"Did that slap feel satisfying, brother? I am your prisoner now. If you are willing, you may come here every day and whip me to ease the hatred in your heart. But as for the antidote to Qikuo, you will never get it. My life is tied to yours now. Brother, you had better pray that I stay alive and well. Otherwise, the day I no longer wish to keep dragging out this life, you and your entire demon realm will be buried with me." Li Minghan said with a sick, crazed look in his eyes, blood at the corner of his mouth, and a twisted smile on his face.
"You!" Furious, Shentu Zhuojia stepped forward again and raised his hand.
Li Minghan close his eyes, waiting for Shentu Zhuojia's hand to come down.
But seeing Li Minghan like this, Shentu Zhuojia's hand stopped in midair. He did not know this person anymore. He was no longer the man who had once drunk and played chess with him, who sang and discussed swordsmanship with him.
"After today, I will not come see you again."
He looked down at the Drunken Demon Shield in his hand. Back then, to keep Li Minghan safe, he had used half a lifetime of his own demon cultivation to forge it. As long as the Drunken Demon Shield remained on him, Li Minghan's life would not be in danger.Shentu Zhuojia slowly closed his eyes. Then, with one lift of his hand, he drove the Drunken Demon Shield into Li Minghan's body.
"Ugh... what are you doing?" Li Minghan felt his body jolt and asked in confusion.
"This Drunken Demon Shield already carries half a lifetime of my demon cultivation. Now that I have sealed it inside you, your life will be preserved. I will not kill you. If you are willing to keep dragging out your life, this Drunken Demon Shield can keep you alive for hundreds of years. From this day on, the bond between us brothers is completely broken. In this life, we will never meet again."
Shentu Zhuojia slowly set the Tongdi Wood Stiffener he held onto the stone in front of Li Minghan and turned to leave.
"Brother, no, brother, do not, do not go please. Brother, Zhuojia, Zhuojia, Shentu Zhuojia, stop right there!"
In all these years, this was the first time Li Minghan had ever read cold resolve in Shentu Zhuojia's eyes.
There was no going back for them anymore. Not from the moment he killed the old Demon Lord. But even if he had turned against the whole world, he had never once meant to hurt him.
Shentu Zhuojia paid no attention to Li Minghan shouting behind him and walked out of the cave without even the slightest hesitation.
"Shot it down!"
At the cave entrance, Shentu Zhuojia waved his hand behind him. Several demon soldiers pushed an enormous boulder slowly across the mouth of the cave.
"What is hard to forbid gives birth to sorrow. Let blood and dark fire glow together. Let mandarin fate be severed. Let Zhuo endure this farewell."
As Shentu Zhuojia chanted, the whole cave entrance was wrapped in a dark red demonic aura. The great stone that had just been pushed there fused into the mountain itself.
"Commander, what is the Demon Lord doing?"
"The Dark Fire Mandarin Severing Art. No one in this life will ever open that cave," Hua Qiuyuan explained.
The master and disciple saved by the Wings of Yinglong were brought to a forest cabin not far from the shore outside the Dragon Palace.
"Master, Master—"
Mie Xingzhe called twice, but Li Luoning still did not wake. Hurriedly lifted Li Luoning inside just as thunder flashed across the sky and heavy rain suddenly came pouring down.
"It may be called a cabin, but looking at the furnishings, this does not seem like the house of some ordinary mountain villager," Mie Xingzhe said after looking around.
After staying by Li Luoning's side for so long, Mie Xingzhe understood at least a little about healing and medicine. He gently took Li Luoning's wrist, and when he sensed that his pulse was unstable, his face filled with worry.
"It is raining so hard outside now that I cannot even see the road. Master has lost his inner core and is injured too. I do not know how long he can keep holding on like this."
He fell silent for a moment, then suddenly thought of something.
"This is the only Zihan Twin Amber left. It was what Senior Sister Ruling gave me last time. I hope it will work."
As he spoke, Mie Xingzhe placed a Purple Cold Silver Amber into Li Luoning's mouth and pushed his own spiritual power into Li Luoning's body.
But the spiritual power passed straight through him.
"Ah? What is going on?"
Mie Xingzhe stared at the scene in disbelief. Refusing to give up, he tried again, but it was exactly the same as before. His spiritual power did not enter Li Luoning's body at all. It simply passed through him.
"It should not be like this. Why is it not working? Master—ah!"
Still confused, Mie Xingzhe reached out to shake Li Luoning again, only to miss completely.
He stared at Li Luoning in disbelief, but his own hands could not touch him at all.
