MD Ch3 Part 6

“Yu Ke…”

“!!!”

My name suddenly slipped from the lips of the peacefully sleeping boy, startling me.

“Goodness, Lord, how can this brat even call your name in his sleep?”

It seemed Song Qiyuan was cursing me in his dreams. My heart was pounding so hard I didn’t even have the energy to respond to Ah Jiu’s teasing.

“…Yu Ke… …too soon… …to die…”

Sleep-talk was usually indistinct or nonsensical. Fortunately, he didn’t utter threats to kill me again, but it was still unsettling to hear.

Time passed quickly. Ah Jiu was already sprawled out on the bed, fast asleep. After much hesitation, I climbed onto the bed as well. I didn’t lie down, but sat cross-legged, beginning to meditate.

Although I wasn’t fully aware of Yu Ke’s abilities, today’s attack on Ruan Shijiu relied solely on powerful and formidable profound energy. There were no techniques or barriers that harnessed the power of Heaven and Earth, which was common for cultivators at the Great Ascension stage. To be precise, it wasn’t that he didn’t have them, it was that I couldn’t use them.

Closing my eyes and looking inward, I was surprised to find my inner world resembled a golden reservoir. Golden profound energy flowed around my meridians, and golden-hued blood vessels led to my dantian. Inside, a fist-sized golden vortex spun rapidly, absorbing streams of profound energy and redistributing them back to my meridians, maintaining a constant supply of energy to my body.

This meant the vortex in my dantian represented my cultivation level. Moreover, as I focused my mind, a miniature, golden ‘Yu Ke’ emerged from my forehead and stood before me. This was my soul sense, an evolved form of the nascent soul.

These two were of utmost importance to me. If my dantian were damaged, I would become an ordinary person. If I lost my soul sense, I would vanish from this world completely. To survive here, I couldn’t afford to lose either.

Returning my soul sense, I closed my eyes and sensed the natural power between Heaven and Earth. The power to connect with Heaven and Earth once belonged to Yu Ke, but it was now mine. It wasn’t difficult to emulate something so abstract that I had written myself. Calming my mind, I sensed the elements floating around me for a while, when suddenly… Huh?

Interrupting my meditation, I turned my head and saw a hand grasping my robe. It was, of course, Song Qiyuan’s. The corners of my mouth unconsciously curled upwards. He must have been severely lacking in security, unconsciously grabbing my robe and moving closer, hugging my leg.

Ugh. What should I do with this leg that the protagonist is hugging?

Scratching my head in frustration, I glanced around. Seeing Ah Jiu sprawled out, I quickly grabbed him and placed him in Song Qiyuan’s arms, then pulled my leg free.

The dazed Ah Jiu blinked, licked his beak, then drifted back to sleep. I breathed a sigh of relief and resumed my cultivation. I needed to master this body’s abilities quickly to ensure my survival. The feeling of my leg being hugged was strange. Honestly, physical contact with people still felt awkward.

Cultivation required a clear mind, free from distractions. But for some reason, the moment I closed my eyes, those strange patterns on the ceiling of Yu Ke’s bedchamber resurfaced in my mind. It had been over ten days, and I hadn’t thought about them at all. But now, as I tried to cultivate, they suddenly popped up from some corner of my memory, constantly repeating and asserting their presence.

The patterns became increasingly clear. They resembled figures engaged in various movements, or perhaps strangely shaped characters. A heavy, ancient aura flowed along the lines of the patterns, as if an infinite path were hidden within them.

My writer’s intuition told me this was the remnant of some cultivation technique. But in 《Heavenly Demon Tribulation》, I never mentioned Yu Ke obtaining any mysterious techniques. I certainly never mentioned such a thing being etched onto the ceiling of his bedchamber.

No matter how closely I examined it, I couldn’t decipher its meaning. I could only make out the character ‘辰’ (Chen) etched on the edge of the pattern.

In this daze, I spent most of the night recalling the majority of the plot I had written. I tried to recall any mention of a technique with the character ‘Chen’ that Yu Ke had encountered, but it didn’t match the feeling these patterns gave me.

It seemed I really needed to hurry back. Jiang Gui’s situation and this mysterious pattern were troubling me. Since the pattern was etched onto the ceiling of the bedchamber, there might be other parts of it elsewhere. The unknown object made me uneasy but also excited. Was this the world granting me an overpowered ability?

When I opened my eyes again, I met the gaze of Ah Jiu, who was flapping his wings in mid-air. Startled, I scratched my face and said,

“You’re awake, Ah Jiu?”

Before I could finish, Ah Jiu swooped into my arms with a gust of wind, nuzzling me relentlessly.

“You’re too much, Lord! You stuffed me into that brat’s arms! Argh! I’m so annoyed! I thought you were holding me all night!”

