Li Yunbing knelt in a deep kowtow, his body weighed down with guilt.
Before him, Li Wei's spirit tablet shimmered with light. From it poured the Old Ancestor's gentle radiance, washing over him.
Having witnessed the truth of what had come to pass, Li Wei began to understand the bond between Li Yunbing and Jiang Chenghuan. This young man had carried the burden of a Family Head since his youth. He had gone from the pure heart of a child, to the master of a clan, to the Thunderfire Demon Cave as a demon lord, and finally into a fearsome figure whose name was dreaded throughout the Azure Cloud Region.
Yet Li Wei also knew that, at his core, Li Yunbing had always been deeply lonely. There were things his clansmen could never understand. But Jiang Chenghuan was different. He and Li Yunbing were of one kind, able to truly confide in each other.
A pity...
Li Wei's heart grew heavy with complex emotions.
On that day, as he and Jiang Chenghuan fled into the Thunderfire Demon Cave, Li Yunbing was already at death's door. He lay unconscious, beyond help. The demon lords knew no healing arts—but they knew demonic techniques.
By then, they had already sworn allegiance to Li Yunbing. Within the Thunderfire Demon Cave, Fang Linglong was no longer their master—only he was. Jiang Chenghuan meant nothing to them. To save Li Yunbing, their new Demon Lord, they were willing to do anything.
[Your descendant, Li Yunbing, was treated by the demon lords within the Thunderfire Demon Cave. Under the overwhelming demonic qi of Fang Linglong's place of cultivation, they employed a grand demonic array, using the demonic blood of ten thousand of their own to sustain his life force. They then employed a soul-swapping technique. After forty-nine days, they successfully swapped the souls of Li Yunbing and Jiang Chenghuan.]
[Your descendant, Li Yunbing, has acquired a new identity: 'Region Prince Jiang'. Trait Acquired: Soul Transference.]
[His soul was transferred into the body of Jiang Chenghuan, and he became the new Jiang Chenghuan. Aided by demonic techniques, he completely took control of Jiang Chenghuan's physical body, bloodline, and Nascent Soul.]
Li Wei could not imagine what Li Yunbing must have felt upon waking. Yet, in his heart, he felt a selfish sense of relief that Yunbing had survived, even if the methods of those demon lords were wicked to the extreme.
Now, whenever Li Yunbing came to the Ancestral Hall, he would always be lost in a daze. He could see that this matter was the thorn in Yunbing's heart that he refused to touch, and so he had never mentioned it to him.
With the Li family's current power and status, they could have openly revealed the truth of what had happened, and the Jiang family would have been powerless to do anything. Yet, Li Yunbing continued to present himself to the world as Jiang Chenghuan.
After the events of that year, how many of the clan's children did not carry their own hidden sorrows, just as Yunbing did?
He, their Old Ancestor, could only silently support the children's decisions from the shadows.
"Thank you for your understanding, Old Ancestor. Your descendant takes his leave."
Li Yunbing walked out of the Ancestral Hall, scenes from the past echoing in his mind.
On that day, he had awoken in a blood pool within the Thunderfire Demon Cave. He saw the demon lords kneeling before him in joy, and he saw Jiang Chenghuan lying at his side, clinging to the final thread of his life force.
He wasn't even certain himself whether he had intentionally led Jiang Chenghuan to the Thunderfire Demon Cave to seize that one sliver of a chance for survival, or if they had simply fled in that direction by pure chance.
He truly didn't know. The people of the entire Azure Cloud Region called him the most cold and emotionless man in the world.
He couldn't even remember the exact circumstances of that time. It was entirely possible that his hazy consciousness had led him to bring Jiang Chenghuan to the Thunderfire Demon Cave. Perhaps, deep in his heart, his intention had been for the demon lords to swap his soul with Jiang Chenghuan's.
Because that was the kind of person he was.
He only remembered that in his final moments, Jiang Chenghuan had spoken to him one last time of the vision they had once shared. Jiang Chenghuan had said he wanted to ensure the people of Azure Cloud would never be oppressed by anyone, and that the Jiang family would endure upon the lands of Azure Cloud for thousands upon thousands of generations.
Jiang Chenghuan said that, in his entire life, Li Yunbing was the only person he could truly open his heart to.
He said that he wanted Li Yunbing to carry out his final wishes onward.
In his final moments, Jiang Chenghuan was as magnanimous as the day he had first risen to power in the Azure Cloud Region.
He watched as Li Yunbing took possession of his body, uttering not a single word of complaint. With his hopes and visions for the future, his Nascent Soul finally dissipated in that sunless place, the Thunderfire Demon Cave.
More than a hundred years have passed. To this day, Li Yunbing still dares not set foot in the Thunderfire Demon Cave again, and the soul-swapping demonic technique has become a forbidden technique in the Azure Cloud Region.
Beneath the sunlight.
Li Yunbing slowly walked out of the Ancestral Hall, his shadow stretching long behind him.
The shadow looked just like Jiang Chenghuan, as if it had never left Li Yunbing's side. Together, they would walk out of Merit City and return to the throne in the Region Prince's Mansion.
Day after day, they would command the million soldiers of Azure Cloud, lead its numerous cultivators, and guide the entire Azure Cloud Region ever onward, to greater heights...
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