THE WHITE MOONLIGHT ONLY HAS A HAPPY ENDING

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CHAPTER 27: The Uncontrollable Demon

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Hong Niang flicked a bone fan into her hand, covering her mouth as she let out a mournful sigh. "If the Lord comes looking for trouble, I’m blaming it all on you, my dear!"

But her "dear" was already in motion.

Chao Jinsui moved with startling speed. It had been a long time since she felt this sensation of manipulating spiritual energy exactly as she pleased. Reclaiming control over her own body, she realized how much she had changed. Perhaps her understanding of the first stage of the Gale Realm had deepened, for her speed was now thirty percent faster than before.

Thousands of spider silk threads lunged toward her.

Hong Niang followed close behind, her eight-boned fan transforming into eight streaks of flowing light. With sharp, decisive movements, she severed several strands of silk aimed at Chao Jinsui.

Moving like a gust of wind, Chao Jinsui leaped lightly over the tangled web and landed squarely on the giant spider’s back. This Gu King was gargantuan, covered in a black, hardened shell that was tough enough to serve as prime material for weapon forging. However, she aimed for the joints between the legs, where no armored plates protected the flesh.

Recalling the sensation of the "Thousand-Jin Realm" in her mind, she dove like an autumn goose, her Kunlun Sword erupting with a golden light. It was a strike of immense weight.

The spider let out a shrill, wretched shriek as one of its legs fell away.

The creature thrashed, spitting out clouds of venom as its silk descended like a celestial net. Hong Niang’s fan lunged out again, slicing through the webbing instantly. Clearly, this move had pushed the Gu King to the brink of fury.

Thousands of tiny spiders swarmed out from beneath the Gu King, covering the ground like a rising tide.

"Hong Niang, get back!"

The Kunlun Sword absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy, a layer of frost slowly coating the blade. Chao Jinsui snapped her eyes open, and the sword fragmented into thousands of frost-covered needles. Accompanied by the whistling wind, they pierced through the swarming spiders and left a layer of ice on the floor, freezing the remaining horde in place.

With Chao Jinsui leading the charge and Hong Niang providing support, they managed to sever six of the giant spider’s legs.

Wracked with agony, the spider began to roll and thrash in a frenzy. Its massive black limbs slammed into the ground, leaving deep craters with every strike, as if trying to crush the annoying human cultivator beneath its weight.

Yet, because its movements were so violent, Chao Jinsui’s sharp eyes caught something as it heaved its body upward. Beneath the giant spider lay a cluster of white, humanoid cocoons.

Thin silver threads connected the spider to the cocoons like tubes siphoning nutrients. She realized instantly that the spider was drawing its strength from them.

Does that mean Ling Yun might still be alive?

She watched the spider thrash in pain near the cocoons, threatening to crush them at any moment. She had no way of knowing which cocoon held a living soul and which held a corpse, and it was impossible to snatch them all away at once.

She stood still, hovering in mid-air for a heartbeat of calculation.

Suddenly, she flew directly in front of the spider’s face. These massive creatures had poor eyesight, capable only of locking onto general directions. Its eerie green eyes were filled with primal rage. At this distance, it definitely saw her.

The spider shrieked and lunged forward.

Chao Jinsui narrowly dodged a spray of venom. As she retreated, she lured the massive beast further and further away from the cocoons. Her nerves were taut with tension. Once she had drawn the creature a safe distance away, she shouted:

"Hong Niang, do you see those webs? Together, let’s wrap this big fellow up like a zongzi!"

"I see them! Get back!" Hong Niang replied.

Chao Jinsui drifted away like a falling leaf, then tapped her toes against a pillar and soared toward a massive strand of silk hanging from the ceiling. Grabbing the flexible thread, she pulled hard and retreated, her silhouette crossing paths with Hong Niang in the air.

The two of them moved like shuttlecocks, weaving a complex masterpiece of entrapment in the sky.

A moment later, Chao Jinsui cried out, "Pull tight!"