“Ah, Ah Jiu, calm down, calm down. Didn’t you sleep soundly in his arms all night? Besides, for the next few days, it’ll just be the two of you here.”

Stroking Ah Jiu’s head, I explained patiently,

“This child will help us find the Azure Dragon later, so take good care of him for now. I will definitely find your nemesis afterward.”

“Lord! Are you really leaving alone? Leaving me here by myself?”

Ah Jiu looked at me with a shocked expression, his wide, round eyes incredibly cute.

I pointed at the deeply sleeping Song Qiyuan with my finger.

“Isn’t there another person here?”

“I knew you’d say that. Ever since that brat appeared, I’m always the one who suffers. You’re so biased, Lord. Why am I so unlucky!”

“Six giant pythons.”

I offered a brief condition.

Ah Jiu immediately stopped complaining, narrowed his eyes, and exclaimed,

“Twenty!”

“Ten.”

“Fifteen!”

“Twelve.”

Ah Jiu pouted.

“Fine, Lord, let’s settle on thirteen!”

I simply waved my hand in agreement, and he seemed satisfied, rolling around on the bed.

***

The corpse before me lay with an expression of horror, eyes wide open in death. His complexion was ashen, and his body was stiff. His hands rested neatly on the planks, but his fingers were shriveled, his fingernails bruised from lack of blood flow. It was a gruesome sight.

I manipulated the air currents, covering Jiang Gui’s body with a white cloth, including his face. As I stepped aside, a question suddenly occurred to me, and I asked the person standing silently behind me,

“Jincheng, have you sent someone to the main city of the Domain of Bones?”

“This subordinate has already sent someone. They should return in two days at the earliest.”

Two days. The Domain of Bones wasn’t exactly close, so it wasn’t a lot of time. Gu Jincheng said Jiang Gui had died suddenly. I hadn’t seen any wounds on his body just now. The profound energy that had filled his body and the soul sense within his mind had vanished without a trace. The corpse’s insides were completely empty.

Wang Duoju had mentioned something unusual above the Domain of Bones’s main city. There must be something hidden within that dark golden formation. It might be the indirect cause of Jiang Gui’s sudden death.

It was now late autumn. In the Extreme Cold Realm, the Snow Demon Clan would appear after the start of winter to perform the Snow Laying Ceremony. This ritual thickened the ice layer in the Extreme Cold Realm, significantly lowering the temperature and strengthening the defensive formation around the Snow Demon Clan’s territory. It was a powerful formation. Afterward, they would create a smokescreen, making it impossible to find them, even with Yu Ke’s cultivation.

If I didn’t go to the Extreme Cold Realm now to find the Coexistent Ice Lotus for Song Qiyuan, I would have to wait a long time for the next opportunity. The reason the Snow Demon Clan was so cautious during winter was that it was their mating season.

During their mating season, the Snow Demons’ power fluctuated, becoming both stronger and weaker. If they gave their Coexistent Ice Lotus to a demon they fancied during this time, then… heh heh heh.

When Ye Wangzhi took Song Qiyuan there, Ruo Ruo fell in love with Song Qiyuan at first sight and used her Coexistent Ice Lotus for him, shocking everyone. It was a melodramatic love story, equivalent to vowing to remain chaste for Song Qiyuan, but it worked. It received rave reviews from male readers.

The Nine Great Domains of the Demon Realm were distributed around the Demon Palace in a ring formation. The Domain of Bones bordered the Extreme Cold Realm. I could use the investigation of the Domain of Bones as an excuse to go to the Extreme Cold Realm and search for the Coexistent Ice Lotus for Song Qiyuan. Moreover, I could take Song Qiyuan away for treatment, avoiding Gu Jincheng’s ‘supervision.’

Heh heh heh, I’m so smart.

I turned to look at Gu Jincheng and said, “Since he hasn’t returned yet, this Lord will go personally.”

The moment I said it, I regretted it. Yu Ke wasn’t one to take action personally. My words must have sounded strange. I swallowed and forced a smile.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve traveled. It won’t be boring with Young Master Mo accompanying me.”

My words were inconsistent, but they conveyed the general meaning: I was fed up with being in the Demon Palace and wanted to go out and have fun under the guise of investigation. This was perfectly in character for Yu Ke.

Gu Jincheng’s furrowed brows relaxed, and he wore an expression of resignation.

“Lord, are you planning to leave the matters of the Demon Palace to this subordinate again?”

I was about to make an excuse, but he continued,

“Then this subordinate will tell him to stay in the Domain of Bones for a few more days to accompany the Lord before returning.”

Gu Jincheng was truly meticulous.

“Then this Lord will go to Ah Jiu first. You prepare Young Master Mo for departure tomorrow.”

Solving such a troublesome matter so easily lifted my spirits. I managed to suppress the urge to hum a tune and maintained a haughty posture as I exited the ‘mortuary.’

***