Chapter 15: Heading to the Spirit-Inhabited Immortal Palace
Su Huan was noncommittal. After successfully restraining him, he let out a sigh of relief. He immediately summoned a sword to the youth’s throat and shouted, “Your commander is in my hands, everyone stop!”
Fighting raged all around, but not a single soldier stopped. Some even raised their blades and charged straight at him. Su Huan dodged in a hurry, his eyes full of shock. How could this be?!
The youth, bound in spiritual chains, laughed low until his back was bent. “It’s useless. The only command they follow—is to kill every Immortal disciple”.
The youth’s eyes were curved in a smile, showing none of the demon race’s usual ferocity or greed. Instead, he looked like an innocent young man raised in an Immortal family. Su Huan’s eyelashes fluttered. “Shut up”. With a slight movement of his fingers, the chains on the youth began to move like swimming dragons, binding him even tighter. The demon youth let out a muffled groan and laughed even harder.
Suddenly, a demon saber lunged out of thin air, heading straight for Su Huan! Su Huan narrowly avoided it, only for another blade to strike from his side! Su Huan raised his sword to parry and looked up to see a girl in black. She had a round face, eyes that were lively and spirited, and a small, upturned nose. Her small, red mouth was naturally tilted in a smile, and she looked nothing like a demon as she controlled flying daggers with one hand and held a red flute in the other. Her voice was as crisp as an oriole’s: “Immortal pests, release my brother at once!”
Su Huan was startled, feeling that if not for the circumstances, no one would ever take this pair of siblings for demons. The girl parted her red lips and blew into her flute. In an instant, a demonic sound pierced their ears and disturbed their minds. Su Huan and the others staggered, all of them covering their ears.
Jiang Fei was fighting three demon soldiers and generals; at the sound, his face showed pain and he failed to dodge, taking a demon saber to the shoulder. Fortunately, Nangong Yi was nearby and saved him in time. Qi Zi was irritated by the sound; he thrust aside dozens of demons with a few spear strikes and turned the spear tip to strike at the girl!
The flute sound stopped, and Su Huan caught his breath. Looking around, he formulated a plan and sent a voice transmission to Nangong Yi: Fellow Daoist Nangong, I have a way to trap these demons, please help me. Nangong Yi nodded slightly and handed the injured Jiang Fei to Yue Jiusi’s care.
Su Huan tied the demon youth to a tree. With Nangong Yi’s assistance, he evaded the demon attacks, his figure darting across the field with his robes fluttering like he was dancing in mid-air. Though blind, Meng Qinghui’s movements were not hindered. She killed two demons with a sword in each hand and seemed to sense the special placement of Su Huan’s movements. She smiled and said to Hua Wuyou, “Wuyou, go help him!”
Hua Wuyou blew away several demons with a fan strike; the flying feathers struck the demons’ hearts, killing them instantly. He smiled and replied, “Got it!” Yue Jiusi looked confused, but while looking after Jiang Fei, he occasionally blocked a few strikes for Su Huan.
Before long, a massive array suddenly appeared in the air, trapping all the demons! Yue Jiusi widened his eyes in surprise. Su Huan’s face was pale, and he had to support himself with a hand on the ground. Although the demons were restricted to the Golden Core stage, drawing a massive array with only half a Golden Core was too much.
Su Huan closed his eyes and suppressed the taste of blood in his throat, plunging his spirit sword into the eye of the array: “Seal!” In the blink of an eye, all the demons vanished. Su Huan finally let out a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, a voice came from nearby: “Demon-Sealing Array? It seems I truly underestimated you”. Su Huan looked over abruptly and found the demon youth still securely tied to the tree, having been just outside the edge of the array. The youth laughed at his shocked expression, his face full of wild abandon.
Yue Jiusi cried out in surprise, “There’s still one left!” He was about to strike with his sword, but Nangong Yi stopped him: “No. He is the second son of the Demon Sovereign and is blood-linked to the demons; if we kill him, the Demon Sovereign will sense it and our whereabouts will be exposed”.
