With Long Chen’s hand on Hua Shiyu’s chest, black qi poured out and tightly bound his hand.

The black qi formed strands, looking like sinister centipedes that had come out to attack him.

Through circulating the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, he had sensed some strange fluctuations above Hua Shiyu’s Spirit Root. At that time, the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art had acted on its own, and when his hand unconsciously touched Hua Shiyu’s chest, it began to circulate even faster, pulling out this strange black qi.

“Long Chen, what’s going on?” Meng Qi and the others jumped in shock. These black strands formed a demonic and fiendish figure.

This figure seemed to have come from within Hua Shiyu, while the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art had forcibly pulled it out. However, Hua Shiyu felt like her organs were being ripped out of her.

Long Chen was also shocked. Just what was this? A curse? Why would it be sensed by the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art? Furthermore, it felt like the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art detested this thing and wanted to destroy it.

“Long Chen, stop! Sister Shiyu can’t hold on!” shouted Zhao Ziyan. Hua Shiyu’s aura was rapidly falling.

Long Chen hastily stopped the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. That black figure instantly returned to Hua Shiyu’s chest and vanished without a trace. It couldn’t even be sensed. But now Hua Shiyu was pale and limp.

The five of them were all silent for a moment, filled with shock. Just what was that strange figure?

“Long Chen, what was that?” asked Meng Qi. Hua Shiyu also looked at Long Chen, but she was now extremely weak. She looked like she was heavily injured and didn’t even have the energy to speak.

“That black figure had Heavenly Dao energy on it. But it was different from the true Heavenly Daos. It’s strange.” Long Chen’s expression was also grave.

His head rapidly worked. According to his understanding of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, it was very sensitive to Heavenly Dao energy. It might even be more accurate to say it detested it.

In that same vein of thinking, he suspected that the reason the Heavenly Daos constantly went against him was because of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. But he still understood too little of the true Heavenly Daos.

As for that figure in Hua Shiyu’s body, its aura was much weaker than the true Heavenly Daos. It was like… it was artificial.

Artificial? Long Chen suddenly thought of a possibility. “Shiyu, how did you become acquainted with that expert from Heavenly Fate Island? What’s the whole story?”

Hua Shiyu had recovered slightly, but she still wasn’t fully healed. Her voice was raspy as she said, “It happened when I was still very little. An expert who said he came from Heavenly Fate Island just happened to be passing by my family’s land. My family is large and has a great deal of influence in its region. But we had never heard of any experts from Heavenly Fate Island who go out into the mundane world.

“Rumor is that Heavenly Fate Island is extremely mysterious, and it rarely interacts with the mundane world. When that expert came, my father was suspicious and thought he was a swindler. But that expert managed to list out many secrets of my Hua family as soon as he arrived. Some of those secrets were things even my father didn’t know about. When the patriarch learned of it, he was absolutely shocked.

“The expert said I was a spirit child that had reincarnated. I would have three setbacks that would draw a calamity upon myself, and it’s fated that I won’t live past twenty-three.

“At that time, my Hua family was shocked. The expert later spoke to my father alone, saying that if he wanted me to live, it would require forcibly changing fate. It would require tricking the very Heavenly Daos. However…”

“However what?” asked Long Chen.

“However, he said that forcibly changing my fate would make him bear a large amount of karma, and he was unwilling to do it for free. So he wanted my family’s ancestral treasure, the Dao Seeking King Jade. That is a remnant of our ancestors and the foundation of my Hua family’s inheritance. My father naturally refused. The expert merely smiled coldly and left, saying that if my father ever regretted his decision, he could go to the Heavenly Fate Pavilion in the Grand Han Ancient Nation to find him.

“Then, my first setback occurred. My family became uneasy, as I was my family’s hope of rising in my generation. As for the patriarch, even he was tempted and had an urge to give away the ancestral treasure.

“But my father was extremely against this, saying that the expert’s sneer had clearly been one of a petty person who was enraged at being refused. He didn’t have the slightest air of an expert, so he was clearly just a swindler.

“But when my second setback occurred, my father also became afraid. He hesitated for a long time, and in the end, he called me in front of him and said I could decide.

“I… I was afraid, but I knew that without the Dao Seeking King Jade, my Hua family would lose its foundation and might quickly decline. So I chose not to believe that person’s fortune-telling.

“That’s why I go all-out cultivating, so that no one can look down on me. I wanted to show everyone that I’m fine, and my parents don’t need to worry about…” Hua Shiyu lowered her head.

Meng Qi and the others were all surprised as they hadn’t expected Hua Shiyu to have such a backstory. Their hearts all felt heavy. Zhao Ziyan patted Hua Shiyu on the back, but she didn’t know what to say to comfort her.

