CBGC - ch173

Chapter 173: The Demon Core

Bai Su lit a Soul Lamp with his heart's blood for Su Tingyun.

Within the Three Thousand Realms, regardless of distance, he can sense her soul's aura. The dim lamp burns in his Sea of Consciousness; though its light is faint, the orange glow feels especially warm. He enjoys looking inward in his primordial spirit, and under the soul lamp's warm light, he would sometimes sketch array diagrams or occasionally craft spirit beasts.

It is because of this that Bai Su notices when Su Tingyun's primordial spirit is injured.

However, he cannot locate the realm where Su Tingyun is.

If there’s no other way, he might have to use the secret technique of manifesting his primordial spirit. But with her aura so faint and the place seeming to be a sealed barrier, Bai Su knows that even if he arrives in spirit form, there's no guarantee he could successfully appear near her.

Yet he has to try...

Just as Bai Su prepares to act, he senses Su Tingyun’s soul stabilizing. Subsequently, the Ninth Elder, Bai Changge, shouts for him to quickly head to the Word Spirit Tower…

As soon as Bai Su arrives, he finds a new line of text on the Mirror Tablet. Big Bai has spoken again! This confirms that the situation was indeed dire. Bai Su feels as if someone is squeezing his heart, making it race briefly.

"Su Tingyun would've been better off staying quietly in the White Cloud Realm, but she insisted on running around. She asked you to refine a trial tower, but didn't invite you to come with her, and you just agreed to everything?" The Ninth Elder snaps the feather duster in his hand, the sound cracking loudly in the air. “Bai Su, are you stupid?”

Bai Su knows Su Tingyun is independent. When faced with problems, she always finds a solution on her own. She never asks for help for her own sake.

Whenever she requests something, it’s always for others.

So, when she asked for his help, he chose to agree rather than follow her around.

Indeed, it was a bit foolish.

“There are plenty of Bai family artificers who can finish the Trial Tower. And yet, here you are, still building that tower!” The feather duster pokes Bai Su right on the forehead as the Ninth Elder angrily jabs it again and again. "Are you stupid? Are you?"

Since Bai Changge is his elder, Bai Su doesn’t argue back. Besides, Bai Changge had long since surpassed the Nine Heavens Profound Immortal stage, and his strength is greater than Bai Su’s. With the force he’s using now, there’s even a red mark left on Bai Su’s forehead.

“Idiot!”

After yelling, the Ninth Elder realizes he’s acting undignified. He takes a breath, coughs into his fist, and hides the feather duster behind his back, his face serious. “If she’s in danger and the Word Spirit is protecting her again, let’s hope whoever offended her isn’t too strong. Otherwise, the Word Spirit will suffer a heavy toll again.”

After a pause, Bai Changge adds, “You’ve nearly finished half of the trial tower, right? Hand it over to the family’s artificers. Everyone can work together and finish it sooner. You’ve just broken through to the Nine Heavens Profound Immortal realm. You need trials to consolidate it, so go find Su Tingyun quickly, before she causes any more trouble.”

Bai Changge then turns to the Mirror Tablet, shaking his head with a bemused look. “Look at this! Years ago, every word the Word Spirit spoke was precious, earth-shattering. And now? Look what it’s come to. One day, this Mirror Tablet will be filled with nonsense. How are we supposed to show it to future generations and say, ‘This is the Word Spirit of the Heavenly Dao?’”

"Granny, did you eat?"

"Granny, I want to roll an iron ball..."

As Bai Changge thinks of these words, he shakes his head with a worried expression.

“What are you standing around for? Go find her!” He roars again.

Bai Su takes out a map. “I’ve lit a Heart's Blood Soul Lamp. Su Tingyun is currently in this location, but there's no realm in this area.”

There is a Realm of Reconstruction and a Wildland Realm nearby. Bai Su has been to both, and Su Tingyun’s current location is within the gap between the two realms, a place of utter void, with no signs of life whatsoever.

"Maybe it’s some kind of secret realm? Get everyone to search. If she can’t get out, it’ll be a disaster.”

...

Bai Su hands over the rest of the Trial Tower's construction to others. He has worked on it day and night, already completing the most crucial array formations, so transferring it isn't a problem. After making all the arrangements, he follows the guidance of Su Tingyun’s soul aura and heads in her direction. Sensing her aura stabilize and recover quickly, Bai Su breathes a sigh of relief.

When he reaches the location of her soul, Bai Su tries many methods but still cannot find the realm. So, he stays still, hides within a magical artifact, and decides to craft a bracelet artifact. Each garnet on the bracelet is intricately engraved with arrays, and every garnet can be used to attack. The bracelet must not only be beautiful but also possess immense power...

...

In the Beast Realm, the Yayu's poison fully breaks out, causing its body to explode, with flesh and blood splattering everywhere. Big Bai seems fine and is no longer as flushed as before. Muttering to itself, Big Bai complains, “What's that, so annoying. Hurting my Granny. So stinky.”

Earlier, Big Bai’s body had felt like she was on fire. Now that she's spoken some words, she feels somewhat better. It's just that her skin looks a bit dull, like an apple left out too long. But it's not a big deal.

Finally noticing the monster blown to pieces, Big Bai blinks in surprise and lets out a curious, "Huh?"

