I look at Hong Fan and ask,
"Hong Fan, do you feel something?"
"...Yes. I definitely feel a faint sense of kinship through our blood relation. Hmm... And I've just realized it now, but now that I know the sensation of my own kind, I think I will be able to recognize the presence of nearby kin."
"Ho, is that so…"
It seems likely that this was why the Jin Clan had managed to find us at their cultivation.
'Anyway, this is fascinating.'
Though it was said that it's dying from aging, the creature in front of me is clearly a 'demon beast' harboring 'demonic power' at the level of the low Qi Refining stage.
'I never thought it would truly awaken to a demon beast due to the spiritual energy of Immortal Demon Bamboo and Ascension Path.'
I look at the head of the Jin Clan and ask,"So... you sought me out because you thought feeding my demon beast, Hong Fan's Demon Core, would extend the lifespan of your demon beast?"
"H-hehuk…"
The Jin Clan head, sweating pathetically, frantically shakes his head.
"Ah, no, how could I covet the core of a senior whose cultivation is higher than mine! It was presumptuous of me to think of you as a fellow cultivator on the same level, and not as a Heavenly Being, and to attempt a transaction!"
"Hmm, is that so?"
I become curious and ask him,
"That pet demon beast of yours... it doesn't seem like you're trying to save it just because you're fond of it. May I ask why you want to save it?"
From his intent, it appears that the head of the Jin Clan didn't want to save Hong Fan's sibling out of special affection but rather for some utilitarian purpose.
At my question, he swallows hard and says,
"Although it might look trivial in the eyes of a Heavenly Being… Bring it here!"
The head urgently shouts to one of the grand elders kneeling beside him.
At his command, the grand elder quickly runs and fetches a small jar from somewhere.
As he opens the sealed jar, a subtle wave of spiritual power emanates from it.
"Ho…"
Both I and Hong Fan, who are watching nearby, show great interest as we look at the jar.
"Spiritual Fluid (靈液)."
The dense spiritual energy within the fluid swirls inside the jar.
The concentration of this spiritual energy is not low at all. It's enough that even a Mixed Spiritual Root at the 1st star of Qi Refining can rapidly advance to the 3rd star through Breakthrough before Understanding.
And if applied to a Heavenly Spiritual Root, it would mean advancing from Qi Refining 1st star to Qi Refining 6th star through Breakthrough before Understanding due to its dense spiritual energy.
"This is a type of poison produced by my pet demon beast. As you know, depending on the concentration, poison can also be used as medicine, and such a spiritual liquid containing poison is equivalent to a top-tier medicinal ingredient."
"Hmm, it doesn't seem like just any centipede poison?"
Using my knowledge of poisons, I analyze the spiritual liquid to the best of my ability.
This fragrance, this quality, and that color seems more like a plant-based poison, crafted from a blend of many different medicinal herbs rather than just centipede poison.
However Hong Fan, looking at the poison fluid, says,
"It's astonishing, Master. The raw materials for this poison fluid are ordinary grass and sap that contain no spiritual energy."
"...!?"
That's when I realize why the head of the Jin Clan wants to extend the life of a mere low-level Qi Refining centipede.
"Ho… That's quite incredible."
Caught off-guard by Hong Fan's immediate discernment of the poison fluid's true nature, the head of the Jin Clan glances fearfully at Hong Fan's shadow and trembles.
"It's not my doing but the talent of the centipede demon beast. Rather, it's incredible that you identified it so quickly, senior."
He praises the centipede demon beast implied to be Hong Fan's sibling, and simultaneously bows deeply to Hong Fan with great respect.
"There's no need to be so overly courteous."
As I am about to wave him off, the head of the Jin Clan says in a fluster.
"No, as my heart feels at ease doing so, please allow me."
"Well, if you insist…"
At that moment,
Hong Fan suddenly shows a furious expression and intent, and shouts loudly,
"You insolent one!"
Until now, he had been quiet even upon meeting his sibling.
But suddenly, he is furiously lashing out at the head of the Jin Clan.
Both the head and the grand elders, and even I, are taken aback as we stare at him.
Hong Fan seems truly enraged, emitting poison energy as he yells.
"This ill-mannered fool, how dare you recklessly raise your head in front of the master!"
"I, I apologize! I thought it was permitted…"
"Where did you get the nerve to talk back! You should have asked for permission at least three times!"
I look at the enraged Hong Fan and say, taken aback,
"It's alright, Hong Fan. I was the one who allowed it, was I not? It doesn't bother me."
"Hmm...!"
At my words, Hong Fan closes his mouth and nods, stepping back.
I feel an extremely strange sensation.
His intent suddenly returned to how it was just a moment ago to a shocking degree.
He returned to the typically dry demeanor of Hong Fan.
