The Ghost Mother of Heaven slowly recounted the long-buried secrets, and her words finally made Ji Changkong see the reality of his situation. With his strange physical traits laid bare, even if he refused to admit it, he could not deny the undeniable, ineffable connection he shared with the Purgatorial Ghost Clan.

“What else do you wish to ask?” The Ghost Mother of Heaven’s demeanor towards him was surprisingly gentle, perhaps because she considered him kin, unlike the cold brutality she showed others. “You just mentioned I am a Divine Son—what is that about?” Ji Changkong pondered for a moment, then looked up, his face etched with surprise.

“Before the great calamity struck, my Clan reached an unprecedented peak. During that period, we had two illustrious leaders: the Divine King and the High Priest. They cultivated our Clan’s Soul-Feeding Melody, the Chaos Soul Technique, together. The Divine King cultivated the lower volume, mastering the power to extinguish all living souls. Even the souls of those as powerful as Nie Qing or those who have ascended to the Divine Realm would turn to nothingness under the Divine King’s Soul-Feeding Melody, forever losing any chance of rebirth. This is the power of Death, and what you practice now is the lineage of the Divine King—the lower volume of the Soul-Feeding Melody.”

“The High Priest, Oro, was different. He cultivated the upper volume, the Soul-Suppressing Melody, which is the power of Life. After achieving mastery over the upper volume, his spirit became immortal; no power could extinguish his soul. Furthermore, the profound truths of the upper volume possessed the ability to baptize and transmute the soul into myriad profound changes.”

“However, both the Divine King and the High Priest belonged to our Royal Family, possessing the purest bloodline of our Clan. Only the most refined blood of the Royal Family could cultivate the mysteries of the Soul-Feeding Melody. In fact, the Divine King and the High Priest were full brothers! In that great war, although the Divine King extinguished countless living beings with the power of the lower volume, exacting a terrible price from those who besieged our Clan, because he only cultivated the lower volume, his soul could not achieve eternal life, and he ultimately perished.”

“Before his death, the Divine King inscribed the essence of the lower volume’s mysteries into the soul of his eldest daughter, which is your mother, my elder sister. A Divine Son must possess the purest blood of our Royal Family; only descendants of the Divine King and the High Priest have the potential to meet the requirements of a Divine Son. The High Priest, though he survived that battle, had his physical body destroyed and did not have time to leave descendants. I have borne no sons, and only you possess the purest Royal blood. Your ability to merge the Heavenly Orb into your body proves that your blood is indeed the purest of our Clan. Therefore, you are the Divine Son, destined to lead the Divine Race and bring it back to glory!”

“High Priest Oro?” Ji Changkong was stunned for a long time. Suddenly, a strange thought bloomed in his mind, and after a hesitation, he tentatively asked, “Is High Priest Oro related to the Oro Divine Sect?” “You know of the Oro Divine Sect?” The Ghost Mother of Heaven’s expression grew strange.

Nodding, Ji Changkong gave a wry smile. “Know it? More than know it. On the Five Elements Continent, there is an Oro Divine Sect, and I happen to be its current Sect Master!”

“So, it was destined in the threads of fate…” The Ghost Mother of Heaven looked distant. Under Ji Changkong’s questioning gaze, she continued, “The Oro Divine Sect was established by the High Priest. This sect worshipped the High Priest as a deity. Because he intensely cultivated the profound truths of the Soul-Feeding Melody’s upper volume, he possessed immense divine abilities and created many Soul Techniques, which he used to attract followers. However, due to Yang Haili, this church was ultimately destroyed.” “Yang Haili!” Ji Changkong exclaimed again. “He was the previous owner of the Celestial Origin Pearl? The previous owner?” Even the Ghost Mother of Heaven frowned, snorting coldly, “He is not worthy!

“Yang Haili was merely the High Priest’s most favored disciple. This person was exceptionally gifted, mastering nearly all of the High Priest’s skills apart from the Soul-Feeding Melody. He was also the most outstanding Sect Master of the Oro Divine Sect. However, in his desire to study the upper volume of the Soul-Feeding Melody, he betrayed the High Priest, colluding with outsiders to deal with him, and even seizing the Celestial Origin Pearl from the High Priest’s hands in the ensuing chaos. Alas, he was not of our Divine Race, and the blood in his body did not harmonize with the Celestial Origin Pearl. He ultimately died because of it…” When speaking of Yang Haili, the Ghost Mother of Heaven was filled with disdain, seeming intensely annoyed. Ji Changkong was left dumbstruck.

So, this formidable figure, Yang Haili, was actually one of the High Priest’s disciples, having received the true teachings deeply, and even managed to snatch the Celestial Origin Pearl from him. No wonder Yang Haili was hailed as the foremost expert beneath the Chaos Realm. Though the Ghost Mother of Heaven spoke of him with contempt, Ji Changkong knew this man must have been extraordinary. To dare steal from the High Priest and succeed—this person was ferociously powerful. “Does this mean the Celestial Origin Pearl was originally an artifact of our Divine Race?” Ji Changkong pondered for a while before asking, “The Celestial Origin Pearl seems to contain the profound truths of Chaos. What is its origin?”

