"You are, Jiu Ying."
"The little girl has discerning eyes." That large head was like a dragon, like a snake, and just one of them was larger than many things. It had nine such heads.
"Why aren't you running out with them? Can't you get out?"
Jiu Ying was considered a relatively powerful type among the ancient great demons. Before being imprisoned here, it could dominate a region and cause havoc. With nine heads, it was equivalent to having nine lives, making it not easily killable.
Furthermore, they appeared not long after the gods were born. In ancient times, there was no distinction between gods, demons, spirits, or ghosts. They were very ancient demon creatures. Had they not caused trouble, they, like Chen Yuan, would have been qualified to govern a region.
"Those little things can get out, so how could this seat be unable to? This seat simply doesn't wish to go out."
"Oh," Wu Xiang's voice drew out, sounding somewhat sarcastic.
"Little girl, I still haven't asked who you are? How did you get here? Were you also imprisoned?"
Wu Xiang spun around in place: "Do I look like I've been imprisoned? You still haven't said why you aren't going out? Do you like it here?"
"It's quiet here."
"Is that so?" There were countless demonic creatures here, and for thousands of years, they had all wanted to escape. It didn't seem like a quiet place at all.
"Actually, this seat does wish to go out, but this seat once offended someone. Unless she permits it, I cannot leave."
"Who did you offend?"
"Little girl." Jiu Ying suddenly switched to a different head. The center of that dragon-like, snake-like head had a red spot resembling some kind of mark.
Wu Xiang stared at the slightly glowing red mark for a while, feeling a sense of trance.
"Little girl, if you are so eager to know, why don't you help this seat get out? This seat will tell you everything and even grant you three wishes."
"How can I help you?"
"Do you see that blue mark on my head? Just draw it over it, disrupt it, and I can come out." Its voice held an undisguised excitement.
Wu Xiang slowly approached. Just as Jiu Ying thought it would be able to emerge immediately, she gathered spiritual energy into a thread in her hand and lassoed Jiu Ying's distinctive head, pulling it outward with force.
Jiu Ying let out a scream of agony. Its head instantly swelled to over ten times its size. It bared its teeth ferociously at Wu Xiang. Unfortunately, its main body was still inside. With its head in Wu Xiang's hand, no matter how fierce it was, it was merely bluster.
Jiu Ying's voice became hoarse and ferocious: "You, who exactly are you! What is your relationship with Zhu Qin!"
Wu Xiang, holding its head in one hand, said casually: "She is the one you offended. How did you offend her? Tell this Venerable one, or else this Yin Eye will be taken by this Venerable one."
Jiu Ying's eyes turned red with anger, but it was utterly unable to escape. Seeing that Wu Xiang genuinely intended to take its Yin Eye, it was frightened and quickly began to speak.
"This seat will tell you!" It struggled fiercely a few times. Only when Wu Xiang stopped did it behave.
"In the beginning, when the universe was formed, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth birthed the very first god in existence. That was a divine bird of utmost truth and purity. The divine bird scattered vitality throughout the world, and all things on earth grew. At that time, spiritual energy was abundant, and gradually, many... beings appeared in the heavens and the mortal realm. This seat also emerged at that time. All things are born of nature, and survival of the fittest. This seat was born a demon and needed to consume human bones and blood and absorb human souls to grow. Little did I expect to be targeted by her. She used her state of mind to build the Forbidden Tower, imprisoning troublesome demons in it for tens of thousands of years, unable to escape. This seat has also been imprisoned by her for tens of thousands of years."
Wu Xiang already knew most of this when receiving its inheritance. What surprised it was that this place was actually built from a state of mind.
"You say the Forbidden Tower was built by her using her state of mind, so why are things escaping now?"
Jiu Ying let out a disdainful laugh: "She fancies herself a god, and everything she does is for the sake of all sentient beings. When she acted for all sentient beings, this place was naturally unbreakable. However, she harbored selfish desires, and her state of mind was no longer pure. This place naturally became vulnerable."
"Vulnerable?" Wu Xiang seemed to hear a joke. "Then why can't you get out? Is it because you don't want to?"
Of course not. If there had been an opportunity, it would have escaped long ago and would now be wreaking havoc in the mortal realm.
"...This seat had planned to wait for her to completely lose her divinity and for her heart to hold no more concern for the world, at which point this place would naturally break. I didn't expect her to gradually recover. What about being for the sake of all sentient beings? It's all for selfish desires, pretending to be a saint. All things have their own way! By what right does she imprison this seat? If she were truly fair and just, my consuming humans is my ability, why should she imprison me?"
"Because she is more powerful than you. You were defeated and imprisoned by her, that is her capability."
Jiu Ying: "..."
Wu Xiang released its grip and let it go back, seemingly unconcerned about it charging out. It turned to leave.
"Hey, what exactly is your relationship with Zhu Qin?"
"I am her daughter."
Jiu Ying was silent for a long time, then suddenly let out a loud shout, followed by hearty laughter.
"She does have selfish desires! She, a deity, fell in love with a mortal and even bore offspring! She can't even uphold her own rules. What right does she have?"
Wu Xiang, too lazy to watch it go mad, simply left.
Back outside, the tower remained quiet. She withdrew from the Forbidden Tower and resealed the two breached doors. The runes on the doors gradually connected and began to rotate, appearing incredibly sacred.
Zhu Qin built the tower with her Dao heart, but her Dao heart became unstable, leading to the breach of the Forbidden Tower's seals and the escape of its inhabitants.
At that time, she must have witnessed too much deception and treachery in the mortal realm, causing her to become weary and wish to see them destroy themselves.
Later, for some unknown reason, she chose to ascend and restore life to the mortal realm.
She had acted that way tens of thousands of years ago, and tens of thousands of years later, she did it again. The Forbidden Tower sensed her change, and the seals became firm again. The seals for great demons were more powerful than those for ordinary demons, no wonder Jiu Ying couldn't get out.
Having understood everything, Wu Xiang officially led the divine realm's forces to apprehend the demons. Those willing to behave and stay in the demon realm were allowed to, while those causing trouble in the mortal realm were captured and imprisoned.
Chen Yuan was too persistent about the little fairy in Mu Yuan Shang Shen's palace, and he kept helping the divine realm capture escaped demons, determined to move his "mother-in-law" with his actions.
Mu Yuan Shang Shen suffered greatly from being unable to defeat him; otherwise, he would have killed him long ago.
Once most of the escaped beings were captured, Wu Xiang took the opportunity to visit the Siming Palace again.
The ruins next to that small palace seemed to have recovered somewhat. The little fairy attendant, upon seeing her standing at the entrance, trembled.
She hadn't forgotten her previous disrespectful words. Though the Divine Venerable didn't hold it against her, she couldn't help but be afraid.
The little girl bowed deeply to her: "Greetings, Divine Venerable!"
"Is Siming here?"
"Yes, he is."
Wu Xiang walked straight in. Siming's first reaction was to close the door, then he felt it was inappropriate, and finally couldn't help himself.
"I did not expect the Divine Venerable's grand arrival. Forgive my poor reception."
"This Venerable One wishes to see what happened in the Thirty-Third Heaven. You need not guard against me."
Siming: "...This place only contains the Books of Fate. Even when Lord Yao Zhu was here, no one could overstep bounds in the Thirty-Third Heaven."