The warm yellow light reflects half of a breathtakingly handsome face.
If the female disciples of Huayu Hall were here at this time, they would definitely scream in shock.
The face under the lamp was none other than the protagonist of the storybook who had been enthusiastically sought after by the female cultivators recently, the legendary strongest man in the demon spirit world, Cen Qianshan.
At this moment, Cen Qianshan rolled up his sleeves, stretched out his arm wrapped in white bandages, and took the exquisite business card with the Yan family crest engraved on it.
Slender fingers opened the title page, and a soft and gentle female voice came out from the gold-embossed post.
"There is no solution to this difficult problem. Only you can help. Let's meet at the old site of Shi Miao Street at noon tomorrow. I am willing to give you the soul weapon left by the ancient god Dong Yue as a reward. I hope you will come to the appointment. I look forward to it."
After hearing this, Cen Qianshan closed the name card and put it back into the puppet's iron hand. He turned back and picked up the sharp-tipped penknife he had just put down, and continued his work.
The little puppet waited for a long time but didn't hear any response, so he rolled out the door.
It has followed its owner for a long time, and even an artificial brain can summarize several rules about its owner.
When the host disagrees with something, he will clearly say "no". But when he agrees with something, he often uses silence to replace the "yes".
The clacking sounds of the puppet's footsteps faded away.
The old house returned to silence, with only the lone figure under the lamp remaining.
The room is very large and the equipment is old. There are two wide workbenches in the room. Compared with the neatly tidy table in front of Cen Qianshan, the other wide workbench is a little messy.
On it was a half-finished magic tool, with clean pointed tweezers and pliers placed on the left and right sides, as if its maker had just left for a moment.
Until late at night, the young man sitting in front of the lamp stopped his work, put away all the utensils on the table, stood up, took a rag and a broom, and began to clean the large room carefully.
Dust, wipe the table, sweep the floor, meticulously.
After wiping the workbench on which the half-finished magic weapon was placed, he carefully picked up every tool and equipment on it, cleaned them carefully, and put them back in their original places.
He did all this with a calm expression and skillful movements, as if he had done it thousands of times before.
The cold snowflakes fell silently in the courtyard. The brick and wood structure of the house showed a sense of decay soaked by time.
The block outside the house had collapsed and been damaged for many years, leaving only a silent ruin.
In such a dark ruin, only this yard is emitting a dim light. Apart from this yellow light, the whole world is dark and silent.
Then, the only light was blown out.
Only the pure white night snow fell silently to the ground.
…
Shi Miao Street was once a very prosperous area in Fuwang City.
A hundred years ago, a sudden beast tide struck and almost destroyed the entire Fuwang City as well as the nearby buildings.
The human monks quickly rebuilt a tall new city not far away. Now there are very few people living in these ruins.
Among the broken walls covered with weeds, there lie huge incomplete sculptures and broken exquisite colored tiles, demonstrating the hustle and bustle that once existed here.
At noon, the sky was still dark and unclear. Countless sharp-eyed and nimble demon cultivators hid behind the broken walls. Holding magic tools and spells in their hands, their faces were tense, as if they were facing a great enemy.
Surrounded by them, on a slightly flat open space, stood a beautiful and imposing woman. The woman was gently playing with the folding fan in her hand, as if waiting for someone.
She is the head of the famous Yan family in Fuwang City, and everyone respectfully calls her the Great Manager Yan.
Behind her stood two or three female cultivators who looked similar to her. One of them said, "Mother, when has our Yan family ever asked a man for help? No matter how powerful a man is, what can he do? If mother gives me a little more time, I will definitely..."
The head of the Yan family raised his white hand to stop her indignant words, "What are you sure of? Even if I go there myself, I have no confidence. The most important thing for a person is to recognize his own strength. Even for people like us in the Yan family, we should not judge heroes by gender."
In the faint sunlight at noon, a figure slowly walked over. The man was tall and slender, wearing a heavy cloak, with a small iron puppet on his shoulder.
With the sound of his light footsteps, all the guards in the dark immediately became nervous.
Shopkeeper Yan closed her fan and stood up straight.
The man walked up to her, keeping a very long social distance, and pulled down the cloak that covered half of his face, revealing a handsome face with pale skin.
The delicate eyelids, the long and charming eyelashes, the cold eyes like an ice field, and the eyebrows frozen with a hint of sorrow. It is obviously an extremely charming face.
