Chapter 4: You Brat, Where are Your Hands?
Ning Ke was stunned when he heard this.
If he remembered correctly, the reason the big villain was so awesome was because of his ten-thousand-year-old Demon Core and his uniquely endowed Fox Fire.
If he gave it all to the protagonist, how on earth was he supposed to maintain his status as the strongest?
A string in his brain plucked gently. Ning Ke had a sudden thought: could this be the reason the villain lost to the protagonist in the later stages?
Before he could investigate closely, Xiao Yuan continued: [However, of course you don’t give him all of it. You can give just a small half after refining it. This way, you can sustain his life and help him survive this calamity and escape the Demon Abyss!]
Ning Ke snapped back to reality and looked down to see…
Lou Yunxiao’s lips were stained black-red with blood, his hair at the temples was messy, and his thin body trembled from coughing. Clearly unconscious, he still clung tightly to the corner of Ning Ke’s clothes, as if begging for help.
Very pitiful.
Where was that terrifying appearance from the dungeon earlier?
Ning Ke gritted his teeth: “Fine, hurry up. Tell me the method, and I’ll save him.”
[Okay then.]
Following Xiao Yuan’s method, Ning Ke placed his fingers on several major acupoints on Lou Yunxiao’s body.
Sealing his meridians, he made him sit cross-legged. Ning Ke sat behind Lou Yunxiao, his fingertips emitting his Lifebound Fox Fire.
That tiny ball was even hotter than the flames that had covered his body when he stepped into the Demon Soul River.
The moment it appeared, even though Ning Ke controlled it with all his might, the temperature in the room still soared rapidly, causing sweat to bead on Lou Yunxiao’s forehead.
Ning Ke knew clearly that this was the true Lifebound Fox Fire.
Once given away, even if it was just a part, his vitality would be greatly damaged, and his strength would drop sharply.
Moreover, he had to spend a massive amount of energy to refine this Fox Fire into an exotic fire containing not a trace of demonic energy before passing it to Lou Yunxiao. This was also to prevent Lou Yunxiao from recognizing his cover through this fire later…
The night in the Demon Abyss was long.
Inside the wooden house.
Ning Ke kept Lou Yunxiao alive while rapidly refining the Fox Fire. It wasn’t until the sky outside gradually brightened that, with a pale face, he retracted the diminished ball of cyan-blue Fox Fire into his body, leaving a cluster of orange-red flame dancing on his fingertips.
Staring at the boy’s weak face, Ning Ke said earnestly:
“Lou Cub, you’d better make something of yourself. Don’t let the benefits I put so much effort into sharing with you go to waste!”
After speaking, he pressed the ball of flame into Lou Yunxiao’s chest.
He saw Lou Yunxiao’s body tremble violently. A crimson flame mark appeared on his exposed chest, and his meridians were instantly lit up by the fire. The Demon Souls inside his body, which were destroying his meridians and corroding his organs, screamed as they tried to escape his body, but were completely devoured by the Lifebound Fox Fire in his chest. They were turned into Lou Yunxiao’s own power, and the fire even began to repair his broken body in reverse!
[Right now! Host, bite off a piece of the Demon Core and give it to him!]
“Bite?”
Ning Ke was dazed for a moment. Reflexively, he gnawed a piece off the Demon Core that had emerged from his body, pinched Lou Yunxiao’s jaw open, and fed it in.
When he realized what he had done, his eyes went wide, and he hurriedly retreated while spitting Peh peh peh.
Meanwhile, the Demon Core containing Ning Ke’s thousand years of cultivation immediately resonated with the flames. It automatically refined itself into an impurity-free Golden Core suitable for Lou Yunxiao’s body, falling into the previously damaged dantian and settling perfectly into place.
Boom—
A terrifying aura burst forth from Lou Yunxiao’s body.
Overnight, his broken body was completely repaired, and his strength had even improved significantly.
“Mm, Lou Cub really lived up to expectations. He can actually withstand such thick power.”
Ning Ke felt like the grandfather in a wuxia novel who gives secret manuals and internal power to the protagonist after they fall off a cliff.
Having helped Lou Yunxiao to this extent, the guilt in his heart lessened considerably.
But he still had one last step to do.
That was to seal the connection between the Demon Core and the piece he gave away.
After all, Lou Yunxiao’s half-Demon Core came from the same source as his. To avoid blowing his cover, he had to conceal it.
Once the sealing was complete, Ning Ke felt half-drained. He no longer had the domineering aura of wanting to defy heaven and earth that he felt when time first regressed.
Exhausted, he slumped directly by the bed next to Lou Yunxiao and fell into a dead sleep.
Lou Yunxiao felt like he dreamed many dreams.
He dreamed he was the most brilliant and stunning genius of the Liuyun Sect, and even the entire Human Race, for thousands of years. Qi Refining at five, Foundation Establishment at eight, Golden Core at fifteen.
Since he could remember, his name had always been carved in the first-place spot on the Heavenly Dao Stone Stele.
But the scene shifted. His family and his sect were engulfed in raging fire. Human screams, the smell of burnt flesh, and the stench of blood filled the world.
He roared and swung his sword at the purple-clad Demon Sovereign, but was defeated in a few moves by the light fan in the other’s hand. His Golden Core shattered, his eyes destroyed, his cultivation ruined. He could only lie humbly on the ground like a pile of rotten meat, despairingly speaking ruthless words he didn’t even believe himself.
That purple outfit, that face, were etched deep into his marrow the moment before he lost his sight.
Peerlessly beautiful, yet dipped in poison. It made him want to skin him alive and grind his bones to dust!
But after this intense hatred, at the end of the dream, the scene changed again.
The bone-scraping pain and endless despair were driven away by a strange warmth.
Someone pulled him from the darkness.
Gently pulling him into an embrace, cherishing him like the most precious treasure. Protecting him with spiritual power, helping him drive away the cold Demon Souls gnawing at him. Blazing flames rose from his chest, and his empty dantian was repaired and filled.
It was so warm he wanted to weep.
It made him unable to resist tightening his arms, refusing to let that warmth escape, refusing to let that beam of light leave him.
Like a drowning man grabbing driftwood, or someone falling off a cliff grabbing a tree branch.
He couldn’t let go.
Until…
A “gentle” “female voice” sounded by his ear.
Asking him through “fragrant breath (gritted teeth)”:
“You brat, why are you… grabbing my… chest so hard?”
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