On the next morning, the sun rose as the break of dawn, and the morning light spilled onto the earth. Golden rays of light appeared on the horizon, enveloping the entire wilderness in a gentle glow, providing a touch of warmth to all living creatures.

The strength of the three members of the Shizhi group had fully recovered, and they left the Wutu and returned to the Day and Night Empire.

"Modi, use your power of sequences to create as many puppets as possible, let them search around, and let the awakened demons see them. Then, use the puppets to establish contact with you," Qizhou said.

Upon hearing this, Modi nodded. Although the method was somewhat crude, it was still a good choice. After all, all the demons had seen the puppets Modi created and had a high level of recognition.

"Shizhi, you go and search for clues about the 'key.' This way, we can use its power to rescue His Majesty and restore his full strength," Qizhou said to Shizhi.

Shizhi nodded.

"If there are any clues, notify me immediately. Be careful, and if you encounter angels, retreat immediately. There's no need to get entangled with them, understood?"

"I understand," Shizhi said, then turned and walked out of the room, heading outside.

Modi followed a ghost soldier into a room and immediately started working. He used his power of sequences to create hundreds of puppets and dispersed them to search for other demons.

"If we find the 'key,' Your Majesty, you will be able to fully recover your strength. If we don't find it, we won't be able to do anything," Qizhou muttered while looking at the sky.

...

Iris's fingers twitched slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes. The warmth of the sunlight filtered through the cracks and shone on her face. Her complexion was pale, and her lips were dry.

"Why... why am I not dead yet?" Iris's heart pounded heavily. She felt like all her bones had fallen apart, causing intense soreness.

"Whimper, whimper..." Baiying exclaimed excitedly, flapping her white wings and jumping for joy.

"It seems like I didn't die this time and was saved again," Iris's gaze became dim as she looked at the ceiling, letting out a sigh.

Baiying's excited cries caught the attention of Baiyou, who was eating nearby. She swallowed her food, turned her head, and licked her lips as she said, "Mom, Grandma knows the truth now. She won't torture you anymore."

"Hmph," Iris snorted coldly and said, "I'm hungry."

"I've prepared some blood for you. Grandma gave it to me this morning, it's still fresh!" Baiyou said with a smile.

"I don't want Lilya's stuff. Take it away!" Iris's tone was icy as she gave Baiyou a cold glance.

Seeing Iris's firmness, Baiyou pouted with her rosy lips and said, "Fine, if you don't want it, then don't eat it. Why are you so mean to me?"

She put the blood bag on the table and deliberately opened it, allowing the scent of blood to permeate the entire room.

"Hehe, serves you right for being mean to me. I'll make you crave it," Baiyou turned her back and smirked secretly, wearing a mischievous expression. She firmly believed that her mom would eventually compromise because she knew no one could resist the temptation of food.

Iris ignored Baiyou's actions and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling in a daze. Deep down, she knew Baiyou would never act this way under normal circumstances. This was clearly her way of looking for trouble. But now, she dared to do this, and she did it so smoothly. It was obvious that Lilya had hinted at her intention. She wanted to use Baiyou to compensate for her guilt and gain Iris's forgiveness.

Iris was not stupid and could easily guess Lilya's intentions. She wouldn't accept it, and she wouldn't forgive Lilya. Back then, not only did she sever her arm, Lilya also sent people to chase and torture her. Now, she wanted to make amends? She couldn't forgive Lilya at all!

In that year, Iris begged for alms, performed on the streets, endured verbal abuse, endured freezing cold, and even stole chickens for their blood to drink. Every day was spent in fear, afraid of being caught by the Shadow Guards and brought back to endure further torture.

And now, Lilya wanted to make amends?

She didn't want it! She didn't need any compensation!

Suddenly, Iris noticed a golden collar around her neck. The collar was engraved with intricate patterns, seemingly some kind of symbol. However, she couldn't understand what these runes meant.

It seemed that because of this collar, she couldn't use magic and it also blocked her connection to chaos, preventing chaos from healing her injuries.

Iris raised her arm and touched the golden necklace, and little drops of blood seeped out from the wound. A hint of pain appeared on her face, but she endured it and tried to tear the collar off. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remove the necklace.

The flow of blood from the wound increased, and she felt herself growing weaker. Her consciousness began to blur, and her body became limp.

"Whimper, whimper..." Bai Yin anxiously called out from the side.

Hearing Bai Yin's call, Bai Xuan quickly turned her head and saw Iris's condition. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she rushed forward. "Mom, why do you keep hurting yourself like this? We don't need to eat what Lilia gives us."

"Okay?"

"From now on, I'll get rid of everything Lilia gives you. Please, mom, don't hurt yourself anymore."

Bai Xuan was really afraid. How did Iris start self-harming like this? If this continued, her wounds would never heal.

"Oh! Right! Mom, you're hungry. Just wait a moment..." Bai Xuan quickly untied her collar, exposing her neck to Iris, and then leaned her neck forward, indicating for Iris to feed on her blood.

Seeing this, Iris directly bit into Bai Xuan's neck, leaving a deep mark on her delicate, fair skin. Red blood slowly seeped out from the bite mark.

The warm blood flowed into Iris's throat, spreading a warm sensation throughout her body. Soon, Iris was full, and Bai Xuan wiped the bloodstains off Iris's mouth with a tissue, saying, "From now on, I'll listen to mom and won't feed you anything from Lilia. Please, mom, don't hurt yourself anymore."

"Alright." Iris replied softly in her heart, "Who said I was self-harming? I just wanted to see if I could remove the collar."

With Iris's affirmative answer, Bai Xuan began to rewrap the bandage on her arm.

After everything was done, Iris lay on the bed, closed her eyes, and continued to connect with the Consciousness Space. After all, besides doing these things, she couldn't do anything else. Even turning her body would make the wound bleed.

Bai Xuan sighed helplessly and thought about the days when she fled with her mother. She felt very sad. At that time, Iris was so hungry that she was almost dying, so she had no choice but to feed on Bai Xuan's blood, and since then, it had become uncontrollable.

Bai Xuan was a python, and that bit of blood meant nothing to her. She was a natural predator, and she had even been taught by an S-class adventurer. Her success rate in hunting was almost one hundred percent, so she would never starve herself.

But Iris was different. She mainly relied on blood as her food. Only by consuming enough blood could she maintain her physiological functions.

At that time, Iris didn't dare to use magic because it would leave behind a trace of magic aura, making it easy for others to find her. Therefore, Iris's blood mostly came from Bai Xuan.

On second thought, as Iris's summon creature, Bai Xuan should obey Iris's commands. After all, it was Iris who gave her life.

Bai Xuan poured the blood on the table into the trash can and cleaned up the table. Then, she poured a glass of warm water and handed it to Iris, saying softly, "Mom, please have some water."

Iris opened her mouth and swallowed the warm water provided by Bai Xuan, relieving the dryness of her lips.

All of this happened under Lilia's watchful eyes. She originally wanted to come in and see her unconscious daughter, but she didn't expect Iris to wake up. However, Iris didn't want to see her, so Lilia had to give up and silently leave after a glance at Iris.

She was afraid that if she went in, Iris would start self-harming again. Just now, when Bai Xuan mentioned the blood she gave, Iris immediately started self-harming.

Lilia sighed and decided to meet Iris after her wounds were healed, to prevent her from self-harming again.