When I woke up, the entire cultivation world was talking about my master.

Chu Xianlan remembered what the former crown prince looked like.

The moment Chu Xianlan saw Ji Li's features clearly in the Illusionary Land of the Earth Spirit, she had a strange feeling, as if she had seen him somewhere before, that he was somewhat familiar, and she was even mesmerized by him.

That sense of familiarity came from my master.

But that was a prince who died a thousand years ago, and he shouldn't have had any interaction with people in the present world. He didn't take it to heart. Even if he racked his brains at the time, he couldn't possibly have realized this!

Wait a moment.

With a slight shift in her thoughts, Chu Xianlan's face twisted instantly, and her eyes widened in horror.

The taboos between master and disciple are already outrageous enough, could they get any more outrageous? Since they are both of royal blood, could it be...?

A teacher for a day is a father for life—from godfather to grandfather?!

And these are ancestors whose lineage is unknown!

Then wouldn't his becoming Daoist partners with his master be utterly absurd?

"Grandmaster, if that's the case, does that mean that my master and I..." Chu Xianlan stopped mid-sentence.

Zhi Yue yawned and looked at his little grand-disciple, whose face was full of shock: "A thousand years ago, in the battle of the Ten Thousand Swords Immortal Realm, the former crown prince and his princesses and princes of the same lineage all died. As a result, the Southern Cang royal family underwent a major reshuffle."

Chu Xianlan stared blankly and repeated, "A complete blood transfusion..."

"Look, His Highness the Crown Prince has pure black eyes, while yours are blue." She pointed to Chu Xianlan's eyes and said lazily, "The remaining members of the royal family are all chosen from remote collateral branches. Apart from sharing the same clan and surname, their relationships are as distant as if they were completely unrelated."

Chu Xianlan: "..."

Thank goodness.

Filial piety almost crossed the line and took over the high ground.

Zhi Yue chuckled and said, "What's wrong? Are you disappointed that you can't be a truly loving family with Yi Chen?"

Chu Xianlan quickly shook her head.

Having barely managed to suppress the turmoil in his heart, his master's next casual remark turned the ripples into a tsunami:

"However, Yi Chen is deeply in love with you. Even if you two are really related by blood, he probably won't care." How exciting.

How did Grandmaster know that?!

Chu Xianlan thought he was hallucinating, but then Zhiyue casually patted his shoulder and said, "Well then, let's continue with our previous topic."

Having successfully found the son of his old friend, Zhiyue naturally wanted to bring him back to the Taiyi Sect.

When she disguised the little demon's identity, sealed his malevolent energy, and hid his bloodline, she was shocked to detect a faint dragon's breath on Yi Chen. Logically speaking, true dragons should no longer exist in the world, so how could this be?

...It's not impossible.

Ah Yue remembered something.

The incubation site she carefully selected a thousand years ago was the Water Dragon Abyss, the place with the most abundant spiritual energy in the Northern Darkness Realm, and the habitat of the true dragon clan.

Whether it was a lucky accident or destiny, there are countless mysterious things in the world, and Zhiyue could not explain why this happened. Before she could recover, the dragon breath in the little demon's body disappeared.

Upon learning about her master's background for the first time, Chu Xianlan listened intently and pressed for an answer, asking, "Why?"

Zhiyue fell silent and pondered for a moment, then raised his hand and tapped his temple.

"There's something wrong with him."

「!?」

Chu Xianlan coughed in shock, "Grandmaster, what are you talking about?!"

"The literal meaning is that Yi Chen cannot transform into a dragon because his soul is flawed."

Master Zhiyue sighed, "Your master was born without the seven emotions and six desires."

Whether human or demon, to survive in the world, one must rely on the three souls and seven spirits for destiny, and on the seven emotions and six desires for security. The two complement each other to form the divine soul, and neither can be lacking.

The three souls determine the spirit, and the seven spirits solidify the form.

The world is full of all sorts of sights and sounds, but joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire are all innate human emotions.

Sadness brings tears, joy brings smiles; all sorts of subtle emotions make up the complete soul of a living being. Without these, even if the body is still there, it is like a lifeless object, and the mind is no different from grass, trees, or rocks.

That would be terrible.

Only the stone statues in temples are devoid of feeling, thought, sorrow, joy, emotion, and desire.

When Yi Chen first arrived at Taiyi Sect, Zhi Yue didn't notice his problem. She didn't know how to take care of children, so she left Yi Chen with her eldest disciple, Pei Fang'an.

Who is Pei Fang'an? Naturally, he is the most talkative, responsible, trouble-free, and worrisome person in the entire cultivation world. He was appointed to a critical mission and immediately took on the responsibility of taking care of his junior brother. With a wave of his fan and a roll of his sleeves, he began his legendary career of taking care of a child.

Unfortunately.

The senior disciple tried to influence his junior disciple, but failed repeatedly.

The little demon brought back to the Taiyi Sect felt no fear. He had no heart, no likes or dislikes, no obsessions, and no aversions. He did not understand what warmth or desire was, nor could he feel love.

Born in a void, unaware, ignorant, without a place to return to, and without a place to come from.

Yi Chen's long-standing coldness was not feigned aloofness, but rather a genuine lack of understanding.

I don't know what love is, nor do I know what the bonds between people are.

But then again.

Back then, Zhiyue didn't have any high requirements for her disciples. She wasn't an ordinary person; her standard was always simple and straightforward—let it be.

Even if we take a step back and assume that a cracked egg has been sealed for hundreds of years before hatching, what does it matter if it has a problem with its head after finally making a sound?

"So what method did you use to restore Master to normal?" Chu Xianlan couldn't comprehend the desolation of lacking emotions and desires; just thinking about it made her breathless.

"Me? What does that have to do with me?"

Zhiyue smiled slightly at his young apprentice.

She blinked: "As the saying goes, a disciple doesn't necessarily have to be inferior to his master. He teaches you to seek the Dao and pursue immortality, and you teach him joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, to follow the will of Heaven and respond to the needs of people. That's all."

When Chu Xianlan met her gaze, she froze, as if something inside her was about to burst forth.

The immortal sits on a high platform, his heart devoid of all things.

But in this gray world where all thoughts are empty, a dazzling light suddenly burst in.

Spring blossoms and autumn harvests, cherishing every moment spent together – this is true joy.

The injustice of fate, the old grudges and blood debts of the royal family, and the new hatred—this is anger.

A young man with incomplete spiritual roots finds the path of the sword difficult, a tragedy that evokes deep regret.

With his bloodline exposed, his half-demon past might burden his loved ones, and this is what he fears.

Romantic love, with its beauty and fleeting moments, and a deep, unwavering devotion to one person – this is love.

Deeply protective of you, and utterly disgusted by those in the world who harm you, this is evil.

In the end, from the most ruthless place, compassion arises; once a thought arises, desire becomes insatiable. From then on, the sun and moon revolve, the fire burns, and nothing on the vast glacier can withstand its melting.

There was romance in it, but it wasn't all romance. In the end, for Yi Chen, there was no one else in the world as precious as Chu Li.

"Yi Chen had nothing at the beginning; all his emotions were learned later. Sometimes he doesn't behave like a normal person; he's rather clumsy and slow to react," Zhi Yue raised her eyebrows and concluded, "Hmm, a cold-blooded snake."

Chu Xianlan instinctively retorted, "Master isn't—"

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, as if sensing something, and looked towards the distant sky.

At the southern end, a cluster of dark red mist seemed to be gathering in the sky.