They pulled simultaneously. The giant spider was instantly ensnared, the silk biting deep into its flesh. Just as it began to struggle in a rage, they gave another violent tug, forcing a piercing wail from the beast.

Chao Jinsui rushed forward, winding the silk from Hong Niang’s hands around her own for extra leverage.

"Hong Niang, go! Find her!"

Chao Jinsui kept the line bone-tight and leaped onto the spider’s back. The creature was desperate to untangle itself, but Chao Jinsui’s first move was to strike. She drove her sword through its pair of wretched green eyes, one after the other.

Her movements were ruthless and swift.

The spider screamed, but the sheer pain stopped it from spitting venom for a moment.

Hong Niang reached the cocoons, her fan flying out to slice through the thick, outer layers. Inside most of them, however, were nothing but skeletons.

Inside her own cocoon, Ling Yun had long since heard the escalating noise outside. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to stay conscious, her eyes wide as she tried to make a sound. But her strength had been spent during her earlier struggles. She didn't know how to catch their attention, and sweat poured down her face as she grew weaker.

After an eternity, the silk she couldn't tear began to crack from the outside. Ling Yun caught a scent of fresh air, and tears fell instantly. She couldn't even open her eyes, whispering breathlessly, "Young Sect Leader, is that you?"

Hong Niang dug her out of the silken grave.

Receiving no answer for a long time, Ling Yun finally heard Hong Niang’s voice. "Your Young Sect Leader is currently killing a giant spider to avenge you."

Ling Yun smiled instantly and fainted, finally at peace.

Chao Jinsui was currently perched atop the thrashing spider’s head. Because the beast was shaking its body violently, she had to drop to one knee to maintain her balance.

The head was the hardest part of the spider’s armor.

She held her breath, focusing her mind. This strike would use every drop of her spiritual energy. she attempted to compress that energy, squeezing it down until it concentrated entirely on the tip of the blade, as if a towering mountain had been condensed into a single point. Then, she drove it down.

The sword pierced deep into the spider’s brain.

She felt as if she had finally touched the threshold of the Thousand-Jin Realm. Concentrating further, she shoved the blade in with even more force.

The spider’s remaining legs gave a final twitch, then went still.

By the time Chao Jinsui leaped down, Ling Yun was already unconscious. She checked Ling Yun’s internal state and found her spiritual reservoir bone-dry, her life force drained by half.

She laid Ling Yun flat and pressed a Life-Sustaining Pill given by Monk Guang Ping into her mouth, followed by every Qi-replenishing and blood-nourishing pill she could find. Ling Yun had no major external wounds, but the internal depletion was severe.

Hong Niang crossed her arms. "With Guang Ping here, that monk’s medical skills are decent, she should be saved."

Chao Jinsui let out a long breath. "As long as she lives."

She felt a wave of relief. Fortunately, she had made her decision quickly. Any later, and Ling Yun would have been beyond saving. Even if it meant letting the Inner Demon take control for a brief moment, it had been worth it.

She moved Ling Yun into the protective circle of the hellfire. Then, she and Hong Niang continued to inspect the remaining cocoons. Tragically, except for Ling Yun who had been captured most recently, everyone else inside was dead.

She knew that human strength had its limits, but she sought only a "clear conscience." At the very least, by slaying the Gu King today, no more lives would be lost.

She bowed her head and softly recited a passage of the Rebirth Sutra.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the Demon Lord looking down at her with a very strange expression. This was the original Demon Lord, not the Inner Demon. He had returned, carrying Madam Zi by the collar.

He knew everything that had happened through the Inner Demon’s perspective. He wasn't shocked that they had killed the spider; rather, he was bewildered. Who recites the Rebirth Sutra while possessed by an Inner Demon? She wasn't Guang Ping, where was the respect for the Inner Demon’s reputation?

Yan Xueyi asked, "Do you not want to kill anyone?"

"I do," Chao Jinsui replied.

"Are you not irritable?"

Chao Jinsui thought about it good-naturedly. "A little."

"Do you not feel your mind filled with the Inner Demon's voice?"

