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In a secluded pavilion within the Jia Nan Academy Inner Academy, a black-clad girl stood up. Her deep, night-like eyes held no emotion.
She walked to the window and watched a small, white, half-palm-sized bird approaching from a distance. She raised her right arm, allowing it to perch there.
Extending her fair left hand, she flattened it in front of the small bird. The white bird lowered its head and spat out a rolled-up note.
From her space ring, she took out a low-grade pill, simply refined from medicinal herbs by scorching them with flame, and fed it to the bird. She stroked its head, and her right arm moved slightly.
The messenger bird flapped its wings and flew into the sky.
Xiao Meng unfolded the note, a smile appearing in her eyes as she looked at Xiao Ning's somewhat messy handwriting.
"Young Master Xiao Yan, you've arrived..."
Turning to look behind her, she said in a soft voice, "You should have known already, right?"
"Mm." Zhou Mingrui pinched the corner of his right eye and replied, "I also have Worms of Spirit placed outside. As soon as he returned, he caused such a big commotion that even if there weren't many Worms of Spirit, it would be hard not to know."
"What? They didn't notify you?" Zhou Mingrui suddenly paused, then continued, "Oh, I forgot. You're restricted by the main body from spiritual connection with other Worms of Spirit. You can't receive messages from them."
Xiao Meng's breathing hitched, then she took a deep breath, calming herself, but her fists involuntarily clenched:
"You're somewhat like Romier in personality."
Zhou Mingrui spread his hands: "I'm just stating the truth... Lies are intoxicating; truth stabs the heart."
Xiao Meng's forehead twitched, and she asked, "Speaking of which, why did the main body leave you here? I don't see any necessity for your existence."
"To integrate and coordinate the Amon in the Black-Corner Region area, and to provide Xiao Yan with some necessary help or trials... This should have been your duty," Zhou Mingrui replied.
"My duty?" Xiao Meng raised an eyebrow, asking in confusion, "Why do I have no impression of that at all?"
Zhou Mingrui looked at her with an expression as if she were an idiot: "Does the main body need to explicitly state this? Originally, all matters around Xiao Yan should have been arranged by you, but looking at you... you seem a bit incapable of handling such a major responsibility."
Saying that, he shook his head and continued, "Even if you were a little more rational, a little more logical in your actions, the main body wouldn't have left me behind. For the same matter, two Amon with the same authority are not needed, just as you said, I am a bit redundant."
Xiao Meng grumbled, "Actually, I'm very rational. It's just that the previous human body made my emotional and human sides overly prominent."
Zhou Mingrui smiled and said, "Aren't you going to help Xiao Yan? With that kind of situation, I feel like he might not be able to handle it."
Xiao Meng glanced at him, the corners of her mouth curving upwards into a smile:
"If it were the Xiao Yan from the original work, it would indeed be difficult to handle, but under our influence, he is gradually widening the gap with his contemporary self, and the gap will only grow larger... I don't need to meddle."
Zhou Mingrui's mouth opened and closed. He had just received a message from the Worms of Spirit in the Outer Courtyard, and after a slight pause, he chuckled:
"It seems you're not entirely useless. At least your judgment of Xiao Yan is more accurate than mine."
...
In a dim, deathly silent space, a Barrier separated the inside from the outside. Outside was a deep, scorching Magma, and within the space was nothingness, save for a massive stone door tens of thousands of feet tall and a gigantic snake-like creature in front of it.
The Barrier rippled, and subtle spatial fluctuations startled Zhu Kun. His eyelids twitched slightly, then slowly opened.
A look of joy appeared on his dragon face. He cautiously reined in his pressure, controlling his aura so that not a trace was revealed.
His enormous snake-like body slowly moved, afraid of accidentally brushing against the weak creature that had entered the space.
Ever since Xiao Meng died in front of him the first time, he no longer dared to casually attack those who entered.
