Queen of Ten Thousand Demons Insists on Marrying Me - Chapter 61

Outside the mine, the moonlight was hazy, and silver light spilled onto a simple tent.

Inside the tent, Lu Xiao Xiao was sitting by the edge of a bed made of fine sandalwood, attempting to appease the Chaoyuan Sword (Cháo Yuán Jiàn) floating in mid-air.

Since they captured this mine, the Chaoyuan Sword had been unusually agitated. The sword body occasionally trembled slightly, as if trying to transmit some message to her, but was frustrated by its inability to speak.

“Hey! Chaoyuan Sword, what on earth is wrong with you?” Lu Xiao Xiao’s voice carried a hint of anxiety and confusion.

However, the Chaoyuan Sword hadn’t been able to communicate telepathically with her for a long time. The light on the sword body flickered more and more urgently. Each flicker was like the sword tip gently touching the water surface, stirring up invisible ripples wave after wave. Lu Xiao Xiao had a feeling that the Chaoyuan Sword was about to suddenly attack her in the next second.

She called the Chaoyuan Sword several more times, but there was still no response.

Realizing that the sword might actually have some kind of problem, Lu Xiao Xiao decided to temporarily leave the tent to give the Chaoyuan Sword some space, hoping it could adjust itself.

Of course, she was more worried that the Chaoyuan Sword might suddenly go crazy, as the sword itself had been in a somewhat erratic mental state.

She slowly stood up, her steps light, trying to make no sound. However, when she had just taken a few steps, preparing to walk towards the tent entrance, she found that the Chaoyuan Sword also slightly adjusted its position with her movement, always maintaining a close yet distant proximity to her, as if silently protesting.

“Sect Master, fifteen of the remaining Golden Core (Jin Dan) cultivators want to join us. They were all previously forced to mine here. The remaining ten wish to leave and seek development elsewhere.” Bai Shi Tao’s footsteps sounded from outside the tent.

“Quickly, duck, Bai Shi Tao!”

Lu Xiao Xiao’s voice came suddenly. Bai Shi Tao instinctively leaned back and ducked.

A blue light, like an arrow released from a bow, whooshed out of the tent, heading towards the interior of the mine. Lu Xiao Xiao’s figure also flew out of the tent and immediately followed, chasing the Chaoyuan Sword into the mine.

“What kind of technique is that, a person chasing a sword to practice? The Sect Master is indeed unique.” Bai Shi Tao straightened up, clutching her waist, and looked at the person and the sword entering the mine one after the other, her face full of confusion.

It wasn’t until Lu Xiao Xiao’s figure was about to disappear into the entrance that she suddenly widened her eyes, as if she just remembered something, and shouted: “Sect Master, the inside was just blasted, and rocks are constantly falling. Be careful!”

Lu Xiao Xiao watched the Chaoyuan Sword abruptly fly out of the tent, afraid that it might accidentally stab her trusted subordinate, Bai Shi Tao, to death. Fortunately, Bai Shi Tao was quick enough to dodge it.

When she followed the Chaoyuan Sword into the cave, she found that she couldn’t even see its shadow.

“Chaoyuan~”

“Chaoyuan~”

“Chaoyuan Yuan Yuan Yuan Yuan—”

The mine was pitch black, and the tunnels were intricate and complex. Lu Xiao Xiao followed her feeling and searched forward, but still couldn’t see the Chaoyuan Sword. However, as she advanced, the two sides of the tunnel gradually brightened. It turned out that many Spirit Stones (Ling Shi) were embedded in the walls, emitting a faint glow.

Lu Xiao Xiao became more and more alarmed as she walked. Initially, the Spirit Stones embedded in the walls were low-grade Spirit Stones, with only a slight sheen, looking like they were covered in a layer of dust. Now, after walking several li, the inside of the cave was like fireflies transforming into a sky full of stars; the Spirit Stones embedded on both sides were all high-grade Spirit Stones.

