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CHAPTER 29: The Demon Whose Face Was Touched
Chao Jinsui knew he was lying. This great demon was born without the sense of pain; how could he possibly feel "hurt"?
Yet, she did not expose him. She even found herself enjoying this brief moment of tranquility. As the battle concluded, exhaustion surged over her like a tide. Her dantian still felt the lingering stagnation that came from depleting her spiritual energy.
He refused to get up, and she kept her eyes closed, adjusting her internal breath. For a time, neither pushed the other away. They leaned against each other in silence, like two small beasts seeking mutual comfort.
The seemingly endless demonic energy surged beneath them, but it was no longer as violent as before. Gradually, the erupting aura around the Demon Lord began to settle. The black haze in his phoenix eyes receded, revealing his original pupils, making his appearance far less terrifying.
However, as his reason returned, Yan Xueyi saw the collapsed floor, the fallen pillars, and the hall that looked as if it had been ravaged by a hurricane. No one knew better than this demon exactly what he looked like when he lost control.
Over the years, the Demon Lord had used every means possible to cultivate a self-control that bordered on self-abuse. He knew all too well how much destruction he could cause once he slipped. This was also the side of himself he was most reluctant for her to see.
He ignored the Kunlun Sword still piercing his arm. His voice was tense, laced with a hint of caution as he asked hoarsely, "Are you hurt?"
She opened her eyes. "Just a few scratches. It’s nothing."
He let out a long breath of relief. A wave of lingering fear washed over him,had he done something irreparable while lost to his instincts? His fingers grew cold, and he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.
She didn't understand why his body was so stiff, but she didn't struggle. She merely gave him a gentle nudge. After a long while, he finally loosened his grip.
But as he raised his hand and saw the demonic markings surfacing on his skin, he suddenly remembered his current state. He must look hideous,monstrous and distorted.
The Demon Lord thought: I must look truly revolting right now.
Even for a Natural born Demon, the state of losing control was their most extreme and unwanted reality. Even a demon did not wish to become a beast driven solely by instinct,a creature without reason or thought, capable of easily destroying the most precious things in its heart and causing irreversible tragedy.
Furthermore, his most wretched side had been completely exposed to her. This was the true nature of a demon; no matter how much they appeared human on ordinary days, when controlled by demonic energy, they were nothing but mindless beasts and malevolent ghosts.
She leaned against his shoulder, unable to see his face. Once she felt her internal breath had stabilized, she looked around and tried to pull away to stand up. Suddenly, he pressed her head back into his chest.
"You've exhausted yourself," the Demon Lord said. "I will carry you out."
She didn't notice the slight oddity in his tone.
"No, I feel fine. I can walk on my own," Chao Jinsui replied.
Terrified she would see the markings, he immediately snapped, "No, you cannot."
Just as she was about to argue, she felt the Inner Demon leave her body. Yan Xueyi added, "Being possessed by an Inner Demon for too long is dangerous."
She opened her mouth but found no rebuttal. In the next second, before she could look up, she was tucked firmly into his chest and lifted into a horizontal carry. Several times she tried to lift her head, but each time she did, he pressed her back down.
"Yan Xueyi," she finally grumbled, "are you trying to smother me?"
He froze, then said awkwardly, "If you promise not to look up, I'll let go."
Immediately after, she felt a black silk ribbon being tied over her eyes, completely obscuring her vision. Realizing something was wrong, she reached up and snatched the ribbon away.
As the cloth fell, she saw Yan Xueyi’s face. Ghastly demonic markings, like black tattoos, crawled across half of his visage.
The Demon Lord’s pupils shrank. He jerked his face away, his complexion turning deathly pale. His thin lips were pressed into a tight line, making him look like a cornered, ferocious beast.
Like Hong Niang, Yan Xueyi had lived among humans before the age of eleven, struggling to survive. At that time, demon slaves were a trend in the cultivation world, and he had even been captured and enslaved for a period. That was when he had first seen her.
The "Little Demon" had always been grateful for one thing,that she had only seen his misery, not the demonic markings that covered half his face. Back then, he couldn't hide them well. Along with his unusual horns, those who saw him would scream that he was a ghost, a monster, or an outcast, followed by a barrage of insults and blows.
He would huddle in a corner, using tattered clothes to hide the ugly marks on his face, never daring to let anyone see. They said those were the marks left by the devil, and that he would descend to the eighteenth level of hell after death.
