There were thousands of ways of using human furnaces, but the "dual cultivation human furnace" was the most common and well-known among the cultivators in the world.
Many cultivators from large families, due to defective qualifications in various aspects, looked for a woman or man with good qualifications and excellent appearance and took their spiritual energy cultivation for themselves through the art of yin and yang complementation.
Although the former immortal Holy Emperor established an immortal rule ten thousand years ago, explicitly prohibiting "using people as furnaces", this was also the easiest way for many cultivators with innate flaws to break through.
Therefore, even now, it was still common to snatch young boys and girls from the immortals to make them furnaces, but they were disguised as forced marriages.
This was the case with the immortals, and it was even more common among the demonic cultivators.
Gu Mingxin's appearance was one of the best among the demonic cultivators. After she was found by Yu Yan when she was young and brought to the Heavenly Demon Sect, she was targeted by many demonic cultivator clans.
Mei clan from the Hedonistic Sect, Xuan Yuan from the Dark Bone Sect, and even the He family from the Heavenly Demon Sect...
Gu Mingxin, who was only a few years old at the time, was a rare talent that caught the eyes of many demonic cultivators. They all wanted to abduct her before Yu Yan valued her and before she grew up.
Even He Buqun's fourth son, He Mi, was ordered by his father to abduct Gu Mingxin.
However, everyone failed.
Xuan Yuan was exterminated by a demonic cultivator, and He Mi died after encountering a level seven demonic beast...
And these were not done by Gu Mingxin and Xue'e themselves.
Not even Xue'e knew that, during the period when Gu Mingxin was brought to the Heavenly Demon Sect until she formed her core at the age of fourteen and had the strength to protect herself, there was a person who had only met Gu Mingxin once but had been guarding her unseen, in the dark.
This person was He Qingjiao.
The patriarch of the Xuan Yuan clan took a fancy to Gu Mingxin, so He Qingjiao disguised herself as a rogue cultivator and destroyed the Xuan Yuan clan of the Dark Bone Sect...
He Mi was ordered by He Buqun to abduct Gu Mingxin, so He Qingjiao secretly summoned a level seven demonic beast and sent her fourth brother into its mouth...
...
Boom—!!
Thousands of feet away, a flying boat of the Heavenly Demon Sect was pierced through by Xiao Yunluo's thunder spell and fell into the black forest below, exploding with a white light that lit up the dark day.
This white light also illuminated the two people who were confronting each other in front of a stone table next to the rubble.
He Qingjiao looked at Ye Anping from ten feet away with calm eyes but felt a strange sense of discordance in her heart, as if this person was not from this realm, but rather from outside the world.
Her hand turned slightly as if she had the intention of drawing the sword.
However, Ye Anping switched his grip on Bai Yue and placed it behind his shoulder, acting as if he did not want to fight with her. He stretched out his left hand and asked, "Miss He, why are you doing this? You have no loyalty to Yu Yan and no loyalty to the Heavenly Demon Sect. Even He Buqun is an insignificant person to you. Why do you oppose me? Why help the Heavenly Demon Sect against the Immortal Family?"
"..."
Seeing that she still didn't speak, Ye Anping shrugged, smiling. "Sister Gu, right? Speaking of which, for Sister Gu, you even killed your fourth brother with your own hands, didn't you?"
Hearing this, He Qingjiao finally opened her mouth to speak. She seemed to understand what the discordance she felt from the man in front of her meant. This guy knew her...
"Who told you?"
"Does it matter?" Ye Anping reached out. "Miss He, we can be friends."
"..."
"Yu Yan brought Sister Gu back for the Heavenly Demon Scroll and her physique. She is the furnace that Yu Yan cultivated for himself, and my goal is to kill him..."
"I know." He Qingjiao interrupted him, frowning. "I can't kill Yu Yan."
"I can."
"Do you want me to thank you?" He Qingjiao raised her head slightly, her eyes revealing a murderous intent as she asked, "Where is Sister Gu? She collapsed the mountain just now..."
"Miss He, why are you so stubborn?" Ye Anping scratched his hair. "Don't you want to wait for Sister Gu to catch up with you before killing her? After Yu Yan dies, I will give you this opportunity..."
"I'll ask again, Sister Gu...where is she...?"
"...You don't trust me so much?"
Just as the words fell–
Whoosh—
He Qingjiao's body changed from static to dynamic without warning.
The ten-foot distance between the two seemed nonexistent. By the time Ye Anping saw her sword clearly, it had already reached his throat.
But he did not take any countermeasures. The Bai Yue Sword on his back, did not move for a moment.
