There was a time when Sheng Lingyuan tried his best to suppress his affection for this person, and he went to great lengths to do so.

He considered being deliberately cold and distant towards this person, but eventually gave up.

After all, a sword spirit was not an ordinary person and who knows how many years it would take for it to cultivate its own body.

Before that, Little Ji only had himself as a connection to the human world.

If he intentionally distanced himself for his own desires, how would Little Ji live?

So he had no choice but to use "tempering his will" every day, blocking the sword spirit from all his thoughts, meditating, and then constructing illusions for himself over and over again.

In some dreams, he was so enamored with his sword spirit that he became overwhelmed with sorrow. He allowed Little Ji to bear the same infamous name as those enchanting beauties in history who led men astray. He was ridiculed by thousands and died a lonely death when he was unable to protect him.

In other dreams, his sword spirit had taken on a physical form and was flourishing, while he, as a mortal, had grown old and feeble. The friendship of his youth had long since decayed with his aging body, and he saw himself in the sword spirit's disdainful eyes, ashamed of his gray hair and wrinkled skin.

And in yet another dream, the sword spirit lived carefree in his palm for a lifetime, accompanying him through his journey. But how could a person and a sword spirit stay together forever? When they parted ways, the good old days became a painful memory, slowly torturing his heart day by day.

In short, he had tried countless paths in his mind, but none of them led to a good outcome. And so, during the years when he was still young, Sheng Lingyuan had his heart broken in a thousand different ways within the mental prison he had constructed for himself.

After more than a thousand days and nights, the Heavenly Demon Sword finally left his back and joyfully entered the mortal world, eager to explore its newfound freedom.

Meanwhile, Sheng Lingyuan had wedged himself into the position of "father and elder brother," buried deep underground for three thousand feet, so deeply that he could no longer see a way out.

Later on, he could even casually chat with Dan Li about political marriages in front of Little Ji, or joke with Wei Yun about finding a copper hammer weapon spirit to bring back as a wife for the Heavenly Demon Sword, so that he could finally teach the spoiled sword spirit a lesson.

The Sword Spirit didn't like the character "Tong" on his sword, so Sheng Lingyuan decided to give it to his first child and let them be the father of "Tong" for life.

However...

However...

The surging black mist passed through Sheng Lingyuan's empty chest, with nowhere to settle, so it wandered aimlessly. They gathered more and more until he couldn't bear it anymore, and he seemed to have the illusion of tears streaming down his face.

Fortunately, he had no tears.

On this day, the field agents who were knocked out by tranquilizers were having nightmares, and Xuan Ji turned up the soothing music to the maximum volume, but couldn't suppress his restless emotions, so he gave up and surrendered.

After his impulse passed, he sat there with a blank mind and meditated for a while, finally figuring things out.

Even if the heavenly demon is heartless, at least his heart is on himself...literally.

Even if he can't force him to share a bed together, one is the "living Chiyuan" and the other is the "Fire-keeper", at least they can share a tomb.

No matter how you calculate it, this person will fall into his hands, what is there to fear?

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Then, when His Majesty opened his eyes, the heart rate of this "determined person" skyrocketed to 180, and cold sweat "brushed" his chest and back, but he didn't even utter a word, very impressive.

Fortunately, Sheng Lingyuan was 'unaware': "Why is the clan emblem out? It's just a turbulent flow in my sea of consciousness for a while, nothing serious."

Xuan Ji's brain was not working, and his brainless tongue was in control, blurting out, "I'm trying to ward off evil with my beauty, please don't disturb."

Sheng Lingyuan: "..."

The ambulance was eerily quiet for two seconds.

Xuan Ji snapped out of it and realized who he was talking to. He felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole.

However, it seemed like it was instinctual for birds to show off their feathers when seeking a mate.

Despite being nervous and sweating profusely, Xuan Ji's family emblem on his forehead seemed to shine even brighter.

The alluring and mysterious colors were breathtaking, making him look even more stunning.

Sheng Lingyuan silently observed him for a while.

In reality, the person in front of him was more dazzling than the ten thousand faces he had imagined in his mind.

However, appearances didn't matter to him. In his heart, no matter how beautiful or ugly Xuan Ji was, he was the only one he held in his hands.

