Xie Xuechen didn’t know when he had fallen asleep again. When he woke up the next day, it was already noon. Mu Xuanling was talking with the old woman outside the room. Xie Xuechen discreetly circulated his energy to assess his condition.
There was no fluctuation of spiritual power in his divine apertures. He couldn’t even control the Jun Tian Sword. Even when he exerted all his strength to operate the Jade Palace Heart Method, he found it difficult to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
He wasn’t sure how Mu Xuanling’s “Half Day of Fragrant Splendor” was refined, but it must have used heavenly treasures involving the power of “cause and effect.” Among the two most powerful forces in the three realms, one was the power of cause and effect, which was extremely domineering and could ignore all laws of strength and weakness. The other, even more powerful, was the “chaos” power originating from primordial times. Chaos could ignore all cause and effect.
Xie Xuechen had exchanged seven days of weakness for half a day at his peak. This kind of causal exchange involved heavenly fate and couldn’t be reversed by human power. This meant that for the next seven days, he would have to submit to Mu Xuanling’s tyranny…
“Husband, you’re awake,” Mu Xuanling said as she pushed open the door. Seeing Xie Xuechen sitting on the bed, she wasn’t surprised. “Are you feeling better today? Can you get up for a meal?”
Although Xie Xuechen’s spiritual power was difficult to recover, the physical recovery ability of a Fashen Venerable was extremely strong. Overnight, his external injuries had healed by thirty to forty percent, and movement was not a problem.
Xie Xuechen avoided Mu Xuanling’s intentional offer of support, got up from the bed, and walked straight out.
Mu Xuanling showed a helpless expression and then followed him with a grin.
The farmhouse was simple. The main hall had weathered walls, and on the wooden table were a few large bowls containing steamed buns and pickled vegetables, along with a chicken stew. This was already considered extremely hospitable treatment.
The owners of the house were an elderly couple. When they saw Xie Xuechen come out, they immediately became somewhat flustered. Unlike Mu Xuanling’s delicate beauty, Xie Xuechen was tall and straight, cold and handsome, naturally carrying the austere aura of a sword cultivator. Moreover, as the leader of the Immortal Alliance for a long time, his every movement exuded a celestial nobility. Even though his spiritual power was almost depleted, he still carried an intimidating presence that ordinary people found hard to bear.
Xie Xuechen cupped his hands towards the elderly couple and said, “Thank you for your kindness in saving me.”
“It’s… it’s nothing, great hero,” the old man said nervously, rubbing his hands and laughing dryly. He pointed at a stool and repeatedly said, “Great hero, please sit… sit…”
Xie Xuechen nodded and sat down on the stool. Mu Xuanling immediately sat down next to him, their arms touching as they sat close together.
Xie Xuechen glanced at her.
Pretending not to notice, Mu Xuanling enthusiastically served him rice, smiling and saying, “Husband, eat more to nourish your body.”
Xie Xuechen resisted the urge to push her away, clenched his fist, then lowered his eyes and silently picked up his bowl to eat.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves came from outside, followed by a rough voice.
“Father, Mother, I’m back!”
A young man dressed as a hunter walked in. When his gaze fell on Mu Xuanling, his face reddened slightly, and his steps faltered imperceptibly.
“Miss Mu, Master Xie,” the young man nodded to them.
“Brother Hou, you’re back,” Mu Xuanling smiled and asked, “Come and eat.”
Xie Xuechen remembered the conversation he had heard last night and realized that this young man was the one who had helped treat his wounds. He nodded in gratitude.
Hunter Hou seemed somewhat afraid to make eye contact with them. He picked a stool to sit on and said, “Miss Mu, I went to the market today to look. Our area mostly produces small horses with short legs. There was only one steed that can travel a hundred li in a day. I bought it for you. I told the merchant that if there were any more good horses, he should let me know. If you’re not in a hurry, you could stay a few more days and wait.”
