In the old man’s astonished gaze, a pale white flame ignited on Xia Feng’s body, swirling around his shoulder blades before suddenly unfolding into a pair of magnificent fire feathers constructed from sacred white flames.
Hum—
The fire’s hum cleansed the air, and the quiet surrounding forest rustled. In the gentle breeze, the man in the pure white tailcoat slowly ascended into the sky.
“This is my Vermilion Bird Demonic Armor?” the old man’s eyes widened in a daze as he slowly looked up.
Although his connection to the Spirit Artifact had been severed, he could still clearly feel that as the armor’s flames transformed from red to sacred white, the entire quality of the demonic armor seemed to have been elevated.
He even had a strange feeling that the Vermilion Bird Demonic Armor’s joyfully beating azure flames seemed to be leaping, excited, and delighted by the new owner’s power!
“See clearly, this is how your Spirit Artifact is used.”
With a dance of his fire wings, Xia Feng instantly appeared behind the old man like a white lightning bolt.
Swish— a blood-red blade pierced the old man’s back. The old man’s eyes widened, and he suddenly clutched his chest, trembling in fear, “Don’t kill me! I can tell you everything about the Earl!”
Xia Feng paused his blade, as if thinking of something, and looked up at Mu Qingtong thoughtfully, “Indeed, killing him like this would be a waste. What do you think, Miss Mu?”
“Right? I’ll tell you anything you want to know!” Seeing this, the old man’s heart relaxed, and he nodded eagerly.
“Dead men’s words are the most trustworthy.”
Mu Qingtong’s beautiful eyes calmly looked at Xia Feng. “Kill him. I can make the dead speak.”
The old man was shocked, and stared in terror at the black-dressed woman not far away, as if looking at a devil. “Wh—”
Swish— The blade pierced his heart. His bewildered and shocked gaze slowly became vacant, and he seemed to murmur, “Devil…”
Xia Feng smiled and looked up. “Miss Mu, it’s your turn to perform.”
The black-dressed woman stepped forward, her palm facing the old man’s brow.
Instantly, a nearly transparent, fuzzy Spirit Body slowly floated up. It was the soul of a young man in his thirties, whose pupils now glowed with golden symbols, slowly rotating clockwise within his dark eye sockets.
Seeing this, Xia Feng nodded with a smile. This woman was indeed skilled in hypnosis.
Currently, her known Spirit Unsealing abilities were hypnosis and a strange ability that could strongly control a person’s body, with trigger conditions unknown, or at least not reliant on eye contact.
Since it was an Alpha-class Spirit Artifact, it likely had three abilities before its Holy Solution was completed.
He wondered what the last ability was.
“Why did the Earl want to capture Li Hongdou?” Mu Qingtong asked in a low voice.
The young soul’s voice was dull, “Because only when Li Hongdou acknowledges the Princess Consort as her mother can the Princess Consort complete the birth ritual.”
“Explain in detail.”
“The Princess Consort’s [Existence Power] was erased by the Imaginary River, thus she was rejected by the [World Will]. To regain the [World Will]’s recognition and have her soul be born into a physical body, she must find a way to reacquire [Existence Power].”
“The birth ritual requires a large amount of Spiritual Material and Boundless Stone. The Earl completed the collection a few days ago and now only lacks the acquisition of [Existence Power].”
“The method to obtain Existence Power is to possess an identity recognized by the [World], and this identity is often related to one’s deepest desires.”
The Spirit Body dully uttered a lot of words that were difficult to understand. Xia Feng frowned and continued to listen.
“As for the Princess Consort’s desire, it was to have a daughter. But the Princess Consort’s physical body is currently trapped in the Ice God’s Coffin, and her soul…” Listening to his words, Xia Feng suddenly nodded in understanding.
That is to say, if the Princess Consort had a daughter, she could obtain the identity of a mother and thus obtain [Existence Power], not being rejected by the [World]. However, the Princess Consort’s physical body was sealed in an ice coffin, and her soul was surrounded by the Imaginary River within a three-meter range, making it impossible to have a daughter, which was why—
“That’s not right. Couldn’t you just find any woman and have her adopted as her daughter?” Xia Feng asked suspiciously.
The young Spirit Body spoke dully, “Yue Hongli did not approve, saying that she was not married, so how could she have a daughter?”
So this Princess Consort could actually speak, huh? Xia Feng listened as the young man rambled on for a long time, and he generally understood.
Yue Hongli’s desire was for a daughter, so the Earl, witnessed by all the nobles, held a grand wedding with Yue Hongli’s soul from a distance of three meters, bestowing her the title of Princess Consort.
Although the soul often drifted around with a vacant consciousness, like a ghost, making communication difficult and appearing to have low intelligence, she could always understand human speech and knew she was married.
With marriage, she could have a daughter.
Thus, the Princess Consort recognized the stepdaughters the Earl had found.
Unfortunately, the domain of the Imaginary River had not disappeared, indicating that the World Will’s recognition had not been obtained.
Gaining the recognition of the Princess Consort’s soul was useless. The Earl was not discouraged, because he still had a real daughter.
What?!
Li Hongdou!
Because of this, Mushroom also began a struggle for her life, forced to recognize a mother.
Unfortunately, after a few years of intermittent struggles, the Earl saw that Mushroom refused to acknowledge her mother no matter what, and he gradually gave up on this method temporarily. He could simply have another one!
The Earl directly found a few women and had three more daughters, exhausting him to no end. Afterward, the Princess Consort said she wanted a daughter who could give birth to daughters.
This completely stumped the Earl.
A daughter who could give birth to daughters?!
If it weren’t for the fact that Yue Hongli’s soul was always dazed and foolish, he would have almost suspected that the soul was playing a trick on him.
However, as an Earl, he had seen all sorts of situations, and he did not get discouraged. After trying a few more methods, he discovered—
None of them could succeed!!
For example, divorcing and letting Yue Hongli marry a man with adult daughters, but the Princess Consort’s soul said that a woman’s marriage could only happen once in her lifetime.
The Earl was completely flabbergasted! He finally understood that Li Hongdou was the only candidate! If Li Hongdou wasn’t suitable, then this birth ritual was an impossible paradox!
Thus, after completing the collection of the Boundless Stone, he held a birthday banquet as he did every year, and specifically requested Xia Feng to meet him.
Although Li Hongdou had moved out of the Earl’s mansion, the Earl had been secretly monitoring her all these years. He knew that Xia Feng was Li Hongdou’s only weakness.
As long as he held Xia Feng’s life in his hands, he could easily make this unfilial daughter obedient.
Unfortunately, there was a slight accident midway through the banquet.
After listening to the young man’s account, Xia Feng’s eyelids twitched. So that banquet was that dangerous? Li Siwen wanted to get rid of me, and Li Ster also wanted to get rid of me.
Weren’t these father and son colluding? If Li Siwen had really killed me, Li Ster would have been furious.
After they asked a few more questions, Xia Feng’s blade trembled, and the young soul was annihilated, dispersing into spiritual light.
Xia Feng then used the Bloodworm to destroy the evidence and exchanged a smile with Mu Qingtong.
“Let’s go.”
***
Pingshan Hospital, amidst the ruins.
The woman in the red dress still stood like a ghost before the Glass Coffin, her foxy face, its eyes covered by a black veil, quietly looking up.
The middle-aged man stood with his hands behind his back not far away. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the woman for a long time. He slowly reached out as if trying to penetrate the three-meter domain before him, but he lowered his hand halfway, his gaze distant as he murmured:
“Soon, my Princess Consort, you will meet me…”