It was because of this that he had felt a rare spark of pity when he saw the bullied Hong Niang. They were both monsters,discarded, reviled "little demons" who could never step into the light in the eyes of humans.
Later, he went to the Demon Realm. In the Myriad Demon Abyss, there were all sorts of strange demons; mere markings were no longer conspicuous. He finally found a place where he belonged. From then on, he moved like a fish in water, met only with gazes of fear rather than the taunts of humans.
Yet he knew the human perspective all too well. To them, these markings were proof of his evil nature, especially since he had just displayed his most wretched side. What would she think of him?
He kept his face turned away, his expression dark and gloomy, his knuckles white from gripping her so tightly. He knew she must have seen him at his worst, but like a shepherd mending a pen after the sheep were gone, he still tried desperately to hide, refusing to face the humiliating reality.
But he heard no mockery, no gasps of shock. Instead, he felt a cool, soft hand press against the "hideous" demonic markings.
He heard her gentle voice. "It isn't ugly."
She even began to trace the patterns with light, tender movements. "When they connect, they look like a butterfly."
Chao Jinsui wasn't lying. Too many people had never bothered to look closely at these markings,some out of disdain, others out of fear. If one didn't view them as a monstrous omen, they were actually quite beautiful, resembling a black butterfly about to take flight.
She whispered, "In the cultivation world, there is a type of spiritual pupa that buries itself deep underground. It endures three bitter winters before it breaks its cocoon in the following year, transforming into a black butterfly that soars through the sky."
At that moment, his heart felt as if it were churning with molten lava,searing, burning, and white-hot.
He swung his head back and grabbed her hand, still resting on his cheek. His gaze suddenly became fervent and obsessive, like an intense, scorching fire. He gripped her hand with extreme force and pulled her toward him. They were so close she felt as if he wanted to embed her into his very blood and bone.
He lowered his head, pressing her hand against his cheek with a stubborn intensity. His eyes grew dangerous as he spoke with chilling obsession:
"I will never let you go in this life. Even if I were to die in the next second, I would kill you first so we could die together."
She felt that something about this demon had changed, but upon closer inspection, he was still the same person. Chao Jinsui tried to pull her hand back. "Yan Xueyi, I was comforting you. Why are you repaying my kindness with threats?"
The Demon Lord lowered his head, his voice tender and lingering, yet laced with a ruthless edge. "In our Demon Realm, there is also a bedtime story. There is a type of demon snake; if you feed it when it's nearly starving during hibernation, it will entwine itself around you the moment it opens its eyes the following year. It will haunt you for all eternity, and even death will not end its pursuit."
Chao Jinsui was speechless. Do all you demons listen to horror stories before bed?
They were so close she could hear his heartbeat. His aggressive phoenix eyes watched her for a long time. Then, suddenly, he leaned in and bit her shoulder.
She let out a hiss of pain. "Yan Xueyi, what madness is this now?"
Yet, no matter how she pushed, he wouldn't budge. She should have felt afraid, for he had his teeth near a vital point. There was a bone-chilling sense of danger about him, no less potent than when he was out of control.
But for some reason, she suddenly thought of a large wolf-dog on Mingyue Mountain. It was very fond of a cold, aloof calico cat that often came to the mountain for food. Its way of expressing affection was to take the cat's entire head into its mouth. Of course, every time it did so, the cat would slap it across three mountain peaks, yet the dog never tired of it.
The Demon Lord let go and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
She told him honestly.
"Do not compare me to that stupid dog!" he snapped.
"The dog isn't stupid," she replied. "His name is 'Brilliance'."
"In any case, you are not allowed to compare me to a dog."
"Then don't go around biting people."
The Demon Lord glared at her. "I don't bite others. I only bite you!"
As the words left his mouth, a strange, awkward silence fell between them. To break the tension, the Demon Lord glanced around and remembered the sword in his arm. He pulled the Kunlun Sword out with a casual flick and tossed it aside, letting the blood spurt out freely.
He seemed like a completely different person from the demon who had just cried "it hurts."
Chao Jinsui watched as he prepared to simply tie a piece of black silk over the wound. She finally couldn't take it anymore and pulled him to a clean patch of ground, forcing him to sit. They had been bickering for so long they hadn't even left the hall yet.
The Kunlun Sword was an incredibly sharp divine blade; if the wound wasn't treated properly, it wouldn't heal for a long time. She was about to tear a piece of her own inner garment when she remembered she had been fighting the spider. Not sure if she was covered in venom, she patted him. "Tear your own clothes."
