Chapter 616: Ch 616 - Looks like I owe you another favor

That phoenix egg was meant to hatch a demon child...

Because of my sudden death in my previous life and the transmigration that followed, my soul slipped into Ilya’s womb and gave the original Yino, the Demon Child, a soul and a will of his own.

If that’s true, it explains the black hair, the black eyes. The half-human bloodline in me isn’t because father came from a human race. It’s because my soul itself carries a human lineage...

No wonder I look nothing like the Yino in the original game.

After hearing Changli out, Yino finally pieced together a plausible picture of his transmigration.

In short, the reason he had escaped erosion by Ilya’s resentful will all this time came down to that half-human bloodline and his own living self-awareness.

And the reason she called him the Variable was likely the same reason Jinyue had picked him back then.

She had a destiny, a conviction, that she wanted to overturn.

That was why Changli had run the heavenly divination through hundreds of millions of Reincarnations, until on this timeline she finally found him. A variable soul, transmigrated from a sudden death on Earth.

But what did Master mean by these billions of reincarnations?

Could they line up with the countless save files made by countless players in the Fallen Immortal game from my previous life?

No, no, no...

This is starting to sound more and more absurd.

And there’s no way I can confirm any of it with her right now. She wouldn’t even tell me the truth about my mother’s memory fragments from a thousand years ago. How could she possibly sit me down and lay out everything about the past, present, and future?

If I slip up before she truly trusts me, and she finds out I hold the scripts of countless timelines, my hand would be exposed for nothing. That would do nothing for my already weak position.

After turning it over a few times, Yino decided to bury these thoughts.

She had said it herself. Distant matters were mostly useless. They should focus on the cooperation and cultivation in front of them.

He was still waiting to freeload Pei Zhihan’s Primordial sword art, and his master was no doubt looking forward to him breaking Jianlan Sect’s preordained destiny again.

Anything outside their shared interests was best left untouched.

"Honored Master, I understand..."

Yino gave a faint nod.

Changli watched him and pulled herself back from the swirl of her thoughts. She seemed to realize she had grown a touch too sentimental, and withdrew her hand from his face. The pale gold of her phoenix eyes settled back into their familiar cold and mysterious calm.

This feeling of being misunderstood, she had grown used to long ago.

She had lived through too many Reincarnations. Her heart had gone numb. Yet whenever she caught a glimpse of hope, that flicker of feeling still rose...

The youth in front of her simply didn’t yet understand her hardships. To him, the way she had spoken to herself just now must have looked rather strange.

"As for the Evil Nature in your bloodline, I’ve already planted a seal in your divine sense. From now on, those nightmares full of hateful whispers won’t trouble you again."

She straightened. Her tone turned serious. "However..."

"Yino, you are still the demonic embryo flesh born from Ilya’s evil thoughts. When you draw on that forbidden power in the future, you must take care. Hold onto your true heart. Don’t be tricked by the demon’s whispers."

She stopped there.

Yino listened obediently, but the caution he’d carried since childhood left him uneasy.

"Is there really no way to purify the evil nature inside me?"

"There is, but there’s no need."

She held up a single finger. "After all these years of watching you, I believe your soul is strong enough to hold down the evil thoughts inside, even without outside help."

"If I purified the evil nature for you, it would dull the hidden fangs you carry as a demon child. If you were ever cornered, you’d lose the trump card that lets you turn the tide using the evil within."

"Then on the other timelines where I’m not the variable, why didn’t you step in and purify the evil thoughts in me? I might have lived a peaceful life like an ordinary person..."

Yino raised the question carefully, then his eyes widened. He had realized the contradiction in his own words.

She rested her chin on her hand and gave a helpless smile.

"On the other timelines, your body lacked this otherworldly divine soul we now call a variable. There was no soul, no self-awareness inside that flesh at all. If I had purified the demonic nature on top of that, how would it be any different from killing the resentment-born being you are?"

"Yes, that just occurred to me too..."

Yino scratched his cheek, oddly relieved.

