His Meihua Swan | 他的大天鵝 (BL)

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The elder's laughter faded into a somber expression. "Truth be told, this old man made a grave mistake."

Liu Xiao leaned in, his curiosity piqued. "What kind of mistake?"

With a heavy sigh, the elder continued, "In my greed, I once sealed the demon king in the underworld. However, I couldn't resist dissecting his body, where I discovered a core."

Liu Xiao's eyes widened. "And what was that core?"

"It was the heart of the nether," the elder admitted.

Liu Xiao stumbled, trying to grasp the revelation. "So, it was a core all along?"

The elder nodded gravely. "Indeed. It was the original demon king's heart, capable of controlling all demons, including himself. It was my folly that allowed such power to fall into malevolent hands."

Suppressing his skepticism, Liu Xiao pressed on. "But how does this relate to the gates?"

"The demon king possessed the ability to manipulate the underworld gates at will," the elder explained. "However, by extracting and preserving the core, I inadvertently rendered Wu'er unable to command the gates merely by proximity. They required his blood to recognize him as the rightful demon king, for the gates regarded the Heart of the Nether as their master."

Liu Xiao nodded. So that's why Wu Qingge was trapped inside the underworld for a long time after he became the demon king. There must've been an error because the Heart of the Nether still existed, and he must've cultivated the demon king's strength so that the underworld gates would recognize him as the new king.

The elder continued to explain. "That Heart of the Nether can call out all high-tier underworld gates. It was most likely a radar on how they would find the high-tier underworld gates. So maybe after they collected all the high-tier underworld gates, they used the Heart of the Nether to combine them."

Liu Xiao nodded. "So the old palace master did both options by collecting all the high-tier underworld gates and using the demon king's core."

The elder spoke again: "But that doesn't mean that he was able to open it."

Liu Xiao frowned. "But didn't the old palace master have the demon king's core? Why can't he open it?"

Wu Qingge was the one who answered, as he supported Liu Xiao, who was about to trip on some random crystal debris. "Black Lotus Cultivation."

Liu Xiao was astounded. "Y-Your cultivation?"

The elder nodded and replied, "That's right. Using the spiritual qi or the blood was enough to open it. Black lotus cultivation is like a key because its power is comparable to the demon king's."

Liu Xiao glanced at Wu Qingge with a worried face. "Did they steal your blood?! Or maybe your spiritual qi?!"

Wu Qingge chuckled and shook his head. "Of course not. This Shidi is strong; they won't be able to touch even a single strand of my hair."

Liu Xiao tilted his head in confusion. "Then who?"

Elder: "My blood."

Liu Xiao: "....."

The elder sighed and killed the demon, who was about to approach in their direction, with a wave of his sleeve. "That old palace master killed me."

All of a sudden, the jewel on Liu Xiao's forehead radiated an orange glow, and his grandpa emerged from his body. "IT'S NOT JUST YOU! IT SHOULD BE US!"