Chapter 890: Pure Heart

: Xshuquge

Seeing Lu Yang’s sharp reaction, it was Immortal Ying Tian’s turn to look astonished.

“Did you not know? Immortal’s disposition in the past was entirely different from how it is now.”

“I remember well when Immortal, with only a Golden Core cultivation, defeated the Foundation Establishment forms of both Qilin and myself. She merely wore a cold expression and declared, ‘So-called geniuses amount to nothing more than this.’”

“At the time, I found it incredibly magnificent and frequently tried to emulate that very aura.”

Immortal Ying Tian was drawn back into memories from over four hundred thousand years ago. Within a bamboo grove, he and the Qilin Immortal knelt upon the ground, utterly defeated. Immortal, clad in green with a bamboo hat, remained calm and detached, her gaze looking down upon all living things with disdain.

He believed this was exactly how a true master ought to look.

“Immortal pressed forward with an invincible momentum, challenging those above her realm to condense the Invincible Core, and with that Core and her Invincible Nascent Soul, she traversed the world, sweeping aside all rivals and carving out a monumental reputation. Back then, anyone who saw her would tremble at the knees.”

Lu Yang imagined the scene Immortal Ying Tian described: Immortal Fairy during her Foundation Establishment stage, challenging numerous Golden Core experts, ice-cold and radiating an aura of frost, condensing her Invincible Core before a captivated crowd, defeating her enemies, and walking away.

It actually sounded quite magnificent.

“Later, she severed her own path, casting away her embryonic form of the Deathly Silence Dao Fruit, and took the advice of Time to reclaim her pure, innocent heart.”

Immortal Ying Tian looked up and sighed with deep emotion. “That truly filled the four of us with immense envy. To think that even after surviving the great catastrophe of her tribe, she could still return to that primal innocence, reverting to her original self and achieving Immortality in a state closest to nature itself. Only then did she become who she is today.”

The great catastrophe of her tribe?

Lu Yang recalled the term. The Fairy had once mentioned that she was born into a small tribe, and back then, a great battle between a man and a beast had erupted, its aftershocks destroying that small settlement. When discussing the topic, the Fairy had visibly grown despondent, and out of consideration for her feelings, Lu Yang had not pressed further.

From what Immortal Ying Tian implied, the Fairy’s original personality was identical to her current one, and she had only become cold and detached after witnessing the destruction of her tribe.

It made sense; rather, it would be strange to remain optimistic and cheerful after enduring such a tragedy.

Lu Yang understood. In the beginning, Immortal Fairy was innocent and pure, but after her tribe was destroyed, her temperament changed drastically into one of icy aloofness. After condensing the embryonic form of the Deathly Silence Dao Fruit and receiving guidance from Immortal Time, she let go of the past, returned to her original self, and achieved Immortality.

“But Senior Ying Tian, are you absolutely certain the Fairy was cold-faced when she fought you and the Qilin Immortal?”

Fairy, you were a grand Golden Core cultivator back then, yet you put on a standoffish front while engaging in an inverted-realm challenge?

No matter how Lu Yang thought about it, the scene felt entirely absurd.

Listening to Immortal Ying Tian recall her past, Immortal Fairy blushed with shame, lowering her head to watch her two big toes twist against each other, not daring to look at Lu Yang's current expression.

Only when the young Lu Yang asked his question did she lift her head to look at him, pouting her lips and poking his arm.

“What does that have to do with expressions? Those two were the ones who approached this Immortal first. When opponents come to strike, how could this Immortal have any reason to flee from battle?”

“Furthermore, back then, both Ying Tian and Qilin were entities capable of fighting above their realms to defeat Golden Cores from their Foundation Establishment positions. For this Immortal to fight both of them as a Golden Core means it was a two-on-one battle. The one at a disadvantage was clearly this Immortal!”

Lu Yang: “...”

Fairy, you truly believe winning against those two is a matter of grand honor.

