Zanxing remained silent.
Originally, there should have been no connection. If she hadn’t pulled Liu Yunxin at that time, taking Liu Yunxin’s place in falling into the water ravine, she probably would never have gone to Gufeng Mountain until her death. But then again, if Young Miss Yang of the demon race had truly developed as the “Heavenly Way” arranged, how could she have been easily killed by Mu Cengxiao’s palm strike? In the end, it was all fate’s strange coincidences.
“Then why are you here?” Zanxing asked. “Who locked you in this place?”
“Who else could it be? Is there a second madman in this world?”
Zanxing: “Gui Yansheng?”
Bujiang looked at her in surprise: “You’ve already met him?”
“More than that—he was the one who schemed to trap me in the Ten Thousand Kill Formation, seized the Xiaoyuan Pearl, and threw me here.”
Bujiang’s gaze became even more astonished: “That’s impossible. How would he know your whereabouts? You just mentioned the Xiaoyuan Pearl—how did it end up in your possession?”
This was an even longer story. Zanxing rubbed her temples with some irritation: “This matter is complicated to explain. Setting aside my situation for now, what exactly is Gui Yansheng? He said he’s my half-brother from a different mother—is that true?”
“To be honest, I don’t know if it’s true either.” Bujiang shrugged. “When I chose to be with your father, I was attracted to his appearance and abilities. We demon race are naturally passionate—having several lovers at once isn’t anything remarkable. Your father had a cold and proud temperament and always looked down on those with lowly bloodlines. Based on my understanding of him, he shouldn’t have left other bloodlines outside, much less had dealings with the human race. However, that madman’s Demon King mark isn’t fake, and his appearance does resemble your father by about fifty percent—that can’t be faked. As for the entanglements between his mother and your father, I’m not very clear about those either.”
Demon King Gui Diao Tang was a legend in the demon realm. It was said his power was so great that even the Heavenly Way’s rules were helpless against him. Back when the demon race’s spiritual veins were withering and they were oppressed by cultivators in the human world, Gui Diao Tang single-handedly awakened the Heavenly Demon bloodline and saved the entire demon race. He was handsome, cold-blooded, and domineering—a firm supporter of bloodline theory. The strict hierarchy system that the demon race later followed began when he ascended to the throne. Heavenly Demons, Mo Sha, Mo Xiu, demon beasts… the demon realm followed this hierarchy and lived in peace.
Until the Xiaoyuan Pearl went out of control, and Gui Diao Tang began to fall into demonic madness.
Bujiang was born with demon veins and possessed stunning beauty. Back then, seeing that Gui Diao Tang was handsome and powerful—the only person in the entire demon realm who could match her—she became the Demon King’s queen. She hadn’t expected the Demon Empress position to be difficult—not long after, Gui Diao Tang developed heart demons because of the Xiaoyuan Pearl, slaughtering everywhere in the human world and provoking the cultivation world to send out demon-slaying armies, leading to endless warfare between humans and demons.
Later, Immortal Qinghua killed Gui Diao Tang. Bujiang was hunted by the demon-slaying army and had to send Zanxing to the human world, returning to the demon realm with the remaining demon race to hide and recuperate. But ever since Gui Diao Tang’s death, the demon realm’s spiritual veins withered, the entire demon race lacked demonic energy, Mo Xiu’s cultivation stagnated, and sect cultivators would occasionally come to exterminate demons. If this continued, the entire demon race wouldn’t be far from extinction.
Until two years ago, the withered spiritual veins gradually began to show signs of life again. At first, Bujiang and the others thought Gui Diao Tang had been resurrected, but there was no anomaly at the Golden Gate Ruins. Later, Gui Yansheng appeared.
This youth had a pair of golden pupils, his appearance somewhat resembled Gui Diao Tang, and the Demon King mark on his forehead shocked all the demon race—the Demon King mark could only be possessed by those with Demon King bloodline. He claimed to be of Demon King bloodline and the next Demon King of the demon realm.
But Gui Yansheng was half-demon.
Everyone in the demon realm knew that Gui Diao Tang despised those with lowly bloodlines—how could he have sired offspring with the human race? Bujiang was also somewhat suspicious.
Then, all these suspicious people were killed by Gui Yansheng.
Completely contrary to this youth’s young appearance were his extremely ruthless methods. The Ashura Umbrella in his hands could absorb others’ souls, so not only did people die, their souls would also be tortured, finally becoming killing tools in this youth’s hands—truly heart-piercing.
With his power alone, he easily eliminated all demon race members who opposed him and imprisoned Bujiang.
Although Bujiang was of the Heavenly Demon lineage, she was also affected by the entire demon realm’s spiritual veins. These years, to maintain the entire demon realm, she had already exhausted her essence and blood. After a bitter battle with Gui Yansheng, she was finally defeated. Gui Yansheng didn’t take Bujiang’s life, but imprisoned her in the Abyss of Extreme Ice. The Abyss of Extreme Ice held guilty demon race members—he was humiliating Bujiang.
“The only thing I’m grateful for is that the Xiaoyuan Pearl didn’t fall into that madman’s hands.” Bujiang looked at Zanxing. “But you say that now he’s already obtained the Xiaoyuan Pearl—that madman will only become more insane.”
