Chapter 112: Demon Realm Soul Seizure (Part 5)

The two of them exchanged a glance, and Xu Qianyu said, “Let her come over.”
After a while, Yu Chu crawled and rolled into the nearby pavilion and closed the door.

“What’s going on?”  
Yu Chu said, “The female cultivator in my room has been wearing a veil, sitting on the bed without moving. No matter what I said to her, it was as if she couldn’t hear me. I thought it was no big deal, so I lay down. But then I felt something crawling inside the blanket. When I got up and looked, there were scorpions the size of my thumb! And she was just laughing beside me.”

Lin Shuyue patted Yu Chu in a comforting manner. “It’s alright. It’s common to encounter strange people when you’re out. Tonight, let’s just squeeze in together.”
Xu Qianyu, who had been bored, jumped out of bed. “Since this is a bed assigned to us, why should we give it up? I’ll go meet her.”

Yu Chu didn’t stop her. Xu Qianyu had already grabbed her sword and entered the adjacent pavilion.
Under the dim light of a diamond-shaped lantern, Xu Qianyu saw the female cultivator Yu Chu had mentioned.

She was dressed in the Tianshan sect disciple robes, embroidered with swirling grass patterns, a five-colored twisted silk cord tied around her waist, and a white veil covering her face. She was lying face down on the bed, silent and still. Even when the roommate changed, she didn’t seem to care at all.

Xu Qianyu eyed her suspiciously, picked up her sword, and lifted the blanket from Yu Chu’s bed. Seeing that the bed was empty, she lay down.

However, as she lay down, she silently chanted a barrier spell. After a while, she indeed heard a faint rustling sound. With her eyes closed, Xu Qianyu controlled the wooden sword to lift and cut the rustling sounds in half before daring to open her eyes.

What fell was a ball of spiritual energy, proving that those scorpions were merely an illusion.
Xu Qianyu placed a Truth Seeking Talisman on the bed’s headboard, preparing to grab her roommate by the collar and experience Tianshan’s magic for herself.

She called out to her a few times, but the female cultivator remained motionless, still lying on the bed.

After waiting for a moment, Xu Qianyu felt something was wrong and flipped her over. What she saw were lifeless eyes staring blankly, the face pale and blue, resembling a corpse drained of life.
Xu Qianyu suppressed the strange feeling creeping up her spine, checked for her breath, and quickly pinched her philtrum, preparing to summon a decision from the court.

Suddenly, her shoulder was tapped, and Xu Qianyu’s heart skipped a beat. She turned around to see a face exactly the same as the one on the bed.
This face, however, was flushed and glowing.

The female cultivator, still wearing the veil, glanced at Xu Qianyu’s face for a moment before smiling with a hint of contempt. “Did I scare you? Sorry, that was my puppet.”
Xu Qianyu turned back to the bed and indeed saw an ugly wooden doll lying there.
It was rumored that the inner disciples of the Tianshan Sect practiced the art of avoiding death by using puppets to take their place and evade their fate. It seemed that this was indeed true.

“Why did you make the puppet lie on the bed?”  
The female cultivator replied indifferently, “I just asked it to take up a spot on the bed.”
Xu Qianyu said, “If you’re going to act recklessly on your own bed, why put scorpions on someone else’s?”

“It’s not very smart,” the female cultivator said, stroking the wooden doll’s forehead. “It doesn’t know which bed I want, so naturally, it occupies both. I’ll choose when I come back.”
“If you don’t return all night, does that mean no one else can sleep?” Xu Qianyu thought. The two beds were identical; this person was being overly domineering.

“I thought the inner disciples of Penglai should be able to see through such simple puppet techniques. I didn’t expect you to be so frightened that you couldn’t sleep. Truly unexpected,” the female cultivator glanced at Xu Qianyu and lost interest. Without waiting for a response, she continued, “Would you like some snacks? I got them from the cabin.”

Xu Qianyu noticed that she was holding a tray with a variety of snacks.
Her senior brother had warned her not to eat random things. But unsure whether the other person was offering this as an apology, Xu Qianyu hesitated and reached out, half-believing.

The moment her hand touched the snacks, the entire tray suddenly caved in and fell apart, turning to powder, along with the snacks, spilling all over Xu Qianyu’s skirt.

The female cultivator laughed out loud, her laughter harsh, as though she were immensely pleased.
It seemed she had always enjoyed tormenting others like this in the sect.
Xu Qianyu’s head buzzed with anger. She gripped her sword hilt and was about to strike, but suddenly her thoughts were interrupted.

When she blinked and regained her senses, the laughter had inexplicably stopped.
The female cultivator was now sitting awkwardly at her feet, her veil crooked and torn, revealing her beautiful face marred by three bloody claw marks, swelling up. She covered her face and looked up at Xu Qianyu in fear. The surroundings were eerily silent.

Xu Qianyu was dazed. “Did I just hit her?”
System: “No, you didn’t…”
In the female cultivator’s line of sight, a semi-transparent figure of a woman in white floated above Xu Qianyu’s shoulders.