Lu Xiao Xiao saw a millstone-sized Spirit Stone sticking out a large section from the wall. Her whole body was somewhat stunned as she lay on it. Her heart thumped wildly, feeling almost as nervous as the night she kissed Tantai Jing.

“Pried this open, it must be five thousand high-grade Spirit Stones!”

Lu Xiao Xiao was deeply immersed in the endless joy of a downtrodden peasant singing a victory song.

She constantly fantasized about how many shimmering Dharma Robes (Fa Yi), how many finely crafted high-quality brushes, how many delicately textured inkstones, and how many precious elixirs that could greatly aid cultivation she could buy for Tantai Jing with this invaluable Spirit Stone.

Thinking of this, she even felt that the inkstone she had spent thousands of Spirit Stones on to give to Tantai Jing now seemed utterly shabby and embarrassing.

Moreover, this Spirit Stone could also be used to rebuild the Xuantian Sword Sect (Xuan Tian Jian Zong) for her Senior Sister, allowing her to properly show off to Wan Qing Yi. Furthermore, she could use the remaining Spirit Stones to buy some rare fine wines for Aunt Wan, fulfilling her filial piety. Maybe she could even bribe Fu Zhao to stop hindering her and Tantai Jing, although a Mahayana Stage (Dà Chéng Qī) cultivator probably wasn’t that short of money.

Just as various beautiful visions appeared in her mind, a smile she couldn’t suppress hung on her lips, and she was nearly drooling.

Suddenly, a resonant “buzz” sounded, clear and melodious, echoing all around.

The Chaoyuan Sword abruptly plunged into the high-grade Spirit Stone, which was radiating a faint glow, instantly pulling Lu Xiao Xiao back from her beautiful fantasy to reality.

“What are you doing? I found this first, hey.” Lu Xiao Xiao said urgently.

She watched the Spirit Stone, after the Chaoyuan Sword was inserted into it, turn into trickling water, covering the entire sword body. The Chaoyuan Sword, at this moment, was overflowing with Spiritual Light, filling the entire mine.

“Isn’t yours mine?”

“Of course, Tantai Jing is an exception.”

“Besides, have you forgotten who saved you and your little lover in the Demon Locking Tower (Suǒ Yāo Tǎ) last time? You forgot so quickly. Do you know how much Origin Energy (Yuán Qì) it cost me?”

The Chaoyuan Sword’s voice suddenly entered Lu Xiao Xiao’s ears again, speaking non-stop like a torrent of words.

Lu Xiao Xiao knew she couldn’t fight her for it. Furthermore, the only weapon she could use to pry Spirit Stones was the Chaoyuan Sword. She could only stand aside sullenly, rubbing her buzzing ears, hoping she would eat or absorb less.

“I know, I know! Did this sword grow up eating Spirit Stones?”

“Don’t keep calling me ‘sword, sword, sword.’ Just call me Chaoyuan. Saving you last time cost me a lot of Origin Energy. Shouldn’t I replenish it? I winked at you outside for a long time, and you didn’t understand at all. It was so exhausting. I had to come and get Spirit Stones myself.”

Lu Xiao Xiao watched the Spirit Stone shrink at a visible speed and couldn’t help but feel anxious: “If you don’t speak, how would I know? Your appetite is too big, isn’t it?”

She thought to herself: Is she a glutton (Tāo Tiè)? Such a large Spirit Stone has shrunk to the size of a basin so quickly.

“Not enough, not enough. I need to find a few more later. Severely damaged Origin Energy, do you understand what that means?”

Lu Xiao Xiao couldn’t help but swallow her saliva, watching the Dharma Robes, brushes, and inkstones she was going to give to Tantai Jing instantly drift away before her eyes, feeling a sharp pain in her heart.

“Fine, I’ll listen to you.” Lu Xiao Xiao’s expression was twisted with heartache.

Chaoyuan snorted coldly: “Look at your lack of ambition. Can I really eat this whole mine?”

