My Darling Sick Beauty

Snatch the bride

Countless vines tangled around the ancient trees.

The afterglow of the sun shone through the gaps in the branches and leaves, and sprinkled in front of their eyes like a dazzling shattered gold.

It was not often that there was such a quiet moment in the Wan Ling Palace.

Even though there were only two Zhenjuns living here, there were often demons coming and going who were serving them, so the chirping and singing of birds could often be heard. There was also the sound of everything growing, because the demon realm was the place flourishing with the most spiritual energy.

But now, the scarlet flags were flowing in the wind, there was a solemn silence everywhere, even the sound of breathing was light, so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. 

 

Qing Lin stood inside the main hall of Wan Ling Palace, wearing a dark green robe. She had her hands behind her back, whilst she looked down at the Pure Flame Pearl upon the spiritual platform.

The remnants of the rose-tinted clouds at sunset pooled together, the outside world cast in a thick and gloomy dark cloud.

The news of Lie Zhen’s return to Heaven and Earth had already spread across the realms. Soon, people who are willing to come will come to express their condolences and see him off. And this pure flame pearl will also be put into the Four Divisions Pill Furnace again to produce a new divine beast seed.

The way of inheritance of the Demon Realm was different from that of other realms. If they breed with any other race, they will not be able to produce any great divine beasts as offspring. After death, the spiritual pearl from the beasts would be put back into the four divisions pill furnace. Only then will a new Zhenjun gradually be born to rule again. 

 

It is precisely because of this that there would always be only two Zhenjuns in the Demon Realm that would appear at the same time. It was also unknown who would be the next to arise from the Four Divisions Pill Furnace, whether it is the White Tiger, the Black Tortoise, or a new Vermilion Bird.

Outside the main hall, there was the sound of light rain, accompanied by the soft sound of rain falling through the forest leaves, and the soft sound of raindrops falling onto the surface of the umbrella.

Wan Ling Palace was suspected in mid-air by countless ancient trees and vines, hanging more than ten feet high1.

Qing Lin turned around as if she had noticed something, and with a sweep of her divine sense, she immediately discovered the carriage pulled by the war horse of the Devil Realm stationed under the ancient trees. She knitted her brows, then slowly relaxed them as she took a few steps out, and leapt down from the entrance of the Wan Ling Palace.

She saw her old friend.

The umbrella was ordinary, with a blue-green marble pattern painted upon it. The wooden umbrella handle was held tightly by a long and slender hand. A head of snow white hair was held up by a plain jade hairpin, with a plush cloak draped over his shoulders, completely enveloping his thin and slender figure.

It was the first time Qing Lin had seen him after that incident.

She stretched out her hand to take Jiang Zheliu’s hand, and took the umbrella handle from him. She held the umbrella higher, blocking him, and whispered, “What brings you here?”

“It seems that the others are not moving fast enough.” Jiang Zheliu said, “Or maybe, they don’t dare to come to the Wan Ling Palace to offer their condolences.”

Qing Lin did not answer the latter part of his sentence, but instead said, “…… Dan Xin Monastery is not far from the Devil Realm, but you come over like this, don’t you think it is dangerous.”

“I was about to tell you.” Jiang Zheliu glanced at the bracelet on his wrist, “Don’t touch me, you’ll get hurt.”

Qing Lin followed his gaze and examined the bracelet covered with the devil’s script and said, “Lie Zhen has already told me about this, I know.”

Qinglong Zhenjun was much more calm and mature than that Vermilion Bird, but since the height of the divine beasts who come out of the Four Divisions Pill Furnace were all fixed, even though she was a female cultivator, her height was the same as Lie Zhen’s, so she was also slightly taller than Jiang Zheliu.

She had black hair and blue-green eyes, her eyes were of a dark blue color. Below her eyelids, there were fine dragon scales that had evidently revealed themselves, glistening and following the shape of her eyes. Due to the influence of the Azure Dragon’s body, her body temperature was normal, even a little lower than normal, like the temperature of lake water at room temperature.

“His spiritual form has already been transformed back into the Pure Flame Pearl.” Qinglin said, “You …… don’t need to be too upset.”

Jiang Zheliu laughed a little and said, “Do I look upset?”

“No.” Qing Lin lowered her head and leaned a few inches closer, and her dark blue eyes met a pair of lightless, pitch-black pupils, “You’ve always known how to trick people.”

After saying that, she suddenly paused, as if she felt something inconceivable, she inclined her head and moved closer again, inhaled deeply, and just when she almost touched Jiang Zheliu’s shoulder, she quickly paused again.

“You ……” Qing Lin turned her head away, nearly subconsciously retreating half a step away, but she still held the umbrella for Zheliu, so she did not move, “You are too …… you need to give us divine beasts a way out, now all I can think about is picking you up2 and taking you back to the nest, and then hiding you away.”

“Pick me up then.” Jiang Zheliu glanced at the Wan Ling Palace, “I can’t get up there by myself.”

Qing Lin turned her head to look at the carriage not far away, she could feel that there seemed to be two small demons inside, one of them was not a pure-blooded demon, but both were too weak to be worth caring about.