Long Chen was silent for a while and then asked, “What’s the effect of your family’s Dao Seeking King Jade?”

“It’s an ancient jade with Dao-charm flowing around it. Even without doing anything, it allows a person to grow closer to the Heavenly Daos. It lets a person’s heart be calm. It is extremely helpful to people below the Xiantian realm.”

“Is it only useful to those below the Xiantian realm?” asked Long Chen.

“Yes. Above the Xiantian realm, it is essentially useless. So although it’s a good treasure, it doesn’t cause any powerful sects to get greedy,” explained Hua Shiyu.

“Then based on what you said, I would guess that this so-called expert from Heavenly Fate Island did something to you. Above your Spirit Root, there’s a strange clump of energy hiding. When I… read your bones, it was provoked. This clump of energy contains Heavenly Dao energy, but it’s different from the Heavenly Dao energy Celestials use when fighting. It’s like karmic energy and very strange. Furthermore, this energy has merged with your Spirit Blood and even your soul. If it’s forcibly removed, you will definitely die.”

“Hey, what are you saying?! Long Chen, can’t you put it more gently?” rebuked Tang Wan-er angrily.

Long Chen immediately became embarrassed, because he had truly misspoken. He hastily said, “But you don’t need to worry. When we return to the sect, we can ask the Xuan Master to help and it’ll be no problem.”

But Hua Shiyu wasn’t the slightest bit excited. Instead, she dimly shook her head. “The Xuan Master won’t help.”

“Why not?”

“Because Heavenly Fate Island is more terrifying than you imagine. There is not a single sect that wishes to offend them. They control fate, and so for them to destroy a sect is extremely easy. Most terrifying of all, their actions are all well-hidden. You might not even know how the sect declined,” sighed Hua Shiyu.

“It can’t possibly be that exaggerated, right?” Wasn’t this too ridiculous? Then who would dare to provoke them?

“In truth, it really is like this. No one is willing to offend them. All the large sects want to curry favor with the Heavenly Fate Island, afraid of something being done to them secretly. That’s the terror of Heavenly Fate Island,” said Hua Shiyu.

If this was true, then they really were badass. But for them to get jealous of other people’s treasures, they were a huge pain in the ass.

Hua Shiyu’s family’s ancestral treasure was clearly not very useful to others. However, it seemed that this ‘expert’ had a use for it. Long Chen was ninety percent sure that this expert had done something to Hua Shiyu in order to force the Hua family to hand over their treasure.

He had seen despicable people, but he had never seen someone this despicable. Even the swindlers in the secular world only conned people of their money, not their entire family fortune and their lives.

“In truth, it’s not that complicated. As long as you tell the Xuan Master, he can use the Reincarnation Mirror to easily erase that strange energy. Previously, you couldn’t be sure that the Xuan Master would help you, but don’t misjudge him. Although he looks like a lazy person leisurely passing his days, he’s a very courageous man. If you ask him, he will definitely help,” guaranteed Long Chen.

“Don’t randomly spout such nonsense. How could the Xuan Master be described as lazy and leisurely? Are you not afraid of the Xuan Master expelling you?” scolded Meng Qi with a smile.

The tense atmosphere lightened a great deal. Hua Shiyu said, “However, it will still bring trouble to the Xuantian Dao Sect. If the Xuantian Dao Sect declines because of me, I’d rather die.”

“It’s not so serious. How old are you right now?” asked Long Chen. He wanted to know how much time she had left.

Long Chen was confident that the expert from Heavenly Fate Island had used Heavenly Dao energy to leave behind a ‘seed’ within Hua Shiyu. Or perhaps it should be called a curse.

Arts that involved fate were mysterious and profound. They could not be described with words, nor could they be underestimated. For Heavenly Fate Island to possess such a reputation was definitely not a coincidence. Long Chen didn’t dare to be careless.

“I turned twenty-two last month,” said Hua Shiyu. In other words, there was less than a year until her time was up.

“Oh, you’re even a bit bigger than Long Chen.” Tang Wan-er was a bit surprised. She had always thought that Hua Shiyu was younger than Long Chen.

Looking at Hua Shiyu’s chest, Long Chen thought to himself that she wasn’t just a bit bigger. He sighed regretfully. Just now, he had been completely focused on that clump of energy and hadn’t gotten a good feel. What a waste.

Just as Long Chen’s thoughts took a turn from proper things, Meng Qi’s hand stealthily reached toward Long Chen’s waist and gave him a vicious pinch.

Although she wasn’t able to cause him pain with this, Long Chen knew his spiritual fluctuations had been sensed.

“Shiyu, don’t worry. If you’re worried about implicating the Dao Sect, then I’ll help you handle it. I can use a medicinal pill to help you extract that energy. But the process will probably be a bit painful,” said Long Chen.