Mo Yan knelt on the ground, his voice hoarse but unnervingly clear.
"Replying to Master, the greatest value of the Rebirth Flower lies in its ability to rebuild a body. Ancient records state that its petals…"
"Enough." Xie Zhaolin suddenly raised her hand to cut him off. Her temples throbbed as she forced down the irritation bubbling in her chest. "All of that's written in the jade slips. You don't need to repeat it."
Mo Yan's words died instantly. His mouth hung half open as he froze on the spot, eyes dull, blinking blankly.
That reaction made the vein on Xie Zhaolin's forehead twitch twice more. She finally saw it clearly—this demon race clone could be brilliant enough to scheme thirty years ahead, yet when he was stupid, it was enough to make one despair.
From what she remembered, none of the demons she'd dealt with had ever been this extreme. Was it a side effect of the Soul Severing Art, or was he just naturally this dim?
Xie Zhaolin leaned toward the latter.
Through the contract's emotional link, she'd sensed how his initial unwillingness and rage had long since faded. Now, he'd completely accepted being a slave, adapting almost too well.
The cave fell into eerie silence, broken only by the sound of water dripping off the stone walls.
She drew in a deep breath and rubbed her aching temples. After all the back-and-forth with him, she suddenly felt that using the slave contract to watch him rolling around was nothing but torture. In the end, she was only punishing herself.
"Say something useful," she said tightly, keeping her temper in check. "For example, how exactly did you confirm the Rebirth Flower was in Blackwater Abyss?"
"It was… it was a task given to my main body. They said the Rebirth Flower would appear here." He shrank his neck. "The records say, after its birth, the surrounding environment changes."
Her brows furrowed. That detail hadn't been in the jade slips. "What kind of changes?"
"Spiritual qi backflow, yinsha condensing…" Mo Yan's pupils widened as though recalling the scene. "And space distortion…"
Xie Zhaolin nodded slowly, thoughtful.
Those signs did match the legends of the Rebirth Flower, but they weren't enough to pinpoint its exact location.
"How long have you searched here?"
The corner of his mouth twisted into a strange smile. "Twelve years… a full twelve years…" His fingers dug unconsciously at the ground. "Only then could I be sure this place is where the Rebirth Flower's most likely to grow."
"Then why haven't you found it?"
His face contorted. "Because no one's ever seen the real Rebirth Flower!" he snarled. "All the records are just rumors. I could only search inch by inch…"
Her eyes glinted. She tapped her fingers lightly against her knee. "So how did you pinpoint this exact spot?"
A fanatic light flickered in his gaze. "Thirty years ago, I saw the anomaly with my own eyes!"
His voice shook with excitement. "The black water suddenly reversed, and silver lines appeared on the cliff walls! It was exactly like the heavenly phenomenon described in the ancient texts!"
Xie Zhaolin rubbed her chin. It really seemed the Rebirth Flower was here. But if even a demon clone was this obsessed, it was probably about more than just a mission.
"Is the order from above really that important?" she asked, leaning forward slightly. "Worth you staying here for over thirty years?"
Mo Yan's expression turned complicated. He hesitated, but under the contract's pressure, he confessed honestly. "Replying to Master, the reward was too tempting…"
A greedy glint flashed in his eyes. "Not only three hundred thousand magic crystals, but also access to the Demon Abyss Hall's Scripture Pavilion."
His voice dropped low. "And if I made merit, my rank as Demon General might even rise…"
Xie Zhaolin let out a cold laugh.
As expected, profit was the strongest motivator.
Still…
"All for promises that may not even be real?" She gave him a deep, meaningful look. "Plenty of demons pretend to obey orders while slacking off. Even if you never found the Rebirth Flower, no one would've bothered to pursue it."
Mo Yan's mouth twitched. Pain flashed in his eyes, hard to conceal. "Master sees clearly. If it were just that, I wouldn't have clung to it so much."
His voice grew rough. "The real reason was… thirty years ago."
He clenched his fists so tight his nails pierced his palms. "The first time I went down, I brought a compass I'd exchanged for nearly all my Demon Abyss points! It cost fifty thousand crystals upfront—three years of savings!"
His voice shook.
"And then that damned beast… it smashed it to pieces with one tail swipe!" His grief-stricken expression made it seem like the compass had just been shattered all over again.
Xie Zhaolin suddenly felt exhausted. So his obsession with the giant lizard was half for the mission and half just to avenge his broken compass?
She pressed a hand to her forehead. The demons' thinking really was… so blunt it left her speechless. And the funniest part was that he hadn't even done the math properly. Thirty whole years, wasted chasing repayment for three years of savings? She honestly didn't know whether to laugh or curse.
Besides, a dignified Demon General at least in the Nascent Soul stage, yet he couldn't even afford another? How pathetic was that?
Still, thinking about it again, it was thanks to his ridiculous obsession that she'd stumbled onto the Rebirth Flower's existence.
"And then?" she asked, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
Mo Yan pointed toward the teleportation array, sounding a little proud. "Then I realized I couldn't force my way in, so I came up with this method. But…"
His voice grew weaker as her expression darkened visibly.
So in the end, he hadn't even caught sight of the Rebirth Flower!
Watching him shrink his neck in fear, she closed her eyes briefly and forced down her temper.
"Enough. Meditate and recover immediately. We'll go to the bottom of the abyss tomorrow."
Mo Yan looked relieved, quickly sitting cross-legged to circulate his technique and restore himself.
Xie Zhaolin, however, sank into deep thought. The Rebirth Flower was crucial for her, tied to whether she could continue cultivating the Xuanyin Foundation Technique.
So far, the technique hadn't shown any major flaws, but with each breakthrough came bone-scraping, heart-wrenching agony. It was said that by the late Golden Core stage, just circulating qi through the meridians was enough to make one wish for death. The pain multiplied with every level.
So far, she'd never heard of anyone reaching the Nascent Soul stage with the Xuanyin Foundation Technique. Most died under the torment during breakthroughs. mEven if someone miraculously reached late Golden Core, when they tried to step into Nascent Soul, the heaven's tribulation summoned by this defiant technique would multiply in force.
At that point, no matter how gifted, they'd be reduced to ashes. Cultivation itself was a path against heaven, but the Xuanyin Foundation Technique gave even mortals with no spiritual roots the power to defy the Dao.
Would heaven ever allow something like that to exist?
The Rebirth Flower was her one chance at survival.
It couldn't give her spiritual roots, but it could rebuild her body, suppressing the agony to a level she could endure. More importantly, it could mend her damaged Primordial Soul, something she needed most. Her divine sense was already as strong as a mid Golden Core cultivator's, yet the fundamental damage to her soul remained.
After all, her rebirth was just a stroke of luck, splitting off one wisp of soul ahead of time. If she wanted to reach higher realms, she had to first repair this frail soul.
Her goal was crystal clear.
She had to temper her soul to the Nascent Soul stage. Only then would she have a sliver of hope when the tribulation struck.
"Master…" Mo Yan's voice suddenly piped up, careful and tentative.
"You want the Rebirth Flower… is it because of the Xuanyin Foundation Technique?"