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Chapter 118: The Secret of Immortality

“Interesting… You’re quite perceptive.”

Princess Ling nodded slightly.

“Taomu is a follower of the God Fox, much like the Nine Dragon Sons to the Ancestor Dragon. This deity selected her to guard the chaotic secret realm and bestowed her with power.”

“The Peach Blossom Demon is just a case of hearsay; if we were to discuss her race… she would probably be a human, or rather— a mystical being seems more accurate.”

“I see, a human… huh.”

If that’s the case, many previously incomprehensible things might finally get some answers.

“Hen, I have one last question.”

The other party didn’t speak or show any signs of annoyance but merely gestured with her eyes to the black-haired girl, indicating it was fine to continue.

Vilyric didn’t hold back.

“Although you said it was just a coincidence that we met here, the crucial clue leading us to Cangyun Mountain’s Peach Blossom Peak was that He Zhu happened to catch a glimpse of the letter you wrote to Saint Peach Blossom. I’m quite curious…”

“Were you really careless enough to let her see that location written on it? Before the ambush, did you not foresee that He Zhu would act alongside you?”

“After all, when it comes to confidential letters, why would you specifically mark a meaningless recipient’s address at the end?”

“…?”

The girl turned, her indifferent light silver eyes clashed with the black-haired girl’s silvery-blue gaze in the air, sending out invisible sparks.

This was the first time since their meeting that the other party proactively made eye contact with Vilyric, the first instance of her displaying her emotions openly.

She suddenly laughed, not the previously composed and restrained smirk, but a joy that couldn’t be hidden, bursting into hearty laughter.

Just like the girl standing closely beside her.

“Pfft… You really can’t keep quiet, can you?”

“… Hahaha!!”

Fate intertwines, cause and effect intertwine.

A butterfly flaps its wings somewhere, unknowingly stirring a storm that sweeps across the world.

Who could say this was an entirely random coincidence?

…

As we walked out of the underground alongside Hen, the battle outside had already settled.

The Peach Blossom Guards were dealing with the aftermath of the fierce battle not far away; while several little girls lay down, the remaining ones were mostly injured, it seemed no one had truly died. Achieving such results after facing the Seven Day Demon Lords was already a considerable achievement.

The avatar of Misty Veil appeared to be completely shattered; although that probably wasn’t severe damage for it, at least that guy shouldn’t be able to return to the chaotic secret realm to cause trouble anymore, and the other…

“Snap.”

Miss Xiao Kong arrived with a few Peach Blossom Guards and casually tossed a corpse, pierced through by about ten long spears, onto the ground, turning to look at the two girls walking beside her, a concerned expression on her face.

“Vilyric, are you alright?”

The black-haired girl nodded.

“If you’re talking about the sealed Taotie, at least it doesn’t seem to have major issues right now. Just as we suspected, the spirit veins used to sustain the seal below had been overly exhausted, weakening the suppression effect considerably, but before I arrived, Hen had already replenished and fixed it, and it’s basically stable now.”

“Oh…?”

Miss Cat Daughter raised an eyebrow, sizing up the silver-haired girl beside the Priestess, as if she already knew who she was.

“It seems this is the Princess Ling that Taomu mentioned? Hello, I’m Miss Xiao Kong.”

“…Hen.”

These two… why does the atmosphere feel so strange?

To escape this unexplainable yet suffocating atmosphere, Vilyric hastily changed the subject.

“I didn’t expect you really killed the pharmacist. Impressive.”

Seeing the Priestess’s gaze land on the corpse she just tossed aside, Xiao Kong didn’t mind, simply explaining with a completely different attitude than with Hen.

“This guy wasn’t that great; even combining all his messy tricks wouldn’t stack up to the threshold of transformation. His actual strength might barely reach the same level as lifespan, not being able to kill him was what was truly strange.”

“Hmm? But he clearly…”

Vilyric looked surprised again and scrutinized the corpse lying on the ground, blood nearly drained dry.

Though it was mangled, the fitted white robe still bore traces of the garment worn by the pharmacist, and the facial and bodily features perfectly matched her memories.

No doubt about it, this guy had really died. Unless Vilyric personally used resurrection magic, none of the methods encountered in the Ancient Spirit Realm would likely bring him back to life.

But previously, the pharmacist had indeed withstood her killing blow unscathed. If he could withstand that kind of attack, how could he casually die like this?

The Undying Pharmacist… could he really be killed so easily?

No, there has to be something more to this.

With several troublesome possibilities swirling in her mind, the black-haired girl began to look solemn.

“Xiao Kong, please describe the process of the battle earlier, especially the parts concerning this guy’s death; try to be as detailed as possible.”

Miss Cat Daughter nodded.

“Now that you mention it, it was indeed strange. After I assisted the Peach Blossom Guards in defeating those so-called Demon Lords, the avatar formed from mist dissipated directly after its energy ran out, and this pharmacist, realizing the situation was dire, actively threw himself into the spear formation, as if seeking death, and died on the spot.”

“I initially thought this was some bizarre technique to arise from the dead, but after being vigilant for a while, he didn’t exhibit any further peculiar changes, allowing us to confirm that this guy really had died.”

“You mean… he sought death on purpose?”

Furrowing her brow, the Priestess couldn’t help but recall the strange aspects she had noticed earlier about this pharmacist.

For instance, despite being thoroughly reinforced, her attack magic equivalent to at least tier eight had directly struck him, yet he had once again emerged completely unscathed in a short time here.

And, during the previous battle, he had been able to wrestle evenly with one of the Twelve Peaks’ masters, but when faced with the siege of the Peach Blossom Guards, this pharmacist had behaved exceptionally weakly, even needing to employ some relatively despicable tricks to protect himself, showing a significant disparity in strength.

Xiao Kong’s experience further confirmed this; he was indeed much weaker than before.

There were also some more detailed anomalies, such as his clothing and subtle height differences; clearly, he was met with the Thunder Saint on Peach Blossom Peak, but during their previous encounter, he made bizarre remarks about fighting with her, Vilyric…

Could it be…

“This is the reason why the pharmacist can’t be killed no matter what.”

The Princess Ling, having certain mysterious powers of foresight and comprehension of many secrets, quietly spoke from the side.

“The so-called pharmacist is actually not a single individual…”

…

“Swish, swish ~”

In the quiet, dim hidden chamber, two paper figures placed in the center of a mysterious formation suddenly erupted with light; the next moment, the paper figures vanished, transforming into the lean old man and the pink-haired girl.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Just landing, the old man immediately spat out a dark-colored clot of blood, barely managing to support himself with his already cracked bone staff, standing up with great difficulty, his complexion pale.

Meanwhile, the pink-haired girl, whose entire right arm and mostly shoulder had vanished, her body riddled with holes as if swept by machine guns, had completely fallen into a coma, her breath so weak it was nearly imperceptible, yet for some reason, she still managed to cling to life.

“Oh dear, the situation seems rather grim ~”

From the shadows, a youth whose white hair resembled ancient decay yet whose skin was as delicate as a newborn’s quietly appeared, still wearing a smile.

Dressed in plain white clothing, he walked slowly to the near-dead Bone Immortal and handed him a small porcelain bottle filled with elixirs; the old man caught it and unhesitatingly poured its contents into his mouth, coughing several times.

The pharmacist shook his head helplessly.

“Even the substitute has been forced out; it seems… I can’t come back anymore, such a pity ~”