"What... what is this? Could this be what it means for an empty spirit body to fade into nothing? No, Master cannot die. I cannot let Master die."
At the sight of Li Luoning before him, Mie Xingzhe completely panicked. Again and again, he tried to pour his spiritual power into different parts of Li Luoning's body.
After trying countless times, one stream of spiritual power happened to touch the jade pendant at Li Luoning's waist. It slowly rose and gave off a dark blue glow, then spat out a deep blue inner core that shone brightly.
"This is... the Moonshadow Pill!"
Mie Xingzhe recognized the inner core.
"So Master had hidden it in the jade pendant all along."
Ever since the battle at Wuming Demon Mountain, his master had always claimed to the outside world that the Moonshadow Pill had already been shattered. Mie Xingzhe had never imagined his master had hidden it inside the jade pendant he carried with him.
"Even if the Moonshadow Pill was awakened by Li Minghan through demon cultivation, no matter what, it is still a real inner core."
Mie Xingzhe hesitated, but when he saw Li Luoning's figure growing fainter and fainter, he gritted his teeth.
"Forget it. I cannot worry about all that now."
With that, he pushed the Moonshadow Pill into Li Luoning's body.
As the Moonshadow Pill entered him, Li Luoning's fading form slowly became steady again.
"Master—"
Mie Xingzhe carefully reached out again. When he found that Li Luoning's body could now be touched, he finally let out a long breath in relief.
Following the little shadow, Hua Ruoying arrived at the back mountain behind Nangzhe's residence.
"I worked so hard to escape, and now you have brought me back here again," Hua Ruoying whispered in complaint to the little shadow beside her as she hid behind a large rock.
The little shadow standing on the rock only bounced once, then turned into a streak of darkness and slipped into a narrow crack in the stone not far away.
"Hey, you—"
Hua Ruoying had just started to call out when she noticed two ghost guards walking nearby. She quickly hid behind the rock and waited for them to pass.
Once the area was quiet again, she ran softly to the crack. It was just wide enough for her to squeeze through sideways.
The cave inside was dark and dim, though there were torchlights glowing in the distance. Hua Ruoying felt her way forward. From time to time, the roars of wild beasts echoed through the cave.
Before long she passed through the darkest part and what came into view was a huge deep pit. Beastly roars and the clashing of iron chains mixed together.
Moving carefully, Hua Ruoying crept to one side and leaned out to look down into the pit. There she saw a dark, snow-footed Chenghuang, its eyes blood-red, its face green and fanged as it roared. The more Hua Ruoying looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.
"This demon beast is... little Bingguo!"
She recognized the Chenghuang before her. After all, a snow-footed Chenghuang was extremely rare. And when she saw the star-shaped bell hanging at its neck, she was even more certain of her guess.
"Why is little Bingguo here? Looking at him like this, has he been demonized? Did that little shadow bring me here because it wants me to save him? If little Bingguo is here, then young Master Yun..."
Hua Ruoying instantly sensed something was very wrong. Just as she was about to stand up and leave, her foot kicked a stone.
"Ah—ugh."
She let out a pained sound by accident and quickly covered her mouth.
"Who is there?"
Two ghost guards appeared right in front of her.
"What person dares trespass on the back mountain?" one of them demanded, raising his spear.
"Your grand-aunt!"
Seeing that she had been discovered, Hua Ruoying pulled out a poisonous smoke pellet from her sleeve, slammed it to the ground, and fled out of the cave.
That commotion also alerted the ghost guards outside. With so many in pursuit, Hua Ruoying was soon seized by a group of them.
"Oh? Bring her up."
When Nangzhe heard the ghost guards report that they had caught a female intruder on the back mountain, he more or less already guessed who it was.
"Let go, let go of me."
Hua Ruoying was shoved forward into the room. The moment she saw Nangzhe sitting there, her temper flared at once.
"Tell your ghost guards to take their filthy hands off me," Hua Ruoying ordered angrily.
Nangzhe waved a hand, and the ghost guards removed her restraints and withdrew.
Hua Ruoying stood there rolling her shoulders, not giving Nangzhe any attention.
"What were you doing on the back mountain?" Nangzhe asked in an even tone.
"Nangzhe, you bastard, what did you do to little Bingguo?" Hua Ruoying demanded angrily.
"Bingguo? You mean that Chenghuang?" Nangzhe asked, sounding utterly unconcerned as he tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop.
"If Bingguo is in your hands, then what about Yun Wannian? Did you capture him too? Tell me what you did to him!"
