Chapter 116 - Crimson Demoness

The greatest organisations in the Southern Continent were the Xuqi Dynasty, the Xuqi Sect, the Fragment Sect, the Beast Domination School, the Blade Justice School and the Hukon Clan. These organisations were classified as ‘superpowers’ for a simple reason; they were all backed by at least one immortal.

More specifically, each group was supported by a single immortal, except for the Xuqi Dynasty, which supposedly held three immortals within their ranks! As for the Xuqi Sect, one of the immortals from the Xuqi Dynasty oversaw this continent-wide law enforcement sect.

The Xuqi Sect was quite unique in its structure, in that the weakest members were at the Spirit Core realm, whilst most were at the Origin Soul realm. Not only that, but many of the Xuqi Sect members were actually elders from the other four superpowers!

Elders from the Hukon Clan, Fragment Sect, Beast Domination School and Blade Justice School could enter the Xuqi Sect, becoming members of both their original organisation and of the Xuqi Sect.

Of all the groups, most elders in the Xuqi Sect obviously came from the Xuqi Dynasty, but the number of Xuqi Sect members from the Blade Justice School was a close second. There were around half as many from the Beast Domination School, far fewer from the Hukon Clan, and the least came from the Fragment Sect.

Typically, these elders would continue residing within the lands of their original organisation, but they would enforce the Xuqi Sect’s laws upon their respective regions.

This was something that all of the other superpowers accepted, or perhaps, they were forced to accept this due to the Xuqi Dynasty’s overwhelming might.

“No, it might be that these four superpowers are not intimidated by the Xuqi Dynasty and Xuqi Sect, but rather by the Divine Court…” Yaan mused to himself. “Since they are all righteous groups, it makes sense that they would align themselves to the Divine Court and conform to their rules, at least on the surface.”

Of the superpower organisations, the Xuqi Dynasty was the oldest, whilst the Fragment Sect was the most recently established. In fact, the Xuqi Dynasty’s history dated back for nearly 40,000 years!

Originally, the members of the Xuqi Dynasty were actually part of an exiled lineage of the Southern Continent’s former ruling clan, a group called the Sou Clan. The Sou Clan were portrayed as the villains in these history books, but Yaan could more or less discern the truth from this biased recount of history.

After being exiled to the far reaches of the Southern Continent, the Xuqi lineage kept to themselves as they slowly built themselves up, eventually becoming a large enough power that they battled against the Sou Clan, taking control of the Southern Continent for themselves.

As for what became of the Sou Clan after this, it was not mentioned…

The Fragment Sect’s history was far more brief, in fact, the Fragment Sect was established merely 1,500 years ago. That was not even as old as the Ghu Clan, causing Yaan to feel some surprise. All the other superpower organisations had at least 10,000 years of history, but the Fragment Sect was so ‘young’. It was also the smallest of the superpowers, at least in terms of the size of their territories.

On the matter of the Fragment Sect’s territories, this was also quite a strange matter. Originally, the Xuqi Dynasty, the Xuqi Sect and the Hukon Clan all bordered one another, whilst the central region between them, the Southernmost point on Planet Yushu which was also the entrance to the ‘evil inheritance’, was an unclaimed but guarded land between them all. The Beast Domination School lay to the East of these groups, whilst the Blade Justice School was situated to the West.

However, 1,500 years ago, the Hukon Clan suddenly gave up a massive portion of their territory to a new organisation, the Fragment Sect. There was much speculation about why they might have done this, ranging from the Hukon Clan’s immortal having some relation with the Fragment Sect’s Immortal Ancestor, to theories claiming that this territory was exchanged for an immortal treasure. In the end though, Yaan could not ascertain the truth from these records.

He moved on from the records about the current massive organisations and briefly looked through the records on the smaller organisations. These smaller groups were countless, whilst none of them were even comparable to the superpowers backed by immortals.

Soon, Yaan found some rather interesting records…

“Immortal Records…” Yaan muttered to himself.

This book was titled quite clearly, whilst it was stationed upon its own podium in the central tower of the library. There were a few books like this, each was held in high regard, clearly they were considered to be valuable items, or perhaps they were treated as treasures to be proud of.

The number of immortals in the Southern Continent was not huge, despite the enormous scale of this land. In fact, there were said to be even fewer immortals in the North, meaning that the number of immortals on the planet was extremely low.

Of course, there were probably some secluded immortals who did not make themselves known to the public. Immortals were too mysterious in the eyes of Foundation Step cultivators, the only ones who were known to the public, were those who wanted to be known to the public. Essentially, these were the leaders of superpower organisations.

Each of the Southern immortals was noted in this book, alongside other immortals who had lived in the past. It was not only the Southern Continent immortals though, the known immortals from the North were also mentioned. Far more details regarding those individuals was divulged compared to the Southern Continent’s immortals.

According to this book, there were 12 living immortals on Planet Yushu. Yaan made sure to properly memorise all the information on these immortals, though to be honest, this information was not all that useful.