"Really dead... so scary... wah wah."

The Yayu’s body had swelled to a tremendous size earlier, and the blood gushing from it was enough to flood the collapsing ice cave. The blood was still laced with fire poison, and if it weren’t for Jiu Yue wrapping her tail tightly around the small demon beasts, all of them would have died on the spot.

However, Jiu Yue is now at her limit.

Her body is pinned to the ground, unable to move, her feet soaked in foul blood. Her body resembles a dried-up corpse, only a thin layer of skin stretched over her bones. As the Yayu’s blood and flesh surge towards her, covering the sky, Jiu Yue thinks she’s bound to die. But to her surprise, the remnant souls' resentment demon shields them; even before the fainted rabbit demon at the center of the array, a gray shadow wraps around her.

“A demonic creature... saving people?” Xuanyuan Wentian mutters in shock.

Su Tingyun, having recovered somewhat, notices that after Big Bai said those words, her body shows little change—just not as red as before. Her worries lessen slightly, and upon hearing Xuanyuan Wentian’s words, she responds, "Even demons can love, can't they?"

She’s talking about Xuanyuan Wentian himself.

Her words leave Xuanyuan Wentian speechless.

The demon carries the girl beasts out of the collapsing ice cave and sets them down on the ice. Su Tingyun exits the ring's world and flies over to Big Bai, carefully checking her over.

Xuanyuan Wentian intends to lead the monster to the Dual Realms Mountain. The best way would be to trap it. He says, "Big Bai, why don't you swallow that monster?"

After saving the female beasts, the black fog demon turns to face Big Bai, baring its teeth and claws, preparing to attack Big Bai and Su Tingyun.

However, just then, the surviving demon girls begin to sing.

It’s the Beast Race's Farewell Song, the Rebirth Chant, a sorrowful melody that stirs feelings of sadness.

Xuanyuan Wentian sneers at this.

“Dead is dead. There’s no such thing as rebirth. If the resentment doesn't dissipate, it will gather into a demonic creature. It isn’t something that can simply dissipate.”

“But the Yayu is dead, and their vengeance is fulfilled. Won’t the resentment fade?” Su Tingyun asks.

After all, this resentment had been sealed away, and the demon was created with a singular, simple obsession—revenge. It wanted justice for itself and for the beast girls who had been wronged. Now that revenge is achieved, it would make sense for the resentment to dissipate...

“Naive!” Xuanyuan Wentian scoffs.

Yet, unexpectedly, under the surviving demon beasts' song, the black fog begins to thin.

The Yayu is dead, and the monster's obsession has been resolved.

Though the demon beasts died with strong resentment, as the Yayu perished, the vengeance fades along with their companions’ song, and everything comes to an end.

Xuanyuan Wentian, having wasted his soul power, fails to gain the resentment demon he needed to escape the Heavenly Dao’s laws. The soul power he sent out is already weakened by divine punishment and vanishes completely, leaving him at a loss in the exchange.

Frustrated, Xuanyuan Wentian sits grumbling, refusing to look at the outside world anymore.

As the black mist dissipates, the female demons remain silent. At this point, Jiu Yue can no longer hold on and collapses, but she doesn’t hit the ground. Instead, she’s gently supported by the other demons.

Most of them have weak cultivation and are injured. They can't fly out of the ravine, and none of them have any healing pills. As they look at Jiu Yue, whose emaciated body is barely clinging to life, the breath of her soul faint, they are at a loss as to what to do.

Su Tingyun suddenly remembers the little nine-tailed fox in the bubble. She hasn’t touched the bubble, and it’s still floating in her ring’s world.

With this in mind, Su Tingyun quickly walks toward Jiu Yue. Her appearance makes the other beast girls nervous. They don’t know where this demon came from, but earlier, she had distracted the Yayu, acting as bait, and now the Yayu is dead. It’s clear she shares the same goal as them.

They make way for Su Tingyun to approach Jiu Yue.

Jiu Yue once had nine tails, but now only four remain, one of which is completely singed. The once gorgeous and captivating nine-tailed fox demon beast from the valley is now nothing more than skin and bones. She has sacrificed her lifespan and cultivation to the gods, offering her flesh and eyes to the demon. There’s almost nothing left of her.

With a thought, Su Tingyun summons the little fox from the bubble. With a point of her finger, the bubble merges into Jiu Yue’s forehead, and it’s like a spring rain after a long drought, bringing a surge of vitality back to her body.

Seeing that it seems to be working, Su Tingyun immediately sends a voice transmission: "You’re the biggest demon lord under the heavens. You took Jiu Yue’s flesh and eyes, didn’t you? Give them back!"

Xuanyuan Wentian doesn’t even look up. “Why should I? Get lost!”

Su Tingyun knows she can only ask for so much. She wants to demand Xuanyuan Wentian return what he took, but she also knows she can neither threaten nor persuade him.

However, Jiu Yue won’t die now, and with proper care, she may recover in time.

Just then, Big Bai digs out a grayish-white bead from the Yayu’s corpse. The bead rolls across the ice, bouncing here and there.

Big Bai has a knack for finding anything round, and even in the midst of the carnage, it easily locates the bead and pulls it out. It washes the bead clean with river water and rolls it around on the ice.

“A demon core!”