Afterward, Amon came several times in Xiao Meng's appearance, each time bringing him a jade slip recording Zi Yan's current life, and each time it exploded in front of him.
Even if Zhu Kun didn't release his aura or pressure him, he would always commit suicide in front of Zhu Kun in the same manner as the first time, with the same death, without any communication.
This gave Zhu Kun a headache... He had thought of having a good talk with this strange fellow called Xiao Meng the second time she came, but the other party completely ignored him. He usually only had time to say one sentence before she "bang!" exploded.
When she came the second time, Zhu Kun said, "I want to talk to you."
The third time, he said, "I am Zi Yan's father."
The fourth time, he said, "I'm sorry, I was wrong."
After so many times, Zhu Kun also understood that what he had killed was probably just a clone or a puppet-like entity.
This was good news. Furthermore, another piece of good news was that the other party knew he was Zi Yan's father, as evidenced by her specifically bringing jade slips each time, and she had a stable method of reaching this space.
The bad news was that he seemed to have angered her; committing suicide in the same way in front of him every time was likely an expression of dissatisfaction.
Zhu Kun pondered how he could gain her forgiveness, but no matter how much he thought, there was no good way. She wasn't even willing to say a single word to him!
Unable to communicate, unable to interact, how could he gain understanding?
Brilliant fire wings carried the black-clad girl to the huge plaza in front of the Ancient Emperor Cave. She looked up at the colossal creature looking down at her from the void, a mocking smile on her lips.
The jade slip was engraved by Xiao Meng, sent by Zhou Mingrui to the Magma World at the bottom of the Heavenly Burning Training Qi Tower, given to the fallen Amon. Then, the fallen Amon controlled a clone to Parasite a Flame Lizardman and dive to the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's Cave.
Wearing Xiao Meng's appearance, he gazed at the massive stone door for a moment, then looked at Zhu Kun and spoke for the first time:
"I don't like looking up at others."
The enormous Tai Xu Ancient Dragon heard this, and its body immediately shrank, transforming into a human form. His face showed joy; her willingness to speak to him meant her attitude had softened, which was a significant step towards easing their relationship.
This was the first time in Zhu Kun's life he had been so humble, almost begging for the forgiveness of a mere Dou Emperor.
"Alright, alright..." The middle-aged man with purple-gold hair, into whom Zhu Kun had transformed, had no trace of majesty in his golden pupils; instead, his face was somewhat fawning.
He rubbed his hands and said softly, "Alright, alright, I'll listen to you."
Amon raised his right hand, pinched the corner of his eye, and said with a serious expression:
"The clone from the first meeting was different from the subsequent avatars. It was very important. You caused me significant loss."
No wonder she never gave me a good look...
Zhu Kun had always been puzzled. Given how the other party later treated avatars as nothing, committing suicide in front of him at the slightest disagreement, avatars didn't seem to matter much.
If the first clone was unique and held special significance, then her later attitude could be understood.
He gave an awkward smile: "Uh... I can offer compensation."
Amon shook his head: "This is an irreparable loss to my cultivation; no compensation can make up for it."
Zhu Kun's heart sank, and he sighed inwardly, thinking, "This is bad."
Amon said softly, "I'm speaking to you only to tell you that those powerful Flame Lizardmen outside seem to have grown suspicious. If they try to block me, I won't be able to break through the blockade, and I probably won't be able to come here again in the future.
"Do you have anything you want to say to Zi Yan? I can relay it... but I won't tell her your whereabouts. It's too dangerous here.
"And she's an impulsive and reckless person. If she insists on coming down, I can't stop her."
Zhu Kun was stunned. This news struck him like a bolt from the blue, leaving him momentarily at a loss.
In this empty, deathly silent space, the records of his child's life were the only solace he had found in thousands of years.
The records in these jade slips were like a beam of light in the darkness, illuminating his increasingly desolate heart.
But this light hadn't lasted long, and it seemed it was about to be extinguished again.
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