The Demon Lord Is Carrying My Child - Chapter 20

The atmosphere chilled to the extreme in an instant. Ji Shutao looked at Zhuang Yi and then at Chen Li, still attempting to smooth things over. To her surprise, before she could even open her mouth, she heard her senior brother’s voice.

Chen Li struggled to suppress the fury in his heart, asking syllable by syllable, “What do you mean by ‘the breath of death’?”

As his gaze collided with Zhuang Yi’s, it was like the clashing of swords and shadows.

Zhuang Yi lowered her head. She had not yet reached the point of coming to blows with Ji Shutao’s senior brother. She gently rubbed her sleeve with her finger. “I cannot describe it; it is merely my primal instinct.”

Every time she came into contact with the people of the Cangyou Pavilion, she could feel them permeating with the breath of death. That was how she discovered those people belonged to the Cangyou Pavilion, but as for the underlying reason, she could not say.

Ji Shutao keenly sensed the faint aura of despair leaking from Zhuang Yi. To cheer her up, she mimicked Zhuang Yi’s manner and hooked her finger around the other woman’s. Zhuang Yi looked at her with a smile and mouthed the words, “I’m fine.”

With Ji Shutao by her side, Zhuang Yi did indeed feel much more at peace.

“Eldest Senior Brother, we have faced countless dangers on this journey. We should rest first before discussing what to do next. After all, Second Senior Brother and Seventh Senior Brother have yet to reunite with us.”

Ji Shutao shielded Zhuang Yi behind her entire body to prevent the two of them from clashing again.

Chen Li glanced at his little junior sister acting this way and sighed inwardly: Little Junior Sister has fallen completely.

Feeling helpless, he could only nod. He sat down on a step and began to close his eyes to rest his spirit.

Seeing this, Ji Shutao led Zhuang Yi to sit down beside Ye Xiaoge.

Ye Xiaoge was lying flat on the steps. Ji Shutao felt her forehead; there was no fever. When Chen Li had thrown her in earlier, Ji Shutao had been quick enough to catch her, so there were no injuries on her body. Ji Shutao felt slightly relieved and sat back down next to Zhuang Yi.

The two leaned against each other. Exhausted to the core, they quickly fell asleep.

Chen Li, noticing this, suddenly snapped his eyes open. His gaze directed straight at Zhuang Yi, scanning her up and down. Although the sleeping Zhuang Yi appeared harmless…

He began to wonder if his initial decision had been too hasty.

No matter how one looked at it, Zhuang Yi was the Sovereign of the Demon Race. Few demons had clean hands. Once his little junior sister fell into this, it would be difficult to get out. When a net is woven from the word “love,” few in the world can break free.

Even more troublesome was that he could not see through Zhuang Yi. He had heard that Zhuang Yi was the youngest Sovereign in the history of the Demon Race. For her to reach such a position at such a young age, she certainly was no ordinary person.

Whether it was good or bad for his junior sister to be with her, and how they had even started in the first place all of it remained an unknown. As he thought, Chen Li’s eyelids also began to feel heavy, and he fell asleep.

When Ji Shutao opened her eyes, they reflected a flash of fire. She was startled and instinctively reached out to grab Zhuang Yi’s hand, but she grasped only empty air.

Ji Shutao rubbed her eyes and looked around, only to find that she was the only one left!

For some unknown reason, the circular disk at the very top of the sacrificial altar was completely ablaze, illuminating the entire place with firelight.

“Zhuang Yi?”

“Eldest Senior Brother?”

“Ye Xiaoge?”

In this ghostly place, there wasn’t even the sound of the wind; Ji Shutao could only hear her own increasingly heavy breathing.

Her mind went blank, and she couldn’t stop herself from feeling dazed. She didn’t understand how she could be alone, nor how that thing on the altar could have caught fire.

Clearly, there was no wind, yet the fire grew more intense, already burning down to the lower circle. It was estimated that before long, it would burn right in front of Ji Shutao.

Ji Shutao’s face was covered in sweat. When they had first entered, the place was wide open an external space where the plains stretched as far as the eye could see, though no plants grew there. Now, however, the area near the steps was filled with surging darkness that even the firelight could not penetrate, slowly closing in on her.

With a great fire behind her and an all-consuming darkness ahead, trapped between two miseries, Ji Shutao could only run toward the stone door. At the very least, facing a monster would give her some initiative; she wouldn’t have to simply wait for death.

Just as she was about to press the mechanism, she felt someone grab her hand and shake her shoulders violently. Ji Shutao felt the world spinning, her ears filled with her senior brother’s voice.

“Little Junior Sister! Little Junior Sister! Little Junior Sister!”

Ji Shutao snapped awake with a jolt, finding her hand reaching toward the mechanism of the stone door. Chen Li was pulling her hand with one of his while holding her shoulder with the other.

The sacrificial altar was not on fire. Instead, the four stone pillars standing on the outer edge had lit themselves, acting as light sources. Although the surroundings were still shrouded in darkness, it didn’t feel as oppressive.

Ji Shutao looked blankly at her hand and asked, “Eldest Senior Brother, what happened to me?”

“This place has something that pulls people into illusions. I just broke free myself when I saw you about to open the stone door, so I quickly grabbed you and woke you up.” Chen Li let go of her hand. Fortunately, he had stopped her in time, or the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Everyone was struggling within the illusion; if they encountered that monster now, they would have no power to resist.

“Where are Zhuang Yi and Ye Xiaoge?”

