Chapter 52 Secrets (First Update) "What is the Rebirth Array?"...

So that's why he hesitated and fussed for so long.

Mu Meng thought to herself, "I really believed him. I've been holding my breath for so long, and this is all it is." She crossed her arms and said, "My memory shouldn't be that bad, right?"

"You...you promised you wouldn't get angry."

“I’m not angry,” Mu Meng waved his hand. “Just say what’s on your mind. What’s the connection between Mu Qingheng and the snake gu in the Northern Frontier?”

Lu Zhaoxin spread his hands: "Mengmeng, you rarely come to the human realm, and you've almost never set foot in the Northern Frontier, so you don't know—Mu Qingheng was once a benefactor of the Northern Frontier. The people here still regard him as a god."

Mu Meng pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Was it... that year's Northern Frontier Desert Raid, when all the jagged rocks and yellow earth turned into monsters, and the human realm was powerless to resist? This rebellion did not belong to any clan in the Six Realms, so no one was willing to take charge. Only the Celestial Clan, who always followed the Great Dao, sent Mu Qingheng, who had just been appointed Crown Prince at the time, to quell the rebellion. Was it that time?"

She explained it clearly, and Lu Zhaoxin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise, "Huh? You actually remember?"

"What don't I remember? He went to war, and I saw him off. The Desert Raid was unheard of, and everyone remembers how incredibly dangerous it was. This war lasted for nearly a century, and it was his longest campaign." Mu Meng's tone was calm. These things were already imprinted in his memory. Although he wouldn't think about them all the time, he couldn't possibly forget them completely.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the man beside her quietly turned his face away.

Lu Zhaoxin said, "Since you remember, I don't need to describe the battle to you in detail. Back then, the northern frontier was in dire straits. If it weren't for Mu Qingheng, it would probably have become a graveyard long ago. In any case... no matter what he did, he did turn the tide and save countless lives here."

He was usually carefree and rarely so serious: "People always only care about their own grudges and never pay attention to the rights and wrongs of others. The people here regard Mu Qingheng as a god, and the incense has never been cut off for many years. After what happened to him, there were several major disturbances here. After all, Mu Qingheng died tragically, his soul was shattered and he fell into the Endless Cliff. They once wanted to seek justice for him, but unfortunately, their power was too weak and they could not reach the ears of the heavens. So they were suppressed."

Mu Meng understood Lu Zhaoxin's concerns. "So you're afraid that if I encounter humans on the road, and someone happens to recognize me, they might... say something disrespectful to me?"

Indeed, that's quite possible. The remote and impoverished Northern Frontier has produced many exceptionally talented cultivators. Mengmeng is a princess of the Celestial Clan, and she's spent much of her time traveling. Given this status, and with their biased attitudes, she's very likely to be disliked.

Lu Zhaoxin nodded: "If there was any offense, it was all for Mu Qingheng's sake. So I think I should let you know in advance so you can be mentally prepared."

Mu Meng smiled and waved at him, "I know, I understand."

This reaction was indeed unexpected. Lu Zhaoxin had almost driven himself crazy with worry, but Mengmeng didn't seem to care at all. "Mengmeng, you're really not angry at all?"

Mu Meng smiled helplessly.

What did she have to be angry about? Lu Zhaoxin meant well. If he hadn't reminded her, wouldn't it have been awkward if she had actually encountered a human with righteous indignation?

Does she really think that just hearing the name Mu Qingheng would make her throw a tantrum without any regard for anything else? That would be too outrageous.

Mu Meng felt she needed to set the record straight. "Hey, I've always had a very good temper. I only get angry about things that deserve it. It's your own initiative to stop mentioning Mu Qingheng's name all these years, not my demand that you not mention it. Besides..."

She paused for a moment.

He tilted his head and thought for a while, his voice a little low, "He lived once, how can we judge him solely on good or bad? If there are still people in this world who remember his good deeds, cherish his feelings, and are willing to say a few words or do something for him, that's a good thing."

Her voice was as sweet as ever, and she possessed a great deal of intelligence and grace. Her light-colored clothes shone in the moonlight, making her seem to radiate a holy, faint glow.

For a moment, no one spoke. The man in blue stood in the shadows of the trees, the dappled shadows obscuring his face and blurring his expression.

His hair was lifted by the breeze, falling across his cheeks, brushing against his lightly scarred skin, and brushing against his tightly pursed lips.

“Mengmeng, you really are,” Lu Zhaoxin realized, shaking his head repeatedly, and sincerely exclaimed, “you are really likable.”

