novelraw Chapter 79 : Young Lord of the Demon Race
Chapter 79 : Young Lord of the Demon Race
Tantai Ming sprang up with a "whoosh" and ran to look, only to find a small bloodstain on the ground. "Damn it, it got away!"
"It's injured, it can't have gone far."
The next morning, as they were counting heads to continue their journey, they discovered someone was missing—it was Qin Xixue.
Thinking something had happened to her, Mo Qingchen was about to send disciples to search when the young woman came running back from the forest, late. Chu Sang noticed a small bloodstain on her sleeve and narrowed her eyes.
Xiao Bai poked out of the spirit beast bag and sniffed, saying suspiciously, "Mama, she has the scent of a demon beast on her!"
"What nonsense is this spirit beast spouting? Little Junior Sister is a human cultivator, how could she possibly have the scent of a demon on her?" Qiu Xiude, who had been irritated with them for a long time, immediately defended her when he heard them openly talking nonsense.
"If she's hiding a demon beast or not, we'll know by checking her beast pouch, won't we?" Lu Yue had been displeased with Qin Xixue ever since she accidentally pushed the little junior sister down in the tower. Now, seeing her shifty gaze, she felt even more certain that something was amiss.
Chu Sang caught a glimpse of Qin Xixue hiding her hand behind her back and let out a cold laugh, shooting out a hidden weapon.
"Ah!" Qin Xixue cried out in shock, her face pale, as the beast pouch fell from her hand. A fluffy, fox-like small beast emerged, baring its teeth at everyone.
Qin Xixue hurriedly picked it up, her face grim as she said, "...What are you trying to do?!"
"I should be asking you that. What are you up to?" Tantai Ming coldly snorted, sword in hand. "Sneaking around suspiciously, sure enough, you were hiding a demon beast!"
"I wasn't hiding a demon beast. It's an injured young beast I found nearby. I wanted to bring it back for treatment." She gritted her teeth, looking towards the Beast Taming Sect and Chu Sang, dissatisfied. "I'm not the only one with a demon beast. Why are you singling me out?"
Lu Yue was speechless. Did this person have a persecution complex? "Our demon beasts are contracted spirit beasts. Of course they won't attack cultivators. But the origin of the beast in your arms is unknown and very suspicious."
"A few days ago, several cultivators disappeared, attacked by demon beasts. What if it was this one? Can you guarantee it wasn't?"
Mo Qingchen also looked at Qin Xixue with disapproval, his voice cool and slightly heavy, "This beast is suspicious. Get rid of it."
Qin Xixue hugged the small beast tightly, her eyes red and on the verge of tears. "It's so cute, how could it possibly be the culprit who attacked cultivators? Moreover, it's injured. It's bad enough that you won't save it, how can you be so cruel?!"
Ge Xiang sarcastically remarked, "Now you're suddenly compassionate. How come I didn't see you being so kind-hearted before?"
She didn't even blink an eye when killing young birds earlier. Who was she putting on this act for now?
"Alright, alright, everyone stop for a moment and listen to me." Chu Sang clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention. The young woman grinned, her expression bright and bold. "If you want to prove this demon beast is not suspicious, it's simple."
"The beast that attacked people last night was severely injured by me before it escaped. We just need to check if this beast has the sword wound I left, and everything will be clear."
Seeing her approach, the small beast's pure and innocent look suddenly turned fierce as it growled and snarled.
Chu Sang's gaze sharpened as she reached for it.
The demon beast's aura suddenly surged several times stronger, about to launch a sneak attack. She was prepared and threw out an explosive talisman, blasting the small beast several meters away. As it hit the ground, it transformed into human form—a man clutching his chest and coughing up blood.
"You despicable humans, how dare you hurt me!"
"Damn, so it was a stinking man pretending to be a small beast. How shameless!" Tantai Ming shouted.
The demon cultivator's handsome face twisted with pain, looking fierce and stern. He was clever enough to know he couldn't fight this group of cultivators while seriously injured, so he turned to flee.
Chu Sang wouldn't give him the chance to escape. She stuffed dozens of talismans into her gun and unleashed a barrage of shots.
The others blocked the demon cultivator's escape routes, leaving him nowhere to retreat.
The demon cultivator's face twisted for a moment. He muttered an incantation, and this living person vanished before their eyes!
"Strange, how did he suddenly disappear? Did he turn invisible?"
Tantai Ming flew over but couldn't catch him, angrily stomping the ground.
"He hasn't run away, he's still nearby." Su Chen'an threw out the Dice of Wild Gambling.
