Chapter 40-Hua Jian is a Traitor?
The Forest of Mist was already cleared up, as if in a hurry too because there laid a trail of dead demon beasts and blood. Xiu Xiang didn't bother to slow down. She raced after Hua Jian and Bai Qing. They should be at the opening of the Cave of Inheritance already.
There were demon beasts that roamed around but Xiu Xiang didn't linger to see what it was, until the sound of an eerie whistle blew in the distance, drawing her attention. No beast could make such a sound unless they were human. She wanted to follow the sound, but it was leading her away from the Cave of Inheritance. The whistle was followed by a sorrowful sigh. It beckoned her to move forward. She faltered in place but quickly shook her head. Thinking that it was probably an illusion seeping through from the escaped mist, she shook her head.
"I have to hurry. I don't have much time," Xiu Xiang told herself. Her thoughts lingered only for a second more on the whistle before she carried on. The whistle grew fainter as she headed for the cave.
When she arrived at the entrance, Bai Qing and Hua Jian were already there waiting.
"Let her go," Xiu Xiang told Hua Jian.
"We don't need her anymore?" Hua Jian asked.
Why would they need her after this? He should know that they clearly only need her to clear the way through the illusion mist.
"No. She'll only be a hinderance once we get inside. Her job is finished. Let her go," she repeated.
There really was no need for her. The only reason why they had captured her was for this. If it wasn't for such a strong illusion, she wouldn't have wasted time and energy capturing her. After all, she was the character that brought endless trouble to the Demoness whether it was intentional or not. She wasn't about to have her cause trouble for her where it was even more dangerous inside.
Hua Jian glowered at Bai Qing and then quickly released her. She must've given him endless misery because Hua Jian looked like her wanted to tear her to pieces. Either that or Hua Jian just couldn't stand that Bai Qing was prettier than him. She would've laughed if their current situation wasn't so dire.
"Just you two wait. Your comeuppance is coming soon!" Bai Qing hissed. She gave Hua Jian a strange look and stormed out of there.
Xiu Xiang found it strange the way she had given Hua Jian that look. She wasn't sure what it was but Hua Jian seemed normal. She didn't let it bother her too much. She was already standing before the seal of the cave.
The seal on the cave entrance glowed strange incantations, giving off multiple colored lights. It exuded a dense energy that easily restored a bit of her spiritual energy with just a whiff. She pulled out the white jade, one of the five keys, pinning it against the seal. The two resonated with each other. The incantations that glowed dimmed, then grew brighter. It flashed on and off rapidly. Finally the seal slowly started dissolving from where the key touched the seal. Once it disappeared, the sound of a roar erupted from deep within the cave.
"What was that?" Hua Jian asked.
Deep inside the cave was a powerful guardian beast that protected the cave in case intruders like them managed to get pass the illusion mist and the seal of the cave. It was the final barrier in releasing the Demon King's soul. No one has ever made it this far so no one knew about the guardian beast, except for Xiu Xiang who read about the cave dwelling.
She didn't wait around and stepped inside. With every step she took, she felt the ground pulsed beneath her as if the cave itself was alive. Each breath she took, she realized how thick the air was. There was a mixture of dark and spiritual energy as if the two were fighting to one up the other. It wouldn't be long before the two of them meet the guardian beast.
The path the two had taken widened up and they came upon a large clearing. The pathway had broken off into four. Xiu Xiang didn't slow down one bit as she took the third pathway from the right.
"My lord?" Hua Jian looked rather reluctant. She knew he could sense the dangerous aura seeping from the path that had been picked. Finding it strange that Hua Jian would freak out now, she gave him a look over. Before, no matter how dangerous the situation, Hua Jian would never cower. It was weird seeing him look like this now. She shrugged off the thought. She was already so close and didn't have time to linger her thoughts on anything else.
"It's the fastest way to get to the Demon King's soul," Xiu Xiang replied. It was true. Where the dangerous aura seeped from, it belonged not only to the guardian beast that protected the cave, it also belonged to the Demon King.
