Chen Shu sighed lightly and said, "This isn't your fault. You struggled, you suffered, you resisted, and in the end, among all the negative consequences, you chose passion. Among the many evils in human nature, desire is the least harmful. "I've been deeply troubled by this for a long time. My uncle mentioned that the Fallen Cup is a special type of rule-based artifact, and the only force in the world capable of purifying it is the essence of the Sun. "The Red Sun Judges from Taimei Sect can suppress the contamination of the Fallen Cup, but we cannot have them assist you." She took a few steps forward, as if to embrace her son, yet hesitated and settled down by the side of the bed, saying, "We know your nature—passionate, fiercely opposed to evil. If you knew you were actually the Demon King, you would be unable to bear it. That's why we've kept it hidden from you." Zhang Yuanqing nodded, "My aunt has said something similar." "Uncle pulled out the ergonomic chair, settled down, and crossed his legs. 'The main reason is that you're destined to shine as a bright new star in the Spiritual Realm—entering the eyes of Lingtuo and the Master of the Stars. Once you know the truth, they'll know it too,' he said. Zhang Yuanqing gazed out the window, responding, 'Uncle, I'd like to hear about what you and your team did when I and Binggo went missing. I want to understand the situation from your perspective, because even after becoming the Master of the Sun and recovering my memories, there are still a few things I haven't fully clarified.' As he spoke, he didn't turn around or leave the window. It wasn't that he was showing off—he had just been promoted to a half-divine status, and his growing presence and power were still affecting those around him. Uncle was more resilient, but Mother Chen Shu, being a regular human, would grow increasingly reserved and fearful when facing the Master of the Sun's presence." The high temperature at home is due to the outward leakage of spiritual energy. He is the Sun, symbolizing light, heat, dignity, order, and justice—these symbolic qualities cannot be contained or concealed. In other words, wherever he resides for an extended period, a region of the Sun's divine energy will inevitably become vibrant and active. Uncle remained silent for a moment, then said, "When you and Lei Yibing returned from Hangzhou, you pretended nothing had happened, merely that you had been playing and had suddenly conceived the idea of going missing for three days. "We pretended to believe you, and that evening, she calmly hypnotized you to uncover the full story. Given Yu'er's nature, she would have immediately gone after the Court of the Supernatural Judge. It was I who stopped her. "I had her hypnotize you again, so that you would deeply believe you no longer suited living at home, and that your declining, orderly professional status would attract official inquiries and draw attention to your family. "About fifteen days later, just before the summer vacation ended, you hurriedly left a letter and departed. Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "Later on, I found it strange. Given my personality, even if I had left home, I would have quietly returned to see you all. But until you revealed your true identity, I never came back." "Because then you'd see the puppet!" Uncle sighed. "After you left, Yu'er used your DNA to create a physical body, and then, drawing on the power of the Taiyin's original fragments, she collected the spirits of newborn infants to cultivate a pure, pure soul. That duplicate body completed your high school education and helped you gain admission to Songhai—though, in reality, it was my and Yu'er's behind-the-scenes work. The duplicate was actually quite reserved and rigid, barely able to communicate with others. I told your high school teachers and classmates that you had suffered a high fever during the summer, which had damaged your brain, and they all expressed great sympathy. As for your grandparents, your uncles, and your aunt, Yu'er subtly suggested to them through hypnosis. Even if your brain had been completely damaged, or if you had become a plant patient, they wouldn't have found it at all strange." Zhang Yuanqing listened silently, unexpectedly recalling his brief university experience. His classmate Li Le said in surprise that he had changed—he was no longer the same as before. Several classmates had even warmly invited him to join social gatherings, though these eventually fell through due to the campus curfew following the Ou Xiangrong incident. Now, reflecting on it, he realized that the classmates' attitude