The woman’s long hair was scattered like spider threads, obscuring her dark eyes, which looked like two black holes, exuding a cold, sinister aura as her lips twisted into a grin.
Meanwhile, inside the Penglai Immortal Sect:
Hua Qingyu opened the coffin board under the bed and saw that it was empty, nearly collapsing to the ground. “Hua Liangyu has run away.”
Wuzhen, holding a large black robe, wrapped himself up, shutting out the sunlight. After a moment of silence, he said, “If you want to talk, I’m here.”
A loud clang rang out as Hua Qingyu closed the coffin board. “If you can’t speak, don’t say anything.”
Wuzhen immediately fell silent.

“A few days ago, when drawing the talisman, she possessed Xu Qianyu and followed her out! Xu Qianyu is also quite unlucky.” Hua Qingyu said coldly, “Aren’t you worried about your disciple?”
Wuzhen casually replied, “If Hua Liangyu wanted to take over her body, she would have done it long ago. What does she want to do, isn’t it clear? The Demon Realm’s fate is your senior sister’s; let her resolve it herself. Your interference will be useless.”

“As for that child,” Wuzhen paused. “The sect leader specifically chose this time to send her away. What’s wrong with that? I noticed a sword mark on her forehead from the Elder. The Elder has returned, and the sect is facing a crisis.”
Hua Qingyu thought for a moment, unable to refute, and waved his hand. “Why are you always lingering around me? Go back to your own place.”
The young man innocently replied, “I was just borrowing an umbrella.”

*
Xu Qianyu sensed something was wrong. She placed a purification talisman on her head and sank into the spiritual pool. She saw Hua Liangyu, curled up and sitting with her knees drawn up, and her heart sank. “Why are you here?”
Hua Liangyu looked at her, tilting her head as her hair fell around her.
“Don’t appear out of nowhere. When I’m swinging my sword, I cannot be disturbed. A moment’s delay could kill me,” Xu Qianyu warned. “I have a lot of demon-slaying talismans on me. If you interfere, I’ll kill you first, and we’ll both perish together.”
Hua Liangyu seemed to understand, nodding obediently.

It wasn’t safe to stay in the spiritual pool for too long, or her cover might be blown. Xu Qianyu opened her eyes and saw the female cultivator from the Tianshan sect kneeling on the ground.
Her hands were nervously placed on her knees as she politely said, “I am Tu Zhuang. I was rude earlier. Which bed would you like? Please choose first.”
Xu Qianyu replied, “I want to sleep in both.”
Tu Zhuang:?

She watched as Xu Qianyu tossed her wooden sword and various other instruments onto one bed, replenished her spiritual energy, then tossed the wooden puppet back onto the bed. Afterward, she lay down on her own bed, fully dressed.
Xu Qianyu said, “What should I do? I’ll just sleep on the floor with your ugly doll.”
Tu Zhuang hugged the puppet, her face turning pale with anger.

That night, Xu Qianyu couldn’t sleep well. Her bed was right next to the window, and many thumb-sized mirage creatures kept bumping into the porthole, making a constant banging noise.
She turned over and decided to poke a hole in the cicada-wing seal blocking the window, then inserted her wooden sword in front of it.

The pale blue, fish-like mirage creatures rushed in through the small hole. As soon as they entered, each one collided with the sword blade and turned to smoke.
Xu Qianyu lay there, effortlessly collecting the rewards.

Tu Zhuang watched with envy, pitifully lying on the floor in the middle, too far from both portholes. She tried to replicate what Xu Qianyu had done on the other side, only to find that Xu Qianyu had already punctured that window and was using her talisman to collect the mirage creatures below.
Tu Zhuang lay back in frustration.

She hadn’t expected this woman to be so domineering, claiming both sides and not letting anyone else get a share.
“What was that spell you just cast?” Tu Zhuang asked, looking for something to say. “Poison technique? Soul control? Illusion?”

Xu Qianyu thought to herself, It was just a straightforward ghost possession. If you want it, I really want to give it to you. But she said aloud, “Such simple Taoist magic, I thought Tianshan disciples could see through it at a glance.”
Tu Zhuang closed her mouth.
Suddenly, the warship rocked.

When sailing on the sea, it was inevitable to encounter storms. Both of them were tossed around, so they got up to meditate.
“Be careful!” Xu Qianyu heard Tu Zhuang shout. She turned around just in time to see a giant mirage creature pushing its tentacles into the window. Tu Zhuang shot out spider silk, cutting off one of the tentacles. The creature, in pain, fell back into the sea.

Xu Qianyu seized the opportunity to throw out a demon-slaying talisman, then quickly used magic to seal the window.

Tu Zhuang said, “Look over there.”
On the sea they were passing, there was a place where countless mirages gathered, forming a strange blue ocean. When the Demon Extermination Talisman was unleashed, golden light burst forth, causing the mirages to scatter in a panic.
Tu Zhuang said, “Something below must be attracting them.”
The mirages floated on the surface of the sea, beneath which several streams of black mist were viciously entwining with a dying black fog, from which threads of blood spread out, drawing more mirages toward it.

