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Chapter 25: Turning Human — How Did You Recognize Me!

Vast mountains rose and fell in endless succession, stretching without bounds.

Thud!

A body covered in mud and filth dropped from above, crashing into a hollow in the mountain valley. Blood-streaked frost-white hair lay scattered across the robes, like a handful of white snow fallen into muddy earth.

Chen Moqing's pale fingertips pressed against the ground, while his other hand shielded the blood-soaked fluffy ball against his chest. He coughed out a mouthful of blood and said in a hoarse voice: "Gungun."

Black silk threads erupted in the air, swiftly sketching themselves into the form of a talisman spirit. Gungun landed and ran to Chen Moqing's side, cradling its head and crying out in silent anguish.

Chen Moqing coughed out another mouthful of blood. Crimson ran down his sharp, pallid jaw. He paid it no mind, raised a trembling hand, and cradled the small, filthy fluffy ball: "Guard me while I recover."

——Around them in the mountain valley, cold wind swept through. Dozens of translucent spirit forms drifted in the air, surrounding them completely.

Formation spirits, guardians of this array path secret realm. Not a single one was below early Golden Core stage.

Gungun, already at great perfection of Golden Core, placed its hands on its hips and gave a rapid nod, then lunged at the first formation spirit that came rushing in and sent it crashing into the ground with a single punch.

Chaos erupted all around. Chen Moqing barely managed to prop himself upright, the blood not yet dry on his lashes as he lowered his eyes to gaze at the small, blood-soaked fluffy ball cradled in his palm.

The small white beast lay curled and listless. The beautiful fur that had once radiated the frost of moonlight was dim and lusterless now, drooping and matted, stained into tangled clumps by crimson blood.

His fingertips touched the small beast's abdomen, that place which had once been the softest and warmest, and found it ice-cold.

——Not a single trace of the mid Void Refinement cultivator's full-force strike had reached him. Every last bit of it had been taken by the Demon Emperor.

Chen Moqing's divine consciousness moved in an instant. Every healing medicine in his storage pouch was directed toward the small white beast.

He said quietly: "Cang Shun?"

Those round, bright demon eyes remained tightly shut, without any movement.

Chen Moqing closed his eyes, then opened them again. His heart sank within his chest. He gently placed the motionless small white beast onto his knee and began to regulate his breathing.

Before long, an extremely faint and thin light radiated from his body—spiritual energy forcibly drawn out from within him. Each strand as it condensed drifted toward the unconscious Cang Shun, weaving into a thin veil of gauze that enveloped the weakened small white beast.

Frost-white hair slid across his robes. Chen Moqing's profile was paler even than his white hair. Fine beads of sweat seeped at his temples, and his slender shoulders trembled faintly.

After a few breaths, he suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood. His frost-white hair fell cool and soft across his face, and his profile cracked like thin porcelain shattering into hairline fractures. His presence had grown faint and feeble, the look of a lamp with its oil nearly spent.

Chen Moqing gritted his teeth and swallowed down the bloody taste rising in his throat. He raised a finger and pressed it to his bloodless brow. Vivid red lines surfaced between his brows, blooming into crimson branches.

The Withered Wood Spring Revival Decree!

After some unknown passage of time, among the blood-soaked robes, the small white beast that had been quietly curled there slowly stirred and opened its eyes.

The very first thing those dim crimson demon eyes reflected was the young cultivator's frost-white hair, fallen all across his blood-drenched robes.

Dark hair turned to white snow. Cang Shun froze, staring for a full three seconds.

The next second, those crimson eyes turned sharply cold and fierce. Without a moment's thought, Cang Shun leaped down from Chen Moqing's knee and struck out with a paw, severing the spiritual energy channel that had been flowing toward him.

The overflowing spiritual energy reversed back into him. Chen Moqing's form swayed and fell backward, only to be caught by a mass of fluffiness.

Cang Shun pressed his head against that far-too-slender back, his trembling demon eyes fixed on the scattered white hair, his heart pounding violently.

This person... this person had already run out of spiritual energy, yet had kept burning his vital blood, forcibly refining it into spiritual energy to transfer to him!

In that instant, the fur that had drooped in agitation bristled slightly with anger, yet the voice that came out was pressed very low, as though afraid of disturbing him: 【Once vital blood is depleted, it cannot be replenished! Do you, do you not know that?!】

Chen Moqing closed his eyes, and after a long moment said in a hoarse voice: "Does the Demon Emperor's Majesty not know that using one's body to take a full-force strike from a Void Refinement cultivator—at best, one loses all cultivation, and at worst, the soul is scattered and destroyed?"

