Luan Ling felt intense pain coursing through her body—pain so severe it was as if she were being torn apart piece by piece. It was unbearable, inescapable, relentlessly tormenting her.

Fragments of memories flickered through her mind, appearing and disappearing in fits and starts. They did not belong to her, yet they filled her with an indescribable anguish.

Ye Qingchen…
Huai Ning…

She murmured the names unconsciously. The moment she spoke, the pain eased for an instant. Seizing that brief reprieve, her divine consciousness followed its instinctive path through the chaos of memories, carving out a narrow escape. Luan Ling forced her eyes open and looked ahead.

She was suspended in midair, as if bound by an invisible force. Before her stood a woman in luxurious blue-violet robes, half turned to the side, head lowered as she examined something in her hand.

Luan Ling recognized it immediately—the jade disk Xie Yuyan had given her. She had not yet found the chance to ask Luan Qingchen whether he recognized the object.

The woman lifted the jade disk, studying the carved characters and patterns upon it. As she raised her head, her silk-like long hair slipped over her shoulders, revealing a face as clear and luminous as water.

Luan Ling could not tell whether the woman before her was demon or妖 spirit. Her divine consciousness was tightly restrained, yet instinct told her one thing clearly: this woman’s power was terrifying. Merely standing there, she radiated a familiar, primal sense of dread.

This instinctive fear of life and death—Luan Ling had only ever felt it from one person before.

Luan Qingchen.

And across the Three Realms, the only one who could rival Luan Qingchen—and who appeared as a young woman—was a single figure.

The Demon Realm’s princess, Yu Yuan.

The moment Luan Ling thought of her name, Yu Yuan turned her gaze toward her.

“You are Luan Qingchen’s… younger sister.”

There was no question in her tone. She stated it as fact.

Luan Ling felt wronged to the core. This bloodline had brought her nothing but hardship. She had never enjoyed a single day of a normal life, and now even those seeking vengeance against Luan Qingchen could vent their anger on her—a minor deity.

Seriously? Could beings at this level not fight each other one-on-one and leave her out of it?

Yu Yuan lifted her chin slightly. Instantly, the restraints around Luan Ling tightened. As Luan Ling frowned, they loosened again—just enough for her to speak.

“Although I share blood ties with Lord Qingchen, he has long entered the state of selflessness. He would not rush to save me simply because of kinship. If you kill me, you will still face him on the battlefield one day. But if you spare me, what happened in the past—and the reasons behind it—might yet be uncovered, just like… the jade disk in your hand.”

Luan Ling was fighting purely to survive now. In her current state, even if the Qilin Hall arrived, it would mean nothing but death. Yu Yuan was not like her father; even in battles of life and death, she acted with ruthless efficiency. She would never waste effort tormenting a minor deity she could crush effortlessly.

Yu Yuan responded with nothing but disdain.
“The state of selflessness? How laughable.”

The chill in her tone made Luan Ling’s heart sink further. Luan Ling did not fully understand how Luan Qingchen had once offended Yu Yuan, but the woman named Huai Ning from her dreams—her appearance, aura, and power—did not match Yu Yuan’s at all. A deity could alter outward appearance, but power could not be replicated. The woman in the dream seemed only moderately skilled in magic, suppressed by mortal restraints to the point of appearing little different from a human. Yu Yuan, however, was clearly a being who could tear through such restraints at will, just like her father. If they had known each other, that woman was almost certainly of demonic origin.

“Do not waste your effort,” Yu Yuan said coolly. “Nothing you say will change my intentions.”

She raised her eyes. “You said you would uncover the truth for me?”

Tilting her head, countless images suddenly appeared around Luan Ling—Yu Yuan had used Luan Ling’s divine consciousness to replay fragments of her memories.

“Young deity,” Yu Yuan said, “how old are you? Your understanding of what happened back then likely falls short of even these images I show you.”

They were… real memories.

A sharp pain pierced Luan Ling’s divine sense. She asked, haltingly,
“Then what… do you want…?”

Yu Yuan finally let out a cold smile.
“Luan Qingchen hides in the heavens, afraid to descend, afraid to return to this mountain. Does he think that with enough time, all traces here would vanish along with that heavenly thunder?”

Sudden realization struck Luan Ling.
“All the lingering energies in this mountain—you deliberately left them here. You won’t let us clear them.”

Yu Yuan raised an eyebrow faintly.
“Aren’t you curious why these residual immortal and demonic energies remain? Curious what your Heavenly Realm did, that I have not forgotten for twenty years?”