She didn’t eat the whole mine, but she almost collapsed the whole mine, leaving only a third of it in the end. Although it was only a third, the quantity was still considerable, but that was a story for later.

While the Chaoyuan Sword had a hearty appetite, thousands of li away in a swamp, Tantai Jing was desperately maintaining a barrier to resist the dense attack of the Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs (Yù Chán Gāng Gǔ Chóng).

Tantai Jing watched the barrier grow weaker, knowing she couldn’t delay any longer. She turned to the two and asked: “Which of you has a Teleportation Talisman (Chuán Sòng Fú)?”

Wan Qing Yi quickly replied: “I do.”

Luo Mu, however, was more cautious: “In this demonic domain (Yāo Yù), the range of the Teleportation Talisman is greatly restricted. I’m afraid that even if we escape, they will catch up with us soon after.”

Tantai Jing looked at the Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs outside, a faint firelight flickering in her eyes: “Then we won’t let them leave alive.”

Just as Wan Qing Yi and Luo Mu were wondering, Tantai Jing took out hundreds of yellow talismans and gave them to the two.

“Five Thunder Talismans (Wǔ Léi Fú)?” Wan Qing Yi looked at the talismans in her hand with some surprise.

Tantai Jing nodded: “That’s right, the Five Thunder Talismans.”

Wan Qing Yi weighed the thick stack of talismans in her hand and said: “Lu Xiao Xiao is really good to you. She gave you all her savings. This must have taken her ten days or half a month to draw.”

Hearing this, Tantai Jing couldn’t help but show a slight smile, while Luo Mu’s eyes darkened on the side.

She recalled a certain day after she closed her stall when Lu Xiao Xiao insisted on giving her hundreds of talismans, saying: “Although you are already in the Mahayana Stage, you might encounter times when it’s inconvenient for you to act. Moreover, if a hundred high-grade Five Thunder Talismans are combined, they are enough to give a Mahayana Stage cultivator a headache. You should take them, just in case.”

Thinking of this, Tantai Jing didn’t know whether to call Lu Xiao Xiao a jinx or to thank her for her foresight. Now, she really had a use for them.

“Hurry up and act. Paste the talismans all over the spiritual ship (Ling Zhou). Be quick!”

Wan Qing Yi and Luo Mu understood her intention immediately upon hearing this. They took the talismans and walked to the sides of the spiritual ship.

Tantai Jing, meanwhile, stood in the center of the spiritual ship, continuously channeling Spiritual Power into the barrier to resist the attack of the Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs.

In a moment, the two returned.

Having maintained the barrier for so long, a slight strain was evident in Tantai Jing’s tone: “I will soon open the spiritual ship’s barrier. The moment the Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs enter, I will detonate the Five Thunder Talismans and then use Instant Movement (Shùn Yí) to take one person out, while the other uses the Teleportation Talisman to leave. However, the direction of the talisman’s Instant Movement will be fixed. After getting out, remember to escape southwards, and then we will find a way to meet up.”

She paused and added: “Although this method has some effect, it still cannot prevent some of the outer Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs from escaping. Remember, you must run with all your might after teleporting out.”

Seeing Wan Qing Yi holding the talisman somewhat nervously, Luo Mu snatched it away, gently shaking the talisman in her hand, her eyes carrying a hint of playfulness: “You are just a minor Golden Core. Let little Jing’er take you.”

Hearing this, a blush instantly stained Wan Qing Yi’s face, a mix of shame and helplessness: “I don’t need it!”

Before she could finish her sentence, Luo Mu’s figure flashed. Using the power of the talisman, she instantly teleported away from the spiritual ship in a flash of Spiritual Light, leaving only Wan Qing Yi in place, wide-eyed and speechless, momentarily forgetting how to react.

Wan Qing Yi looked at the spot where Luo Mu had stood, her mood suddenly complicated. Reflecting on it, Luo Mu hadn’t actually done anything to her.