Lu Yang had another question: “Something still isn't right. Didn't Huidoudou annihilate the Xinhuo Dynasty? Even the past Fairy would never do such a thing.”

Given the cruelty of ancient struggles, it was exceptionally rare that Immortal Fairy did not silence Immortal Ying Tian and the Qilin Immortal after defeating them.

Especially the Qilin Immortal, a creature born of heaven and earth whose value far exceeded any natural treasure; even so, Immortal Fairy did not deliver a fatal blow.

Lu Yang figured that if it had been Huidoudou instead, Immortal Ying Tian and the Qilin Immortal would have been eliminated long ago.

Hearing this, Immortal Ying Tian also reasonably understood that the “Huidoudou” Lu Yang spoke of was the Lord of the Heavenly Court of the Xinhuo Dynasty.

“Yes, that is precisely the strange part.”

“Even though the past Immortal was icy, her actions were never extreme and showed great restraint. My main body and the three including Time thought the same, believing that although the resurrected one was the Immortal from the embryonic stage of the Deathly Silence Dao Fruit, it would not be a major issue.”

“After Immortal was resurrected as the Lord of the Heavenly Court, she likewise could not remember her original name, for reasons unknown.”

“The resurrected Immortal was the one on the verge of achieving Immortality, so upon her revival, she obtained a physical body and swiftly drew the Tribulation of Immortality, achieving Immortality through the Deathly Silence Dao Fruit.”

“Yet no one anticipated that after becoming an Immortal, she exposed her true nature and began a massive slaughter, intent on destroying the entire Xinhuo Dynasty.”

“Initially, her strength was ordinary, but as she killed more people, her power grew increasingly formidable.”

“Though the strength of the Lord of the Heavenly Court was rising, it had not reached a point where the combined forces of my main body, Time, Jiuchong, Qilin, and Immortal Zuo Shi—the five Immortals—could not suppress her.”

At this point, Immortal Ying Tian paused, his tone growing heavier: “But right at that moment, Time died.”

Immortal Fairy and Lu Yang both recalled the damaged Divine Tree below the Five Elements Sect, which stood as evidence that Immortal Time had once engaged in a tremendous battle before his death.

“How did he die!” Immortal Fairy asked urgently.

Immortal Time’s difficulty to kill was second only to her own. He commanded the Time Dao Fruit, capable of reversing time and foreseeing the future; how could he be killed by anyone?

Immortal Ying Tian shook his head: “I do not know. That was exactly when the Lord of the Heavenly Court instigated the rebellion, and this strand of my thought was likewise upon her hunting list. The situation was critical, and I could only hide myself first.”

“I know very little about that battle.”

“However, to kill Immortal Time, it could only be the long-hidden ‘Sixth Immortal.’”

“After Immortal Time died, my main body and the other Immortals had no intention of joining forces again, choosing instead to fight their own battles.”

“And the final outcome is something you both should know: the Xinhuo Dynasty was annihilated.”

“To prevent the Lord of the Heavenly Court from finding my main body through me, I had no choice but to sever the connection.”

“To evade the Lord of the Heavenly Court, I used the lightning tribulations as a shroud, no longer showing my face and concealing all karma. Only when cultivators undergo lightning tribulations can I surmise through their inner demons what the outside world has turned into, lasting all the way until today.”

“Did Time truly perish?” Immortal Fairy still refused to believe it. She possessed the means to resurrect herself, but Immortal Time had no such methods.

When this topic was raised, Immortal Ying Tian appeared somewhat hesitant: “That is not entirely certain.”

“To my knowledge, after that battle concluded, the embryonic form of the Reincarnation Dao Fruit condensed by the Underworld also vanished. If Time possessed that embryonic form, even if his immortal form perished, he might have been able to reincarnate and return in an entirely new guise.”

Hearing these words, Lu Yang and Immortal Fairy were struck by a collective shock.

It seemed they truly knew a cultivator who possessed the embryonic form of the Reincarnation Dao Fruit.