Dual cultivation makes you stronger, everyone else is a prodigy, and I'm the only one slacking

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away.

In the desolate continent, at the main residence of the Wen family.

The Wen family patriarch walked into the hall with a gloomy face. In the center of the main hall stood a petite woman.

The woman had white hair and white eyes, and a childlike face that still looked quite young. She exuded an indescribable eeriness.

The Wen family patriarch stared at the man, snorted coldly, and pulled out a jade blood mirror from his robes.

"Those idiots made a complete mess of things. With the divine enforcers personally involved, we had no chance to directly obtain that woman's essence blood."

"To fulfill your request, I lost an ancient pottery jade figurine. How do you intend to repay me?"

The white-haired, white-eyed woman glanced at the blood-red mirror and said coldly, "Isn't exchanging the secrets of Phoenix Ancient City with you enough?"

The head of the Wen family had an uncertain expression and remained silent.

The woman continued, "Alright, let's not waste any more time on this. Since we can't draw blood directly, let's use the backup plan: use the Jade Blood Mirror to replicate her bloodline aura."

The two stopped talking and quickly formed hand seals to activate the jade blood mirror together.

As Yu Luoning dripped a drop of her essence blood into the jade puppet from afar, a ripple appeared in the jade blood mirror, which was the mother artifact.

Invisible threads belonging to cause and effect and the origin of all living beings condense in the mirror.

In a short while, a phantom figure appeared in the calm mirror, which was none other than Yu Luoning, who had just completed the blood oath ceremony.

A hint of joy flashed in the eyes of the Wen family patriarch, who used magic to pull the figure out of the mirror.

The next moment, a lifeless replica puppet with dull eyes floated in front of the two.

The Wen family patriarch grinned sinisterly. "Hahaha, I didn't expect to succeed on the first try. With this perfect replica of the phoenix bloodline, what's there to worry about not being able to open that door?"

The white-haired, youthful-faced woman raised her pale hand, her long nails tracing the puppet's face, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Excellent, the bloodline aura is rich. Just a drop of essence blood is enough to replicate the aura of her phoenix bloodline, more than enough to open the gates of Phoenix Ancient City."

/

On the other side, inside the barrier, Yue Qi's gaze fell on Cui Xiu. Yue Qi spoke calmly, "The Abortion Spring is located in the third forbidden area of ​​Phoenix Ancient City."

The nonchalant smile on Cui Xiu's face vanished instantly.

Yue Qi looked at him, her voice still completely flat.

"The Dao Embryo has already begun to devour your evil corpse's essence. Your forced retraction of a portion of your essence, seemingly suppressing the anomaly, will only allow it to grow faster. If you want to remove it without harming your essence, the Abortion Spring is your only chance right now."

Seeing the other person's perpetually aloof and detached expression, Cui Xiu rarely showed a hint of hesitation.

He scoffed, "Your current concern for my life or death is quite unexpected."

Yue Qi remained silent. "I guess it would be less fun if you died."

"Yeah?"

Cui Xiu smiled and slowly took a step closer.

"You don't really care whether I live or die; you just can't bear to experience what it's like to feel the same way I do, right?"

Yue Qi: "..."

Cui Xiu smiled maliciously and made his assessment: "A hypocrite who says one thing but does another."

Yue Qi's eyes suddenly turned cold, but Cui Xiu seemed oblivious. He laughed heartily, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Shut up." Yue Qi's eyes were as deep as a pool as he shouted sharply.

With a slight twitch of his long, slender fingers, the black divine markings on Cui Xiu's neck lit up.

Cui Xiu's expression changed, and she activated her spiritual power to suppress the force.

However, it was clearly just a casual little punishment from Yue Qi. In the past, it would only hurt for a moment, but this time Cui Xiu was in so much pain that he bent over. The originally quiet vortex in his abdomen seemed to be suddenly disturbed and began to crash wildly in his dantian.

One after another, as if someone had disturbed its sweet dream.

Cui Xiu groaned in pain and instinctively clutched her abdomen.

At the same time, this reaction was instantly transmitted to Yue Qi.

His expression froze slightly, and his gaze shifted downwards, landing on his abdomen.

It seems to be throwing a tantrum.

Yue Qi opened her mouth, how could this be? This embryo has actually developed sentience?

Cui Xiu, who had been in so much pain that her face had turned pale, suddenly felt no pain when she looked up and saw Yue Qi's blank expression.

He stared at Yue Qi's hand on his abdomen, ignoring the pain, and burst into laughter.

"This thing has a terrible temper; if you startle it, it can cause a ruckus for half a day."

"You seem to know very well." Yue Qi looked at him expressionlessly.

"After being tormented by it for so long, it's hard not to know about it."

Cui Xiu was used to it. She took out a sour spiritual fruit from her spatial ring and took a bite.

The sour and astringent spiritual fruit entered my mouth, and after a short while, the vortex in my stomach seemed to have rolled around contentedly before calming down.

Cui Xiu softened her voice and said softly, "Although it has a bad temper, it is also very easy to soothe. Look how well-behaved it is now."

Yue Qi frowned, her gaze falling on the spiritual fruit in his hand, a strange feeling rising in her heart.

Cui Xiuyang waved her hand. "It's sour, want to try some?"

Yue Qi frowned, but before he could speak, Cui Xiu smiled and said, "Even if you want it, I won't give it to you. It all belongs to this little thing."

Yue Qi: "..." Childish.

He had nothing to say.

When my gaze fell on Cui Xiu's abdomen again, and then moved to his face, I felt that the person in front of me had changed a lot.

It seems I've gone mad...

"So that's why you've been delaying in finding the Abortion Spring? You want to keep it?"

Cui Xiu remained silent for a moment.

Yue Qi's voice deepened, tinged with a faint, cold sneer, "Cui Xiu, you're insane."

Cui Xiu's smile vanished instantly. His gaze turned hostile as he glared fiercely at Yue Qi. "What do you know? Don't think you understand me just because we share a sympathy."

Yue Qi didn't speak, his gaze falling again on Cui Xiu's abdomen. The little vortex that had just caused such a ruckus because of his slight restrictive power seemed to have fallen asleep contentedly after eating what he wanted.

After a long silence, he continued, "In just three months, your feelings towards it have changed. From initially wanting to get rid of it no matter the cost, you now remember its preferences."

Cui Xiu's face grew increasingly pale. "I just don't want to be tormented by it anymore."

Yue Qi didn't expose him, but just chuckled.

Cui Xiu's face showed a hint of embarrassment at being seen through, and he viciously crushed the unfinished spiritual fruit in his hand.

He said impatiently, "Why should I remove it? You and I will merge sooner or later, and whether the Dao Embryo is here or not will not change anything. Since that's the case, why should I suffer so much for nothing, only to end up with nothing left?"

Neither of them spoke. Yue Qi looked into Cui Xiu's direct gaze, and he seemed to have figured something out.

He was afraid that there would be nothing left in the world to prove that he had ever existed...

Yue Qi closed her eyes. "Whatever you say."

/

Outside the barrier, Yu Luoning and the other two waited patiently.

I don't know what kind of magic this is, because I can neither hear nor see anything inside the barrier.

Yu Luoning: "What do you think they were talking about inside?"

Feng Qiguang shook his head. "I don't know."

Shi Shangxu stared at the slightly trembling screen, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "It probably didn't go very well."

Just then, the barrier dissipated, and Cui Xiu and Yue Qi reappeared in front of them.

It's unclear what the two of them said inside, but they ignored each other.