Chapter 65: All of This Was Done by Me

“Is it about my origins?”

Chi Ming asked in a low voice, her expression heavy and tense.

The awakening of the Phoenix Avatar made Chi Ming realize that her background might not be as simple as she once thought.

Yu Yi nodded slightly.

“Are you ready?”

She narrowed her eyes and asked Chi Ming one last time.

A bead of sweat slid down Chi Ming’s face.

At this point, even if she wasn’t mentally prepared, she had no choice but to face the truth of that year.

Chi Ming swallowed deeply and nodded solemnly.

“Alright.”

Yu Yi raised her hand, and a surge of invisible power instantly rushed toward Chi Ming.

Under the impact, Chi Ming felt as if her soul was being torn from her body.

When she came to her senses, she found herself floating weightlessly in midair, and the surroundings had completely changed.

It was a small village hidden among mountains and forests.

But the mountains, streams, green trees, and flowers had all lost their color.

Everywhere she looked was black and white.

“This is…”

Chi Ming stared at the familiar village before her, muttering softly.

“I have materialized the memories sealed in your heart into this world.”

Yu Yi’s voice sounded in Chi Ming’s ear.

“And this is your Homeland.”

“I’m inside my own memories? And… these are sealed memories?”

Chi Ming was shocked.

Could it be that the truth of what happened had been forgotten by herself at some point?

The scene shifted.

Chi Ming saw a family making a fire to cook, entertaining a guest from a distant land.

That family was her own, and the guest was none other than Yu Yi.

Yu Yi from over ten years ago had a different style of clothing, but her appearance was unchanged, so Chi Ming recognized her instantly.

In the account of the Demon Empress’s crimes given by Li Daotian, she was said to have killed Chi Ming’s parents, slaughtered the entire village, and finally set a great fire that reduced the village to ashes.

“Does that mean something terrible will happen after this meal?”

Chi Ming looked at the scene of several people chatting cheerfully around the stove, her heart full of tension.

At that moment, a little girl with a prominent cowlick on her head tottered over to Yu Yi, her face innocent and naive, opening her arms as she laughed:

“Pretty big sister, hug!”

“Is that… me?”

Chi Ming blushed as she watched her younger self asking Yu Yi for a hug.

Then, little Chi Ming lost her balance and fell, crashing into the table and knocking over the hot soup in front of Yu Yi.

Fortunately, Yu Yi reacted quickly, using Zhenqi to catch the spilled soup and return it to the bowl.

“Does it hurt?”

Yu Yi smiled gently at little Chi Ming, her voice so tender that any child would want to act spoiled.

Little Chi Ming was no exception.

“It hurts…”

She pouted, teary-eyed, looking at Yu Yi.

“If big sister hugs me, it won’t hurt anymore!”

Yu Yi chuckled, opened her arms, and embraced little Chi Ming.

This was the first meeting between master and disciple.

Chi Ming watched her younger self act so spoiled toward Yu Yi, her face turning red as she shyly looked away.

“This atmosphere… doesn’t seem like it would lead to conflict at all.”

The tension in Chi Ming’s heart gradually turned to confusion.

Her parents were warmly entertaining Yu Yi, and Yu Yi herself was full of gratitude.

Her demeanor was so gentle that no one would believe she was a Demon Empress, let alone a follower of the demonic path.

From their conversation, Chi Ming learned that Yu Yi had come here over ten years ago to inquire about the whereabouts of something, and was welcomed by Chi Ming’s parents.

Whenever outsiders came to the village, whether cultivators or ordinary travelers, they were always warmly received by the villagers.

Even if a thief snuck in to steal, they were caught but never punished.

The villagers understood that even thieves had their own hardships, so they would give them some things.

Those thieves, moved by the villagers’ kindness, would return years later in various ways to repay their benefactors.

Yet such a village, overflowing with kindness and warmth, faced disaster on this very day.

The scene shifted.

Yu Yi stood at the village entrance, waving goodbye to little Chi Ming.

But before long, a group of uninvited guests entered the village.

The Village Chief saw the Royal Token at their waists and immediately understood their purpose.

Using a prepared signal, he alerted the villagers to escape and went alone to confront the intruders.

“We have kept to ourselves for decades, striving to do good and atone for our ancestors’ sins. Why do you still refuse to let us go?”

The Village Chief gripped his cane, his hand trembling as he spoke humbly, head bowed.

“This is an order from The Imperial Family of Great Yan. Accept your fate.”

These people were the experts sent by The Imperial Family of Great Yan to purge the Descendants of the Fire Phoenix.

One side had no way out.

The other pressed forward.

The disaster could no longer be avoided.

With the sound of blades being drawn, they killed the Village Chief, then joined the other experts in storming the village, capturing the villagers who hadn’t managed to flee, and began the slaughter.

Though the villagers were Descendants of the Fire Phoenix, the Fire Phoenix Bloodline within them had been dormant for centuries.

Without awakening their bloodline, they had no power.

In a matter of seconds, the village became a living hell—cries, screams, the sound of flesh being cut and bones being severed—all mixed together, weaving into the nightmare that haunted little Chi Ming.

Her family, too, was captured by those experts.

Little Chi Ming witnessed her parents stabbed repeatedly, falling at their attackers’ feet, pleading desperately for mercy for their child.

But these people, like deranged monsters, strode toward little Chi Ming and raised their blades high.

“No”

Amid her parents’ agonized screams, the blades fell upon little Chi Ming.

Yet she did not die.

For the first time, her black hair turned fiery red.

The blood that flowed from her transformed into scalding essence, and behind her, the shadow of a great Fire Phoenix appeared.

Among the Fire Phoenix’s descendants who had hidden and struggled to survive for centuries, one at last awakened the ancestral bloodline.

After the Fire Phoenix Bloodline in Chi Ming’s body awakened, witnessing so many of her kin slaughtered, she lost control.

Flames of fury erupted, sweeping through the village and turning it into a sea of fire in an instant.

The blaze behind her caught Yu Yi’s attention.

She rushed back to the village, but it was already too late.

The place was a ruin.

Bodies lay everywhere, some cut down, others burned.

In the midst of the flames, little Chi Ming, wrapped in fire, lay beside her dead parents, barely alive.

Yu Yi gently picked up the dying child.

A shout came from behind.

She turned to see another group of people bearing Royal Tokens at their waists entering the village.

It seemed they had arrived too late and others had beaten them to their goal.

Seeing that none of the “colleagues” who arrived first survived, they felt both lucky and uneasy.

Then, they noticed Yu Yi and all retreated in unison.

“All of this… was your doing!?”

One man shouted.

His name was Lidaitian.

Yu Yi was silent for a moment, then met their gaze, her eyes deep and calm.

She spoke quietly:

“Indeed, this was all done by me. So, do you want to try as well?”