Hearing this name, Bai Fanlu's heartbeat inevitably stagnated for a moment.

Then, he mocked himself and laughed bitterly. Should he be thankful that Yun Zhan still had a bit of humanity, and didn't just abandon him somewhere and wait for someone else to find him?

But he was still relieved, after all, he wouldn't be seen by others in his dishevelled state.

So, whatever they did back there should still be a secret, right?

"After Yun Zhan sent you back, he stepped down from his position as the next Sect Leader, and now...he no longer belongs to the Tianshu Sect.

Bai Fanlu was still entangled in his thoughts, but when he heard this, he was shocked and forgot what he was deliberating. Yun Zhan?

That Yun Zhan?

He left the Tianshu Sect?

How can this be?

At this time, Bai Fanlu realised that if Yun Zhan had already awakened his demon side according to the original plot, his next step should have been to make Bai Fanlu lose his place in the Immortal Realm and force him to return to the Demon Realm, shouldn’t it?

How could he just send him back silently like this?

This plot development...was completely off again, and this deviation was more than a little outrageous.

"I also found it incredible, Shizun naturally didn't approve, but he couldn't hold him either. In the end, he was allowed to go down the mountain, with the rationale that it was for him to consider his decision carefully.”

"...This… Erm…Then he..." Bai Fanlu calmed down the stormy waves in his heart, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Has he changed back to his original appearance?”

Wang Chongyu shook his head, "No.”

No…?

Bai Fanlu didn't know what was going on either, his heart seemed to tighten then ease again. That face reappeared in his mind involuntarily following the name.

He was taken aback for a moment, and he wanted to slap himself at this thought. He was returned here in such a wretched and embarrassing state. Wasn’t this reason enough for him to be occupied with just pain and regret?

How can he still be thinking about that bastard?

Forcing himself to regain composure, Bai Fanlu warned himself that if he wanted to really overcome a thing, he must first learn to face it. Avoiding was the most useless act, and that he could do anything but run from it.

Secretly adjusting his breath, Bai Fanlu asked as calmly as possible, "Why can't he turn back?”

Since Ling Qingzi would have seen Yun Zhan’s current appearance after he had returned to the Tianshu Sect, he would definitely ask him what happened. Yun Zhan wouldn’t be able to get off without explaining.

Sure enough, Wang Chongyu replied, "I was there when he talked to Shizun. He said...he used ‘Bu Shi Chen’.”

"...Bu Shi Chen?”

Humans live among dust but can emerge untainted.

Bu Shi Chen was the name of an ancient mirror.

This mirror was mentioned in the novel. When Yun Zhan was young the original owner taught him the history of the Immortal Realm and the various famous divine artefacts documented in the classics. Among them, Bu Shi Chen was specifically mentioned.

Because the name was too special, the young Yun Zhan curiously asked the original owner about the function and origin of the mirror. Because of this part in the novel, Bai Fanlu happened to know a thing or two about this item.

According to legend, Bu Shi Chen was crafted by the Creator using a grain of sand at the beginning of the ancient times.

As long as a person facing this ancient mirror conceived an image in his mind, it could create a mirror image based on it, but at the same time, the person who was looking into the mirror would temporarily disappear.

But the created mirror image would have no thoughts. It would just be a puppet.

For the behaviour of this puppet, the one who created it had two choices. One was to use it as a dummy with true feelings, and give it instructions and manipulate it to follow suit. This was also the easiest way to take control.

The other was way more complicated, that is, the person who created the mirror image integrated his own consciousness into the mirror image. The thoughts and feelings of the mirror image would be in harmony with the creator, and they were one and the same.

There was just one shortcoming. The mirror image could not inherit any of the spiritual power or cultivation of the creator. This meant that the creator would temporarily become an ordinary person while inside the mirror image.

The cultivation that could not be inherited had to be temporarily placed in a ‘container’, and only a living thing could be used as this container.

At the same time, if the creator's ability to control consciousness was strong enough, he could use his cultivation as a medium to transfer between the mirror and his ‘container’ at will. He could even manipulate the ‘container’ to act for himself.

But because the ‘container’ was a third party with independent consciousness, his method had two risks.

The first was that during the limited time that the mirror image existed, the creator must never use his cultivation base to cast spells. If the creator broke this taboo, he needed to break the ‘container’ forcibly and temporarily reappear in his original form.

But this can only last for a very short time, after which he will suffer a backlash from the mirror image, as the mirror image had completely become a real existence that possessed both the creator’s personality and cultivation.