It was those two humans who had attacked Luo Mu first. Luo Mu had only counterattacked to escape. Later, Luo Mu had fled with her, and it was Luo Mu who protected her during moments of crisis. And clearly, Luo Mu herself couldn’t handle the Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs, and Luo Mu’s relationship with Tantai Jing was supposedly better…

Tantai Jing saw her deep in thought and said: “Demon race also have flesh and blood. With Luo Mu’s temperament, she wouldn’t let someone with lower cultivation than her face danger alone.”

“You knew she would do this?”

“That’s right. Don’t think about it. They are about to break in. Grab my hand.”

Just then, a Jade Toad Steel Bone Bug, covered in a jade-colored carapace and with a long, snake-like body, silently penetrated the thick stone door of the ship cabin. Its pair of glowing compound eyes instantly locked onto Tantai Jing in the center.

Almost at the same moment the Jade Toad Steel Bone Bug entered the cabin, Tantai Jing’s eyes suddenly became sharp. She flipped her wrist. The Returning Dust Sword (Guī Chén) drew a graceful arc in the air. Immediately, seven or eight fiery fireballs erupted, whistling as they shot towards the four directions of the cabin.

Wherever the fireballs passed, the air seemed to ignite, leaving scorched marks. Their target was clear, heading straight for the Five Thunder Talismans that Wan Qing Yi and Luo Mu had carefully placed beforehand.

At this moment, these talismans had been pasted in various corners of the room, silently waiting to be activated.

With the precise impact of the fireballs, the Five Thunder Talismans seemed to awaken, and dazzling electric light flowed over the talisman paper. The sound of thunder faintly rose. The entire room was instantly enveloped in a faint layer of lightning.

The Jade Toad Steel Bone Bug clearly hadn’t anticipated such a sudden change. A look of panic flashed in its compound eyes.

However, this was only the beginning.

As the Five Thunder Talismans were fully activated, thick bolts of lightning shot out from the talismans, weaving into a dense net of thunder that tightly sealed the entire spiritual ship. And the Jade Toad Steel Bone Bug was right in the center of this net.

Just as the thunder rumbled with devastating force, the situation inside the cabin grew more precarious. Dense hordes of Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs poured in like a tide.

The hundreds of Five Thunder Talismans inside the spiritual ship cabin surged with interconnected lightning, about to explode.

In this crucial moment of life and death, the figures of Tantai Jing and Wan Qing Yi suddenly blurred, as if melting into the void. Only a lingering afterimage remained, and then they completely disappeared from the spiritual ship.

Following their departure, the spiritual ship, worth hundreds of thousands of high-grade Spirit Stones, finally succumbed under the intense and violent lightning bombardment, emitting a deafening roar before exploding violently.

Fragments of the spiritual ship scattered in the lightning, turning into specks of spiritual light, along with the corpses of many Jade Toad Steel Bone Bugs, dissipating between Heaven and Earth.

Dozens of li away, a space instantly twisted. A moment later, the figures of the two appeared from a spatial rift.

Wan Qing Yi could still faintly hear the distant boom of the explosion. She cupped her hands towards Tantai Jing and said sincerely: “Thank you. You saved my life again.”

Tantai Jing had just stabilized her stance when she pulled Wan Qing Yi’s arm and flew southwards: “You’re welcome. After all, you and Xiao Xiao are friends, aren’t you?”

It must be said that Wan Qing Yi still admired Tantai Jing. When Tantai Jing was in the Shining Cloud Palace (Yao Xiá Gōng), she had little contact with others, but she was always diligent and excelled in all fields, though it was a pity she was a demon.

Thinking of this, Wan Qing Yi confessed frankly: “I’ve actually always admired you and wanted to be friends with you, but you were too cold to people, and there was never an opportunity.”

Tantai Jing replied with a smile in her eyes: “Otherwise, how could I have been an undercover agent for so long without being discovered by you?”

Choked by her words, Wan Qing Yi didn’t know how to respond, and the atmosphere instantly became somewhat awkward.

