Chapter 37

The evening clouds burned like flames, igniting the vast sky of the Nine Netherworlds.

The afterglow of dusk was gradually drawn in by the towering mountains to the west. Red silk lanterns spread from the bustling city to the dark, ghostly forest. Liuyu stood in the divine palanquin carried by sixteen demon ghosts, feeling a fleeting illusion that she was descending into demonic transformation.

However, at this moment, to the demon ghosts around her, she probably already seemed like an existence born from the corruption of evil.

“Heaven and Earth, the yellow of the sky—”

“The sun sets, the moon eclipses—”

“Punishment for rewards—”

“Endless blessings—”

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

The ebony ritual staff, adorned with copper bells, made a delicate, ethereal sound as Liuyu swung it.

The streets and alleys fell silent as the demonic language Liuyu recited echoed through the air, with bewildered and shocked gazes directed toward her.

Her voice was as clear as jade, uttering words that sounded like the low growl of a beast.

It was the demonic language.

The human noblewoman from the Immortal City of Jade Capital was chanting… a language that only those who inherited the direct bloodline of the Demon Lord were supposed to know.

Demon ghosts from the Nine Netherworlds could understand parts of the demonic language to some extent, but they could not chant complete and structured sentences like the young woman in the palanquin before them.

But she was human.

A human… How could she speak the language of demons and evil spirits?

Sparks flew as large drums reverberated through the air.

The ghost of the Fangxiang clan played the suona, awakening the people of the Nine Netherworlds from their shock.

The Azure Dragon weaved through the mist of the Suanni.

The Soul Bird cried mournfully in the sky.

The ghost attendants in black, with conical hats, held red soul-summoning banners.

A burly Nine-Tailed Fox danced with a green Nuo mask.

The shaman priests shouted, and the yakshas cleared the path.

The demon ghosts dressed as spirits and phantoms performed rituals to the heavens and the earth, singing incantations for the gods.

Amid the rising night mist, all the demon ghosts looked at the mysterious masked young woman in the divine palanquin.

Her peacock-blue Nuo robes shimmered like flowing water in the night, and the red ribbon in her black hair was as bright as blood. She stood under the gaze of countless demon ghosts of the Nine Netherworlds, her entire being melding into the grand ritual around her.

It was as though she were not the noble daughter of a celestial family, but rather a deity destined to command the demons of the Nine Underworlds.

As the demonic chant echoed, the numerous gazes directed at Liuyu subtly changed.

On the high tower of the Xianchi Ghost Dao Institute, the elder Mu Cangshui gazed out at the brightly lit city in the evening wind.

“At least until midnight tonight, the Ghost Play Immortal Tour troupe will reach Xianchi City. I wonder if the Empress’s side is progressing smoothly.”

The young woman behind Mu Cangshui wore a worried expression.

But Mu Cangshui seemed as though she had already seen the procession in her mind, calmly gazing into the distance.

“After years of planning, how could there be any setbacks?”

Mu Cangshui remembered the night the young girl knocked on her door.

The high-status girl, bowing as a junior, reported that a concubine named A Jiang had been used by the Jade-faced Spider, tragically dying on Xianchi Street.

“Senior, you’ve been in the Nine Underworlds for a long time and are surely familiar with strategies to deal with the Jade-faced Spider. Please, guide me. I swear to dedicate myself fully to removing this disaster for the Nine Underworlds.”

Mu Cangshui looked at the girl’s lowered head.

“Are you asking for revenge for that concubine’s death, or is it because of the controversy surrounding yourself?”

The girl pondered for a long time before lifting her head.

“For myself, and for every demon who might one day become like A Jiang.”

This was not an answer Mu Cangshui was satisfied with.

She wasn’t pure enough, not selfless enough.

But when Mu Cangshui looked into the girl’s eyes—eyes that should have been innocent and unaware of the hardships of the world—she saw an unexpected compassion and sorrow that didn’t align with her status.

Something made her speak the words, almost by fate:

“Fine.”

It was well-known that before Mo Lin led the demons to break out of Wuse City, the Jade-faced Spider, Yuantian, who was a direct descendant of the Demon Lord, was the more recognized demon lord among the demons.

“Demons have bloodlines that flow with both human and demon heritage. A demon either accepts their identity as human or as a demon, and these two identities naturally split them into two factions.”

The frail, aged hand held a pair of scissors, trimming the wick of the lantern. Mu Cangshui’s face flickered between light and shadow from the candlelight.

“The Jade-faced Spider’s current position mostly depends on his bloodline. The demons support him, but in reality, they support the dream of one day seeing the evil forces return to the world, leading them to ride through the divine land. The most fundamental way to defeat the Demon-slaying faction is to shatter their bloodline identity—”

“Since the Jade-faced Spider has armed himself with divine destiny through noble demonic language, anyone who can use this language can steal his destiny from his hands.”

Mu Cangshui smiled faintly, tapping her forehead.