【...My hide is thick, and my cultivation is higher than yours. It was only right that I take the blow for you.】

Cang Shun muttered this in a small voice, then looked at Chen Moqing's profile and wilted.

Wilted and drooping, he pressed against his shoulder, carefully nuzzling his soft fur against the side of Chen Moqing's face, then nuzzled past the bloodied corner of his lips.

Chen Moqing was about to say something more, when suddenly his face felt wet—the small white beast had given him a gentle lick.

"……"

He lowered his eyes. Cang Shun looked at him without blinking.

【Don't move. Let me check the other wounds.】

The small white beast licked his neck, and a small wound there healed in an instant.

Chen Moqing was speechless.

He had almost forgotten, this Demon Emperor could also heal wounds this way.

He sat still without moving, and before long felt wet patches appearing all over his face and body.

The small white beast crawled here and there, its pair of round, soft beast ears drooping limply, its wide demon eyes also downcast.

...How were there wounds everywhere.

It gently pawed at his robes and peered beneath his collarbone.

Chen Moqing closed his eyes.

Thud!

A figure crashed heavily to the ground before him, bounced once, and scrambled back up at once.

Gungun's arms flailed wildly, soundlessly shrieking and wailing, pointing frantically at what lay ahead.

——Just moments ago it had been suppressing the surrounding formation spirits with its great perfection Golden Core cultivation, but now those formation spirits had suddenly merged into one, coalescing into a towering form as tall as a small mountain. Its cultivation had surged explosively—it was already early Deity Transformation!

Chen Moqing snatched up the small white beast that had burrowed into his robes: "Go!"

Cang Shun pulled free from his hand directly, his form expanding in an instant into a bloodied demon beast, lowering his back.

That tail pushed Chen Moqing up onto the Demon Emperor's back. Howling winds swept up the frost-white hair, and his fingers wound through the ice-cold fur. Everywhere the eye could reach, the snow-white fur was stained with great patches of blood—a harrowing sight.

Spiritual energy depleted, teetering on the edge of death—this was not a situation he had never faced before.

In those years when the sect had pursued him across ten thousand li, even at the very end of all roads, holding on alone, he had not found it hard.

Yet this time, he was no longer alone.

Chen Moqing had long since run out of strength, barely keeping himself conscious by sheer force of will, nearly lying flat against Cang Shun's back. He could hear that thunderous heartbeat beneath the fluffy fur, overlapping with the beat within his own chest, becoming one with the sound of the wind as they fled, racing toward the distant unknown ahead.

Thud!

Deep within the mountain valley, a massive demon beast dropped from the sky, and at the last moment before impact twisted its body to cushion the fall, catching the young human on its back.

They had been pursued by that Deity Transformation formation spirit for a full ten hours. In the end it was only by Chen Moqing recovering a thread of spiritual energy and refining a concealment talisman from the Demon Emperor's fur, completely masking both their presences, that they finally shook the formation spirit off.

By this point, both he and Cang Shun had their spiritual energy utterly drained to nothing. Their cultivation was temporarily lost, leaving them no different from ordinary mortals.

The snow-white demon beast shrank back into a small, dirty fluffy ball, wilted and splayed out flat like a little pancake, still trying to raise a paw to tug at the corner of the person beside him.

Chen Moqing scooped up the small fluffy ball and settled him into his arms, stroking that ice-cold back, and said quietly: "Are you going to die?"

【Not now.】

Cang Shun's voice was low and faint, yet very calm. After two seconds, he lifted his eyes slightly and looked at the person beside him.

【If one day that moment comes for me, would you ferry me to reincarnation as well?】

Chen Moqing's fingertips brushed through the tangled clumps of snow-white fur: "If the Demon Emperor has need of it, naturally."

【And what about you?】

Chen Moqing smiled faintly, the smile barely perceptible.

The Withered Wood Spring Revival Decree—reversing life and death, with no return to reincarnation.

Without waiting for his answer, the small fluffy ball lowered its head, staring at the frost-white hair that had lost all its luster.

Burning vital blood, the price was not merely dark hair turning white. It would also affect one's lifespan and original essence... and could even cut short one's path of cultivation entirely.

I want to bring him back to the demon realm.

A voice rang out with absolute clarity from the depths of Cang Shun's heart.

I want to seize for him whatever can heal his original essence.

He spoke: 【Once we leave this place, I will kill that man.】

Chen Moqing stroked the disheveled fur: "He cannot enter here for now. And in our current state, we cannot leave either."