had been somewhat off. They had been overly enthusiastic, as if he were a fresh freshman, just beginning to make friends, rather than a classmate who had shared a semester of close interaction. Of course, in their eyes, he had indeed been that. Previously, Zhang Yuanqing had been quiet and reserved, a background figure, suddenly becoming more articulate and vibrant. Uncle continued: "Since you left home, I've been closely observing you. Once you reached the Saint's Realm and gained deeper insights into the hidden matters, and once you acquired a comprehensive understanding of the spiritual realm's information, I began to approach you under the guise of a mysterious investor, gradually imparting knowledge and guidance to you." "Later, I'll give you the fragments of the Taiyin Primordial Essence. I'll be honest about my identity—there's no need for me to elaborate further. Back then, I explained this to you: the reason was to guard against Lingtuo. When Zhang Yuanqing disappeared, his family, teachers, students, and the Security Bureau would all have records of his absence. Once Lingtuo comes into contact with those people or those events, your truth as the Demon King will inevitably come to light—no matter how protected you are by the Taiyin fragments, because some things are simply obvious to the mind, requiring no complex reasoning. But if Zhang Yuanqing still exists in reality, living his ordinary life as always, attending school, and if the Security Bureau has no such records, then both logically and in the course of destiny, everything remains sound." Zhang Yuanqing listened patiently, then asked: "In the Si Ming Palace replica, at the bottom of the Wàngshēng Spring, were your people responsible for creating my physical bodies?" "Uncle said: 'That is the physical body Zhi created for you after your death as the Magistrate King. Strictly speaking, that puppet is merely a tool—requiring Zhi to continuously channel spiritual energy to sustain its life. It has blood and flesh, yet it is not truly human. Creating a genuine life is not as straightforward as one might imagine, at least not something a Level 7 Life-Weaver could achieve.' 'To gain a true body, to be recognized by the Spiritual Realm, and to house the character card—this requires a genuine living being. The Afterlife Spring in the Life-Weaver's Palace is capable of creating such a life.' 'Ah, if only the plan could have been carried out openly, without needing to remain secret from outsiders, then seeking assistance from the elder of the Xie family would have been the simplest and most convenient solution.' With that, Uncle continued: 'So I brought the puppet along, together with your DNA, and had the puppet descend to the spring's depths to gather mud, using it to shape your current physical form. The bodies found at the bottom of the spring are the puppet's—not yours.' "After reshaping the body of good meat, Yu used her own soul as the thread to sew together your soul and the soul within the puppet body. That's why, upon your revival, you regained memories from high school and university." Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "But fundamentally, I and that part of the soul are still two distinct beings. That's why during the initial comprehensive health check, the scanning equipment detected malfunctions." He clearly remembered the machine's feedback: "Beep, beginning diagnosis... condition:..." It repeatedly reported faults. The equipment used at the time was specifically designed for musicians. After several consecutive failures, the machine finally issued a diagnosis: "Beep, please do not scan two individuals simultaneously!" Subsequently, as he continued to evolve and his soul grew stronger, the pure soul of the puppet body was gradually absorbed and fully integrated into his own, much like a spirit-consuming deity absorbing lingering spirits—becoming nourishment for his soul. Besides the diagnostic equipment, the two stutters that occurred when the Mother Goddess’s womb revived him were actually foreshadowing his issues. The first stutter was "inability to revive," and the second was "inability to awaken the soul." As a rule-based item, the Mother Goddess’s womb revives a complete soul, yet the soul bearing the Magistrate King’s memories remains dormant within the Sun’s essence. Thus, it cannot be revived or awakened. Zhang Yuanqing gathered his thoughts and said, "Uncle, there's been an issue with the Afterlife Spring. Last October, Xie Su entered the 'Life-Weaver Palace' instance and, beneath the spring's waters, saw my 'corpse.' As a result, he entered a cycle—repeatedly