**Chapter 3: Retracing a Life**
Facing the Jade Pool Empress's fierce rebuke, Xiao Fan slowly opened his eyes, looking up at her. Unlike his reactions to the Northern Empress and the Lunar Empress, a rare tenderness flickered in his gaze as he looked at the Jade Pool Empress. After a moment, he closed his eyes again, a serene smile appearing on his lips. His demeanor was calm, like a benevolent elder.
Seeing this, the Jade Pool Empress's fury intensified. She shouted, "Xiao Fan! Even now, you put on this hypocritical act, it's nauseating!"
Had it not been for the questions she needed answers to, she would have already destroyed him with a single blow.
"Xiao Fan, where did you hide the Soul Nurturing Bottle that contains my husband's soul?"
For once, the Jade Pool Empress, usually imposing and unassailable, showed a hint of nervousness.
"If you tell me, I promise you a quick death," she said solemnly.
Thinking of her husband, her stern face unconsciously softened with tenderness. Years ago, while still young, she had descended to the mortal world and fallen in love with a mortal man. Those days were the happiest of her life. But the good times didn't last. When her father, the Heavenly Emperor, found out, he was furious. To protect her husband, she hid him away before returning to the Celestial Court. However, her husband was eventually killed. Xiao Fan had killed him and trapped his soul in the Soul Nurturing Bottle to gain favor with her father, thus joining the Celestial Court. Her father had brought a wolf into the fold, leading to his own demise.
Now, her vengeance was almost complete. Xiao Fan would die today. But before he died, she needed to know where the Soul Nurturing Bottle was hidden. She had already searched the entire Primordial Imperial City and Xiao Fan's spatial ring with her divine sense but found no trace of it. She concluded that Xiao Fan had hidden it somewhere else. Therefore, she needed to extract the answer from him.
However, Xiao Fan lay there, motionless and unresponsive.
Seeing this, the Northern Empress used her divine sense to probe him and frowned. "It's no use. He has shut down all his senses. He's like a living dead."
Hearing this, the Jade Pool Empress was furious. "Xiao Fan, do you think this will stop me?"
"If you won't tell me, I'll find out myself!"
"Let the world see the filth of your life!"
The Jade Pool Empress's face darkened, and a powerful aura emanated from her. Behind her, a stone mirror radiating ancient chaotic energy began to manifest.
"Could that be the legendary Chaos Artifact, the Haotian Mirror?"
The cultivators below were stunned.
The Haotian Mirror, the Celestial Court's supreme treasure, was said to possess immense power. It was because of the Haotian Mirror that the Celestial Court had stood unshaken since ancient times. To see the Haotian Mirror was a once-in-a-lifetime event for many.
Even the Jade Pool Empress found it taxing to wield the Haotian Mirror. But it was thanks to this artifact that she had survived when Xiao Fan killed her father, the former Heavenly Emperor, and usurped the Celestial Court. With the Haotian Mirror's power, she had grown stronger and eventually reclaimed the Celestial Court.
Now, she would use the Haotian Mirror to extract Xiao Fan's memories and find the Soul Nurturing Bottle. At the same time, she would reveal to the world the filth of Xiao Fan's life, ensuring his name would be cursed for generations.
"Reflect the heavens!" she commanded, and the Haotian Mirror merged into the sky.
The crowd gasped as they saw the sky transform into an endless mirror.
The Jade Pool Empress looked up at the Haotian Mirror, its immense power clear for all to see.
A divine light shot from the sky, enveloping Xiao Fan, and scenes from his life began to appear in the mirror.
"Waa, waa, waa..." The cries of a newborn baby filled the mirror.
Someone in the crowd exclaimed, "Is that baby the Netherworld Demon Emperor?"
Another scoffed, "The Jade Pool Empress said these are his memories. Who else could it be?"
"I just meant it's surprising to see the Netherworld Demon Emperor as an ordinary baby."
The crowd fell silent, then quickly looked up to scrutinize the scenes in the mirror.
There were no signs of anything special or extraordinary.
Any divine or special physique would show signs at birth. But the baby in the mirror was utterly ordinary, just a plain mortal.
This revelation stunned everyone.
Even those with mediocre talent and low cultivation were excited. If the Netherworld Demon Emperor had started as a mere mortal, then why couldn't they also achieve greatness?
The cultivators who had been condemning the Netherworld Demon Emperor now watched the Haotian Mirror intently, afraid to miss any important detail.
Even the Jade Pool Empress was surprised to learn Xiao Fan had been a mere mortal.
The Lunar Empress frowned but quickly relaxed. If Xiao Fan had not been a mere mortal, he wouldn't have coveted her lunar power.
Only the Northern Empress remained unsurprised, for she had known Xiao Fan was a mortal.
Years ago, she had killed Xiao Fan once. But he had survived by sheer luck. By the time she learned he was still alive, he had become an entirely different person.
She suspected Xiao Fan must have had some extraordinary encounter that transformed him into the fearsome Netherworld Demon Emperor.