Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Old Tale of the Celestial Eye

Chen Jiu strode confidently to the center of the great hall.

The blood-red light that surged within the hall illuminated the surrounding scene.

It turned out that all around this hall lay veins of blood jade.

The jade walls soared over ten zhang high, their entire surface a deep, blood-soaked crimson.

“So it’s this hall that’s dyed the jade mines red,” Chen Jiu thought, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the withered figure seated cross-legged within.

Just as he had suspected, the Blood Demon had not fully broken free of its seal.

Perhaps even the Wormkeeper had no idea how to truly unshackle the Blood Demon.

“What other secrets do you know of the Heavenly Eye? Speak them all,” Chen Jiu demanded coldly.

The Blood Demon sat with its back to Chen Jiu, icy black iron chains tightly wrapped around its body. The slightest movement would cause the chains to constrict with sudden force!

“Heh heh heh, and you dare order me?” The Blood Demon’s chilling voice drifted over, its body erupting with blood-red light that summoned countless spectral hands, which lunged toward Chen Jiu.

Chen Jiu frowned deeply. Though the lotus platform could withstand the relentless assault of the blood hands, his spiritual power would not last forever!

Thud, thud...

The blood hands seemed endless, ceaselessly congealing from the blood-red glow around them, then crashing down upon Chen Jiu under the Blood Demon’s will.

“Will you talk or not?” Chen Jiu shouted in anger.

The Blood Demon seemed surprised by his fury and sneered, “Do you think the Heavenly Eye alone can command my soul? Look at yourself—an insignificant wretch who hasn’t even set foot upon the First Immortal Tower, and yet you dream of controlling me?”

“Let me tell you the truth: even the eldest son of the Chen Clan back then didn’t dare boast so before me! Heh, once you’ve exhausted your power, I’ll devour your flesh and seize your body, to walk again in the Jin Dynasty...”

The Blood Demon was cunning. Knowing its strength was but a fraction of its prime, it was determined to wear Chen Jiu down, risking even its own vitality.

A body with a Heavenly Eye was a treasure beyond price…

The azure shield encircling Chen Jiu had grown noticeably dimmer; it would not last much longer.

Yet the blood hands surged on, each blow making the lotus platform tremble violently!

Chen Jiu’s expression was icy, his voice stripped of all warmth: “Soon, you’ll see if my Heavenly Eye is of any use…”

At these words, the Blood Demon’s withered body suddenly shuddered.

Clatter—

The chains shrank tight in an instant, talismans upon the iron links glowing with a hazy light!

“What are you doing?!” For some reason, panic flickered across the Blood Demon’s face.

Because the person who had locked it here all those years ago had spoken those very same words.

—

“Could it be—the mark left by that person back then?!” The Blood Demon suddenly remembered something, fear coloring its voice.

“Correct. But there’s no prize,” Chen Jiu replied, stepping into the hall. His voice was cold: “Heavenly Eye, open.”

As golden light flickered on his brow, a vertical eye suffused with golden brilliance forced its way open in the center of his forehead.

The instant the vertical eye appeared, Chen Jiu sensed the golden mark embedded within the Blood Demon’s body.

The Godbinding Mark.

It was left by the very one who had subdued the Blood Demon all those years ago—perhaps for just such a day when someone might need it.

Chen Jiu swept his sleeve—“Bind the spirit!”

The Blood Demon’s face contorted in terror as, at that moment, the mark inside it erupted, golden light blazing forth to suppress its raging blood energy completely!

As the golden mark burst forth, the red glow around the Blood Demon was instantly retracted, then obliterated by the golden light surging from within.

The great hall filled with golden radiance.

“Stop! You wretch, stop! I’ll kill you!!” The Blood Demon could no longer feign calm. The mark had wholly seized its body, even its consciousness was now under Chen Jiu’s command!

The “Heavenly Eye” on Chen Jiu’s brow shone brilliantly, golden light weaving the Blood Demon’s awareness into a link with his own spirit.

Yet to Chen Jiu’s regret, though he now controlled the Blood Demon, he could not directly read its memories.

Whether this was a failing of his cultivation or for some other reason, he did not know.

“I’ll grant you one last chance. What truly happened to the Chen Clan back then? Why were they exterminated?” Chen Jiu pressed.

Though under Chen Jiu’s control, the Blood Demon could still speak of its own accord, its will strong.

It sneered, “Little wretch, it seems your parents died early, never telling you anything. But now… the pitiful survivors of the Chen Clan are like rats on the street, hated by all, hunted everywhere—how satisfying! That is retribution!”

Chen Jiu’s eyes narrowed, a cold light flashing within.

Clatter!

As Chen Jiu manipulated the Blood Demon’s body, the sealing chains tightened again.

Creak, creak, creak…

With each tightening of the chains, a globule of blood-red light was forced out from the Blood Demon’s body!

“Stop! Stop!” As the crimson sphere shot out from its form, the Blood Demon at last knew fear.

“Enough! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

At this, Chen Jiu’s expression shifted slightly.

—

It seemed the Blood Demon cared greatly for these blood-red spheres.

Within them, he sensed a vast, pure demonic energy—clearly the result of years of meticulous hoarding.

Realizing this, Chen Jiu’s expression grew subtly amused.

No wonder the Blood Demon had suddenly become compliant—its hidden reserves had been exposed.

He nodded. “Speak.”

As the chains around it calmed, the Blood Demon gave a long sigh of relief.

Though its body was withered, it still harbored a core of original demon energy. Should this energy and that other thing escape, its fate would be sealed.

Though inside it cursed Chen Jiu a thousand times, on the surface it forced a conciliatory smile: “Heh, I was merely impulsive just now. Please forgive me.”

Chen Jiu remained impassive. “You have three breaths’ time. If you do not speak, you’ll bear the consequences.”

The Blood Demon groaned inwardly. This brat was truly insufferable!

So what if he has an extra eye? What’s so special about it!

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

Taking a moment to recover, the Blood Demon finally began its tale:

“A thousand years ago, the Jin Dynasty was still a mortal kingdom risen from the wilds. The lands around Jin belonged to the demon clans, who constantly invaded for food… But then, a great number of cultivators suddenly appeared within Jin—some masters of poison, some capable of turning into armored mountain gods. But the most terrifying were those with the Heavenly Eye on their foreheads…!”

Here, the Blood Demon’s voice quivered, as if seized by terror.

“Those with the Heavenly Eye enslaved the leaders of the demon tribes, dragging them back to Jin as playthings… The Jin Dynasty relied on these cultivators to command great monsters, counterattacking the demon clans and expanding their territory, until the demons did not dare challenge them and hid themselves away…”

“But then, the Heavenly Eye cultivators vanished overnight. Even stranger, there was not the slightest disturbance in Jin—afterwards, no one dared speak a word of it… And so, the ‘Heavenly Eye Chen Clan’ so hated by the demon tribes vanished from the history of Jin, never to be mentioned again…”

“All of this, I learned from the one who imprisoned me here. I know he was a Heavenly Eye cultivator in hiding, but I don’t know who he was, nor why the Chen Clan was annihilated…”

Chen Jiu committed every word to memory.

His face was grave, his thoughts racing.

At last, he had lifted a corner of the veil surrounding the Heavenly Eye.

There was still much he did not know, but at least he had taken the first step…

Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Chen Jiu looked to the crimson sphere floating in the air, and new thoughts began to stir within him…