“We women who were once sent to the demon’s lair as sacrifices have long since learned the language of the evil demons from beyond the heavens during our hundred years of imprisonment—this noble language that only the Demon Lord’s direct bloodline understands. As long as you’re smart enough, in less than a month, you too can possess such a noble bloodline.”

But Liuyu was clearly smarter than she had imagined.

In three days, she had already mastered most of the demonic language, enabling her to sing lengthy passages of the Nuo dance songs during the Ghost Play Immortal Tour.

On the procession route, more and more demons gathered to watch the Nuo dance.

“—You are not Yinshan Liuyu! Who are you!”

Under the divine palanquin, a demon from the Demon-slaying faction refused to believe it and pointed at Liuyu, shouting.

“Despicable humans, surely they’ve sent a demon who knows a little of the demonic language to replace you on stage! Yinshan Liuyu could never understand our language!”

His companions raised their arms in agreement, and some of the demons guarding Liuyu stepped forward to drag them away. The two sides clashed.

The Nuo dance stopped.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Liuyu slowly removed the Nuo mask from her face.

The ghost lanterns flickered, and the stark contrast between the grotesque Nuo mask and the girl’s exquisite beauty was striking.

Her mountain cherry-colored lips moved, speaking a string of words with a husky tone.

【I am the daughter of the Yinshan clan, the wife of the demon Mo Lin, your Empress. I understand your language better than anyone here because I was chosen by the Heavenly Demon, destined to rule the Nine Underworlds.】

After speaking, Liuyu repeated herself in a language that everyone could understand.

The demons could only grasp fragments of the demonic language she had spoken, but after Liuyu explained, they finally understood her words completely.

Even the Demon-slaying faction demon who had questioned Liuyu was stunned.

She wasn’t reciting from a script, nor was someone else impersonating her. She truly understood the demonic language.

A human who had only married into the Nine Underworlds two months ago had already mastered a language that even demons couldn’t fully comprehend.

How could this be explained?

The only possible explanation was that she was chosen by the Heavenly Demon, destined by fate.

The Demon-slaying faction was shaken by this incomprehensible situation, and by the time they regained their senses, large groups of demons had already knelt before Liuyu’s divine palanquin.

“Please, Heavenly Demon—”

Nearby, far away, young and old.

The demons who had once harbored hatred and anger towards Liuyu were now kneeling before her with tears in their eyes.

“Please, Heavenly Demon, deliver the demons from suffering.”

The Demon-slaying faction’s demons nervously looked around, gradually realizing that those who should have supported them had, in the blink of an eye, turned to the enemy.

A human.

She was human!

In a small building on the side of the street.

The bright red wide sleeves of a robe spread across the redwood floor as Yinshan Qi observed the sudden change below, stroking the wings of the pair of lovebirds and softly murmuring:

“Indeed, these demons have yet to be enlightened…”

If it were in Dazhao, his little niece’s tactics would not have worked.

But in the Nine Underworlds, among these confused demons who didn’t know how they should survive, there was no quicker way to establish control than using such supernatural means.

Liuyu gazed down at the demons on the street.

She looked at the demons who truly saw her as their savior, but there was no joy in her eyes.

Something heavy pressed down on her heart, making it feel suffocating.

But she quickly raised her head, and her obsidian ritual staff pointed directly at the demon-slaying faction standing in the crowd. In the demon language, she spoke:

“Submit, or continue to oppose me?”

This time, the demons of the demon-slaying faction understood Liuyu’s words.

“…We will not submit. What will you do about it? You dare not take our lives in public, do you?”

The demon who spoke these words appeared fierce, but his teeth were already trembling in fear.

Because in the depths of that young girl’s dark eyes, a trace of a smile appeared. She tilted her head, as if saying—

“I am destined by heaven, why should I fear?”

At the foot of Jade Mountain.

The constant flow of information caused the expression of the Jade-faced Spider to grow increasingly darker.

Liuyu of Yinshan must not be allowed to remain.

The demon-slaying faction that had submitted to him was the foundation of his position in the Nine Underworld, his root in Jade Mountain, the basis of his ability to negotiate with the demon Mo Lin.

If even this were to be shaken, what could he use to oppose Mo Lin, who wielded the boundless ghost fire?

Without any value left to exploit, how could the immortal families of Dazhao continue to send him resources?

At this moment, the city lords of Nine Underworld who had gathered here also received news from the Ghost Play Immortal Festival.

Some smiled lightly, some let out a sigh of relief, and the city lord who had been leisurely sipping tea now stared at the jade tablet in his hand, like a thorn in his throat, casting dissatisfied looks at the Jade-faced Spider.

The city lords who sided with the Jade-faced Spider were all motivated by profit.

If they discovered that the situation was no longer in their favor, they would immediately sever ties with the Jade-faced Spider and pledge allegiance to Mo Lin.

The demon’s tail, grasping the rod-like fan, moved slightly upward, blocking the increasingly bleak expression of the Jade-faced Spider. Without hesitation, he issued an order through the jade tablet to the hidden demons of Jade Mountain:

“At any cost.”

“Stop Liuyu of Yinshan’s procession.”

“She must not be allowed to continue expanding her influence in the Nine Underworld.”

