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Chapter 36: Stealing a Kiss

A boundless expanse of deep black spread out, with no up or down, no four directions, not even sky or earth to be seen—only the deepest darkness and deathly silence, as though everything here had been ground away, as though everything here came to an end.

The deep black extended without boundary, endless. Ancient stars flickered silently, their light faint or brilliant, becoming the only spots of color in the deep black.

——The Void Realm, not belonging to the Nine Thousand Prefectures, a mysterious void existing independently outside the entire cultivation world.

An ancient dragon-shaped vessel capable of holding over a hundred people floated in the void, moving forward like sailing upon the sea, draped in starlight.

At the bow of the ancient ship, a black-robed cultivator sat quietly, encircled by the body and tail of a massive demonic beast.

Chen Moqing raised his hand, sinking his palm into the large mass of fluffy white fur in front of him. He had only just pressed it down a little when the jaw finally emerged from among the fur—only for the great Demon Emperor to raise its head again and bury it into the crook of his shoulder, gently nuzzling him.

Having his face buried in fur for who knows how many times now, Chen Moqing was silent for a few seconds, then lowered his hand.

Forget it. He was used to it by now.

He calmly allowed himself to be encircled in the Demon Emperor's embrace, its soft fur nudging against him from all sides, while his gaze fell forward, reviewing the spoils of this trip.

The ancient vessel beneath him came from the storage pouch of the Second Elder of the Jinwu Sect, named "Gazing at the Stars," an immortal-grade item forged from ancient immortal gold left behind from antiquity, possessing the ability to travel through the void.

Besides this, there were also eleven whole storage pouches floating before him.

——The eleven high-ranking members of the Jinwu Sect, each with half their fortune contained within their storage pouches. Just the spirit stones alone amounted to no less than a million in each pouch, not to mention the piles of treasures and spiritual materials, all at least sixth-grade or above.

Among them, one Body Integration stage talisman cultivator had, within his storage pouch, not only dozens of six-grade-or-above talismans and talisman formulas, but even the blank talisman paper was of the finest quality—Brilliant Gold Paper—each sheet worth tens of thousands of spirit stones.

There was also a talisman brush made from the dried branch of a ten-thousand-year Ink-Washing Tree—one of the highest quality talisman brushes in the cultivation world. Any talisman drawn with it would have its power increased by thirty percent.

Another Body Integration stage array cultivator privately kept a jade slip containing many ancient great formations. The moment Chen Moqing simply infused a trace of divine sense to scan it, he was immediately overwhelmed by the surging aura of array path, and his own attainments in array path instantly advanced by a degree.

Without even a moment's hesitation, he directly took both of these two people's storage pouches for himself.

As for the unremarkable tens of millions of spirit stones, his eyes lingered on them for only half a breath before he began sorting through the various treasures—among them, a long sword radiated spiritual light so intense it nearly overshadowed the brilliance of all the other treasures.

Chen Moqing's gaze paused.

The blade was blue-white, ancient and simple to the extreme, containing a profound aura of the Great Path.

—A eighth-grade mid-tier offensive treasure, the Fuxi Sword!

In ancient times, the immortal had used the Fuxi Sword to open the heavens and ascend. This was not the true immortal sword Fuxi itself, but rather a treasure forged from a trace of sword intent it had left behind—even one who was not a sword cultivator could wield it!

His fingers came together, and with a point in the air, the blue-white long sword transformed into a small sword and merged into the space between his brows.

At the Nascent Soul cultivation stage, one fundamentally could not wield a grade-eight treasure. However, after the previous battle against the Heavenly Dao, his divine soul had been tempered by the might of Heavenly Punishment, and further nourished by the pure spiritual energy between heaven and earth. The strength of his divine soul had long since surpassed both Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation stages—even more solid and formidable than when he had been at the Void Refinement stage.

With his divine soul as it now was, he could already borrow a fraction of this eighth-grade treasure's power—a Mahayana-grade treasure, even wielding just a fraction of its might, could slay a Void Refinement cultivator!

If he were to encounter Wu Hao again now, he wouldn't even need the formation that concealed him from view—a single trace of sword intent alone would be enough to kill him.

Soon, Chen Moqing's attention was drawn to an ancient bronze cauldron, simple and antique in style. Its opening was sealed shut, yet wisps of profound, mysterious aura continuously seeped out from it, filled with killing intent and the aura of death—a eighth-grade early-tier treasure, the Void-Suppressing Cauldron, possessing both offensive and defensive capabilities.

If Wu Hao came again, a single strike from this cauldron could smash him to death too.

There was also a seventh-grade treasure, the Heaven-Concealing Veil, shaped like a lustrous jade earring capable of concealing one's form and blocking detection from anyone below the Mahayana stage. He collected this as well, and casually tossed Wu Hao's sixth-grade Moon Cage Gauze into a corner of his storage pouch.

