The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

Seeing the rooster's menacing appearance, Shen Yifei felt a little uneasy.

It seems the Reincarnation Decree is hiding some unspeakable secret. And I've been acting like a fool, running around with it everywhere.

He took back the token and said with a grin, "Master Chicken, let's make a deal. If you can give me a heads-up, I'll burn three sticks of incense for you and ensure your incense offerings never cease on Golden Rooster Mountain."

The rooster shook its feathers. "I don't know much either, kid. I like you, so I'll say a few more words to you."

"Master Chicken, please speak. I, Shen Yifei, swear on my own soul that all the karma in this cycle of reincarnation will fall on my shoulders and has nothing to do with outsiders!" Shen Yifei said solemnly and earnestly.

The rooster nodded. "I treat other people's oaths as nothing, but I believe yours."

It paced back and forth a couple of times with its large paws, seemingly having made a great decision. "Kid, I have two things to tell you. First, do you know who Thirteen Sister is?"

Shen Yifei shook his head. Although he also felt that Thirteen Niang's identity was a bit strange, why did Shi Yan choose her?

But none of that mattered anymore. He blurted out, "Thirteen Sister is mine..."

"Your man?" The rooster was startled and its whole body emitted a dazzling golden light. After a flash of golden light, a middle-aged man wearing a golden crown appeared in front of Shen Yifei and Liu Mengli!

The man looked to be in his early forties. He had a pair of narrow, almond-shaped eyes, a high nose, and slightly thin lips. He wore a long robe embroidered with gold thread in the shape of a golden pheasant and a gold crown to bind his hair. Standing there, he had the air of a prince.

He raised his hand to straighten his sleeves, coughed twice, and looked at the two people who were in a daze. "What's wrong? I've transformed into human form, and you don't recognize me? Let's get to know each other again. My surname is Jin and my given name is Jia. From now on, call me Master Jin, not Master Chicken. It sounds awkward."

Shen Yifei looked at the golden armor and couldn't help but laugh: "Master Jin, while your appearance is indeed extraordinary, it's far inferior to your imposing figure from before. Why don't you just turn back into a chicken!"

Jin Jia snorted, pulled a folding fan from his sleeve, and snapped it open. On the fan was painted a majestic rooster crowing proudly, with a line of small characters inscribed beside it: "When the golden rooster crows, the world turns white."

He ignored Shen Yifei's joke. "Kid, I won't stoop to your level. You just said that Thirteen Sister is your woman? What do you mean?"

"I won the bet, removed her mask, made her look younger, and then she became my woman!" Shen Yifei said casually.

The man in golden armor snapped his folding fan shut. "Help her become younger? Thirteenth Sister will age?"

"Yes!" Shen Yifei briefly recounted what happened after he took off his mask.

After listening, Jin Jia looked at Shen Yifei as if he were a fool. "Kid, do you even know what kind of constitution thirteen years is? Why would the Time Demon choose her and put a mask on her?"

"Why?" Liu Mengli was also very curious about this. This Thirteen Sister didn't seem as simple as she appeared.

Jin Jia smiled at Liu Mengli, "Thirteenth Sister, you possess the Time-Sequence Dao Body! You were born with a skeletal structure perfectly suited to bear the laws of time."

"Time-Sequence Dao Body?" Shen Yifei had never heard of it before.

Liu Mengli only had a vague understanding. "Could it be that Thirteen Sister, like Yan back then, can control time?"

Jin Jia shook his head. "No, she can only control her own time. She can stay young when she wants and grow old when she wants!"

Shen Yifei and Liu Mengli exchanged a glance.

"Thirteen Sister! She's acting!"

Shen Yifei stood there, stunned. He carefully recalled his confrontation with Thirteen Sister all the way, from the gambling game to removing the mask, from aging to "rejuvenation through qi transfer". Every step seemed to be a victory for him, but now it seemed that he had fallen into Thirteen Sister's scheme.

But why did she do this?

Why risk your innocence, which you've held onto for thousands of years?

Just then, Jin Jia strode up to him, his narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes slightly narrowed: "Boy, the look on your face is like you've swallowed a fly..."

"Master Jin, ever since I entered the Underworld, I thought I was very clever, but little did I know that I was stepping into other people's traps at every turn."

"No, no, no, boy, I'm quite surprised that Thirteen Sister would dedicate herself to you. You mustn't let her down!"

"Master Jin, are you saying that Thirteen Sister is truly sincere towards me?"

"Everything is cause and effect," the golden-armored man said noncommittally, then pointed to the Reincarnation Decree. "Do you know what this Reincarnation Decree is?"

"The bet that Hades lost to Thirteen Sister."

"Nonsense." The golden-armored man snapped his fan shut. "Who is Hades? The ruler of the underworld! How could he possibly stake something as important as the Reincarnation Decree on a mere gambling game?"

Shen Yifei frowned: "Could there be some other story behind this?"

"The inside story is far more complex than it appears." The golden-armored man sneered. "The Reincarnation Token never belonged to the King of the Underworld. It belonged to the Time Demon God, Shi Yan. When Shi Yan was defeated and died, a wisp of his soul escaped into the Underworld. The King of the Underworld made a deal with him... The King of the Underworld would keep the Reincarnation Token safe for Shi Yan, waiting for a suitable person to retrieve it. In exchange, Shi Yan taught the King of the Underworld a 'method of immortality'."

Liu Mengli interjected, "What does the Underworld King need the method of immortality for?"

"The King of the Underworld rules the cycle of reincarnation, but he too will die. When his lifespan comes to an end, he too will fall into the cycle of reincarnation and begin cultivating anew. He doesn't want to be reincarnated again, so he wants to find a path to immortality. Shi Yan is the leader of the nine great demon gods and controls the laws of time, so the King of the Underworld thinks what he says is reliable."

Jin Jia finished speaking, his gaze landing on Shen Yifei's face with a half-smile.

Do you think it's reliable?

Shen Yifei curled his lip: "If he were really reliable, the King of the Underworld wouldn't have sent judges to relentlessly pursue the Reincarnation Decree. If that method of immortality really worked, Shi Yan himself wouldn't have died."

"Clever." Jin Jia nodded. "Shi Yan taught Hades a sorcery called 'Stealing the Sky and Changing the Sun.' It sounds like it grants immortality, but in reality, it involves grafting one's own destiny onto someone else's body. However, this grafting method has a prerequisite... one must find a person with the essence of the five elements to serve as a vessel. With the five elements in balance, one is immune to all evils, and only such a body can withstand the backlash from his time-law."

Shen Yifei suddenly understood many things: "You wouldn't be saying... I'm that furnace cauldron?"

"You possess the Five Elements inheritance of Wan Shuo, don't you think so?"

"I understand now! My health is something many people are worried about!"

"The King of the Underworld covets your body, while others covet the Reincarnation Decree! The secret to immortality is said to be hidden within the Reincarnation Decree. Many in the Underworld, having somehow obtained this information, desire to obtain it and become immortal."

The golden-armored man paused, "The King of the Underworld gave the Reincarnation Token to Thirteen Sister, so that once you... the inheritance of the Five Elements Demon God appears, he will also know."

Shen Yifei pointed to his head, "The King of the Underworld was still a step too late. Thirteen Niang's mask was a curse left by Shi Yan. If my divine sense wasn't that strong, I would already be Shi Yan now."

Jin Jia chuckled, "You underestimate Shi Yan. He doesn't want your body!"

He pointed around, "He wants the entire underworld!"