Chapter 7: If you die of anger, I still win.
His former glory was long gone. Yan Jingyu didn’t respond to the girl’s comment.
He rolled his eyes, coughed softly, and changed the subject. “Do you know about Jiuyi Mountain?”
“I do.” The girl put away the shadow-recording pearl. “Jiuyi Mountain is where the phoenix clan lived. It’s said that their souls can mend deficiencies in one’s divine soul… It’s a shame they’re all extinct now.”
Yan Jingyu was a little taken aback. “You are also a demon, and they are also demons. How can you think of capturing them for nourishment…”
“If they were capable, they could capture me for nourishment too.” The girl shook her head. “Jiuyi Mountain isn’t just treasured for its phoenixes. That Divine Wutong Tree is also a great treasure. Not only can it be used for refining artifacts, but it can also recast a physical body… But that’s gone too, completely carved up by the immortal sects. It’s all my fault for being born too late. I wonder if the Lord has any left over.”
Yan Jingyu quickly brought the conversation back on track. “Does your Demon Lord have a phoenix demon with him?”
“No,” Mo Xia said without a second thought. “If he did, when the former Demon Lord Chi Yuan failed his demonic ascension back then, he wouldn’t have perished, and he wouldn’t have almost eaten the Lord by mistake.”
“You’re saying Chi Yuan almost ate Liao Chen?”
“That’s right.” After speaking, Mo Xia’s face suddenly turned serious. “Since you have come to our Demonic Domain, you should address our Demon Lord as Demon Lord. You can’t call him by his name directly.”
Yan Jingyu decided to do as the locals do. “So, that’s why your Demon Lord killed Chi Yuan in retaliation?”
“Precisely.”
The Demonic Domain was indeed different from the Immortal Realm. If something like this had happened in the Immortal Realm, everyone would have hidden it away and avoided talking about it. But here, everyone knew Liao Chen had killed his master. Yan Jingyu took the opportunity to ask, “Do you think your Demon Lord is good to you?”
Mo Xia was completely oblivious to the trap. “I don’t know what others think, but Mo Dong and I both think the Demon Lord is very good. Although he’s a human who cultivates demonic arts, he never mistreats the demon race… But there is one annoying thing. He brought us human books to read. Now our schoolwork has more than doubled, and my head is about to explode.”
“Truly detestable,” Yan Jingyu nodded. “The demon race is supposed to be pure, acting entirely on instinct. Why do you need to learn all that human gibberish?”
“You think so too?!” Mo Xia suddenly looked as if she had found a kindred spirit, her eyes lighting up. Yan Jingyu nodded. “I hated all that when I was young too. With that kind of time, you’d be better off practicing martial arts and improving your cultivation. In the face of absolute strength, all schemes and tricks are just fancy but useless moves.”
“Bang!” Mo Xia slammed her hand on the table and stood up. “You’re absolutely right!”
“If I were you,” Yan Jingyu continued to fan the flames, “I would organize all the demons, big and small, to protest. Could it be that this Liao Chen, because he is human, wants to assimilate your entire demon race? Just think, one day, you might still have the body of a demon, but none of the demonic nature… How terrifying is that?”
“Bang, bang, bang!” Mo Xia was so excited her ears became fluffy. She slammed the table again. “You’re absolutely right!”
A corner of the table cracked under her blows.
Yan Jingyu calmly dodged backwards. “But your Demon Lord has already reached the Demigod stage. You little demons are probably no match for him. If you could unite with some of the great demons…”
A shadow suddenly fell over them. Mo Xia abruptly retracted her exposed ears and claws, her entire body tensing as she stared straight ahead.
Yan Jingyu also stared straight ahead, not looking at the source of the shadow by the window, until Liao Chen spoke. “It seems he has finished eating. Clear the things away.”
Mo Xia moved with extreme speed. With a wave of her hand, she swept the table clean and transformed into a small, fluffy beast, scurrying away.
“You really can’t sit still, can you?” Liao Chen walked past the window. Yan Jingyu quickly got off the small couch and dove straight for the pile of books on the bed. Just as he burrowed in, Liao Chen was already upon him. “Yan Qi, you truly deserve to be killed.”