He felt the weight of a mountain in his heart, but his words were as light as feathers, as he casually complimented him: "Ah, you are so beautiful, your appearance could rival the Chiyuan. No need to lower yourself to the level of a mere fish scale. Come, follow me underground, we might just stumble upon some good fortune."

Before Xuan Ji could ask about this good fortune, Chief Huang, who had been keeping an eye on them, immediately followed with his men.

"You can come along too," Sheng Lingyuan nodded at Chief Huang. "There's no danger down there for now."

Chief Huang asked anxiously, "What's going on? I noticed a sudden drop in the level of abnormal energy in the area. Is it related to this?"

"In the Qingping Division, many things have been around for a long time and have their own spiritual energy, both pure and impure. There are many spiritual creatures that feed on fresh blood and can harm humans if accidentally disturbed. However, those things were just hit by a chaotic energy wave, so they should be quiet now. You can seal up what needs to be sealed and store what needs to be stored, so that you don't have to spend energy dealing with them in the future."

Chief Huang asked, "What exactly happened down there?"

Sheng Lingyuan thought for a moment and said, "Have you heard of the 'Heavenly White Jade Palace'?"

Everyone knew about the White Jade Palace, which was also known as the Mountain Palace, located on the Gaoling Island in the East China Sea, now in the province of Yuzhou.

After the death of King Wei Yu, the White Jade Palace was also destroyed in the war and sank into the sea due to geological changes thousands of years ago, becoming a piece of dust in history.

But what is the 'Heavenly White Jade Palace'?

The name sounds like a telecommunications scam.

Even Xuan Ji was confused, "Does it have anything to do with Wei Yu?"

"It has nothing to do with Wei Yu, but it's related to the origin of the Mountain people. This is a long story," Sheng Lingyuan said. "The Mountain people look like humans, and their lifespan, habits, and diet are similar to humans. Because their entire clan are craftsmen, although they have had some minor conflicts with other clans in history, overall they have never had blood feuds with anyone, and their appearance is quite beautiful..."

Xuan Ji's face darkened, realizing that "good-looking" was just a cheap compliment from Sheng Lingyuan.

After hearing this sentence, which was as insincere as the previous "beautiful," he suddenly felt that "beautiful appearance" was an insult, and he began to have thoughts of racial discrimination against the Mountain people.

"However, the Mountain people have lived alongside humans for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It's rare to hear of humans willing to intermarry with the Mountain people," Sheng Lingyuan led the way, unaware of his discrimination.

"Even during the great war, tens of thousands of refugees fled south for safety. When they arrived at the highlands, they worked as laborers and each group took what they needed. It took twenty years for them to integrate with the Mountain people. At that time, there were even fewer mixed-blood offspring between humans and Mountain people than between humans and demons."

Chief Huang asked, "Is it because of their unique religious beliefs?"

Sheng Lingyuan shook his head, "The Mountain people are only interested in profit. They keep slaves like livestock, kill demons to create weapon spirits, how could they believe in ghosts and gods?"

Chief Huang was puzzled, "Then why?"

Unless there is racial reproductive isolation or an extremely exclusive religious belief, neighbors who don't interfere with each other can easily blend together. Especially for Mountain people who have inherited skills - in the era of small-scale agriculture, aren't skilled workers more likely to survive?

"Because there was a rumor in ancient times that Mountain people were sinners."

As they spoke, they had already reached the entrance.

The shelf of stacked gold bars had been knocked over by some clumsy field agent, and the gold and scrap bricks were scattered all over the ground, a shocking sight.

As they went further in, the various noises that had been buzzing before had indeed quieted down.

Yan Qiushan took notice of the energy monitoring device and felt that the energy activity here was not stronger than that of a scrap purchasing station.

"It's hard to say for sure, and the source of what I heard is unclear, more like a folk legend," said Sheng Lingyuan, his voice carrying a slight echo in the underground palace.

"It is said that the Mountain people were not originally creatures of this world. Their ancestors lived in a divine palace called the 'Heavenly White Jade Palace.' They were friends and neighbors with the merfolk, and their earliest method of crafting was not to kill and sacrifice, but rather a unique form of cultivation.

"When they reached old age, they would sacrifice a part of their body and merge it with the blood of a willing merperson. From then on, they would no longer eat the five flavors, strictly observe the precepts, reside in the body of the artifact, cultivate their wisdom through asceticism, and use the spirit of the artifact to achieve longevity and protect their descendants."