He sat up, cupped his hands in salute, then dropped to both knees in a deep show of gratitude.

"Whether I’m the Son of Variable or a Demon Child..."

"Today, this He Yino still has to thank master for every time you’ve stepped in to help me."

The bow was sincere. To him, his so-called mother Ilya was nothing more than a name on a blood tie. Xinyao, his master, and the people of the Grand Tutor’s Mansion were the ones who had truly raised him.

Changli froze for a moment, then quickly rose from the table and walked over to help the boy up from the floor.

"There’s no need for that. You taking the crown of the Immortal Alliance Tournament will be the best repayment to me."

"The crown..."

The word pulled Yino’s mind back to the tournament plot from the original game.

Right. If he claimed the crown that should have gone to Nangong Xi, that alone would break the preordained destiny. Even a small variable like that might carry enormous meaning to her.

"Honored Master, rest assured. This Disciple won’t disappoint you."

After taking his leave at the Immortal Pool, Yino felt clear-headed and refreshed.

This Demigod-tier expert really was something else. With a single touch of her finger to his brow, she had banished his Inner demon. Even the wounds branded into him from his earlier life-and-death fight with Wen Ruzhi had been fully healed. His aura was back to its usual peak.

That way, when he returned to check on his Senior Sister, he wouldn’t worry her.

....

"Yino, you’re back!"

He pushed aside the curtain of Wuji Sect’s quarters, and was greeted by the sight of two stunning woman, both wearing anxious looks.

Yuyan wore a white horse-face skirt, carrying that cool, free-spirited charm he loved most. Pei Zhihan wore a black pleated skirt, the black-and-white tone fitting the tragic ending she had in the original work.

To come back from battle and be welcomed by two of the original work’s most stunning woman, Yino felt a quiet thrill rise in his chest.

"Yino, are you alright? When you didn’t come back, I went out with sister Pei to look for you, but you’d hidden your aura. You wouldn’t let me sense your location..."

Yuyan came up to him and ran her cool, smooth hand along his body. The spiritual energy from her innate frost body flowed from her fingertips and wrapped around him as she checked him over.

After a few passes, she was surprised to find that his color was good and his cultivation seemed faintly stronger than before. He looked nothing like the weakened figure right after the tournament fight.

"Later, a girl who said she was your aunt came by. She was the one who told Yuyan about your condition."

Zhihan stepped forward and picked up where Yuyan had left off. "Your aunt told us to wait here, so we stopped searching for you."

"Lady Pei, thank you for your concern, and for looking after my senior."

Yino’s gaze warmed as he glanced at the black-skirted woman and answered.

Zhihan caught the warmth in his words and pressed her lips together with a small nod. Yino was Yuyan’s fiance, though, and she had enough composure not to hold his gaze in front of her friend.

"I got hurt fighting Wen Ruzhi, so my aunt took me to the National Advisor for treatment. Thanks to her, my body was back in fighting shape within an incense stick of time."

As he said this, Yino raised his hand and snapped his fingers. He deliberately let the boundless True Phoenix Bloodline aura, pressing close to the Emptiness Refining stage, wash out in front of the two woman.

Thanks to the earlier fight with Ruzhi, and his Master’s help afterward, his control over the Ancient True Phoenix bloodline inside him had reached a new level.

He could hold down the Evil Nature in his bloodline with ease, and he could draw on the True Phoenix bloodline freely.

That made the risk and cost of showing off in front of the two women much lower.

Both had already believed he carried the potential to reach the Emptiness Refining stage after he beat Ruzhi. Even so, seeing it with their own eyes and feeling that youth’s near-Emptiness-Refining aura up close was a different experience entirely.

"To have such attainments at his age. He really is the rare genius worthy of Yuyan’s regard..."

Bathed in his aura, Zhihan couldn’t hold back a soft murmur.

As the True Inheritor of the Primordial Sword Venerate, she couldn’t help marveling at how terrifying his talent was.