But almost all the women present showed nervous fear when faced with such a beautiful face. Many even took a step back quietly.
The shopkeeper Yan came forward and extended his hand to greet him, "Mr. Cen, thank you for coming all the way here."
Cen Qianshan did not take her hand, and said two words coldly: "What's the matter?"
Shopkeeper Yan didn't take it seriously. She naturally withdrew her hand and opened the fan: "A few months ago, we found the entrance to the ruins of the Dongyue Ancient God Temple. We spent a huge price to explore that there is an endless pool of lifelessness in the temple, and there is a black lotus of the nine transformations of the blue sky in the pool."
Cen Qianshan did not respond, but waited in silence for her to finish.
The shopkeeper Yan continued, "The Nine-Transformation Black Lotus is extremely important to our Yan family. Unfortunately, we are not capable enough to obtain it. We can only ask Master Cen for help."
Cen Qianshan said calmly: “The ancient god’s ruins suppress the two paths of immortals and demons. Even if you can prove yourself as a demon and enter the divine path, you will be no different from a disciple who has just entered the door of cultivation.”
Manager Yan Da saw that he had pointed out the most dangerous and difficult part, so he stopped hiding it: "In the past few months, countless people have gone to the temple, but most of them could only wander around the temple and couldn't even touch the door of the temple."
The temple belongs to the world of gods, where the laws of heaven and earth are different, and all the profound spells and high-level talismans cannot be used there. Only some low-level puppets and low-level magic tools that are not too dependent on spiritual power can play a slight role.
The head of the Yan family knew the custom of asking Cen Qianshan for help. She tried to guess Cen Qianshan's expression and took out a purple-gold dragon-patterned chime from her Qiankun bag.
The purple gold bowl of this chime is painted with cloud dragons and rain patterns, and the base is supported by ghost heads on all four sides, with a slender and simple sandalwood handle at the bottom. It also comes with a purple copper chime hammer that is round on the top and flat on the bottom.
As soon as this magic weapon was taken out, the midday sunlight dimmed for a moment, and a long dragon roar was faintly heard between heaven and earth, causing everyone's hearts to tremble.
Cen Qianshan finally raised his eyes, looked at the bronze chime for a moment, and stretched out his hand wrapped in a white bandage from his cloak. That meant he took the job.
The head of the Yan family smiled and said, "This artifact was obtained from the Dongyue Temple. It can attract ghosts and gather residual souls. It is an extremely powerful soul weapon. My family is willing to pay 100,000 spirit stones as a deposit. After we get the black lotus, we will offer this item as a reward. How about it?"
Cen Qianshan did not speak, and did not retract his hand which was in the air.
A woman jumped out from behind the manager of Yanda.
This person's name is just Ling. She is the eldest daughter of the manager of Yanda and the eldest daughter of the Yan family.
At this moment, she was furious: "For this ancient Horcrux, several lives of my Yan family were lost. You haven't done anything for us yet, and you want to take the artifact first? This is too arrogant!"
The man with a cold expression said calmly, "My rules at Cen Qianshan have always been like this. Since you asked me to come and I have accepted the task, you have to leave the things behind."
Yan Ling was furious, "If you don't want to keep it, do you still want to rob it by force?"
Cen Qianshan raised his eyes to look at her, and the puppet on his shoulder suddenly turned its iron head 180 degrees, and its cute face changed into a hideous one.
The ground suddenly roared and shook, and most people found it difficult to stand steadily, so they all took out their flying magic weapons.
In the darkness, the sound of Fan singing was heard everywhere, and a six-armed, three-eyed, ferocious-looking Mahakala god slowly appeared in the air, appearing and disappearing.
The demon's might was overwhelming, pressing directly against Yan Ling, making it almost impossible for her to stand, with a sweet and fishy taste rising up in her throat.
Shopkeeper Yan protected his daughter behind him.
"We can talk it over. The Cen family is well-known for their credibility, so we can trust them."
She couldn't believe that Cen Qianshan was such a person who would turn hostile to her over a disagreement. He was totally unreasonable.
As the head of the family, the shopkeeper of Yanda had rarely been humiliated like this and was extremely angry, but she was very shrewd and had to endure it.
Cen Qianshan had a feud with the Yan family and destroyed half of the Yan family's foundation with his own strength. It was only after she had done all kinds of mediation that the situation was eased to this point. She really didn't want to create such a powerful enemy for her family again.
Yan Ling was protected behind her mother, and was sweating profusely.
