Mo Xiaoxing grabbed the rope, and the rest of the climb was much smoother!
After about an hour, she finally reached the top! Before she could catch her breath, she immediately looked toward the end of the rope. The white peacock was still lying on that patch of clean ground, eyes closed, healing itself, but it was gripping the vine in its beak!
Mo Xiaoxing trotted over. “It really was you! Thank you, you beautiful and kind-hearted Big Brother Peacock.”
The white peacock released the vine.
A voice, slightly weak, said: “You child, hopping and jumping like a little monkey, though your mouth is certainly sweet.”
Mo Xiaoxing: “Hehe.”
The white peacock ignored her further, and Mo Xiaoxing dared not disturb him again, so she returned to the cave. Having slept earlier, she couldn’t fall asleep again once she lay down.
As night fell, a few claps of muffled thunder rolled across the sky, and soon a heavy rain began to pour! Lying on the stone bed, Mo Xiaoxing dangled her feet, thinking that it probably wasn’t great for the white peacock to be outside in the rain.
“Well, what can I do? I can’t move him…”
The downpour was torrential; within moments, a curtain of water had formed at the cave entrance. Mo Xiaoxing jumped off the stone bed. Still worried, she decided to go check on the white peacock—after all, the creature had saved her twice.
Just as she was about to go out, the white peacock’s tall, magnificent body suddenly walked into the cave! It didn’t continue further, but stopped at a spacious spot near the entrance, swept away the dust with a wing, and laid down again.
Mo Xiaoxing: “…”
Under the dim candlelight, the white peacock’s feathers still carried a holy light, spotless and pristine. She suddenly realized: perhaps this white peacock was just afraid of getting its feathers dirty, which is why it came in to escape the rain! It had been so severely injured, yet its first priority wasn’t healing—it was having her fetch water to wash its feathers…
Putting the pieces together, Mo Xiaoxing became more certain of her theory! She’d heard that peacocks loved beauty, and loved their own feathers even more—so it turned out that demonic beasts were the same!
Mo Xiaoxing silently retreated and sat back down on the stone bed. With nothing else to do, she sat cross-legged and began to meditate.
Hanyan: [Forget Qin Yu’s cultivation techniques. I will pass on a method of breathing that is more suitable for your Extreme Yin Holy Body.]
Mo Xiaoxing: “Okay!”
Hanyan: [Come into Mo Huo.]
Mo Xiaoxing subconsciously glanced at the white peacock.
Hanyan: [Don’t worry. He is healing and is not guarding against you; furthermore, you have nothing worth guarding anyway.]
Mo Xiaoxing: “…Oh, you don’t have to be so blunt! Even if I am a newbie, I believe I am a newbie with great potential.”
She entered Mo Huo, and Hanyan infused a set of breathing techniques into her consciousness. After circulating the energy three times, it gradually became smooth. Mo Xiaoxing returned to the stone bed and resumed her meditation. Her whole body felt warm; it was definitely much more comfortable than before!
In the middle of the night, she was suddenly interrupted by a series of low, pained groans.
Opening her eyes, she saw the white peacock still maintaining its original posture, but it was emitting those intermittent sounds, seemingly in great agony.
“Hey, Big Brother Peacock, what’s wrong?”
She suddenly noticed that the mass of black energy near the wound under the peacock’s left wing had suddenly expanded! It was a circle larger than before!
“Sister Hanyan, the demonic energy in its body seems to be spreading. What should I do?”
Hanyan: [Stay far away. If you are mistakenly struck by the demonic energy, your little body definitely won’t be able to hold up. With the energy spreading, he can only defend against it himself.]
Hanyan’s voice was serious, acting as a warning. But Mo Xiaoxing remembered that the white peacock had saved her twice, and she had no intention of staying out of it.
Mo Xiaoxing: “He’s shivering; he seems very cold. I wonder if the Fire Essence can help him.”
She took out the Fire Essence she had gathered that day and moved it close to the peacock’s wound.