She raised her arm around Jiang Zheliu’s waist – she could finally touch him. Qing Lin gave him a sideways glance, then swept him into the Wan Ling Palace.

Although Wan Ling Palace was suspended in mid-air, it was not small in size. And Jiang Zheliu had also been here before.

After Qing Lin brought him up, she withdrew her hand, closed the umbrella and put it next to the entrance of the palace.

The Pure Flame Pearl was floating and rotating upon the spiritual platform, emitting bursts of blazing heat.

Jiang Zheliu took a few steps closer, staring at the fiery red spinning pearl, and did not speak for a long time, and only after a small moment did he sigh and ask: “What happened, do you know?”

“He was injured by Wenren Ye.” Qing Lin said, “When he came back to recuperate, I happened to have gone out to deal with the matter of the demons at the border. By the time I came back, his breath was declining rapidly, falling realm by realm, and soon he transformed back into ……pearl form.”

“The vermilion bird is invulnerable to poison, I do not think that degree of injury could have put him to death.”

“I agree.” Qing Lin said, “But when I came back, he was already in a self-defensive state with his wings wrapped tightly around him, I couldn’t ask him anything.”

The two fell into a short period of silence.

Vermilion Bird Zhenjun’s soul has returned to Heaven and Earth, for the other realms this was a good thing. Before the next Four Divisions Divine Beast arises, the Devil Realm has only Qing Lin to support it, in many cases the Devil Realm will suffer further losses.

But there were truly too few people in this world who could do such a thing. To be able to kill the Vermilion Bird in a one on one battle, aside from Wenren Ye, even his father Wenren Jian would not be able to without making quite a mess. Plus, to do it so sneakily was quite impossible. Aside from this …… Aside from this, what other methods were possible?

If it wasn’t the Devil Realm, there was only one other option, in which he had fallen to someone’s carefully planned assassination.

“Assassination ……” Qing Lin slowly closed her eyes and sat down upon her seat in the great hall. She thought for a while before reopening her eyes and said, “Zheliu, what do you think?”

Jiang Zheliu took a few steps closer, slowly analysing and going through the possibilities in his mind, he then said, “Let me see the Pure Flame Pearl.”

Qing Lin replied, “Okay, I’ll hand it to you after I wrap it in spiritual power ……”

Halfway through her words, she saw the slowly rotating bead leaning toward Jiang Zheliu with joy, and the surrounding flames and blazing heat were all reduced, turning into something similar to a red jelly bean.

…… Such a quick change, it was indeed the Heavenly Spiritual Body.

Jiang Zheliu stretched out his hand to catch the Pure Flame Pearl, and carefully inspected it. With his extremely sensitive physique, he could feel the subtle characteristics that other people couldn’t feel.

He carefully rubbed and inspected the whole body of the pearl, paused for a while, and suddenly said, “…Qing Lin.”

“Hmmm?”

“Is the Lord of the Netherworld still locked up?”

Qing Lin was startled for a moment, and said: “That’s right, in order to save the Junior Pavilion Lord of Wushuang Jian Pavilion, you almost smashed his chains… He Sorshi’s soul is still locked up by the giant chain at the bottom of the River of the Dead3, his body can’t get out.”
 

 

She was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly realised something.

The two of them subconsciously seemed to realise that the only way to kill Lie Zhen on a one-on-one battle was Wenren Ye, but they didn’t count the Lord of the Netherworld at the bottom of the River of the Dead, because the latter had been silent for so long and he was unable to get out of the river at all.

But just because he was unable to move his body did not mean that he had no way of killing someone.

“The Pure Flame Pearl smells like the water from the River of the Dead.”

Jiang Zheliu returned the Pure Flame Pearl, and said: “When I rescued Yujie, I had been in close contact with the water of the River of the Dead, and there was a smell of… decay.”

Qing Lin looked at him without blinking, feeling that her throat was suddenly dry at that moment, she didn’t know what to say.

He Sorshi’s body was unfathomable, but it was limited by the river, trapped in the Netherworld forever. However, there were countless evil spirits under his command, and their combat power was second only to the militant Devil Realm.

“But how could he know that Lie Zhen was injured? According to the usual spread of news, by the time it reaches the Netherworld, Lie Zhen’s injury would have already healed.” Qing Lin glanced at Jiang Zheliu, and did not wait for the other to reply, before asking again, “… Unless, you think there are spies in the Demon Realm?”

Jiang Zheliu sighed and said, “It doesn’t have to be in the Demon Realm. In any case, you have to be careful.”

Qing Lin nodded, she turned her eyes to look at the falling rain outside of Wan Ling Palace, before saying after a while: “Don’t worry about me, I will investigate this matter plus I am not injured. I will make sure not to upset you more.”

Jiang Zheliu turned his gaze to look at her, as if he didn’t want to argue, but in the end he said softly: “I should be here to make you feel better.”

Qing Lin didn’t have any corresponding answer, Jiang Zheliu did not continue, but instead looked down at the green dragon tail that had wrapped around his feet, he coughed, and said, “Could you contain yourself.”