Tantai Jing thought: Not good. I shouldn’t have been so good at setting the mood like Lu Xiao Xiao. She could only close her mouth again and focus on the journey.

After a long time, Wan Qing Yi spoke again: “Why did you save Fu Zhao, that heinous demon? I thought you were different from other demons.”

Tantai Jing didn’t expect Wan Qing Yi to be willing to talk. She didn’t want to contradict her again, but she couldn’t tolerate it when it came to her godmother: “Then I must ask Young Palace Mistress Wan, what exactly did my godmother do that was so heinous?”

When Tantai Jing retorted, Wan Qing Yi’s spoiled temper flared up, and she blurted out: “All the demons locked in the Demon Locking Tower have committed terrible deeds. She is naturally no exception. I advise you not to get too close to her, or Lu Xiao Xiao might not be able to be with you anymore.”

As the words left her mouth, Wan Qing Yi instantly noticed the temperature had dropped slightly, but she stubbornly believed she was right. As the future Sect Master of the Xuantian Sword Sect, how could Lu Xiao Xiao get entangled with a demon and become Dao Companions (Dào Lǚ)? She was merely giving her a well-meaning warning to change her ways.

Tantai Jing’s eyes dimmed slightly. She originally didn’t want Lu Xiao Xiao to fail in rebuilding the Xuantian Sword Sect due to this kind of reason, and she was also afraid of future interference in their relationship. Now, Wan Qing Yi’s words had exposed the issue.

“So, as the Young Palace Mistress of the Shining Cloud Palace, you also don’t know what crime my godmother committed to be imprisoned in the Demon Locking Tower for a hundred years, do you?” Tantai Jing said flatly.

Wan Qing Yi was stumped by her question. She thought carefully. When a demon committed a crime in the Demon Locking Tower, Wan Xuan’er (Wan Xuan’er) would list the offenses and record them in the palace for disciples to read and take warning. Yet, she really had no impression of that Fu Zhao.

Wan Qing Yi just assumed she hadn’t paid attention and hadn’t seen it: “I… anyway, my mother wouldn’t mistakenly capture a demon. I’ll ask my mother when I return and then tell you.”

After an unknown period, Wan Qing Yi heard Tantai Jing’s voice again: “She is not that kind of person. If she were, as you say, she wouldn’t be worthy of my Tantai Jing’s affection.”

Wan Qing Yi was startled for a moment before realizing she was talking about Lu Xiao Xiao.

Her thoughts returned to the day she saw Lu Xiao Xiao off from the Shining Cloud Palace. She recalled that even after being imprisoned for over a month and knowing that Tantai Jing had put a love curse on her, Lu Xiao Xiao never said Tantai Jing was wrong. Wan Qing Yi herself was somewhat unsure whether Lu Xiao Xiao would sever her ties with Tantai Jing for the sake of rebuilding the Xuantian Sword Sect.

Both were enveloped in the freezing atmosphere, and they didn’t exchange many words during the rest of the journey.

It wasn’t until the dusk of a few days later that several figures gradually appeared on the distant horizon. As they drew closer, the blurry figures became clearer. At a glance, a group of women in white robes, holding magical artifacts, were surrounding a demon girl. Their attire and demeanor clearly belonged to the people of the Shining Cloud Palace.

Their expressions were serious, and their swords flickered with a faint light, clearly ready for battle.

Wan Qing Yi’s gaze instantly fixated on the figure leading the group. A smile appeared on her face, and she exclaimed excitedly: “That person… seems to be my mother!”

Her gaze then shifted to the person being surrounded. It seemed the Shining Cloud Palace had discovered Luo Mu’s whereabouts.

“You shouldn’t go any further. I will find a way to make my mother let her go,” she said to Tantai Jing, a hint of undetectable worry in her voice.

Tantai Jing’s gaze immediately turned cold: “I believe you, but that doesn’t mean I trust the people of the Shining Cloud Palace. I will not abandon Luo Mu and leave on my own.”