FFSC_23

Chapter 23: To Kill Him — For His Death

In the Desolate Ruins Secret Realm, several inner disciples had surrounded a group of dazed, wandering demon beast souls and were just about to make their move, when a formation array descended like a rain of stars, trapping them within it, unable to budge.

"Who is attacking us!"

They looked up in shock, and beneath the dim and overcast sky, they saw a young black-robed cultivator sitting astride a massive snow-white demon beast, letting the biting wind toss his dark hair, his gaze falling upon them without a ripple.

"Do not touch the demon beast souls here. Leave on your own."

"Chi Fei?" Someone recognized his face, and was even more incredulous: "What are you doing? Are you trying to defect from the sect!"

Before the words were even finished, Cang Shun brought a paw down.

Thunderbolts crashed down from across the sky in a tremendous roar, and the teleportation jade tokens hanging at the inner disciples' robes shattered in an instant, expelling them from the secret realm.

The lightning subsided. Chen Moqing heard the Demon Emperor let out a light hum: 【This is faster】

He stroked the fluffy fur beneath his palm: "Much obliged."

Cang Shun turned his head to look at the person on his back and said: 【Why not tell them you were taken hostage by me】

Chen Moqing: "What would be the point?"

Cang Shun let out a soft laugh: 【True, they all know you and I are together anyway】

A long tail wound around Chen Moqing's lower back, its fluffy fur brushing lightly against him.

Chen Moqing sat upon the Demon Emperor's back, sinking into the soft, thick fur, held steady and secure by that strong, powerful spine beneath him.

He calmly caught hold of that lively tail, his gaze drifting out toward the wasteland in the distance.

The demon beast souls near the outer edges of the secret realm were still dazed and wandering, but the deeper they went, the higher the cultivation of the souls became, and they even began to actively attack.

Several demon beast souls leaped up at once, baring their fangs—and were swatted away with a single paw from the Demon Emperor.

【Get down and stay there】

One was kept behind and lifted before Chen Moqing, allowing him to employ his soul path techniques and communicate with the demon beast soul directly.

Silver light swept through Chen Moqing's eyes, then faded after a moment: "Unable to get anything out of it."

【It is fine, we have time】

Cang Shun flicked his tail and gave the young human on his back a little jostle.

【Why have you lost weight again?】

Chen Moqing said evenly: "Is this really what the Demon Emperor's Majesty ought to be concerned about right now?"

Cang Shun fell silent.

A thought quietly surfaced in his heart: he really had lost weight again.

If he brought him back to the demon realm, he would get him plenty of spirit beast meat to nourish him back up.

Thunder erupted beneath the massive demon beast's paws, surging like lightning into the depths of the secret realm. A blazing silver light tore across the dim sky, splitting the heavens in two.

In a single breath they crossed dozens of li. Cang Shun hung high in the sky and stepped down with cold indifference.

The surging pressure crashed down like a tidal wave, sweeping across the desolate ruins. Countless demon beast souls trembled and fell to their knees in reverence, while only a few struggled to rise, only to collapse without the strength to do so.

Chen Moqing's gaze swept over those few demon beast souls, his eyes sharpening slightly.

The highest cultivation in the Qingluan Prefecture was no more than early Deity Transformation stage, yet in the depths of the secret realm, demon beast souls at the peak of Deity Transformation were beginning to appear.

——This meant that someone had been hunting demon beasts outside the Qingluan Prefecture and casting them into this secret realm.

The fury burning in Cang Shun's eyes blazed fiercely, then the embers fell to ash, freezing into ice: 【Members of the demon clan were also involved】

Otherwise, the demon realm would not have remained completely silent about this.

Chen Moqing gently stroked that thick fur, as if in comfort: "Let me probe their souls."

【Alright. Be careful.】

Cang Shun raised a paw, and those few Deity Transformation demon beast souls were lifted directly before Chen Moqing.

He brought his slender fingers together and pressed them to the soul's brow. Chen Moqing's dark eyes transformed into a pure, flawless silver, utterly devoid of sorrow or joy, reflecting the dim and wandering demon beast souls within them.

His murmur fell like a decree of pardon: "How did you die."

"...Tianming Prefecture..."

The early Deity Transformation demon beast soul haltingly uttered these few words, and no matter how Chen Moqing questioned it afterward, only these three characters came forth.

The Tianming Prefecture—one of the upper prefectures, situated in the far north of all Nine Thousand Prefectures.