Qi Zi walked over. “Then what do we do with him?” Meng Qinghui tilted her head slightly. “Take him with us as a hostage”. Su Huan shook his head and said, “I tried just now, it’s no use”.
Meng Qinghui smiled and said, “The demons respect the strong. He can command those soldiers only by relying on his father’s prestige. Once in a crisis, those soldiers will not respect him and naturally will not save him. However, demons find it difficult to produce offspring, so the Demon Sovereign will not ignore him. His usefulness is quite great”.
The campfire was lit once more. After some discussion, the group decided to head toward the Spirit-Inhabited Immortal Palace ruins, the site of the Secret Realm’s greatest opportunity. Legend had it that the greatest secrets of the realm were hidden there, guarded by the most ferocious guardian spirits, and all who entered never returned. It was also rumored to be the former residence of the Secret Realm’s master. Although the realm’s key was held by the Xuanji Sect elders, perhaps other ways to escape were hidden there. Rather than waiting here for death, it was better to risk their lives there.
The group took the captured youth and headed east. Along the way, they saved many disciples, and the team expanded to more than twenty people. These disciples had been hunted everywhere by demons; some had seen companions eaten alive, and others had just escaped from demon claws. All hated the demons to the bone. Upon learning the youth was the Demon Sovereign’s second son, all were filled with hatred and tried to rush forward to kill him, but they were stopped by Su Huan.
The crowd was indignant and did not respect Su Huan, insisting on using the youth to vent their anger. But as they pressed forward, they saw Nangong Yi approaching with a scowling Yue Jiusi behind him. He said, “Mistreating prisoners of war is an immoral act. Do you all wish to be immoral people?” Nangong Yi held a noble status, backed by the two major powers of the Sword Cleansing Sect and the Nangong family. The disciples did not dare offend him, so they gave up.
The demon youth let out a scoffing laugh and closed his eyes in silence. Su Huan let out a sigh of relief and nodded slightly to Nangong Yi: “Thank you”. Nangong Yi smiled at him. “There is no need for thanks, Fellow Daoist Su. I know you have kindness in your heart, and that is very good”. Su Huan was touched, thinking that if he could still be alive after saving Xiao Zhao, he must visit the Sword Cleansing Sect.
After the dispute, everyone sat around the campfire to rest. The moon reached the center of the sky, casting faint light through the trees. The firelight flickered, and Su Huan, unable to sleep, poked at the weakening fire and added more wood. Looking up, he suddenly met the demon youth’s gaze. Su Huan was startled and looked down at the wood as it began to burn.
“I don’t understand”. All was quiet; the other disciples, unwilling to stay with a demon, slept farther away by the roots of a large tree. The demon youth spoke suddenly, and only after seeing that he had Su Huan’s attention did he continue, “Most Immortals are sword cultivators. I thought you were one too, but after you abandoned your sword, you actually became stronger”.
The fire drove away the darkness and lit up the youth’s beautiful face, reflecting the puzzled expression on it. He asked, “Why would you give up what you are good at and use a weapon you are not good with instead?” Su Huan’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He instinctively took out his spirit sword and rubbed the blade, but he could no longer feel the break.
After a moment of confusion, he realized he was holding a new sword; the one he was used to had already been used as the eye of the Demon-Sealing Array. He could not help but mock himself inwardly; sword cultivators usually loved their swords like their own lives, yet he had abandoned his like a worn shoe several times. Perhaps he truly was not suited for the sword.
“I know”. The demon was not annoyed by the lack of response and pondered on his own. “You must have done it to make the enemy think you are weak so you could defeat them easily, right?” After speaking, he lowered his head and muttered quietly with annoyance, “I won’t fall for it next time…”
Su Huan was noncommittal. He glanced at him and said, “Your father must like you very much”. If he didn’t, how could he have raised a youth with such a spoiled temperament? If his parents were still around, perhaps Xiao Zhao would have been spoiled like this too.
