Forty thousand years ago.

Netherworld.

One evening under the slanting warmth of the sun, a horse-drawn carriage slowly passed along a deserted road within Netherworld City. The person sitting inside was none other than the Crown Prince of the Netherworld at that time, later known as the Second Generation Nether King—Feng Yi. On this occasion, he was returning from a secret visit to various places in the Netherworld, as commanded by the Ancestor of the Nether King, and had specifically chosen this remote path to avoid attention on his way back to the Crown Prince's palace.

Both sides of the road were lined with modest houses, rarely frequented by people, and very quiet, providing a relaxing atmosphere for Feng Yi who sat inside the carriage. He closed his eyes, indulging in this tranquility.

The carriage continued to move slowly.

In the midst of his closed-eye repose, Feng Yi suddenly heard the sweet and clear singing of a young girl.

"Stop the carriage!" Feng Yi suddenly ordered.

At once, the carriage came to a halt, the sound of the wheels no longer present, while the singing of the girl became even clearer. Feng Yi stepped out of the carriage and stood atop it, following the sound. He saw, in a plain house to the left front side, a young girl sitting in the yard singing joyfully to a butterfly in her hands, her face adorned with an innocent and vibrant smile, radiant and lovely as the blossoming lotus.

Feng Yi stared at the girl, spellbound and entranced by both the sight and the sound. The others nearby did not dare to disturb the scene.

Only after a quarter of an hour did the girl stop singing and shoo away the butterfly that had paused on her hand. Her clear, bright eyes followed the butterfly as it flew out of the house. Upon seeing a row of carriages parked outside, she showed a look of panic, hastily stood up to retreat behind the door, and then cautiously peeked out, frowning as she looked again towards the carriages.

In the moment when her eyes met with Feng Yi's, the girl gave a shy smile and her heart fluttered wildly.

Feng Yi promptly dismounted the horse and walked towards the courtyard.

As Feng Yi stepped into the yard, the girl suddenly said, "Sir, my father is not at home. I hope you will refrain from entering! If you do not mind, please come visit our humble home again in three days when my father has returned."

"How dare you, common girl, this is the Crown Prince! Come out and greet him immediately!" At that moment, a young officer walked up behind Feng Yi and shouted.

"Ah!" The girl exclaimed in surprise, then quickly came out and knelt before Feng Yi, saying anxiously, "This lowly girl, Xiaolan, deserves death for not recognizing the Crown Prince."

"Your name is Xiaolan! Hehe, ignorance is not a sin!" Feng Yi laughed lightly, cutting off her words. After saying this, he took two steps forward, lifted her chin gently with two fingers of his left hand, and carefully examined her face, his gaze was infatuated.

After a long while, Feng Yi turned around and coldly told the young officer behind him, "Qian Feng, we will stay here tonight. You handle the arrangements."

"Yes, sir!"

After responding, the officer Qian Feng turned and left. Feng Yi then scooped Xiaolan up in his arms and entered the house.

That night, Feng Yi graced the young girl with his favors and promised Xiaolan that if she became pregnant or when he ascended as the Nether King in the future, he would surely take her as a concubine, never betray her for a lifetime, and also gave her the blade that he carried with him—a treasure once belonging to the Ancestor of the Nether King—as a token of their pledge.

One month later.

Within the Crown Prince's mansion.

A man hurriedly made his way into the courtyard where the Crown Princess Consort resided.

At that moment, the Crown Princess Consort was leisurely sitting in a pavilion in the yard, seemingly in high spirits.

"My lady, disaster has struck!" the man knelt before the Crown Princess Consort and blurted out urgently.

"What has you so flustered?"

"The common girl whom His Highness, the Crown Prince, favored last month is pregnant!"

"What!" The Crown Princess Consort shot up from her seat, her face ashen. After a pause, her eyes flashed murderously, "This child must not be brought into this world."

"My lady, I have already thought of a way!" The man looked at the Crown Princess Consort with a sycophantic smile, "It is said that there exists a mirror that can absorb a person's Yin Soul, and it doesn't absorb the entire Yin Soul all at once but only a little each day, taking three hundred days to completely deplete it. If the mother loses her Yin Soul, the child that she gives birth to will only be a monster."

In the mortal world, before a person is born, their physical body first develops into a fetus in their mother's womb. At the time of birth, their Yin Soul passes through the Samsara Path into the mortal world to enter the body.

Unlike mortals, the people of the Netherworld do not undergo reincarnation; their Yin Souls develop alongside their physical bodies within the mother's womb. As a result, if the mother loses her Yin Soul during this process, the fetus's Yin Soul cannot form, and the fetus cannot develop normally.

"Oh?" The Crown Princess Consort's face displayed a sinister smile, then she leaned in close to the man. "Qian Feng, I'll leave this matter in your hands, and you must ensure there are no slip-ups!"

"You can rest assured, my lady, I will take care of this matter without fail," Qian Feng said with a salute.

After seeing the Crown Princess Consort, Qian Feng went to the main hall of the Crown Prince's palace to see Feng Yi and informed him of the pregnancy of Xiao Lan, the girl he had favored.

Upon hearing this, Feng Yi was overjoyed and immediately ordered Qian Feng to bring Xiao Lan into the Crown Prince's estate, declared her as his concubine, and commanded that she be well cared for by everyone in the household, without neglect.

After leaving the Crown Prince's palace, Qian Feng promptly took people with him to fetch Xiao Lan to the Crown Prince's estate; he then followed the Crown Prince's orders and purchased various high-quality clothes, jewelry, and utensils from the market, among which was a bronze mirror that Qian Feng had brought from his home.

Nine months later, the day of Xiao Lan's delivery arrived. However, to everyone's surprise, Xiao Lan gave birth not to a human, but to a shadow.

Upon hearing of this incident, the Ancestor of the Nether King was infuriated, considering it a disgrace to the royal family. He ordered that Xiao Lan and the shadow she had birthed be locked up in the Netherworld City's Soul Locking Golden Tower, and for the Crown Prince to divorce Xiao Lan and declare that the shadow had no blood relation to the royal family.

Facing pressure from all sides, Feng Yi had no choice but to reluctantly agree at that time.

The shadow that Xiao Lan gave birth to later became known as the Shadow Demon. After she and the Shadow Demon were locked in the Soul Locking Golden Tower, Feng Yi sent Qian Feng to secretly investigate the matter, commanding him to uncover the culprit who had framed his beloved concubine.

Qian Feng quietly relayed this to the Crown Princess Consort. Worried that Xiao Lan and the Shadow Demon's Yin Souls might return to their bodies, she ordered Qian Feng to bring the mirror that had absorbed Xiao Lan's Yin Soul to the mortal world and to seal it with Spiritual Power.

A thousand years later, Xiao Lan suddenly died of an illness in the Soul Locking Golden Tower, and the whereabouts of the Shadow Demon were unknown. Consequently, Feng Yi fell into a severe illness that lasted a hundred years, bedridden and weak.

Another two thousand years passed, and the Ancestor of the Nether King sacrificed himself to seal the Gate of the Nether King. Feng Yi ascended the throne and became the Second Generation Nether King.

Upon becoming Nether King, the first thing that Feng Yi did was to clear Xiao Lan's name of any wrongdoing. Unable to find out the truth of the past, he had to declare that she was cursed to give birth to a shadow and sent people to search for the whereabouts of the Shadow Demon everywhere.

Until the day Feng Yi sealed the Gate of the Nether King, he was unable to find his son, the Shadow Demon, which became the greatest regret of his life.

Thousands of years later, in Y City.

The seal on the mirror that had absorbed Xiao Lan's Yin Soul was broken.

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