76: Bloodline Truth 1

Inside the main tent of Xingyun Pavilion's temporary camp, the atmosphere was solemn.

Xiao Yan’s light projection hovered before the table, the azure flame at his core flickering erratically due to emotional fluctuations; Xiao Bing stood opposite him, his fingers unconsciously tapping the tabletop; and the white-robed woman who called herself "Ice Soul" sat quietly in the corner, her bamboo hat removed, revealing a face with the left half covered in ice crystal scars.

"You said you are my aunt?" Xiao Bing confirmed again, his gaze falling on the intact Tai Ling Ancient Clan Texture on the woman's right cheek. "Mother never mentioned having any sisters."

Ice Soul gently caressed the scar on her face, her voice like a cold wind blowing over ice: "Because I 'died' very early. Before you were born, I was already a dead person."

She took out a crystal-clear blue Jade Slip and placed it on the table. As the Jade Slip touched the wood, a thin layer of frost immediately condensed on its surface. "This is a memory crystal of the Tai Ling Ancient Clan; it cannot be faked."

Xiao Bing took the Jade Slip and infused a trace of Qi into it. Immediately, a holographic image appeared – a young Ice Heart Saintess and a similar-looking girl stood before the Ice Crystal Palace, both holding the same blue flowers, smiling at each other.

"My Elder sister was three hundred years older than me, but she always seemed like a child." Ice Soul watched the image, her usually cold voice softening for a rare moment. "When she fell in love with that Cultivator named Han from the Lower Plane, the entire Ancient Clan opposed it, and only I supported her."

The image shifted, showing the Ice Heart Saintess holding two infants, tears streaming down her face, while the young Ice Soul was drawing a complex spatial Formation beside her.

"When the plane of origin chose my Elder sister as its vessel, I knew this day would come." Ice Soul continued, "I helped her send you away and faked my own death, all to protect this secret from the shadows."

Xiao Yan's light projection drifted closer: "Then how did Yao Chen find you?"

Ice Soul took out a pair of ancient bronze bracelets from her Pregnant, one worn on her own wrist, and the other placed on the table: "This pair of bracelets was obtained by Yao Chen during his travels through the Tai Ling Ancient Clan in his youth; he gave one to me and kept one for himself. We… had a romantic entanglement."

Xiao Bing keenly noticed that as she spoke, her fingers gently caressed the engravings on the inside of the bracelet – "Chen" and "Po."

"Three months ago, Yao Chen contacted me through the bracelet, saying that a great catastrophe was imminent, and entrusted me with two tasks." Ice Soul put away her brief tenderness, her voice becoming stern again. "One was to obtain the ice crystals from the Tai Ling Ancient Clan's Forbidden Ground, and the other was to combine them with the fire seed after you found it."

Xiao Yan pressed: "Why didn't you wait for us to retrieve it directly?"

"Because there are traitors in the Forbidden Ground." A cold light flashed in Ice Soul's eyes. "Fu Tu Xuan is not the only one seduced by the Chaos Devourer. I have secretly monitored them for many years and discovered that three Tai Ling Ancient Clan Elders have long since fallen. If you had gone rashly, you would have been ambushed."

She pointed to the ice crystal and the green lamp on the table: "So I took the ice heart fragments in advance and waited outside the Soul Clan ruins. After you obtained the fire seed and left, I infiltrated the ruins and found this green lamp, which preserves the Origin of the fire seed, in a hidden compartment of the altar."

Xiao Bing frowned: "Ling Xiao said that the fire seed was something my brother had since birth..."

"Yes, but it was incomplete." Ice Soul explained, "The Soul Clan only took the manifested part of the fire seed back then; the true Origin had been secretly preserved in the Soul Burning Chamber. Yao Chen discovered this secret when he was undercover in the Soul Clan years ago."

Xiao Yan's light projection fluctuated violently, and a few sparks erupted from the azure flame core. Yao Chen had never mentioned this past to him.

Ice Soul seemed to read his thoughts: "Yao Chen has many secrets, some even I don't know. For example..." She pointed to the Soul Plating Pill Jade Slip on the table, "This Pill Formula is missing the final step."

"What?" Xiao Bing quickly checked the Jade Slip and indeed found a clear blank space at the end of the refining steps, as if it had been deliberately erased.

Ice Soul shook her head: "It wasn't erased, but rather Yao Chen himself was unsure. He told me through the bracelet before his death that the final step required the three of you to comprehend it yourselves."

Silence fell in the tent. Xiao Yan's light projection floated to the window, looking out at the increasingly unstable sky; Xiao Bing repeatedly examined the Jade Slip, trying to find hidden clues; Ice Soul sat quietly, her fingers tapping the table, the rhythm exactly the same as Xiao Bing's just now.

Suddenly, Xiao Bing remembered something and looked up sharply: "Where did you say Ling Xiao was just now?"

Ice Soul took out an ice crystal fragment – the very one she had left in the Tai Ling Ancient Clan's Forbidden Ground. At this moment, a blurry image appeared within the ice crystal: a silver-haired young man curled up in a Void Realm, surrounded by black and red mist.

"The Void Realm between the Source World and the Chaotic Sea." Ice Soul's voice was low. "Ling Xiao was forcibly teleported there by the contamination within him. What's more troublesome is..." She pointed to the mist, "The contamination is resonating with some ancient existence."