Chapter 16: The Past Is Too Painful to Recall

Although everything was in disarray, it all fell into place naturally.

Lingxiao focused his gaze and looked at Shiran, noticing her complexion remained rosy and her brows and eyes showed no discomfort, so he relaxed.

Shiran was completely unaffected, she hehehehe laughed like a triumphant street thug, stepping forward to touch the umbrella demon's hair: "Little umbrella demon, be good! Come over and greet your master!"

The umbrella demon blinked her dazed eyes, as if still not reacting, staring blankly at Shiran: "You… I…"

"Hmm… looks like we need to get acquainted again!" Shiran squatted on the ground this time, extending her hand friendly: "Hello, I'm Shiran, from now on we'll look after each other!"

Umbrella demon: ……She felt she was done for!

The umbrella demon opposite was lost in her thoughts, silent for a long time, Shiran, being familiar, grabbed the umbrella demon's hand and shook it: "Alright, this way we're acquainted—so-called no fight, no acquaintance, from now on you can't…!"

"Is she… scared stupid?!" Mei Ruoxue, finally able to return to the martial world, asked doubtfully.

"Not really!" Shiran observed the umbrella demon for a long time, reaching a conclusion: "I know……she might be too happy!"

Mei Ruoxue's eyes rolled so far up they were almost at the sky: "Shiran, can't you have a bit of self-awareness!"

Shiran jumped up: "Senior sister, that's not right—thanks to my timely intervention, otherwise it wouldn't have been mutual destruction? Senior sister should praise me, I'm the best little junior sister!"

Mei Ruoxue: Jade bottle? Jade bottle! She turned away to avoid seeing it.

Mei Ruoxue and the umbrella demon remained silent, so Shiran went to ask Fantian: "You say, is it?"

Fantian: In seclusion! Do not disturb!

Lingxiao, however, wasn't as optimistic as Shiran; he glanced at the now wind-stopped, rain-cleared blue sky, then at the still turbid hot spring pool.

Double Star Ninefold Formation!

He had seen such a formation before, but the book described it vaguely, he had only grasped a rough idea at the time, and because he had viewed such forbidden texts, he was punished by his master, Cloud-Exalted Venerable Yunli, so his memory of it was strongly resistant.

He roughly remembered this formation was called Double Star because it had two formation eyes that mutually restrained each other.

And the so-called Ninefold refers to the formation's completion level, from one to nine, from light to heavy!

Onefold is formation, twofold is lockdown, threefold is execution, fourfold is regression, fivefold is flickering light and dark, sixfold is offering souls, sevenfold is drinking blood, eightfold is slaying heaven, ninefold is fulfilling one's heart!

According to his knowledge, since this formation's inception to its demise, it had never reached the seventh level.

Because this formation's essence is to crush the souls of everyone within it to nourish the flesh and blood of the formation eyes; during this period, people endlessly repeat their final action from life until their souls scatter and spirits disperse.

Too bloody and cruel, and inevitably fatal, so it was despised by the cultivation world; at the time, nearly all records of this formation's lineage were destroyed cleanly, so when Lingxiao stepped into the formation, he wondered: Who? Who recorded the completion of this formation? And who, could assist the umbrella demon in completing the formation?

"Master!" Shiran's clear voice rang out behind Lingxiao: "This hot spring pool—is there something wrong with it? You've been staring at it for so long!"

"I'm thinking…" Lingxiao turned his head, how to end all this without drawing attention!

He had just observed this formation had clearly reached the fourth level; if not destroyed, it would become a major threat later, but if destroyed, the townspeople would……

"What are you thinking?!" Shiran pressed, senior sister had returned to the jade bottle, little umbrella demon also stayed silent, she was so bored!

"Nothing!" Lingxiao's eyes flickered slightly; he was now certain Shiran had been poisoned, with a strange toxin even he had no counter for—Red Silk Entwine.

He pulled a cold moon long jade hairpin from his Momentary Treasure Ring: "Hair's a mess, let's tie it up first!"

Shiran froze, how… how does he just give gifts out of nowhere… first clothes, now a jade hairpin, she felt this step was moving a bit fast, she could barely keep up…

"Master~" Shiran twisted shyly as she coiled her hair: "I… I'm not good at tying hair~"

Red silk flashed swiftly across Shiran's face, Lingxiao slightly furrowed his brow, then directly inserted the cold moon long jade hairpin into the center of Shiran's hair bun, watching the red silk retreat, he nodded satisfied: "Good enough!"

Having said that, Lingxiao turned to find the umbrella demon, leaving Shiran alone in the breeze, intoxicated, master said, wearing it like this is still good!

Then… wear it! Shiran beamed as she followed behind Lingxiao's backside, also going to find the umbrella demon.

The umbrella demon seemed to have already accepted the fact, her gaze dull as she recounted the origin of the Double Star Ninefold Formation, suddenly seeing Shiran, she couldn't help but be startled by Shiran's hairstyle, twitching the corner of her mouth slightly.

Lingxiao turned back, Shiran quickly put on a smiling face, he coughed twice, then dared not look at Shiran anymore, only staring at the umbrella demon and saying: "You continue!"

The umbrella demon dared not raise her head, only able to continue: "I was inspired by my sister's cultivation, and actually managed to take human form; as she slew evil ghosts and fought little demons, my cultivation also rose. But one day…"

But one day, my sister suddenly told me she could no longer follow the path of no emotion, because she had fallen in love with someone!

To be precise, the one she fell for was not a person, but the Ninth Prince of the Magical Clan, Yunying, son of the Demon Sovereign, who was injured in the Immortal-Demon War and rescued by my clueless sister.

My sister and Yunying developed feelings over time, she abandoned the path of no emotion, and followed Yunying, bringing little me to this Fine Rain Town.

Fine Rain Town was like an outdoor paradise, due to its proximity to Fengdu and the base of the Ninefold Mountain, so immortals, demons, and monsters rarely set foot there.

Yunying and my sister naturally became husband and wife; when my sister was three months pregnant, Yunying received a letter saying an old friend outside the town invited him for drinks and reconciliation, so he left—and never returned.

My sister waited and waited, waited and waited, from spring to autumn, until the child wailed at birth, my sister finally gave up, Yunying would never come back.

What was originally just an ordinary tale of abandoning a first wife, but the child was still young and couldn't hide her demonic nature, and worse, allowed the returning sister to see…

My sister collapsed.

She couldn't believe that she, who had taken it upon herself to exterminate demons and uphold the Dao, would be deceived by the demon clan into bearing a body, giving birth to a half-demon, half-human monster.

She several times placed her sword horizontally across the child's neck, yet several times couldn't bring herself to strike, and there were several times the umbrella demon stopped her……later she nearly went mad, letting the umbrella demon take the child to Snow Orchid Lake, to let him fend for himself!

"I… I went against my sister's wishes…" The umbrella demon covered her face with her hands, tears slipping through her fingers: "At that time he was already five years old, just quietly watching me, I really……"

The umbrella demon sent him back to the Demon Capital; when demons enter the demon realm, they must pay a price, especially pure umbrella demons—female cultivators of the demon clan saw her beautiful face and swapped faces with her……

But the umbrella demon clearly forgot, the face she swapped for was half jade, half flame, carrying that familiar hint of demon clan aura……

"Sister, she's gone!" Carrying disappointment toward the umbrella demon, and disappointment toward herself, it just vanished like this, as if she had never come…