The Demon Lord had a strange expression and refused to move for a long time. She looked up at him, puzzled, then simply reached over, tore a strip from his hem, applied some blood-stanching powder, and bandaged him with practiced ease. Chao Jinsui had been injured often in the past, and Kunlun had taught basic wound care; she was quick and efficient.
Soon, the gushing blood was pressed into a stop. He watched her busying herself around him, obediently resting his arm on her knee. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and every now and then, he would steal a glance at her.
"What are you smiling at?" she asked.
He refused to answer, but his eyes remained bright as they followed her every move. She felt as if he were staring a hole into her back.
Suddenly, she looked toward the ground where the demonic energy was thinning and saw something sparkling. "What is that?"
Yan Xueyi saw it too. Frowning, he took her hand and walked toward the pit. Most of the surging energy had been absorbed by him, and the rest was dissipating. The concentration was no longer enough to affect him.
As they walked, she suddenly heard the System ask:
"Host, are you wavering?"
"Do you remember our mission? You absolutely cannot fall into the demonic path."
"Are you referring to me letting the Inner Demon possess me?" she asked.
The System remained silent, but it held a deeper fear than it didn't voice. It was afraid she was wavering,that through their daily interactions, she was discovering that demons weren't entirely irredeemable. If she slowly began to feel that demons weren't a big deal, or that falling into the demonic path didn't matter...
Especially after seeing scum like Madam Zi among humans and the vacillation of the Su family, could she still hold firm to her views on demons? Could she still stand unwaveringly on the side of humanity to change the apocalypse? What if she decided that ruling the world with this Demon Lord was actually a good idea?
The System realized things were becoming serious.
Chao Jinsui paused. "I will not fall, and I will not waver. If I were wavering, I wouldn't have saved Ling Yun."
She looked up at the Demon Lord walking ahead of her. He was holding her hand very tightly, as if afraid she would get lost.
"System, the more I understand demons, the more I solidify my own resolve. You saw what he was like just now; do you think that person was Yan Xueyi? I used to think demons sought power and thus lost control, but now I realize they don't want it. They even loathe themselves for it, just as he does, or feel fear, like Hong Niang."
Who would want to be a mindless beast?
However, Chao Jinsui knew that the Heavenly Dao was flawed. In less than a hundred years, demonic energy would flood the world. High-level demons like Hong Niang would grow stronger under its influence, lose control more frequently, and eventually become nothing but chaotic energy. The number of low-level demons would explode, and as they devoured everything by instinct, the world would sink into chaos. When the Demon Lord took his place, the foundation of the world would crumble.
Perhaps then, only one Demon Lord would remain with a clear consciousness. But she knew that the Demon Lord would not be Yan Xueyi,for what "self" could a god possess? At that time, there would be no force left in the world to stop the derailed carriage.
"Don't worry," she said. "I know exactly what I must do."
"Do you truly not waver?" the System asked.
"I won't, even if I must die ten thousand deaths," she replied curtly. The System went silent.
She and the Demon Lord soon reached the sparkling object. It was a black stone about the size of a palm, emitting a dazzling light. Its surface was perfectly smooth.
Chao Jinsui injected spiritual energy into it, but it was like a drop of water entering an ocean. She struck it with her sword, but left no mark. The Demon Lord tried injecting demonic energy, but it too vanished without a trace.
He raised an eyebrow. Having spent years plundering, he had a sharp sense for treasures. He felt a strange sensation within the stone. "It feels a bit like the aura of heavenly lightning."
"I've heard of lightning-struck wood," she mused, "but never a lightning-struck stone."
"Keep it," he said. "It should be useful for blocking lightning tribulations."
As she stared at it in thought, the System chimed in: "It is the 'flaw' in the flawed Heavenly Dao. The stone Nuwa used to mend the heavens."
The System didn't mention that it was only one-fifth of the whole.
Chao Jinsui immediately stopped the Demon Lord, who was about to try breaking it with his sword.
Hong Niang and Guang Ping had been waiting at the inn for a long time. While playing cards with the monk, Hong Niang asked worriedly, "Do you think she'll die?" Under other circumstances, she might have stepped in to help, but against the Demon Lord, other demons were just food.
Guang Ping played a card. "No."
"Why?"
"I checked the almanac today," the monk replied. "It is an auspicious day."
"..."