Xiu Xiang no longer needed to create a fire with her hand as the tunnel grew brighter and brighter. The pathway came to a dead end. They stood at the edge of what once might've been stone steps but it had been destroyed. The two looked down to see a massive glowing red rock, the size of a person, wrapped up in golden chain and pinned against the rock wall. A large snake like beast with a large snout laid asleep in the middle of the room.
"A dragon?!" Hua Jian cried.
The golden red scales on the dragon glowed brightly lighting up the room. As if sensing the two of them, the dragon's head looked up in their direction. It roared loudly at them, then spat a large fireball at them.
Hua Jian was going to shout 'watch out', only to realize that Xiu Xiang was far ahead of him. She pushed him off to the side and slapped the fireball away with her hand. The fireball blasted against the cave walls causing the room to vibrate madly.
When they were going through the cave, Xiu Xiang had been absorbing as much energy as she could. She was able to gain a massive amount of extra energy but just that slap alone zapped away half the energy she had sucked up.
"You want to test out who's fire is stronger?" Xiu Xiang thought bitterly. She jumped down, landing gracefully on her feet. Her palms raised up and two fireballs formed in her hand.
Fireballs went flying in all directions. The cave shook like crazy as if it could collapse at any moment. The guardian beast seemed to realize that its fire wouldn't overpower her, so it started to swing its iron tail. It smashed multiple holes in the wall, ranging from the size of a basketball to a car even. Xiu Xiang had many close calls as she jumped from place to place, avoiding the tail. She landed swiftly in front of the glowing red rock and jumped again when she saw that the beast had swiped at her with its sharp claws. She nearly escaped with her life, missing it by a fraction of a second. Despite missing her, the beast ended up smashing the golden chains into smithereens.
Eventually, the guardian beast was outwit by Xiu Xiang. Right before the guardian beast could spit out a fireball, a ball of gas formed in its mouth. Xiu Xiang took the chance to shoot multiple small fireballs straight into its mouth. The first one combusted and the rest shot straight inside the guardian beast's stomach. It exploded on the inside, tearing a large hole in its abdomen. The guardian beast let out a mournful howl and dropped to the ground, motionless.
She heaved a sigh of relief. Her body was started to convulse. She had spent too much energy fighting with the guardian beast. All that was left was for her to unseal the Demon King's soul and activate that rebirth spell she found. Her hand reached up to the heavy golden chains that wrapped tightly around the glowing red rock.
"You did it..." Xiu Xiang heard Hua Jian said from behind her. He confidently walked up to her with his hands behind his back as he marveled at the glowing red rock in awe. His hand slowly reach up as if wanting to touch it. He was only inches away when Xiu Xiang swung her arm. A weak fire erupted between him and the glowing red rock.
Hua Jian jumped out of harm's way, landing a good distance away from her and the rock.
"What is the meaning of this, my lord?" Hua Jian asked sharply. He softly touched his scorched face, assessing how much damage he had taken. It wasn't too bad. As long as things went according to plan, the injury on his face would be worth it. He took a defensive stance as he eyed her cautiously.
The look on Xiu Xiang was like that of a crazed person. She glared furiously at him. Standing in between him and the glowing red rock, Xiu Xiang spat, "You're not Hua Jian! Who are you?!"
"What are you talking about?" Hua Jian asked. He looked confused as he slowly stepped towards her.
Xiu Xiang let out a sharp laugh. She charged forward and attacked Hua Jian viciously.
"My lord! Calm yourself! Have you gone mad?"
The two fought furiously but Xiu Xiang was already a string pulled taut. She would break soon the longer she fought and it seemed that Hua Jian knew that too since he took more of a defensive approach when fighting her. In then end, Xiu Xiang was subdued by Hua Jian and pinned against the rock wall. A dangerous looking vine bound her tightly so that she could no longer move about.