He paced around her, his dark, sinister gaze scanning her up and down. He frowned in deep dissatisfaction. "Why is it that you show no signs of falling into the demonic path despite the possession?"

He felt his plans were falling through, and his expression grew solemn.

In truth, she was also a bit puzzled. Inner Demons were not benevolent things; once they took hold, one’s Dao heart usually became unstable, often affecting one's mental state permanently.

Chao Jinsui fell into thought. "Perhaps it is because you talk in my ear so often that I am simply too familiar with your voice?"

The Demon Lord’s face changed instantly. He snapped in anger, "What? You think I'm naggy?"

"..." Chao Jinsui went silent. Was that really the point?

She began to understand why: she killed those who deserved to die and acted entirely according to her own heart. Because she had achieved her goals, her resolve remained unshaken even with the Inner Demon attached to her.

Only then did she notice the thing Yan Xueyi was holding, Madam Zi.

He tossed her aside casually. "She was just trying to find someone to possess. She almost escaped."

Unfortunately for Madam Zi, she was a step too slow and had been caught by the tail, literally. She had already severed her own tail to survive, and once separated from the Gu King, her strength had withered under the intense pain. She was now dying in the Demon Lord’s grip, unable to stir up any more trouble.

Chao Jinsui suddenly asked, "Madam Zi, do you know of the massacre of the Hehuan Sect ten years ago?"

Madam Zi lifted her head, her face twisted. "Of course I know. I went there personally!"

When she married into the Su family, she had stolen the Gu King. Her sister, the Sect Leader, had spent years relentlessly hounding her to return it. Madam Zi felt she had no choice but to conspire with Su Baishan to strike first.

On the day the Hehuan Sect was wiped out, she had laughed with immense satisfaction. She spoke of these past events with a touch of vanity, as if slaughtering her own family was something to be proud of.

Seeing the smile on her face, Chao Jinsui said slowly, "Do you know? If you had been one step slower, you might have become a demon no less powerful than a Natural born Demon."

She was human, yet she was already drowning in karmic debt.

Madam Zi froze, her smile vanishing. Chao Jinsui understood people like her, just like Su Liuyun, the greatest blow wasn't failure, but the knowledge that they could have succeeded. A Natural born Demon... what a grand existence that was!

She had been just one step away. Only one step!

Madam Zi began to shriek, her entire being distorting. Her remorseless expression shifted into one of profound regret and agony.

But in the next second, Yan Xueyi picked her up and tossed her onto the corpse of the giant spider.

The Demon Lord sneered. "I shall fulfill her wish."

"Didn't you want to see your son?"

A surge of hellfire erupted. Madam Zi’s voice was cut short. Now she would be reunited with "her boy." It was a fulfillment of her heart's desire; though she hadn't resurrected her son, they were now a family together in the underworld. A perfect conclusion, or so the Demon Lord thought.

Once they were burned to ash, the air in the underground hall seemed much cleaner. But Chao Jinsui suddenly felt something was wrong. She had a sharp intuition that had saved her life countless times. What was it?

Her gaze fixed on a large hole left in the ground after the spider was consumed by the hellfire. Her eyes narrowed as she saw a continuous stream of demonic energy surging out of it.

She cried out, "Yan Xueyi! Leave, quickly!"

The Su family were half-demons, and the Gu King had long been fed on half-demon blood, making it reek of demonic energy. Moreover, this spider nest was a "den of the dead," where years of corpse miasma had condensed into thick, lingering demonic qi.

Exactly how much demonic energy had accumulated in this nest?

Demons were often oblivious to this danger because, to them, demonic qi was a nutrient. Who would be wary of their own food? But Chao Jinsui was human. While demons could swallow this energy to grow stronger, a literal feast for them, if the concentration reached a certain point, it would cause a demon to lose control.

She was a step too late.

Yan Xueyi was a powerful Natural born Demon, which meant his innate ability to devour energy far exceeded other demons, even Hong Niang. His self-control was normally immense, and Chao Jinsui had never seen him lose it, but that was under normal circumstances. Where in the cultivation world could one find a concentration of demonic energy thicker than a Demon Abyss?