They continued their game in anxiety until, at noon, the pair returned. Except for a bandage on the Demon Lord’s arm, they seemed fine. When Guang Ping offered to re-dress the wound, the Lord refused,apparently, he decided he wasn't going to take the bandage off anytime soon.
Chao Jinsui went to check on Ling Yun. She was still out, but her color had improved. "Master Guang Ping, how is she?"
"I’ve given her some spiritual medicine. She is out of danger, but it will take a long time to recover her vitality."
Chao Jinsui felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She had feared the Gu King had drained too much life force, leaving irreversible damage that would ruin Ling Yun’s cultivation.
Guang Ping then checked Chao Jinsui’s pulse. "The Love Gu can be dispelled now."
The Demon Lord, who had seemed in high spirits, suddenly froze. He began to drink cup after cup of cold tea.
"Actually," Guang Ping continued, "now that the Gu King is dead, the Love Gu has lost its power."
"Then dispel it," the Demon Lord said flatly, his voice devoid of emotion.
Since he had agreed, Guang Ping turned back to Chao Jinsui. "Miss Chao, after the Gu is gone tomorrow, we can immediately begin repairing your soul. However, while this soul-mending technique is effective, you must open your sea of consciousness to me..."
The room fell silent as they settled on a time and the necessary herbs. Sensing the thickening atmosphere, Hong Niang and Guang Ping shared a look and slipped away.
Chao Jinsui followed the Demon Lord toward their rooms. Neither spoke. Suddenly, he stopped, and she nearly walked into him, stepping back just in time. He looked down at her, his phoenix eyes flickering as if he had something to say.
Yan Xueyi knew the soul-mending technique Guang Ping mentioned; it was easy for a powerful demon like him. But for a cultivator, the sea of consciousness was their inner world,a place one did not easily let others enter. It was incredibly dangerous to open it to another person. And she had once been so wary of him...
Suddenly, she spoke first. "Yan Yan."
He looked down.
"I have only known Guang Ping for a month," she said. "I am not familiar with him."
The Demon Lord’s eyes brightened instantly.
"Yan Xueyi, I only trust you." She looked at him. "I am placing my life in your hands."
He lowered his head, his shadow nearly enveloping her. His eyes searched her from her shoes to her hair. He leaned in close, his breath cool against her ear. "You only trust me?"
His voice rose at the end, filled with suspicion.
"And my brother, Chao Zhaoyue," she added.
He narrowed his eyes and let out a cold snort. "Cunning human." Always playing word games!
"Yan Xueyi," she said, "you are pushing your luck."
The corners of his mouth turned up. He stared at her for a long time before saying, "Pushing my luck? That’s nothing. I still want to..."
Still want to what?
He cut himself off and roughly ruffled her shoulder-length hair. He pushed open the door behind her and shoved her inside. "Go to sleep. Your face is as pale as a ghost's."
Her soul was unstable to begin with, and forcing the Inner Demon's possession had taken its toll. Outside the door, his voice sounded lazy yet carried a hint of awkward concern: "No sneaking off to practice your sword tonight. I’ll be listening."
She stood there, stunned. No one had ruffled her hair like that since she grew up. She touched her messy hair and wiped the spot on her cheek where his breath had lingered. His presence was like a scorching fire, and she couldn't seem to rub the feeling away.
When she reached the water basin, she realized her face had been rubbed red. She sat alone, staring at the Heaven-Mending Stone in a daze. At first, she thought of Yan Xueyi,thinking that she might have truly misunderstood him all these years.
Finally, the System called out to her. It wanted to discuss the stone. "Host? Host?"
She snapped back to reality. System: “what are you thinking?”
"Nothing," she replied calmly. "I just suddenly realized you are very suspicious."
The System's "body" gave a jolt.
She spoke slowly, her words deliberate. "At first, you thought that as long as I slept with the Demon Lord and influenced him, I could prevent the apocalypse. So you urged me to get close to him. Then, you found out Su Liuyun was dead and the Heavenly Dao was flawed. Your attitude changed instantly. You stopped urging me and became very quiet, observing me in secret."
"What were you observing? My attitude toward demons? My relationship with Hong Niang? Today, you asked me that question to test me. If I had shown a hint of wavering, would you have told me about the stone?"
The System was as silent as a grave.
"I noticed you don't dare speak when Yan Xueyi is around," she said coldly. "What are you afraid of? The Demon Lord?"
That veiled threat silenced the System completely. She took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly, "Any cooperation must be built on total honesty, correct?"
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