He spent a long while smoothing the fur of the small white beast in his arms, yet could not get the tangled mess in order—if anything, it had grown even more chaotic.

By now, the Demon Emperor had become a grimy, wild, frazzled little ball of fur.

Chen Moqing fell silent, withdrew his hand as though nothing had happened, and patted that small head.

Cang Shun noticed nothing, wordlessly pressing close and nuzzling against him.

Then he caught a glimpse of that person's fine knuckles—smeared with a large patch of blood and grime from his own fur, the cuff of his sleeve dirtied as well. He looked further at the person's robes, now streaked with dirty smudges left by him all over.

Cang Shun went quiet, averted his gaze, pretended nothing had happened, and curled himself into a well-behaved little fluffy ball in the young human's arms.

The equally battered pair, one human and one demon, quietly tucked themselves away in a hidden corner of the mountain valley and began to meditate, slowly restoring their spiritual energy.

The Demon Emperor's recovery ability was truly extraordinary. Before long, Chen Moqing watched as the small white beast began to groom its own fur.

It seemed genuinely puzzled as to why its fur had become so wild and frazzled and dreadfully unsightly. It pawed at itself for a long while, attempting to tidy itself up—only to fail in the end, its paws too short and with no spare spiritual energy to draw on.

It flopped down huffily onto his knee, gently pulled the corner of his robe over its fur, and hid itself away.

Chen Moqing silently reached into his storage pouch and produced a small cloth bag. He opened it to reveal it packed full of dried small fish.

Before long, a frazzled little fluffy ball had appeared beside the dried fish.

Chen Moqing closed his eyes and focused his mind. His depleted spiritual energy slowly began to recover.

His divine consciousness stirred, and a sealed jade-carved scroll floated in the air above him, giving off a faint glow as it resonated with the secret realm.

Senior Brother Xingyun's array path secret realm—it turned out to have been unlocked using the "Naihe" scroll as a key.

The day he could truly wield this sixth-grade offensive magic treasure, the secret realm would appear of its own accord—and by a twist of fate, it had ended up saving their lives.

【Why did that demonic cultivator set his sights on us?】 Cang Shun held a dried fish in his mouth and shuffled over to Chen Moqing's side: 【Do you know who he is?】

"Wu Hao. A demonic cultivator who ascended the great path through the Path of Fortune. Over a thousand years, those he has killed have mostly been gifted prodigies who had yet to reach their full growth."

Cang Shun let out a cold laugh: 【He only dares strike at those weaker than himself?】

His paw rested lightly on Chen Moqing's knee as he gazed at that pallid profile.

Had his cultivation not yet recovered to what it had been a thousand years ago, had he not already expended all his spiritual energy before this, that Void Refinement cultivator would not have been able to wound this person.

The small white beast lowered its head slightly, and a hand gently passed over the fur atop its head.

The beast ears on top perked up a little. Cang Shun quietly caught hold of the human's hand and said: 【What is the state of the upper prefectures today?】

Chen Moqing met his gaze, and heard the Demon Emperor's cool, unhurried voice: 【The formation arrays of the Desolate Ruins Secret Realm did not only imprison my kin. They also continuously refined their divine souls, and in doing so could extract an enormous amount of life force and transmit it through the formation's eye to the upper prefectures.】

The demon clan carried the fortune of the Heavenly Dao and were born with long lifespans, possessing an even greater abundance of life force. Thousands of years ago, human cultivators had even set off a trend of hunting demon beasts to refine their souls, leading to endless conflict between the two clans—until more than five thousand years ago, when the Emperor of the demon clan was born, sheltering the demon realm and causing the demon clan to rise back to strength in a short span of time, such that the human cultivators no longer dared to encroach.

Chen Moqing was quiet for a moment, then said: "It is nothing more than a well-worn trick."

The Haoran Sect—over five hundred members, building their cultivation on the flesh and blood of the common people of the lower prefectures.

He had been in the cultivation world for less than a hundred years, yet these great sects of the upper prefectures had existed for far more than a hundred, even a thousand years.

A cold aura radiated from Cang Shun. After several seconds, he spoke again: 【When this prefecture's affairs are settled, would you be willing to come back to the demon realm with me?】

Chen Moqing lowered his eyes. Cang Shun gently pressed his hand and said in a low voice: 【The demon clan was also involved in this prefecture's secret realm matter. I need to go back and look into some things. If you are unwilling, then I...】

He had just been about to say "then I can wait a little longer too," when he heard that clear, composed voice: "Alright."

Cang Shun fell silent.

He... he was willing to come home with me.

The fluffy little white beast's tail perked up, and it pressed itself even closer against that human, clinging tightly to him.