Luan Ling glanced at the jade disk in Yu Yuan’s hand and ventured carefully,
“Is it… because of kinship?”

The jade disk, the woman from her dreams, the empress, offspring—everything was on the verge of connecting into a single line, leading Luan Ling toward an answer she had never imagined.

Yu Yuan did not answer. She merely looked again at the jade disk and said,
“Do you know why the gods cannot trace the origin of this blessing for kinship?”

She lifted her eyes, cold and smiling, now bearing a faint resemblance to the woman from Luan Ling’s dream.

“Because Huai Ning never prayed to the gods. And the gods would never protect her—nor could they save her.”

Her voice was so cold that Luan Ling’s divine consciousness began to ache.

“You people of the Heavenly Realm are nothing but sanctimonious hypocrites. If there truly were heavenly justice, it should take a good look at what happened on Luoyi Mountain—and at what your dear brother has forgotten.”

As Yu Yuan’s voice rose sharply, Luan Ling was forced to resist with all her divine consciousness. In that instant, her body felt as if it were about to explode. Her survival instinct drove her awareness skyward—but just before it shattered completely, a bolt of heavenly lightning struck her, grievously injuring her physical body.

When she fell to the ground, barely conscious, she thought she saw Luan Qingchen.

Or was it Ye Qingchen?

She could not tell. She had no strength to speak.

The scene from twenty years ago overlapped with the present. Luan Ling finally understood why that lightning had hurt even more than her previous tribulation. The woman in her dream—more mortal than demon—had endured heavenly lightning with a human body. Surviving it would still cost half a life.

But… she was a god. Could she die?

When Luan Ling opened her eyes again, she knew she would not die.

She was back in the Heavenly Court. She lifted her hand and saw she was uninjured. So all that pain… had it been an illusion?

Yet the people surrounding her formed a gathering that would normally require her death to assemble: the Heavenly Empress, Wen Yuan, Rui Bi, the elders of the council—and most notably, Luan Qingchen, standing silently at a distance.

Only one being could draw such attention from the Heavenly Realm.

Yu Yuan.

“When Qingchen sensed Yu Yuan descending to the mortal world and found you, you were already unconscious,” the Heavenly Empress said. “Yu Yuan did not harm you. She merely sealed the memories of your encounter. Do you remember what she did to you, or what she said?”

Luan Ling felt she should remember—but at the Empress’s words, it was as if something vital were missing from her mind.

She looked up toward Luan Qingchen, then back at the Empress.
“I don’t remember. On Luoyi Mountain, I saw Lord Qingchen.”

The Empress glanced calmly at Luan Qingchen but did not speak at once. As the Grand Elder was about to press further, she interjected:

“She encountered Yu Yuan. Even the elders know what choice to make when facing Yu Yuan—how much more so a child who has yet to leave the academy?”

Luan Ling froze. She had never imagined the Heavenly Empress would defend her. Not once in her life had she expected such words.

“If anyone wishes to pursue the matter of Luoyi Mountain,” the Empress continued coldly, “they may investigate it themselves. Do not question the princess further.”

The elders exchanged looks but said nothing more. After they departed, Luan Ling saw Luan Qingchen pause briefly at the palace gate—then leave without a word.

That was typical of him. Yet Luan Ling felt that both of them had forgotten something important.

She had met Yu Yuan. Yu Yuan had taken the jade disk Xie Yuyan gave her—the one engraved with blessings for kinship. Why had Yu Yuan taken it? And Luan Ling had not even had the chance to ask Luan Qingchen about Ye Qingchen!

Her thoughts seemed to align—and then unravel further. She knew all answers lay within her sealed memories, yet Yu Yuan’s spell was like an unbreakable cipher. Even the Heavenly Empress could not decode it. How could she?

If the Empress could not… could Luan Qingchen?

“Dugu never sent you to the mortal realm.”

That was the first thing Luan Qingchen said when she found him.

Luan Ling stared. “What?”

“There is a demon infiltrator in the Heavenly Realm. You were chosen as the point of entry. While Dugu was temporarily reassigned, someone impersonated him and issued that mission.”

Luan Ling thought carefully.
“So everything—the Qilin Hall descending, being led to Luoyi Mountain, our group splitting up, Yu Yuan capturing me—it was all planned?”

Luan Qingchen did not answer. Luan Ling already had her conclusion.

She looked up at him and asked softly,
“Lord Qingchen… have you ever been to Luoyi Mountain? Do you remember a mortal named Ye Qingchen—and what happened there?”

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