Chapter 396: A Predetermined Fate

"You killed Zhuyan?"

"Yeah!"

"Where’s the body?"

"No idea!"

Chen Huaian stared at Wang Shouyi’s utterly sincere face, not sure what to say for a moment.

Wang Shouyi was the one who killed Zhuyan, and yet he had no idea where Zhuyan’s corpse went?

Noticing Chen Huaian’s confusion, Wang Shouyi explained,

"Senior, you don’t know—when I was under Divine Descent, I wasn’t aware of anything at all. That Thunder Immortal was controlling my body the whole time. I couldn’t hear or see anything.

When the Divine Descent ended, that Thunder Immortal told me Zhuyan had already been executed.

By the time I regained consciousness and opened my eyes, I was already at the entrance of the Demon-Sealing Tower."

"I see. Well, in that case, it’s understandable that you don’t know anything."

He had discussed with Li Qingran before—she had said that under large power disparities, people under Divine Descent often lost all memory during the process.

And Wang Shouyi had called down a heavenly deity—so of course he wouldn’t remember how Zhuyan was killed.

What Chen Huaian really wanted to know, though, was whether Taotie had managed to retrieve Zhuyan’s soul essence.

If that Thunder Immortal took it away, then the whole plan of the demon horde would be for nothing.

Even though he had never met Taotie, they were now tied to the same rope—prosper together, suffer together.

Naturally, he didn’t want Taotie to have any problems.

"Sigh… if only I could meet Taotie in person. We could talk through the big stuff and the small stuff…"

Chen Huaian mumbled.

"Senior, what did you say? You wanna meet who?" Wang Shouyi perked up his ears.

Chen Huaian took a step back and waved his hand,

"This Venerable One is asking if you’ve seen Baji.

I need to find it now. Why don’t you help me look?"

"Sure thing! Baji was with you earlier, so it definitely didn’t get eaten by Zhuyan. I’ll send my men out to search right away!"

Wang Shouyi knew Baji was like family to the Senior, so he immediately took off with his men flying on swords.

With Wang Shouyi out of the way,

Chen Huaian led Li Qingran deeper into the Qin Mountains.

The direction given by the blood pact was this way.

…

Deep in the Qin Mountains,

a stream ran through the forest, its waters stained red with blood.

The source of the blood was upstream.

Baji lay beside the stream, its massive body like a jumbo-sized briquette, covered in burns and impalement wounds.

Blood leaked from its wounds, mixing into the water.

Wherever the blood flowed, the plants withered, and fish and shrimp frantically swam upstream against the current, rushing to dive into its mouth.

Though the energy was meager,

it barely kept it alive.

Baji stared at the water, replaying in its mind the events from just half an hour ago.

It had successfully escaped the Demon-Sealing Tower with Zhuyan.

It asked how Zhuyan died in the previous cycle.

Zhuyan had said: struck by lightning.

Back then, it felt pretty confident—

The skies were clear, where would lightning come from?

But it had barely celebrated for a few seconds when a thunderclap roared above.

Then a man shrouded in lightning appeared out of nowhere.

It recognized the man as Wang Shouyi.

But those lightning-charged eyes were definitely not his.

That was a higher being, a deity descended from the heavens!

The moment it saw that god, Baji knew—

it was over.

There was no need for permission.

The deity easily forced Zhuyan out, and after a fierce battle, Zhuyan went all in with a last-ditch counterattack.

In response, the deity unleashed a powerful lightning strike before withdrawing,

leaving only Zhuyan’s soul essence behind.

Nothing had changed.

In this cycle, Zhuyan still died by lightning.

Even though Baji wasn’t the main target,

it was only at the Demon Core Stage.

Just brushing against the aftermath of their battle nearly killed it.

If it weren’t for the powerful physique of an ancient beast, it would’ve been dead.

"Wait a minute…"

Baji suddenly fell silent.

Would it really die?

If fate couldn’t be altered, and it wasn’t its time to die, then it wouldn't.

So how did it die in the last cycle?

It racked its brain, but came up with nothing.

Zhuyan’s soul essence floated silently before it.