The spiritual energy within the secret realm was abundant, making cultivation far faster than in the outside world. It also contained an extraordinarily profound array path presence. After however many days had passed, both the human and the demon had their spiritual energy restored and their injuries gradually healed, and only then did they emerge from their place of hiding.

The small white beast, once again clean and pristine, leaped up onto Chen Moqing's shoulder. Its fluffy fur shimmered faintly, and its paws gently gathered up a few strands of the faded frost-white hair.

With the original essence damaged, even though spiritual energy had been restored, the white hair had still not returned to black.

Cang Shun stared wordlessly at Chen Moqing's still-pallid profile, the corners of his eyes drooping slightly.

The moment Chen Moqing removed the concealment talisman, a piercing wind came howling toward them—the Deity Transformation formation spirit that had been pursuing them arrived, raising a massive axe condensed from spiritual energy and bringing it down overhead.

Cang Shun didn't even look. He brought a paw down.

The formation spirit collapsed and scattered on the spot.

Cang Shun turned his head back and stared at the human cultivator beside him without blinking.

"Worthy of the Demon Emperor's Majesty," Chen Moqing said: "Imposing in bearing, formidable and extraordinary."

Cang Shun let out a hum, shook his fur, and leaned over to nuzzle against his face.

Chen Moqing noticed that this Demon Emperor had seemed to enjoy nuzzling against him quite a lot lately. He patted the fur that had returned to its snowy, fluffy state and flew onward.

Along the way, countless more formation spirits blocked their path, and all were dispatched. He sensed the array path presence of this place and before long arrived at a mountain range.

The array path presence here was the most profound and mysterious of all. Chen Moqing descended with the small white beast in his arms and landed on the ground.

——The scene before him shifted abruptly. The undulating mountain range transformed into a wide and open training ground.

Chen Moqing felt his arms lighten. He lowered his eyes, the small fluffy ball that had been lying obediently in his arms was nowhere to be seen.

"……"

Where had his Mimi gone?

Chen Moqing looked left and right. There was no sign of Cang Shun, only an open and expansive training ground, with tall pavilions soaring into the clouds in the distance—grand and majestic, like the grounds of an ancient great sect.

An illusory realm.

Secret realms often contained illusory realms, most of which were places of great significance to the secret realm's master during their lifetime.

Chen Moqing walked forward. After only a few steps, the training ground that had been completely empty gradually filled with a flow of people—cultivators in robes of various colors, moving about throughout the sect, talking and laughing with ease.

"Fellow Daoist! Where have you come from?"

Chen Moqing's shoulder was given a light pat. He turned around, and the unfamiliar cultivator caught sight of his face and immediately froze.

"...Fellow Daoist is truly of remarkable bearing and distinguished appearance."

Chen Moqing's gaze drifted downward slightly. The floor tiles beneath his feet were carved from whole pieces of jade, clear enough to reflect one's image, and in them his true appearance was mirrored back.

The illusory realm here seemed to have a peculiar quality—disguises were rendered useless, and one's true appearance was revealed.

He raised his hand. Runes fell into place and formed into a half-sided black and gold mask, covering one side of his face.

The other person looked puzzled: "Fellow Daoist, what do you mean by this?"

Chen Moqing: "I am sensitive to light."

The other person's expression turned strange, and he quickly found an excuse to take his leave.

Chen Moqing wandered through the training ground alone, searching for something.

Suddenly, his steps came to a halt.

Wind swept through the training ground. Fallen leaves slid across the jade floor tiles, brushing past a dark robe.

A robe of dark black embroidered with golden patterns swept through the air. A pair of long legs strode forward, and a tall man with jet-black hair adorned with silver ornaments walked into view, the silver glinting faintly in the sunlight. Beneath those glistening ornaments was a strikingly handsome and spirited face.

He walked with an air of confidence and high spirits straight up to Chen Moqing, came to a stop, and lowered his head slightly.

Chen Moqing looked up and met a pair of eyes utterly devoid of ripples, like cold glass.

The man let out a low laugh.

"I am taller than you!"

The tone carried a hint of smugness, as though a tail were being wagged.

Chen Moqing: "……"

Chen Moqing raised an eyebrow: "No meowing and grumbling this time?"

The handsome man's sharp crimson demon eyes widened slightly: "How did you recognize me!"

He looked nothing like he did before transforming!

Chen Moqing: "……"

Chen Moqing said not a word and walked forward. Cang Shun caught up in one step, grabbed his sleeve, and gave it a little shake.

And just like that, followed him along step by step.

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