### Chapter 7: The Riddle (17)
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Ling Xiaozu’s storytelling was still in full swing.
“Since the foot of Phoenix Mountain is where all the victims of this war were buried, we unanimously decided to lock up the Evil Incarnation—the Monster King—in Phoenix Mountain, making him repent for his past sins every single day.
In the beginning, to prevent any funny business from the Monster King, we sent quite a number of guards to keep watch.
But as time went on, people discovered that the Evil Incarnation was about as lively as a monk in meditation—refusing to eat or drink—sometimes sitting cross-legged on his bed for days and nights without budging an inch.
Thus, the number of guards was dramatically cut down.
In the end, we were left with fewer than ten, just enough for daily shifts and the basic maintenance and cleaning of the area.
To ensure nothing went awry, as soon as I took over as Sect Leader, I would periodically check in on the situation.
That Evil Incarnation was, without a doubt, the most well-behaved prisoner I had ever seen in my life, so quiet it gave me chills. I couldn’t fathom that he was once a tyrant, nearly uniting the entire continent under his rule.”
Luo Ying had never heard her master speak of these things, so she listened intently.
“What happened next?”
Ling Xiaozu stroked his beard and said, “Well, it should have been about a hundred years ago when I discovered a star map hidden in his cage.”
The Male Character and Luo Ying exchanged glances, both filled with dread.
They never expected that Ling Xiaozu had discovered the secret hidden in Phoenix Mountain a century ago, yet why was it that no one in Heavenly Sword Sect had a clue?
Ling Xiaozu glanced at the two of them, “No need to say more; you two came here because of the star map, didn’t you?”
Luo Ying nodded, “That’s right, Master.”
“At that moment, I was utterly astonished. I never imagined that a cultivation technique, whispered only among the higher-ranking members of the Heavenly Sword Sect, would appear here.
So, I asked the disciples responsible for guard duty in detail, but they hadn’t noticed any unusual behavior from the Evil Incarnation lately.
Until…”
Ling Xiaozu’s expression grew more serious.
“Until one night when I was studying the star map, the world suddenly spun around me; when I regained my senses, I found myself in a strange place.”
“Could it be here?” the Male Character asked.
Ling Xiaozu shook his head, “Not at all! That was another world even more bizarre than this one.
There, there was no land—just vast oceans, teeming with all sorts of fish and aquatic creatures living in the waters.
I even encountered the legendary mermaids.”
“Mermaids? With human bodies and fish tails?” Luo Ying couldn’t help but ask.
“Exactly! They were the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen, and their power was immense. Just a playful splash could create towering waves, even causing tsunamis!
In that gigantic ocean, there were not just mermaids, but many powerful beings, some enormous, others tiny.
During those days in that ocean world, without any land in sight, I was left suspended in the water on just a single breath of true energy.
A few times, I thought I was going to drown, never to return.
But in the end, I made it back to the Small Thousand World before my energy ran out.
The first thing I did upon waking was rush to Phoenix Mountain. I had a hunch this matter was closely tied to the Evil Incarnation.”
What Ling Xiaozu described was so ridiculous that the two nearly couldn’t believe it.
But recalling all the bizarre things they had experienced so far, they couldn’t doubt Ling Xiaozu’s future words, no matter how strange they were.
“The reason we refer to this Evil Incarnation as ‘evil’ is chiefly due to the fact that when we were trying to execute the three incarnations, he was the most mischievous one. Though he didn’t attack us, he couldn’t stop spewing filthy words—almost like a street punk.
Yet, after locking him up in Phoenix Mountain, he seemed like a different person—quiet and low-key, some days going silent for several days on end.
When I burst into the cave at midnight to find him, he seemed just to have opened his eyes and asked me, ‘So, aren’t those creatures from that world powerful?’
I was completely taken aback.
What began as a mere hypothesis turned out to be a fact: the Evil Incarnation had indeed granted me the opportunity to enter another world.
I had all the guards leave the cave and asked him what was going on and why he knew the Heavenly Sword Sect’s secret teachings.
The Evil Incarnation burst into laughter and said, ‘Ling Xiaozu, I’ll give you a chance today.
If you listen, everything in this world will turn upside down in your eyes, and you will bear a burden beyond that of ordinary people from then on.
If you choose not to listen, then everything remains the same. You can just treat your experience in the ocean world as a dream and continue to be your Sect Leader leisurely, how about that?’”
Ling Xiaozu’s voice had inadvertently started to tremble.
“I had no idea what my choice would mean back then.
But overwhelming curiosity trumped all reservations, and I told the Evil Incarnation, ‘Go ahead, I want to see what dirty little secrets lie beneath this clear blue sky.’
The first thing he told me made me roll my eyes; I thought he was just talking nonsense.
He claimed that the core technique of the Heavenly Sword Sect was created by him and passed down to the first generation Sect Leader.
I immediately scoffed and questioned him, ‘The Heavenly Sword Sect has been around for thousands of years, with the names and deeds of all past ancestors recorded in history. The founding master was a rare genius of his time, maneuvering the sect through fire and water. How could a Monster Tribe that only arose a hundred or two hundred years ago dare to claim to be the origin of the Heavenly Sword Sect?’
The Evil Incarnation didn’t rush to refute. Instead, he began explaining the essence of the sect’s techniques.
Compared to the thousand-year-old versions, I suddenly realized, with a jolt of fear, that the phrases he was telling me were more refined and straightforward, resolving many of my long-buried doubts. It was as if an outer door disciple had finally met an inner door true disciple. At that moment, I understood what it was to have enlightenment, what true sect skills meant.
If the Evil Incarnation wasn’t the original creator of the Heavenly Sword Sect’s techniques, how could he be so familiar with our secret arts, even finding gaps to fill and correcting mistakes—doing what generations of Heavenly Sword Sect disciples had failed to achieve?”
Before Ling Xiaozu could finish, Luo Ying was already frozen in place.
If these words hadn’t come from her master’s mouth, her first reaction would’ve been to whip out her Dark Light Sword—not just to silence him but to let him feel the wrath of a Heavenly Sword Sect disciple.
How dare you babble nonsense! How dare you sully the Heavenly Sword Sect’s legacy by claiming it came from the Monster Race! It was like digging up the ancestral graves of the Heavenly Sword Sect, fundamentally denying its authority as the foremost of the seven great sects of the Human Race.
But since this was coming straight from Ling Xiaozu, Luo Ying’s mind suddenly spun into chaos, her worldview collapsing in an instant.