The black mist slowly gathered, taking the shape of a young man draped in a robe of black clouds with pale skin.

Xie Yuzhen closed his eyes, weakly sinking into the water. He only had a third of his demonic soul left, and the pain and cold made him extremely feeble. The demonic creatures were dragging him toward the sea’s depths.

Between life and death, his vision blurred. In the torrential rain and mist, he saw a figure stumbling toward him.
The girl, her clothes and hair soaked with rain, looked disheveled, but her eyes shone brightly, full of hope. She opened her battered arms and carefully cradled his demonic bone.
“I’ve got it back for you,” she said, a bright red cinnabar dot on her forehead. “Don’t die. Hurry and leave.”

Xie Yuzhen hugged her tightly, and the illusion vanished, leaving only the biting cold in the water.
His mind was filled with the image of thrusting the Snow Sword into Xu Qianyu’s heart, her warm blood flowing on the snow, leaving a trail of red. She stared at him, eyes wide with shock, and the bright flame in her gaze was extinguished by the cold water.
She didn’t say anything; she just rolled off the cliff.
Xu Qianyu saved him. But what had he done?
He killed her.
He killed her.

Xie Yuzhen could hardly breathe, suddenly feeling a piercing pain in his heart, as if something was being forcibly ripped away. He clutched his chest, trying to stop it.
A voice entered his ears, though it could hardly be called a voice, more like a cold decree.

It said, “You carry something that does not belong to you. If you keep it, you will no longer be the Demon King. You will fade into this night, and someone else will replace you. Return it.”
Xie Yuzhen slowly moved his hand away, a red dot of light peeling off from his chest and drifting toward the surface of the sea.

The Demon King’s dark, empty eyes seemed to lose all perception. At the same time, his power surged, and the demonic creatures and mirages that had entangled him exploded, all absorbed into him.
He broke free from his restraints, and the wind and waves on the sea surged as the massive warship creaked.

Xie Yuzhen’s hair drifted in the water, his mind spinning through memories of his past.
The Demon King could remember from the moment he was born. The first warmth he felt came from the illusion of the blue mirages at the bottom of Wufu Cliff and the fox girl.

They had both received the favor of the Qingheng Daojun, and they called him “Qingheng.” He had been cradled in their arms, gently coaxed until he opened his eyes, revealing a pair of bright red blood-colored pupils.

From their terrified expressions, he understood—he was not the one they had hoped for.
His blood froze, then boiled with excitement.
He closed his eyes, a baby sucking his thumb, sweetly falling asleep, but before they could choke off his neck as they sobbed, he opened his eyes, grinning. The evil abyssal fire on his body instantly consumed both of his mothers.

He fell onto their ashes, laughing as he learned to crawl and walk.
He killed all the demonic creatures that wanted to devour him and even those demons who treated him kindly, teaching him to speak and know right from wrong.

He never knew what love was.
Those who treated him well and those who treated him badly would ultimately merge with him.
With each demonic creature and demon core he consumed, his power grew exponentially, unstoppable. Until all the demons and cultivators of Wufu Cliff were absorbed. He climbed upward, discovering the last skeleton on the cliff.

A man stood frozen in place, his tattered robe billowing in the wind. The skeleton, though decayed, still held its elegant posture. This was “Qingheng.”
And he, Xie Yuzhen, was just a monster.
Two cultivators were scavenging the tailbone of Qingheng but found nothing. They probably didn’t realize that Qingheng’s tailbone had already given birth to a demon. They turned around and saw him standing on a pine branch on the cliff, laughing. Their faces shifted from alarm to solemnity.

Xie Yuzhen tilted his head, amused by how the cultivators were deceived. They engaged in a fierce battle with him, but the details were too blurred to recall.
But there was one thing that stood out to him—the bright, shimmering palace lantern they carried.

The colorful light of the lantern vaguely overlapped with the crystal-clear, beautiful headpiece of a rich young lady, but he no longer remembered her face before the vanity mirror.

Xie Yuzhen opened his eyes, looking at the Demon Extermination Talisman floating in the sky, the golden light burning through the sea and scorching his body. Amid the pain, he clung to one thought: he didn’t want to forget. He didn’t want to return it.

…
At this moment, Xu Qianyu was leaning against the window, watching a red light rise from the sea.
She had never seen such a brilliantly dazzling thing before, yet it felt strangely familiar to her. Unconsciously, her attention was drawn to it as it flew toward her.

But suddenly, a wave rose from the sea, sweeping the light away.
Xu Qianyu felt a sense of unease and looked up at the moonlit sea, feeling an inexplicable emptiness in her heart. She longed to see her senior brother.

Under the sea, Xie Yuzhen reached out and grabbed the red dot of light, forcefully pushing it back into his chest. His chest now had a heartbeat, but also a pain that felt like a knife cutting through him. He hated pain, so why did losing it feel so hollow?
No one could take anything from the Demon King.
He lost his strength and turned into a black mist, sinking into the distance.