19 – Peerless Hero Embraced the Approaching Demon Lord…
At the moment the nine thousand sacrifices were completed, the first layer of the ruins was also unsealed.
Amidst the rumbling, a massive bronze gate rose from beneath the earth, its surface engraved with ancient star charts. As an eerie purple glow flickered, Heavenly Mandate runes emerged one by one. Though the inscriptions were ancient and cryptic, everyone present could understand their meaning—
“Stars stray from their paths, demonic calamity destroys the world; the dark luminescence devours the moon, the Heavenly Mandate shines anew.”
Liu Wuzhi recalled that the first half of this phrase had also appeared in the divinations of the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion of the Immortal Sect, carrying a convincing weight. The Demon Lord was the eternal Unfalling Moon of the demon realm, and the latter eight characters seemed to hint at a great catastrophe.
Once the heavenly prophecy was revealed, the crowd erupted in uproar.
A swift wind swept across the desolate plain. Under the shadowy haze, the purple-clad Sovereign Lord still gazed down with the pride of the moon.
Mu Yingyou, clutching her wound, taunted, “Does the Sovereign Lord not even believe in the Heavenly Mandate?”
With lives offered as sacrifices, the prophecy sought must be true.
As the runes dissipated into smoke, Baili Zheque coldly lifted his eyes. “Heavenly Mandate? I believe only in the sword in my hand.”
In the next instant, his slender fingers twisted the dark black hilt, and a purple, shadowy radiance broke through the light, striking the bronze stele with lightning speed. Rusted marks crumbled away, fully revealing the passage leading into the depths of the ruins.
Simultaneously, the demonic mark on Liu Wuzhi’s forehead suddenly blazed brightly. Before she could even react, Liu Shao, who had teleported to her side, shielded her with his body.
“The sacrifice for the second layer is you.”
This woman was the secret key Baili Xuanye had prepared for himself. Whoever obtained her could enter the deeper parts of the ruins.
These words fell like a thunderclap. Liu Wuzhi looked up to see Mu Yingyou break away from the Demon Lord and charge straight toward her. Liu Shao chanted an incantation, formed seals with his hands, and summoned his Lifebound Sword to guard in front of them.
Mu Yingyou was well-prepared. The black gauze wrapped around her arm seemed to fuse with her flesh, and as the demon energy around her surged, her five fingers transformed into sharp black claws, slashing fiercely toward the two.
“Crack—!”
The barrier shattered. Liu Shao raised his sword and spun around. The blade sliced through the demonic claws, and the black blood that sprayed out also left a wound on the back of his hand.
As demonic energy corroded his spiritual body, Liu Wuzhi could no longer concern herself with the truth or falsehood of titles and blurted out, “Eldest Senior Brother!”
Just as she was about to check his injury, that annoying deep male voice echoed in her mind again: “The Heavenly Mandate Prophecy has been revealed. The bronze gate will only remain open for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. You must retrieve Father’s relic and restore the glory of the Baili clan!”
Restore, restore—what did that have to do with her? She only wanted her eldest senior brother to recover!
Whenever she defied this voice, her heart would constrict with a sudden, tightening pain. Gritting her teeth, Liu Wuzhi focused solely on staying by her eldest senior brother’s side.
Even though she knew this protection was only to prevent the demonic calamity brought by Baili Ming’s relic, not for her sake.
Liu Shao drew a talisman with his blood and, as soon as the brushstroke ended, immediately cast the spell. Other fellow cultivators from the Immortal Sect also rushed forward to join the battle. Seeing Liu Wuzhi in pain, magical beasts charged forward one after another. A two-headed demon lizard bit off the venomous claw Mu Yingyou had extended.
The severed hand hung in mid-air but seemed to come alive. Wrapped in black mist and carrying sharp blades, it continued to rush toward Liu Wuzhi, breaking through layer after layer of obstacles. Just before it could touch the hem of the young girl’s robe, a purple light sliced into the scene, like heavenly fire crashing to the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust. The Amethyst Demon Sword descended from above, piercing the severed hand into the ground with precision.
The chaotic battle paused for a moment.
Liu Wuzhi was nearly tortured to the point of fainting by the Heart-Entangling Silk. As the sensation of weightlessness washed over her, the Demon Lord’s pale hand rested on her waist, holding her as if cradling a qin. His tone seemed tinged with disappointment: “Even after fighting to such an extent, your master still refuses to show himself?”
