To call the Phoenix Blood Stones fakes wouldn't be entirely fair. After all, the "crime scene" was right before their eyes—these stones were genuinely soaked in phoenix blood.
Even if this got exposed, nothing catastrophic would happen. The only downside was that the Phoenix Clan would lose face, tarnishing their aloof, noble image in the eyes of the world.
Everyone present knew a thing or two about the culture of the Dao Seeking Sect. Although the sect's ethos was rather unorthodox, its disciples weren't blabbermouths who would go around shouting everything they learned to the world.
Thus, the truth behind the Phoenix Blood Stones would at most circulate within the Dao Seeking Sect itself.
The group turned their attention back to Jiang Shan, who didn't resist the idea of the Dao Seeking Sect being privy to the secret.
"Who doesn't know of the Dao Seeking Sect's reputation? Slaying demons and subduing monsters, awe-inspiringly righteous, steadfast in keeping promises. I trust fellow Daoists will not spread word of this."
Besides, it wasn't as if the Phoenix Clan hadn't lost face in front of the Dao Seeking Sect before. Compared to that previous incident, selling blood hardly counted as humiliating.
Lu Yang, Li Haoran, and Meng Jingzhou nodded. This really wasn't a major issue.
Li Haoran asked curiously, pointing at the government runners not far away who were manufacturing the Phoenix Blood Stones, "Commandery Governor, how do you ensure they won't leak the secret? By giving them a raise?"
There were quite a few runners working here—over a dozen people. If just one leaked the secret, the truth about the Phoenix Blood Stones could not be kept.
Who could say whether some loose tongue might accidentally let it slip?
The governor shook his head. "They will definitely not leak the secret."
"Why?"
"You should know that wearing a Phoenix Blood Stone long-term enhances male virility. In the end, that's entirely thanks to the phoenix blood."
"If merely wearing a Phoenix Blood Stone can boost virility, just guess what effect working in an environment where the very air is filled with blood mist has?"
"If a single person leaks the secret, none of them will ever be allowed to work here again."
"Fair enough."
"By the way, I heard that phoenixes can be reborn through fire. Is that really true?" Lu Yang remembered the ancient phoenix from not long ago, bathed in True Fire as if about to revive, and couldn't help recalling that ancient legend.
Jiang Shan nodded solemnly, his expression filled with gravity and reverence. "It's true, though even in our Phoenix Clan, it is practically considered a legend."
"Legend has it that in ancient times, our Phoenix Clan had an Old Ancestress who cultivated to a realm just a single step away from attaining an Immortal Dao Fruit. Every gesture of hers carried supreme majesty, and a single thought could alter the heavens and exchange the sun. Throughout the entire history of the Phoenix Clan, she was the absolute strongest; across all records of the demon race, one could barely find a handful of rivals who could match her."
"This Old Ancestress fought an earth-shattering climactic duel against the Dragon Clan's Old Ancestress. In that battle, the very stars across the sky were ground to dust, the great sun was extinguished, and the cosmos fell into dead silence."
"None knew the outcome of that battle. A Tribulation Transcendence mighty figure of our Phoenix Clan stood watch from afar and managed to glimpse a fragment of the fight."
"He saw our Phoenix Clan's Old Ancestress lying quietly in the universe, devoid of life aura, her soul dormant, completely dead."
"Her body drifted like a small boat bobbing upon the waves, yet the Dragon Clan's Old Ancestress did not believe the victor had been decided. On the contrary, she kept vigil on guard."
"Suddenly, celestial flames surged across our Old Ancestress's body. Bathed in the celestial fire, she spread her wings and cried out to the heavens. The celestial flames blazed resplendently, more dazzling than the sun, and the resonant cries of the phoenix echoed throughout the universe."
"Not only our Phoenix Clan, but many Tribulation Transcendence figures from other demon races were watching this epochal battle from afar and witnessed this scene. If you ever have the chance to peruse the classics of other demon races, you can find records of it."
"From then on, the legend of phoenixes being reborn through fire arose. However, that was something only the Old Ancestress could achieve. Some in the clan speculate that perhaps one must cultivate to her realm before one can disregard life and death and return from the dead. Therefore, for ordinary phoenixes like us, rebirth through fire is no different from a mere legend."
