MD Ch 2 Part 9

Gu Jincheng returned to the Demon Palace the following evening. It was eight or nine hours later than I had anticipated.

Since arriving in this world, I hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep. I was constantly on edge and couldn’t bring myself to sleep on the jade bed. No matter how strangely Ah Jiu looked at me, I just couldn’t lie down on it. Sleeping on the jade bed always resulted in nightmares for reasons I couldn’t understand. Thinking about it only made my head hurt, so I left it as a mere decoration.

Unable to sleep, I began examining Yu Ke’s body. The profound energy of a Great Ascension stage cultivator was so vast that I had to exert myself to absorb it. Although I knew the method and the process was challenging, my progress wasn’t slow.

Now, even with my eyes closed, I could sense the presence of others through the movement of surrounding energy. That’s how I knew when Gu Jincheng arrived at the entrance to my bedchamber. He concealed his energy well, but given the difference in our cultivation levels, I could easily detect it.

For over half an hour, he simply stood outside the door. Growing bored, I counted sheep, stroked the fur of the sleeping Ah Jiu beside me, and waited for Gu Jincheng’s next move. As I waited for him to enter, I sensed a shift in his breathing. He didn’t open the door; he flew upwards. To the roof of the bedchamber, to be precise. As I recalled, the roof was sloped, covered with glazed tiles, and adorned with Vermilion Bird sculptures at each corner.

Now, I was curious as to why he had climbed onto the roof in the middle of the night. I secretly followed his breathing, waiting and waiting and waiting until I was drowsy and had nearly plucked Ah Jiu bald. Yet, there was still no movement.

…He couldn’t have fallen asleep, could he? Wait, wait a minute! Don’t tell me he’s been sleeping on the roof all along?

The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Whenever anything, even remotely concerning, happened to me, he would instantly appear before me.

In the novel, Gu Jincheng was an orphan taken in by the Demon Palace and trained as Yu Ke’s warrior. He clawed his way up from countless casualties to become the only person allowed by Yu Ke’s side. Let’s exclude Ah Jiu, since he was a bird.

I didn’t know what Gu Jincheng meant to Yu Ke in this world, what place he held in his heart, but I knew I was incredibly anxious.

In the novel, Gu Jincheng was brimming with loyalty, but now, I couldn’t fathom his intentions! In the end, I had to endure until daybreak. All the while, I could still sense Gu Jincheng’s breathing!

As dawn broke, at the chen hour, Gu Jincheng finally knocked on the door and reported where he had been and what information he had gathered. He informed me that all the Domain Lords would attend the gathering, including Jiang Gui from the Bone Domain.

The Yin energy above the Bone Domain’s main city was still abnormally dense. He said there was a golden pattern swirling within the black currents circulating in the sky. Based on Gu Jincheng’s description, it sounded like a magic formation.

Wang Duoju had previously been turned away by Jiang Gui, but now, carrying my command, Gu Jincheng couldn’t be refused. However, Jiang Gui claimed he was cultivating a new technique, requiring him to gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth by condensing the magic formation.

Spiritual energy of heaven and earth, my foot! It was the malevolent energy of heaven and earth. Understand?

After finishing his report, Gu Jincheng stepped aside. Ah Jiu, having just woken up, flapped his wings and landed on Gu Jincheng’s shoulder, nuzzling and cuddling his neck.

“Jincheng, the Demon Lord took my Reincarnation fruit and still hasn’t taken me to where that blue snake bastard is!”

Unsure of how to respond, I sat at the table with a troubled expression.

Gu Jincheng smiled and scratched Ah Jiu’s beak.

“If the Demon Lord did that, there must be a reason. You caused a ruckus yesterday by devouring those demonic beasts, so you should be quiet now.”

After his lecture, Gu Jincheng looked at me and asked, “Demon Lord, I’ve already sent people to clean up this morning. Many of the cages are empty. Should I bring in more demonic beasts?”

Secretly, I was relieved that Ah Jiu had eaten the beasts. It would give Song Qiyuan a few days of peace.