The legacy within the ruins could very well influence the balance between the celestial and demon realms. The Immortal Sects were determined to prevent the seal from opening, while the Defiled Realm sought to intercept it midway. Yet, he alone remained so composed and at ease.
Apart from his sworn enemies, the Demon Lord cared for nothing.
He tossed Liu Wuzhi to the magical beasts, his thin lips curling faintly in the shadow of the array: “Then this sovereign shall dismantle these ruins for him to see.”
With the Demon Lord entering the fray, Mu Yingyou wasted no time, splitting into multiple clones and launching a direct assault on Baili Zheque’s right eye. Unable to recall his sword in time, the Demon Lord raised his arm to block. Countless black spikes pierced and tore through the bones of his palm, yet Baili Zheque remained unmoved, deflecting the force with ease as he condensed a strand of musical resonance.
Illusions solidified into silk strings at his flowing black-and-red fingertips. The sound of slaughter entered the qin, pinning Mu Yingyou to the bronze stele.
Blood gushed from three inches above his heart, flowing down along the stele’s patterns, interweaving green and red in a macabre tapestry. Even at the end of his rope, Mu Yingyou could not suppress his killing intent, struggling relentlessly. Nearby, Liu Shao activated the completed magic array, intent on forcibly closing the bronze door.
Baili Zheque flicked his hand, releasing a sound wave aimed at preventing the closure through destruction—but Liu Shao still stood at the entrance.
At the critical moment, the villain’s voice roared inside Liu Wuzhi’s skull: “Quick, get inside!”
You go in if you want to! So noisy!
The Immortal Sect disciples could not withstand the Demon Lord’s killing techniques, and the magical beasts were equally unable to face his oppressive aura. Liu Shao, lacking full confidence, was about to engage using the Azure Fall Sword technique when he suddenly heard the sound of overlapping beast hooves.
The gap in the bronze door gradually narrowed until only one person could pass through—a moment of extreme peril where success and failure hung by a thread. Faster than the Demon Lord’s qin melody was the girl riding a magical beast against the light: “Eldest Senior Brother!”
A wave of light struck the girl’s back, and she fell like a kite with its string cut.
Before tumbling into the ruins, Liu Wuzhi glanced back with a smile: “Wait for me.”
Wait for me to come out, and let’s return to the Azure Mist Sect together.
She didn’t want to be discovered for having cultivated the Demon Path, but even more, she didn’t want her eldest senior brother to get hurt.
The scenes before her eyes spun like a revolving lantern. Liu Wuzhi only saw Liu Shao’s pupils trembling uncontrollably. Amid the rumbling sound of the bronze door closing, she couldn’t hear what he was calling out at all.
The Empty Desolation returned to silence.
Everyone was covered in wounds, their expressions grave.
The Realm Lord of the Defiled Realm was severely injured, and Yuan Lan was finally freed, immediately binding Mu Yingyou in turn as he awaited the Sovereign Lord’s judgment.
The magical beasts crashed against the bronze door one after another, trying to rescue the girl from the ruins. Despite fierce collisions with the mountain-hard iron armor, not a single crack appeared on the door.
Baili Zheque’s face showed no expression as he pushed aside the beasts that kept ramming the wall, stepping forward to examine the structure.
The green stones fit together seamlessly, without the slightest gap, making it difficult to probe the situation inside.
The Demon Lord rubbed the fingertip that had touched the girl.
Using plants to replace nine thousand living sacrifices—only she could think of such a thing.
Her life-risking fall not only pleased the Immortal Sect disciple she sought to win over but also accomplished the task assigned by Baili Xuanye. It was indeed a clever scheme that killed two birds with one stone.
For the Demon Lord, who had tasted hatred to the full, Baili Ming’s ruins would rather be completely destroyed than handed over to anyone else.
He rapped his knuckles against the door, the sound like ice shattering or jade breaking.
From the moment they rushed into the ruins, the alliance between Mu Yingyou and Baili Xuanye crumbled into dust. On the brink of failure, she lay dying, watching the Demon Lord’s retreating figure. “Sovereign Lord,” she gasped, “this gateway to the ruins may well open the path to your own end.”
Baili Zheque did not turn back. With a cold laugh, the hard bronze before him collapsed like mud. His jade-like fingers swept aside the veil, his icy voice falling like snow without a trace: “Baili Ming, come out and face your death.”