And this also meant that the original body of the creator would disappear from reality, and at the same time, part of his cultivation would be absorbed by Bu Shi Chen. In the most serious case, all his cultivation would be lost.

Based on how ‘lifelike’ the mirror image was, or the degree of backlash suffered, depended entirely on the creator's willpower.

"What about the second risk?” The young Yun Zhan also happened to ask about this in the novel.

At that time, the original owner read the ancient text carefully, and only one word ‘memory’ appeared on the weathered residual pages.

He shook his head, "I can't read it clearly.”

Therefore, Bai Fanlu had no way of knowing what the second risk of Bu Shi Chen was, but at this point, he understood why Yun Zhan said he "Cannot change back".

Because he was suffering from a backlash by the mirror image he created. Bai Fanlu recalled a little, before his ‘container’ Zhi Zhi lost its divine light, he was attacked at the Yingzhou Governor’s Mansion, and then escaped miraculously...

It turned out that it was not a miracle...

So Yun Zhan was trying to save himself at such a hefty price?

Bai Fanlu shook his head. How could he understand that? Of course, Yun Zhan wouldn't do it for himself. He was just trying to get rid of the enemy. After all, if the enemy was not removed, his ‘container’ would also be in danger.

However, it was not clearly stated in the ancient book what the risks were if the ‘container’ died. So what were the consequences? Perhaps this was the second risk?

Or maybe there was no risk. All the creator needed was just another ‘container’.

But no matter what, Bai Fanlu wanted to persuade himself that Yun Zhan had to do it for self-interest, and definitely not for him.

And when he thought this way, he actually deliberately ignored one thing—Yun Zhan didn't need to take such a big risk from the beginning.

Although an immortal cultivator was different from a demon, he need not use such an elaborate technique to fool around with Bai Fanlu. Just creating a thoughtless mirror image would do the trick. So, why did he bother to imbue his true feelings into that puppet?

But Bai Fanlu didn't even want to touch upon this question, let alone think deeply about it.

He recalled Bu Shi Chen so meticulously to figure out why Yun Zhan had not returned. He needed to convince himself and set himself up mentally. If he met Yun Zhan again in the future, would he have to see that face?

But he didn’t have to worry about that now. Yun Zhan left as soon as he came back. It had been three days since Wang Chongyu followed Ling Qingzi to meet with the other sect leaders yesterday.

That fake Wu Yueshuang disappeared inexplicably from Qingyang Sect. The real Wu Yueshuang neither returned to the Immortal Realm nor sent anyone to represent the Sect at the alliance meet. In the end, Chengying Sect was annihilated. For the alliance meeting, only six of eight sects from the four mountains were present.

And just as Bai Fanlu expected, the news regarding him ‘going off the rails’ was the talk of the town. There were rumours going around and his identity was even questioned by some fellow immortal cultivators. To all these doubts, Ling Qingzi severely reprimanded them.

The man did not succeed the position as the Tianshu Sect baselessly. Ling Qingzi was the first ever Immortal Venerable and having him speak up for Bai Fanlu, then persuading the other immortal sects to unite against the true enemy was more than enough to quell those talks.

Even though the other two immortal sect leaders were more senior in terms of age, they had to give way and be polite to Ling Qingzi.

Despite this, it was inevitable that there would be an annoying fly-like existence buzzing around, gossiping and making a little wind and waves.

Of course, Bai Fanlu felt ashamed at being shielded by his Shizun and fellow disciples, because he was indeed a demon. Although he did not know what method Ling Qingzi used, there were no traces of demonic energy in his body. But the fact remained unchanged. He was a demon.

However, Wang Chongyu only had two sentences to express his attitude towards this matter.

"Shixiong, Shizun wants to protect you. We, too, will not hesitate to shield you to the end.”

"No matter who you may be, you will forever be my Shixiong.”

He didn’t make it clear, but it was enough to let Bai Fanlu know that he and Ling Qingzi knew he was a demon.

Despite Bai Fanlu's precarious position, Wang Chongyu did not hold back and informed him of the conclusion of the Alliance.

Mortals had been constantly tainted by the demonic qi rifts and fallen into the demonic path, then wrought havoc. It was a misfortune, but there were no effective methods to purify them at present.

In order to prevent more innocent people from being killed, all immortal sects were making preparations, and would do their best to seal the fissures that had appeared in various places. They would also unite in their efforts to get rid of those who had fallen into darkness and also investigate the entrance to the Demon Capital, known as Withering Pavilion.

Bai Fanlu knew about the Withering Pavilion, but this place changed all the time. Bai Junming also set up an illusion to disguise it. In the original plot, Yun Zhan cracked the illusion before launching the final battle.

