Zhao Tingyu's frantic struggles caused the expressions of the resurrected members of the Zhao Clan to change drastically.
Li Wei's words seemed to touch upon a taboo not just for Zhao Tingyu, but for the entire Zhao clan.
Li Yaowen gazed at Zhao Feimeng.
Having undergone reincarnation through clones over three hundred times, she possessed a deep understanding of new life and the soul.
Seeing Zhao Feimeng's evasive gaze, she spoke coldly:
"Every time you die, what is destroyed is not only your flesh, but also your soul."
"Impossible. We are still alive. We still possess... still possess our memories."
Fairy Bai's voice of rebuttal grew fainter towards the end, until her eyes lost their focus.
"Impossible... impossible!"
"Thump! Thump! Thump!" The voice of the Old Ancestor rang out.
She seemed to have forgotten everything from one hundred and sixty thousand years ago; it was as if she had lost forty thousand years of time.
This, too, had become a taboo in her heart.
No matter how hard she tried to recall, she could not remember those lost forty thousand years.
She only remembered the heartbeat, just as she had recalled before.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The sound of the Old Ancestor's heartbeat rang out.
That was the first time she had seen the Old Ancestor, and it was the moment her life underwent an earth-shaking change.
Many Zhao clansmen clutched their heads in agony, desperately trying to recall their lost memories.
But all their memories were frozen at the exact moment thousands of Devils charged into the Zhao Clan grounds!
"Your Old Ancestor can resurrect your bodies, but he cannot resurrect your souls."
Li Wei narrowed his eyes, looking at the Zhao clan members, whose expressions had turned ghastly.
In the modern world, there existed a technology known as genetic cloning.
From the moment these people returned from the dead—combined with Li Dalong's report that the Underworld showed no signs of their reincarnation and that their revival felt "wrong"—Li Wei had formed his hypothesis.
"You can only retain your most primal instincts," Li Wei said, "but the original 'you' died long ago."
"No, no, no, that's not true!!!"
Zhao Tingyu struggled even more violently.
"The Old Ancestor possesses infinite might!
He can cycle our souls through reincarnation!
It's just that too much time has passed; we can't remember the events from one hundred and sixty thousand years ago, but we remember everything about our resurrections after that!"
But Li Wei did not answer him.
Zhao Tingyu followed Li Wei's gaze, looking toward... Zhao Feimeng, atop the heart!
"Souls cannot be resurrected, but memories... can be implanted."
"Argh! My head hurts! It hurts!!!"
A cry of pain rang out.
From within that massive heart, Zhao Qingguang tore through the flesh and blood, dropping to the ground as he clutched his head in agony.
Moments later, he raised his head to gaze at Zhao Feimeng, his face filled with bewilderment.
The heart continued to beat, the sound growing increasingly violent.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
And this time, a cold sneer curled at the corner of Li Wei's mouth.
The heart was conveying a message to its clansmen: "Kill them! Kill them!"
"Shut your mouth, you beast!"
A red light flashed in Zhao Feimeng's eyes as she sat atop the heart, and she suddenly slammed her fist down onto it.
At this moment.
Zhao Qingguang remained kneeling on the ground, looking up at the Old Ancestor in bewilderment.
Yet, gone was the repentance he had shown previously.
He remembered.
He remembered everything!
"Qingguang, do you still refuse to come to your senses?"
As Zhao Feimeng let out a sigh, Zhao Qingguang's body and soul trembled.
His voice rang out clearly throughout the Immortal Domain.
"One hundred and sixty thousand years ago, I was one of the few survivors of the family.
The Old Ancestor saved all of you, but after you revived, you had forgotten everything that came before.
I felt more and more that something was wrong.
You... were no longer yourselves."
"Only later did I realize that the Old Ancestor had actually achieved his goal.
He had absorbed the Destiny of those Devils, raising his own Destiny to its absolute peak.
Yet, Destiny alone could not enable him to break through to the Mahayana Realm."
"However, his Destiny allowed him to resurrect you.
Blood food... You all became his blood food.
And I... I was the one who chopped you into pieces to nourish the Old Ancestor."
"From that day forth, clansmen began to vanish, only to be resurrected once again.
We obtained more Destiny, killed the clansmen to sustain the Old Ancestor, and then resurrected them again...
The cycle repeated endlessly, all so that one day, the Old Ancestor might break through to the Mahayana Realm."
The sky was pitch black, and the biting wind pierced the bone.
Everyone, both inside and outside the Immortal Domain, felt a chill run from head to toe.
"Finally, I could bear it no longer.
Without the Old Ancestor knowing, I revealed everything to the Clan Elders."
"You sealed the Old Ancestor."
"But at that time, two different voices emerged."
He suddenly turned his gaze toward Zhao Buqun, Zhao Jingmiao, and Fairy Bai.
"You wanted to kill him.
Only by doing so could we forever end the nightmare of our clan being dominated by the Old Ancestor."
"How can this be? How?!!"
Zhao Buqun's face turned pale.
Zhao Qingguang smiled bitterly.
"You have spent your entire lives protecting our clan.
This is something carved into your very bones, something that did not change even after your rebirth.
You probably haven't even realized it yourselves, but one hundred and sixty thousand years have passed, and you haven't taken a single step outside the Immortal Domain."
"Because in the end, you lost.
After the sealing, you died at their hands."
Zhao Qingguang looked toward Zhao Tingyu, who was being controlled by Li Wei.
Toward Zhao Wan'er, who was being dragged by her hair by Li Yaozu.
And finally, toward Zhao Feimeng, who sat atop the heart with a sighing expression.
"That three of our Zhao Clan govern internal affairs, and three govern external affairs, is a temperament carved into your very bloodlines.
Yet, it is also a memory that Ancestor Feimeng imprinted into your subconscious."
Zhao Qingguang wept.
"How did our clan come to this? How?!!
Ancestor Feimeng believed that since the Old Ancestor was already sealed, killing him would be a pointless waste.
It would be better to utilize him to continue strengthening our clan.
She won; in the end, she was the victor.
She excels at manipulating illusions and influencing the human heart.
She controls not only the hearts of others but also all of you."
"Ancestor Wan was elderly and had reached the end of her lifespan.
When she was revived from the Old Ancestor's Divine Womb, her memories had already been altered.
Even though Ancestor Tingyu learned the truth, it was already too late; he was powerless to resist Ancestor Feimeng."
"But you forgot one person."
Tears streaming down his face, Zhao Qingguang stood up. "Me!"
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The heart beat violently.
Both the people of the Azure Cloud Region and the Zhao clansmen gazed at Zhao Qingguang in horror.
His appearance was utterly grotesque; despite the evident agony on his face, he advanced step by step.
"You sealed the Old Ancestor and exploited him in this manner.
Even he did not foresee that, nor did he foresee that I would betray him.
However... I never escaped his control.
I am his final trump card."
"I am the last living member of the family.
Even through repeated rebirths, my soul has been preserved; it still exists.
And that soul was branded by him one hundred and sixty thousand years ago.
The Old Ancestor has been waiting for an opportunity."
"Years ago, when you were killed by the Human Emperor, that was one such opportunity.
But the flesh and blood were far too insufficient to allow him to break through to the Mahayana Realm."
"This time, with the world in great chaos, no one can stop him. That is why..."
"I learned of the Azure Cloud Prefecture. I learned that the Azure Cloud Li Clan was here!"