Back To When The Demon Lord Was A Beggar - Chapter 11

At that very moment, the toxic fog above the forest condensed into a long, thin line and drifted into the distance, vanishing without a trace in an instant. The ground began to tremble, spiderwebbing with deep fissures, while the dead trees erupted into a raging inferno. This sudden upheaval happened so fast that the group had no time to react.

Seeing the danger, Zhi Shiyi firmly grabbed Chu Nanzhen’s wrist. Surrounded by fire with no way out on foot, he summoned Liuli and shot straight toward the sky. Burning branches fell from above like rain, singeing their clothes and burning small holes where they failed to dodge. Yet, no matter how high they soared, the sky felt like an endless void with no exit in sight.

Below, the earth had split open into a massive maw, revealing an endless abyss that continued to widen as if intent on swallowing the entire Mist Forest whole.

While they were relatively safe hovering in the air, Wu Xiang and Ji Chushan below were not so lucky. The flames closed in on them, and Wu Xiang desperately tugged at a corner of Ji Chushan’s form, trying to pull her upward, but she remained rooted to the spot no matter how hard he strained.

Wu Xiang cursed in a fit of rage, “Which bastard is burning the forest? If I catch you, I’m going to skin you alive!” He then turned back to Ji Chushan, frantic, “Move! Come with me! You’ll die if you stay here!”

Ji Chushan was equally anxious, but her body felt shackled by an unseen force, rendering her immobile.

“Should we save them?” Chu Nanzhen suggested, looking down at the pair. He felt a lingering guilt toward Ji Chushan, having been so certain she was an evil demon before knowing the truth. Anyone would feel a bit of remorse for that. Even if they couldn’t find a way out of the forest yet, being high up was safer than being on the ground, if they were to die, at least it would be a slower death.

Liuli paused mid-air. With a light tap of his foot, Zhi Shiyi banked the sword around. He glanced at Chu Nanzhen and asked, “How do we save them?” Liuli could carry two people comfortably, but three was a stretch, let alone adding the formless Ji Chushan.

Clearly, Chu Nanzhen hadn’t thought that far ahead. He stared down for a moment before saying, “Wu Xiang is a cat, so he doesn’t count as a full person. As for Ji Chushan, since she’s formless, she can just make herself thinner and longer. We should all be able to fit.”

Zhi Shiyi nodded slightly, conceding the logic. However, he warned, “Next time you want to save someone, think of a plan first. Don’t let blind action lead to your own downfall.”

But before they could descend, the eyeballs floating on Ji Chushan’s body began to drop one by one. They hit the ground and dissolved into black smoke, shooting toward the clouds and drifting in the same direction as the toxic mist. Immediately after, a pained howl echoed through the trees.

“Chu… Kingdom!” Ji Chushan shrieked, her voice clearer than before.

Those two words again.

What on earth did “Chu Kingdom” represent?

Chu Nanzhen didn’t understand, and he didn’t have the luxury to ponder it now. Saving lives was the priority.

Wu Xiang, who had been pulling her, let go to scramble after the falling eyeballs. He ignored the encroaching flames, but his efforts were in vain. The eyes fell far faster than he could catch them. Within moments, more than half were gone. He had only managed to save three. Wu Xiang cried out in a breakdown, “Stop falling! If more fall, she’s going to die!”

By then, Chu Nanzhen and Zhi Shiyi had reached them. The fire had reached their feet, but for now, they were just small embers that could be stomped out. If they waited any longer, they would be swallowed by the growing blaze.

Zhi Shiyi said sternly, “Get on the sword! We’ll retrieve them once we’re up!”

“She can’t move! We can’t leave!” Tears welled in Wu Xiang’s eyes, blurring his vision as he stomped his feet in desperation.

The two stepped forward to help, but were blocked by a wall of black mist conjured by Ji Chushan. The mist formed a barrier, isolating her from them, though a few narrow cracks allowed them to see what was happening inside.

Chu Nanzhen frowned. “She doesn’t want us to get close.”

“Mhm,” Zhi Shiyi replied quietly, watching her through the gap.

As the two moved to the right, the black wall moved with them. Zhi Shiyi sent the sharp blade of Liuli lashing out, piercing a hole through the mist, but it sealed shut again almost instantly.

Liuli zipped back and forth several times with the same result. Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet split. The soil collapsed into the abyss, forcing the two of them to leap apart.

Seeing this, Ji Chushan suddenly shoved Wu Xiang away. As he stumbled back, the black wall opened a gap. He nearly fell into the fissure, but Chu Nanzhen lunged forward just in time to steady him. The eyeballs Wu Xiang had been holding dissolved into black smoke and drifted away. Staring at his empty palms, Wu Xiang spiraled further into despair.

Ji Chushan’s gaze pierced through the mist, landing directly between Chu Nanzhen and Zhi Shiyi. Her eyes held an emotion that Chu Nanzhen couldn’t quite decipher.

“Which coward is behind this? Get out here! Come out!” Wu Xiang screamed hysterically, his eyes filled with helplessness and rage. He didn’t understand why everything had changed in an instant, he only knew that once all the eyes on Ji Chushan’s body fell, she would vanish.

When humans die, they leave behind bones and belongings. But they were demons. Once they died, they left nothing behind, as if they had never walked the earth.