The foremost sect of the Tianming Prefecture, the Jinwu Sect, was the oldest and most long-standing sect across all Nine Thousand Prefectures, with a foundation of over ten thousand years. Its Supreme Elder, Ling Wankong, had once been a cultivator at the Tribulation Crossing stage—the foremost person in the cultivation world to stand half a step from Ascension—yet having failed to endure the Ascension tribulation lightning, his cultivation had fallen to the peak of the Mahayana stage. He had been in closed-door seclusion for four thousand years.

The aura around Cang Shun turned piercingly cold to the extreme in an instant. Then he sensed a slender hand gently brush across his back and turned his head, meeting that pair of ink-black eyes, still as calm as ever.

He gazed into that pool of dark ink—like observing a lake beneath the moonlight—and the stillness and tranquility of it caused the cold intent surrounding him to dissipate somewhat.

"Let us go."

【Alright.】

The secret realm stretched without end, and the demon beast souls were beyond counting. The Demon Emperor moved through it as though there were no one else present, advancing straight through and crossing a thousand li.

Deep within, a bottomless ravine carved through the wasteland, its edges exhaling a faint, eerie glow that seeped into the surrounding earth.

【Hold on tight.】

Cang Shun lowered his body and carried Chen Moqing steadily as they plunged straight down into the ravine.

Pale green phosphorescent light drifted through the depths of the ravine, growing denser the further down they went, until at last, at the bottom a thousand zhang below, it gathered into a rich sea of pale green that flowed in silence.

Scattered across the surface of that green sea, half-submerged and half-afloat, was a vast expanse of white—the enormous skeletal remains of a creature that carpeted the entire valley floor. The torso stretched for a thousand zhang, the wing bones spread open on either side, and the pale green phosphorescent light seeped ceaselessly from between the bones. Viewed from high above, it resembled a great white bird drowned in a sea of jade.

Chen Moqing formed a hand seal with one hand, runes moving across his body: "The remains of a Qingluan?"

【...It is him.】 Cang Shun's voice was low and ice-cold.

The heart of the Desolate Ruins Secret Realm, the lock that imprisoned countless demon beast souls—it was the last Qingluan to fall in this world, four thousand years ago.

Before the Qingluan's pale white skull, the jade sea rippled, and a figure slowly surfaced.

She was draped in a long gown of gold and green, its hem blooming with sparrow feather patterns. Jade-green hair fell loose over the feathered skirt, and her pallid cheeks were like frozen cold jade.

Without need for words, Chen Moqing had already recognized her identity—

A Sacred Sparrow.

She sat upon the Qingluan's skeletal remains, tilting her face upward. Her pale green pupils, devoid of any white, fixed straight upon the Demon Emperor and the young human in the sky above, and she let out a cold, cackling laugh.

In an instant, a presence of extreme and terrible power erupted from all around her—

——Early Void Refinement stage!

...

"All cultivators at peak Golden Core and above are to enter the secret realm, find Chi Fei, and execute him on the spot!"

The order had barely left Duan Ya's lips on the high platform when a sharp, resounding cry descended from the sky: "Who dares touch him!"

A woman in dark green robes came treading through the air, hovering high above the gathered sect members.

"Elder Yun?" Duan Ya looked up with a cold sneer: "What is this— has Elder Yun, who for five hundred years never dared set foot in the Desolate Ruins Secret Realm, finally had a change of heart?"

Yun Buwan's eyes were ice-cold: "Had I not secluded myself for so many years, I would never have known that the Wanhua Sect of old had become a lackey of the upper sect! Duan Ya, was this all your doing alone, or has the Supreme Elder also had a hand in it!"

"You have kept your eyes shut for years, naturally you know nothing of the sect's grand designs!" Duan Ya swept his arms wide: "All of this was done so that Wanhua Sect could ascend to the upper prefectures! For the sake of the sect's ten-thousand-year foundation!"

"What a great upper prefecture sect indeed— built upon the trampled flesh and blood of its disciples, calling a deer a horse, and turning black into white!" Yun Buwan's presence was fierce and cutting, pressing down upon the assembled cultivators until none could raise their heads: "What path are you all cultivating, the path of spineless, conniving men?!"

Duan Ya was forced back a step by that Nascent Soul mid-stage presence, and ground out through clenched teeth: "And what great disciple have you taken in? No more than Qi Refinement when he first entered the sect, and in the blink of an eye he has reached mid-Golden Core stage and struck down Xiao Mo with a single blow! Does Elder Yun not intend to offer an explanation?!"