Qing Lin glanced at her tail that had emerged, and sighed: “You are really the bane of the Demon race, obviously you smell too good, you’re making me look immoral.”

She complained as she slowly retracted her dragon tail. Qing Lin stood up again and said, “Would you like to stay in Wan Ling Palace for a few days? You only came to take a look and then leave, it’s as if I didn’t want you to come over.”

“I won’t stay.” Jiang Zheliu said, “I told the little devil lord I would wait for him in Zhongnan Mountain, I’m afraid that he would be worried when he finds that no one is there.”

Qing Lin was taken aback, she thought over this title “little devil lord”, then shook her head and smiled, and said, “What’s this? The way you’re talking is as if you were saying that your cultivation partner is waiting for you at home. It’s like you need to go home for dinner, and I’m like the friend who is stopping you.”

“Not a cultivation partner yet.” Jiang Zheliu corrected.

“Okay.” Qing Lin took a few steps closer, her arms wrapped around his waist, carefully not to touch the aggressive ink bracelet, the aura all over her was very soft, without any hint of aggression, Jiang Zheliu was in a stable mood, so naturally it couldn’t arouse the hostility of the ink bracelet.

“I’ll take you down.” She turned her head, got close to Jiang Zheliu and took a breath, and suddenly said in a low voice, “Could you tell me why him?”

Qing Lin’s body had a smell similar to the rain, which was an extremely fresh scent.

“I know you are disappointed in us.” She said, “But, is there any chance? Or ….”

“My good friend.” Jiang Zheliu interrupted her, his eyes were calm, “The rain is about to get heavier.”

Qing Lin stopped talking.

Everything seemed fruitless, no ending, no answer.

She unfolded the paper umbrella, took Jiang Zheliu down from Wan Ling Palace, and helped him back onto the carriage. But instead of returning the umbrella to him, she watched the carriage leave, shaking off the raindrops on the umbrella once again.

Jiang Zheliu was still the same Jiang Zheliu, as if he would never change.

What had changed was the world.

He was still a good person, but… he didn’t belong to her.

The rain continued to fall.

It took a while for the carriage to leave the Demon Realm. Even if the straight-line distance between Dan Xin Monastery and Wan Ling Palace was very close, this did not take into account that it was still two separate realms. It would take about two days to completely leave the Devil Realm, but it was also a bonus to have the devil war horse.

Jiang Zheliu had no cultivation, nor did he have much investigation skills. But he knew that this had nothing to do with the Little Devil Lord, and it was something to be celebrated to have prevented the Devil Realm and the Demon Realm from clashing over this incident.

And this was indeed Lie Zhen’s last journey.

But he was clearly the white-haired person here, so why did he have to send people off first?

As soon as Jiang Zheliu got into the carriage, Ah-Chu replaced his slightly wet soft velvet cloak and put another light blue robe on him. Jiang Zheliu covered his lips and coughed a few times. He felt that he had been thinking too much lately. He had a headache mixed in with the other pain in his body. He drank his medicine very slowly, his old wounds began to flare up again, it was so painful, he found it hard to bear. He was weak like porcelain that was riddled with cracks.

But the medicine still worked, and coupled with the effect of the resurrection stone, although he looked a little worse these past two day, he felt much better than when he had first arrived in Zhongnan Mountain back then.

Jiang Zheliu took the warm tea from Ah-Chu, and listened to the little deer’s complaints and nagging. Just when he was about to say something, he realized that the carriage had stopped again.

He looked up and saw Chang Qian enter the carriage, with a confused expression on his face: “Gege….. We seem to be lost…”

……. He could actually hear the word “lost” from the mouth of a half-demon.

Chang Qian’s sense of direction had always been very good, and his cultivation was not very bad, and the main road of the Demon Realm was not difficult to follow…

Jiang Zheliu raised his eyes to look at him, looked out the window of the carriage, and saw that the turbulent rain was slowly weakening at this moment.

“Gege… I don’t seem to be able to go out here.” Chang Qian scratched his head, “And the rain from the sky has become weird, there is a… strange smell.”

Jiang Zheliu took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said, “…River of the Dead.”

The surrounding scenery changed rapidly, like some sort of teleportation technique arranged in advance. This space seemed to be temporarily cut out, and grafted upon the actual road, and then directly changing into another exit road.

Jiang Zheliu fiddled with his robes and then raised the curtain of the carriage.

The surrounding area was no longer surrounded by lush ancient trees and vines of the Demon Realm, and there was no trace of spiritual energy. The sky was dark, and something above seemed to be blocking all the light, only the ground was faintly blue, glistening softly.

There was a transparent boundary all around them, the evil spirits and ghosts that roamed at the bottom of the River of the Dead were hanging around outside of this boundary, leaning over with a face that looked quite cruel at first glance.

Jiang Zheliu heard the familiar sound of footsteps.

He turned around and saw the reflected cold light from the ice scabbard of Ling Xiao sword coming from a gloomy shadow.

