After the matter of going to Yuē Mountain was decided, all of Heishi City became busy.

This trip sounded simple, but in reality, surviving in the gap between the Demon Extermination Army and Gui Yansheng was not an easy task. The demon race members accompanying Zanxing needed to be loyal talents who were comprehensively excellent in virtue, wisdom, physical ability, and beauty. The batch of former subordinates that the previous Demon Lord Gui Diao Tang relied on most heavily had been mostly eliminated by the sects after the great war between humans and demons years ago. The remaining portion with some ability had died under the mad Gui Yansheng’s hands two years ago. This left only a bunch of misfits… no, remnant soldiers and weak generals. In such a large Heishi City, trying to select a hundred elite soldiers was much harder than Taiyan Sect’s sect examinations.

Xiao Shuang tirelessly went over the list of demon race members for the trip with Zanxing again and again: “Little Palace Master, these candidates have all been screened and selected after being reviewed by Demon Empress. For the demon army accompanying this time, cultivation and intelligence are secondary—the most important thing is loyalty. This is Little Palace Master’s first time leading people out of the Demon Realm. If someone stabs you in the back…” He didn’t continue.

Although most people in the Demon Realm belonged to Bujiang’s faction, there was also a small portion of extremists willing to support Gui Yansheng in dominating the three realms and securing his position as lord of the three realms. If one of these mixed in and stabbed Zanxing in the back at a critical moment, that would be more loss than gain.

Zanxing was packing things into her Qiankun Bag while responding with “mm-hmm” and “ah-ha.”

Bingmo walked over. Before Zanxing could speak, the azure-clothed youth’s eyes had already reddened, crying like pear blossoms in the rain: “Little Palace Master, you must take care of your health on this trip. I heard that Yuē Mountain is a very sinister place… If it weren’t for my poor health, I would definitely go with Little Palace Master.” He took out a peace amulet from his chest with trembling hands: “This is a peace amulet my mother gave me. I’m giving it to Little Palace Master to protect your safety.”

Zanxing took the small white brocade pouch with the characters ‘Peace’ embroidered in red silk thread, and smiled: “Thank you.” She thought to herself: please, if Bingmo really came along, she’d have to spend the whole journey wiping up the blood he coughed up everywhere—they wouldn’t reach Yuē Mountain even in ten years.

“Little Palace Master,” Shunü handed over a slender lover’s knot: “This subordinate cut a strand of my own hair to weave this happiness knot.” She smiled shyly and timidly: “This is this subordinate’s heartfelt intention. Little Palace Master must accept it.”

Zanxing: “…” She felt very guilty somehow.

The things in the Qiankun Bag weren’t completely packed yet, and a red basket lay to one side. The fire essence in the Tianhuo Basket had already burned out in the Extreme Ice Abyss, making it an empty basket now. Zanxing was still considering whether to leave this basket in Hundun Hall when Chuideng Gui had already picked up the basket and put three ghost lamps inside. His voice was sweet as he said: “Little Palace Master, on this trip, this subordinate cannot hold lamps for you, so walking at night will inevitably be a bit dark. This subordinate’s ghost lamps never extinguish at night. With ghost lamps, Little Palace Master won’t be afraid of the dark.”

It seemed like lighting such a ghostly fire in the middle of the night would be even more frightening, but Zanxing still put the Tianhuo Basket filled with ghost lamps into her Qiankun Bag: “Thank you, I needed just this.”

Jiumo brought a jar of good wine, Shuijun placed a water-avoiding pearl in Zanxing’s hand, and General Lan was even more wonderful—he gave Zanxing a hanging rope. Although the symbolism wasn’t ideal, Zanxing still accepted it and put everything into her Qiankun Bag.

The group sent Zanxing to the gates of Heishi City with countless instructions and reminders. Zanxing had the subtle illusion of an emperor going to war with the full court and eighteen concubines seeing him off.

Bujiang said: “Let’s go.” She led Zanxing onto the great riverbank embankment.

In the mountainous land at the gates of Heishi City, an extremely wide river flowed as broad as the sea, surrounding all of Heishi City. The flowing water was rapid as arrows, and the river water was pitch black like the night. Towering huge waves came from the distance, beating against the riverbank embankment at the city gates. The splashing water fell on the Heishis, permeating with a sinister, decaying aura.

Unsurprisingly, if anyone passed through this place, they would instantly be corroded by the river water into nothing but withered bones.

Bujiang opened her palm, and a black jar appeared in her palm. She opened the jar’s lid, and immediately a rich spiritual energy emanated from within.

“Grab a handful of what’s inside and throw it into the river,” Bujiang told Zanxing.

Zanxing did as instructed, grabbing a large handful of black pills from the jar. These pills looked similar to the pills from the sects, except what was attached to them wasn’t yuan power, but demonic power.

“This is…” Zanxing asked Bujiang beside her while scattering them into the Mingming River.

“Just feed, that’s all.”

Feed?

Before Zanxing could continue questioning, the rushing river showed some changes. In the black river, a huge whirlpool suddenly appeared, stirring the flowing water as high as city walls. The whirlpool grew larger and deeper from far to near, as if some giant beast was about to break through the water from within. Mimi seemed to sense something and paced back and forth beside Zanxing uneasily, crouching to stare at the river below the wall.

“Splash—”

From the dark river bottom, a huge black shadow suddenly burst forth. It leaped in the air, then quickly fell back into the water, stirring up river waves like swift wind and sudden rain that instantly soaked the people on shore. Zanxing only vaguely saw a fish tail as vast as a huge palace and a pair of eyes as large as signboards.

