Ling Can City.

An Lin lay down on the city wall, looking up the moon and stars.

Xu Xiaolan sat beside An Lin with her eyes closed, silently tempering the Holy Flame within her body.

“Xiaolan, do you think I will be able to completely conquer the Dark Marshlands someday?” An Lin suddenly asked.

Xu Xiaolan opened her eyes after hearing An Lin’s question.

The starry night sky appeared in her eyes, and there seemed to be a vermilion bird soaring into the sky and exploring all of the countless worlds.

“Hmm… I think you’ll be able to. And I don’t think it will take too long.” Xu Xiaolan nodded with conviction.

She had never doubted An Lin’s ability. She was only worried that this would be a perilous and arduous path for An Lin to take.

“Have you already made a decision?” Xu Xiaolan asked.

An Lin heaved a faint sigh. “I’ve already assigned the mission, so there’s no going back.”

That’s right, he was preparing to make a huge gamble next!

When they were in the Demonic Slaughter Space, An Lin had already extracted a liter of holy blood and given it to Cassidy and Tobias so that they could recruit more underlings for him!

A liter of blood didn’t seem like much, but it was enough to recruit a huge number of Blood Tribe underlings if used sparingly!

They had decided to set a time period of a year, during which the Holy Disciples would target those closest to them first before slowing expanding to recruit more and more underlings.

A year from now, all of the Blood Tribe mighty figures converted by the holy blood would gather to establish slave contracts with An Lin.

If things went smoothly, An Lin would have taken his first major step to conquer the entire Dark Marshland a year from now!

“Sigh, I just want to become an ordinary cultivator. Why is it that I seem to be deviating further and further from that original goal? I’m beginning to regret founding this Holy Blood Cult…” An Lin wore a disconsolate expression on his face.

Xu Xiaolan rolled her eyes. “You have to think about it this way. You’ve founded the Holy Blood Cult for the sake of the human race. By converting the enemies of the human race to your slaves, you’re making it safer for the human race!”

An Lin’s expression shifted, and he turned to the woman beside him before exclaiming in amazement, “Impressive, Xiaolan! You’re putting this valuable lesson to good use!”

“What valuable lesson?” Xu Xiaolan was confused.

“Flexing for the sake of the human race!” An Lin replied with an excited expression.

This was the lesson he had only just learned from the Celestial Thearch, but who would have thought that Xu Xiaolan had already mastered it!

Xu Xiaolan: “…”

What was the point of conquering the entire Dark Marshlands?

An Lin was initially a little lost when he thought about this subject, but he now had an answer. Wasn’t he doing all these things to ensure the safety of the human race and to make the continent a more peaceful place?

His heart was instantly filled with motivation with this grand vision in mind.

An Lin looked up at the stars. “Perhaps the ordinary life I led during which I sold stuffed buns for a thousand spirit stones per steamer will be the happiest days of my life, but I will continue to forge ahead for the greater good of the human race!”

Xu Xiaolan slapped a hand to her forehead. She didn’t even want to respond to that.

“By the way, Xiaolan, as I am now, am I qualified to hear about our parents?” An Lin asked with a buoyant smile.

A blush appeared on Xu Xiaolan’s delicate features. “Stop being so shameless! Those are MY parents! I guess you’re ready to hear it. You’ve already pissed off more than just one or two Dao Integration Stage super mighty figures anyway… But you have to promise me that you won’t do anything rash and that you’ll do as I say in this matter.”

An Lin immediately made a promise at her behest.

Xu Xiaolan shook the crimson bracelet on her wrist with a smile on her face. “Do you remember when I told you that this Vermilion Bird Bracelet once belonged to my mother?”

An Lin nodded. “Of course I do.”

An Lin still clearly remembered that day when Xu Xiaolan had obtained the Vermilion Bird Bracelet at the Vermilion Bird Sect and told him that this once belonged to her mother when she was still alive. An Lin had made a promise to himself then that he would help her resolve some things when he became powerful enough.

“My mother’s name is Zhu Yishuang, and she was the little sister of the current Vermilion Bird Sect sect leader, Zhu Xuze. Back when Situ Feng was still the sect leader, they were the two most likely candidates to inherit the position of the sect leader.”

Xu Xiaolan began her story.