Zhu Wuxin was standing opposite him.

He had never seen such a look on Wuxin’s face, it was hard to describe, if he had to describe it, it was like Zhu Wuxin had gone to great lengths to retrieve a toy that had been broken, regardless of the sacrifice, only to find that the toy had become a treasure in someone else’s palm, altered, carefully mended, and turned into something he was not qualified to touch.

Jiang Zheliu looked at him calmly.

His eyes were dark and dull, impenetrable to the light, they had always been like this. It carried with it an indistinguishable chill which seemed to twist and turn in whisps.

Until Zhu Wuxin said in a subtle tone: “Shixiong.”

“En.”

Jiang Zheliu acknowledged quietly and then said: “You have some sort of deal with He Sorshi?”

“Yes.” Zhu Wuxin lowered his head, slowly gripping the Ling Xiao sword in his hand, “I don’t want anything, I only want you.”

“What does he want?”

“He wants to escape.” Zhu Wuxin said, “He doesn’t want to be trapped underneath the River of the Dead any longer.”

Jiang Zheliu approached him step by step, there was no sign of any fluctuations in his voice, not even the slightest sign of anger.

“For what cost? What method did you use.”

“The method of ghostly possession.” Zhu Wuxin could see him this time and unexpectedly had the thought of backing up, but he didn’t. Instead, he stood in place, “Ghost Lord He made a mark on my soul.”

He spread out his hand slowly, and there was a dark mark upon it, which was a very complicated ghost cultivation symbol.

This could not be described as capricious, it was simply insane. Jiang Zheliu even felt that Zhu Wuxin had been poisoned, by some kind of gu insect, curse, poison, or his soul was being controlled… Even if it was for the good of the Cultivation World, or for Ling Xiao Sect, anyone who still had a sense of rationality, would not do something like this.

Jiang Zheliu let out a deep breath, his voice was hoarse: “Do you know what you are doing right now?”

“I do.”

Zhu Wuxin raised his eyes to look at him.

“Shixiong, I don’t want anything else, I just want you, you –”

After the loud sound of his voice was heard, his voice stopped abruptly.

He was slapped by Jiang Zheliu. Without saving any strength, bright red finger marks emerged from the fair-skinned elegant face.

But Jiang Zheliu really didn’t have any more strength. He looked around for a while and then turned around: “Get lost.”

Zhu Wuxin didn’t move, he stroked the finger marks on his face in a daze, and reached out and grabbed the corner of Jiang Zheliu’s robes.

“Shixiong….”

“I should have killed you.”

Jiang Zheliu turned his eyes, staring at him coldly: “I should have killed you long ago, killed you with one swipe of the sword.”

————

Devil Realm, Xuan Tongju Gate.

The ground was overflowing with fresh blood.

The blood was spilled on the bone armour, flowing bright red down the side. Wenren Ye raised his foot and smashed the monster’s head in front of him. He frowned and said a little anxiously: “That’s it?”

Shi Binghen knelt down helplessly, picking and choosing from the broken head that had been stomped on by his Lord, and finally squeezed out a shiny crystal from the brain of this strange species.

“Yes, that’s it.” Shi Binghen said, “The ancient records I found in Zongsi Terrace said that the more powerful a monster who dies, the more concentrated this kind of transparent spirit stone will become.”

This transparent spirit stone could supplement a person’s vitality. It’s just that this strange species was not easily killable by ordinary great devils. This transparent spirit would also only appear among the foreign species that protect the treasure in the Xuan Tongju Gates.

Wenren Ye took the transparent spirit stone and placed it in his hand for a moment, the premonition of anxiety in his heart became stronger and stronger. He suddenly covered his heart, and felt extremely restless.

“Devil Lord, can this thing help our Devil Queen to recover? I heard that the Cultivation World is pretty useless, so why don’t we go and pick him up earlier and bring him to the Devil Realm to recuperate slowly …”

After Shi Binghen said a few words, he heard the Devil Lord suddenly say: “I can’t feel it anymore.”

“What is it?”

“The bracelet.”

“Ehhh, bracelet…” Shi Binghen said, his expression gradually changed. He realized what kind of bracelet it was, and he stammered, “The one….. the one our Devil Queen is wearing……”

He stared blankly at his Devil Lord’s face, half of his face was wrapped in blood-coloured bone armour, and a pair of long wings with bone spurs and countless devil seal scripts spread out from behind him, carrying with him a horrifying energy that of the ultimate villain.

In the next instant, Wenren Ye suddenly disappeared, turning into a bloody streak of light that broke through the sky of the Devil Realm.

Shi Binghen blinked, then slapped his thigh abruptly, and looked around: “Why are you still standing here in a daze, let’s go!”

The great devils who had been beaten by Wenren Ye for three days and two nights finally came back to their senses from their sluggishness, and looked up to the sky where the bloody stream of light had disappeared, and then looked at Shi Binghen.

“Devil Lord, he……”

“Something has probably happened to the Devil Queen.” Shi Binghen gripped at own sleeve, “Let’s go, let’s help the Devil Lord snatch the bride back!”

