[Lan Yue: Wait, the archvillain? Why did I suddenly remember that there really was an archvillain like that in the original novel? I think his mother died horribly too, and he was abused and had his blood drained as a child.
I think I remember now. That archvillain was called Fang Shuo! Fang Shuo, Yuan Shuo? So that was it! That missing disciple was Yuan Xia's real child. He escaped at some point afterward and stumbled into the Southern Spirit Sect.
Yuan Bao noticed something was wrong and tried every possible means to go after Yuan Shuo. Eventually, he succeeded!
On a moonless, windswept midnight, the Artifact Refining Hall disciples went mining together, and then...]
Lan Yue stopped right there, leaving both the people in the Four Arts Hall and the elders up in the sky beside themselves with impatience.
Go on! Why did you suddenly stop?
The Spirit Artifact Hall Master, Yuan Su, in particular, felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
That missing disciple, Yuan Shuo, was his real nephew?
So just now, not only had he wanted to shield that human ghost, he had even wished Yuan Shuo would simply die for good?
The blow made Yuan Su cough up another mouthful of blood.
This time, however, everyone else had already grown used to it. Some elders were even calmly sipping spirit tea.
Fang Ding finally couldn't bear to watch and stuffed a life-saving pill into his mouth.
"You haven't even found your real nephew yet. Don't go dying of anger first. Who would avenge your nephew then? Who would avenge your sister?"
Those words snapped Yuan Su fully awake. The Spirit Artifact Hall Master, who had been pale and swaying as though a gust of wind could blow him away, suddenly straightened.
That was right. He still had to avenge his sister and find out where Yuan Shuo was.
Perhaps that fellow had merely hidden Yuan Shuo away. After all, if Yuan Bao wanted to maintain the bloodline within him, he would need to keep draining blood.
Yuan Shuo, Yuan Shuo... why hadn't he thought of it before?
Yuan Su still remembered his first meeting with his nephew. The first time the boy came to the Spirit Artifact Hall, he had been deeply drawn to the spirit artifacts there.
But having been beaten down and abused from childhood, he had acted terribly timid even around things he liked. His whole being had seemed lifeless.
At first glance, Yuan Su hadn't really liked the child, feeling that he exuded an air of death.
Now, recalling those scenes, Yuan Su felt deeply ashamed whenever he thought of the dislike he had shown back then.
[Lan Yue: Then Yuan Shuo was called aside and lured into layer upon layer of formations that had been set up in advance. Yuan Bao tied him up, tortured him, and then drained most of the blood from his body...]
Reading this, even Lan Yue could barely bear it, but she kept reading to find out what happened afterward.
Above her, the Spirit Artifact Hall Master clenched his fists so tightly that even his breathing seemed to stop. Everyone else averted their eyes.
"They need to keep draining his blood, so they surely wouldn't take Yuan Shuo's life. Once you find him and bring him back, you must make it up to him properly," Fang Ding said with a sigh.
None of them wanted the child of Yuan Xia, that lively, adorable young woman, to suffer such a fate.
Fate made fools of people!
"Xiaxia went into that newly appeared ruin at that critical moment because she was looking for spirit herbs to heal my injuries."
"If not for me, she never would have encountered any of this, and her child would have been safe and sound."
Tears were already streaming down Yuan Su's face.
He had failed his sister! And because of his own stupidity, he had never even known who his real nephew was.
Thank goodness Lan Yue had alerted him! Otherwise, what good would it do to learn the truth later?
In truth, it was already terribly late.
"He only lost some blood. As long as I have spirit herbs, I can save him and put him back on the path of cultivation." Clenching his fists, Yuan Su resolved to do everything he could to make it up to the child and let him feel warmth again.
[Lan Yue: Holy shit! How could those people be such sick freaks? Draining all that blood and torturing him wasn't enough-they even destroyed all of Yuan Shuo's meridians!]
Above the Four Arts Hall, Yun Chong couldn't listen any longer. He stood, about to knock Yuan Su unconscious as the man went wild again.
Suddenly, another voice followed close on the heels of the last, drawing everyone's full attention.
[System: Those people are indeed utterly vile, but Yuan Shuo isn't beyond saving.]
[Lan Yue: Where is Yuan Shuo now? How can we save him?]
After asking, Lan Yue abruptly slapped her forehead. It wouldn't help even if she knew-the Spirit Artifact Hall Master, or even the Sect Master, had to know.
Perhaps she could use Divination and pretend she had divined the scene?
Up in the sky, the furious Yuan Su regained much of his composure.
He could be saved! His little nephew could still be saved!
The Spirit Artifact Hall Master hurriedly swallowed the blood in his mouth and stared down tensely.
The others were also deeply curious about this Immortal Artifact that spoke up from time to time. Whether they had been munching on spirit fruit or drinking tea, they all stopped what they were doing.
[System: You've already read the original novel. How did you forget that Yuan Shuo has an extremely rare ghost-spirit physique? This physique usually appears in ghost cultivators. It's very rare for a human to possess it.] [System: With a physique like this, anyone who truly wants to achieve something must first be broken, then rebuilt.]
[Lan Yue: Broken, then rebuilt? How does that work? Is it a kind of sudden enlightenment?]
[System: You can think of it as sudden enlightenment, but what he needs isn't merely a flash of insight. He needs complete awakening-to be cast into the jaws of death and emerge alive. This is a remarkably opportune moment. If he can endure it, he can abandon his physical body completely and cultivate with his ghost-spirit physique.]
[Lan Yue: What if he can't reach that complete awakening?]
[System: Then he can only fall to demonic cultivation and go to the Demon Realm.]
[Lan Yue: So that's why! No wonder when I remembered Fang Shuo, I thought of the archvillain in the Demon Realm. He had already fallen to demonic cultivation in the original novel.]
[Lan Yue: Where is he now? Hurry up and tell me! Life in the Cultivation World is hard enough already. We can't have another archvillain! Even lazing around would be exhausting then!]
The system silently presented her with a map, even including an image.
[System: The most dangerous place is the safest place. He's in the Spirit Artifact Hall right now.]
[Lan Yue: I'll study Divination right away and use it to show this image!]
[System: Don't waste time. How long would it take you to conjure an image with Divination? Just have Silver Snow charge in. This Ancient Sword can break through any restriction. No formation can stop it.]
[Lan Yue: Wouldn't that expose me? Then both our little lives would be in danger!]
[System: That's something Silver Snow did, not you. What does it have to do with you?]
So that was an option too!
In that instant, Lan Yue understood.
"Silver Snow, we're counting on you this time. Just charge in when you get there. Throw a tantrum, roll around-anything goes! I'll back you up!"
Silver Snow: "..."
[Don't think I can't hear you two talking!]
[But since I'm the only one who can help right now, I suppose I'll reluctantly lend you a hand this once!]
The moment Silver Snow finished speaking, it transformed into a streak of silvery-white light and shot off with a whoosh.
Before you continue