In addition, the original owner lost consciousness after he awakened his demonic side. The novel did not clearly describe how he entered the Demon Realm.

Even if Bai Fanlu wanted to help the Immortal Sects to leapfrog directly to the Demon Clan's lair, he couldn't do anything about it.

Wang Chongyu dared to tell him the plans of the Four Mountains Alliance, probably because he knew Bai Fanlu had the blood of the Demon Clan. What he didn't know was that he was actually the young master of the Demon Realm.

However, it was indeed just a name, except for Bai Junming and the Demon Guard, Ting Nu, no one in the Demon Realm knew of his existence.

Because the original owner had never been in the Demon Realm before, the novel mentioned that when Ling Qingzi found him, he was a child of just over a year old picked up by a mortal couple.

After that, the original owner was accepted as Ling Qingzi’s disciple. He was truly brought up by that man and no one else understood Bai Fanlu as much as he did.

In fact, when Bai Fanlu read the book, he felt that Ling Qingzi might have discovered that the original owner had demonic blood in him. With his cultivation base, and the five hundred years he spent with the original owner, there was just no way he didn't know.

Thinking that he didn't even greet him before leaving Three Twilight Residence so abruptly, Bai Fanlu decided to look for Ling Qingzi.

Along the way, they met two shidis from the Tianshu Sect who bowed and paid respects when they saw him. When they got further away, the two looked back at Bai Fanlu and whispered.

"I think the Dashixiong’s appearance has changed Um, how do I put it… He seems to better-looking…”

"Dashixiong has always been good-looking. I heard there was once a top beauty who hailed from our Tianshu Sect. Although, I haven't seen him or her before, but I think the Dashixiong is definitely more attractive.”

"Hey, if only I can become a Taoist couple with Dashixiong..."

"What are you thinking about? Dashixiong and Sect Leader Shidi are a couple.”

Bai Fanlu had an astute sense of hearing. Hearing these words, he lamented how lame yet terrifying gossips can be. And so, he decided it was better to get going.

But very quickly, he couldn't help but slow his pace…

"I feel that it’s such a pity. How can I compete with the Sect Leader Shidi... But then again, after Dashixiong went off the rails with his cultivation, in order to unseal the meridians for him, Sect Leader Shidi...Haiz…Did you see how he look that day?

“It's not just his disguise…He seems to be quite gravely injured...."

"What a sentimental and righteous act! So admirable! If you can do the same for him, then you can also be a Daoist companion to Dashixiong.”

"Uh, if that's the case… Forget it..."

What did they mean? What did Yun Zhan do?

Bai Fanlu wanted to turn his head to ask, but he hesitated and gave up.

No matter what happened to that man, it had nothing to do with him, right?

If anything, he asked for it.

Bai Fanlu flicked his sleeves and no longer contemplated those thoughts. He flew up on the clouds and left those annoying remarks behind him.

When he got to Three Twilight Residence, Ling Qingzi was sitting in front of the table and observing a chess game intently. The white pieces and black pieces were inextricably matched, but there was no one on the other side of the chess game.

Bai Fanlu didn't want to disturb him, so he stood by and watched.

After he transmigrated, other than waking up earlier, he only entered his Shizun’s abode once. At that time, he was still wondering how to draw a line with Yun Zhan. He never expected to be sent down the mountain with that guy.

Fate tends to play jokes with mortals. There was no way to avoid it. If he had known that this would happen, he would have acted generously and gone on the mission with Yun Zhan openly in the first place.

Bai Fanlu mocked himself, then raised his eyes and surveyed the room where his Shizun lives, Three Twilight Residence.

It was much bigger than his room and it had a a large wooden shelf filled with books. This was also the place where the original owner and the young Yun Zhan often snuck in to read.

And in front of the bookshelf, there was a long tang-wood table, on which a paperweight was pressed against an unfinished calligraphy piece. The abstract running script was facing him upside down, and Bai Fanlu couldn’t read the characters.

The ink block placed on the side of the inkstone had been ground down by half, and the dark ink puddle in the inkstone was still moist, as it reflected a dim light from the corner of the window.

Huh? It doesn't seem to be the light from the window...

Bai Fanlu glanced intently. It turned out to be a faint light from a rosette-shaped jade incense burner next to the wall.

Why was there light in the incense burner?

The light source was very weak but shone through the thin layer of jade. That light seemed to flicker slightly in his eyes. Bai Fanlu blinked and wanted to take a closer look.

"Mo’er? Come here.”

Bai Fanlu returned to his senses, and walked towards Ling Qingzi.