"Later, someone stumbled upon the passage between the Heavenly White Jade Palace and the human world by accident, and many Mountain people began to travel to the human world.

"The people of Mountain are born craftsmen, and many of the precious swords and knives used in the great war were made by them. Imagine how sought after they were when they first arrived on earth. It is said that anything they made, no matter how small, was worth a fortune. The high-ranking families would treat them as honored guests just at the mention of the words 'Mountain people', and a weapon imbued with spiritual energy could even cause a nation to fall. The Mountain people were so popular that some foolish people even worshipped them as gods and built shrines in their honor."

Zhi Chun was the last masterpiece of the Tian'er, and had a deep connection with the people of Mountain.

When he poked his head out from Yan Qiushan's embrace, he listened intently and couldn't help but shiver slightly, "What a disaster."

Sheng Lingyuan glanced at him.

Zhi Chun was gentle and sentimental, but surprisingly clear-headed when it came to important matters.

The beginning of the Mountain people's calamity was marked by this.

"But the spirits of the Mountain people's tools are all from their own ancestors, and they cannot be used by outsiders. However, with the constant temptation from the outside world, eventually, some 'smart people' discovered another method of refining tools."

"Are you talking about 'killing to refine tools'?"

"Yes, it went from refining oneself to refining others."

"At first, it was the neglected and disabled children who suffered, but they soon discovered that the quality of the weapon spirit was related to the original body's aptitude. So they targeted children from poor families who couldn't afford to raise them and mixed-race children with nowhere to go.

"This act was against the will of the heavens and was met with fierce resistance from the deep-sea merfolk, who refused to offer blood for these people to refine tools. Then, some greedy Mountain people's began to slaughter the merfolk and forcibly take their blood.

"In the beginning, many Mountain people opposed the practice of 'killing to refine', calling it a form of evil magic. This was because the creatures sacrificed in the furnace were not willing participants and often held great resentment, requiring the refiner to forcefully suppress them with their own cultivation. If not done properly, the weapon being refined could turn on the refiner.

"However, after someone targeted the merfolk and it was discovered that their blood contained poison, it became possible to use poison to counteract poison. This eliminated the danger of the weapon turning on the refiner."

With a hint of coldness in his voice, Sheng Lingyuan chuckled, "Since then, there have been fewer and fewer opponents of killing to refine, and refining has become a highly profitable business."

Killing to refine was no longer considered evil magic, as all forms of evil magic harm both the user and the victim.

If it only harms the victim and not the user, then it becomes a great technique.

This new method of refining can mass-produce precious spirit vessels, each with unique attributes based on the original spirit.

As for the corpse of the mermaid mentioned earlier, its fat can be extracted to make mermaid oil, which is worth a hundred times its weight in gold.

Mermaid pearls are even rarer treasures.

These fish, abundant in our hometown, are treasures from head to tail. Developing them would benefit the people and the country.

Chief Huang cleared his throat and asked, "I'm not an expert, so forgive me for asking. How should we classify the 'mermaids'? If this race still exists today, what would they be considered? Wild animals? Of course, I don't mean to disrespect them, nor do I condone the senseless killing of wild animals..."

Without hesitation, Yan Qiushan, Zhi Chun, and Xuan Ji spoke almost simultaneously.

Zhi Chun, who had been injured by his own kind, replied, "They are not animals."

Yan Qiushan said solemnly, "At the very least, they are humanoid and should have equal rights as humans."

Xuan Ji interjected, "They are spiritual beings."

Chief Huang: "..."

He was still unsure of the merfolk's position, but he understood that those around him were advocates for equality.

Only Sheng Lingyuan knew what he meant and calmly added, "The merfolk were already extinct before the Great War. I have never seen a living one. However, if their bloodline could be passed down, they should be one of the sources of the 'special abilities' lineage."

Chief Huang pondered for a moment before asking, "What happened afterwards?"

"It is said that the Mountain people angered the gods and were exiled from the heavenly White Jade Palace as criminals. Despite the efforts of every Mountain king throughout history to rebuild the palace on earth and sending people to search for their homeland every year, they never returned to their former home," Sheng Lingyuan paused, "The human race used to believe that the Mountain people's were sinners, but I don't think so - if that were the case, why were the merfolk victims also exiled to the human world? It doesn't make sense."

