Qiu Yu shook her head, "Are you and my father from the same clan?"
Her father and mother's true forms were sealed, and they had no memory of being the Flowing Yu Supreme God and the Qilin Holy Lord.
But her father, from the Qilin clan, should have kin.
This one before her... might just be one.
"I am your grandfather," the Qilin auspicious beast nudged Qiu Yu with its nose. "Ever since your father, the Qilin Holy Lord, was sealed, the Qilin clan has been suppressed by the Heavenly Emperor and buried beneath the Xuan Yue Mountain Range. It has been a long time. I've always wanted to find you and your brother, but I was powerless."
"This time, I took advantage of your tribulation and rode the heavenly lightning to break through and speak with you."
"Grandfather..." Qiu Yu looked up and stroked the Qilin's nose. "Your granddaughter is listening. What do you want to say?"
"About your cultivation," the Qilin nuzzled her. "When Ling Ru, that demonic woman, possessed your divine body, she also took one of your souls. Her goal was to ensure that you, with a missing soul, could neither reincarnate nor fully reclaim your body."
"But I can't get my soul back from her now," Qiu Yu frowned, also at a loss.
"Indeed. Therefore, keep this object safe." The Qilin lowered its head, a silver-white Qilin horn in its mouth, and placed it into Qiu Yu's palm. "This is the left horn of the Qilin clan. When you reach the Deity Transformation stage, refine this object, and you can cultivate a new immortal root. At that time, your three souls and seven spirits will be complete again, and you can formally fight Ling Ru and reclaim your body."
"This is crucial for your return to the Nine Heavens."
"Remember to keep it safe with your spiritual sense. Do not tell anyone else. If you lose it, you will never be able to reclaim your body from Ling Ru. Remember this."
Qiu Yu put away the Qilin horn and nodded.
Just as she was about to ask how she could save the Qilin clan, a white light suddenly illuminated the surroundings.
Qiu Yu was blinded and couldn't open her eyes. She shielded them with her hands. When she opened them again, the surroundings had returned to peace.
She sat cross-legged on the ground, having cultivated her true form and separated from the original form of the artifact.
Within her spiritual sense, the Qilin horn left by her grandfather slowly circulated with her Nascent Soul.
"Brother!" Si Qing was the first to run towards Qiu Yu and embrace her.
Yue Zhi Yin and the others followed closely behind.
Everyone surrounded Qiu Yu.
Qiu Yu stood up from the ground, first hugging everyone, then walked to Yu Zhen and Li Yu, cupped her fists in a bow:
"Master, Mistress, I have successfully advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, and my inner demon did not act up."
"Really? Let me see." Li Yu walked over and held Qiu Yu's pulse. Seeing her strong and powerful pulse, he was filled with joy. "That's great, that's great. With the inner demon overcome, there's nothing else to worry about. But how did you resolve the inner demon issue?"
"I asked the God of War for an immortal medicine," Si Qing stepped forward, preventing Qiu Yu from mentioning the God of War's tears.
Qiu Yu nodded.
Li Yu looked enlightened, then took the medicine bottle from Qiu Yu, looking puzzled. "This thing can dispel inner demons? Is it really that magical?"
"It's really magical!" Qiu Yu said, half praising, half complaining. "This thing not only dispels inner demons, but it also increased my cultivation..."
If not for that, she wouldn't have undergone tribulation so early.
Li Yu looked surprised.
Qiu Yu thought for a moment, then flipped her hands, her tiger's mouth facing each other. A round mirror appeared in her palm.
Qiu Yu shone the mirror at the medicine bottle containing the God of War's tears.
Soon, the medicine bottle was replicated into several copies.
Qiu Yu looked at Si Qing, blinking her eyes. "Can I give everyone a share?"
Si Qing looked up at the sky. "You've already made so many, why are you still asking? If I disagree, can you turn them back?"
"No," Qiu Yu replied slyly. "If you disagree, I'll make more and sell them under the name of the God of War's Demon-Expelling Elixir... to the God of War's followers."
After speaking, she didn't forget to conjure a small abacus and start calculating how much gold she could make.
Si Qing: "..."
Sister, please, stop harming my followers, okay?
Qiu Yu couldn't hear Si Qing's thoughts and entered a frenzy of replication. After distributing one bottle to everyone, she sent all the remaining replicated God of War's tears back to the Library of Ten Thousand Scrolls in the demon realm.
Si Qing wanted to cry but had no tears.
Now it was good.
From now on, all the followers in the world would have his tears.
Thinking of everyone having a bottle, Si Qing felt ashamed. If someone knowledgeable confirmed it was his tears, wouldn't the whole world know that the God of War had cried?
Yu Zhen and Li Yu asked Qiu Yu to sit down and adjust herself. After confirming her internal energy was stable, they continued on their journey.
However, as they walked deeper into the All-Elemental Forest, everyone's mindset was much calmer, as they no longer had to constantly worry about Qiu Yu's inner demon.
Qiu Yu herself, having overcome her inner demon and with the Qilin horn gifted by her grandfather possessing a blessing ability, had a smooth journey, obtaining several rare spirit stones that, while not large, were extremely scarce.
As they approached the Ice Elemental Forest, Feng Si Qian and Qiu Yu switched positions with Yue Zhi Yin and Qiu Nian, walking at the forefront.
The moment their feet touched the ground of the Ice Elemental Forest, the forest began to shake violently.
