FFSC_28.2

Chapter 28.2: What's the Relationship Between You Two? — Close Friends?

Wanhua Sect.

Chu Luo sat uneasily in the training grounds, staring at the sky, when a voice suddenly sounded by his ear.

【Leave this place】

Chu Luo's eyes lit up: "Brother Chi! Where are you? They said you—"

【Disaster is coming to Qingluan Prefecture. Board the nearest flying kite, and don't come back】

Chu Luo froze for a moment, and when he came back to his senses, there was still no one around him only a small storage pouch had appeared beside him.

In Wanhua Sect's council hall, upon hearing the news brought by his subordinate, Duan Ya smashed another chair to pieces.

"What?! Not only did they fail to kill Chi Fei, but they also drew out Wu Hao?!"

Cold sweat instantly rolled down his forehead, his voice trembling: "Quickly, go fetch Elder Brother! Tell him to come out of seclusion immediately no matter what! I've already sent word to the main sect, as long as we can hold out"

Before he finished speaking, the council hall collapsed with a thunderous crash! A terrifying pressure descended from the sky, sweeping across the entirety of Wanhua Sect!

Above Qingluan Prefecture, the winds rose and the clouds churned.

A massive, awe inspiring demon beast stood high in the sky, ten thousand zhang up, crackling lightning swirling around its body, its crimson demon eyes like burning torrents of fire, gazing down coldly upon the prefecture.

The Demon Emperor's cold, murderous voice pierced through the distant earth, resounding across the entire middle prefecture.

【Any Qingluan Prefecture cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage or above who enters the Desolate Ruins Secret Realm shall die】

...

The borders of Qingluan Prefecture, mountains rising majestically, stretching on in undulating ranges.

Chen Moqing, holding a little snow white beast whose fur trembled slightly, encountered once more that figure in dark green robes.

"Master."

"Mm."

Yun Buwan turned around. Her once raven black hair, streaked with white, was now fully silver.

The inner demon of five hundred years had been dispelled, and her cultivation had broken through from mid-Nascent Soul to its peak.

Her gaze settled on her young disciple's frost white hair, her brow furrowing slightly, then swept over the little snow white beast in his arms.

Cang Shun: "......"

Cang Shun said nothing, curling up sullenly.

"It has nothing to do with him," Chen Moqing said, gently stroking the little snow white beast's furry back: "For my sake, he himself nearly lost his life as well."

【I did not】

Cang Shun muttered quietly, gently grasping the young human's finger, pressing it beneath his fur.

Yun Buwan glanced at them again, her expression seeming somewhat odd, but she said nothing.

She clasped one hand behind her back, and said: "I've gained some insight, and need to find a place to enter seclusion, anywhere from a few decades to over a century."

Chen Moqing smiled faintly: "I too plan to travel and visit the various prefectures. As we part this time, I wish Master a smooth path on the Great Path."

"When we meet again, there's no need to be renowned across the world," Yun Buwan looked at her young disciple, her eyes gentle like a passing breeze: "Just being safe is enough."

Chen Moqing's gaze flickered slightly, and he nodded with a smile.

Cang Shun raised his hand, and a Sacred Sparrow feather materialized out of thin air, drifting down to land before Yun Buwan.

She cupped the floating feather from across the distance, sensing the all too familiar aura upon it, her movements freezing for an instant.

"If the Sacred Sparrow clan can successfully enter the cycle of rebirth, they will return to their own kind a thousand years later," Chen Moqing relayed the words Cang Shun had whispered to him: "This feather is hers. A thousand years from now, perhaps you could go to the Demon Realm, and find a newly born Sacred Sparrow."

"...Alright."

Yun Buwan cupped the feather, holding it to her chest.

"Within three hundred years, I will break through to Deity Transformation."

A Nascent Soul cultivator's lifespan was at most a thousand years, but once one broke through to Deity Transformation, one would gain two thousand years of lifespan.

Birds skim past forests, forest leaves turn over the sea, old friends were about to go their separate ways.

"One more thing."

The soft female voice fell, and Chen Moqing turned around.

Yun Buwan looked at him: "How much spirit stone do you have left?"

"......"

Chen Moqing lifted his sleeves, both empty, with only a ball of snow white fur inside.

This battle had consumed too much. The hundreds of thousands of spirit stones he had saved up were used up entirely.

Yun Buwan, with an expression that said "I knew it", tossed him a jade slip.

Chen Moqing caught the jade slip, and was about to say something, when a clear breeze swept past before him, leaving only the open sky.

He smiled, and bowed to the breeze.

The traveler crossed mountain ranges, traversed several prefectures, and arrived at last at another place.

The Prefecture of Ten Thousand Demons, also called the Demon Realm, stood independent from the other upper prefectures, forming its own great world, which in turn contained many smaller worlds altogether, the entire Demon Realm was equal in area to nearly a hundred upper prefectures combined.

The Primordial Earth Vein, a great landmass at the core of the Demon Realm. Looking out across it, towering ten thousand zhang peaks rose and fell one after another, like colossal pillars reaching to the heavens, forming a magnificent and grand mountain landscape.

The cold wind high in the sky brushed past his frost white hair. Chen Moqing sat upon the broad, steady back of the snow white demon beast, watching this Demon Emperor weave left and right, moving through the skies of the Demon Realm as if there were no one else around.