Snatch the bride

Countless vines tangled around the ancient trees.

The afterglow of the sun shone through the gaps in the branches and leaves, and sprinkled in front of their eyes like a dazzling shattered gold.

It was not often that there was such a quiet moment in the Wan Ling Palace.

Even though there were only two Zhenjuns living here, there were often demons coming and going who were serving them, so the chirping and singing of birds could often be heard. There was also the sound of everything growing, because the demon realm was the place flourishing with the most spiritual energy.

But now, the scarlet flags were flowing in the wind, there was a solemn silence everywhere, even the sound of breathing was light, so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. 

 

Qing Lin stood inside the main hall of Wan Ling Palace, wearing a dark green robe. She had her hands behind her back, whilst she looked down at the Pure Flame Pearl upon the spiritual platform.

The remnants of the rose-tinted clouds at sunset pooled together, the outside world cast in a thick and gloomy dark cloud.

The news of Lie Zhen’s return to Heaven and Earth had already spread across the realms. Soon, people who are willing to come will come to express their condolences and see him off. And this pure flame pearl will also be put into the Four Divisions Pill Furnace again to produce a new divine beast seed.

The way of inheritance of the Demon Realm was different from that of other realms. If they breed with any other race, they will not be able to produce any great divine beasts as offspring. After death, the spiritual pearl from the beasts would be put back into the four divisions pill furnace. Only then will a new Zhenjun gradually be born to rule again. 

 

It is precisely because of this that there would always be only two Zhenjuns in the Demon Realm that would appear at the same time. It was also unknown who would be the next to arise from the Four Divisions Pill Furnace, whether it is the White Tiger, the Black Tortoise, or a new Vermilion Bird.

Outside the main hall, there was the sound of light rain, accompanied by the soft sound of rain falling through the forest leaves, and the soft sound of raindrops falling onto the surface of the umbrella.

Wan Ling Palace was suspected in mid-air by countless ancient trees and vines, hanging more than ten feet high1.

Qing Lin turned around as if she had noticed something, and with a sweep of her divine sense, she immediately discovered the carriage pulled by the war horse of the Devil Realm stationed under the ancient trees. She knitted her brows, then slowly relaxed them as she took a few steps out, and leapt down from the entrance of the Wan Ling Palace.

She saw her old friend.

The umbrella was ordinary, with a blue-green marble pattern painted upon it. The wooden umbrella handle was held tightly by a long and slender hand. A head of snow white hair was held up by a plain jade hairpin, with a plush cloak draped over his shoulders, completely enveloping his thin and slender figure.

It was the first time Qing Lin had seen him after that incident.

She stretched out her hand to take Jiang Zheliu’s hand, and took the umbrella handle from him. She held the umbrella higher, blocking him, and whispered, “What brings you here?”

“It seems that the others are not moving fast enough.” Jiang Zheliu said, “Or maybe, they don’t dare to come to the Wan Ling Palace to offer their condolences.”

Qing Lin did not answer the latter part of his sentence, but instead said, “…… Dan Xin Monastery is not far from the Devil Realm, but you come over like this, don’t you think it is dangerous.”

“I was about to tell you.” Jiang Zheliu glanced at the bracelet on his wrist, “Don’t touch me, you’ll get hurt.”

Qing Lin followed his gaze and examined the bracelet covered with the devil’s script and said, “Lie Zhen has already told me about this, I know.”

Qinglong Zhenjun was much more calm and mature than that Vermilion Bird, but since the height of the divine beasts who come out of the Four Divisions Pill Furnace were all fixed, even though she was a female cultivator, her height was the same as Lie Zhen’s, so she was also slightly taller than Jiang Zheliu.

She had black hair and blue-green eyes, her eyes were of a dark blue color. Below her eyelids, there were fine dragon scales that had evidently revealed themselves, glistening and following the shape of her eyes. Due to the influence of the Azure Dragon’s body, her body temperature was normal, even a little lower than normal, like the temperature of lake water at room temperature.

“His spiritual form has already been transformed back into the Pure Flame Pearl.” Qinglin said, “You …… don’t need to be too upset.”

Jiang Zheliu laughed a little and said, “Do I look upset?”

“No.” Qing Lin lowered her head and leaned a few inches closer, and her dark blue eyes met a pair of lightless, pitch-black pupils, “You’ve always known how to trick people.”

After saying that, she suddenly paused, as if she felt something inconceivable, she inclined her head and moved closer again, inhaled deeply, and just when she almost touched Jiang Zheliu’s shoulder, she quickly paused again.

“You ……” Qing Lin turned her head away, nearly subconsciously retreating half a step away, but she still held the umbrella for Zheliu, so she did not move, “You are too …… you need to give us divine beasts a way out, now all I can think about is picking you up2 and taking you back to the nest, and then hiding you away.”

“Pick me up then.” Jiang Zheliu glanced at the Wan Ling Palace, “I can’t get up there by myself.”

Qing Lin turned her head to look at the carriage not far away, she could feel that there seemed to be two small demons inside, one of them was not a pure-blooded demon, but both were too weak to be worth caring about.

