed.

The Evil Puppet that had previously been chasing and harassing the survivors now became their protectors, and a fierce battle ensued with these Evil Qi spirits.

Fu Heng acted decisively, immediately leading all the survivors to leave. This was not a place they could stay any longer; retreating south was their only way to survive.

This is true hell.

You Su was a monster with pitch-black eyes, Ji Xueruo a giant snake with a pure white body. They never spoke a word to each other, yet they seemed to have a tacit understanding, as if they were telepathically connected.

One is fighting against the Evil Tide rolling in from the north, while the other is battling its ancestors from a thousand years ago.

They had absolute trust in each other, completely entrusting their backs to one another.

You Su had gone mad with killing; cutting into these Flesh and Blood Type evil spirits brought him a real sense of pleasure.

Ji Xueruo responded to the roar of the bloodline within her; no one is ever destined to be anyone's prey.

This struggle between them seemed destined to last until the world turned upside down, with only the two monsters keeping each other company in this vast world.