Mu Xuanling sighed and said, “We are in quite a hurry. I fear my father might send people to hunt us down. Although there’s only one horse, it’s fine for us to ride together as husband and wife. Brother Hou, thank you for your trouble with this matter.”
“You’re too kind. It was just a small effort,” Hunter Hou said, waving his hands with a red face.
Hearing this, Xie Xuechen understood Mu Xuanling’s plan. She knew he had lost his powers and couldn’t travel, so she asked someone to buy a horse.
Where did she intend to take him as a hostage?
Xie Xuechen frowned in thought.
“Miss Mu, I inquired at the market today and didn’t hear any news of the jianghu people in the vicinity. Our Qingshan Market doesn’t usually have many outsiders. If any jianghu people came, someone would surely know. Miss Mu, your family probably hasn’t found this place yet. You can rest easy and don’t need to rush your journey,” Hunter Hou reassured her.
It wasn’t just because he was attracted to Mu Xuanling’s beauty. Yesterday, when he had treated Xie Xuechen’s wounds, he had been shocked by the severity of the injuries. He couldn’t imagine how a living person could survive such severe wounds. He had thought this Master Xie wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for ten days to half a month but was surprised to see him sitting in the hall eating as if nothing had happened when he entered.
The two of them sitting side by side truly looked like a match made in heaven…
Hunter Hou felt a twinge of heartache.
“Grandmother, we’ll be leaving after we finish our meal,” Mu Xuanling said, performing a seemingly proper bow to the elderly couple. “We’ve troubled you these past two days.”
The elderly couple immediately stood up to return the gesture, repeatedly saying, “No trouble at all, no trouble at all.”
Mu Xuanling smiled slightly. “Thank you, and… I’m sorry…”
Before anyone could understand why Mu Xuanling was apologizing, they saw her raise her fair white hand. It seemed as if a faint bell sound rang in their ears, and the scene before their eyes became distorted and eerie. The three members of the Hou family’s eyes went blank, and they immediately collapsed to the ground.
“You!” Xie Xuechen was shocked and angry, thinking Mu Xuanling was going to kill these ordinary people. Despite his severe injuries and depleted powers, he immediately reached out to stop Mu Xuanling. However, without his spiritual power to protect him, his hand was immediately repelled by Mu Xuanling’s demonic technique, causing a sharp pain in his right arm.
“They’re fine,” Mu Xuanling said.
Xie Xuechen looked at the three people lying on the ground and reached out to check their breathing. Seeing that their lives were not in danger, he let out a sigh of relief. He turned to glare at Mu Xuanling and sternly asked, “What are you doing?”
Mu Xuanling shrugged and said, “Sect Leader Xie must think I’m silencing them by killing them.”
Xie Xuechen indeed thought so at first, but these three people were unharmed.
Mu Xuanling said, “Sect Leader Xie can rest assured. I’ve only erased their memories, not harmed their lives.”
“Why do this?” Xie Xuechen asked coldly.
“It seems Sect Leader Xie doesn’t understand the demon race deeply enough,” Mu Xuanling said calmly as she sat down. “In this world, when people develop thoughts of greed, anger, or delusion, it generates the energy of heart demons. This energy gathers in the Void Sea, and the demon race is formed from the condensed demonic energy in the Void Sea. Therefore, the demon race can evoke and manipulate heart demons.”
Mu Xuanling pointed at Hunter Hou lying on the ground and said, “Didn’t Sect Leader Xie notice? He had already developed greedy thoughts about my beauty. That is a heart demon. After we escaped from the Demon Realm and were transported here, the demon race will soon track us to this place. By communicating with all the heart demons in this area, they will quickly know our whereabouts. What I’m doing is erasing his memory while also eliminating his heart demon. Although there’s a barrier preventing high-ranking demons from entering or leaving, you’ve lost all your powers now. It probably won’t be easy for you to deal with the demon race’s pursuit.”
After hearing Mu Xuanling’s explanation, Xie Xuechen was somewhat relieved.
