Chapter 424

Chapter 424: Parasite

The Yun Qing Zi attached to the crystal heart spoke in broken stretches. His thoughts would snap, then reconnect. Sometimes he needed a long time to understand Yu Sheng’s questions, and his answers came delayed, like echoes.

But there was no doubt that, for now, he was speaking with the rational mind of a person.

It was just unclear how long that rationality would last.

From his fractured memories, Yu Sheng finally pieced together what had happened on Garrison-3 a thousand years ago.

A crystal “meteor” fell without warning. According to Yun Qing Zi, when it first crashed down, it was far smaller than the heart hanging in this cavern now. At first, it looked like a dull gray, ordinary rock—dead, inert, harmless.

Then, only moments after impact, it revealed itself.

It began trying to drill into Garrison-3, and as it burrowed, it rapidly assimilated and devoured everything around it.

Yun Qing Zi happened to be on the planet at the time—though even now, he could no longer remember why he’d come here back then.

“…I do not know what it was,” he said slowly, as if his mind were wading through mud. “But after we fought, I saw many things. It had been to many places. Each time it arrived somewhere, it parasitized the planet. Once parasitism began, no one could stop the process.

“It was meant to fall on Shu Ji, but it drifted off course as it came down. I thought I could not allow that evil thing to escape, but I never expected I would not be its match…”

He paused, gaze unfocused, like the thread had slipped from his grasp.

Then he lifted his head again, eyes clearing just enough.

“At the final moment, I buried myself together with it underground, hoping to suppress it forever. But its wickedness exceeded my imagination.”

His voice rasped as he continued.

“Every Yun Qing Zi you saw on your way here is the result of us devouring each other and restraining each other. The first Yun Qing Zi died long ago, in our first contact. But before dying, I refined a strand of my soul into this evil thing’s heart—breathing with it, growing with it. Each time it shed its skin, I resurrected once. I can no longer count how many times.”

A trace of pride crept into his expression.

“I failed to defeat it back then, but it has not won even now!”

Yu Sheng listened, stunned, his mind racing to connect everything. Then an older thread snagged his attention, and he blurted, “Wait. You mean you’ve been here the whole last thousand years?

“Then which Yun Qing Zi were the black-robed cultivators of Shu Ji following? And what about the Yun Qing Zi I saw earlier in the illusion arts—what was that?!”

He remembered another detail and pressed harder. “And when we fought the crystal jungle on the surface, it shaped crystal into your form and kept muttering about the emperor lord legacy. How much of that was you?”

Yun Qing Zi’s expression shifted the instant Yu Sheng finished—serious, heavy, with a flicker of annoyance.

“That was also me,” he said slowly. “Any Yun Qing Zi you saw was Yun Qing Zi. All of them evolved from the original strand of soul I left behind.

“I thought the seal would work, that it would at least hold for a thousand years. But I never expected this thing would find a way out early. In a moment of carelessness, it found a flaw in one cycle and let its main body escape. It took with it one Yun Qing Zi it had fully polluted and controlled, leaving behind only a pile of empty shells.”

His gaze dipped, then rose again.

“I know exactly what you mean. The ‘benefactor’ those servants of Shu Ji spoke of, the person you saw in the illusion arts, and the Yun Qing Zi grown from crystal on the surface—we are all linked together, tangled in muddled dreams.

“I dream often. In these thousand years, every Yun Qing Zi’s thoughts and memories have mixed together until we can no longer tell one from another.

“In fact, if you hadn’t appeared today and wiped out over half of the iterations with thunderous force, I would not even have this brief moment of clarity. What you would see on this heart would only be another muddled monster.”

As if remembering something, the elder struggled, turning his head as though searching for someone. His gaze landed on Foxy.

Even in human form, her nine tails were impossible to miss.

Yun Qing Zi stared for a long time, then smiled. “I have been muddled for so many years, and at last I was shocked awake by that heaven-shaking strike. That strike was truly magnificent—magnificent.