experiencing the discovery of my body, only to forget it each time. Later, he recorded the information on a cloth strip, brought it out of the instance, and delivered it to the elder of the Xie family. I was present at that time, and together with the elder of the Xie family and Xie Su, we all fell into a cycle. Chen Shu listened in stunned silence, even her half-divine uncle found his scalp tingling, instinctively straightening his posture. Zhang Yuanqing did not turn around, but said, "Your emotions tell me you are unaware of these matters. Therefore, the corpses at the bottom of the Afterlife Spring were created by you, but that cyclical force—has nothing to do with you!" The family traitor sighed, "There's a chilling sense of the mantis catching the cicada, only to find the oriole watching from above... That force has been helping us conceal traces—traces of your identity. In outcome, it's been acting as a friendly force, though we still don't know the true intentions of the one behind it." The uncle paused for a few seconds, then turned his gaze to his nephew's back: "Even a half-divine being has entered the cycle—what a level of power that must be. In fact, you shouldn't be asking me at all; you should be asking yourself. During your time as the Magus, you must have had some extraordinary experiences. In last year's battle, you inexplicably summoned the fragments of the Sun's essence. The Star Sovereign questioned me Zhang Yuanqing paused silently, then shook his head. "In the memories I've regained, there's no mention of this." "Then why don't you try asking the King Cat speaker?" Uncle said. "You've always kept a habit of writing your diary using it." Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing spread his palm, and suddenly a sleek, black speaker appeared in the center of his palm. He glanced at it sideways. "Do you know what I want to hear!" The King Cat speaker remained silent for a few seconds, then emitted a series of static hisses, followed by crisp sounds of bodies colliding, and a woman's plaintive moans and cries: "Oh, Lord Magus, you can't treat Betty so brutally, you can't—!" Then came the Lord Magus's hoarse laughter: "Never have I seen her so easily beaten after not seeing her for several months!" The room fell utterly still; the air seemed to have frozen. Zhang Yuanqing quietly folded the King Cat speaker. In the silence that followed, the family's disgraceful member chuckled dryly. "This broken speaker is always picking fights—back in the副本, it didn't utter a single Zhang Yuanqing gave a flat "hm." Rough, rough, rough! I'm gonna smash this thing into powder! Zhang Yuanqing wanted to kick the floorboards with his foot—this was an embarrassment even the Sun's essence couldn't resolve. In fact, since regaining his memories, he'd grown somewhat resistant to the Cat King speaker. The audio he used to enjoy so much had always been his own. He never thought he'd one day see himself featured in a domestic production! That was exactly how Zhang Yuanqing felt. After a brief moment of awkwardness, the Sun Sovereign skillfully shifted the topic: "Secondly, the Sun's essence is incomplete—I am not the full Sun Sovereign. To defeat the Star Sovereign, I must locate that fragment. I once saw that fragment—during the Black Immortal's pursuit case, it was taken by a mysterious figure. I originally believed it to be the lingering essence of the Mage King, but clearly, it wasn't him. I now reasonably suspect that a third party is quietly involved in the contest for the Sun Sovereign's title." "Uncle's expression grew increasingly serious: 'Have you analyzed the position of the solar fragments?' Zhang Yuanqing nodded slightly: 'Not in the past, not in the future—yet both in the past and in the future.' Not in the past, not in the future... Uncle反复 pondered these words, his brows deeply furrowed. At that moment, Zhang Yuanqing's phone on the desk rang. The caller was Xie Su. He waved his hand, summoned the phone, and answered. 'Yuanshǐ, I remember now—I recall what the Sijing Palace revealed about the things beneath the spring of rebirth...' Pausing, Xie Su spoke in a startling tone: 'It's all your manifestations!' Uncle had never known that Yuanshǐ Tianzun had become the sovereign of the Sun. Zhang Yuanqing was momentarily stunned. 'You've also remembered?' His expression suddenly grew serious. He had originally believed that his escape from the cycle and the restoration of his memories were due solely to his ascension as the sovereign of the Sun, a state where no force could influence him anymore. It now appeared that he had been mistaken.