Unexpectedly, the demon youth’s face went pale upon hearing this, and he turned his head away, becoming even more angry. After a long time, he said in a low voice, “You guessed wrong, he only likes my older brother…” Hearing this, Su Huan was somewhat surprised but did not know what to say.
Suddenly, a disciple shouted out angrily, “You even have so much to say to a demon, how annoying! If you won’t sleep, I still want to!” Su Huan was startled: “…Sorry”.
The next day.
After everyone had rested, fifteen people remained, excluding those who were unwilling to go to the palace ruins and left to find other hiding spots. Su Huan took the demon youth, whose three souls were sealed by soul-locking chains and could not use magic, and flew on his sword behind Nangong Yi, Qi Zi, and the others, continuing east.
Meng and Hua followed at the end. Their fan was not suited for flying in a dense forest, so they switched to a spirit sword and followed behind to monitor the demon youth. The demon youth seemed not to know how to keep his mouth shut and talked incessantly behind Su Huan along the way.
“Why are you so obedient? That disciple told you to stop talking last night, and you really didn’t say another word .” “Is he your fellow disciple? Your clothes are the same style, but the patterns on your belts are different… his isn’t as good-looking as yours… ” “You don’t seem to like him very much, how about I kill him for you? ” Su Huan was beyond annoyed and cast a spell to seal his mouth.
It was finally quiet behind him. Su Huan’s tense nerves finally relaxed, but the next second he felt something was wrong. It was too quiet. Although Meng Qinghui did not speak much, Hua Wuyou was a chatterbox and it was impossible for him to remain silent.
Su Huan’s pupils contracted sharply. Suddenly, a whistle rang out from behind him! Su Huan immediately jumped from his sword and summoned it back to parry, only to see the blade shatter into two pieces without spiritual energy to protect it. The inscription on the blade was strikingly familiar—it was the sword he had used as the eye of the Demon-Sealing Array!
Someone had broken his seal and pulled out the eye! At the same time, Su Huan realized a sword mark had been sliced into the soul-locking chains on the demon youth’s arm, nearly cutting through the chains formed of spiritual energy. Su Huan was aghast; soul-locking chains had to be complete to be effective, and once damaged, they would lose their function. Moreover, only the one who cast the spell could undo it!
That person had not only broken the Demon-Sealing Array but also used the spirit sword Su Huan had left as the array eye to break the hardest-to-unravel soul-locking chains in the world! That broken sword held his residual spiritual energy and had been worn by him for years, carrying his aura; it was like the owner himself, so breaking the soul-locking chains was naturally not an issue.
It turned out the demon youth’s constant noise along the way was to provide cover for his accomplice! The youth looked down and broke the gold chains on his body with a forceful struggle, letting them vanish into the air. He then picked up the spirit sword that had fallen at Su Huan’s feet and suddenly attacked.
The demon youth revealed a smile of certain victory and said with a beaming smile, “Remember my name, Yin Rong. I will come for you again”. Before he finished speaking, Yin Rong retreated suddenly, and another flying sword flew from the shadows toward Su Huan’s vital point! Su Huan dodged and turned back, only to find Yin Rong’s figure had vanished.
The people leading the way ahead rushed back: “What happened?” Jiang Fei was the first to notice something wrong: “Where are Meng Qinghui and Hua Wuyou?!” Qi Zi frowned, scanned the area, and pushed aside some grass with his spear: “Over here”.
Inside the waist-high grass, the two missing people were found unconscious together, with spiritual talismans for inducing sleep stuck to their backs. A hint of rage appeared in Su Huan’s clear eyes, and he gripped his sword tightly. It must be that internal traitor who colluded with the demons!
Who could it be? Su Huan remembered the two flying swords from the sneak attacks, and a figure instinctively surfaced in his mind, yet it made his heart leap in shock! No, it could never be the Eldest Senior Brother!
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