"My lord, you truly amaze me over and over," Hua Jian said as he softly caressed her cheek. Xiu Xiang turned her head to avoid his touch and hissed, "What did you do with the real Hua Jian?"
Hua Jian chuckled and then backed away. His face slowly distorted and rearranged itself until it formed the face of Wang Yue.
"You're..." Xiu Xiang was going to call him Wang Yue but remembered that Wang Yue was still in the Demon Realm with those righteous cultivators, so this could only mean that the person in front of her was Feng Yue, the little demon who was in charge of her harem.
"Feng Yue...?!"
"How did you know that I wasn't Hua Jian? I was sure I imitated him quite well. I've been studying the way he acted for so long," Feng Yue said.
There were many clues that hinted that Feng Yue wasn't Hua Jian. The way the Bai Qing and Hua Jian looked at each other when she took off, then there was the random fearful sight when they were about to find the guardian beast, but what truly gave him away—
"No matter what kind of dangerous situation or fight that Hua Jian gets into, he would never damage his face. He loves himself too much. Besides, Hua Jian is gay. He would never look at me the way you do."
"No matter." Feng Yue waved her off and stepped in front of the glowing red rock. He placed a palm on the red stone and a massive dark energy slowly seeped out. It swirled around his arm and straight into his body. He then looked over his shoulder and sneered, "You've been a great help, my lord."
"You!" Xiu Xiang struggled to get up to her feet as she glared at the man who looked so much like Wang Yue.
"Where's Hua Jian?" Xiu Xiang asked sharply.
"That girly man? Hmph. He used up most of his energy destroying all the beasts in the forest and passed out. His body is probably eaten up by the beasts on the mountain now," Feng Yue laughed.
"Bastard!"
"You should thank me. If I hadn't arrived when I did, do you think Bai Qing would clear a pathway for you in the forest with the illusion mist?"
So, the reason why Hua Jian had given that angry look at Bai Qing wasn't because of hatred but simply because he was threatening to keep Bai Qing quiet about his real identity.
Xiu Xiang tried to call out her fire to burn the vines but it did little good as the vine kept growing. Feng Yue quickly sucked up most of the Demon King's soul already and gained a hefty amount of strength. He easily deflected the fire and called out more vine to wrap tightly around her.
"What do you think you're trying to do, my lord?" Feng Yue asked.
"I'm not letting you suck up the Demon King's soul," Xiu Xiang spat.
"Oh, but I already have." With that said, the red rock behind him slowly dimmed until it became nothing but a plain old rock. Feng Yue let out a loud laugh and suddenly appeared before Xiu Xiang. He grabbed her harshly by the chin, forcing her to look up at him.
"I now have the same strength as the Demon King. Don't worry though. I will show you the same love you have shown me," he said and leaned in to smack a wet kiss on her lips.
She cringed and nearly gagged.
When he pulled away she scoffed at his arrogance. Smirking back at him, she asked, "Did you really think I cared about you? I'm simply see you as my lapdog."
The smile on Feng Yue's face disappeared.
"Lies...! You love me!" he cried.
"Love you? You have the face of the man who I want to rip apart with my own bare hands. The only reason why I kept you around was so that I can wipe you with my feet while thinking of that bastard." Xiu Xiang laughed.
"Lies!" Feng Yue threw her to the ground as he paced back and forth thinking about all the times that Xiu Xiang had spent in the harem.
"No matter," he muttered. He turned back to look at her, a strange look filled his eyes. Keeping a tight grip on her neck, he pressed a finger to her forehead with his free hand, sending a strange sensation over her. It felt like he was digging into her brain, picking at memories. "I'll just jumble a few things around in your memories. Before I completely erase it all. Should I tell you a little secret?"
Secret?
"I was the one who told those righteous cultivators how to enter the Demon Realm, but don't worry. I won't let them destroy our home so easily."
He did what?!
Then... it wasn't Wei Xing who told the Tian Ling Sect how to enter the Demon Realm...? All those things he had said before... were they true...?