"So, you two are the biological children of True Person Tai Xuan from the Zixiao Palace?"
The words caused a stir among everyone present. Lü Shiming's face remained as calm as ever, but Li Yunshang reacted like a pan of boiling oil, anxiously turning to Su Mu: "You! How could you possibly be True Person Tai Xuan's son?! That was decades ago! Why are you only this age after all these years!"
"I am indeed True Person Tai Xuan's son," Su Mu admitted. "Back then, after Master rescued me, he used a secret method to change my identity, which is why I appear to be this age."
"I see, so that's how it is," Li Yunshang said, nodding in sudden understanding. Then, she leaned close to Jiang Wen and whispered, "No wonder he's stronger than me; it turns out he's so much older."
"You'll be stronger than him in the future," Jiang Wen praised.
"It's none of your business!"
Jiang Wen chuckled silently, thinking that this girl had at least one good quality: she could always be carefree. Though she seemed a bit silly, being without worries was truly a good thing.
Yunze connected to the Southern Lands, but its size was unknown. Searching for someone within this forbidden area was undoubtedly like searching for a needle in the ocean. Su Mu was aware of this situation and had prepared himself to die of old age in Yunze.
"I know, don't worry," Jiang Wen said, calming down and carefully observing Hong.
"I really have to thank you for playing along with me in this charade; only then could I accept this body completely unscathed. Now, let's bring the curtain down," Hong said, forcefully trying to pry open the vines. However, the vines seemed incredibly tough, and Hong couldn't break them open even after several attempts.
Jiang Wen had previously felt that she seemed to lack emotions, like a wooden puppet with only a physical body. Now, it seemed that her emotions were being suppressed by some secret technique.
"I never thought of it that way," Su Mu said. "I came to Yunze this time precisely to find you."
"…Heh, you do have some ability," Hong sneered. "It's just a pity that it won't stop me."
Her eyes turned into vertical slits, filled with pain.
"A'Ya! How could you become like this?!" Su Mu's pupils shrank sharply, and he could no longer suppress the expression on his face. Veins bulged on his arms, and the emotions within his heart were also difficult to contain.
As Hong spoke, the thin snakes on her body suddenly grew larger, and then countless snake heads bit through the vines, causing the entire vine cage to collapse.
Listening to these words, Jiang Wen suddenly recalled Lü Shiming asking Su Mu about his last words when they first entered Yunze; so that was what it was about.
Her arms were now covered in snake tendrils, and a strange smile appeared on her face.
"She's very strong," Zi Yun said seriously. "And very special; you must be careful."
"Of course, otherwise, who would save a dying little girl?" A'Le Ge Ya said with a smile, then looked at Su Mu.
"What exactly are you?! Get out of my sister's body now!" Su Mu roared in anger.
"Once you leave, don't come back; don't let me see you again! I hate you, I hate Father. I hate why they had to give birth to me, making me become like this!" A'Le Ge Ya said, her hands clutching the vines of the cage, glaring fiercely at Su Mu. Her skin began to peel off, revealing countless scales.
From her abdomen all the way to her neck, smooth snake scales covered her body.
"What a wonderful body; as expected of one of the Ten Absolutes."
"Every day, I experience the same torment, every day I feel the pain of being bitten by ten thousand snakes. I don't want this; I also want to be like brother."
She said to herself, countless tiny snake heads protruding from the scales on her body. Each snake wriggled and hissed like earthworms on rotten meat, making one's scalp crawl.
"Me? Who? Hahaha. Aren't I the Chi Yao you've all been looking for? Of course, you don't have to call me Chi Yao. My name, let me think, my name is Hong. You can call me Hong, hahaha," A'Le Ge Ya, or perhaps Hong, said with a strange laugh, reaching out to pinch the vine cage.
"Why, why did I become like this? Hehe, my dear brother. You'll have to ask yourself about that."
"Why, why am I the only one living so painfully? While you all are so happy. Brother, you can even make friends, travel around and become a cultivator. And me? I can only survive here, becoming this inhuman monster."
"I really have to thank you for leaving me with such a good thing."
The person he needed to find was right in front of him, and the person to entrust his last words to was also right in front of him. It was truly a case of searching high and low without finding it, only to have it delivered effortlessly.
"Before coming here, I had already made up my mind that even if I had to scour every corner of Yunze, I would not give up."
"I'm not willing, I don't want this… Wuwuwu… Hahaha."
"…" Jiang Wen grinned, suddenly finding this Hong quite amusing.
The others also had different expressions on their faces, and A Meng was even holding back a laugh.
"Brother, my brother. Why, why did you abandon me? Why didn't you take me with you? Instead, you left me behind!!"
"It's just a pity, not much ability," Hong said, licking her hand.
A'Le Ge Ya lowered her head, her emotions gradually spiraling out of control. Her voice became increasingly shrill, eventually turning into a cold, snake-like hiss.
"Father committed such a great mistake, yet it has implicated us. Brother, you always said you would find me, but you never came back to Yunze to look for me. The friendship you speak of, no matter how important, is just talk," A'Le Ge Ya's expression lost its previous calmness, and her voice contained a few more emotions. She stared at Su Mu, her eyes filled with some pain.
Thinking in his heart, his eyes were observing Su Mu and the others. After hearing that they were the children of True Person Tai Xuan, Jiang Wen only felt that the Dao of Heaven was impermanent and karma was miraculous.
"You are full of lies. You are just making excuses for your actions!" A'Le Ge Ya's words carried a hint of painful emotion. "Do you know what kind of life I've been living here? Do you know what it feels like to be bitten by countless snakes?"
"Body of the Ten Absolutes?!" Jiang Wen exclaimed in surprise. He had heard Yan Gongli introduce the Ten Absolute physiques before. Each one was an extremely outrageous existence.
Even Yan Gongli, as the founder, had not seen many of the Ten Absolute physiques, but he, Jiang Wen, had seen two of them in these few days.
"Why, why did you still come back here? Just to comfort your uneasy conscience?"
Her voice became fierce, A'Le Ge Ya was like a child gradually waking up, beginning to have her own emotions.
"Fellow Daoist Su, which of the Ten Absolutes is your sister?" Jiang Wen asked Su Mu.
Since these siblings were the children of True Person Tai Xuan, it was impossible for them not to know their own talents.
"My sister, she is the Undying Body," Su Mu replied, looking at Hong after calming his emotions. "The Ten Absolutes: Undying, turning bone into flesh. Even if pierced by ten thousand arrows, one can still survive."
"Undying Body? So perverted," Jiang Wen blurted out. He looked at Hong again and suddenly felt that this guy was very troublesome. How could he deal with someone who wouldn't die no matter how much they were attacked?
