"The laws of every World are not quite the same, and the difficulties you encounter will differ as well. In each of those battles, you must defeat the enemy and seal away Mo's Origin under the authority of that World's Will of Heaven and Earth as your guiding principle. Mu left behind an imprint of herself in every World where Mo's Origin was sealed, so you are not fighting alone!"
"Now that is good news," Yang Kai said with a smile. "In any case, I'll need to deal with the Origin in the Primordial World first. But Senior, with my current Zhenyuan Realm cultivation, I'm afraid that won't be nearly enough."
Mu gave a slight nod. "Then your strength will need to improve. In addition, you'll need some helpers. Hmm—she's here."
As she spoke, Mu turned her gaze outward.
Yang Kai noticed it too. Under the moonlight, someone was approaching.
Moments later, a slender figure stepped into the room. Their eyes met, and the newcomer's expression shifted to one of surprise—she clearly hadn't expected anyone else to be present, let alone a man, and stood there momentarily stunned.
Yang Kai was equally taken aback, because the person who had arrived was none other than Li Feiyu, the Li Banner's commander from the Radiant God Cult.
He cast an inquiring look toward Mu, already forming a suspicion in his mind.
"Come in and speak freely," Mu said with a gentle wave of her hand.
Li Feiyu stepped inside and bowed respectfully. "Greetings, My Lord." She then turned to Yang Kai. "And this is…?"
Mu smiled. "Enough with the disguises. Let's all reveal our true faces."
Yang Kai and Li Feiyu both froze, neither having expected the other to be in disguise as well.
But since Mu had spoken, they both complied.
Yang Kai swept a hand across his face, revealing his true features. Across from him, Li Feiyu peeled away a veil as thin as a cicada's wing.
They looked at each other once more. Yang Kai's expression turned to puzzlement—this was a woman he had never seen before and didn't recognize, though there was something vaguely familiar about her.
"It's you!" The woman, on the other hand, looked quite excited. "It's really you!"
Understanding seemed to dawn on her as she looked toward Mu, exclaiming with delight, "My Lord, he's the true Holy Son?" Her voice had shifted back to her own now.
Mu nodded. "That's right. He is the Holy Son."
Yang Kai broke into a laugh. He hadn't recognized this woman's face, but he had heard her voice before—he'd identified it the moment she spoke.
He cupped his fists. "So it was the Holy Maiden!"
He had never imagined that the woman disguised as Li Feiyu was none other than the Radiant God Cult's Holy Maiden, whom he had encountered in the great hall earlier that day.
She had actually come all the way here, slipping out in Li Feiyu's guise—and that was a rather intriguing detail.
The Holy Maiden said, "I'd already had my suspicions when I heard he held the hearts of the people and the favor of the Will of Heaven and Earth. I came tonight to confirm it with My Lord, but it seems there's nothing left to confirm."
If anyone else had claimed Yang Kai was the Holy Son, she would have needed to test and investigate. But when this person said so, there was no room for doubt.
After all, the Radiant God Cult had been founded by this very woman. She had left the prophecy behind, and she was the cult's first Holy Maiden.
"Does that mean the Holy Maiden is Senior's person?" Yang Kai asked, looking at Mu.
Mu gave a faint nod. "Over the years, every generation of Holy Maidens has been quietly nurtured and installed by me. It is, after all, a position of enormous importance—not something you'd want to entrust to an outsider."
Had the martial standards of this World not been so modest and its warriors' lifespans not so short, forcing Mu to feign death and yield the role to worthy successors, she might well have remained the Holy Maiden indefinitely.
"And what about the Eight Banner commanders?" Yang Kai asked.
The Holy Maiden answered, "Sister Li is one of us. She and I were both originally candidates for the position of Holy Maiden, but in the end, My Lord decided to make me the Holy Maiden and placed Sister Li in command of the Li Banner. No one interfered with the transitions of the other commanders."
Yang Kai nodded in understanding, then quickly added, "Then does that mean you knew the previous Holy Son was a fake?"
With Mu pulling the strings behind the scenes, whether or not a Holy Son appeared was never in question. But before Yang Kai, the cult had already produced a secret Holy Son. Even if that individual had passed whatever tests were set, his identity was still up for debate.
Sure enough, the Holy Maiden nodded. "I knew, of course. But the matter is rather complicated, and that man may not even realize he's a fake. He was likely being used."
"How so?"
The Holy Maiden explained, "Years ago, My Lord left behind a prophecy and a layer of trials. When that man was discovered, he fit the prophecy's signs perfectly, and he passed the trials as well. So whether to others or to himself, his status as the Holy Son was beyond question. I knew the truth, but it wasn't my place to expose it."