Hanyan shouted urgently: [No! You are acting recklessly! Get away from him!]
The Fire Essence wasn’t absorbed by the white peacock; instead, a sudden suction pulled Mo Xiaoxing’s hand toward it! It forced her to press against the peacock’s wound! The demonic energy coiled around the wound, like a creature finding an exit, and rushed frantically into Mo Xiaoxing’s body!
Mo Xiaoxing realized the danger and tried to pull back, but her hand was tightly held; she couldn’t pull away no matter how hard she tried!
“White Peacock, I’m trying to save you out of the kindness of my heart—why are you harming me?”
Mo Xiaoxing said with difficulty, but heard no answer from the white peacock.
Hanyan: [Do as I say! Protect your heart meridians!]
Mo Xiaoxing quickly obeyed, not knowing if it would be of any use. As the demonic energy flooded her body, she felt colder and colder, and her meridians felt as if they were tearing apart! Subconsciously, she absorbed the Fire Essence and actually felt a bit better! She hurriedly took out all the Fire Essence she had picked up that day; as soon as the piece in her hand was depleted, she immediately switched to another.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but the speed of the incoming demonic energy slowed, and gradually, it stopped!
The Fire Essence was also used up. Mo Xiaoxing, unable to hold on any longer, collapsed and passed out…
When she woke up, Mo Xiaoxing stared at the uneven rocks on the cave ceiling and sat up all at once! She felt her entire body.
“I’m still alive!”
“You are naturally alive.”
Two voices spoke simultaneously—one was Hanyan speaking within her consciousness, and the other was the white peacock.
Hanyan: [Mo Xiaoxing, do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Had it been anyone else, you would have been dead long ago!]
Mo Xiaoxing was somewhat dazed: “Ah? Why am I not ‘anyone else’?”
Hanyan was about to speak, but the white peacock suddenly said: “Child, come here.”
Only then did Mo Xiaoxing notice she was lying on the stone bed. She remembered fainting on the ground, so… it must have been the white peacock who moved her to the stone bed?
“Big Brother Peacock, are you feeling better?”
The cold, clear voice let out a soft chuckle, “Child, you are quite an interesting person.”
The sky had cleared, and sunlight spilled into the cave entrance, shining on the pristine white feathers. Lustrous, flowing light moved across them; its feathers seemed even brighter than they were yesterday.
Mo Xiaoxing wanted to say she wasn’t a child, but on second thought, demonic beast cultivation took hundreds or thousands of years—compared to that, she was indeed a child!
“Do you feel any discomfort?”
Mo Xiaoxing shook her head, feeling that the question held a hint of concern. “No.”
“Last night, you absorbed the demonic energy lingering in my body. I thought you would die. I never expected that you would possess Earth’s Core Fire within you, burning the demonic energy to nothing.”
Mo Xiaoxing: “…Big Brother Peacock, it’s not that I wanted to absorb your demonic energy; it ran into me of its own accord!”
“Heh, the demonic energy in my body is of the utmost Yin and cold. I suppose it preferred the flavor of an Extreme Yin Holy Body.”
Mo Xiaoxing: “…”
She had saved the white peacock, but in the process, she had exposed so much about herself!
“I just saved you; if you’re plotting anything bad, be careful of being struck by lightning!”
“I have saved you too,” the white peacock said with a faint smile.
Mo Xiaoxing: “I don’t care, we’ll call it even!”
“Rest assured, just because humans like to snatch the Extreme Yin Holy Body does not mean that I do.”
Hanyan: [He is telling the truth.]
Mo Xiaoxing instantly relaxed. “Alright, alright… You saved me once, and I saved you once. We’re even.”
“I saved you twice.”
Mo Xiaoxing: “The second time doesn’t count. Even if you hadn’t thrown the vine, I could have climbed up!”
“Then consider that help, which must also be repaid.”
Mo Xiaoxing’s eyes darted. “Oh~ I get it. You want me to help you, right? Just say it directly; I’m not such a petty person.”