“If I could have had such a strike back then… perhaps, perhaps…” He muttered, thoughts slipping again. Then he clawed back to clarity and looked straight at her. “Immortal Maiden, Daoist Friend—does your strike have a name?

“I have lived in vain for thousands of years and seen many great sect techniques, yet I have never seen a move that falls from near orbit. I truly wish to know… which move it was that we lost to.”

Foxy blinked, as if she’d never once considered naming it. She glanced at Yu Sheng out of habit, then scratched at her hair and answered honestly, “Fox-Carrot Charge Strike.”

Yun Qing Zi froze.

The cavern went dead silent. Even the pulsing glow across the heart seemed to falter. Behind Xu Jiali, Lingdang nearly dropped her sphere.

The first to break the silence was Luna.

She nodded once. “Mm. Yes.”

Yu Sheng had long since learned that when Luna said those two words, it was like tapping a keyboard to wake a sleeping screen.

Yun Qing Zi finally reacted, still staring fixedly at Foxy. “…What name?”

Foxy repeated, obedient as ever, “Fox-Carrot Charge Strike.”

For two heartbeats, the old man remained frozen.

Then he burst into laughter.

It was loud and bright and strangely delighted, like someone who’d finally heard the punchline to a joke he’d waited a thousand years to understand. The sound rang through the crystal cavern until the walls seemed to hum in resonance.

“Hahaha! Good—good!

“Marvelous! Marvelous!

“I did not win, and it did not win. In the end, what won was returning to the simple, and the great way made plain!

“A truly exquisite strike, a truly wonderful group of people…” His laughter tapered into rasping breath. “Come. Ask whatever you can, while I still have time. In a little while, there will no longer be any Yun Qing Zi in this world who can speak with you—only a monster controlled by the evil thing will remain!”

As he finished, an unsettling crack rose from within the crystal heart. The surface glow began to flicker in chaotic, jittering patterns.

Irene’s eyes widened. “Huh? Old man, you—”

“Can you not tell?” Yun Qing Zi lifted his head, casual as if discussing the weather. “I am only returning briefly to the light. Don’t waste time fussing. If you can break into this place, you should know what matters. I do not know what things look like outside now, but you do. If you have anything to ask, speak quickly!”

Irene swallowed whatever she’d been about to say and clutched at Yu Sheng’s hair.

Yu Sheng didn’t hesitate. “What is the emperor lord legacy, exactly? From what you said, the Yun Qing Zi obsessed with searching for it wasn’t on the same side as you. He was controlled by the crystal body that escaped from here. Do you know what he’s trying to do?”

“I do not know what that Yun Qing Zi wishes to do,” Yun Qing Zi said, “and I do not know how the emperor lord legacy came to be. But one thing is clear: all his thoughts must have been influenced by that evil thing.

“That thing’s powers are strange and mixed. It can split itself, disturb people’s minds, and parasitize planets. But in essence, it has no wisdom. It acts by instinct. It only influences intelligent beings along the way, making them unconsciously help it complete its purpose.”

Yu Sheng’s brow drew tight. “So what the controlled Yun Qing Zi wants… is also aligned with the thing’s instincts. Helping it reach its goal.”

He pushed the thought forward, voice low. “Then the biggest goal of that crystal body—”

Foxy cut in, ears flicking. “Parasitize the next planet?”

Yu Sheng looked at her, and it was clear they’d reached the same conclusion.

He followed it further. “Then what’s the link between the emperor lord legacy and parasitizing a planet…?”

Irene, rare clarity sparking, blurted, “What if the so-called emperor lord legacy is a planet?”

Something snapped into place in Yu Sheng’s mind.

All the scattered guesses, all the unease, all the echoes across the stars—lit up at once.

“The Grand Void Spiritual Axis,” he said, the words falling heavy.

The real target of the dark angels was to parasitize the Grand Void Spiritual Axis.