Yan Qiushan pondered for a moment, "Indeed, the term 'exile' is very strange. If there really are gods in the world with the power to 'exile' an entire race, then the Mountain people's ancestors must have lived in the 'divine palace' for so many years then suffered heavy punishment, they couldn't possibly have no reverence or belief in the gods after that."

"So there is another theory that after the mermaids and the Mountain people fell out, the mermaids used some forbidden magic to destroy the Heavenly White Jade Palace," said Sheng Lingyuan. "Interestingly, the scale that fell off He Cuiyu's body had the sound of waves, and I heard a mermaid singing the praises of the Heavenly White Jade Palace in it."

As they spoke, they had already passed through a long underground tunnel and arrived at a place filled with corpses.

The sacrificial inscriptions on the walls and ground had vanished into thin air, but the half-human, half-snake body and the horrifying remains of "offerings" were still there, leaving Chief Huang and his team stunned on their first descent.

The strange scale lay beside the snake's tail, and Sheng Lingyuan lifted his foot to approach it, but was stopped by Xuan Ji's firm grip.

"It's okay," Sheng Lingyuan patted his hand, pretending not to notice Xuan Ji's fingers curling up when he touched him. "I have self-control."

Yan Qiushan held up his flashlight and surveyed the entire underground space.

He said in a low voice, "I've seen the sacrificial texts recorded in my colleague's phone..."

Sheng Lingyuan shook his head. "They were lost in the temporal turbulence. Most of those texts are related to time."

Suddenly, Yan Qiushan remembered something and took out Zhang Zhao's transformed stopwatch from his pocket.

"This belongs to my colleague. You know him, the young man who can pause time. After he left this place, his stopwatch became like this. He hasn't woken up yet, and I had someone check the device. The anomalous reaction inside is so weak that it's almost undetectable. Could it also be related to time?"

Zhang Zhao was a member of the "special category" that couldn't be classified into the common spectrum of contemporary abilities.

His core ability was a stopwatch, but due to privacy concerns, others rarely asked to see it.

Xuan Ji took a glance at it and immediately knew something was off.

"Is this his family's heirloom?" he asked incredulously. "This is ridiculous, it even has a digital screen!"

"This stopwatch originally belonged to his mother - she was my senior who sacrificed her life on the front lines. The stopwatch was also passed to me then," said Yan Qiushan.

"However, its appearance seems to be not fixed. When it was in his mother's hands, it was just an ordinary old-fashioned mechanical watch. After the previous owner passed away, the watch suddenly couldn't be wound up anymore and turned into a stone after 48 hours. After it was passed on to that child, the stone watch first melted into his palm. It wasn't until he awakened his special ability several years later that it saw the light of day again, and its appearance had also changed into a stopwatch."

Sheng Lingyuan and Xuan Ji exchanged a glance.

Inanimate objects don't just transform on their own, choose their own master and even transform according to the master's preferences...

Sheng Lingyuan said, "Let me take a look."

As soon as the deformed stopwatch fell into his hands, it suddenly burst into a bright light.

The next moment, the light was swallowed by black mist.

The stopwatch, which almost flew out of his palm, was grabbed by Sheng Lingyuan. "What are you running for?"

The metal stopwatch trembled in his hand and even deformed in one corner, looking pitiful.

Sheng Lingyuan covered the trembling stopwatch with his hand and said, "I'm not going to eat you. Let me see what you are."

As soon as he finished speaking, the black mist wiped the "stopwatch" like an eraser.

The fashionable electronic screen disappeared first, followed by the entire dial and the metal shell behind it...

Yan Qiushan's expression froze - no wonder the metal-type ability users all over the world couldn't deform the metal shell of the stopwatch. It turned out that it was not metal at all!

What on earth is this thing?

Its mimicry can actually deceive the eyes of the metal-types, which are particularly sensitive to metal?

The black mist wiped down the stopwatch like a washing machine, spinning wildly.

The stopwatch shrank as it was "washed" by the mist, eventually becoming a small piece the size of a fingernail... a blue scale.

"What is this thing!" exclaimed Xuan Ji.

After being swept up in a time and space vortex once, this rap artist had nearly turned mute. He was now experiencing "scale PTSD" and instinctively grabbed onto the Emperor's elbow, ready to take him to safety at any moment.