Yan Jingyu ignored him.
“The demon race is pure. If they don’t learn some of your human deviousness, one day they will end up just like I did back then, being played for a fool by people like you.”
“…” Yan Jingyu’s voice was very soft. “You’re not of the demon race. Why do you need to plan for them?”
Liao Chen swept aside the books on the bed. Yan Jingyu shifted further in. Under his cold gaze, he lowered his eyes slightly.
“You’ve already guessed my identity, so there’s no need for such pretense. In any case, since I decided to take you to Jiuyi Mountain, I had no intention of hiding it from you.”
Yan Jingyu looked up, meeting those pitch-black pupils. After a long moment, he turned his face away and silently picked up the book in front of him, beginning to cultivate earnestly.
Neither of them spoke again.
In front of Liao Chen, Yan Jingyu didn’t try any more tricks. But after trying almost every method, his body remained impervious, unable to draw in any spiritual energy.
For a moment, Yan Jingyu didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved. Disappointed because he knew he would never have a chance at the Great Dao in this life. Relieved because, thankfully, the method to cure him was not hidden within these blood-stained manuals.
Three days later, the two of them returned to the same floating island. This was the Cloud Sea of Hutian. Within the Cloud Sea were tens of thousands of floating islands, which housed the countless secret realms collected by Hutian. It was the time of the Grand Cultivation Assembly, and one could often see cultivators overhead, in groups of three or five, in vast processions, riding on swords, or traveling in flying boats.
Yan Jingyu, having clearly understood Liao Chen’s intentions, directly reminded him, “There is a barrier under the Cloud Sea of Hutian, supplemented by the Heaven-Scrutinizing Mirror. If we fly there, our forms will inevitably be captured by various shadow-recording pearls, and we will be discovered shortly.”
“Don’t try any of your little tricks,” Liao Chen said. “There is indeed a barrier under the Cloud Sea, but it prohibits spatial arts like teleportation. The moment I use my magic, I will attract the attention of those old geezers from Hutian. I’m afraid we’ll have to fight Qin Zhongyou before we even find the Jiuyi Secret Realm. With so many cultivators in this cluster of secret realms, even if they can’t kill me, it will be a huge hassle.”
He looked at Yan Jingyu and stated, “You want to escape in the chaos.”
“…” Yan Jingyu smiled. “I’m afraid of heights.”
Liao Chen also smiled. “Don’t worry, I fly very fast.”
Liao Chen grabbed his arm. Yan Jingyu quickly threw himself at him. The latter, caught off guard, found his arms around his waist. He frowned, looking down at the face so close to his. “What are you doing?”
“I’m really afraid of heights,” Yan Jingyu’s face was pale. “Liao Chen, can you find an artifact, a flying boat or something, to carry me…”
Liao Chen pushed him away directly. Yan Jingyu was left dangling by one arm, soaring into the air like a tattered sack.
Liao Chen did indeed fly very fast. Yan Jingyu could only feel the wind whistling in his ears, his body swaying precariously. If not for Liao Chen still holding his arm, he would have probably been blown far away by the wind.
In a brief moment, Liao Chen glanced at him, his gaze falling on his pale lips. He reached out with one hand and hung a feather-shaped jade pendant on him again.
The jade pendant quickly expanded into a spiritual membrane. Yan Jingyu immediately felt the noise in his ears lessen, and the stinging pain of the wind on his face also subsided. He looked at Liao Chen in a daze, but the latter sped up again.
“The Heaven-Scrutinizing Mirror must have already seen us, but with so many cultivators here, it will still take some time to identify me. We must find the Jiuyi Secret Realm before they arrive.”
Although he said “find,” his direction and actions were very clear. Yan Jingyu could see at a glance that he had already scouted this place out.
“You came to Hutian this time specifically for the Jiuyi Secret Realm?”
“And for you.”
Tens of thousands of floating islands flew past beneath them. He didn’t know how long had passed before a sound like a vibrating string came from behind. “Liao Chen! How dare you trespass into the secret realm cluster of Hutian?!”