Mu Meng gave him a half-smile and a half-smile: "Alright, enough of that. Let's split up and get started."

...

The eradication of the snake worms was not something that could be accomplished overnight. Along the way, Mu Meng destroyed seven snake dens and killed dozens of snake worms until the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon.

She dared not leave Mu Zeyu alone, so she held him in one arm the whole time. Fortunately, she was now full of spiritual energy, so even with a child in her arms, it did not affect her ability to fight.

Mu Zeyu even slept soundly in her arms.

As dawn broke, he woke up: "Aunt Mengmeng, did you kill all the bad snakes?"

Mu Meng smiled and tapped his little nose. "The ones on the surface have all been wiped out, but they still have a hidden lair that can't be found easily. We'll have to spend a couple more days here."

She smiled and looked Mu Zeyu up and down, then asked, "Weren't you scared all night?"

"I'm not afraid. Aunt Mengmeng is the most powerful. She's the number one expert in my Celestial Clan. They're just a few bad snakes. I'm not worried at all. If you hadn't stopped me from taking action, I would have liked to kill a few of them to avenge them for capturing me."

Mu Meng hissed, "You really dare to say that. You're so arrogant at such a young age." She leaned closer and whispered mischievously in his ear, "Just like your mother when she was little."

Mu Zeyu chuckled, and Mu Mengxin was delighted, so she kissed him.

She had already returned to the agreed location from yesterday, and was the first to arrive. She was just waiting for the others to return before discussing things further. Since she was waiting anyway, she put Mu Zeyu down on a nearby rock to rest.

Mu Meng sat down next to him, looked the little guy over, and smiled as he gazed into his bright, sparkling eyes. "Actually, I know you shouldn't have been afraid along the way, but what about before I came? You were captured by that snake worm. Do you still feel anything now?"

She knew that although her young nephew was young, he had an extraordinary demeanor. But this was the first time such an incident had happened, and it was sudden and no small matter, so she couldn't help but worry that it might leave a shadow on him.

"I'm not afraid at all. I have the most powerful parents and aunt in the world. I have nothing to fear."

Mu Zeyu's voice was childish, but he spoke with considerable authority.

Mu Meng couldn't help but laugh and patted his little head. "That's good. I'm relieved. But I still want to know how he managed to kidnap you so easily. I know you're a clever little devil, you wouldn't be so careless."

“Sigh, I went with him on my own initiative,” Mu Zeyu recounted the situation and his analysis, concluding, “That snake gu is still too weak; its mental strength is inferior to mine, and its spiritual power is inferior to yours.”

He certainly knows how to give his opinions. Mu Meng chuckled, then suddenly heard him say, "But Aunt Mengmeng, between you and that uncle, who's more capable?"

That man in blue?

Mu Meng really thought about it carefully. The man was disabled in both hands and feet, and his only weapon was a bamboo stick. He had neither spiritual weapons nor spiritual medicines on him, so he was all alone.

If she disregarded the various treasures she carried and only competed with him in spiritual power, she might be somewhat inferior.

Thinking of this, Mu Meng frankly said, "Uncle is a little more powerful." She paused, stretched out her hand, and gestured with her thumb and forefinger, "But that's about it."

Oh… Mu Zeyu nodded blankly. So his uncle was even stronger than his aunt Mengmeng.

He suddenly felt a little sad: "But Uncle has no legs and is missing two fingers."

Mu Meng gently stroked his hair, half-squatting in front of him and said softly, "My dear Ze'er, don't say such things in front of your uncle in the future."

"Why?"

“Because my uncle is already so pitiful. No one gets hurt for no reason. If you bring it up in front of him, he will remember the times he injured his leg and hand, and he will be unhappy.”

Mu Zeyu nodded seriously: "I understand, Aunt Mengmeng. I won't make Uncle sad."

"Good boy," Mu Meng said with a smile, gently rubbing his chubby little face. Suddenly, she heard footsteps, turned around, and saw that it was Feng Xixue who had returned.

His brows were slightly furrowed, his breathing was steady, and his silver-white hair was perfectly in place, showing that he was in complete control and had definitely dealt with all the snake dens on his side.

Mu Meng didn't ask anything at the moment. Having known each other for so long, she still trusted Feng Xixue. He had set countless rules for himself, the first of which was not to kill innocent people indiscriminately, but to punish the wicked and eliminate evil.

He will definitely do this very well.

Feng Xixue stopped a short distance away and did not move forward, consciously keeping her distance from Mu Meng as usual.