The two of them looked back belatedly. Ye Xiaoge was still sleeping peacefully on the steps perhaps the illusion had no effect on ordinary people. But Zhuang Yi was different.

Ji Shutao ran to Zhuang Yi’s side and saw her curled up on her side on the steps. Ji Shutao placed her hand on the woman’s forehead and found her face covered in cold sweat, her body trembling slightly.

Ji Shutao pulled her into her arms and patted her face. “Zhuang Yi, Zhuang Yi.”

Zhuang Yi showed no sign of waking up. Her hands were moving erratically, and she kept crying out, “Shutao, Shutao.”

Ji Shutao was shocked. When had Zhuang Yi ever looked like this, except for that time when she had said she didn’t remember her?

What must Zhuang Yi have been feeling then? Despair?

Did this illusion truly cause such despair?

Ji Shutao held Zhuang Yi even tighter, calling out incessantly, “Zhuang Yi, Zhuang Yi, I’m here, I’m right here.”

Zhuang Yi was still trapped in the nightmare, seemingly unaware of Ji Shutao’s voice. She continued to struggle, trying to escape Ji Shutao’s embrace, her mouth still unconsciously crying, “Shutao, Shutao, save me.”

Hearing the word “save,” Ji Shutao’s heart stifled. She shouted even louder, “Zhuang Yi, Zhuang Yi, wake up! I’m right here, I’m here. You’ll see me as soon as you open your eyes!”

Zhuang Yi’s eyelids fluttered uneasily, as if even the act of opening her eyes required immense effort.

Ji Shutao continued to call, “Zhuang Yi, Zhuang Yi, Zhuang Yi, you’ll see me as soon as you open your eyes.”

Finally, Zhuang Yi opened her eyes. The moment she did, tears fell. Her vision was misty; even Ji Shutao’s face was not very clear.

Zhuang Yi touched the face of the person before her and asked tentatively, “Shutao?”

“It’s me, I’m here.”

Zhuang Yi moved closer to Ji Shutao’s face, as if identifying her carefully. She pressed her forehead against Ji Shutao’s and gave her a shallow kiss, murmuring, “Shutao.”

Ji Shutao supported the exhausted Zhuang Yi. Zhuang Yi had fainted, but at least she was no longer trapped in the illusion.

Ji Shutao breathed a sigh of relief and, with great heartache, wiped the sweat and tears from Zhuang Yi’s face. She asked Chen Li, “Eldest Senior Brother, what do people usually see in an illusion?”

“It varies from person to person,” Chen Li sighed. Looking at Zhuang Yi’s state, he knew exactly what kind of nightmare that illusion had been for her.

Compared to her, the illusions experienced by Ji Shutao and Chen Li were still within a controllable range.

“Eldest Senior Brother, what do we do next?” Ji Shutao still held Zhuang Yi, the heartache in her eyes undiminished.

Seeing Zhuang Yi like this, Ji Shutao was anxious and only wanted to take her down the mountain immediately.

“At this point, we can only risk it all.”

Chen Li picked up Ye Xiaoge on his back, and Ji Shutao picked up Zhuang Yi. Waiting here any longer wouldn’t lead to anything good.

The first trial was an illusion; who knew what else was waiting for them further in?

It was better to fight their way out now and secure a glimmer of hope.

“Alright.”

With Chen Li carrying Ye Xiaoge in the lead and Ji Shutao carrying Zhuang Yi behind him, Chen Li pressed the mechanism. The heavy stone door opened, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The four of them quickly merged into the night.

Because they each carried another person’s life on their backs, Chen Li and Ji Shutao walked with extreme caution. The outside was as silent as the inside, and this deathly stillness filled both of them with profound unease.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound ahead. The hair on Ji Shutao’s neck stood up. Holding Zhuang Yi with one hand and her Qingyi Sword in the other, she exchanged a glance with Chen Li, who was also prepared. They slowly moved forward.

Before they even reached the source of the noise, a pair of eerie blue eyes emerged. Ji Shutao was so startled she nearly fell flat on her face.

Chen Li reacted first, immediately manipulating his sword to strike out. The scent of blood began to spread, which would likely attract even more monsters.

“Little Junior Sister, move fast!”

Ji Shutao, carrying Zhuang Yi, ran wildly alongside Chen Li. To their dismay, they still fell into the monsters’ encirclement.

Ji Shutao cursed in anger, “They even know how to flank us! Are these things humans or monsters?”

Together, they killed about ten of them before both reached their limits.

Chen Li had to lean on his sword just to remain standing. Ji Shutao dropped directly to her knees, her mind filled with the thought that her life was over.

But it didn’t matter if her life was gone Zhuang Yi and the “little cub” shouldn’t have to die with her.

Chen Li glanced at Ji Shutao. The monsters were closing the circle. Gasping for breath, Chen Li placed Ye Xiaoge down beside Ji Shutao as well.

“Eldest Senior Brother, what are you doing?”

“Giving it my all, and leaving the rest to fate.”

Chen Li tossed his sword into the air, his hands moving through signs without stopping as he chanted an incantation.

Realizing what Chen Li was about to do, Ji Shutao said in panic, “Eldest Senior Brother, you’ll lose your life!”

“If Heaven wants to take me, then let it.”

Chen Li’s sword suddenly erupted with a brilliant light of ten thousand feet, illuminating the entire forest as if it were broad daylight. This single strike was extraordinary; all the surrounding monsters were killed instantly, and Chen Li collapsed, coughing up blood and falling unconscious.

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