There were six treasures of seventh-grade or above in total; he selected these three. Sweeping his divine sense over the remaining sixth-grade treasures, he found that although they were all sixth-grade, none compared to the Naihe Scroll that Senior Xingyun had left him.

Moreover, he vaguely sensed that although the Naihe Scroll, which contained the intent of life and death, was only sixth-grade, its true power was in no way inferior to any seventh-grade treasure.

With the original owners' divine senses erased from all eleven storage pouches, Chen Moqing began dividing the spoils with Cang Shun.

One for himself, one stuffed into Cang Shun's paws.

Cang Shun stuffed it back.

One for himself, one stuffed into Cang Shun's paws.

Cang Shun stuffed it back again.

Chen Moqing looked at the Demon Emperor.

【I don't want it, it's all yours】 Cang Shun swayed its tail slowly, focused entirely on nuzzling him.

Chen Moqing said, "My storage pouch is about to be full. Help me hold onto some of it—next time I'll just take it from you directly."

Cang Shun's eyes brightened slightly, its voice rising in a small lilt: 【Okay.】

It lowered its head again, gently pressing down on the young man, burying his whole face in fur.

Chen Moqing calmly raised his hand and stroked the Demon Emperor's fluffy fur against the grain, asking, "How much time has passed?"

【Time has no meaning here】 Cang Shun's jaw gently rubbed against his shoulder, 【The flow of time in the Void differs from the outside world. In some regions it flows extremely fast—stay a moment here, and a year passes outside. In others it flows very slowly—stay a year here, and only a day passes outside.】

Chen Moqing nodded, "The Demon Emperor truly is well-informed."

The soft, fluffy fur rubbed against his face again, rapidly.

Chen Moqing pried away the tail that had wrapped around his waist, then grasped the furry paw that had draped over him, gently patting the head that was clinging and pressing into the crook of his shoulder, his gaze turning forward.

Boundless deep black, stars flickering.

In truth, this was also his first time coming to the Void—this place contained its own independent laws; only those at the Void Refinement stage or above possessed the ability to traverse the void. However, Void Refinement cultivators could not remain here for long; they generally relied on rifts in the void to travel between different worlds.

After he had previously stepped into the Void Refinement stage, he had spent the whole time in secluded cultivation recovering from his injuries, only having read through numerous classical texts about the Void. He knew the Void was dangerous and mysterious—there had once been a Mahayana cultivator who declared that the Void contained opportunities for ascension to immortality, vowing to explore every corner of this place, only to ultimately become lost in the depths of the starry sea, never to appear again.

【With me here, there's no need to worry about getting lost in this place.】

The furry tail wrapped around his wrist a few more times, and he heard Cang Shun's voice sound out right beside his face.

Chen Moqing shook his head slightly, "That's not what I'm thinking about, as far as I know, even the Heavenly Dao cannot easily bring down Heavenly Punishment."

The battle against the Heavenly Dao just now had actually been filled with strangeness at every turn.

The laws of the world were on equal footing with the Heavenly Dao. The laws dictated that the Heavenly Dao could not easily act to eliminate living beings of the world—it could only do so by invoking Heavenly Punishment, and only those who had committed grave sins could be subjected to Heavenly Punishment.

Likewise, in order to maintain the order of heaven and earth's spiritual energy, Heavenly Punishment could not descend upon the mortal realm consecutively within a short period of time.

In their battle against Heaven just now, they hadn't retreated a single step—partly because they didn't want to retreat, and partly because they knew Heavenly Punishment couldn't last too long. They had already withstood the first wave of Heavenly Punishment—yet in the end, Heavenly Punishment had descended a total of three times.

Cang Shun gently took hold of his hand, a mocking smile surfacing in his eyes: 【The Heavenly Dao indeed cannot directly interfere with the mortal realm—doing so violates this world's laws, and it must pay a price. For a long time afterward, it won't be able to act again.】

【The Heavenly Dao is supposed to be impartial, but the Heavenly Dao now is no longer what it once was.】

There wasn't a trace of emotion in the depths of the Demon Emperor's crimson eyes, like a cold lake after autumn has passed into winter.

Both he and the person beside him held merit for suppressing the Demon Abyss. By the laws of the world, the Heavenly Dao could not bring down Heavenly Punishment upon living beings who held merit.

The three consecutive waves of Heavenly Punishment hadn't been meant to destroy the mastermind behind the Ruins of Desolation secret realm and the trapping of countless demon souls, nor those beastly-hearted individuals who committed evil in the mortal world—they had been meant to destroy him and him.

Bringing down Heavenly Punishment had stemmed from private desire, an attempt to eliminate those who had broken away from the Heavenly Dao.