He froze in place, instinctively beginning to swallow the surging energy. He was clearly trying to fight it, but the energy was already boring into his body. Veins popped on his forehead, his rationality began to slip away, and a black haze started to spread across his eyes.

To Yan Xueyi, this energy wasn't dangerous; swallowing it would actually increase his power. But once he lost control...

Guang Ping, Hong Niang, the families nearby... no one would escape.

Hong Niang stepped in front of Chao Jinsui. "Miss Chao, go! I've already told Guang Ping to come get you!"

Guang Ping arrived with incredible speed, but seeing the scene, his expression shifted. He likely hadn't expected Hong Niang to throw him under the bus like this. Hong Niang was loyal only to the Demon Lord; she had no friendship with Guang Ping. If she was going to die, she might as well drag him down with her.

Guang Ping said, "Hong Niang, you will die."

Demons could devour each other. While a human might find a place to hide and survive, a demon in the path of a rampaging Demon Lord was certain to perish.

Hong Niang snapped, "Protect Miss Chao, you coward!"

Guang Ping took a deep breath, glaring at Hong Niang with rare anger before reaching for his Buddhist beads.

"Go!" Chao Jinsui shouted. "Are you both out of your minds? Take Ling Yun and run as far as you can!"

That was exactly what they were waiting to hear. The two demons grabbed Ling Yun and vanished in an instant, moving like a whirlwind.

The area was suddenly empty, leaving only her and the Demon Lord.

"..."

Chao Jinsui realized one must never overestimate a demon's morals. Though she felt like a bit of a fool for being left behind, she knew that if he lost control, she was the only one in a hundred miles who could pull him back.

She faced the Demon Lord.

She held her breath, lowering her presence to the absolute minimum. By now, his eyes were entirely covered by demonic qi, void-like pits of black where even the pupils had disappeared. This state of loss of control was far more dangerous and powerful than his usual self. The terrifying pressure he radiated was growing exponentially; had Ling Yun still been there, she would likely be coughing up blood from the sheer weight of it.

Chao Jinsui gripped the hilt of the Kunlun Sword, her lithe body tensing like a bow pulled to its limit. She knew she had no chance of winning against an out-of-control Yan Xueyi, so she never intended to fight him to the death.

She ran through countless strategies in her mind and settled on one: "delay." As long as she could keep his attention and hold him off until his consciousness returned, she could minimize the damage.

The great demon stood before her, his beautiful face marred by eyes without focus. He couldn't see; he was relying purely on scent and instinct to devour and kill.

Suddenly, the monster heard a voice:

"Yan Xueyi!"

In the suffocating silence, that voice was a beacon. She felt him lock onto her instantly. The sensation of being targeted by this ancient beast was far more terrifying than the spider. A cold sweat broke out across her skin.

The next second, they both moved.

A malevolent black mist lunged toward her. She pushed the Gale Realm to its absolute limit. Even without sight, the demon’s sense of smell was razor-sharp. Sweat beaded on her nose as she leaped through the vast hall, her movements so fast they left afterimages.

But the Demon Lord soon stopped, his ears twitching.

Dawn was breaking, and the faint sounds of people began to drift in from outside—life was stirring above ground. The black mist turned, preparing to surge upward toward the surface.

"Yan Xueyi!"

He didn't react.

"Yan Xueyi! Stop!"

But by now, the last bit of white in his eyes had vanished. He had fallen completely into the abyss and no longer recognized the name "Yan Xueyi."

In her desperation, Chao Jinsui threw herself in his path.

"Yan Yan, stop!"

It was a name from a memory long, long ago, even before the Myriad Demon Abyss. It was what she had called him when she first met the little demon.

He reacted to the nickname. His footsteps faltered. He tilted his head, turning back toward her with a featureless expression. In a flash, the black mist slammed into her, pinning her down.

She blocked with her sword, rolled across the floor, and flew back toward the center of the hall. She forced a smile. "Yan Yan, we haven't fought in a long time. Don't you want to try?"

