"Master, how did it appear?"
Seeing the imposter, Ji Xue was completely panicked and quickly asked Ye Ling, extremely anxious.
She believed she had no connection to this demi-spirit realm, yet now she discovered an energy aggregate identical to herself within it!
She dared not ponder the deeper reasons behind this.
What if her initial sealing in Fulong Mountain was all part of a scheme…
Seeing Ji Xue on the verge of another outburst, Ye Ling shook his head and said, "This demi-spirit realm has only existed for a century, and you were sealed in Fulong Mountain the entire time. It's likely this energy aggregate absorbed your power through some means and transformed into this appearance."
"Perhaps it's just a coincidence."
Although Ye Ling said this, he didn't believe it was purely a coincidence.
He remembered Ji Xue mentioning that when the Kasi tribe migrated here, they contracted a strange illness. Their ailment was only cured after they obtained a divine stone from the Queen Mother of the West.
Ji Xue, being a dragon and the mountain god of Fulong Mountain at the time, should have been immune to all illnesses. Yet, she contracted the same strange illness as the Kasi tribe while pregnant.
It was Ji Xue who helped the Kasi tribe obtain the divine stone back then.
Logically, it would have been reasonable for Ji Xue to borrow the divine stone from the Kasi tribe to cure her illness. However, the Kasi tribe, to the point of sacrificing their entire race, tried to prevent Ji Xue from obtaining the divine stone. Later, the Queen Mother of the West from the immortal realm seemed to forget Ji Xue's past actions for the Kasi tribe and sealed her in Fulong Mountain without explanation…
Ye Ling couldn't help but feel that this whole affair seemed like a scheme.
Even though this scheme spanned over two thousand years, a day in heaven was a year on earth.
For the Queen Mother of the West, this game of chess was merely a flick of the wrist.
Specifically sealing Ji Xue to nurture a demi-spirit realm was a simple matter for the immortals and gods of the immortal realm.
Ji Xue was merely an insignificant chess piece.
No one would care about the thoughts of a mere pawn.
Of course, the truth behind this conjecture was too cruel, and could easily cause Ji Xue to lose control. Before the truth was fully understood, Ye Ling had no intention of revealing his true thoughts.
Hearing Ye Ling's explanation, Ji Xue also felt a slight relief and relaxed.
Although she resented being sealed by a deity for over two thousand years, this resentment stemmed from her own impulsive mistake and the perceived unfairness and bias of the deity's punishment.
But if she were to learn that she had been a target of the gods from the very beginning, her hatred towards the gods of the immortal realm would be entirely different!
Ji Xue said, "Master, according to your meaning, how should we deal with that imposter now? Can it be destroyed?"
"Finding an energy body that looks exactly like me in a place like this is quite unsettling."
"Hmm, let me first figure out the reason for its formation."
Ye Ling did not immediately agree to Ji Xue's request. The demonic energy swirling around him surged towards the fake Ji Xue above the spring, instantly entwining it and pulling it out of the spring.
Once bound by Ye Ling's demonic energy, the fake Ji Xue began to struggle frantically, trying to break free and return to the spring.
Unfortunately, the gap in strength was too vast. The fake Ji Xue could not struggle for long before being completely pulled towards Ye Ling by his demonic energy.
Pulling the fake Ji Xue before him, Ye Ling directly infiltrated its body with his demonic energy to analyze its constituent energy.
"What is this?"
The moment the demonic energy entered the fake Ji Xue's body, Ye Ling sensed a peculiar power. His heart stirred, and he immediately used his demonic energy to draw it out.
It was a mass of dark green poisonous spiritual energy, flowing within the fake Ji Xue and serving as its primary source of power.
Curious about the effect of this poisonous spiritual energy, Ye Ling drew a portion of it into his own body, offering no resistance, and allowed the poisonous spiritual energy to flow freely within him.
The moment the poisonous spiritual energy entered his body, it began to rapidly devour the spiritual energy flowing in his meridians, strengthening itself and attaching itself to the meridians.
"This power seems to cause a person's meridians to continuously shrink until the host's spiritual energy is completely drained, and eventually, even their flesh and blood will be consumed…"
After testing the effects of this poisonous spiritual energy, Ye Ling cleared all of it from his body and asked Ji Xue, "When you contracted the illness, did you have this kind of spiritual energy in your body?"
Ye Ling wrapped the poisonous spiritual energy in his demonic energy and tossed it to Ji Xue.
"When I contracted the illness?"
Ji Xue took the demonic energy pill Ye Ling tossed over and hesitantly sensed the spiritual energy sealed within the pill.
As Ji Xue sensed the poisonous spiritual energy within the demonic energy pill, her expression slightly changed, and she exclaimed, "That's right! When I contracted that strange illness, my meridians were constantly being eroded by this spiritual energy that I don't know how it was produced!"
"To resolve this poisonous spiritual energy, I searched for countless methods, but still couldn't get rid of these chaotic forces that circulated within me."
"This poisonous spiritual energy was like a maggot gnawing at the bone, impossible to remove. If there had been any other way, I wouldn't have sought the divine stone from the Queen Mother of the West."
"Why does that imposter also possess this power?"
Ye Ling said, "This poisonous spiritual energy originates from a certain treasure. Your illness and the Kasi tribe's illness were likely caused by the erosion of that treasure, and you both contracted its power."
"I believe that Fulong Mountain itself originally concealed a celestial treasure, but for some reason, that treasure remained hidden."
"The Kasi tribe and you contracting illnesses consecutively must have given those immortals and gods hope for the treasure's emergence, thus they devised a plan to use you to find it."
"The divine stone left by the Queen Mother of the West, which could completely cure your illnesses, essentially served to absorb the poisonous spiritual energy from your bodies through the divine stone."
"I believe her intention was not to save you, but to obtain the poisonous spiritual energy within you."
Ji Xue exclaimed, "Then my being sealed in Fulong Mountain…"
Ye Ling said, "Although it is regrettable, the truth of the matter is largely as I've described. You were merely a sacrifice for the Queen Mother of the West."
"I'm a sacrifice?" Ji Xue's eyes reddened, her breathing becoming heavy, and her aura began to rise.
However, she quickly thought of Xiao Lan and calmed down.
Ji Xue quickly bowed respectfully to Ye Ling and said, "Ji Xue was too willful just now. I've made a fool of myself in front of Master."
Seeing that Ji Xue could forcibly calm herself, Ye Ling was somewhat surprised and held her in higher regard.
He had expected Ji Xue to lose control of her emotions again, clamoring to seek revenge against the Queen Mother of the West.
In reality, with Ji Xue's current strength, let alone a top-tier immortal like the Queen Mother of the West in the immortal realm, even an ordinary immortal in the mortal realm could fight her to a standstill.
In other words, Ji Xue's outburst now, apart from futile rage, was meaningless.
The most important quality Ye Ling valued in people was self-awareness.
If Ji Xue were to lose control again, he might help her calm down, but after that, he would no longer care about her fate.
Now…
Her performance was satisfactory to him.