He himself was a great demon born from the fortune bestowed by the Heavenly Dao, and had once been a guardian of the Heavenly Dao. But, as the long years passed, could even the Heavenly Dao gradually become stained with corruption?

Slender fingers brushed across his brow and eyes; Cang Shun lowered his gaze slightly, meeting that clear, deep-set pair of eyes.

"It seems I've abducted His Majesty the Demon Emperor."

Cang Shun fell silent for a few seconds.

Pressing his forehead against Chen Moqing's fingertip, he said quietly: 【No, you haven't.】

Perhaps, the first time he had seen this person, he had already...

The Demon Emperor fell silent again.

After a little while, he transformed back into a round, fluffy little ball of fur, rolling around between Chen Moqing's legs, rubbing his soft back against him nonstop.

Chen Moqing skillfully picked up the little fluffy ball, stroking its back, letting it lie curled up between his hands.

【I've already sealed off the Demon Realm, and told Zhuque to spare those few for the time being.】

【Once we return to the Demon Realm and finish handling what's left, where do you want to go?】

Chen Moqing raised his eyes, his gaze falling toward the distant stars.

Once he obtained the complete inheritance from Senior Xingyun, and his cultivation advanced further, he could consider one matter.

—Returning to the Tianshu Sect.

During the battle against the Heavenly Dao, Gongsun Qing had already fled together with Gongsun Bushi. The Murong Zhou puppet left behind at the Tianshu Sect couldn't transmit much information back, since what it could see was limited to the outer sect. Xiao Jibai had also been hiding at Luohe Peak this whole time, not daring to step out even once.

It had been a long time since he'd seen these old acquaintances—it was about time to catch up.

The ancient vessel passed through a stretch of stardust as brilliant as diamonds, sailing toward the distant, deep black.

Once one entered the Void, there was no way to return by the same path—one would be randomly transported to a nearby location and would need to travel a further distance to circle back.

Having finished reviewing the spoils of this trip, Chen Moqing closed his eyes again and began to cultivate.

Within his sea of consciousness, the golden core was no longer there, replaced instead by a fetus-sized spirit body, brimming with spiritual energy, faintly glowing with golden light, its brows and eyes identical to his own—unmistakably a version of himself shrunk down several dozen times.

Nascent Soul.

Sitting quietly within the sea of consciousness, unmoved by wind or wave, its Dao heart unbreakable.

Chen Moqing reached out and poked the Nascent Soul, smiling faintly: "Long time no see."

...

At the bow of the ancient vessel, the black-robed cultivator sat with eyes closed in focused concentration, while the small snow-white beast between his knees raised a paw, gently toying with the high-bound black hair hanging down at his waist.

The frost-white hair, which had burned away his essence blood, had now recovered its essence blood after absorbing heaven and earth's spiritual energy and breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, and the white hair had also returned to black.

Breaking down before building anew, gaining new life.

Cang Shun also closed his eyes, circulating the spiritual energy throughout his body, and began to cultivate.

His cultivation had already recovered to seventy percent, still lacking thirty percent. That final thirty percent was especially crucial, and also slower to recover—but once he crossed that threshold, it would be an earth-shaking transformation compared to now.

Time flowed slowly within the Void. When Cang Shun finished cultivating and raised his eyes, wanting to nuzzle up against the young man beside him—he found himself looking directly into a pair of eyes with slightly curved corners.

Chen Moqing lifted the little fluffy ball into midair, gently bouncing it: "Who are you? Get off him."

Cang Shun: "?"

The small snow-white beast looked at those eyes brimming with teasing laughter and began meowing loudly.

Chen Moqing laughed and pulled the meowing little fluffy ball back into his embrace: "His Majesty the Demon Emperor is so focused on cultivating, truly earth-shattering."

Cang Shun fell silent, gently pressing against his chest.

Earlier, if his cultivation hadn't been limited to only seventy percent, those Jinwu Sect cultivators would never have dared to act so brazenly in front of him. Nor would Heavenly Punishment have been allowed to injure this person.

Once he returned to his peak, no one in heaven or earth would ever dare to consider themselves above him.

He would—seize everything this person desired for him.

The Demon Emperor gazed quietly at the young man beside him, cupping his slender fingers in his hands.

A moment later, he lowered his head without a word.

Chen Moqing was gazing straight ahead when his fingertip suddenly felt a faint warmth.

As though he had been... quietly kissed.

Chen Moqing's fingers paused. Slowly, he lowered his lashes, meeting those focused crimson demon eyes.

In the depths of the Demon Emperor's eyes, he saw his own reflection, and also heard a low male voice beside his ear: 【I want—】

Before the words finished, Chen Moqing's eyes suddenly narrowed, and Cang Shun's words also stopped short.

Both of their gazes turned toward the distance at the same moment.

"That is—"

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