She raised her arm around Jiang Zheliu’s waist – she could finally touch him. Qing Lin gave him a sideways glance, then swept him into the Wan Ling Palace.

Although Wan Ling Palace was suspended in mid-air, it was not small in size. And Jiang Zheliu had also been here before.

After Qing Lin brought him up, she withdrew her hand, closed the umbrella and put it next to the entrance of the palace.

The Pure Flame Pearl was floating and rotating upon the spiritual platform, emitting bursts of blazing heat.

Jiang Zheliu took a few steps closer, staring at the fiery red spinning pearl, and did not speak for a long time, and only after a small moment did he sigh and ask: “What happened, do you know?”

“He was injured by Wenren Ye.” Qing Lin said, “When he came back to recuperate, I happened to have gone out to deal with the matter of the demons at the border. By the time I came back, his breath was declining rapidly, falling realm by realm, and soon he transformed back into ……pearl form.”

“The vermilion bird is invulnerable to poison, I do not think that degree of injury could have put him to death.”

“I agree.” Qing Lin said, “But when I came back, he was already in a self-defensive state with his wings wrapped tightly around him, I couldn’t ask him anything.”

The two fell into a short period of silence.

Vermilion Bird Zhenjun’s soul has returned to Heaven and Earth, for the other realms this was a good thing. Before the next Four Divisions Divine Beast arises, the Devil Realm has only Qing Lin to support it, in many cases the Devil Realm will suffer further losses.

But there were truly too few people in this world who could do such a thing. To be able to kill the Vermilion Bird in a one on one battle, aside from Wenren Ye, even his father Wenren Jian would not be able to without making quite a mess. Plus, to do it so sneakily was quite impossible. Aside from this …… Aside from this, what other methods were possible?

If it wasn’t the Devil Realm, there was only one other option, in which he had fallen to someone’s carefully planned assassination.

“Assassination ……” Qing Lin slowly closed her eyes and sat down upon her seat in the great hall. She thought for a while before reopening her eyes and said, “Zheliu, what do you think?”

Jiang Zheliu took a few steps closer, slowly analysing and going through the possibilities in his mind, he then said, “Let me see the Pure Flame Pearl.”

Qing Lin replied, “Okay, I’ll hand it to you after I wrap it in spiritual power ……”

Halfway through her words, she saw the slowly rotating bead leaning toward Jiang Zheliu with joy, and the surrounding flames and blazing heat were all reduced, turning into something similar to a red jelly bean.

…… Such a quick change, it was indeed the Heavenly Spiritual Body.

Jiang Zheliu stretched out his hand to catch the Pure Flame Pearl, and carefully inspected it. With his extremely sensitive physique, he could feel the subtle characteristics that other people couldn’t feel.

He carefully rubbed and inspected the whole body of the pearl, paused for a while, and suddenly said, “…Qing Lin.”

“Hmmm?”

“Is the Lord of the Netherworld still locked up?”

Qing Lin was startled for a moment, and said: “That’s right, in order to save the Junior Pavilion Lord of Wushuang Jian Pavilion, you almost smashed his chains… He Sorshi’s soul is still locked up by the giant chain at the bottom of the River of the Dead3, his body can’t get out.”

 

 

She was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly realised something.

The two of them subconsciously seemed to realise that the only way to kill Lie Zhen on a one-on-one battle was Wenren Ye, but they didn’t count the Lord of the Netherworld at the bottom of the River of the Dead, because the latter had been silent for so long and he was unable to get out of the river at all.

But just because he was unable to move his body did not mean that he had no way of killing someone.

“The Pure Flame Pearl smells like the water from the River of the Dead.”

Jiang Zheliu returned the Pure Flame Pearl, and said: “When I rescued Yujie, I had been in close contact with the water of the River of the Dead, and there was a smell of… decay.”

Qing Lin looked at him without blinking, feeling that her throat was suddenly dry at that moment, she didn’t know what to say.

He Sorshi’s body was unfathomable, but it was limited by the river, trapped in the Netherworld forever. However, there were countless evil spirits under his command, and their combat power was second only to the militant Devil Realm.

“But how could he know that Lie Zhen was injured? According to the usual spread of news, by the time it reaches the Netherworld, Lie Zhen’s injury would have already healed.” Qing Lin glanced at Jiang Zheliu, and did not wait for the other to reply, before asking again, “… Unless, you think there are spies in the Demon Realm?”

Jiang Zheliu sighed and said, “It doesn’t have to be in the Demon Realm. In any case, you have to be careful.”

Qing Lin nodded, she turned her eyes to look at the falling rain outside of Wan Ling Palace, before saying after a while: “Don’t worry about me, I will investigate this matter plus I am not injured. I will make sure not to upset you more.”

Jiang Zheliu turned his gaze to look at her, as if he didn’t want to argue, but in the end he said softly: “I should be here to make you feel better.”

Qing Lin didn’t have any corresponding answer, Jiang Zheliu did not continue, but instead looked down at the green dragon tail that had wrapped around his feet, he coughed, and said, “Could you contain yourself.”