"Break!" The dice points transformed into four, growing hundreds of times larger with the wind, heavily pressing down on the ground. The terrifying pressure made the earth shake three times. The vanished demon beast was smacked out of the ground like a prairie dog, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Chu Sang stepped on the dying demon cultivator, "Run? Try running again?"
The piercing pain made his face contort violently. He gritted his teeth and suddenly let out a cold laugh, "...It's coming!"
Coming?
What's coming?
Suddenly, a fierce wind arose around them. A whirlwind mixed with trees and rocks swept towards them—it was a secret realm storm!
They were truly unlucky to encounter a once-in-a-century secret realm storm.
Everyone present was swept into the storm, including the demon cultivator and Qin Xixue. He clearly had other life-saving measures. With one arm holding Qin Xixue, he took out a magical treasure that enveloped them both in a light shield, protecting them from the storm's erosion. After a moment of chaos, everyone disappeared from sight.
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"Thud!"
Chu Sang fell straight out of a tree, feeling dizzy and almost vomiting.
She sat cross-legged on the ground, rubbing her head, and looked up to survey the unfamiliar scene before her.
The trees were lush, their branches and leaves blocking out the sky, resembling a tropical rainforest. She didn't know which corner of the secret realm she had been teleported to.
She looked around.
How unfortunate, she was all alone, separated from the others.
She didn't know where her other senior brothers and sisters had been randomly teleported to.
She leaned against a tree to stand up, her eyes deep in thought. Who exactly was that demon cultivator?
Being able to speak and transform into human form meant his strength was definitely above the Nascent Soul stage.
Chu Sang quickly ran through the powerful demon beasts related to the female protagonist in the original story. Could it be... the Young Lord of the Demon Race?
The original story was a wish-fulfillment harem novel, and the female protagonist had many suitors. The Young Lord of the Demon Race was one of them.
But what was the Young Lord of the Demon Race doing in this secret realm?
His status in the demon race was quite noble. What secret realm would be worthy of his personal visit?
Was he simply here to eat a few human snacks?
That seemed unlikely.
Or... was he looking for something important?
Chu Sang remembered Third Senior Brother's request—to find a demon bone.
She hadn't asked much about what the demon bone was for, knowing he wouldn't tell her anyway, but she could be certain it was very important to Third Senior Brother.
Third Senior Brother was also of the demon race.
It seemed the two were likely connected.
She pushed aside her thoughts and stood up, patting her sleeves, planning to search for her separated senior brothers and sisters.
She hadn't walked far when she heard a familiar gentle voice in the distance, along with another unfamiliar voice.
"I was attacked by a demon beast and got separated from my group. Kind sir, could you let me travel with you? Once we find my group, I'll be sure to reward you handsomely!"
Next came Second Senior Brother's melodious and gentle voice, "Ah, you got lost? You poor thing. Come along with me then."
With all sorts of monsters and evil spirits ambushing people in the secret realm, how could Second Senior Brother, that naive sweetie, easily trust a stranger's words?
Chu Sang was extremely worried. She rushed over just in time to see the man facing away from Ling Yu suddenly turn vicious, pulling out a short blade to stab Ling Yu in the back.
Chu Sang swiftly threw out a boomerang, instantly severing the man's wrist. The short blade clattered to the ground, and the next second, his head was cut off. Warm blood sprayed onto her clothes, causing Ling Yu to turn around in surprise. He blinked, not even glancing at the headless corpse beside him, and walked towards Chu Sang with both surprise and joy, "Little Junior Sister~"
"Second Senior Brother, you need to be more careful. That male cultivator almost stabbed you through the heart just now." If she hadn't arrived in time, Second Senior Brother would have been finished.
Ling Yu was bewildered and a bit wronged, "I saw he looked so pitiful and needed help, so I wanted to bring him along to find his lost group. I didn't expect him to have such evil intentions!"
"Is this how you were tricked last time?" Chu Sang was speechless. "When that ghost cultivator lured you to the ghost city?"
She could imagine how the naive Second Senior Brother had been tricked step by step by that ghost cultivator at the time.
She looked up and sighed. Was Second Senior Brother really this innocent? He was nothing like his second personality. It was a miracle he had survived this long.
After walking a few steps, several burly figures darted out of the forest. Judging by their attire, they were with the cultivator who had just died.
Seeing the corpse, their faces changed dramatically. The lead man shouted coldly, his eyes bulging with rage, "You dare kill my brother, die—"
Ling Yu didn't even give him a chance to finish his opening line, cleaving him in two with a single stroke, his actions clean and decisive. Chu Sang silently took back her earlier criticism.