'Just because they were slightly less respectful to me, he suddenly became this angry?'
I calm my confused thoughts and advise him,
"Thank you, but there's no need to get so angry over something I've allowed in the future."
"Yes, I will bear that in mind. However, maintaining Master's dignity is important to me, and I might not be able to help myself. Please understand this."
"Hmm..."
Seeing Hong Fan express such intense emotions for the first time in a while makes me feel a little curious.
"By the way, Hong Fan. That little guy over there is said to be your sibling…"
"That one is a girl."
"Ah… sorry. I couldn't tell… Anyway, since she's your sister, what would you like to do?"
At my question, Hong Fan looks up at me with a puzzled expression.
"Should I dispose of her?"
"No, no, no…!"
Startled by his words, I ask again,
"You're meeting your sibling for the first time... Don't you feel any emotion or something? If you want, I can take that child in too."
"Hmm… Are you suggesting this because of the Spirit Liquid? I have fully understood the composition of that poison. If you wish, I can inform you right now."
Without waiting for my reply, Hong Fan transmits the formula for the poison fluid into my consciousness.
'To think he figured out the formula and ingredients of the poison just by observing it for a short time... He really is remarkable...'
I muse internally.
"Thank you. However, what I was talking about wasn't a matter of necessity but of propriety. Isn't she essentially your family, whom you're meeting for the first time?"
At my words, Hong Fan shakes his head.
"No, Master."
"Hm?"
"Since reaching the Nascent Soul stage, I have seen and remembered everything from the moment I met you. She is not someone I'm seeing for the first time but one of the ones I saw once after emerging from the egg. I remember which egg she came out of and where she went."
"Hmm…!"
My memories since the Nascent Soul stage are intact due to the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections storing them all.
For a typical Nascent Soul cultivator, the rapid life flashback that comes with the stage does not usually result in gaining complete memories.
There are cases of discovering the secrets of one's birth, but even those are hard to detail due to the swiftness of the flashback.
Yet, Hong Fan had managed to remember everything just by a brief glimpse during the fleeting review.
'What kind of brain does he have?'
I ask, baffled,
"You don't have any feelings towards your family?"
"That is correct, Master. Honestly, I do not even understand why I should be connected with such beings as family. Well, if it's about lineage, I have nothing to say, but I prefer not to associate with them."
"Hmm…."
'Is it because he is so superior that he doesn't recognize his own kin as his kind?'
This is a common attitude among exceptional geniuses.
And it's similar to how cultivators in the Head Realm look down on mortals.
Though they are both humans, cultivators do not see the other as the same.
To them, mortals are fools who can't even control their own intent, spilling it around like thread.
I think about what to say, then let it be.
"...Well, if that's your attitude, let's leave it at that. More importantly…"
Looking at the pet centipede demon beast, I ask Hong Fan,
"Do you have any desire to extend this demon beast's lifespan?"
"Not really. If you command it, Master, I will look into ways to extend its life."
"So, you're not interested in doing it yourself?"
"Yes."
I nod.
"That settles it then. Jin Clan head."
"Yes, senior!"
"It seems that we must find another way to prolong your pet demon beast's lifespan since I cannot give you my follower's Demon Core."
"That is perfectly reasonable!"
After giving a few words of advice to the respectful Jin Clan head and the grand elders, Hong Fan and I left the Jin Clan's residence.
While flying through the sky over Yanguo with Hong Fan, I confess to him.
"Hong Fan, in fact, I am the enemy of your parent."
This is a truth I had intended to reveal since coming to the Head Realm.
If this provokes Hong Fan into a rage, even if he attempts to kill me, I a, prepared to accept it.
It's a truth I had to confess someday, and even if it leads to my death, I have done everything possible for the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect, so I am ready to accept a death that severs all ties.
However, Hong Fan's reaction is different from what I had expected.
"Is that so?"
"..."
The same being who had suddenly raged about a minor error to my dignity shows no emotion over the death of his family—a profoundly indifferent reaction.
Struck by his eerily calm response, I recount the story of how I killed Hong Fan's mother.
I confess without omission that his mother, a Qi Building demon beast, was harming a human village, and I had killed her to save them.
After hearing my story, Hong Fan tilts his head.
"Perhaps, do you have any commands for me?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you wish to prosper that human village you mentioned?"
"No, Hong Fan... I am saying... I killed your parents."
"Yes."
"..."
"...Master?"
I'm inevitably a bit perplexed by his unusual thought process, which seems to differ even from that of other cultivators.
Even among cultivators, it's not normal to disregard one's parents, even if they are mortals.
Cultivators with mortal parents usually use their abilities as cultivators to provide for their parents as best as they can, and if their parents were murdered, a normal reaction would be like any other person, turning frantic with grief.
