CBGC - ch180

Chapter 180: The Heart of the Realm

Taking too long to deal with low-level cultivators might make Bai Su seem incompetent... 

With that thought, Bai Su flips his wrist, and a wave of wind sweeps out from his palm toward the demons blocking the road. It’s not fierce; it seems soft, like a gentle western breeze. But when it touches its targets, it flips them and their mounts through the air. The demons crash dozens of meters away, landing in the center of the town's stone platform.

The force is so great that cracks appear on the platform. The yellow-robed leader suffers the worst injuries, reverting to his beast form—a massive tiger with yellow stripes. The others, lightly injured, scramble to their feet and frantically shove pills into the tiger’s mouth. 

"Which tribe are you from? How dare you cause trouble in the Roaring Tiger Clan’s territory!" A demon beast at the Human Immortal stage steps onto the platform, shielding the tiger behind him. His gaze is wary, but there's a warning in it as he looks at Bai Su and Su Tingyun. 

The Roaring Tiger Clan is the strongest of the six major demon beast clans, and they ranked first during the recent Sacred Fruit competition. They were supposed to receive the most sacred fruits, but something unexpected occurred. 

Su Tingyun has met the Tiger Beast King before—a hot-tempered, seemingly reckless brute, though undeniably powerful in terms of cultivation.

After swallowing the pills, the tiger reverts to his human form and struggles to his feet. Pointing at Bai Su, he snarls, "My father is the Tiger Beast King’s right-hand man! How dare you lay a finger on me? You must be tired of living!" 

With that, he pulls out a high-grade magical artifact and blows a fine golden needle into the air. The needle shoots skyward at incredible speed, exploding into a dazzling burst of light that colors the entire sky, like a spectacular firework display. 

“Master Jin has sent out a distress signal! These two actually dared to offend the Young Master…” murmurs the onlookers. Clearly, this tiger has some significant backing. 

"I’ve sent the signal," the so-called Master Jin sneers. "The elite troops will be here soon. If you kneel, beg for forgiveness, and offer me that girl behind you, I might spare your life!" After bellowing, he plops down onto a finely carved redwood chair someone has hastily prepared for him. 

Bai Su tilts his head and asks Su Tingyun with a smile, "What did he just say?" 

Before she can respond, he adds, "How would you say that in the human language here?" 

Su Tingyun can’t help but burst into laughter. After translating for him in demon beast language, Bai Su repeats the phrase flawlessly. 

Among the demon beasts, humans hold a very low status. Bai Su’s words are like poking a hornet’s nest. Master Jin leaps to his feet, ready to fight Bai Su, but nearby demons hold him back firmly. 

"Master Jin, we’re no match for them right now. Wait for the elite troops to arrive; they’ll regret this!" 

“Hmph!” Master Jin snorts. “Little lady, just come back with me and bear my children. If you behave, I’ll treat you well. Ask around—any girl would be thrilled to marry me. I like you, and that's the good karma you've earned from your previous life. As for you, pretty boy," His gets so angry that he shouts again, "go dig in the mines!” 

Hearing this, Su Tingyun glances at the surrounding female demons and notices their expressions. It seems that the tiger’s boast might actually hold some truth—being chosen by him appears to be seen as a blessing among them. 

Su Tingyun stands behind Bai Su, translating his words. Then, she pokes her head out and asks the yellow tiger, “Your father is a subordinate of the Tiger Beast King?”

"Afraid now?" 

"I’m Jiu Yue’s sister." Su Tingyun squints and smiles as she brings up Jiu Yue’s name. This tiger demon is undeniably despicable, but he doesn’t quite deserve death. At least for now, as an idle scoundrel beaten in public, he doesn’t seem intent on taking lives out of revenge. Moreover, the onlookers don’t appear to hate him. Su Tingyun doesn’t want to waste her time killing him, so invoking Jiu Yue is the simplest way to avoid further entanglement. 

Su Tingyun doesn’t believe in killing people on a whim. Over her years navigating the cultivation world, she’s maintained a firm bottom line: no senseless murder. Bai Su, on the other hand, is a native of the Upper Realm. If he were to kill this foolish tiger demon outright, she wouldn’t say much. Everyone lives by their own rules, after all. To her, insults are trivial and easily ignored. But for many cultivators in the Upper Realm, even verbal offenses are an unforgivable crime warranting death. 

"Jiu Yue? What September? (Jiu Yue = September) It's the middle of winter!" Master Jin snaps but is silenced when someone hurriedly clamps a hand over his mouth. "Jiu Yue, the P-priestess, the current Beast Saint…" 

"You—you—you dared offend the Beast Saint? I—I can’t protect you!" Master Jin blurts, then quickly glances around and shouts at the crowd, "None of you heard anything just now, right?" 

"Young Master Jin…" 

Su Tingyun didn’t expect this tiger would genuinely care about her. 

From her ring’s internal space, Su Tingyun retrieves a white hair and blows on it. The hair transforms into an adorable, plump little fox with nine tails. Who else could it be but Jiu Yue, the Priestess of the Fox Clan? 