Gui Yansheng was moody and unpredictable—one could never figure out what he was thinking. Even with his trusted subordinates, he could be drinking tea and laughing one moment, then unhesitatingly chop off their heads the next. Even when Gui Diao Tang had fallen into demonic madness, he hadn’t been so unstable.
Most demon race members weren’t willing to follow this young Demon King—no one wanted to casually lose their lives. Only a small portion with extreme temperaments believed that the demon race had been chased like homeless dogs by the cultivation race these years, and now they should return everything with interest, killing everyone in the entire cultivation world.
Hearing this, Zanxing frowned slightly: “He wants to avenge Gui Diao Tang?” As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Bujiang glance at her. Zanxing paused and corrected herself: “…I mean, he wants to avenge Father?”
“Revenge?” Bujiang laughed. “I doubt it. The day that madman ascended to the throne, he tore down the original Demon King’s palace. I can’t see any father-son affection toward his old man. You know how in lion prides, when the lead lion gets old, it gets bitten to death by young lions who take over. I think if your father were still alive, he’d just be a stepping stone for him to ascend to the Demon King position.”
“Didn’t he ever tell you?” Zanxing asked. “Why did he return to this place, and how has he lived these years?” Unlike Zanxing, who could blend into crowds because her Demon King power was sealed, Gui Diao Tang had golden pupils—wanting to hide in the human world and live like an ordinary person probably wasn’t so easy.
Bujiang suddenly fell silent, her gaze turning toward the void of the ice abyss, thinking about something.
Zanxing waited patiently.
After a long time, the woman spoke again: “That madman imprisoned me here, and at first, he would come talk to me from time to time. I heard that his beloved was beaten to death by demon race members back then, to protect him and help him return to the demon realm.” Her voice was flat: “Perhaps that’s the reason he went mad.”
In Zanxing’s mind, the words Gui Yansheng had said to her suddenly surfaced.
“Neither belonging to the human race nor the demon race—should we deserve to be bullied, expelled, treated as freaks and executed, more lowly than ants?”
Being half-demon was probably more difficult than simply being human or a demon race, which is why he would say, “I want to rewrite these rules.”
“Forget it, that madman’s words are half-true and half-false, inconsistent—no one knows which of his words are true. Rather than guessing what he wants to do, let’s first look at you…” Bujiang’s words pulled Zanxing’s thoughts back. “Since you obtained the Xiaoyuan Pearl, your cultivation should have increased. Being able to climb from the Abyss of Extreme Ice to here, you should have some ability. What’s your current cultivation level? Also, what’s that in your arms—is it your spirit beast?”
She was fine not mentioning this, but once she did, Zanxing’s mood suddenly became even more dejected.
Now that her identity had suddenly changed, what awaited her was not only pursuit by the cultivation world but also Gui Yansheng’s killing moves, yet she had become an ordinary person without the strength to truss a chicken at this crucial moment. At this moment, Zanxing suddenly could understand Gui Yansheng’s feelings back then—belonging to neither side, having enemies on both sides, without even the ability to protect herself—truly miserable.
“I have no cultivation anymore,” after much consideration, Zanxing spoke frankly. “When I was in the Ten Thousand Kill Formation, although I had a friend’s help and narrowly survived, my Golden Core dissolved, and I lost all my Yuanli. Later, I encountered Gui Yansheng, who stole my Xiaoyuan Pearl and used his spirit artifact to absorb my soul. Fortunately, the substitute talisman my senior brother gave me blocked the disaster. The reason I could climb up from the Abyss of Extreme Ice is because I wore the flower fox fur my senior sister gave me to resist the cold, and my spirit beast…” Zanxing opened the fox fur, revealing the sleeping Mimi to Bujiang. “It’s a Yinlang beast, but it only has a trace of spirit beast bloodline and may never awaken. In the Ten Thousand Kill Formation, it swallowed quite a bit of divine fire for me, and now it’s very weak.”
Bujiang’s smile gradually stiffened.
“Even if I hadn’t encountered all this, perhaps I’m not as powerful as you thought.” Zanxing looked at Bujiang. “However, this is only temporary. As long as I get out of here, I might think of some other way to save you. After you get out, we can gather the demon race and discuss countermeasures then.”
She hugged Mimi back into her arms and tied the fox fur’s belt, her expression showing no dejection but rather a bright resilience that grew stronger with each setback.
This bit of brightness gave people some hope even in such a miserable predicament.
Bujiang sighed: “You do have some of your father’s bearing from back then.”
“However, it’s impossible for you alone to get out of here.”
Bujiang spoke, her voice as flat as if describing the most ordinary matter: “When you climbed up, you should have already seen those human figures in the ice caves. These are all criminals thrown into the Abyss of Extreme Ice. Every one of them wanted to climb out of here, but not a single person could truly leave this place. Those on these ice walls are all the names of people who remained here. Among them were geniuses with exceptional cultivation and demon lords that even sects feared, but they all stayed in the end.”
“The Abyss of Extreme Ice is the coldest place in the three realms. No matter how determined you are, in the end, even your spiritual power will freeze and shatter here, becoming a piece of ice in the ice caves.”
“So this ice abyss grows—the more people who die here, the deeper the ice abyss becomes, and the farther the exit gets.”
Her gaze fixed on Zanxing, her red lips speaking words that were clear and cruel.
“Your fox fur won’t last three days.”