Chapter 507 — The Truth of the Empress's Dynasty

"What is more, as Huang Xi exceeded all expectations and became a legendary beast tamer, our strength surpassed even the Phoenix Nation's, forcing my sister and her people into steady retreat."

"At that moment, I realized the time had come. On every hybrid beast tamer we had planted a device, so that they could be used as sacrifices and converted into nourishment for my own growth."

"I judged that if I absorbed Huang Xi, my strength would surely rise to that of a peak demigod no less than the Spirit of the Canghai—and might even transcend demigod and reach god-tier."

"So I made my move. But I had not expected it—I underestimated her. Her strength had long since slipped beyond my control. The measures I had left behind did take effect, yet even so, she cut me down."

"However, because I had eaten the fruit of immortality, I successfully revived as an undead."

"Perhaps, too, out of family feeling, she did not kill me outright afterward. She merely sealed me away."

"And that is the whole of how I came to be sealed here..." The Undying Dark Phoenix gave a long sigh. "Huang Xi was a good child. You look very much like her. I wronged you both—to think I would try to grow stronger by such means."

The Undying Dark Phoenix looked toward Scarlet Eye and began to make its confession.

Shi Jin and the others, meanwhile, sank into deep thought.

Scarlet Eye, by contrast, breathed a sigh of relief. Now that it was utterly certain there was no deep mother-daughter bond between itself and the Undying Dark Phoenix, it was at ease. Mu Huiyin had not acknowledged her bloodline, and neither did it; it needed only Shi Jin.

This bloodline had brought Mu Huiyin too much suffering—it had even driven her to strip the bloodline away of her own accord. As for little Scarlet Eye, after hearing where the bloodline came from, if not for the fact that it lent it power to better protect Shi Jin, it would gladly have cast it aside.

Sure enough, it felt it had good reason for preferring the sword techniques Mu Huiyin left behind over the power of the phoenix.

"And after that?" said Shi Tang.

"How did the Empress's dynasty perish? And how did you become what you are now?"

The Undying Dark Phoenix said, "In the end... after I was sealed, Huang Xi changed the Phoenix Empire's name to Eastern Radiance. More than her identity as a member of the Phoenix Clan, she acknowledged herself as a human."

"The Phoenix Totem Nation at last became a human nation."

"With one stroke she ended the totem wars of the East. By the strength of a legendary beast tamer, she brought the Eastern lands once more into an age of peace. Yet many years later, my sister made a breakthrough and went to war with Eastern Radiance again."

"Years of great war had made the conflict between the two sides irreconcilable."

"My sister was far stronger than I, but once Huang Xi reached her peak, she grew stronger still. Not only was I no match for her—even my sister, after her breakthrough, was no longer her equal."

"Single-handedly she led the Phoenix Legion and held my sister and her forces beyond the nation's gates."

"With the advantage hers, Huang Xi wished to go further, and sought to take away the rumored super-god-tier resources left within the Phoenix Clan."

"She had been fiercely ambitious since childhood. Legend was never the end she sought; these resources might perhaps carry her further still."

"But my sister, when she saw that Huang Xi had set her sights on the supergod-tier resource, fought back with everything she had, even at the cost of her own life."

"In the end, from what I have learned, my sister and Huang Xi perished together in that final struggle. Huang Xi tried to seize that supergod-tier resource within the Phoenix Clan, but ran into a trap my sister had laid in advance. The entire ruin collapsed because of that battle, and they fell with it into the rift of spacetime."

"While I was sealed away, once I learned of their fate, I set about trying to break the seal and win myself a new life. I studied the seal, I absorbed the death qi that permeated this place, and I kept remaking my own bloodline. The result was that I turned myself into this monstrous thing. Not only did I fail to break the seal, I turned the surrounding land into a dead zone. The so-called curse and plague are the bitter fruit of my own doing."

When the Undying Nether Phoenix had finished, it said, "Everything I know, I have now told you. Because of me, the entire Phoenix Clan was all but exterminated. The daughter who was once close to me has left me, and my sister lost her life on my account. The sins upon me no longer permit me to live in this world."

The Undying Nether Phoenix was truly filled with regret now. If it had not betrayed the Phoenix Clan back then, the Phoenix Clan would never have declined to such a state. If it had reflected upon itself in time and not struck at the Empress, not made an enemy of the Empress for the Phoenix Clan, perhaps the Empress was the one who had the greatest hope of leading the Phoenix Clan to its peak.

Unfortunately, one moment of misjudgment after another had produced so much evil fruit. Now, having barely been rescued from the seal by another daughter, it had still made the wrong choice. The Undying Nether Phoenix felt that its life had been a complete failure.

Shi Jin and the others fell silent, all of them.

Whether or not it was Susu's Spirit of the Pure Sea taking effect, they could sense that the Undying Nether Phoenix was truly repenting from the heart.

What surprised Shi Jin, the Jewel Cat, and the others even more was that so many twists and turns had occurred during the era of the Empress's dynasty.

"Where is that starry-sky ruin located?" Shi Tang asked.

The Undying Nether Phoenix looked toward Cen Yu and shook its head. "On a vast sea island called Phoenix Island. It was the original stronghold of the Phoenix Clan."

"But if you are also thinking of that supergod-tier resource, I advise you to give it up. The entire starry-sky ruin was swept into the rift of spacetime by the great battle between Huang Xi and my sister, and Phoenix Island sank because of the war. It cannot be found again."

The Undying Nether Phoenix said, "Can you kill me now?"

The Jewel Cat said, "What a pity! A supergod-tier resource—isn't that on the same level as the Eye of the Evil God?!"

The cat was full of lament.

The Phoenix Clan truly was rolling in wealth.

"Red Pupil." Shi Qi looked toward Red Pupil in her Sword Maiden form. Red Pupil shook her head, indicating that the Undying Nether Phoenix had nothing to do with her, and that Shi Jin could decide as he pleased.

In the end, Shi Zhuo remained silent for a moment, then gathered up the Jewel Cat and the others and left the Devouring Space with them.

He intended to think it over before deciding how to deal with the Undying Nether Phoenix.

It could not die yet. At the very least, he had to let Chongchong enter its dream and Susu use a memory droplet to verify its words and harvest a few more details.

………………

"So the Empress perished together with the Undying Nether Phoenix's sister, a demigod evolving toward the Vermilion Bird."

"The Undying Nether Phoenix really was a demigod in its day."

"Within the Phoenix Clan, a supergod-tier resource…"

"The predecessor of the Empress's dynasty, the Phoenix Empire of the Totem Nation…"

Having taken in so much information all at once, Shi Jin and the others felt an itch in their hearts. So this was how the Phoenix Clan had been all but exterminated.

Among them, Shi Jin was the one who could not let it go the most.

He rather wanted to have Qi take them back to the era of the Empress's dynasty for a look. Red Pupil's little sister, the Empress, had died just like that—what a pity. He had met the Martial Emperor already, and he very much wanted to meet the Empress as well.