Qing Lin glanced at her tail that had emerged, and sighed: “You are really the bane of the Demon race, obviously you smell too good, you’re making me look immoral.”

She complained as she slowly retracted her dragon tail. Qing Lin stood up again and said, “Would you like to stay in Wan Ling Palace for a few days? You only came to take a look and then leave, it’s as if I didn’t want you to come over.”

“I won’t stay.” Jiang Zheliu said, “I told the little devil lord I would wait for him in Zhongnan Mountain, I’m afraid that he would be worried when he finds that no one is there.”

Qing Lin was taken aback, she thought over this title “little devil lord”, then shook her head and smiled, and said, “What’s this? The way you’re talking is as if you were saying that your cultivation partner is waiting for you at home. It’s like you need to go home for dinner, and I’m like the friend who is stopping you.”

“Not a cultivation partner yet.” Jiang Zheliu corrected.

“Okay.” Qing Lin took a few steps closer, her arms wrapped around his waist, carefully not to touch the aggressive ink bracelet, the aura all over her was very soft, without any hint of aggression, Jiang Zheliu was in a stable mood, so naturally it couldn’t arouse the hostility of the ink bracelet.

“I’ll take you down.” She turned her head, got close to Jiang Zheliu and took a breath, and suddenly said in a low voice, “Could you tell me why him?”

Qing Lin’s body had a smell similar to the rain, which was an extremely fresh scent.

“I know you are disappointed in us.” She said, “But, is there any chance? Or ….”

“My good friend.” Jiang Zheliu interrupted her, his eyes were calm, “The rain is about to get heavier.”

Qing Lin stopped talking.

Everything seemed fruitless, no ending, no answer.

She unfolded the paper umbrella, took Jiang Zheliu down from Wan Ling Palace, and helped him back onto the carriage. But instead of returning the umbrella to him, she watched the carriage leave, shaking off the raindrops on the umbrella once again.

Jiang Zheliu was still the same Jiang Zheliu, as if he would never change.

What had changed was the world.

He was still a good person, but… he didn’t belong to her.

The rain continued to fall.

It took a while for the carriage to leave the Demon Realm. Even if the straight-line distance between Dan Xin Monastery and Wan Ling Palace was very close, this did not take into account that it was still two separate realms. It would take about two days to completely leave the Devil Realm, but it was also a bonus to have the devil war horse.

Jiang Zheliu had no cultivation, nor did he have much investigation skills. But he knew that this had nothing to do with the Little Devil Lord, and it was something to be celebrated to have prevented the Devil Realm and the Demon Realm from clashing over this incident.

And this was indeed Lie Zhen’s last journey.

But he was clearly the white-haired person here, so why did he have to send people off first?

As soon as Jiang Zheliu got into the carriage, Ah-Chu replaced his slightly wet soft velvet cloak and put another light blue robe on him. Jiang Zheliu covered his lips and coughed a few times. He felt that he had been thinking too much lately. He had a headache mixed in with the other pain in his body. He drank his medicine very slowly, his old wounds began to flare up again, it was so painful, he found it hard to bear. He was weak like porcelain that was riddled with cracks.

But the medicine still worked, and coupled with the effect of the resurrection stone, although he looked a little worse these past two day, he felt much better than when he had first arrived in Zhongnan Mountain back then.

Jiang Zheliu took the warm tea from Ah-Chu, and listened to the little deer’s complaints and nagging. Just when he was about to say something, he realized that the carriage had stopped again.

He looked up and saw Chang Qian enter the carriage, with a confused expression on his face: “Gege….. We seem to be lost…”

……. He could actually hear the word “lost” from the mouth of a half-demon.

Chang Qian’s sense of direction had always been very good, and his cultivation was not very bad, and the main road of the Demon Realm was not difficult to follow…

Jiang Zheliu raised his eyes to look at him, looked out the window of the carriage, and saw that the turbulent rain was slowly weakening at this moment.

“Gege… I don’t seem to be able to go out here.” Chang Qian scratched his head, “And the rain from the sky has become weird, there is a… strange smell.”

Jiang Zheliu took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said, “…River of the Dead.”

The surrounding scenery changed rapidly, like some sort of teleportation technique arranged in advance. This space seemed to be temporarily cut out, and grafted upon the actual road, and then directly changing into another exit road.

Jiang Zheliu fiddled with his robes and then raised the curtain of the carriage.

The surrounding area was no longer surrounded by lush ancient trees and vines of the Demon Realm, and there was no trace of spiritual energy. The sky was dark, and something above seemed to be blocking all the light, only the ground was faintly blue, glistening softly.

There was a transparent boundary all around them, the evil spirits and ghosts that roamed at the bottom of the River of the Dead were hanging around outside of this boundary, leaning over with a face that looked quite cruel at first glance.

Jiang Zheliu heard the familiar sound of footsteps.

He turned around and saw the reflected cold light from the ice scabbard of Ling Xiao sword coming from a gloomy shadow.

Zhu Wuxin was standing opposite him.

