1051 Demon Sealing Ring

"You! That ring! Why?!" Yan Hara quickly got back to her feet and grabbed his hand to take a closer look at the ring, but she didn't dare to touch the ring with her own hands.

"I-Is this real? If this is fake, you must destroy it immediately! If the Leader of the Demon Sealing Clan or the Grand Elders find out that you have something like this, they will give you a public execution!"

"Don't worry, it's real." Yuan said as he put the ring back into his spatial ring.

"Let's go somewhere more private, shall we?"

Yan Hara nodded with a serious look on her face.

Sometime later, Yan Hara locked the both of them inside one of the study rooms in the Grand Library. This specific room was only accessible to Master Demon Sealers and above because it contained high-ranking demon sealing techniques, and it only allowed a limited number of people inside at once— two people exactly, so it was safe.

"Tell me, little founder! Where did you acquire that ring?! Do you have any idea what that ring signifies?!" Yan Hara asked him in a nervous voice.

"Of course I do. It's the Demon Sealing Ring, and only the leader of the Demon Sealer Clan can hold this ring." Yuan said in a calm voice.

Indeed, the ring he'd acquired from the Demon Sealing Pagoda was none other than the Demon Sealing Ring from when he was still the leader of the Demon Sealing Clan. It was a precious item with a significant amount of history as well as importance behind it.

"But how…? There should only be one in existence, and the current leader of the Demon Sealing Clan has it…" Yan Hara mumbled in a dazed voice.

"Qian Chu? He has the spare one I gave to the Demon Sealing Clan before I disappeared. The one I have is the original." Yuan casually said.

"Excuse me…? Before you disappeared? Who are you really, little founder?" 

Yuan smiled and said, "You still don't recognize me?"

He found it quite humorous that Yan Hara still couldn't recognize his identity despite being his biggest fan.

"Then how about this?"

Yuan suddenly activated the Demon Sealing Zone around them.

"The Demon Sealing Zone?! When did you learn this technique?!"

"I'm not done yet."

[Swords of Eternal Torment!]

He created the golden swords in the air.

"I lied when I said this wasn't the Sword of Eternal Torment. Indeed, this is the lost technique of the Demon Sealing Clan— Sword of Eternal Torment."

Yan Hara stared at these dazzling techniques before her with wide eyes and a gawking look on her pretty face.

"Y-You… You can't be… No…" Although Yan Hara had an idea about his true identity, she didn't dare to believe it.

"Still not enough to convince you? Then how about this beauty?" Yuan retrieved the Demon Sealing Sword and showed it to her.

"That's—!" Yan Hara could feel her heart beating at her chest when she saw the beautiful sword.

Although she's never personally seen it before, she has heard stories and read about it before.

A red blade with the words 'Demon Sealing' engraved on it— 

"Demon Sealing Sword… One of three demon sealing treasures wielded by the Divine Paragon…" Yan Hara muttered in a dazed voice.

Yuan then spoke in a calm voice, "Tian Chenyu—  although this name had been lost with the passage of time for most people, I have one more identity that you should be familiar with—" 

"Divine Paragon…" Yan Hara suddenly muttered out loud in a trembling voice, her eyes flowing with tears.

"Is it really you?"

Despite her powerful cultivation, Yan Hara felt so weak at this moment that she couldn't even stand up, so she fell to her knees.

"Yes, it's really me. Although I am now called Yuan, I used to be the Divine Paragon."

Although what Yuan said sounded unbelievable and borderline impossible, Yan Hara did not doubt him at all, as she had already been suspicious of his true identity for a while now.

After a moment of silence, Yan Hara bowed her head until her forehead kissed the cold marble floor, and she spoke in a revering voice, "This junior greets Senior. Welcome back to the Demon Sealing Clan, Founder."

"Stand up, Yan Hara. I revealed my identity to you because I consider you a friend and I trust you."

"I apologize, but I won't be able to stand up for a while…" Yan Hara said in an embarrassed voice.

Yuan smiled and helped her up before carrying her to a nearby chair.

"T-Thank you… Senior…" Yan Hara said with a flushed face, looking like a young maiden before her crush.

"Drop the formalities and continue calling me Yuan— or little founder. Either works. I also need to keep my identity a secret." Yuan chuckled.

"I understand… little founder." Yan Hara nodded.

Sometime later, once Yan Hara had calmed down enough, she asked, "If you don't mind me asking, why did you suddenly disappear for millions of years, little founder? And why did you decide to come back now?"

Yuan smiled and said, "I didn't disappear. I died and reincarnated. I recently recalled my memories as the Divine Paragon, so here I am."

"You died…? How is that possible? Did a demon do it?" 

What came out of Yuan's mouth next nearly knocked Yan Hara unconscious with shock.

"Nope, I killed myself." Yuan casually uttered.

"S-Suicide?! But why in heaven's name would you do something like that?!"

"I have my reasons. Sorry for the inconvenience it caused, but it was an absolutely necessary thing for me to do."

"I don't dare to judge your decisions. If you did it, I'm sure it was for a good reason." Yan Hara said with a bittersweet smile.

"Anyways, I didn't plan on returning to the Demon Sealing Clan initially even though my memories had returned because I didn't want to mess up whatever you guys had going on, but with the situation between the Demon Sealing Clan and the Demon Sealing Grotto growing more dire, it seems I have no choice but to return since I cannot sit by and watch fellow demon sealers destroy each other when you should be fighting demons instead."

"On the behalf of all of the demon sealers out there, I'm truly sorry… We have failed you and stained the Demon Sealing Clan's prestigious name…" Yan Hara sighed with her head lowered, not daring to look at Yuan's face due to shame.

"Although the situation is pretty dire, it's not at the point of no return. We can still salvage the situation and put a stop to the fight." Yuan said.

"What do you have in mind?"

"First and foremost, we will need to get rid of Qian Chu. I don't know what he's up to, but it's not good— at least that's what my instincts are telling me. The Demon Sealing Clan— my Demon Sealing Clan will collapse at this rate, and I am not going to sit still and watch a place that I'd built with my own hands being destroyed." Yuan spoke with a cold expression on his face, causing Yan Hara to tremble.