White formations suddenly lit up beneath Qiu Yu and Feng Si Qian's feet.
"Brother, (Si Qian) be careful!" Feng Ming Qi and Si Qing exclaimed towards Qiu Yu and Feng Si Qian, instinctively trying to pull them back.
However, as soon as their hands reached out, they felt the ground of the Ice Elemental Forest shake violently.
When they came to their senses, Feng Ming Qi and Si Qing had already stepped onto the formation.
The two of them, along with Qiu Yu and Feng Si Qian, were tightly surrounded by an erected ice net from the formation, lifted and suspended in mid-air.
Qiu Yu let out a cry.
She was squeezed into a ball with Si Qing, Feng Ming Qi, and Feng Si Qian inside the ice net.
Feng Si Qian, sitting inside the net, roared at them, "Don't move! Can the three of you stop struggling? You're making me dizzy with all the shaking."
Feng Ming Qi immediately remained calm.
Si Qing also maintained his original posture, not daring to move.
Qiu Yu was contemplating a way out when she suddenly noticed that there seemed to be some writing on the ice net.
Yu Zhen and Li Yu had clearly noticed this as well.
The group, while trying to figure out how to break the ice net, flew up on their swords to get a closer look.
Li Yu unfolded the net and read word by word: "This net is a Celestial Binding Net. Within the time it takes for one incense stick to burn, find a pair of people with telepathic connection and no secrets from each other, and the formation will be dispelled."
Yu Zhen: "..."
Li Yu: "..."
They looked at each other, then finally turned to Yue Zhi Yin, Qiu Nian, Sui You, Chi Ming, Qi Yan, and Ming Lou.
Ming Lou looked troubled. "...Well, after living for so long... who doesn't have a few secrets? I'm afraid I can't."
Qi Yan pursed his lips. "It's also inconvenient for me."
Chi Ming cupped his cheeks, his expression a blank "aba aba."
Qiu Nian looked up at the sky.
Yue Zhi Yin looked at Sui You.
Sui You looked at Yue Zhi Yin.
A group of people, each with hidden identities, stood there silently, hesitating between revealing their secrets to save themselves and finding other ways without revealing them.
Li Yu poked Yu Zhen's shoulder. "What are you hiding?"
Actually, what he was hiding wasn't a big deal. It was just that not long after he and Yu Zhen became cultivation partners, one day on a meditation cushion, two auspicious beast eggs of unknown origin appeared.
Why would he, a grown man and a cultivator, lay eggs?
Moreover, those two eggs had been there for two thousand years without any signs of hatching, so he felt too embarrassed to say anything. If he said it, where would his master's dignity go?
Yu Zhen retorted, "What about you? What are you hiding?"
As she asked this question, Yu Zhen's heart tightened, feeling a sense of unease.
She was worried about her identity as the Demon Lord and the fact that she had secretly given birth to four children for Li Yu, two of whom had already joined the sect, being discovered.
Therefore, these truths were something she absolutely dared not reveal easily.
Li Yu was stunned by Yu Zhen's retort and didn't know what to say for a moment.
After a long silence, Li Yu finally looked up and said to the others, "Having managed the Bei Yuan Sect for so long, I didn't realize everyone had so many little secrets... How about we take this opportunity to reveal what we've been hiding? Let's have someone start. Who's willing to go first? Yue Zhi Yin, are you willing?"
Yue Zhi Yin's mouth twitched. "...Master, I need a little more psychological preparation. How about we start with others? Junior Brother Qiu Yu, you go first, how about it?"
Everyone looked at Qiu Yu in the net.
Qiu Yu pursed her lips, recalled what she had been hiding, and silently wiped away a bead of sweat. "I don't think... that's a good idea..."
Si Qing chimed in. "I also don't think it's a good idea. Several of us are stuck in the net, and we can't break this formation ourselves, so you guys have to go first. If you ask me, we should start with Master!"
Feng Ming Qi raised his hand. "Hey, I think that's right."
Feng Si Qian also nodded. "Anyone is fine."
Yue Zhi Yin looked at Li Yu. "Master, please."
Qiu Nian looked at Li Yu obediently. "...Master, you lead, and I'll follow closely."
Sui You looked at Li Yu.
Chi Ming, Qi Yan, and Ming Lou also looked at Li Yu.
Yu Zhen casually found a spot, munched on sunflower seeds, and watched Li Yu.
Li Yu's face turned red as he struggled for a long time before finally replying, "It's not really a big deal, it's just that two thousand years ago, when I was meditating, I found that I had two more eggs."
"Oh, you had two more eggs." Yu Zhen nodded, then suddenly felt something was wrong. "Wait a minute, what? Two more eggs!? Whose eggs?"
Yue Zhi Yin almost bit his tongue.
Qiu Nian, Sui You, Chi Ming, Qi Yan, and Ming Lou collectively covered their faces with a *snap*.
Feng Si Qian's mouth twitched.
Feng Ming Qi, who had never expected the content to be this, also opened his mouth wide in disbelief.
He looked at Feng Si Qian. "Can humans lay eggs?"
Feng Si Qian went crazy. "How is that possible? Do you think they're chickens?!"
Feng Ming Qi pointed at Li Yu.
Feng Si Qian was speechless.
Si Qing pursed his lips and secretly transmitted to Qiu Yu, "What's going on? Did our dad lay eggs?"