Jiang Shan spoke humbly. As a pure-blooded phoenix, he was a rare existence even within the Phoenix Clan—possessing noble blood and prominent status. Had it not been for this identity, how could he have received pointers from Third Senior Sister Gan Tian, and how could he have been sent to Luofeng Commandery to oversee the production of Phoenix Blood Stones?
"So rebirth through fire is real. I always thought it was a baseless myth," Su Yiren remarked, her horizons broadened. She rarely associated with others, let alone conversed with someone from the Phoenix Clan.
The others also nodded in agreement, expressing how enlightening it was. "That Phoenix Clan Old Ancestress must have reached a realm of unfathomable mastery over creation, something no ordinary Tribulation Transcendence expert could ever compare to."
"May I ask where this Phoenix Clan Old Ancestress is now?" Lu Yang was more concerned about this question. Perhaps through her, he could learn the whereabouts of Immortal Kirin.
Jiang Shan shook his head. "The Old Ancestress disappeared a very long time ago. Even the oldest clan elders do not know where she went."
"Fairy, do you know anything about the phoenix's rebirth through fire?" Lu Yang suddenly remembered he had a golden finger right inside his spiritual space—the Immortal Fairy.
The Immortal Fairy was sleeping and was woken up by Lu Yang.
Rubbing her eyes and yawning repeatedly, she could barely keep her eyes open, mumbling dazed, "What did you just ask?"
"Do you know about the phoenix's rebirth through fire, Fairy?" Lu Yang asked again.
Having just woken up, the Immortal Fairy's memories were somewhat muddled. She tilted her head back and thought hard for quite a while before saying, "Yeah, there was something like that."
As expected of the leader of the Five Ancient Celestials, her knowledge was vast.
As the saying goes, having an elder at home is like having an elder at home—this was precisely what it meant.
The Immortal Fairy yawned again before speaking. "I remember back then, the Dragon Clan's prodigy and the Phoenix Clan's prodigy got into a fight over a man. I happened to be watching from the sidelines. Tsk, tsk, tsk, those two fought viciously—lighting fires, burning joss paper, pulling hair, drawing circles to cast hexes, pulling all sorts of tricks."
"Wait, hold on a second. What do you mean by lighting fires, burning paper, pulling hair, and drawing circles to curse each other?" Lu Yang thought to himself, *that doesn't sound like a battle between two Tribulation Transcendence mighty figures at all!*
"Oh, it means they attacked each other with their racial True Flames, burned half-immortal-grade talismans, and used each other's hair as mediums to lay down formations and place curses," the Immortal Fairy casually explained.
"...Please go on."
"Anyway, the two of them fought fiercely. As the fight went on, their tempers flared and their moves grew harsher. From where I was watching, the Dragon Clan's prodigy had the upper hand."
"It wasn't their first clash, either. The Dragon Clan's prodigy had roughly a sixty percent win rate, so her winning this time was quite normal."
"Just when I thought the victor was about to be decided, the Phoenix Clan's prodigy unleashed a supreme art she had learned from me—the Art of Playing Dead. She flopped onto the ground and played dead, suppressing all her vitality so that no one could tell she was alive."
"The Dragon Clan's prodigy had never encountered something like this before and was put in a dilemma. If she claimed victory, there was no sense of achievement; if she called it a loss, that was utter nonsense. But she couldn't very well beat up a dead person—it would look terrible if word got out."
"Right then, she had a brainwave and thought of a solution: roast the Phoenix Clan's prodigy with fire."
"The Phoenix Clan's prodigy was burned so badly it hurt like hell, let out a scream, and shot straight up. She screamed so loudly the entire cosmos could hear it."
"Later, somehow or another, people started spreading the rumor that it was a phoenix reborn through fire. Who knows who started that rumor? Truly lacking in morals."
The Immortal Fairy shook her head, somewhat displeased with the Phoenix Clan's prodigy. "Her mastery of the Art of Playing Dead was half-baked. If it had been me, I definitely could've kept playing dead."
"Fortunately, nobody knows I was the one who taught her the Art of Playing Dead. She learned it so poorly I'd be embarrassed to admit I was her teacher. How humiliating."
Lu Yang: "..."
*Aren't you the humiliating one here, Fairy?*
Chapter 230