Yun Buwan laughed: "It means he trained diligently and applied himself with devotion, more capable than certain worthless individuals whose cultivation was piled up with pills."

"...Heh, words are wasted here! From the very day the Qingluan fell in this place, today's outcome was already destined! If not Wanhua Sect, some other sect would have shouldered this burden!"

The smile faded gradually from Duan Ya's face, his expression turning grimly cold.

"Now, will you defy the sect for the sake of a demonic cultivator, or will you, purge your own house and act on heaven's behalf?"

...

The jade sea surged and roiled. Countless pale green will-o'-wisps blazed to life, like stars falling endlessly from the heavens to the earth.

The Sacred Sparrow stood upon the cresting waves of the jade sea, raising both arms and letting out a sharp, cackling laugh: "This place... can reach the heavens..."

"Remain here, become an undying flame..."

Beneath the sky full of falling wisps of light, the Demon Emperor stood proud and unmoving. His snow-white fur radiated a silver light like moonlight, and frost-white moonlight condensed into a round shield, protecting the young human on his back and keeping him utterly untouched.

Chen Moqing brought two slender fingers together and raised them before him. His soul path techniques began to circulate, silver light flowing through his eyes as he looked steadily at the Sacred Sparrow: "She is not her original self. This body has been occupied by another soul."

Cang Shun let out a cold, disdainful sound.

【A cuckoo claiming another's nest.】

His ice-cold, merciless voice descended like a divine decree. The fur all over the Demon Emperor's body rose and transformed into countless razor-sharp bolts of lightning, coalescing into a brilliantly radiant full moon slowly rising into the sky!

The resplendent moon hung in the heavens, illuminating all realms, its might stern and piercing—as though heaven itself had opened its eyes!

The Sacred Sparrow's smile vanished in an instant. Without a word, she raised a hand and pointed.

The might of Void Refinement could swallow the sun and moon themselves—yet it could not swallow the Demon Emperor's moon!

The resplendent moon fell in silence. Vast silver frost, like gauze and dust, submerged the thousand zhang jade sea.

The Sacred Sparrow closed her eyes and crumpled to the ground.

A single strike—obliterating a Void Refinement stage cultivator!

The silver frost was reflected in Chen Moqing's eyes, dyeing the ink-black depths of his gaze with the clear, pure radiance of the moon.

A Void Refinement battle was a rare sight even in the upper prefectures.

Observing such a battle at close range, there was much to be gained.

Then he noticed Cang Shun turn his head to look at him, those crimson demon eyes unblinking, seeming to carry no particular emotion—just waiting quietly for something.

Chen Moqing smiled faintly: "Worthy of the Demon Emperor's Majesty. Overwhelming a formidable foe, undefeated in battle."

The words had barely fallen when that great mass of fluffiness collapsed against him, like a small mountain of cotton caving in.

Cang Shun's chin rested lightly on his shoulder. Seemingly worried about being too heavy, he had eased back some of his weight, and without a word rubbed against him, his paws also coming to rest at his waist.

A pair of beast ears tilted up slightly, and his tail swayed gently.

Chen Moqing's eyelashes lowered slightly. This Demon Emperor seemed to have paid quite a price—that once-powerful body was now faintly slumped, and the fur that had radiated such beautiful moonlight had grown dim and lusterless.

His demon energy had been severely depleted, with very little remaining.

His fingers passed over the drooping fur one stroke at a time: "Let me take over."

Cang Shun said nothing and simply shifted back into a small white beast, dropping straight down—caught steadily by a pair of slender hands and gathered into his arms.

The little fluffy ball slowly rolled over, met those dark, still eyes, and without a word pressed against the young human's chest, curling into a soft little heap.

It seemed like the first time, after a battle, that someone had been there to stay by his side.

Cang Shun thought to himself in quiet stillness.

He nestled further into the arms of that human with the pleasant scent, and as those slender hands passed over his fur one stroke at a time, he contentedly narrowed his demon eyes to a squint.

Chen Moqing descended onto the Qingluan's skeletal remains, stroking the quiet little fluffy ball in his arms as he moved forward and came to a stop beside the Sacred Sparrow, whose eyes were tightly shut.

The soul that had occupied the Sacred Sparrow's body had been extinguished. He could feel the heart of the Desolate Ruins Secret Realm collapsing—this place would be destroyed very soon.

Yet the karmic debts of countless demon beast souls remained unsettled, and the origins of this place were still unclear.