“No. Even if we bring more, he’ll just devour them again. Leave the cages empty to discourage him.”

The moment I spoke, Ah Jiu across the room bristled, his small eyes widening as if he were about to breathe fire.

“I barely ate anything! Why would you say that? Hmph, you’re teasing me again! I want to be alone! I’m going to the Demon Mountains to play with the fox!”

With that, Ah Jiu flapped his wings rapidly and flew away. I could only laugh. There were few beings in this world who could threaten Ah Jiu, so I wasn’t particularly worried about him.

The fox he mentioned was a fox who had attained sentience through cultivation. While it couldn’t shapeshift, it could understand human speech. It often accompanied Ah Jiu, who also couldn’t shapeshift, and they spent their days terrorizing the weaker demons. All the demons in the surrounding mountains feared them.

Shapeshifting was incredibly difficult for demons. The more talented and powerful the bloodline, the harder it was to disguise oneself, and the tribulation of transformation was even more terrifying. Ah Jiu had always yearned to transform into a human, but he had been injured attempting it in the past. I didn’t want Ah Jiu to become human. He was so adorable in his current form; why bother going through such hardship to transform?

There was still a week left until the day I was supposed to kill Song Qiyuan at the Heavenly River.

***

The day I had eagerly awaited, the day of Song Qiyuan’s “death,” had finally arrived. The night before, I had simulated various escape routes. After dealing with Song Qiyuan today, I planned to take Ah Jiu on a journey around this world, leaving the search for the Azure Dragon to fate. If we found him, I would enjoy their noisy squabble; if not, I would give up and wait for Song Qiyuan to grow stronger before finding a secluded place to hide.

Today was also the biggest turning point in Song Qiyuan’s life. His master would rescue him from the river, administer medicine to reconnect his meridians, setting the stage for his future.

Later, his master would send him to the Qingcang Sect, entrusting him to Xingjiu Zhenren (Sobering Master), also known as “Jiuxian” (Wine Immortal), whose real name was Ruan Shijiu, a close friend of Song Qiyuan’s deceased father. Under the sect’s guidance, Song Qiyuan would gradually grow stronger, eventually becoming the sect leader of Qingcang, a pillar of the cultivation world. And in the great war between Immortals and Demons, he would succeed in toppling Yu Ke’s Demon Palace and personally capturing the great villain, Yu Ke.

In the novel, Yu Ke never realized that the boy who stirred up chaos in the cultivation world was the same Song Qiyuan he had “killed.” Yu Ke was consumed by indulgence, murder, and arson, constantly scheming with his subordinates on how to annihilate the cultivation sects beyond the Heavenly River.

Sitting on Ah Jiu’s back, the gentle breeze gradually calming my nerves, I turned my head. Looking at Gu Jincheng following behind on his two-headed lion with fiery wings and at Song Qiyuan confined in the metal cage, my heart grew heavy.

The boy was leaning against a pillar with his eyes closed. The late autumn wind at this altitude was quite chilly, and he trembled like a withered blade of grass about to break.

I assumed he either knew what awaited him today or was pondering the meaning of my words.

Putting myself in his shoes, if I were Song Qiyuan, and Yu Ke, who had been abusing me, suddenly fed me warm chicken porridge, disappeared for a few days, and now seemed intent on killing me again, it would be natural to feel confused and disoriented.

Turning my head to face forward, I composed myself, adopting an expression that was 30% malicious, 30% cold, and 40% serious, preparing to face the Domain Lords who would soon appear.

While the two-headed lion with fiery wings wasn’t as fast as Ah Jiu, it wasn’t slow either. My entourage was also impressive. Over a hundred Demon Palace experts, all at least at the Nascent Soul stage, surrounded us. Five people rode on each two-headed lion, and there were over twenty lions in total. Add to that the enormous Ah Jiu I was riding, and the spectacle was complete.

The thought that I was the leader of these people suddenly filled me with a sense of grandeur and an overwhelming urge to act imposing.