She was the eldest daughter of the Yan family, and had been arrogant and domineering since she was a child. But at this moment, the person opposite her was even more domineering and unreasonable than herself.
Looking at the tall figure standing in front of the huge phantom of the terrifying demon god, she suddenly felt a surge of regret in her heart. She regretted that she had offended such a difficult and powerful man just because of a random provocation from others.
Yan Ling recalled the first time she met Cen Qianshan.
I was still very young at that time, and this terrifying man was just a thin and helpless boy.
It was at a large dinner party, and the girl from the Lian family, who usually hung out with her, pointed out the exquisite and handsome boy to her.
"See? That's the guy. He was just born a lowly slave. I saw him by accident at the Lei family. We just asked him to serve at a small banquet. But he looked down on us and refused to do anything. Halfway through, he hugged the legs of the Mu family, climbed up the high branch, and coaxed them to take him as his apprentice."
At that time, Yan Ling had drunk a lot of wine, and was young and frivolous, so he was used to being domineering. He didn't care about the Mu family or Tu family, and took a few people to block the boy into a small dark room where no one was.
"Beat him to death. I'll take the blame if you kill me."
She still remembered how she sat there with her legs crossed, looking smug, and drunkenly commanded a few followers to pin the young devil to the ground and bully him.
In fact, Cen Qianshan has been cruel since he was a child. Three or five big men could not suppress him. The harder he was beaten, the harder he resisted, like a mad little beast.
"You're such a vicious kid, you're indeed a filthy bastard who can kill his father." The daughter of the Lian family sneered from behind him.
"There's actually someone who wants you to be his apprentice?"
Cen Qianshan, who was resisting frantically, suddenly stopped moving. He seemed to become weak in an instant. He gritted his teeth and neither called for help nor put up any resistance.
"Oh, are you scared?" The twisted young masters and young ladies laughed at him. Someone bent down and kicked him. "Do you want us to tell your master and see if she still dares to take a beautiful little apprentice like you?"
The thin body curled up on the floor was visibly stiff.
In Fuwang City, cultivators are gathered together based on their family bloodlines.
Of course, for a family, the more offspring the better, but the higher the level of cultivation, the more difficult it is to leave behind a bloodline, or the offspring obtained may not be good enough.
At this time, some people will choose to adopt adopted sons and daughters, or take in some young apprentices in order to quickly expand the family's strength.
In such a world, patriarchy and masters are regarded as extremely important, more important than the sky.
No one would be willing to take in a man like Cen Qianshan who accidentally killed his adoptive father as his disciple or son.
The door was kicked open and Mu Xue appeared outside with a livid face.
Yan Ling, who was drunk, only then remembered that although this Mu family was usually low-key, she was the best weapon refiner in Fuwang City. Even her mother often told her to maintain a good relationship with her.
Yan Ling just stood up and greeted Mu Xue in a carefree manner, hoping that she would give him some face. "Don't mind it, Mr. Mu. It's just a little slave. If you break it, I will compensate you tenfold."
Before she finished her words, Mu Xue's arms were instantly covered with black iron scales, and she punched her in the face, throwing her heavily against the wall and knocking over a table and chairs.
When Yan Ling crawled up from the mess, the people she brought with her were already lying all over the ground.
The furious weapon refiner picked up his little apprentice with one hand and clenched his armored fists, refusing to give up.
Yan Ling shouted at her angrily: "You dare to touch the daughter of the Yan family, aren't you afraid that my Yan family will not forgive you?"
"I don't know whether I can forgive you or not, but I won't forgive you now." Mu Xue's fist came from a distance. If someone hadn't pulled Yan Ling back, she would have been chopped off on the spot.
The organizer of the banquet rushed over and tried every means to persuade Mu Xue to stay.
"Hey, you probably don't know yet?" Yan Ling called out to Mu Xue, with a bit of gloating, "Your precious disciple is actually a vicious person who committed the crime of patricide."
The onlookers who had gathered around suddenly buzzed and began to talk.
"A traitor."
"Ungrateful person."
"Such people deserve the death penalty."
"Why is he still here?"
"Mr. Mu must have been bewitched by this person."
Cen Qianshan, who was in the crowd, turned pale in an instant. Amid the buzz of discussion and the contemptuous looks, he froze his thin body and clenched his lips tightly, not saying a word.
Mu Xue squatted down beside him, reached out and touched his soft hair, and asked, "What's going on?"
Perhaps it was the warmth that touched his head that gave him courage.
