Spider Demon, Willow Town, Xie Chong

"Senior, you truly have remarkable courage," Lin Yu praised upon hearing the other's words. "To be able to devise such a method that would have meant certain death, Senior, you truly deserve the title of a person of great righteousness!"

"It's just my duty. I can't just watch this Demon Lord wreak havoc on the mortal realm," Xuan Yunzi sighed. "But my cultivation is still not deep enough. Even if I risked half my life and sacrificed my supernatural powers, I could only block its four backup plans for Resurrection."

"In order to allow my cultivation to recover quickly and to prevent any accidents, I have no choice but to make a 'Daoist Oath' that from now on, all my cultivation can only be used to fight Yaomo."

Xuan Yunzi spoke, Lin Yu nodded.

Shen Bingmiao's information mentions "Daoist Oath." Among masters of Fang Techniques and Daoist Sect, it is possible to gain certain improvements by making "Daoist Oath"—but one cannot create something out of nothing or exceed one's own ability limit, and the cost is often extremely high.

"No wonder you couldn't deal with those bandits, senior."

Lin Yu said softly.

Xuan Yunzi sighed and said, "Following the Righteous Path is fraught with difficulties and dangers... Although I also wish to find a perfect method, there are always trade-offs to be made."

After their conversation, the remaining Player no longer had any doubts about Xuan Yunzi.

Although the old Daoist priest was indeed suspicious, now that they were in the Daoist temple, all their doubts had been cleared up.

This old Daoist priest was indeed a good person from a respectable family, who cared deeply for the common people.

So the Snowy Owl bowed and stepped forward.

"I apologize for my earlier offense, but I have another question."

"What is the connection between this Thousand-Silk Thousand-Eyed Demon Lord and Xie Chong and Willow Town?"

"I only know that the three are closely connected, but I don't know the specifics of that connection."

Lin Yu was very pleased to hear the Snowy Owl ask this question.

He couldn't ask these questions directly, given Lin Yu's current public image.

He too was a patriot who came for Xie Chong's remains and the spider Yaomo. Although he didn't know the situation, if he knew almost nothing about it, then it would be difficult to gain Xuan Yunzi's trust.

Both sides were suspicious and testing each other – the Player initially distrusted Xuan Yunzi, but Xuan Yunzi, in turn, would definitely hold back some things from the Player.

However, he did need to find out the Truth from Xuan Yunzi —the fact that Snowy Owl asked Lin Yu so directly about what he wanted to know saved Lin Yu a lot of trouble.

As expected, Xuan Yunzi pondered for a moment upon hearing the Snowy Owl's question.

"It's indeed difficult for ordinary people to deduce the connection between these events..."

"The connection between Willow Town and the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord is because the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord was initially discovered by my Taiqing Sect's founder because he was hiding in Willow Town."

"The Willow Town of that time and the Willow Town of today are not the same Willow Town. Hundreds of years ago, Willow Town was the number one town in the Fire Hell. Even in the entire Two Mountains and Six Hells, it was one of the most prosperous and wealthy towns."

Lin Yu nodded. This was evident from the architecture of Willow Town; it was far more luxurious than Chen Family Fortress.

Xuan Yunzi continued, "When the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord was born, our patriarch was invited to go and subdue him. At that time, all the martial arts and Daoist Sect masters, and even many unorthodox Daoist Mage, participated in the campaign."

"They have been fighting the Thousand-Eyed Thousand- Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord for a long time, but each time they paid a heavy price to kill him, they discovered that he was nothing more than a Doppelganger puppet!"

"The Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord will be reborn soon."

"Although the heroes of that time had deduced the 'Karma Threads' supernatural power of the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord, they had not yet found a way to counter it..."

"Until my ancestor led the Taiqing Sect disciples to track down the true form of the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord, who was hiding in Willow Town!"

"Originally, he planned to retreat with the Taiqing Sect members and call on his Righteous Path friends to come and help, but he didn't expect that the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord would see through his intentions and immediately trap the patriarch and the Taiqing Sect members in Willow Town!"

"A protracted and fierce battle ensued between the two sides in Willow Town, which ultimately ended with the patriarch emerging victorious."

"However... the price was that the entire Willow Town sank underground, and every single person in the town perished!"

"This is the lifelong regret of my Taiqing Sect founder. Although the townspeople were already deeply rooted in the Karma Threads when they were discovered, and had been turned into puppets the moment the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord made his move," Xuan Yunzi sighed, "The founder still believed... if the preparations had been more thorough, and the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord had been suppressed before he noticed, perhaps the lives of the townspeople could have been saved!"

Hearing this, Gao Shan was slightly moved.

The beliefs of the Taiqing Sect are indeed inherited from the same lineage.

Taiqing Patriarch from hundreds of years ago and Xuan Yunzi today felt guilty for not being strong enough or doing enough when faced with the situation of not being able to save more people.

Seeing this, Gao Shan seemed to think of many friends in real life, and comforted Xuan Yunzi: "As the Daoist just said, there are very few perfect solutions in the world."

As he spoke, Xuan Yunzi gave a wry smile.

"Indeed... and this is the origin of the connection between the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord and Willow Town."

"Although the Patriarch seemed to have left a very detailed record to prevent disciples from unknowingly falling into the trap of 'Karma Threads' in the future, based on the Patriarch's few words of record and instructions and my observations over the years, I can also know that... the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord has probably already merged himself with the past of 'Willow Town'!"

"This is also why it cannot be killed—it has been operating silently for countless generations, manipulating the souls of everyone in Willow Town, rewriting their past, and binding its own life to the millions of people in Willow Town... At that time, Willow Town was the largest town, and the Karma entanglements of those people almost spread throughout the Two Mountains and Six Hells."

"Therefore, the only way to kill it is to completely eradicate the concept of 'Willow Town' —this was also the final instruction given by the Patriarch. He must have arranged for people to eliminate all of Willow Town's existence in the world."

"And that... is why this spider has been becoming increasingly agitated lately, because Willow Town is truly on the verge of extinction," Xuan Yunzi said, a look of anticipation appearing on his face. "If this continues, in another hundred years... no, perhaps several decades, it will completely lose all Resurrection Means!"

"Especially since a century ago, some predecessors changed the name of 'Liu Town' to 'Willow Town,' which must have been done by someone who knew the secret back then."

At this point, Xuan Yunzi paused, then added, "However, the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord is no ordinary Yaomo; naturally, he won't just sit and wait to die."

"This brings us back to Xie Chong, the man who stirred up trouble in the martial arts world!"