But the scene he saw seemed to flash back and forth in my mind. Why were there seemingly two phantom figures in front of that table?

Is it my illusion?

"Have a look at this chess game. Do the black pieces still stand a chance of winning?”

Ling Qingzi asked, Bai Fanlu condensed his thoughts and sat down opposite him.

He knew little about the game of Go, and he hadn't learned it, so at first he didn’t give it much thought as he casually glanced over it.

He stared at the white pieces for a long time, and suddenly his eyes locked in on a position.

Ling Qingzi noticed his look. He held a black chess piece in his hand, and asked, "Here?”

"Try it," Bai Fanlu nodded.

Ling Qingzi dropped the black piece, after some thought, he placed a white one.

After that, it seemed as though they had some sort of telepathy. Wherever Bai Fanlu thought of, the black piece could land, until the last black chess piece linked the others together, successfully reversing the initial defeat.

Bai Fanlu heaved a sigh of relief, feeling as though he just emerged from a great battle, that he didn't expect to win.

He had a talent for chess?

He never knew!

It seemed worth tapping into this potential after going back.

"You seem delighted.” Ling Qingzi spoke with a look of rare gentleness, which felt like a spring breeze.

Bai Fanlu felt that he made the right choice by coming back and playing chess with his Shizun. He felt rejuvenated after playing this game.

Ling Qingzi looked at the chess game again and uttered in deep thought, "That was a very powerful move. Let’s call it..."

"Pulling the rug out from underneath.”

Bai Fanlu blurted this out, then blushed immediately after. How could he interrupt his Shizun’s sentence?!

Ling Qingzi didn't blame him at all. Instead, he slightly curled his lips and smiled faintly. “Mo’er shares the same thought as I do. Pulling the rug out from underneath is quite apt.”

Bai Fanlu smiled embarrassedly. He thought he was making a fool out of himself, but his Shizun still treated him with such kindness. He also recalled that every time he was injured since he transmigrated, Shizun was always beside him, healing him and accompanying him. This man always gave him heartfelt advice disguised as aloof words...

Bai Fanlu felt ashamed in his heart, and wanted to confess to Ling Qingzi that he was not the original owner. Yet, when the words were at the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t bring himself to say them.

Whether it was selfish or not, he did not have much time left in this world. Once he left, the original owner would come back, right?

So, could he just cherish this time for now?

As he had thought, not being demonised and not dying was the only thing he could do for Ling Qingzi. Bai Fanlu was determined to do this one thing for the only person who truly cared for and protected the original owner. This was also the most meaningful thing that can be done in this world.

He was no longer fixated on going back. Even if it was for his newfound conviction, he must not wallow in despair and continue to sink.

Bai Fanlu was reinvigorated with strength and energy in an instant. Now, there was just one thing to confirm.

"Shizun, this disciple...has a question for you.” He mustered up his courage.

Ling Qingzi nodded, "Go ahead.”

"Why did you choose to accept me as your disciple back then?”

Even Wu Yueshuang mentioned that Ling Qingzi swore not to accept disciples, not to mention disciples from a demon bloodline.

For this question, Ling Qingzi only smiled and did not answer immediately. Instead, he slightly raised his right hand towards Bai Fanlu. There was a strand of silver hair on his shoulder. As he moved, it slid down behind him, winding down on the bamboo mat he was sitting on.

Bai Fanlu only noticed that there was a faint trace of red in that silver hair tangled on the bamboo mat. It looked like a ribbon.

"Mo Er, come here.”

Bai Fanlu retracted his gaze, stood up halfway, moved himself around the chessboard, and in front of Ling Qingzi on his knees.

Ling Qingzi raised his hand and stroked Bai Fanlu's forehead.

Bai Fanlu couldn't see anything. He only felt that as his fingertips touched the centre of his brows, a cool feeling faintly emerged.

Then, a subtle waft of air drifted into his nose, bearing a unique fragrance...

It was the scent of his demonic energy!

Bai Fanlu widened his eyes in surprise.

In a position where he could not see, where Ling Qingzi stroked the young man’s forehead with his finger, a purple mark glowed for a brief moment. Right after, it was concealed by a transparent ice ribbon. With a flash of the spiritual light, his brow centre was restored to a smooth state.

The demonic energy also disappeared.

Ling Qingzi's hand suddenly fell, covering Bai Fanlu's eyes.

In the blur, Bai Fanlu felt a gentle touch on his forehead, unable to distinguish what it was, he heard Ling Qingzi's voice next.

He said, "Because you are my Mo’er.”