"...I apologize to you. I killed your parents."
Despite feeling uneasy about Hong Fan's attitude, I sincerely apologize.
This time, I sense that Hong Fan is significantly disturbed.
"Master, why do you apologize to me? Please do not apologize. I... have no feelings towards my parents whatsoever. My existence gains meaning only when I am with you, Master. From a very young age, I have understood my fate. Do you know what it is?"
"...What is it?"
"It is... 'to assist Master in moving forward from your side.' That is the fate I have realized."
"...Is that so?"
I look at Hong Fan and feel an indescribably odd feeling.
Why exactly is Hong Fan's fate to assist me?
I can't figure it out at all.
For a moment, we fly in silence.
Then, Hong Fan suddenly speaks.
"By the way, Master. Would you like to see the Formless Poison I have realized?"
"Hmm?"
'So suddenly?'
It's rare for Hong Fan to suddenly suggest something to me, so I look at him curiously.
"Yes, what do you want to show me?"
"Please, take a look."
Hong Fan extends his hand forward and says,
"This is the ultimate essence of the poison I have realized."
Paahhh!
Jeon Myeong-hoon swiftly cuts through the air, gritting his teeth.
Wo-woong!
As he forms a hand seal, a voice transmission spell forms in front of Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Jeon Myeong-hoon shouts into the spell.
"Director Kim Young-hoon, please come to the capital of Yanguo quickly. Seo Eun-hyun has..."
After mentioning Seo Eun-hyun, he activates the spell.
Kuarurung!
Jeon Myeong-hoon's voice transmission spell flies off at the speed of lightning.
Paatt!
A short while later, Jeon Myeong-hoon arrives above the Imperial City of Yanguo, looking down.
There, he sees something that has appeared.
Flash!
And in an instant, golden radiance flashes, and Kim Young-hoon is suddenly beside him.
"Jeon Myeong-hoon, is it true? Seo Eun-hyun has..."
"Yes, it seems..."
Jeon Myeong-hoon and Kim Young-hoon look seriously on one side of the Imperial City.
They are looking at an inn, or rather, what 'had been' an inn.
There, a giant pillar of salt has erupted and is stretching up to the sky.
In the center of the salt pillar, an old man dressed in black, with long eyebrows, is frantically doing something.
"Hong Fan!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon exclaims upon seeing the old man.
Kim Young-hoon and Jeon Myeong-hoon land beside Hong Fan and watch what he is doing.
From Hong Fan's hand, Seo Eun-hyun's head protrudes out of the salt pillar.
Within the salt pillar, Seo Eun-hyun's body can faintly be seen.
However, his body is gradually melting into the salt pillar, becoming one with it, and Hong Fan is holding Seo Eun-hyun's head and blowing something transparent into it.
"What's going on here!?"
Hong Fan replies with a perplexed expression.
"I don't know either. I just broke through the seal and came out to find Master like this. I am trying to awaken him now by stimulating his mind with my Formless Poison!"
"Just what...!?"
Jeon Myeong-hoon looks at Seo Eun-hyun with a startled expression, then approaches a waiter who is lying nearby, trembling with fear.
"You! Can you not speak the truth, why has this happened to Seo Eun-hyun?"
However, the waiter is too terrified to speak coherently.
"I-I don't know. This, this person just ordered another bowl of noodles and suddenly a white pillar burst out from his body...."
"Tell the truth! Is that really all there is to it!!!"
"It's true!"
Kim Young-hoon grasps Jeon Myeong-hoon's shoulder to calm him down.
"That's enough. His words are true.There's no fluctuation in his emotions."
"What in the world…?"
That's when it happens.
Hong Fan's eyes widen as he shouts.
"I've made contact with Master's main consciousness! Please be quiet, I will awaken Master!"
Wo-woong!
Just how much of the transparent energy swirling in Hong Fan's grasp entered Seo Eun-hyun's mind?
Paatt!
Seo Eun-hyun opens his eyes.
"...Huh?"
Seo Eun-hyun, who seems unable to comprehend reality for a moment, gradually shows clarity in his eyes as he begins to understand the situation.
Then, his pupils tremble violently as he suddenly screams with insanity.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
As the Formless Poison spews from Hong Fan's hand, I feel the scene before my eyes shatter into pieces.
At the same time, I found myself back at the point 'right after ordering noodles at the inn'.
Kim Young-hoon and Jeon Myeong-hoon are staring at me, Hong Fan is looking at me with cold sweat, and a pillar of salt is growing from my body.
'Ah...'
Memories begin coming back to me.
I ordered noodles…
With my hand, I shaped an [inverted triangle]...
From it…
Something…
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
I saw.
I saw, I saw, I saw, I saw,
IsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsaw,
What the Owner of Salt Mountain left behind.
***
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