“You know my mother’s name? Who are you?” An Miao’s reaction mirrored Lin Xiao’s, her heart trembling, her face alight with shock and intense excitement, her eyes locked onto him.
At that moment, Lin Xiao noticed a spiritual force barrier enveloping them, isolating their conversation—even from Zi Ling, who stood nearby, unable to hear.
“You possess the Devouring Heaven Spiritual Energy. Are you connected to my father?” An Miao’s voice quivered with emotion as she stepped forward, her overwhelming mental pressure nearly suffocating Lin Xiao.
“Your father?” Lin Xiao’s heart jolted. Could it be…
A realization dawned on him.
The Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor, originally named An Fan, was an ordinary man. After the death of the original Miao Ling, he took the name Devouring Heaven.
He vowed to devour the heavens, annihilating those responsible for her death and their entire clans…
In the end, he succeeded, but the true Miao Ling could never return…
An Miao, bearing the surname An and named after Miao Ling—could she be the daughter of the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor and the manifested Miao Ling?
The Emperor himself hadn’t known during his lifetime.
But they had spent three years together. Perhaps a daughter was born later…
If true, it was earth-shattering.
The daughter of the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor and a spiritual manifestation—if word got out, it would shake the entire continent.
“Cough, cough!” The mental pressure was crushing Lin Xiao, and he coughed loudly, fearing he might be smothered if it continued.
Hearing his coughs, An Miao realized her intensity and quickly withdrew her mental pressure, allowing Lin Xiao to breathe again.
“I’m the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor’s… successor across generations!” Lin Xiao finally said, unable to admit he had absorbed the Emperor. That would likely get him torn apart by An Miao.
“Successor across generations…” An Miao’s heaving chest gradually calmed. She dispelled the spiritual barrier and turned to Zi Ling. “Zi Ling, leave us.”
“Sister, what’s going on?” Zi Ling was startled. She had never seen An Miao so shaken.
“It’s a serious matter. Knowing won’t benefit you. Don’t ask,” An Miao reprimanded.
“Oh.” Zi Ling nodded and flew off the island.
Hearing Zi Ling call An Miao “sister,” Lin Xiao was puzzled. Wasn’t she her master? Why call her sister in private?
“My age is barely older than Zi Ling’s. Publicly, she calls me master; privately, we’re like sisters,” An Miao explained casually, sensing his confusion. “Come inside.”
At the island’s center stood a jade-like structure, resplendent and elegant.
Inside, An Miao, a sixth-grade spirit controller, transformed into a gentle, refined woman, personally serving Lin Xiao tea.
In truth, she was calming her emotions. Her mother had searched for her father for over a millennium without a trace, and now, she had met his successor.
Hearing “successor across generations,” a pang of disappointment flickered in An Miao’s heart.
Sitting slowly, she sipped her tea before speaking gravely, “My father… has he truly fallen?”
“You… you’re really the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor’s daughter?” Lin Xiao didn’t answer, instead asking in shock.
But seeing An Miao’s shifting gaze, he caught himself, awkwardly correcting, “I mean, you’re my master’s daughter?”
“Yes, born after a millennium of gestation,” An Miao replied.
Lin Xiao gasped. Born after a millennium of gestation—a spiritual manifestation defied common logic.
By now, he was certain: An Miao was the Emperor’s daughter.
“You haven’t answered me. Has my father truly fallen?” An Miao pressed, her voice heavy.
“Yes… Master, he… has completely fallen…” Lin Xiao replied, feigning sorrow. He couldn’t let An Miao suspect anything, or the consequences would be dire.
“How did he fall?” An Miao’s eyes bore into him, her voice deepening as she pressed further.
Lin Xiao faltered under the sixth-grade spirit controller’s gaze, feeling as if he might slip. But drawing on the Emperor’s experience, he kept his composure and answered steadily, “I received Master’s inheritance from a spiritual beast core. His final consciousness warned that the Divine Demon Graveyard held great terrors and was not to be approached. His true body fell there, but he sent out his inheritance with a strand of consciousness.”
“Before his consciousness faded, Master said that if I met a woman named Miao Ling, to tell her he was sorry.”
At this, tears fell from An Miao’s eyes. In that moment, she was no sixth-grade spirit controller but a grieving daughter.
In truth, the first part was somewhat accurate—if investigated, it could be traced to Lin Xiao absorbing a spiritual core for the Emperor’s memories. The last part, however, was entirely fabricated.
As a final message, it was unverifiable. Even if An Miao or Miao Ling investigated, they’d find nothing.
“The dead are gone. Master An Miao, please accept my condolences,” Lin Xiao comforted.
Wiping her tears, An Miao sat in silence for a long while before sighing softly, “My poor mother, her obsession unyielding, her spiritual form searching for over a millennium… But perhaps it’s for the best, to rest in peace…”
Lin Xiao’s heart jolted. Miao Ling had fallen? Only a spiritual form remained?
A sudden, inexplicable pain gripped him, an instinctive reaction.
It was the Emperor’s imprint.
Miao Ling and the Emperor were deeply entwined.
In truth, Lin Xiao felt a pang of regret. She was a unique life formed by the Emperor’s spiritual force, embodying the mysteries of spiritual cultivation. She might have reached ninth-grade spirit controller status, but alas…
At the same time, Lin Xiao quietly exhaled in relief. An Miao might not act against him or see through his facade.
But if Miao Ling were alive, one glance at him might expose the truth.
Given her devotion to the Emperor, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Even a spiritual form, a mere obsession, formed from the Emperor’s spiritual force, would likely be terrifyingly powerful.
Lin Xiao resolved never to encounter that spiritual form, no matter what.
“How did Senior Miao Ling fall?” he couldn’t help asking, curiosity getting the better of him.