After the final echo faded, the bronze gate returned to its original state, as if no one had ever passed through.
The border of Empty Desolation was a steep, deep valley where the spiritual flows of immortals and demons churned and clashed, a stalemate that had persisted for a thousand years.
This was the closest Liu Wuzhi had come to the dual realm seal since her soul transmigration.
Even the antagonist was urging her from afar: “Walk forward, open the second layer of the seal, and I will ensure your Soul remains intact.”
But Liu Wuzhi dared not approach.
After tumbling into the ruins, the bronze gate vanished instantly. Trapped in a sunless, shadowy ravine, she found the soil damp with moisture, as if rain had just fallen—though the sky outside the ruins had been clear and cloudless. Countless snails crawled out from the bushes, surrounding little Lingzhi.
Even though they were likely Illusions… they were still terrifying!
Snails biting hurt so much! She would never escape this trauma!
“Eldest Senior Brother… save me…”
Liu Wuzhi still bore the pain from the soundwave attack. She called out weakly a few times, her voice growing fainter.
It was unlikely her eldest senior brother could enter the Demon Realm’s secret base. Besides, she couldn’t even be sure if Liu Shao had recognized her earlier.
Even if he had, would Eldest Senior Brother save a Liu Wuzhi who had cultivated demonic arts?
Her slender fingers clutched the folds of the violet outer robe she wore. Thinking of its owner, a faint glimmer of hope rekindled within her. “Sovereign Lord… Demon Lord… great Demon Lord…”
“Baili Zheque…” She used his name to bolster her courage.
A chilling wind swept through the valley. Occasional flickers of eerie light flashed within the gray mist, only to be swallowed by deeper shadows.
When the Demon Lord himself stepped into this place, what he heard was this pitiful, feeble cry—like the wail of a Resentful Spirit—repeating “Baili Zheque.”
Baili Ming’s decoy tomb was neither the first nor the last. These myriad Illusions were nothing new to the Demon Lord.
Like dreams, Illusions were projections of one’s inner state.
Since ancient times, the human heart had been filthy. No matter the circumstance, the visions within were invariably bizarre and twisted—even the Imperial Ancestor of the Immortal Alliance was no exception.
Whether glorious or lowly, the depths of the heart were always distorted and seething. Only this girl’s inner world mirrored the true, mundane realm of plants and mortals.
Under normal circumstances, Baili Zheque would have waited for Baili Xuanye’s signal before revealing himself. But seeing this unarmed girl holding the oversized robe over her head as a shield against the snails, the Demon Lord found it utterly amusing.
Not afraid of her spy identity being exposed, but terrified of snails?
Having endured his soundwave attack, she still thought to seek his help—such foolishness was almost intolerable.
“Crunch!”
His boot crushed the source of her fear. The conjured snails instantly dissolved into skeletal wisps of gray mist. Before those skeletons could pounce, they were incinerated by silver-purple Demon Flames, reduced to ashes without a trace.
The villain’s incessant chatter faded away, replaced by the crisp sound of snail shells shattering. Liu Wuzhi tore off her outer cloak from her head. The moment she lifted her gaze, she saw that man standing amidst the chaos of the deep valley—his sharp silhouette like a lone pine clinging to a cliff, a cold star plunging into an abyss. His snow-white robes, soaked in the night, resembled a frigid moon breaking through the clouds.
In that instant, it felt as though an invisible hand had plucked a string deep within her heart, its clear, resonant notes echoing straight to her soul.
Just as described in the romance novels her senior sisters loved to read—in moments of peril, a peerless hero would always descend from the heavens to rescue her from danger.
That was the bloodthirsty Demon Lord who killed without blinking—he would surely annihilate all the snails.
As shadows and an aura of death spread around her, Liu Wuzhi, overwhelmed with both shock and joy, rushed forward despite her injuries and threw her arms around the approaching Demon Lord.
This person was now her only reliance.
“Baili Zheque!”
He was so cruel, yet incredibly cool!
Author’s Note:
Giving the little couple some alone time~
#Flashback to the Moment of Heart Flutter
Zhizhi: Back then, when he fearlessly crushed the snails.
Demon Lord: …
—Both of them are incredibly slow when it comes to matters of the heart. Take it slow [wicked grin]