The next moment, the Subduing Demon Sword stabbed into the ground right beside her cheek, severing a few strands of her hair. Death was a mere inch away.

But the sword had been driven off-course by that same inch. The Demon Lord’s expression was a mask of agony, as if he were struggling violently against his own instincts. She took the chance to slip out from under his arm like a fish.

The ground beneath her had already collapsed, revealing a deep abyss. She was covered in cold sweat, her Gale Realm pushed to its maximum, but every stone pillar she managed to land on was instantly shattered by the demon's strikes.

She felt a sudden, fierce wind. The Kunlun Sword clashed violently with the demonic energy. She broke the contact immediately, fluttering away like a light butterfly.

She knew him too well. In her past life, they had been enemies for an entire lifetime. In her long years, the tactic she had studied most, the hypothetical enemy she had visualized most, was named "Yan Xueyi." She had analyzed every move he made and every strategy he employed. She had been doing this since their very first fight.

The moment he moved his sword, she could predict his next three steps. No one in the world understood Yan Xueyi better than she did. To her, he was a book, a manual she had begun to read the day she first picked up her sword.

This was why, even when she couldn't beat him in strength, she could still snatch people from his grasp and use all sorts of troublesome methods to deal with him. She had even used a petty trick of freezing the ground to make his boots slide, a move she felt was a bit beneath her, but "great things require flexibility." It had enraged the little demon so much he called her a "cunning human" and had to take off his boots to catch her.

Back then, he had shouted, "If you're a hero, fight me head-on!"

She had replied, "Do I look like an idiot to you?"

She had used all thirty-six stratagems on him. Later, as her strength grew and she could face his blade directly without being at a disadvantage, she became his most difficult opponent. Because "understanding" was a far more powerful weapon than any sword.

And what of the Yan Xueyi now? He was stronger, but an out-of-control demon has no logic, relying only on primal instinct.

She led him under pillars about to collapse, then slipped into narrow crevices only her body could fit through. As she ran, she kept calling out:

"Yan Yan, I'm over here!"

"Yan Yan, look this way!"

Knowing he reacted to the name, she dangled it before him like a lure for a great cat. Only, she was the lure.

She didn't know how long she held out, but her speed was beginning to fail. After countless brushes with death, her spiritual energy was nearly spent, and a sense of stagnation began to fill her dantian. Meanwhile, the Demon Lord had an endless supply of demonic energy to draw from.

In a momentary lapse of focus, the black mist slammed into her. She was thrown to the ground, her sword falling beside her.

She stared into his empty, void-like eyes, a terrifying darkness that made one's skin crawl. He looked horrific; demonic patterns crawled from his neck to his cheeks, and his broken horns made him look like a vengeful ghost from the deepest hell. This was the true face of a demon: chaos, disorder, and madness.

Suddenly, she reached out and gently embraced the terrifying beast. "Yan Yan."

She noticed his expression go blank for a fraction of a second, as if he were struggling to wake up, but the demonic energy was too thick. He was consumed by instinct again, his body tensing to throw her aside in a rage.

But she grabbed his horns, clinging to him with everything she had, and used her final sliver of spiritual energy to drive the Kunlun Sword into a pressure point on his arm.

"Yan Yan!"

"Have you had enough?"

She expected him to fly into another frenzy. The few seconds of silence that followed felt like an eternity; the sound of their breathing was the only thing in the world. She felt his hand move toward the Kunlun Sword.

Her heart hammered against her ribs. Every pore of her body screamed at her, Danger, run! She tensed, ready for the blow.

But it didn't come.

With agonizing effort, he forced himself to take control. He shoved the Kunlun Sword deeper into his own arm, the sharp pain and blood loss bringing a flicker of clarity.

She felt the beast, whose face had been a void, suddenly lean in. He nuzzled his face softly against her cheek.

He was back.

A wave of joy flooded her heart. She heard him mumble, his voice raspy and difficult, as if he had only just found the ability to speak.

"It hurts."

She tightened her arms around his neck. "Yan Yan, you threw me pretty hard just now. That hurt too."

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