He Qingjiao looked at Ye Anping's calm face and suddenly felt like she was being played like a monkey. She tightened her grip on the hilt and thrust the sword toward Ye Anping's throat.
But at this moment, two shadows, one black and one white, jumped out from behind Ye Anping and leaned over to his left and right sides.
The blood-colored sword and the pitch-black sword crossed, intercepting the tip of He Qingjiao's sword.
Boom—
The dust around the four people was blown away by the air wave, and countless cracks appeared on the ground.
Feng Yu Die touched the back of her head where a lock of hair was cut, and she looked over with a frown. "Hey!! You black stubborn bitch!!"
Gu Mingxin glared at her and cursed. "White fool, do you want to die? You blocked my sword!! Who asked you to come here!!"
"Young Master Ye asked me to help you!!"
"Who wants your help?!"
... ...
Watching from a little distance as the two were about to fight again, Ye Anping felt tired and sighed, while Xiao Tian and Xue'e, who had been sitting on his shoulders, also had mixed feelings showing on their faces.
"Ah..." "Sigh..."
"Black bastard, why are you sighing?!"
"It's none of your business if I sigh..."
...
Ye Anping glanced at each of them, but the next moment, he was distracted by a sudden laugh.
"Hahahaha... hahahaha..."
Limping on her right leg, He Qingjiao looked up and laughed, and her expression became more and more ferocious. Then she looked at Gu Mingxin and pointed her sword at her. "Sister Gu, you have made a friend."
Hearing this, Feng Yu Die and Gu Mingxin, who were glaring at each other, turned their heads to look at her and said in unison,
"Who is friends with this white idiot..." "Who is friends with this black idiot..."
At this time, a voice suddenly came from a distance, causing both Feng Yu Die and Gu Mingxin to shudder.
—"It's really my brother. Brother!!!"
The four people in the formation looked up almost at the same time and saw Pei Lianxue, Xiao Yunluo, and Liang Zhu, who had already arrived in the sky above.
Behind them, there were more than a hundred Black Star Sect disciples on flying swords, all wearing lavender sect uniforms.
Pei Lianxue ignored the other two people and rushed straight into the formation, ready to throw herself into her brother's arms. However, seeing that Gu Mingxin and He Qingjiao, who had just fought with her, were also there, she thought that her brother and the Second Idiot were dealing with them, so she resisted the urge to act coquettishly and landed in front of Ye Anping.
Whoosh—
Drawing the Snow Jade Spirit Sword, Pei Lianxue glanced at her brother's shoulders but didn't say anything. She just frowned and asked, "Brother, who should I cut first?"
"..."
Ye Anping didn't say anything. He stepped forward, patted her head, and then looked at the lone He Qingjiao again.
There was no need for him to speak at this time. The question had already been raised by the Black Star Sect disciples who had surrounded the formation from above. The answer depended on He Qingjiao's choice.
Life or death...
However, He Qingjiao merely raised her head and scanned the surroundings, then once again gripped the sword in her hand, and turned to Ye Anping as she took a step toward him. "Young Master, I still don't know you..."
Ye Anping answered. "Ye Anping."
"In this case... then, please Young Master Ye..." He Qingjiao took a deep breath, and her eyes widened, "Go to hell!!"
Ye Anping nodded in response. "Well..."
Then, he simply closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and stopped looking.
Boom boom—
The roar of the demonic spirit was heard, but it was meaningless.
Ding ding ding—
The sound of swords hitting each other was harsh, and it was also meaningless.
"Don't even think about hurting my brother!!"
Ding—
Ye Anping felt that He Qingjiao's sword was several inches away from his neck at some point, but he still didn't open his eyes to look.
The sword wind blew on his face, and the wind was raging, but it eventually subsided.
Swish—
When everything around him was silent, Ye Anping slowly opened his eyes.
He Qingjiao had been pierced through the chest by a blood-colored sword and was lying in a pool of blood.
She did not die with her eyes wide open. On the contrary, her eyes were tightly closed, and there was no regret on her face, still as calm as water.
Pei Lianxue looked at Gu Mingxin with a little doubt. She thought Gu Mingxin was in cahoots with this guy, but it turned out that she actually pierced He Qingjiao's heart with her sword and destroyed her Nascent Soul.
Ye Anping walked slowly, passing by Pei Lianxue and patting her head gently, and then stopped beside He Qingjiao. His mouth slightly opened and closed, but no sound was made.
He just took out a top-grade fire talisman from the storage bag and let it fall on He Qingjiao's chest. In the faint flame, he once again witnessed the dissolution of a grain of sand into the vast ocean of the universe.