“Feng Jingyu said that he’s going to take you along on a rainbow-colored cloud and slaughter your way back to the Royal Heavenly Capital?” Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen without batting an eyelid, “And even told you about the Qianyuan dynasty imperial members’ battle for the throne?”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded and frowned slightly, answering with some uncertainty, “I always feel that Maomao is trying to hint at something, but I don’t understand what he’s trying to say…it’s great if he slaughters his way back, but why does he also need to take me along? I don’t intend to go back to the Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital and join the fight for the throne either; just look at Ah Gu, he’s clearly so powerful but still died in the end.”

　　Because you’re probably the prince mentioned in his story, the one who was almost killed by that prophet, Lin Xuanzhi sighed in his heart as he answered in his thoughts.

　　Speaking of this, Yan Tianhen sighed again and touched his nose, “Maomao is also quite pitiful, he has a home but can’t return there. He was even chased and hunted here by others. He and Ah Gu really are a pair of brothers in hardship.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s heart suddenly felt cold, but he didn’t dare to alarm Yan Tianhen and let him notice anything, so he maintained an impassive expression and rubbed Yan Tianhen’s small face. “Ah Hen did the right thing. When you encounter this kind of thing that you don’t understand in the future, especially something related to Feng Jingyu, tell Dage about it. After Dage understands the matter, I will tell you about it.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded. He held no reservations against Lin Xuanzhi with regards to secrets. Moreover, Lin Xuanzhi already knew about his biggest secret — that he was a demonic cultivator. No matter how bad other things were, they still can’t be as bad as that, right?

　　Lin Xuanzhi opened his eyes after Yan Tianhen was deep asleep, draped his outer garment over his shoulders as he got off the bed, and quietly came to Yan Tianhen’s room.

　　There was no light in the room, and Lin Xuanzhi felt a strong force pressing him down as soon as he entered the door.

　　He quickly took out a magic treasure and slashed out once, nimbly defusing the other party’s attack in the dark.

　　“Quite strong.” A childish voice rang out. Lin Xuanzhi calmly put the forged engraving pen away.

　　Feng Jingyu jumped onto Lin Xuanzhi’s shoulder and craned his head, trying to get a better look at that forged engraving pen. He exclaimed in surprise, “This forged engraving pen of yours, isn’t it from the Divine Parasol Tree in my West Imperial Palace?”

　　“Who knows.”

　　Feng Jingyu flapped his wings, wanting to take the forged engraving pen for a closer look and shouted, “It definitely is, I sensed the aura of the Divine Parasol Tree from it. You, you, let me have a look real quick!”

　　In the instant when Feng Jingyu was about to snatch the forged engraving pen in his mouth, Lin Xuanzhi’s fingers turned nimbly and stuffed the forged engraving pen into the storage bag at his waist.

　　Feng Jingyu, “…”

　　“Wahh, baddie!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi grabbed this phoenix, who was still flapping about beside him, without waiting for him to flip out, and squeezed his neck with two fingers. He narrowed his eyes as he asked, “What is your intention, saying those words to Ah Hen today?”

　　Feng Jingyu was strangled to the point that his eyes rolled back, both of his feet stuck out straight.

　　Lin Xuanzhi sensed that his actions were too heavy-handed and loosened his grip on Feng Jingyu’s neck. Although he would never strangle this divine bird to death, using strength to bully the weak wasn’t in his nature — even if the other party wasn’t actually weak.

　　As soon as Feng Jingyu freed himself, he flew in front of Lin Xuanzhi and slapped his forehead with a wing, shouting angrily, “You bear child! What’s wrong with speaking, why do you have to use force?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s eyes were cold, and he suppressed the urge to once again catch this bird who dared to slap him. “It’s not like phoenixes can never die, it’s just that their souls need to completely scatter away. Only then will they meet a tragic end and never be reincarnated.”

　　Feng Jingyu, who was originally making a fuss with Lin Xuanzhi, suddenly seemed like his mute acupoint was pressed. All his chirping and twittering came to an abrupt stop, and his golden beak also clamped shut.