Thousands of years ago, the immortal cultivators joined forces to establish a barrier at Two Realms Mountain, known as the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation. This formation resembled a celestial net – the stronger the demonic energy, the more restraining the net became. As a result, high-ranking demon gods found it difficult to cross the formation, while weaker demons could slip through the gaps at the cost of injury.
Xie Xuechen escaped from the Demon Realm with Mu Xuanling, an act that would surely be reported immediately. The Demon Lord and the Grand Priest Sang Qi, unable to leave the Demon Realm themselves, would undoubtedly dispatch numerous demon pursuers to search for the pair. Xie Xuechen now found himself caught between a rock and a hard place, unsure whether Mu Xuanling or the demon pursuers posed a greater threat.
After putting the three individuals to bed in their room, Xie Xuechen returned to the hall to find Mu Xuanling removing a golden hairpin from her coiffure. With a casual pinch of her delicate fingers, the exquisitely carved golden hairpin transformed into a small gold ingot.
Puzzled, Xie Xuechen asked, “What are you doing now?”
Mu Xuanling replied, “We’ve received kindness from these people – eaten a chicken and bought a horse. We can’t let them bear the cost.” She glanced at Xie Xuechen with a half-smile, “Sect Leader Xie, do you have anything of value on you?”
Xie Xuechen’s face stiffened.
He had been tortured in the Melting Abyss for seven days, and all his magical items had been confiscated. Fortunately, the Jun Tian Sword, being formed of sword energy, could be hidden within his divine aperture, allowing him to keep it by sheer luck.
Mu Xuanling sighed, “So, I have to pay myself. How could I possibly carry such mundane things as gold and silver? I can only use my hairpin to repay the debt. This pin is too ornate and carries my aura, so I’m concerned the demon pursuers might detect it. I’ve erased the aura and shaped it into a gold ingot.”
As she spoke, Mu Xuanling walked to the side and tossed the gold ingot into the rice container.
Xie Xuechen raised an eyebrow but refrained from asking why.
Mu Xuanling, ever perceptive, explained, “Leaving it on the table would be too obvious. In the rice container, they’ll find it in a few days when they cook, but by then we’ll be long gone, and they won’t associate it with us.”
She then tidied up the bowls, chopsticks, and bedding, erasing all traces of their presence.
Xie Xuechen watched silently, experiencing a strange feeling – as if she were the human living in this mortal world, while he was the outsider.
When Mu Xuanling finished her tasks and approached him, he snapped back to reality.
“Sect Leader Xie, it’s time for us to leave.”
“Us?” Xie Xuechen’s eyebrow twitched as he looked down at the smiling Mu Xuanling. “Where exactly do you intend to take me?”
He had long suspected that Mu Xuanling had gone to great lengths to bring him out of the Demon Realm with some ulterior motive, but this demoness spoke nothing but nonsense, and he dared not trust a word.
“To a safe place, of course.”
For Xie Xuechen, with Mu Xuanling nearby and demon soldiers in pursuit, the only safe place would be the Five Immortal Sects Alliance. But would Mu Xuanling, a half-demon, dare to accompany him there?
Xie Xuechen looked at Mu Xuanling suspiciously, but she suddenly moved closer, almost pressing herself against his chest. Xie Xuechen instinctively took half a step back, only to find himself blocked by the table behind him. Mu Xuanling tilted her head up to look at Xie Xuechen, reached up to remove the white jade hairpin from his crown, and conjured a black wooden hairpin out of thin air, inserting it into his crown.
“This is a magical item I crafted, the Shadow-Concealing Hairpin, made from the ghost shadow wood of the Demon Realm. This hairpin can disguise your appearance. Unless someone has powerful magical abilities, others who see your face will forget it immediately, considering you unremarkable.” Mu Xuanling explained with a smile, “Sect Leader Xie’s celestial appearance is too eye-catching. I can only resort to this strategy to avoid drawing attention.”
As she spoke, Mu Xuanling discreetly pocketed Xie Xuechen’s hairpin.
Xie Xuechen noticed but said nothing. Given their current predicament, when he could barely protect himself, how could he argue with her over a hairpin?