There were pictures and titles, as well as achievements and past exploits.

The achievements listed on the pages of the Southern Continent immortals spoke of their righteous actions, about how they had protected the South and fought against demons from the North, but also against other demons that appeared in the South. As for the Northern demonic immortals, they were described as vicious and evil beings, with their various atrocities noted as a warning to all who came across these texts.

As Yaan read this book, he started to feel curious about a certain immortal who was mentioned now and then. There were records of this person on each of the Southern Continent immortals’ pages, because this person was a demon who suddenly appeared in the South 1,600 years ago. Aside from the Fragment Sect Immortal Ancestor who had not yet appeared at that time, all the other immortals in the South gathered together to fight this demoness and protect their lands…

When Yaan finally found this mysterious demonic woman in the book, he almost choked from shock.

“This…this is Rui, isn’t it?”

There was no name given for this person, only a picture and the title ‘Crimson Demoness’. This woman had deep red eyes, a cold and indifferent expression, and long black hair that complimented her smooth pale skin. She was described as a powerful member of the vampiric race…

It was definitely Rui!

“It says here that she actually first appeared in the Hukon Clan’s territories…she immediately started to massacre all of the Foundation Step cultivators, draining and consuming their blood at an absurd rate…she fought against multiple immortals, only fleeing when the Xuqi Grand Ancestor appeared.”

Yaan forced out a laugh.

“She appeared out of nowhere, killed millions of people, then left the planet. This definitely sounds like something Rui would do…”

As Yaan thought about this, he started to make some connections. His psyche power cultivation was not just for show, he was easily able to make various deductions based on new information like this, especially when combined with other things he had learned in the past.

“Rui mentioned in the true-false illusion world that she once entered an inheritance 1,800 years ago. She said it was very similar to the inheritance I described to her, only, the emphasis was placed on demonic race Qi refining, specifically with the Fiend Transformation technique.”

Yaan muttered to himself as he showed an odd expression.

“At the time, I was a bit doubtful about the truth behind her words, but now…it seems she really was telling the truth. It's likely that she entered 1,800 years ago, then returned 1,600 years ago, which is when she made her official appearance in the South. So, like me, Rui entered such an inheritance that placed focus on the Fiend Transformation technique…”

“In that case, the ‘evil inheritance’ in the Southern Continent should actually be a different inheritance compared to the one I entered in the North! Strange…two inheritances, each with entrances opening once every ten years, one at the Northernmost point, the other at the Southernmost point of the planet.”

“There is clearly karma between myself and Rui, I have seen the karmic link with my own eyes. When we first met, it was the Fiend Transformation technique that truly brought us together, wasn’t it…”

“Perhaps…perhaps Rui was the ‘fated inheritor’ of the South inheritance. She seemed to recognise the karmic links from before, she seemed to understand something…”

Yaan mumbled slightly, his disorganised thoughts slowly coming together.

When a certain idea appeared in his mind, a thought that he had considered before, only now it felt far more feasible with this new information, he involuntarily shivered.

“Rui said I might have reincarnated. It sounds crazy, but even the Spirit Plane Lord hinted that this might be true…if that really is the case…it is likely that I knew Rui in my past life. The Spirit Plane Lord, too. And the white haired immortal. Perhaps even Old Thief, I didn’t see any karmic link between us, but he certainly seemed to recognise me. Then there is the inheritance, I clearly have some connection to that place.”

Yaan grouped Rui in with these people , but he knew that there was a difference between her and the others. For one, Rui did not recognise him. Rui did not act as if the two of them had met previously, or like she had known Yaan in his possible past life. Of course, this could all be her act, but this seemed unlikely based on her actions. And yet, the two of them were very clearly connected together by karma…

Rui did not say this explicitly, but Yaan thought it was highly likely that she obtained the Fiend Transformation technique in the Southern inheritance. Rui obviously had a deep impression of the Fiend Transformation technique, she even wrote an entire alchemy book on the matter. She then taught this technique to Yaan. Eventually, that very same technique led Yaan into body tempering, leading to him exploring the Northern inheritance.

Just who would believe that this was all a coincidence? Even so, this feeling of being controlled, manipulated by some unknown force, made Yaan feel extremely uncomfortable.

Yaan took a deep breath and calmed himself. Whenever he thought about this matter, it made him feel that it was all too absurd, too fantastical to be real. Honestly, it was still difficult to accept that reincarnation existed in this world.

“But if this is all true, there should be a strong connection between myself, Rui, the Fiend Transformation technique and the two inheritances. Perhaps the creator of those two inheritances knew both myself and Rui, they might have actually prepared the inheritances specifically for us. Perhaps they used the Fiend Transformation technique for some purpose, which is somehow linked to our fates…or perhaps I am completely wrong.”

Yaan sighed deeply. In the end, there was still nothing that he could say with certainty.