With crises erupting in rapid succession earlier—and all under Nine Phoenix King's watchful eyes—he had not had any chance to examine the item.
Qin Sang turned the scale over in his hand. Shrouding it in true essence, he held it at a distance before attempting to channel true essence inside.
Suddenly, the scale vibrated slightly, and a phantom silhouette abruptly materialized.
Qin Sang's gaze sharpened, and he raised his guard in secret, surprised to find that it was a palm-sized silhouette of a flood dragon. It looked remarkably similar to the flood dragon shadow Yuan Zhu had unleashed earlier, only miniature, resembling a split soul.
"You truly did survive!"
The dragon soul's gaze was identical to Yuan Zhu's. It fixed its eyes upon Qin Sang and spoke in a deep, resonant voice.
"You are Yuan Zhu's split soul?"
Qin Sang spoke, his thoughts racing. Hearing Yuan Zhu's words, he suddenly realized something, and his heart gave a jolt. "You knew I was an impostor?"
At this point, there was no need to hide anything, and Qin Sang asked straight out.
Yuan Zhu gave a cold chuckle. "Did you really think your disguise was so flawless that no one could see through your human identity? Those Xuanjia Talismans were claimed through each bearer's essence blood. Even if no one had ever laid eyes on the Bijiu Saint, exposing you would hardly have been difficult. Had I not covered for you, you would have given yourself away long ago and been exposed by Gu Heng and Caiyi. Still, had you lacked the capability yourself, I would not have been able to help either. Since you could carry off a disguise so lifelike it passed for the real thing, I simply took advantage of the situation..."
Hearing this, a cold sweat broke out across Qin Sang's back.
In truth, he had not been entirely without suspicion. When they first met, Yuan Zhu had been extraordinarily warm, explaining the whole situation thoroughly before Qin Sang could even ask anything, thereby granting him ample room to fabricate excuses and clear himself.
Yet even after sensing those peculiarities, Qin Sang had been powerless to act.
Circumstances were stronger than men. Yuan Zhu had remained by his side throughout, and the strength of Gu Heng and Fairy Caiyi was not inferior to his own. He had possessed no chance to escape and could only keep his guard up in secret.
Later, seeing that the demon beasts made no moves and genuinely treated him as one of their own, Qin Sang had wondered if he was merely overthinking things.
Reflecting on it now, Yuan Zhu had been plotting from the very beginning. Rushing ahead before Gu Heng and the others arrived, he had first revealed the status of a Transformation stage great demon to cow Qin Sang, ensuring he would not dare act rashly.
Then, seizing that brief window of time, he had quietly guided him along. His scheming was truly profound.
"Had you truly dared to strike, who would have fallen remained anyone's guess!" Qin Sang sneered.
He had never imagined that a demon beast in the Demon Core stage could achieve human form, assuming instead that he had encountered a Transformation stage great demon. Thus, he had been hesitant and timid, not daring to take action.
Had Yuan Zhu exposed his true state, Qin Sang would have struck without hesitation. With Gu Heng and the others not yet arrived, he might well have found an opportunity to break free.
"You spared my life just so I would take this scale? Your true body is already dead, and this remnant soul will dissipate sooner or later. Could it be that you can restore your true body through a remnant soul?"
Qin Sang's thoughts turned rapidly. For Yuan Zhu to help him infiltrate the demons, this was the only plausible objective.
However, the soul power Yuan Zhu had left behind in this wisp was extraordinarily thin—it could hardly even be called a split soul. It would be impossible for him to do what Bai had done by taking over a refined corpse to recover.
"Who said my true body is dead?" the flood dragon shadow said indifferently. "I had been planning this matter for a long time. How could I not have prepared? It is just that I never anticipated those demon kings would be so vicious. Not only did they treat us as disposable pawns, but they also left sinister countermeasures in our bodies to prevent rebellion, rendering all my prior preparations useless. Gu Heng and Caiyi surely could not have survived. Instead, my spur-of-the-moment decision to spare you turned out to be the crucial move."