At this display, the onlookers fall to their knees in unison, clearing the path. Only then do Su Tingyun and Bai Su continue toward the inner boundary point. 

Although Iron Claw Town isn’t large, it is protected by a powerful array that restricts high-altitude flight. Otherwise, they could have flown directly to the edge. Su Tingyun had been strolling through the streets out of curiosity about demon culture, treating it as a casual tour. She didn’t expect to encounter an arrogant tiger demon. Now, uninterested in sightseeing, she and Bai Su use the Shrinking Ground technique to swiftly reach the location marked on the map’s spiritual energy lines. 

Before them lies a gray, hazy expanse dotted with numerous mining pits. 

Some pits are deep, others shallow. Some are entirely barren in terms of spiritual energy, while others are filled with top-grade spiritual stones. The spiritual energy in those mines are so frighteningly rich, even rivaling the vitality of the Kunlun Divine Tree’s Heart. 

This realm’s spiritual energy is so abundant, no wonder it's comparable to the True Immortal Realm. Su Tingyun then comments idly: "If this place is too similar to the True Immortal Realm, do you think ascending cultivators ever take a wrong turn and end up in the Beast Realm instead? Haha."

But she then adds, "But without a boundary lake here, it seems unlikely anyone would get lost." 

"There’s the Bodhi Mirror of Reality here," Bai Su replies, his tone serious. "When cultivators ascend, their horizons broaden, allowing them to see the boundary lake of the True Immortal Realm. But with this world so similar to it, if someone were to use that artifact to create a boundary lake here just as a cultivator is ascending, your scenario could indeed occur." 

Guided here, ascending cultivators would be trapped forever. 

"These mining pits are all equipped with arrays," Bai Su says, frowning as he pulls out several high-grade formation flags and plants them around one of the pits. In mere  moments, the spiritual energy in the flags depletes, and the flags, once fluttering in the breeze, burn to ash as if scorched by fire. 

At that moment, a voice calls from behind, gasping and panting heavily. "Ah, ah, ah, beautiful lady! Don’t go into that mining pit! It’s forbidden!" 

The speaker is none other than Master Jin. Seeing Su Tingyun turn to look at him, he immediately explains, "Don’t be fooled by the spiritual energy here; it’s a dead pit. We never enter dead pits!" He gestures to some shallow, nearly lifeless pits nearby. "Only these are worth mining. They still have some spiritual stones, but not much—just a few low-grade ones after a whole day’s work. It’s boring." 

"Our Iron Claw Town might have veins of spiritual ore, but we rely more on the spiritual spring. See that small river outside the town? It’s full of treasures and heavily guarded with arrays and soldiers!" 

By comparison, these mining pits are abandoned and unguarded, nearly forgotten. 

A quick sweep of her divine sense reveals countless burial mounds scattered around the mining pits. Su Tingyun asks, "Is this also a cemetery?" 

"Many die while mining. We bury them nearby to keep a remembrance," Master Jin, with his tall and sturdy appearance, replies with a charming smile. "I’ve been away from Iron Claw Town for a while—just returned last month—so I don’t know much." 

"Thanks," Su Tingyun replies curtly. She raises her hand to cast a protective barrier, then translates everything for Bai Su. 

Bai Su comments, "This pit is a death array. Entering it would result in being consumed and refined by the array. It’s nearly impossible to break free." 

"This Beast Realm truly is extraordinary," Su Tingyun remarks. "The outer layer is hidden by powerful concealment arrays, and even a small town like this has such lethal traps." 

Entering the array would result in one’s spiritual energy and vitality being devoured. That’s why this pit appears so brimming with spiritual energy—not because of high-grade ore, but because of the death array’s consumption. 

"This array is a treasure," Xuanyuan Wentian says, "If I weren’t bound by the rules of the Heavenly Dao, spending a few days in it would be highly beneficial." Unfortunately, with the Heavenly Dao monitoring him, any power he absorbs would be more than offset by its suppression. 

"Let’s check out the other pits first."

As they are here to uncover the secrets of the Beast Realm, retreating at the first sign of trouble would be unreasonable. Su Tingyun and Bai Su enter a pit with weak spiritual energy, discovering that while the entrance appears modest, the interior descends endlessly, seemingly reaching the core of the ground. 

Indeed, spiritual ores lie hidden within the pit, as Su Tingyun’s divine sense detects traces of spiritual stones. Yet, she feels little desire to mine them, more intrigued by how such a deep pit came to exist… 

The deeper they go, the fewer resources there are. At last, surrounded by complete darkness, all traces of spiritual energy vanish. 

Bai Su summons his Nirvana Fire, its flame forming into a small phoenix that flies ahead to light their path. Su Tingyun releases her own Heavenly Fire, a simple flame, though its mere presence makes the phoenix's fire tremble in fear. Helpless, Su Tingyun recalls her fire to avoid distressing it further. 

Bai Su suddenly says, "Wait..."