Chen Moqing lowered his lashes, the ink-black depths of his eyes shifting without a sound.

The movement of his hand paused for a moment, and the little fluffy ball in his arms immediately raised its small head.

"Meow."

A tiny little sound.

Chen Moqing continued stroking the small fluffy ball, gently kneading that soft little head.

The small fluffy ball lay flat in his hand, spread out into a small round pancake, and began to purr contentedly.

Chen Moqing's fingertips paused slightly, and he thought quietly to himself—so that was how it was.

He had heard this Demon Emperor make similar inexplicable sounds before—it turned out to happen when he was in a weakened state.

It seemed the battle just now had indeed taken an enormous toll.

He continued patiently stroking the purring little fluffy ball, then raised his eyes and gazed quietly at the Qingluan's skeletal remains upon the jade sea.

He took a step forward. Then another.

With each step, golden veins extended from the soles of his boots outward, flowing across the jade sea—like gold ink slowly spreading across the blue-green landscape of a xuan paper painting—until the seventh step came down, and a thin golden formation array had fully taken shape.

Cang Shun raised his small head to look at him again.

What was he doing?

Chen Moqing closed his eyes and took the eighth step.

The golden formation took him as its eye and began to turn in reverse. He slowly opened his eyes—the ink-black within them had faded entirely, replaced by a pure and flawless silver-white.

Yet the golden formation beneath his feet was abruptly overlaid with a deep, dark black. The sacred and blazing golden radiance intertwined with the profound and shadowed pitch-black, transforming into a formation of flowing black and gold.

Cang Shun's eyes sharpened slightly. Once again he sensed a particular energy—this human was creating a formation of his own!

【What are you trying to do?】

The small white beast raised its paw and lightly tugged at the corner of the young cultivator's robe.

Chen Moqing said nothing, only took one more step forward, standing before the Qingluan's pale white skull, looking down at the Sacred Sparrow.

The black-gold formation expanded in an instant. The golden radiance and the darkness blotted out the sky, sweeping across hundreds and thousands of zhang. Throughout the ravine as far as the eye could see, half was brilliant, flowing gold and half was deep, plunging black—like the boundary between the underworld and the celestial order.

The piercing wind whipped at dark robes. The young cultivator's eyes reflected a silver of pure and absolute clarity as he murmured in an ancient tongue.

"I ask, that all souls pass on to rebirth."

In that instant, across the entire Desolate Ruins Secret Realm, ten thousand souls cried out as one!

Cang Shun's pupils stilled.

This human intended, through his own power alone, to guide every trapped demon beast soul in the Desolate Ruins Secret Realm—to release them from their cage of a thousand years, and allow them to enter the cycle of reincarnation once more!

To gather their bones and call forth their spirits, to ferry their souls to the next life!

The Demon Emperor stared fixedly at this scene. Even the sound of the wind went still.

Was it... for him?

Because he was of the demon clan, because these souls were his kin, and so...

The next second, the expression on Cang Shun's face shifted once more.

Within those crimson demon eyes, the young cultivator stood upon two great paths. Behind him stretched a pitch-black road surging with the light of blood, filled with the presence of slaughter and death—the Path of Slaughter.

Yet before him, a golden road stretched endlessly onward, radiant and resplendent, brimming with boundless vitality.

Two paths, sharply distinct from one another, appearing on a single person. Not a trace of joy showed in Cang Shun's eyes—only solemn, weighty stillness.

He understood now. Following the Path of Slaughter, this young human had stepped onto a second path—

Reincarnation.

To turn one hand and bring slaughter, to turn the other and bring reincarnation—life and death revolving in exchange, as unpredictable as the Heavenly Dao itself.

No one in this world had ever walked the Path of Reincarnation, because—it belonged to the Heavenly Dao itself!

While the Heavenly Dao still stood, another Heavenly Dao could not be born, unless—

In this moment, Cang Shun was suddenly seized by a chilling premonition, rising from the deepest instinct within his bloodline.

He was a great demon born bearing the fortune of the Heavenly Dao, and all that he did was to share in the Heavenly Dao's burdens. His first birth had been to subdue and seal the Demon Abyss.

His second awakening, it turned out, was for... killing the one who would overturn the Heavenly Way.

So it was, he had come for his death.

Author's Note:

———————————

The Heavenly Dao: There's a virus. Let me throw an antivirus over there.

Some time later.

The Heavenly Dao: ?? Why has my antivirus run off with the virus??!

Previous | TOC | Next