And as a guest in this room, she wasn’t going to be stingy with praise that would lift Yuyan and Yino’s mood.

Yuyan flushed faintly under the compliment.

Yino slipped an arm around her waist, walked her in to sit down, and let his eyes drift to the live projection of the Dao Testing Pavilion playing nearby.

"By the way, while I was gone, has Lin Che already gone up to fight?"

He turned his head as he spoke and fixed his gaze on the black-skirted woman still standing to the side.

Zhihan blinked, caught off guard. Yuyan had been so anxious to find her husband that the senior had only thought of helping her search. She’d nearly forgotten her own disciple had already taken the stage.

"Mm. Lin Che’s opponent this round is Ji Zichen, the Holy Son of our Jianlan Sect. Before he went up, Lin Che said he wouldn’t disappoint you with the ancient artifact you gave him."

Zhihan smoothed her skirt with a fair hand and sat down. As she said the words ancient artifact, the look in her clear eyes carried an unmistakable hint of meaning that landed on Yino.

Yuyan, sitting between them, didn’t follow what they were saying. But watching the loaded glances and small gestures pass between them, she felt an odd flicker of jealousy at being shut out.

Yino knew Zhihan had spotted his secret, but he didn’t mind. He picked up the thread with a half-joking confidence.

"In that case, this match is a sure thing. With my Divine artifact in his hand, brother Lin Che should have no trouble knocking that Ji Zichen flat on the ground!"

He sounded fully sure of himself.

Zhihan studied the youth from the side. She had no idea where his confidence came from, but she had been proven wrong by him once before. The calmer he looked, the more settled her own heart became.

And right as his words trailed off, the fight on the Dao Testing Pavilion screen finally turned.

The crew-cut youth carrying the Pure Yang Holy Fire landed an uppercut clean on Zichen’s jaw, knocking him out cold.

[This round of the tournament, Outer Sect Servant Lin Che of Jianlan Sect wins!]

Beside the Dao Testing Pavilion, the presiding Elder announced the result with excitement.

Zhihan stilled, her heart stirring like never before. Yet beyond the joy of her disciple’s win, she suddenly remembered the wager she’d made with Yino at the betting platform earlier.

At that thought, she couldn’t hide a self-conscious laugh as she turned back to him.

"Young Lord, looks like Zhihan owes you another favor..."

Her sudden remark made Yuyan, sitting between them, sense something off.

For one, she didn’t get why Zhihan would owe Yino a favor over Lin Che winning.

For another, she really didn’t get why Zhihan said another favor.

Wait...

Without her knowing, just how many times had Yino helped Zhihan?

Or to put it another way, just how much affection had Yino built up in her heart?

At that thought, Yuyan also stilled, watching the subtle shifts between the two of them more carefully now.

"Favors are something lady Pei will have plenty of chances to repay later."

Yino had been staring at the screen for a while before he came back to himself, waving a hand with feigned indifference.

He could tell Yuyan was suspicious, so he steered away from any more private talk with her. Instead he turned with a hint of curiosity to ask the question that had been on his mind.

"Speaking of which, I don’t get something. Lin Che is clearly your True Inheritor. So why does the Immortal Alliance Elder always call him Outer Sect Servant whenever he says his name?"

"That’s because..."

Zhihan paused for a moment, memories surfacing that brought a flicker of guilt.

But the one asking was Yino, the man she owed many favors to. With that thought, she let out a sigh, closed her eyes, and answered with reluctance. "Even though Lin Che has been training with me at the Primordial Sacred Land for the past half year, he has no talent in the sword Dao, and his comprehension is poor. He hasn’t even laid a proper foundation in the Primordial Sword Art..."

"That is why I have not truly accepted him as the heir of Primordial Sacred Land, and never announced to outsiders that he is a disciple of Primordial Sacred Land."

"You may think I am heartless... but the sword Dao inheritance concerns the entire sect. I do not take Disciples lightly. If Lin Che is not a Primordial Seed, he would only bring shame to the Primordial lineage in the future..."