The night was as dark as ink, and cold crows swept across the midnight sky.

The route of the Ghost Play Immortal Festival passed through four cities, with large, unmapped forests between each city. The demons of Jade Mountain, who received the order, quickly moved through the darkness.

The moonlight shone behind them, illuminating a trail of silver threads.

These were the spider threads spit out by the young spiders crawling on the demons’ heads.

Weaving, weaving.

The spiders that had emerged from their lairs turned the entire forest into a massive web, waiting for prey to fall in.

“Everyone, stop—!”

The eerie wind blew through the forest, stirring the light gauze on the shoulder litter, as the furious Jiufang Xinglan arrived, blocking the lead demon of Jade Mountain halfway.

He recognized this face.

This demon was one of the Jade-faced Spider’s most trusted subordinates.

These damn spiders had bypassed him and acted on their own!

Although Liuyu’s stance was unclear at the moment, she could not die under his watch, for if the Yinshan clan pursued the matter, the Jiufang family might very well sacrifice him to calm their wrath.

“Liuyu of Yinshan cannot die! All of you, return to your lair.”

The lead demon of Jade Mountain explained in a low voice:

“Liuyu of Yinshan must not die. Without her, Lord Yuantian will have no foothold in the Nine Underworld.”

“So what?”

A cruel coldness appeared on Jiufang Xinglan’s pure face.

A cultivator beside Jiufang Xinglan stepped forward:

“Withdraw now! Are you really going to let a lowly demon stand in our way and block our young master’s path to success? All of you, get out—”

The spider threads tightened instantly.

The invisible spiderwebs hidden in the darkness flashed silver, and in the next moment, the seventh-level cultivator hadn’t even reacted before a cold flash appeared, and his head fell to the ground before he could even comprehend how his attacker had reached him.

[Technique: Jade Mountain Spider Thread Prison – Shift and Shadow]

His head rolled to the ground beneath Jiufang Xinglan’s litter.

The killer disappeared without a trace in an instant.

“Young Master Jiufang, rest assured, we have no intention of taking your life,” the Jade Mountain demon looked at the pale-faced youth, “But if you think you can step over our Jade Mountain demons’ corpses to gain credit and rise to power, think again.”

He stared at Jiufang Xinglan, and the typically humble demon roared:

“Get out of the way!”

Jiufang Xinglan’s chest heaved, and his pale face reddened with humiliation.

These despicable demons, how dare they—how dare they be so disrespectful to him!!!

Even so, he had no choice but to back down, because he had a strong premonition that if he didn’t, the next moment, his head would join his guard’s on the ground.

“Young… Young Master… They really went to kill Miss Yinshan, what should we do?”

Jiufang Xinglan stared at the direction the Jade Mountain demons had disappeared, gritting his teeth:

“Activate the communication array! Tell my cousin immediately!”

Jiufang Zhanghua would never allow Liuyu of Yinshan to die. He would definitely come up with a solution!

The noise gradually faded, and the brilliantly lit city turned into dim yellow spots, slowly being swallowed by the night.

They had entered an area prone to ambushes. The scouts flying in the dense forest maintained vigilance against any external threats.

Liuyu, resting in the divine palanquin, spun a sword pin between her fingers, pondering the progress at the foot of Jade Mountain.

According to Mo Lin, they would set up twelve arenas, each guarded by one of the Twelve Taoist Gods.

Before challenging the Twelve Taoist Gods, all demons would first engage in a melee to contest the five available spots in front of each arena, in order to earn the chance to challenge the Taoist Gods.

Once the arena battles were over, the remaining twelve demons would battle for ranking.

The important part was the arena battles.

The mountain demons had to hold their arenas for an entire hour, allowing those demons who had consumed the Infinite Sea to drop dead in front of everyone.

It would surely be a difficult battle.

However, Liuyu speculated that once the Jade-faced Spider received word of her plans, they wouldn’t just sit idle. Perhaps the demons lying in wait were already preparing to ambush them in the shadows.

The sword pin flicked nimbly between her fingers as she glanced at the demons Mo Lin had sent.

“—I was just about to ask, what are you all doing?”

The demon ghosts squatting on the trees answered:

“By the Lord’s command, we are protecting the Queen’s safety.”

“That’s not what I mean…” Liuyu pointed at the Wanhua Mirror in their hands, “I’m asking, why are you all holding this and doing what you’re doing?”

Since they set off, these demon ghosts had been jumping between the eaves on both sides.

At first, Liuyu thought this was a unique formation of Jiuyou, but later, she realized they were holding something in their hands.

The Wanhua Mirror could gather the images projected from the split mirrors to the main mirror within a certain distance.

Apart from that, it had no other use.

One of the demon ghosts answered solemnly:

“This is also the Lord’s command!”

“The Lord must be worried that our protection is not tight enough, so he asked us to clearly observe the Queen from all angles, so we can promptly guide ourselves to spot any flaws!”

Liuyu: “…”

Really?

She couldn’t shake the feeling that the demon ghost was just trying to watch her dance.