Chapter 425 - 212: Newly Awakened Consciousness (Part 2)
The main escape relied on the Six Souls Banner’s ability to hide one’s figure, block Divine Sense, and evade divination.
Previously, inside the Grotto Heaven, Chu Xuan didn’t do this for two reasons:
First, no matter how he escaped within the Grotto Heaven, there was only one exit. Hiding and sneaking around would only waste precious time for escape.
Second, although the Six Souls Banner can hide one’s tracks, moving will inevitably cause some noise or air disturbances. You can’t just stand still, and people will be able to force you out by randomly bombing, so without first shaking off the pursuers, it wouldn’t work.
...
On the other side, with Yu Zhanfeng’s help, Li Fanzhou finally forced Shangguan He back.
This cold swordsman calmly adjusted his sleeves and said to Li Fanzhou, "Chu Xuan asked me to tell Elder Li that he’s wandering the world and won’t return to the Cyan Lotus Daoist Palace."
"Immortal Fuyun has cared for and loved him deeply, and he will always remember the kindness of the Daoist Palace, and will never be an enemy of it."
Li Fanzhou seemed to have expected this and just sighed lightly, "It was indeed him. Fine, I will explain to his master."
Yu Zhanfeng nodded and left.
Actually, Immortal Fuyun never hinted anything to Li Fanzhou. He deduced some speculation from the fact that after that wedding, Immortal Fuyun proactively met with Li Xingchuan, and that Li Xingchuan specially wanted to see Chu Xuan before his retreat.
Today’s event also confirmed his guess, but Li Fanzhou didn’t react as decisively as Chu Xuan imagined. Even though the Shangguan family had no concrete evidence, even if they did, until Chu Xuan is officially expelled from the sect, he remains a disciple of the Daoist Palace!
Thus, Li Fanzhou wouldn’t allow outsiders to bully him casually.
...
On Ji Mingyu’s side, she was extremely worried about Chu Xuan, giving her all in battle. The grand aura of the Tai Su pervaded three thousand miles.
Sikong Loyan was already at a disadvantage, and upon seeing Su Mengqing suddenly arrive on the battlefield, exploded his avatar and disappeared.
At this point, Ming Yu had no time to argue with Qing’er. After learning Chu Xuan’s location, she hurried to meet him.
...
Chu Xuan didn’t flee the dangerous place as others speculated.
Instead, he did the opposite, leading Qingqing underground back to the Grotto Heaven, crossed the Celestial Water Array, entered the Ruins, and burrowed into his old cave mansion.
No matter how suspicious one might be, Chu Xuan was confident that they wouldn’t discover this cave mansion, as tiny as a speck of dust.
At this point, the anxious Qingqing finally relaxed, patting her ample chest.
It’s worth mentioning that during the escape, Chu Xuan kept holding her hand tightly, so she plucked up courage and timidly asked:
"Chu, Chu Xuan, are you okay?"
Chu Xuan shook his head and released her hand, not in the mood to say much, just frowning and pondering his future course.
Returning to the Daoist Palace was out of the question; after today, rumors of him possibly being the reincarnation of the Heavenly Demon would spread even wider.
Even if the Shangguan family can’t find conclusive evidence for now, as long as Chu Xuan is in the Daoist Palace, trouble will be endless, the whole world putting their heads together and digging up any connections to the Heavenly Demon, worried they can’t spot any flaw?
Not to mention, those who helped today were mostly associated with the Heavenly Demon, making the suspicion harder to clear.
If Chu Xuan were to return, it might trigger a large-scale war between the Shangguan family and the Cyan Lotus Daoist Palace, culminating in a bloodbath, a scenario he’d never want to see.
Chu Xuan had long anticipated this day would come, but it was too soon, still too soon...
Oh, and he managed to escape because of the beauty’s head helping.
This wasn’t a backup plan prepared in advance, but when Chu Xuan was jumping out of the Shangguan family’s grasp, desperately thought of any trump card he had, he remembered the celestial corpse, locked within the Six Souls Banner.
So he hastily probed the banner with his Divine Sense, hoping to persuade this feral, murderous-minded creature without fully conscious intelligence.
To Chu Xuan’s surprise, once his Divine Sense entered, the beauty head opened her eyes, staring at him, with faint traces of humanity in their indifferent gaze.
Unable to speak, the beauty head communicated with Chu Xuan through thoughts, revealing the truth:
Originally just a pure monster formed from the corpse of an ancient Immortal, the beauty head had no rationality, solely driven by instinct and fragments of memories from the female Immortal.
This hunt for trinkets like jade beds, meditation mats, and incense burners on the Ancient Battlefield was merely an imitation of the Immortal’s lifestyle.
Despite possessing powerful Innate Divine Techniques, using a celestial tier flying sword and the shabby Qianming Celestial Bottle to battle was merely mirroring the original owner.
After being trapped by Chu Xuan inside the Six Souls Banner for refining, she wasn’t easily subdued given Chu Xuan’s level. It was only when he had a sudden inspiration to infuse Qianming Immortal Qi into the banner that it struck hard, knocking her unconscious.
Three days and nights later, the beauty head awoke, her ferocity refined away; stimulated by the Six Souls Banner and a wisp of Immortal Qi, she gained sentience.
She was not the reincarnation of that ancient Immortal, who had died completely long ago. Precisely, she was a newly emerged consciousness from that head.
If given time to cultivate, she could potentially advance further in the future.
However, being akin to a spiritual corpse, similar to a zombie, had benefits and limitations. Crossing tribulations to ascend was beyond impossible and would surely result in being shattered by the heavens.
As for why the beauty head "cried" when she "woke," it was purely out of confusion, fear, and pain. She didn’t even know why she was in this pitch-black place, being refined by ominous green light.
Only after Chu Xuan spared her life did she start to think, recall, trying to figure out who she was and what had happened before?
In the unending darkness, she pondered for ages, finally grasping her situation, recalling Chu Xuan as a bad guy who stole her treasures and imprisoned her to be refined to death.
Unable to escape, she drifted day by day, digesting those memory fragments left by the original form.
Then, as soon as Chu Xuan entered, she looked at him, expressing her intent to "submit," conditional on him helping her "grow" a body, and releasing her in the future.
Understanding the whole story, Chu Xuan felt somewhat embarrassed.
Essentially, he did act like a bandit, seizing Immortal Qi, stealing treasures, and torturing, only by accident awakening her sentience.
The prospect of having a sentient celestial corpse head regrow a body felt daunting and impossible to Chu Xuan.
But faced with a life-and-death crisis, he solemnly promised, "When your body is fully restored, I’ll immediately set you free."
It was this commitment from Chu Xuan that prompted the beauty head to obey and assist him in battle.
Fair to say, this newly born sentience was as gullible as a baby, easily coaxed, far from the cunning Ghost Market Master.
She never contemplated what to do if Chu Xuan couldn’t help her regenerate her body...
Chu Xuan and Qingqing awaited in the cave mansion, briefly after which Yu Zhanfeng arrived first to meet them.
Then, Ji Mingyu and Su Mengqing arrived together, finally allowing Chu Xuan to breathe a sigh of relief.