He simply nodded slightly to her and whispered, "It's all taken care of."

“I know,” Mu Meng said. “Let’s rest for a bit and discuss the rest when they all come back.”

Feng Xixue stopped talking and leaned against a tree trunk, quietly taking out a silver hairpin from his pocket to examine it.

A gentle smile finally appeared on his usually expressionless face, like a spring breeze, as his slender fingers lightly caressed the small silver hairpin, his deep eyes filled with tenderness.

She had seen this scene many times before. Knowing that Feng Xixue was missing his beloved girl again, Mu Meng did not disturb him.

But after a while, something seemed off about what was happening on his end.

Even Mu Zeyu knew a thing or two, and he anxiously tugged at Mu Meng's sleeve: "Aunt Mengmeng, Uncle Feng Xixue is in pain again."

Mu Meng stood up, looking at Feng Xixue with a serious expression—his breathing was somewhat disordered, completely losing his previous composure. He clutched his heart with one hand, while holding a silver hairpin in the other. His pupils were unfocused, and he seemed to be stabbing himself repeatedly as if possessed.

His expression was one of extreme pain, as if he couldn't breathe. His demeanor gradually became somewhat eccentric, and he gripped his hands harder and harder.

"Sheng Sheng... Sheng Sheng..."

No, I can't let him continue like this. Mu Meng's brows furrowed, and she suddenly stretched out her right hand. In an instant, a section of pitch-black iron chain appeared in her palm. She swung her hand sharply, and the iron chain flew to Feng Xixue's body, wrapping around his jade-like neck in a few quick movements. In an instant, his hands fell limply, unable to move at all.

Feng Xixue truly lived up to his reputation as a brilliant and talented individual in the Demon Realm; the iron chains he had custom-made for himself were indeed extremely useful. Once bound, one could do nothing.

Mu Meng shook his head and couldn't help but sigh softly: But he didn't know that the principles he adhered to had long been ingrained in his bones. When he was not in his right mind, he would never hurt anyone, but would only hurt himself to death.

That's why she agreed to take control of his iron chains.

"Sheng Sheng... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, don't leave me..."

"Sheng Sheng, I miss you so much... I really can't hold on much longer..."

"If I could activate the rebirth array... Sheng Sheng, would I ever see you again...?"

He kept muttering to himself, as always, expressing his love and longing with endless regret. Mu Meng didn't pay attention at first, listening with one ear and letting it go in the other.

However, his last sentence made her frown.

Mu Meng waited patiently for a long time until Mu Zeyu had fallen into a sweet sleep next to her, and only then did Feng Xixue gradually calm down.

His gaze slowly cleared, and he realized that the iron chain around his neck was not reacting. He just silently and carefully wiped the bloodstains off the silver hairpin.

“Feng Xixue, I have a question for you,” Mu Meng said seriously after waiting for him to regain consciousness and seeing that he was much better now. “What is the Rebirth Array?”

Feng Xixue paused slightly, glanced at her, and asked, "Did I mention that when I was speaking nonsense earlier?"

Seeing Mu Meng nod, Feng Xixue pursed her lips, pondered for a moment, and said in a low voice, "The Rebirth Array is a unique magic array of the Demon Clan. It can reverse time and restore order. It can push the entire world back to a certain time in the past."

As his deep voice rang out, the first rays of sunlight leaped above the ground, a touch of warmth dispelling the chill of the night.

Mu Meng felt her eyelids twitching. She reached up and pressed them down, then asked, "Only the demon race can do this? Can't other clans learn it?"

"No, that won't work."

Mu Meng remained silent for a while, unable to articulate her feelings, before asking herself calmly, "So, what exactly should be done?"

Feng Xixue hesitated for a moment. This was supposed to be a secret of the Demon Clan, not to be told to outsiders. But then he thought again. The Demon Clan had been destroyed, and besides, he deeply despised his own clan, which had never followed any rules. So he spoke frankly:

"The demons are used to using underhanded methods, but we are ruthless to others, and even more ruthless to ourselves. This formation goes against the will of Heaven, and it is necessary to sacrifice ourselves."

"One must endure the raging fire and the freezing ice, burning in the flames for a hundred years before falling into millennia-old ice to reshape one's physical body. If one's spiritual power is high, this process should be sustainable and takes approximately three hundred years to complete. Then, one must cut the demon's jade stone into countless fragments and embed them layer by layer into one's soul, enduring the excruciating pain of having one's soul torn apart, a pain that can never be healed. After that, one must wait."

"Wait? How long?"