Her heart stopped, and she couldn’t speak for a long moment.

Oh no, her fear of giant creatures was acting up.

“This is a Black Dragon Fish,” Bujiang put away the jar. “When I brought you back to Heishi City before, for convenience, I didn’t ride the dragon fish. But this trip has many people, so riding on the dragon fish to swim across will be faster.” She looked at the demon race following behind: “Get on.”

The Black Dragon Fish swam to the edge of the Mingming River embankment. Seemingly well aware of its ugly appearance, it silently submerged its fish head underwater, only exposing its small mountain-like fish spine. The fish spine was very wide, like a raised mountain range. The demon race members went up one by one to find their own places to settle. Xiao Shuang walked beside Zanxing: “Little Palace Master, please.”

Zanxing looked at Bujiang, who nodded slightly at her. Zanxing said nothing more and climbed onto the fish while holding Mimi.

Xiao Shuang followed up.

The pitch-black river waves lapped against the fish’s body. The dragon fish slowly moved its dorsal fin like a black giant ship sailing toward the sky, carrying everyone swimming toward the distance.

Bujiang’s figure gradually condensed into a blurry red dot and disappeared from everyone’s sight along with the Heishi City behind them.

The Mingming River—no, it looked more like a black ocean—stretched endlessly, and even the sky overhead was stained into a hazy gray by this black river water. This place looked gloomy and cold, like an old dream.

Only the pitch-black giant fish beneath them became the sole living movement in this ocean.

Zanxing sat on the fish’s back leaning against the fish spine. Mimi was very interested in the dragon fish and repeatedly tried to use her claws to dig at the dragon fish’s spine, but was stopped by Zanxing. If this went wrong and they capsized, before they could even leave the Demon Realm to go to Yuē Mountain, they’d all be finished here—that would truly become a laughingstock.

Zanxing asked Xiao Shuang beside her: “Is this dragon fish always so docile? Just a bit of feed as ferry fare. It’s grown so large—what if it attacks Heishi City? What if it flips us all over midway?”

Xiao Shuang was staring at the surging river in a trance. Hearing this, he laughed: “Little Palace Master needn’t worry. Dragon fish have gentle temperaments and never harm people.”

“I understand the principle, but it’s so big…”

“Legend says that in ancient times there was a Dragon Gate on the immortal mountains. If a carp could leap over the Dragon Gate, it could transform into a dragon.” Xiao Shuang thought for a moment: “As early as when the demon race first began, this Black Dragon Fish already resided in the Mingming River. The first few Demon Lords tried to subdue the Black Dragon Fish as a spirit beast but were unsuccessful. Later, one Demon Lord occasionally threw magic pills into the Mingming River to attract the dragon fish, and after that, the Black Dragon Fish became Heishi City’s great city guardian. During the great war between humans and demons, it was the dragon fish that transported batches of demon race members out of Heishi City to fight.”

Zanxing was slightly surprised: “Then this Black Dragon Fish must have a very long lifespan?”

“It should.” Xiao Shuang smiled: “It has a gentle temperament and never harms people. Although its appearance is somewhat ugly, flipping people over midway has never happened.”

Zanxing thought to herself that a carp that could leap over the Dragon Gate was truly a lucky koi with great fortune. Unfortunately, it looked rather frightening. The dragon fish probably knew its appearance was ugly and rarely surfaced its head, only swimming silently and alone, looking somewhat pitiful.

When she returned to Heishi City, she must prepare several boxes of magic pills to feed it, Zanxing thought.

The Mingming ocean was boundless, as if all things in heaven and earth had been submerged by the great ocean. On the vast water surface, only a mountain-like giant black fish slowly swam. At first, the accompanying demon race could still chat and laugh, making casual conversation, but later they gradually fell silent. Eventually, they simply stopped speaking altogether, leaving only the surging black torrent, vast and boundless, flowing wildly from the ends of the sky.

The Black Dragon Fish swam for a full ten days.

After ten days, a strip of long shore appeared in the ocean, breaking the unchanging cold and secluded scene.

A demon race member’s spirits lifted as he pointed into the distance: “We’ve arrived! We’ve reached Duzhou!”

The demon race sitting on the fish spine suddenly became excited.

Before the great war between humans and demons, demon race members often rode dragon fish to Duzhou for training. After the great war between humans and demons, the Demon Lord fell, spiritual energy in the Demon Realm was insufficient, and the cultivation world took the opportunity to rise. The remaining demon race left in Duzhou were almost completely exterminated, and the surviving demon race retreated to Heishi City, relying on the protection of the Mingming River to avoid being found by the cultivation world.

More than twenty years had passed, and this was the first time these demon race members had set foot in Duzhou after so many years.

The demon race naturally loved liveliness. The human world was prosperous and vast, naturally more captivating than Heishi City. Now suddenly returning to their old land, some emotional demon race members had already begun secretly wiping away tears.

The dragon fish swam to the shore. Zanxing said to everyone: “Let’s go ashore.”

The demon race members walked down from the fish’s body one by one, with Zanxing walking last. After everyone was ashore, Zanxing turned back and touched the Black Dragon Fish’s fin that was exposed above the water surface, saying earnestly: “Thank you.”

The dragon fish buried its head even deeper, slightly swayed its huge tail, then turned and left, disappearing into the black ocean.

Xiao Shuang took out a map from his chest and looked at the azure sky that was completely different from Heishi City: “Let’s set out.”