　　Feng Jingyu stood on the table and raised his head, sizing up Lin Xuanzhi for quite a while before finally asking, “Do you believe in fate?”

　　“I do.” Lin Xuanzhi responded lightly.

　　“I also believe in it.” Feng Jingyu sat on the table. “Originally, I thought the Five Continents’ mainland was simply an unremarkable world with nothing out of the ordinary, but it wasn’t until I saw characters like Ling Chigu and Bai Yichen that I understood that, actually, the Five Continents’ mainland is very important.”

　　“Bai Yichen also has connections to the Royal Heavenly Capital?”

　　“Ha, not just connections, but they’re also quite deep.” Feng Jingyu said carelessly. “But I can’t tell you his exact identity. I can only tell you that if you and Yan Tianhen are standing on the same side in the future, he will inevitably be your enemy.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s gaze deepened slightly. “You know Ah Hen’s identity.”

　　Feng Jingyu nodded, “Originally I didn’t know, but when I saw Ling Chigu following beside him as a corpse puppet and the cracks on his face, which could only be the result of a devil-sealing array mixed with a poison pill, I could pretty much determine his identity.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi stared blankly, stunned. He just guessed that Feng Jingyu should know about Yan Tianhen’s origins, but he didn’t expect that Feng Jingyu even knew about the other secrets on Yan Tianhen’s person.

　　Feng Jingyu saw this and said quite proudly, “Don’t look at me with such a guarded expression. If you wander in the Upper Realm for a few years, you’ll know that my West Imperial Palace is the place with the greatest amount of information, as well as the most accurate, in all of the Nine Lands. However, my impression of Yan Tianhen didn’t actually come from West Imperial Palace; in actuality, when the devil bloodline within him was being sealed, I just happened to be watching from the side, so I am quite familiar with the lines in his face.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi was very surprised, but at the same time, he also felt somewhat excited.

　　In the past life, he didn’t figure out Yan Tianhen’s origins, even until his death. He didn’t find Yan Tianhen’s family, which became a permanent sore spot in Lin Xuanzhi’s heart. In this life, however, he touched upon a little of Yan Tianhen’s origins so smoothly.

　　“Can you recreate the scene from back then?”

　　“It’s impossible to recreate that scene with my current cultivation.”

　　His current cultivation probably couldn’t even win against Lin Xuanzhi. Even though he could spew out a mouthful of fire and burn away all creation, he couldn’t just casually use it either.

　　Lin Xuanzhi continued to ask, “Did you take part in sealing Yan Tianhen’s devil bloodline?”

　　“I know you want to ask whether I know how to lift the great array.” Feng Jingyu shook his head. “Unfortunately, I don’t understand a thing about arrays. Back then, I was guarding Yan Tianhen’s dad as he activated the array. What’s more, it’s not only an array that’s sealed him; there’s also a poison pill made by a Poison Master. I could find a Poison Master for you if I was still in the Nine Lands, but as for curing the poison, I’m unclear on that.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi wasn’t too disappointed either. In his last life, he fumbled about for methods to defuse the great array and poison pill within Yan Tianhen’s body for a thousand years. At this time, he also had a set of ideas in his mind. He only asked Feng Jingyu because he wanted to be more certain.

　　“What exactly is Ah Hen’s identity?”

　　“He is the sixth successor of the Qianyuan dynasty.” A scarlet flame blazed about in Feng Jingyu’s golden-red eyes; it was especially conspicuous in the dark room that lacked any lighting.

　　“The Qianyuan dynasty had eight kings who ruled their own respective lands, with the Western Land as one of those lands. Every land’s conferred king had the right to inherit the emperor’s throne in the Royal Heavenly Capital. However, even after so many years, the throne had always been in the hands of the Yan family.”

　　Although Feng Jingyu’s voice had a childish tone, it was calm and steady. This discrepancy made it so that people couldn’t help but believe him.