That blood-red glow flickered like a candle flame.

The slightest breeze would make it tremble,

as if it could vanish at any moment.

[King! You must fuse all the ancient beasts’ soul essences. This is our last chance!]

[Only you can end the cycle of reincarnation…]

…

Zhuyan’s words still echoed in its ears.

Baji thought hard but had no clue.

All it could do was consume Zhuyan’s soul essence.

If it couldn’t save Zhuyan,

at least it could fulfill his last wish.

After swallowing the soul essence, Taotie’s racial talent was fully activated.

A terrifying power surged within.

Its demonic energy skyrocketed, and its cultivation rose at a pace visible to the naked eye.

Its injuries rapidly healed.

Baji opened its eyes.

Every movement around it was now under its control.

Its body had grown even larger.

Sweeping its spiritual sense around, it instantly detected someone approaching.

It stood up warily and looked in that direction.

If it was an Ascender, it wouldn’t hesitate to kill them on the spot.

Once it sensed the familiar presence and felt the blood pact stirring inside, Baji relaxed.

It hesitated for a second, then suppressed its cultivation—now equivalent to the peak of Nascent Soul Stage.

The Big Boss had treated it well.

Eventually, it would be enemy number one for the Ascenders.

It didn’t want to drag the Big Boss into this yet.

Once open war broke out, it would cancel the contract and quietly disappear.

With that decision made, Baji lay back down by the stream, curled up like a black cat and stayed still.

…

By the time Chen Huaian found Baji, the stream had cleared.

But what used to be a fish-filled creek now had not a single blade of water grass,

not even a shrimp left.

The pristine water only revealed scattered stones and sediment.

"Baji! Baji?"

Chen Huaian squatted down and rubbed its head.

Baji had clearly entered the Demon-Sealing Tower with him.

How the heck had it ended up out here?

He had tried searching inside the tower,

but even with the blood pact, he couldn’t locate Baji until the gate opened.

"Meow~"

Baji rolled over, pretending to have just woken up.

Chen Huaian gave it a light slap on the head.

"Quit pretending to be a cat. You’re not a cat. Get up and talk!"

"Ah!" Baji hurriedly got to its feet, bowing its head,

standing sheepishly in front of Chen Huaian, looking like a total coward.

"How’d you end up out here?" Chen Huaian asked.

"I-I don’t know…" Baji blinked.

"Boss, after I got swallowed by the mist, I can’t remember anything. First thing I saw when I woke up was you."

"Really?" Chen Huaian looked suspicious.

"Really!" Baji widened its eyes, perked up its ears, and raised a paw.

"I swear on Baji’s name!"

"Hmm… then you got pretty lucky."

Seeing Baji being this honest, Chen Huaian didn’t press further.

Maybe it was due to the tower’s random teleportation rules.

Dang Kang must’ve seen that Baji was a demon,

not one of the tower’s own, and decided not to kill it—just tossed it outside.

Besides, the Ascenders didn’t exactly have friendly looks toward Baji.

If it had landed near them, who knows what might’ve happened.

"Boss, what’s the situation at the Demon-Sealing Tower?"

Baji asked nervously, glancing up at Chen Huaian.

"The Well of Heaven’s open. Can’t you feel the Spiritual Energy in the Qin Mountains rising?"

Chen Huaian hoisted Baji onto his shoulder,

then warned in a serious tone,

"A lot of demons escaped from the tower.

You better watch yourself—

I hear those demons eat ordinary ones like you that evolved from the Spiritual Revival."

Baji knew the demons wouldn’t harm it,

but still fluffed up its fur in fear, playing along with a terrified look.

"Master, look how scared Baji is. It’s not that bad, right?"

Li Qingran chuckled behind her hand and gently patted Baji’s head.

"Don’t worry, Baji. Master and I will protect you."

The three of them began heading back toward the Demon-Sealing Tower to regroup with Wang Shouyi and the others.

But when they returned, they saw the Ascenders outside had formed a circle.

From the center of the crowd came angry shouting.

"That voice… it’s Wang Shouyi!"

Chen Huaian’s brows knitted together.

…

…