Feng Xixue shook her head: "I don't know. It varies from person to person. It could be as short as a few years or as long as tens of millions of years. This formation is uncertain. It may or may not even have a result. We can only wait endlessly with hope and despair."

"Because this is going against the heavens. Everything in the world moves forward on its predetermined path, but this formation is only for one person. It is to push everything in the world back over time—from the blooming of a flower to the collapse of a dynasty, to restore everything that has happened bit by bit."

"This process will be very slow at first because the world is too big and one person's strength is too small. To fight against the progress of the world by one's own strength means not only enduring the pain inflicted on oneself, but also the perception of all things in the world."

All the bitterness and joy, the pain and the pleasure.

A flower sprouts and blooms from the rock.

The girl pricked her finger while embroidering.

The exhilaration of passing the imperial examination with flying colors.

The night traveler endures hardship and wandering.

The excruciating pain of being slowly sliced ​​to death by a villain.

The lingering joy of the wedding night.

Everything, all.

Every person, every object, and everything that happens in this world will be added to one's being.

Feng Xixue shook her head as she spoke, “If you want to start over, you have to be worthy of all things in the world and pay the same price. The hardships involved are unimaginable to ordinary people. But gradually, if you can withstand it, you can push back little by little until the laws of the world accept him, let him go, and fulfill his wishes.”

Mu Meng's eyes remained still and unmoving, but her heart was already secretly shaken. She was silent for a while, then said softly, "Even if there are thousands of people, I will go."

"That's exactly right."

“No wonder you spoke in that tone when we first met, saying that demons shouldn’t exist in this world, with both self-loathing and despair,” Mu Meng said with a smirk. “You demons are truly… utterly evil, and fiercely loving.”

Although it was a vicious and cruel method, this cruelty was not used on others, so it's hard to know how to evaluate it.

Mu Meng pondered for a while, feeling that there must be something else—Feng Xixue always answered what was asked and was never one to talk eloquently; if he didn't ask, he wouldn't take the initiative to tell him.

Thinking this, Mu Meng tentatively asked, "Feng Xixue, I have another question, but it might be a bit offensive..."

"ask."

He was straightforward, so she didn't mince words either, getting straight to the point: "I know your feelings for Miss Yu Sheng, and I also know that you are a very determined person. Although this formation sounds extremely long and painful, but... you shouldn't be someone who wouldn't try it, right?"

Feng Xixue sighed and said with a wry smile, "If it were just what I just said, I would have done it willingly long ago. But there is a condition for activating this formation: only hybrid demons can activate it, pure demons cannot. Moreover, the Holy Ancestor said that after successfully activating the Rebirth Formation, there will definitely be variables, but no one can say for sure what those variables will be. We will only know when we are reborn."

His eyes were filled with melancholy, and his snow-white hair fluttered across his forehead. His voice was deep and trembling, “But I don’t believe it, and I’m not afraid of changes. Back then, I stubbornly went to walk through the raging fire, but every time I couldn’t reach the end, I would be thrown out by an irresistible force, and I couldn’t even complete the first trial.”

"I see." Mu Meng had never discussed these things with Feng Xixue before. Once he understood this, a new question arose: "I didn't know that the demon race was divided into pure demons and mixed demons."

Feng Xixue nodded: "Just like the offspring of other clans in the world, the Demon Clan also has offspring. Those born in the Demon Realm and whose offspring are born of the Demon Clan themselves are considered pure-born Demons; those from other clans who become Demons later in life are considered mixed-born Demons."

Mu Meng suddenly remembered Yun Jiuyan.

In his past life, he lurked in the desolate tomb and met himself, becoming a hand that uncovered the cruel truth.

At that time, he was filled with demonic energy, and there was no trace of his former aura left on his body. He was clearly a demon through and through.

"Then... if someone who is not a demon, how would they become a demon?" Mu Meng felt a pang of anxiety when she thought of Yun Jiuyan. She had asked him before, but Yun Jiuyan only mentioned that he had a method to become a demon without going into details.

But now, hearing Feng Xixue mention it, even though he hasn't said it yet, I have a vague feeling that this method won't be easy—it seems that I don't fully know the suffering my brother Jiuyan endured in his previous life.

"There are very few hybrid demons, because it is a secret and a matter of popular knowledge. There are already few people in this world who know about it, and even fewer who have succeeded in doing so."

Feng Xixue spoke very slowly: "Because this method of becoming a demon is cruel and bloody, if one does not have an extremely firm will, the most tenacious belief, and the luck favored by heaven, it is absolutely, absolutely impossible to succeed."