Her body was now empty, save for a single pair of eyeballs still floating there. It wasn’t hard to guess that those were her own eyes, which was why they wouldn’t fall. Before, Ji Chushan had been covered in so many eyes it was dizzying, but only now did they notice her actual eyes were the color of the sea, pure, clear, and infinitely gentle.

For some reason, Chu Nanzhen was entranced. The fire had already reached his legs, but he felt no pain. It was only when Wu Xiang noticed and yanked him aside that his skin was spared from the burn.

Wu Xiang didn’t care about him, however, he only wanted to break through the black mist to reach Ji Chushan. It was all for nothing.

Ji Chushan transformed into a long ribbon of mist, hovering in the air. She smiled at Chu Nanzhen, her eyes curving, then turned to Wu Xiang with a look of pure comfort, as if saying, I can protect you one last time.

Wu Xiang froze. He knew her better than anyone, how could he not understand that look? But right now, he wished with everything in him that he didn’t.

“Run…” Ji Chushan turned to Zhi Shiyi. Though the word was faint, he understood. She added, “Dan…ger…”

Zhi Shiyi nodded. He couldn’t save her, but he could get the others away from the ground, giving them at least a hope of survival. He stepped onto his sword, grabbed the two by their collars, and shot upward without a moment’s hesitation.

Ji Chushan collapsed her wall of mist and dove into the widening chasm. Wu Xiang wailed in protest, “Don’t go! If you go, I’ll be alone again!”

Yet, she didn’t stop for him. If anything, she moved faster, disappearing into the depths within seconds.

A thunderous explosion shook the world.

The ground completely blew apart. Countless clods of earth surged like a tide or churned like boiling water. In moments, the Mist Forest was replaced by a gaping canyon. Everything that had once been there was erased, replaced by floating dust and debris. Fortunately, they were high and far enough away.

At some point, Wu Xiang had shifted back into his cat form and fainted, lying motionless in Chu Nanzhen’s arms. Zhi Shiyi slowly maneuvered Liuli upward, wary of any lingering fire. Unlike before, the danger had passed, and the exit was finally visible.

Once the demonic mist dissipated, an exit appeared, as if the mist itself had been the lock and its disappearance the key.

Daylight broke through, and the sun’s rays hit the remains of the forest, bringing a sudden spark of life to the ruins. The fires were smothered by the falling earth, leaving only scattered sparks. Looking down, they noticed something glowing in the pitch-black abyss. Squinting, they could see the faint outline of a ritual array.

Zhi Shiyi asked, “Do you want to go down and look?”

“Yes,” Chu Nanzhen said seriously. If there was an array, someone was pulling the strings. He wanted to see what kind of creature had caused all this.

Zhi Shiyi gave a slight nod.

The array was deep. The further down they went, the harder it was to breathe. Spending more than a few minutes here would be fatal. The air was thick with the smell of earth and something foul, and their voices carried slight echoes.

“I once read a story about a ‘Sacrificial Array,’ the kind that uses living people. I’m afraid this might be one, after all, Ji Chushan’s eyes looked exactly like a human’s.”

“Mhm. It might be. I once came across a record of the sacrificial array you mentioned.”

Chu Nanzhen felt a small surge of pride at that. He had always been interested in those kinds of stories. “What was the name of the book? I’ll see if I can find it at the bookstall next time I’m in town.”

At this, Zhi Shiyi seemed to recall something. After a moment of silence, he said, “I don’t know. Back then, it was a time of peace and the people were content, so I only glanced at a page or two before putting it back. I didn’t think I’d ever need it.”

Chu Nanzhen was a bit confused by that. The Qi Ming Kingdom had always been peaceful, yet he made it sound as if he were talking about a different era or a different country entirely.

Before he could ask more, they reached the array. It was too dark to see clearly, so Zhi Shiyi snapped his fingers, and a small flame flickered to life on his fingertip. Chu Nanzhen couldn’t help but marvel at how useful immortal arts were.

Leaning down to inspect the array, they saw two eyeballs resting within the golden lines of the ritual. They were Ji Chushan’s eyes. Though they still held that sea-blue hue, the light had vanished, looking as if they had withered in an instant.

As they suspected, it was a sacrificial array. There were six points in the formation, and the eyes occupied one of them.

“Do you remember what the book said about this array?” Zhi Shiyi realized the gravity of the situation.

Chu Nanzhen sighed and shook his head. “It’s been a long time, I can’t remember the details.”

He had read many stories over the years, but books like this were rare in the Central City. He should have remembered it clearly, yet his mind was a blank.

Zhi Shiyi hadn’t looked closely at the book either, so he didn’t know which body parts the array required besides the eyes, or how many people had been sacrificed and dismembered to fuel it.

“Let’s take them and go home. Wu Xiang is close to her, maybe he can tell us something when he wakes up.”

Zhi Shiyi agreed and reached out to retrieve the eyes. The moment they left the array, the surrounding earthen walls began to collapse. Heavy rocks rained down on them, each hit stinging with pain.

They escaped at top speed and raced back to the City Lord’s Manor. It was already the middle of the night. Before they could catch their breath, they saw Gu Yu standing at the entrance. The old woman from earlier that morning was slumped on the ground, clutching Gu Yu’s pant leg, while a middle-aged man stood nearby.

Chu Nanzhen let out a weary sigh. Knowing these people, their arrival never meant anything good. Sure enough, as they drew closer, they heard the old woman wailing about an “injustice.”

Having just come from the source of the truth, one of them rolled his eyes while the other knit his brows in annoyance.

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