=====
In the Demon Realm, at the God-Slaying Palace.
High-ranking demons gathered, kneeling and trembling, as the black silhouette in the silver mirror was in a state of fury.
The Demon Lord had not yet emerged from seclusion, but no one dared to conceal Xie Xuechen’s abduction of Mu Xuanling, and it was eventually reported.
The Demon Lord’s projection appeared on the magical device, issuing an edict commanding all demon soldiers to pursue Xie Xuechen.
“Your Highness, Xie Xuechen has recovered to his peak strength. Even if we catch up to them, I fear we may be powerless…” a voice from below said hesitantly.
“Not necessarily.” A low, hoarse voice from outside interrupted the meeting in the hall.
The demons were startled and turned to look. They saw a tall figure slowly entering the hall, cloaked in black, the hood half-covering his face, revealing only a gaunt chin, pale complexion, and unusually red thin lips.
“Greetings, Grand Priest!” The demons hurriedly bowed.
Grand Priest Sang Qi ignored the demons and walked directly to the silver mirror, slightly cupping his hands in salute.
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
The Grand Priest held an esteemed position in the Demon Realm, and even to the Demon Lord, he only needed to give a half-bow.
“Sang Qi, you’ve emerged from seclusion early,” the Demon Lord said, clearly surprised.
“Xie Xuechen has abducted the Holy Maiden and escaped. The matter is of great importance, so I had no choice but to end my seclusion prematurely,” Sang Qi said gravely. “It has been a day since Xie Xuechen fled the Demon Realm. If he had truly fully recovered his powers, he would be thousands of miles away by now, in Snow-Embracing City. However, I just contacted our spies in the Immortal Alliance, and the Five Immortal Sects are still unaware of Xie Xuechen’s whereabouts. The sect leaders and elders only know that Xie Xuechen entered the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation seven days ago and hasn’t emerged. They believe he’s trapped in the formation and are preparing to enter and rescue him.”
The Demon Lord hesitated for a moment before asking, “Your meaning is…?”
Demons are formed from demonic energy and have low intelligence. Although higher-ranking demons have higher intelligence, even the Demon Lord finds it difficult to control his nature, often being ruled by desires and emotions, thus losing the ability to think clearly.
It is for this reason that the demon race allied with the half-demons, honoring the half-demon Sang Qi as the Grand Priest, to jointly manage the affairs of the Demon Realm.
Sang Qi patiently explained, “There are two possibilities for why Xie Xuechen, after escaping, didn’t immediately return to Snow-Embracing City. First, he might suspect the loyalty of the Five Immortal Sects, knowing that this ambush at the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation was a betrayal by someone from the Five Sects. Second, he may not have truly recovered his strength and is unable to return to Snow-Embracing City thousands of miles away, or even contact the nearest Immortal Alliance sect in time.”
Upon hearing Sang Qi’s words, the Demon Lord suddenly understood.
“You make a good point. What do you suggest we do?”
“Given Xie Xuechen’s character, if he had truly regained his power, he would return to his sect immediately to root out the traitors, even if he knew there were spies in the Five Immortal Sects. Therefore, the most likely possibility is that he’s severely injured and only temporarily regained his peak strength through some method to escape the Demon Realm. We must seize this opportunity to send troops in pursuit,” Sang Qi said.
“This aligns with my thoughts,” the Demon Lord nodded.
“Xie Xuechen was ambushed, and the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation wasn’t successfully repaired. The gaps have widened again, which presents an excellent opportunity for our demon and monster races to invade the human realm. I have already used the Holy Maiden’s hair to divine her location. She is not in danger at the moment, and I can estimate the range of her whereabouts. If we dispatch demon soldiers and use the Heart Demon Formation to search, we should have results soon.”
“Excellent!” The Demon Lord was delighted upon hearing this and said loudly, “I’ll leave the pursuit to you. Remember, the Holy Maiden must be brought back alive!”
Sang Qi bowed slightly and said, “Sang Qi accepts the command.”