Chapter 429: The Owner of the Heart

Lu Ye nodded. It seemed that the Thief Demon Lord was a Celestial Lord, but his essence had been completely exhausted.

It was basically equivalent to using the Heavenly Demon Bloodmorph Dash nonstop for millennia.

Of course, even so, he was still far more potent than a normal soul.

He could easily be a primary soul.

But after some thought, Lu Ye decided against it. After all, he was a Celestial Lord—Lu Ye would give him the respect befitting his status.

Moreover, there was another reason: the Human Emperor Banner only had eight slots for primary souls. If one were occupied by the Thief Demon Lord—who was critically depleted of his essence—it might become a flaw in the Human Emperor Banner in the future.

"Fellow Daoist, unless fate intervenes, we shall not meet again. Take care!" The Thief Demon Lord cupped his hands toward Lu Ye.

His appearance began to rapidly wither before his eyes.

"One more thing," Lu Ye spoke up.

The Thief Demon Lord furrowed his brow in confusion.

"What else is there?"

"Your last wish?"

The Thief Demon Lord froze, then let out a hoarse laugh.

"Ah, forget it. As dust returns to dust. All those I once knew have long vanished, and karma has long since dissolved with time. But if you ever meet the Demon Ancestor, land two blows on him for my sake. I’d be eternally grateful!"

Lu Ye nodded.

"I’ll remember that. Farewell, brother in the Dao."

No "take care," no "see you again"—just a simple farewell.

The two shared a final bow, and without another word, Lu Ye turned and left.

The moment he turned away, the Thief Demon Lord’s aging accelerated to its limit.

His body disintegrated into ash, his soul dissipating into flecks of fading light.

The entire wooden hut began to fade away.

Lu Ye did not look back. He stepped onto the path and disappeared down the path.

Thus, a generation’s Demon Dao Celestial Lord breathed his last, with no chance of reincarnation.

Yet Lu Ye felt no pang of sorrow. After all, he had witnessed the deaths of more than one Celestial Lord—some slain by his own blade. He was not one for sentimentality.

But one thing was certain: this trip to the Cave of No Return had been a windfall.

The real mystery was—

Just how many treasures remained among the Thief Demon Lord’s belongings?

The return trip passed without incident, and Lu Ye immediately began sifting through them.

He hadn’t held high hopes, but what he found left him thunderstruck.

He even felt somewhat fortunate, thank fuck Shangguan Huanling wasn't allowed in.

If Shangguan Huanling had entered and played the lucky idiot, obtaining this storage ring, she could’ve blasted straight to the Seventh Heaven in one go through the Origin Devouring Scripture.

Because inside the ring were treasures—many, many treasures.

Imperial-grade weapons? Too many to count.

The most terrifying were the Emperor-grade weapons!

And then there were Chaos Treasures, Chaos Supreme Treasures!

All were top-tier treasures, artifacts, and secret techniques. However, Origin Stones and elixirs were almost gone, though there were many oddities—likely items the Thief Demon Lord couldn’t figure out and thus dared not use recklessly.

Looking at the dormant treasures, Lu Ye’s pulse spiked.

Still, he was a guy who’d been around the block—chill the fuck out.

For a moment, Lu Ye had no damn clue what to do with all these things.

In his past life, having these would have spared him worries, as he could have fed them to Shangguan Huanling. But in this life…

Lu Ye began pondering. Some were definitely going to the Stone Sword and the Human Emperor Banner.

As for whether he needed other treasures, that would depend on seeing what these babies could do later.

These were important, but undoubtedly, something even more crucial remained.

Then there was this heart!

Lu Ye took out the Sacred Heart.

The heart was pristine, devoid of any special aura, making it impossible to discern which sage it belonged to.

Lu Ye had a hunch, but this wasn’t a guess-and-check situation.

"System, begin deduction!"

"Ding, deduction in progress."

Having the system deduce it made it a cakewalk.

"Ding, deduction complete!"

The system spat out the heart’s owner.

It was…

Zhu Qingshen?

The Heartless Sage!

Lu Ye nodded slightly. Bingo—he’d pegged it right.

Because this heart was freakishly calm.

There were only a handful of sages out there—even counting all of them, how many could there be?

A heart this serene was already exceedingly rare.

For example, if this were the heart of the Devouring Sky Mayfly Sage, the Thief Demon Lord would likely be drained dry into a withered husk the moment he touched it.

Similarly, the hearts of other sages would have some kind of unique trait, but only the Heartless Sage's heart is as still as stagnant water.

"Did the Heartless Sage die?" Lu Ye asked curiously.

"Ding. No idea. However, this heart seems to have some issues," the system replied.

"What issues?"

"Little Providence, help me analyze this!"

A beam of light lit up the heart, and as the radiance shifted, a luminous screen suddenly appeared before Lu Ye.

Lu Ye stared at the screen.

He knew what the system was doing—using the heart as a medium to trace back time through it.

In his previous life, the system was also at its peak, backed by vast resources...