The speaker was a woman. Yan Jingyu knew at once it was Ling Dannan. The voice continued, sharp and fierce, “Fellow cultivators of the Cloud Sea, be warned! Liao Chen is currently at Zhixu, coordinates Chen-three! Lord Qin is already on his way to support. If any capable person is willing to intercept this man, they may choose any one Heaven-tier artifact from the Hutian Treasure Pavilion!”
After these words were spoken, it was visible to the naked eye that all who were preparing to approach, or had already approached, consciously moved away from the Zhixu point. A moment ago, he could still see people flying past them. In less than a moment, there wasn’t even a distant black dot to be seen.
Yan Jingyu: “…You really have done a lot of evil.”
On the other side, Ling Dannan was also furious. “This bunch of useless things!” she cursed.
“Everyone is here for treasure. They probably don’t want to risk their lives,” a gentle voice said from the side. Ling Dannan paced back and forth, her eyes fixed on the Heaven-Scrutinizing Mirror. “That thrall is also there. This person must be extraordinary to Liao Chen. He is completely powerless. Inform Perfected Being Zeng, see if we can capture him in the chaos!”
Liao Chen began to circle around. Yan Jingyu could see that he was doing this to distract Ling Dannan, to prevent her from determining which secret realm they were heading to and setting up an ambush at their destination.
Ling Dannan called out again: “Zhaoyang, You-five!”
“Shangzhang, Si-five!”
“Danjue, Mao-one!”
Many cultivators who were preparing to head to these points immediately turned their swords and left after hearing Ling Dannan’s transmission. It wasn’t that there weren’t any bold ones who tried to intercept him, but ‘Lian Feng’, which was protecting him, barely needed its master’s command before it shot out, its sharp sword energy piercing through the person in an instant, leaving only a falling corpse.
Yan Jingyu watched as Liao Chen flew past like he was herding chickens. The crowd scattered like marbles, accompanied by terrified wails. After a few repetitions, he was a little speechless. “Are you done playing?”
“Soon.”
“Liao Chen—!”
Qin Zhongyou’s voice cut through the air, carrying a brilliant golden light. The martial-spirit heavy sword swung horizontally. Liao Chen finally hooked an arm around Yan Jingyu’s waist, forming a hand seal as he spun. The lightning talismans he had prepared long ago suddenly filled the surroundings, the flashing electricity blocking the pouncing Qin Zhongyou.
The lightning talismans exploded with a deafening roar, the daylight-bright lightning blindingly intense.
Surrounded by the lightning, he fell heavily, striking the teleportation array of the Jiuyi Secret Realm with a fierce palm.
The astral energy exploded, and the floating island cracked. He held Yan Jingyu, and amidst the roaring lightning, he looked up at Qin Zhongyou’s extremely ugly face, a slight curve to his lips.
The ring of lightning gradually resonated at its center due to the flashes, swirling like a vortex above their heads. As the torrent of lightning poured down, their figures vanished in the screaming teleportation array.
The entire floating island turned to dust in an instant.
Qin Zhongyou’s breathing was heavy. He stood motionless.
“You destroyed the teleportation array?!” On the other side, Yan Jingyu was being dragged forward by Liao Chen. “Back then, the Phoenix King wept blood and sank Jiuyi Mountain into the chaotic netherworld! Now, the only entrance in this world is the one in Hutian! How are we going to get out?!”
“If we can’t get out, then you will cultivate properly here.”
Yan Jingyu stumbled as he was pulled along. “Just to fight me, you’re giving up being a good Demon Lord? Then what was the point of you painstakingly cultivating to the Demigod stage?!”
“Even without you, I would have come here anyway,” Liao Chen’s tone was flat. “It’s just a coincidence that I brought a companion this time.”
Yan Jingyu almost coughed up blood from anger. Although he had accepted his death, it didn’t mean he was willing to spend the rest of his life with Liao Chen in this godforsaken place, especially since he had been forcibly dragged here.
Liao Chen casually stuffed a pill into his mouth. “If you die of anger, I still win.”