An Lin made a thoughtful gesture of bringing out some top-grade immortal wine from his storage ring, which they sipped on as they chatted with one another.

“My mother and my uncle were very close in aptitude and broke through to the Return to Void Stage almost at the same time. After that, they were invited by the Heavenly Court to enter the Ancient Tai Chu Realm, and it was there in the Void Star Section of the Ancient Tai Chu Realm that my mother and my father met for the first time.”

“That must have been an unforgettable encounter, right?” An Lin sipped one some wine as he spoke.

Xu Xiaolan nodded. “It sure was. The two of them engaged in a fierce battle for a bunch of Realm Essence Crystals, and my mother almost killed my father in the process.”

“Pfff…” An Lin spat out a mouthful of wine.

That was a little different from the type of unforgettable encounter he had in mind…

A vibrant smile appeared on Xu Xiaolan’s face at the sight of An Lin’s dumbstruck reaction. She looked up into the night sky as she continued with a reminiscent expression on her face.

“After that, my mother snatched away the Realm Essence Crystals, but she spared my father’s life out of the kindness of her heart.

“About a dozen days later, my mother accidentally fell into a perilous realm from which she was struggling to escape from. My father sacrificed an extremely precious treasure in order to save her. It was also at that time when they officially got to know one another and became friends.”

An Lin couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. “Many beautiful relationships are often the result of an act of kindness from one party.”

He turned to look at Xu Xiaolan as he spoke.

Back when he had first begun attending the university, he was a cultivating noob who knew absolutely nothing. However, Xu Xiaolan was kind enough to not treat him with disdain and instead helped him onto the path of cultivation.

Their fates had been intertwined with one another ever since Xu Xiaolan first extended a kind, helping hand to him.

Xu Xiaolan blushed slightly when she sensed An Lin’s slightly scorching gaze, and she continued with her story, “After that, my father and my mother searched for opportunities together in the Ancient Tai Chu Realm, and they helped each other out during many dangerous situations. It was through their friendship that they gradually developed feelings for one another.

“They kept in contact with one another even after exiting the Ancient Tai Chu Realm. Thus, their relationship slowly developed over time, and they became more and more important to one another.

“One day, my grandfather, Ao Meng, discovered the relationship between my father and my mother. He refused to accept this relationship and even threatened to disown my father if he insisted on being with my mother.”

An Lin couldn’t help but grumble, “Tsk… Why would he refuse to accept this relationship? Our mother had an exceptional aptitude and even had a good chance of becoming the future sect leader of the Vermilion Bird Sect. What reason could he have for opposing this relationship?”

Xu Xiaolan explained, “It’s because my father is a Dragon Tribe cultivator. Relationships between dragons and humans are prohibited within the Dragon Tribe as it would not only be very difficult to conceive a child between them, the child also had a very high chance of dying at birth due to the conflicting bloodlines in their body…

“Furthermore, there was also the incident where Big Sister Shen Yin had failed to integrate the daos of the phoenix and the true dragon. This was quite a traumatic event to the entire Dragon Tribe, which led them to hold rather antagonistic feelings toward the Vermilion Bird Sect. My father was a mighty figure who had a good chance of progressing to the Dao Integration Stage in the future as well, and my grandfather did not want to take a risk with him. Hence, due to all of these reasons, my grandfather vehemently opposed this relationship.”

An Lin heaved a long sigh. “It feels like this is a very difficult love story. How did they conquer all of these obstacles in the end?”

A smile appeared on Xu Xiaolan’s face. “After that, my mother beat the entire Dragon Court of the Eastern Seas into submission by herself and took my father by force…”

An Lin gaped with astonishment. “Was our mother that bad*ss? I feel like I can already envision an exquisitely beautiful woman crushing the Dragon Court beneath her feet!”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that the male and female roles seemed to be reversed here.

“Wait a minute…”

An Lin suddenly realized something, and he drew a sharp intake of breath. “Ao Meng is your grandfather? As in Ao Meng of the Dragon Court of the Eastern Seas?”

He turned to Xu Xiaolan with an incredulous expression.

“Who did you think it was?” Xu Xiaolan blinked.

An Lin: “…”

“I almost killed your grandpa…” He suddenly sighed with emotion.

Xu Xiaolan: “…”