She blinked, "Wow, I thought Second Senior Brother was a kind-hearted sucker."
"Letting enemies die without pain or suffering is my greatest kindness to them." Ling Yu meticulously wiped his blade until it was spotless, only then did a faint smile appear on his face.
The next second, his expression changed again, his voice becoming weaker, "Was I too violent just now? Did I scare you? How rude of me, truly rude."
"......"
As they continued forward, they encountered many demon beast ambushes. Ling Yu dispatched them one by one, looking frail and delicate but striking with speed, precision, and ruthlessness.
With Ling Yu, the straightforward and brutal blade cultivator, acting as the vanguard, Chu Sang was quite at ease, picking up demon cores along the way and feeding them all to Xiao Bai.
Three days later, they came to a swampy area covered in dark purple rafflesia flowers, with poisonous miasma swirling around, looking very dangerous.
She also saw some familiar faces—people from the Tianyan Sect.
For some reason, they were trapped here. The Tianyan Sect originally had pill refiners too, but their only pill refiner, Qin Xixue, was currently who-knows-where getting cozy with the Young Lord of the Demon Race, leaving a bunch of fragile sword cultivators huddling together, facing death.
Seeing her about to go over, Ling Yu instinctively held her back, shaking his head and saying gently, "Don't go over there. The poisonous miasma is dense; it's very dangerous."
Chu Sang turned to look at him in surprise, "I thought Second Senior Brother would encourage me to go save them."
After all, Second Senior Brother was the type of good person who wanted to lend a hand even to strangers who couldn't distinguish friend from foe, let alone disciples from one of the Eight Great Sects.
Ling Yu's gaze shifted for a moment as he let go of her hand, "Ah, then... go save them."
In the swampy area, only Mo Qingchen could barely hold on, but the young man's face was pale, clearly at his limit.
With his abilities, escaping wouldn't be difficult, but he had several junior brothers and sisters behind him. He had to take on the responsibility of the senior brother and bring everyone out together.
But every time they tried to escape, countless vines would burst from the ground, blocking their path.
As soon as they cut down one wave of vines, another would sprout up, growing more numerous each time.
As time dragged on, their already limited supply of antidote pills and breath-holding pills was almost exhausted. And with the team's only pill refiner nowhere to be found, if they continued like this, they would only be waiting for death.
"Hey hey hey, fellows, need some help?"
A cheerful and somewhat irritating voice broke through the despair that had settled over them.
Qiu Xiude's eyes widened, "Chu Sang?"
"What's up, big boy? So excited to see your mom?"
Although Qiu Xiude usually hated seeing this face the most, at this moment, seeing her appear, he couldn't hide his excitement. It was like grasping the last lifeline, and he even forgot to retort.
Mo Qingchen raised his eyes to look, his cold and handsome face showing a rare change in emotion.
Chu Sang, considering herself a righteous young woman, naturally wouldn't remember the grudges between the two sects at such a moment. She promptly distributed antidote pills, saving their miserable lives.
Qiu Xiude's hand tightened around the pill, somewhat incredulous, as if he hadn't expected the other party to actually be willing to save him.
"By the way, one antidote pill is 100,000 spirit stones. I'll put it on your tab. Since we know each other, I won't charge you interest."
Qiu Xiude spat blood, "100,000 spirit stones for one antidote pill? Why don't you just rob us?"
"If you don't want it, fine. Give me back the pill."
Fearing she might take it back, Qiu Xiude quickly swallowed the pill, his face grim, "Put it on the tab for now."
Whatever feeling of gratitude he might have had vanished. This person was still as annoying as ever.
"Thank you," Mo Qingchen also took the pill and said softly.
"Have you seen my senior brothers and sisters?" Chu Sang hadn't come here out of kindness to save them; she had followed the sensation from her jade bracelet to this place.
This swampy area was vast, and it was possible that some of her senior brothers and sisters had wandered in here.
"That tiger-headed sword cultivator youth is your Seventh Senior Brother, right? He was trapped in the swamp area with us earlier. Seeing no way out, he got very agitated and went straight into the depths of the swamp, saying he was going to kill the demon king of this place. We couldn't stop him," a female cultivator said.
This swamp area must have a demon king guarding it, but a demon king's cultivation would be at least at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm. Not to mention, the dense poisonous miasma here would greatly weaken their strength. Fighting on the demon king's territory was simply suicidal.