Her gaze was complicated.
There was the joy of being reborn and the excitement of her greatly increased strength, but more than anything, there was humiliation and resentment.
She looked at Chen Ye, her red lips parting slightly, her voice cool as jade striking stone.
"Master."
Chen Ye looked at her and nodded.
"How do you feel?"
"Thanks to you, Master, not only have I recovered my source, I've also condensed the Fire Spirit Sword Body. I'm more than ten times stronger than before." Ling Feiyan's tone held not the slightest hint of emotion, as if she were stating a fact that had nothing to do with her.
Chen Ye smiled.
He knew the woman still wasn't convinced.
But it didn't matter. The Soul Contract's brand would teach her, little by little, what it meant to submit.
His gaze passed over Ling Feiyan and fell on the empty center of the lake.
The Earth Heart Fire Lotus was gone.
But something had been left behind where the lotus had once been.
It was a palm-sized, broken fragment of bone, pitch-black from end to end and covered in golden markings finer than a strand of hair. It radiated an ancient, overbearing aura.
Chen Ye beckoned.
The bone fragment transformed into a streak of light and flew into his hand.
It felt cold to the touch, completely out of place in its surroundings.
The moment his fingers touched the golden markings, an immense torrent of information surged into his mind!
The Golden Crow Burning Heaven Scripture!
The Demon Emperor's foundational inheritance!
And... a fragmentary star map, along with a message left behind by the Demon Emperor.
"Those who come after me, I am the Golden Crow Demon Emperor, Lu Ya."
"This world is but one corner of the myriad blood-seal schemes I