Before her words had even finished, Nangzhe, who had still been sitting calmly in his chair, rose in an instant and flashed before Hua Ruoying like a gust of wind. One hand closed around her throat.
"You care that much about him?"
His fingers tightened slightly. Hua Ruoying felt her body slowly lifting off the ground. Unable to breathe, she clawed frantically at him.
"What? After staying with me here for so long, you still cannot stop thinking about your little lover?"
It seemed Nangzhe was deeply bothered by Hua Ruoying mentioning Yun Wannian in front of him. He lost control for a moment and tightened his grip even more.
"Let... let... let... go..."
Hua Ruoying beat desperately at Nangzhe's arm with both hands, forcing out the words with difficulty. Her face had turned red, the veins at her temples standing out. She felt that in the next moment she might faint from lack of air.
Then Nangzhe suddenly stepped back and let go, his eyes full of anger and disgust.
Hua Ruoying dropped to the ground and coughed violently, struggling to drag air back into her lungs. Only after a long while did she slowly raise her head and glare at Nangzhe.
"So what if I care about him? At least he is not like you, grabbing people by the throat and trying to kill them every time you feel like it!"
It was almost as if Hua Ruoying meant to provoke Nangzhe on purpose as she cursed him fiercely.
"Heh. Do not say I did not warn you. Back then, who was it that took him away from Liaoyin Immortal Realm again and again? And who invented Qianmo? Tell me, if he finds out that all those things were connected to you, do you really think your relationship with him will still be as you imagine?"
Nangzhe looked down at Hua Ruoying sprawled on the floor.
"It was you! You were the one who put him on the roads we always had to pass whenever we returned to Wuming Demon Mountain!"
Hua Ruoying suddenly understood. That was why she had kept finding Yun Wannian on the road every time before.
"That young Master Yun you cannot stop thinking about is now a wanted criminal in Liaoyin Immortal Realm. It is not just you looking for him. The whole Liaoyin Immortal Realm is searching for him."
Under the mask, Nangzhe's eyes curved in a smile that was not quite a smile at all. His voice carried open delight at the misfortune.
"A wanted criminal? How is that possible!"
"How is it not possible? That Yun-gongzi of yours is now charged with killing a fellow disciple and turning against his own side in battle. The Immortal Lord not only intends to punish him, if they catch him, they will break his tendons and crush his bones as well."
Nangzhe spoke with almost indulgent enjoyment, his chin resting in one hand as his fingers tapped lightly against his mask.
"No, young Master Yunhas always been courteous and well-learned, upright and refined. He could never do something like killing a fellow disciple or betraying his side in battle. No, I do not believe it. I need going to find him."
Shaking her head, Hua Ruoying refused to believe what Nangzhe told her. She got to her feet and ran for the door.
Nangzhe flicked his hand, and a cloud of purple mist struck the back of Hua Ruoying's neck, knocking her unconscious. He took two quick steps forward and caught her before she fell. Then he gently brushed a hand across her cheek.
"What am I supposed to do with you? You just refuse to learn."
Early the next morning in Liaoyin Immortal Realm, Situ Fanzhi was trying to draw out the power within the Chixi Pill.
"That fire-type inner core is not meant to be used that way."
Oushi Nan slipped quietly out from one side.
The moment Situ Fanzhi saw him arrive, he put away the Chixi Pill in his hand.
"What is this? Does Pharmacist Ou know how to absorb pill power as well?"
"I know a little. It is just that the Yangqing force Li Luoning used before to awaken this Chixi Pill was too strong. I am afraid now is not yet the best time to absorb it." Oushi Nan gently waved the fan in his hand as he spoke.
"Then according to you, when would be more suitable?"
"The Heavenly Center Festival."
"The Heavenly Center Festival?"
"The Heavenly Center Festival is the day of the heavenly gods. On that day the yang force is at its strongest. According to the heavenly stems and earthly branches calendar, it is the perfect time for you, Immortal Lord."
Oushi Nan narrowed his eyes slightly. A mysterious smile curved his lips as he continued,
"There are still some days left before the Heavenly Center Festival. The Immortal Lord may as well turn his thoughts to tracking down Yun Wannian. If you can get the Floating Light Golden Seal before the Heavenly Center Festival, then taking the Moonshadow Pill will be as easy as reaching out and picking it up."
"That is easy for you to say. Those master and disciple were saved by the Wings of Yingde. The wings of the Yingde clan are as fast as thunder and lightning. How exactly am I supposed to find them?" Situ Fanzhi said in irritation, pounding the table lightly.
"The Immortal Lord need not act personally. Naturally, someone else will go and find those master and disciple for you."