From the man's few words, Su Jiu gained a rough understanding of this demonic cultivator.
By her reckoning, anyone who could live for ten thousand years had to be at least above Spirit Transformation. This man possessed extraordinary gifts, but unfortunately had strayed from the proper path. Like Silver Snow, he had probably taken part in that great war.
However, he had likely joined the war ten thousand years ago not to defend humanity's territory, but simply for his own sake.
After all, his paintings were his finest weapons, and with the right handling, these magic beasts could all be made to serve him.
That was how these paintings had come about. Yet for some unknown reason, the demonic cultivator had suddenly vanished after the war ended, leaving his still-dangerous paintings behind in the Windforest Star River.
Another person who had vanished ten thousand years ago...
Su Jiu pressed her lips together, an unsettling suspicion forming in her heart.
The timing aligned quite closely with the heretical cultivator who had once appeared inside Swallowing Heaven, but were they really the same person?
That man had left few clues inside Swallowing Heaven.
Even after such a major incident there, he had never appeared. Su Jiu suspected he might have left Swallowing Heaven long ago.
"How were you brought out?"
The soul shook his head bitterly. "The moment the Gu Household was destroyed, the magic beasts in the paintings dragged me in here."
"Was the Fishing Old Man in the painting responsible for all this?"
The soul shook his head. "No. It was our enemies."
In other words, by the time the magic beasts dragged them inside, someone had already taken these paintings out of the Secret Realm.
"Your enemies were...?"
"The Zhu Household and... the Si Family of the Shangyin Continent."