Qin Sang stared intently at Yuan Zhu, somewhat surprised. "Your methods are truly impressive, Fellow Daoist, to find a way to live even in such a predicament. But since your true body is unharmed, what is the meaning of leaving this split soul with me?"
After a moment of silence, Yuan Zhu said, "My true body will not die at Nine Phoenix King's hands, but it will certainly be severely wounded. Engulfed in blood-fire and swept into the tempest, I do not know how long it can hold out. Ridiculously enough, I originally intended to use the hurricane to escape if we failed to kill Nine Phoenix King, but now I have delivered myself into danger instead. Fortunately, I left this split soul with you, which can go rescue the true body..."
"You want me to rescue your true body? Surely you understand the principle that those not of our kind are sure to be of a different mind? Humans and demons are like water and fire—why should I rescue you?"
Qin Sang spoke as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world.
"Admittedly, I had my schemes, but I also spared you from being besieged, and I warned you at the final moment so you could prepare in advance. Otherwise, you would never have escaped so easily. You could consider my merits to offset my faults. There is no blood feud between us, and as for the difference in bloodlines..."
Yuan Zhu's expression grew despondent. "Do you think I still count as part of the demon race? From now on, in this vast world, I will have no one to rely on, left entirely alone."
Qin Sang fell silent. Considering Yuan Zhu's plight, he could not help but recall the days when he fled from the Yuanzhao Sect.
He, too, had been plotted against; he, too, had struggled just to survive.
Yet Yuan Zhu was even more pitiful than he had been. Qin Sang had still been able to seek refuge with the righteous path, whereas Yuan Zhu had been discarded by his own kin, could never integrate into the human race, and was bound by an unbreakable secret technique that permanently halted his cultivation.
The road ahead was pitch-black, without a single glimmer of light.
The mere thought of it was despairing!
Yuan Zhu added, "Right now, you are probably fretting over being unable to discern direction and not knowing how to leave the storm belt, aren't you? Within a certain range, this split soul technique of mine can sense the location of my true body. Furthermore, I discovered an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling in the storm belt, and I have a way to determine direction using its arrangements. My true body will also flee toward the dwelling as much as possible. If we set out quickly, we should be able to find it. As long as you rescue my true body, I will guide you out of the storm belt..."
"An ancient cultivator's cave dwelling?" Qin Sang was astonished.
The storm belt of the Canglang Sea was very similar to the Ancient Immortal Battlefield of the Lesser Cold Domain. Cultivators from the Lesser Cold Domain frequently discovered ancient cultivators' abandoned abodes on the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, so the Canglang Sea naturally had similar places.
However, this was a boundless ocean, and the number of surviving abodes was exceedingly small.
Moreover, because the hurricanes raged without pause year-round, most ancient cultivators' abandoned abodes had quietly perished long ago after their restriction powers decayed and could no longer withstand the storms.
Locating an ancient cultivator's abandoned abode here was far more difficult than on the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, and none had been found in a very long time.
Precisely for this reason, even though the storm belt around the Canglang Sea was vastly broader than the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, the cultivators here had managed to find very few good treasures, appearing even more impoverished by comparison.
For Yuan Zhu to have found an ancient cultivator's abandoned abode here—and by the sound of his tone, one with intact restrictions that could serve as a dwelling—his karmic fortune was truly profound.
There was likely no hiding place more concealed than that.
***
In the Hall of Seven Kills.
The disturbance in the immortal restriction had alerted many cultivators.
Nascent Soul experts investigated everywhere, only to find that all traces had been washed clean by the power of the immortal restriction. Almost no clues remained, far from enough to determine the perpetrators' identities or intentions.
Unable to decipher anything, the crowd gradually dispersed, leaving only a few Nascent Soul cultivators still lingering about.
Chapter 973