"Sister Hanba? Who are you talking to?" Hearing Ye Jingyu suddenly say that, Xuehai Wuyou, who was savoring the pleasure brought by that surge of blood energy, asked in surprise.

"He's naturally talking to your grand-auntie..." A charming voice drifted out from within Xuehai Wuyou's body. Xuehai Wuyou's expression shifted dramatically again, and his speech became somewhat stammering...

"Who... who are you? Why are you inside me?"

"Didn't you just consume a Blood Pill? Naturally, I'm inside you," Hanba's nonchalant voice emerged, as if discussing something utterly irrelevant.

Hearing this, Xuehai Wuyou's face instantly changed color. He had meticulously scanned that Blood Pill several times with his divine sense just moments ago and found nothing amiss, which is why he swallowed it without worry. But now, it was because of that Blood Pill?

In truth, this was not Xuehai Wuyou's fault. Hanba had not yet fully condensed her true form; her manifestation was entirely composed of condensed blood energy. Her body was blood energy. When she condensed herself into a single Blood Pill, it became the purest form of energy. As for her divine consciousness? Ha! She was an Ancient Desiccating God; even if her divine sense wasn't fully repaired, how could a mere expert at the Heavenly Immortal realm possibly detect her?

"Nephew Ye, I sincerely wish to cooperate with you. Why are you doing this?" Xuehai Wuyou dared not move rashly and turned his gaze back to Ye Jingyu, his eyes filled with unmistakable indignation.

"Heh heh, are you truly sincere? Then this little nephew has a query, and I hope Uncle can enlighten me. Why is it that for so many years, the strongest in the mortal realm has only reached the Martial Venerable realm? With your cultivation, Uncle and the others, did you really remain at that boundary all these years?" Ye Jingyu smiled faintly.

"The path of cultivation is vast and uncertain. That we reached our current level is already a stroke of luck; how could we possibly advance further!" Xuehai Wuyou still refused to reveal the secret hidden in his heart.

"It seems Uncle is unwilling to cooperate. Sister Hanba, it's up to you!" Ye Jingyu gently shook his head, affecting an air of regret.

Xuehai Wuyou's expression twisted violently, and he was about to roar, but Hanba, having merged into his body as blood energy, suddenly let out a delicate laugh. Immediately after, a strange incantation was heard emanating outwards. A look of agonizing struggle appeared on Xuehai Wuyou's face.

"Hee hee, if you had cultivated a different technique, my current strength would truly struggle to deal with you. But since you practice the Nine Revolutions Blood God Art, don't blame this grand-auntie for being impolite! Heavenly God Puppet Curse, curse him!" Hanba's voice rang out again. Then, streams of blood-red runes suddenly shot out from Xuehai Wuyou's forehead. His face writhed in a struggle, seemingly resisting this blood-curse.

However, Hanba was the ancient ancestor who derived her strength from blood qi and blood energy. Although the Nine Revolutions Blood God Art was not created by her, in her eyes, it appeared crude and flawed. Finding the loopholes in that art was effortless for her.

Without much effort, Xuehai Wuyou's previously ferocious expression rapidly dimmed, because he sensed that something vital was missing from his soul.

His mouth opened naturally, and a shadowy blood-figure shot out from within him, manifesting directly beside Ye Jingyu. It was Hanba, clad in a palace dress the color of deep blood.

"There, there, my good little brother. He is now your most loyal servant—a puppet servant who retains all his consciousness. You can command him to do anything you wish!" Hanba rested one hand on Ye Jingyu's shoulder, leaning her entire body against him. Her palace dress had a very low neckline, exposing a large expanse of pale, rounded flesh right before Ye Jingyu's eyes.

Even with Ye Jingyu's steadfast mind, he couldn't help but feel a jolt of alarm. Is she not letting him off the hook yet? He cautiously pushed Hanba's body away, stepped a few paces to the side, and then issued his first command to Xuehai Wuyou: What other secrets are there regarding the powerhouses of the mortal realm?

Everyone fixed their gaze upon Xuehai Wuyou. Only Liang Xiaoke's eyes were glued firmly to Hanba’s chest and abdomen, and his mouth was watering profusely.

Xuehai Wuyou wanted to resist, wanted to refuse, but for some reason, his head would not obey him. Furthermore, a sharp pain surged from the depths of his soul, utterly extinguishing any thought of resistance. Having no choice, he began to divulge everything he knew.

It turned out that countless eons ago, due to excessively advanced technology, almost all of humanity had annihilated itself. Afterward, they restricted weaponry and focused solely on the evolution of their own genes, causing human power to continuously advance. Especially those fragmented remnants of cultivation techniques passed down from the primordial era became the ultimate goal for human evolution.

Eventually, through their own efforts, humanity managed to reach a limit—the Heavenly Immortal realm—and even entered the legendary Immortal Realm. However, that Immortal Realm held not a single Immortal being; aside from various spirit beasts and heavenly herbs, everything else was no different from the mortal world. Moreover, those who entered the Immortal Realm at that time could travel back and forth freely.

Later, due to the invasion of the Demon Realm's demon race, those powerful human experts retreated to the mortal world to wage a fierce war against the demons, suffering catastrophic losses. Virtually all experts above the Heavenly Immortal realm were wiped out, and a majority of the Demon Emperors and Demon Kings perished as well.

Both the Demon Realm and the mortal world suffered immense devastation. When the demon race finally retreated, people could no longer reach the Immortal Realm. Even if they reached the Heavenly Immortal realm again and transcended the Heavenly Tribulation to become figures akin to Heavenly Immortals, they could not break through the void to ascend.

Humanity's inherent genetic potential had reached its apex by then. Many individuals who achieved the Ascension realm were unable to enter the Immortal Realm to absorb the Immortal Spiritual Qi, causing their cultivation bases to drastically decline. Originally, humanity thought further evolution was impossible, yet eventually, another group of people broke through the Heavenly Immortal realm.

However, this news was known only to the Nine Great Family Heads. But this group who surpassed the Heavenly Immortal realm triggered the Profound Immortal Tribulation, which was far more terrifying than the initial Heavenly Tribulation. If the success rate for surviving the Heavenly Immortal Tribulation back then was ninety percent, the chance of surviving the Profound Immortal Tribulation was only one in ten thousand, illustrating the horror of the latter.

Even the one-in-ten-thousand who survived as Profound Immortals did not linger in the mortal world for a moment before ascending. As for where they ascended to, no one knew.

Over the years, those potential Profound Immortals who might have ascended left no trace. Eventually, those from the Nine Great Families who were on the verge of reaching the Profound Immortal realm began desperately compressing their own cultivation. They wanted nothing to do with undergoing that so-called Profound Immortal Tribulation, much less ascending to another dimension.