【I'll take you back to my cave abode first】 Cang Shun's slender tail swayed lazily: 【You need to rest and recover for a while】

Losing essence and blood wasn't a problem in the short term, but once he tried to break through to the next realm, he would inevitably suffer harm.

Chen Moqing buried his palm in the thick fur: "A thousand years have passed, Your Majesty the Demon Emperor's cave abode shouldn't have been ransacked by anyone, right?"

Cang Shun lifted his chin slightly: 【I set up restrictions long ago. No one is allowed to enter my cave abode, even if I'm not there, the restrictions won't lift】

He let out another light huff: 【I don't like other people going into my place】

Chen Moqing said with a smile: "Oh? Looks like I'll just have to wait at the door."

Cang Shun replied without even thinking: 【You're not 'other people'】

Chen Moqing looked down at him.

Cang Shun: "......"

An inexplicable silence spread between the human and the demon, and for some reason, neither of them said anything for a while.

After a good while, a certain Demon Emperor finally said quietly: 【Almost there】

Chen Moqing gave a soft "mm", and patted the fluffy fur beneath his palm: "Change back first, it'll make disguising easier."

【Okay】

The massive demon beast's form rapidly shrank, transforming into a fluffy little snow white beast, which jumped into Chen Moqing's arms, shook its fur, and slowly lay down, curling up into a round little ball.

"Hey, you two fellow demon friends, hold on, hold on!"

Suddenly, someone flew over from high in the sky, with hawk like wings on his back, a member of the bird clan.

He smiled brightly, blocking Chen Moqing and Cang Shun's path, his gaze sweeping over them a few times.

"Ahead lies the cave abode of His Majesty the Demon Emperor from five thousand years ago. If you're not here to visit, you can go around. If you wish to visit five thousand spirit stones per person."

Chen Moqing: "......"

Cang Shun: "............"

Chen Moqing lowered his head, looking at the Demon Emperor's shocked face, then raised his head again, his gaze sweeping over the broad mountain range behind the bird clan member.

"This place doesn't seem to have a Demon Emperor's cave abode."

The bird demon rubbed his hands together with a chuckle: "This place is only about two hundred li from His Majesty the Demon Emperor's cave abode, and anything within two hundred li counts as part of the visiting grounds this is the rule set by the Vermilion Bird Demon King."

Chen Moqing lowered his eyes again.

Do you have some feud with the Vermilion Bird?

Cang Shun: 【...No!】

"Looks like you two fellow demon friends are here for the first time, so let me give you a heads up," the bird demon continued: "From here, you can only go a few dozen more li at most. The hundred li radius around His Majesty the Demon Emperor's cave abode is forbidden territory in the Demon Realm, sealed with ninety nine layers of restrictions no demon or human is allowed to enter."

"Of course, you're still welcome to wander around outside, and soak up a bit of the spiritual energy left behind by our peerless, most compassionate, world saving and people helping Demon Emperor what do you two say?"

The little snow white beast in his arms quietly sharpened its claws. Chen Moqing took out a jade slip containing ten thousand spirit stones, and said calmly: "His Majesty the Demon Emperor has transcended into sainthood, I would indeed like to pay homage to his glory."

Cang Shun: "......"

The little snow white beast looked at him, shaking its ears nonchalantly, raising its little head high.

The bird demon didn't take the jade slip, instead looking them over a few more times: "Are you two father and son?"

Cang Shun: "?"

Chen Moqing: "We are not."

The bird demon laughed again: "Brothers, then? Sisters?"

Cang Shun: "??"

Chen Moqing: "No."

"Then, master and disciple? Family?"

"No."

"Oh, I see, that kind of relationship," The bird demon said dryly: "For pairs visiting the Demon Emperor's cave abode together, the fee is doubled, so you two should give me twenty thousand."

Cang Shun: "???"

Chen Moqing was silent for a few seconds, then said: "And who exactly made up this rule?"

"Haha, our wise and brilliant Vermilion Bird Demon King, of course," The bird demon glanced around, then leaned in closer, lowering his voice: "By the way, ever since his dao companion left, the Vermilion Bird Demon King has been single for three thousand years now ah, I'm absolutely not implying anything, just mentioning it in passing."

"Anyway, twenty thousand spirit stones, thank you very much."

Chen Moqing calmly held down the Demon Emperor, who was loudly going "mew", and said: "He and I... are close friends, not what you're thinking."

Upon hearing those two words, the bird demon burst out laughing, unable to contain himself, laughing very loudly.

Cang Shun: "????"

He really wanted to start something!

Chen Moqing continued to calmly hold him down.

"I've never seen 'close friends' cuddling in broad daylight like that, maybe things are different where you fellow demons come from, but around here, we don't call that kind of clingy stuff 'close friends'."

The bird demon gestured at them pointedly, especially pointing at the little snow white beast curled up in the young cultivator's arms: "Look at that, such a big demon, and still clinging to someone, refusing to let go with those paws."

Before Cang Shun could puff up in anger, the bird demon held out his hand again: "Pay up, you two 'close friends'."

Cang Shun: "............"

Chen Moqing: "..............."

He calmly raised his hand, picking up the big ball of fur whose fur had completely puffed out.

And gently placed it on his own shoulder.

No more holding.

Cang Shun: "????"

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