“What the Celestial Origin Pearl truly is, you will certainly know in the future. Telling you now would only frighten you and offer no benefit to your cultivation,” the Ghost Mother of Heaven mused for a moment. “First, you must go to the Blood Marrow Pool. You must undergo the baptism; it is essential. Only after experiencing this baptism can the power of the blood within you be truly mastered at will. I have labored for too many years to prepare the Blood Marrow Pool for you—” With that, without waiting for Ji Changkong to say more, the Ghost Mother of Heaven seized him.

In a flash, the Ghost Mother of Heaven brought him to a massive valley. In the center of the valley lay a blood pool covering ten acres. The ground was filled with crimson blood water that exuded a pleasant aroma and emitted a dazzling bloody light. At a glance, the pool resembled a colossal, intensely brilliant ruby.

Around the pool, hundreds of men, women, young, and old of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan knelt on the ground, chanting strange melodies, seemingly awaiting the arrival of him and the Ghost Mother of Heaven.

Upon arrival, the Ghost Mother of Heaven tossed Ji Changkong into the blood pool without a word. “The blood marrow in this pool was refined from the endless sea of blood on this very star. It took tens of thousands of years, all to purify and baptize the Divine Son’s body. Enjoy it well.” Plop!

As his body entered the pool, the Ghost Mother of Heaven smiled, “You don’t need to do anything; the blood within you will guide you. You only need to endure the piercing pain and allow the blood essence in the pool to fill your body, becoming the surging power within your own blood. Only by passing this trial can you step onto the path of the Divine King. Our Clan needs your rise. Strive!”

Once these words were spoken, a surge of bloody light rose from the Blood Marrow Pool, covering the entire pool so that outsiders could no longer see the activities within.

The Ghost Mother of Heaven waved her hand toward the kneeling members of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan. “Once the Divine Son emerges from the Blood Marrow Pool, he will undoubtedly be the new Divine King of our Clan. If all goes well, the Divine King will eventually reach the Chaos Realm, perhaps even surpassing me to become the ultimate Chaos Supreme expert that existed before the Great Obliteration!”

The kneeling members of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan chanted bizarre hymns and prostrated themselves in worship, seemingly anticipating the rebirth of their new Divine King.

The Ghost Mother of Heaven nodded slightly. “When the new Divine King emerges from the Blood Marrow Pool, he will be able to sense the location of the High Priest’s spirit. If he can find the High Priest and learn the profound truths of the Soul-Suppressing Melody’s upper volume, our Clan can once again stand above all other races.”

In the star sea far to the east of the Dead Star Domain, there was a nebula barely visible to the naked eye. The nebula was boundless, separating that area from the outside world.

This nebula was an extremely complex miasma of fog and vapor. Anyone who approached that region would become lost, only to reappear disoriented in another part of the Dead Star Domain.

Only those figures of immensely high cultivation knew what lay beyond those nebulae, secretly cautioning their subordinates not to venture into that area and disturb the quietude of those ancient beings.

Within the nebula resided an incomparably massive holy star, upon which were inlaid smaller stars. At a glance, this colossal star appeared to be composed of dozens of massive celestial bodies combined.

Upon the surface of that gigantic star, auspicious clouds gathered, and ancient beings whose forms were as vast as small planets moved about. A Green Dragon, stretching thousands of miles in length, lay prone. Nearby were the Sacred Beast Black Tortoise, large enough to rival ten thousand-zhang peaks. In the boundless deep sea, a giant serpent slowly coiled its body. In a mountain valley, a Qilin lazily watched the sky, its occasional movement causing the very earth to shake… Rumble! Rumble!

Amidst the earth-shaking roars, the Sacred Beast Green Dragon took to the skies, soaring through the clouds and mists, arriving at the Qilin’s resting place. Soon after, the Sacred Beasts Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise also converged. In the sky, a Golden Bird, radiating light and heat, descended. From the nearby sea, the Heavenly Serpent twisted and emerged from the ocean, slowly making its way over. In short order, immense, ancient, monstrous entities gathered. “Green Dragon, what trickery is this?” the Qilin spoke, its voice like thunder resounding through heaven and earth. “I have begun the Blood Refinement with that boy I told you about last time…” the Sacred Beast Green Dragon sighed.

“Blood Refinement? The Blood Refinement of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan?” The Heavenly Serpent arriving nearby sounded surprised. “The half-breed boy of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan and human race you mentioned? He is actually of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan’s Royal Lineage?”

“I didn't know he was of the Ghost Clan’s Royal Lineage before. I only assumed he was a common member of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan, mixed with human blood. Therefore, Zhuque, Xuanwu, White Tiger, and I combined our vital blood essences and implanted them into his body to suppress the Purgatorial Ghost bloodline. It seems we failed,” the Green Dragon’s enormous pupils held a strange expression.

After a moment of hesitation, it continued, “The implantation of our four vital blood essences made it so that his body also contains the vital blood of our Sacred Beast lineage. Therefore, he is a hybrid of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan, the Human Race, and our Sacred Beast lineage—a tri-racial hybrid! The human blood happens to neutralize the blood of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan and our Sacred Beast Clan. Once his Blood Refinement succeeds, I don't know what he will become. I am very anxious.”