　　“And yet the dynasty’s order of succession for the throne has always been determined by the family of prophets, the Yin family, based on calculations of the aspects of the celestial bodies and divinations. Although most of them are ranked by seniority and the legitimacy of their blood, this is not always the case.” Feng Jingyu stared at Lin Xuanzhi, his expression mysterious. “At least, the seventh successor for the throne after Yan Tianhen is older than Yan Tianhen, but after that person was born, the spot of the sixth successor before him was left vacant, set aside especially for someone else.”

　　“Yan Tianhen is part of the Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital’s imperial family?” Lin Xuanzhi asked.

　　“Any family in line to inherit the throne is considered part of the imperial family.” Feng Jingyu continued, “This is different from the Five Continent’s secular dynasties. There are a total of nine families with imperial blood in the Nine Lands, one family for each of the Nine Lands. The disputes among families, disputes among the heir apparent, and disputes among the different sects have never ended. The Yan family in the Royal Heavenly Capital doesn’t necessarily dominate over all other forces. Among the other eight families, besides my phoenix race, which has always been neutral, each family has its own goals and plans.

　　The Nine Lands had eight kings and one emperor. Even if one didn’t count the phoenix family, there were still eight families competing for that supreme position. The number of successors to the Qianyuan dynasty was probably more than 100. If Yan Tianhen really was a descendant of the Yan family, and with such a high line-of-succession rank to boot, he would inevitably be targeted by a multitude of forces. Needless to say, the journey would be full of thrilling dangers and challenges.

　　Lin Xuanzhi frowned slightly. “You want Ah Hen to fight for that position?”

　　Feng Jingyu’s golden pupils blazed luminously as he stared at Lin Xuanzhi. “It’s not that I want to, but that he has to fight for that position.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s pupils constricted. “Why? Could it be that someone from the Nine Lands has already noticed Ah Hen’s existence?”

　　Feng Jingyu grimly responded, “Yan Tianhen has never escaped those people’s surveillance. Those people know that he is somewhere in the Five Continents but don’t know who took him away. However, the Dao of Heaven works in mysterious ways. I don’t believe that it’s a complete coincidence that Ling Chigu died in the mass burial grounds fifty miles outside of Qing City and was coincidentally seen by Yan Tianhen. Ling Chigu came from the Chixue Ling family; every generation of that family is only loyal to the heir apparent who gains their recognition. They have a contract recognized by the Dao of Heaven itself with the heir apparent. Ling Chigu is the last remaining member of the Ling family and also the person with the most concentrated Ling family blood flowing through his veins. Mysteriously and inexorably, he came to Yan Tianhen’s side; fate inevitably came into play in this.”

　　Although his words spoke of mysteries within mysteries and even touched upon the Dao of Heaven, matters like the mysterious and eternal Dao of Heaven and the deep destinies it foreordained were the easiest for cultivators to believe.

　　Lin Xuanzhi also believed this. In fact, ever since Ling Chigu had appeared beside Yan Tianhen and Feng Jingyu was saved by Yan Tianhen, he had already sensed that the gears of fate had begun to turn.

　　However, Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t have imagined that Yan Tianhen’s identity would be like this.

　　Tricky and troublesome, and also very dangerous.

　　After a long period of silence, Lin Xuanzhi looked up at Feng Jingyu and asked in a flat voice, “Any of Qianyuan dynasty’s imperial families would never allow a person with devil blood to give birth to a child who has the right to inherit the throne. Why would Ah Hen’s parents want to give birth to him?”

　　Feng Jingyu’s eyelids twitched. He always felt that Lin Xuanzhi’s pair of cold and merciless eyes could see through all the clues. Moreover, as far as he knew, Lin Xuanzhi should never have left the Five Continents, so how could he know the rules of the Nine Lands so well?

　　It couldn’t be…conjectures?

　　Feng Jingyu suppressed the misgivings in his heart, deciding to make sense of them later.

　　As for the birth of an heir apparent with devil blood, this involved a gossip of the past.