Cen Qianshan's lips turned pale as he explained, "That's not the case, Master. That guy... he often beats me."
Someone in the crowd immediately shouted, "You rebellious bastard. He is your adoptive father. No matter how much he beats you, you deserve it. As a son, you must not disobey your father and ruler."
Cen Qianshan stared at Mu Xue, his lips trembling slightly. "He used to abuse me day and night. When I was older, he always tried to do something to me... something weird. I didn't want him to succeed, so I told my adoptive mother. She and him started arguing, and she accidentally hurt him during the argument."
The young man with red eyes stared at Mu Xue, as if he wanted to see her disgust for him from the slightest expression in her face.
"Finally, they said that I was responsible for all this and convicted me of patricide. They sold me as a slave."
Mu Xue thought of the deep and shallow scars on Cen Qianshan's back, those were the pain that had accumulated over the years on his young body.
She sighed, asked no more questions, picked up her apprentice, and walked out through the crowd.
Yan Ling shouted at her unwillingly: "You took in such a dirty guy, you will pay the price for him sooner or later."
Mu Xue stopped and didn't look back: "He is not dirty, he is much cleaner than you. Your mother will pay the price sooner or later for having a daughter like you."
Yan Ling still remembers that the little devil who was taken away by the master was as soft as an innocent little lamb.
When his master pushed through the crowd and walked out, the little lamb, with his hands around his master's neck, looked at him through his master's shoulders. The vicious look in his eyes was clearly that of a vengeful and ferocious wolf.
When the Mu family was still alive, this evil had never revealed his true nature. It was not until Mu Xue passed away that the beast showed his hideous face and went crazy to seek revenge.
The Cen family that adopted him disappeared, the Lei family that sold him fell into ruin, and even the Yan family was almost unable to resist his attack.
If a beast tide had not happened to attack Fuwang City a hundred years ago, everyone would have been forced to put aside their prejudices and unite to face the outside world. Coupled with my mother's efforts, I'm afraid this knot would still not be untied.
When Yan Ling came back to her senses from her memories, her mother and the great devil Cen had already reached an agreement.
They divided the ancient artifact left by the ancient god Dongyue into two parts, leaving the bowl as a token to Cen Qianshan, and the hammer remained in the Yan family, to be presented after the task was completed.
Cen Qianshan was aloof and cruel, but his reputation was always very good, and he never broke his word when he was paid to do things. So it wasn't too worrying.
Looking at Cen Qianshan's back as he took the things and left, the shopkeeper Yan Da suddenly called him, "Mr. Cen, I forgot to tell you. The ruins of the Dongyue Temple is a twin divine domain."
…
In the fairyland, in the Huayu Hall on the Jiulian Mountain.
Mu Xue, who had just recovered, sat in her seat, writing down four words: "Twin God Realms".
The lecturer on the stage today is the sect leader Dan Chengzi. The white-haired sect leader personally tells his disciples the history of the world of immortal cultivation.
There are very few opportunities for the master to teach in person. Today, there are a lot of senior brothers and sisters coming to listen, and the classroom is packed with people.
"The Emperor ordered Xihe to be in charge of the four seasons of heaven and earth, so that people and gods would not disturb each other and each would be in its proper order. This is called the connection between heaven and earth. 1 From then on, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth was no longer abundant, and the ancient gods ascended to the upper world. Only the temples and legends where they once lived were left in the human world."
Dan Chengzi twirled his beard, shook his head and recited the contents of ancient books.
"In ancient times, the worlds of immortals and demons were originally one. Later, a powerful being split the world into two. The place with abundant spiritual energy and where demons and monsters were born was called the Demon Spirit Realm. The place with peace and tranquility and scarce spiritual energy was called the Immortal Spirit Realm. Although the two realms were separated and far apart, the temples of the ancient gods each followed their own laws and remained in their original places, thus giving rise to the twin realms of gods."
Ding Lanlan sat next to Mu Xue and whispered in her ear, "This is a magical place where people from the Demonic World and the Immortal World can enter at the same time, but can only leave separately."
"Ah, what does this mean?" Xia Tong asked quietly.
"For example, there is a Fuxi Temple in the Demonic Spirit Realm, and there is also one in the Immortal Spirit Realm. They are so far away from each other, but once you enter, you will find that they are actually the same place."
"But the entrance to this kind of place is separated from the secular world by a sacred road, and only after a long time will a small gap appear. Normally, you can't get in at all."