He had never seen such a look on Wuxin’s face, it was hard to describe, if he had to describe it, it was like Zhu Wuxin had gone to great lengths to retrieve a toy that had been broken, regardless of the sacrifice, only to find that the toy had become a treasure in someone else’s palm, altered, carefully mended, and turned into something he was not qualified to touch.

Jiang Zheliu looked at him calmly.

His eyes were dark and dull, impenetrable to the light, they had always been like this. It carried with it an indistinguishable chill which seemed to twist and turn in whisps.

Until Zhu Wuxin said in a subtle tone: “Shixiong.”

“En.”

Jiang Zheliu acknowledged quietly and then said: “You have some sort of deal with He Sorshi?”

“Yes.” Zhu Wuxin lowered his head, slowly gripping the Ling Xiao sword in his hand, “I don’t want anything, I only want you.”

“What does he want?”

“He wants to escape.” Zhu Wuxin said, “He doesn’t want to be trapped underneath the River of the Dead any longer.”

Jiang Zheliu approached him step by step, there was no sign of any fluctuations in his voice, not even the slightest sign of anger.

“For what cost? What method did you use.”

“The method of ghostly possession.” Zhu Wuxin could see him this time and unexpectedly had the thought of backing up, but he didn’t. Instead, he stood in place, “Ghost Lord He made a mark on my soul.”

He spread out his hand slowly, and there was a dark mark upon it, which was a very complicated ghost cultivation symbol.

This could not be described as capricious, it was simply insane. Jiang Zheliu even felt that Zhu Wuxin had been poisoned, by some kind of gu insect, curse, poison, or his soul was being controlled… Even if it was for the good of the Cultivation World, or for Ling Xiao Sect, anyone who still had a sense of rationality, would not do something like this.

Jiang Zheliu let out a deep breath, his voice was hoarse: “Do you know what you are doing right now?”

“I do.”

Zhu Wuxin raised his eyes to look at him.

“Shixiong, I don’t want anything else, I just want you, you –”

After the loud sound of his voice was heard, his voice stopped abruptly.

He was slapped by Jiang Zheliu. Without saving any strength, bright red finger marks emerged from the fair-skinned elegant face.

But Jiang Zheliu really didn’t have any more strength. He looked around for a while and then turned around: “Get lost.”

Zhu Wuxin didn’t move, he stroked the finger marks on his face in a daze, and reached out and grabbed the corner of Jiang Zheliu’s robes.

“Shixiong….”

“I should have killed you.”

Jiang Zheliu turned his eyes, staring at him coldly: “I should have killed you long ago, killed you with one swipe of the sword.”

————

Devil Realm, Xuan Tongju Gate.

The ground was overflowing with fresh blood.

The blood was spilled on the bone armour, flowing bright red down the side. Wenren Ye raised his foot and smashed the monster’s head in front of him. He frowned and said a little anxiously: “That’s it?”

Shi Binghen knelt down helplessly, picking and choosing from the broken head that had been stomped on by his Lord, and finally squeezed out a shiny crystal from the brain of this strange species.

“Yes, that’s it.” Shi Binghen said, “The ancient records I found in Zongsi Terrace said that the more powerful a monster who dies, the more concentrated this kind of transparent spirit stone will become.”

This transparent spirit stone could supplement a person’s vitality. It’s just that this strange species was not easily killable by ordinary great devils. This transparent spirit would also only appear among the foreign species that protect the treasure in the Xuan Tongju Gates.

Wenren Ye took the transparent spirit stone and placed it in his hand for a moment, the premonition of anxiety in his heart became stronger and stronger. He suddenly covered his heart, and felt extremely restless.

“Devil Lord, can this thing help our Devil Queen to recover? I heard that the Cultivation World is pretty useless, so why don’t we go and pick him up earlier and bring him to the Devil Realm to recuperate slowly …”

After Shi Binghen said a few words, he heard the Devil Lord suddenly say: “I can’t feel it anymore.”

“What is it?”

“The bracelet.”

“Ehhh, bracelet…” Shi Binghen said, his expression gradually changed. He realized what kind of bracelet it was, and he stammered, “The one….. the one our Devil Queen is wearing……”

He stared blankly at his Devil Lord’s face, half of his face was wrapped in blood-coloured bone armour, and a pair of long wings with bone spurs and countless devil seal scripts spread out from behind him, carrying with him a horrifying energy that of the ultimate villain.

In the next instant, Wenren Ye suddenly disappeared, turning into a bloody streak of light that broke through the sky of the Devil Realm.

Shi Binghen blinked, then slapped his thigh abruptly, and looked around: “Why are you still standing here in a daze, let’s go!”

The great devils who had been beaten by Wenren Ye for three days and two nights finally came back to their senses from their sluggishness, and looked up to the sky where the bloody stream of light had disappeared, and then looked at Shi Binghen.

“Devil Lord, he……”

“Something has probably happened to the Devil Queen.” Shi Binghen gripped at own sleeve, “Let’s go, let’s help the Devil Lord snatch the bride back!”