They Are Archenemies, But They Have A Child - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Child

The Celestial Realm.

The commotion of the Heavenly Lightning drew the attention of the immortals, who sighed, wondering which family had another friend ascending.

The Heavenly Emperor paused his chess move, looking thoughtfully in the direction where the lightning had struck. Mortals receive three bolts of Heavenly Lightning upon ascension, but after the thunderclap just now, there was no further activity.

“Sage Lord Sanyuan, was a new god born just now?” The Heavenly Emperor placed a piece and looked up at his chess opponent.

Sage Lord Sanyuan counted on his fingers and shook his head: “Today is the day for the mortal Liu Yuan’s ascension, and no new god has been born.”

The Heavenly Emperor nodded, looking at the chessboard: “I wonder if Qingwu’s mission is progressing smoothly.”

Sage Lord Sanyuan placed a piece: “Bai Ze Yuanjun’s cultivation is outstanding even across the Three Realms, Your Majesty need not worry too much.”

The Heavenly Emperor assented.

…

Cloud Qingwu felt his head splitting, as if his entire body had been taken apart and reassembled. The smell of lingering ash permeated his nostrils.

He used all his strength to pry open a slit in his eyelids, which felt as heavy as gold, allowing a sliver of light to break through the darkness and enter his vision.

He frowned, instinctively moving his body. The foreign object on his neck made him freeze.

It was the warmth and stickiness of a living being, and the sensation had a strange familiarity.

Cloud Qingwu suddenly snapped awake, turning his head to look beside him. He saw the face he was all too familiar with. However, this face was covered in dust, and his sweat-damp hair was messily stuck to his cheeks—a state of disarray he had never seen before.

And the warmth and stickiness came precisely from the other person’s left arm.

!

A shock ran through him. He instinctively wanted to get up, but he quickly forced himself to stop, instead conjuring a spell. Several ice shards instantly gathered in his palm.

Could there be a better opportunity to kill Leng Lici than now?

There wouldn’t be.

The chilling ice shards ruthlessly struck toward the positions of Leng Lici’s heart and demon core. If they connected, Leng Lici would certainly die.

“Ooh—wah wah—”

A sudden burst of infant crying abruptly halted Cloud Qingwu’s movement.

He looked at the source of the crying in surprise.

He saw the living being lying on Leng Lici’s body.

It was an unclothed infant, less than half an arm’s length, looking like it had just been born.

How could there be an infant here?

The child’s forehead was marked with…

Cloud Qingwu stared intently at the golden, arc-shaped line that was currently glowing. The shape, which closely resembled a fox head, was identical to the unconscious demon lord.

He instantly retracted his open right palm. The ice shards suspended in mid-air struck down again.

If it was a demon creature, then its death would be well-deserved.

“Ooh wah?”

The crying infant stared blankly at the ice shards, then burst into a bubbly laugh the next second, reaching out its small hands.

One by one, snowflakes materialized in the air, catching the ice shards. The cold, lethal weapons suddenly turned into the child’s toys.

Cloud Qingwu fell silent, looking at the scene that resembled a New Year’s Eve fair.

The only force that could so easily catch his ice condensation spell was divine power of the same origin as his, yet he was the only Bai Ze in this world.

“Ooh wah—”

The child seemed to be having fun. Its hands weren’t enough, so its feet lifted up, and at this moment, the other half of the demon crest on its forehead was revealed.

It was glaringly white.

Cloud Qingwu pressed his lips together, tentatively reaching out to probe the infant’s bloodline. An absurd guess had ignited in his heart, and he had to crush this speculation with the truth.

A faint white light lit up along the infant’s veins.

Cloud Qingwu retracted his hand as if shocked, then clenched it into a fist.

This child actually possessed the Bai Ze bloodline!

In that case…

He looked uncertainly at the still-unconscious Leng Lici.

But the person who was just now unconscious suddenly opened his eyes, leaping up. The next second, a sword tip imbued with magical power struck towards him.

With his movement, the infant who had been lying on him was tossed into the air. Seeing that it was about to fall to the ground, Cloud Qingwu used his spear to block with his right hand, while simultaneously jumping forward, catching the still giggling child purely by instinct.

“Didn’t you see there was a child on you?!” Cloud Qingwu sharply questioned.

Leng Lici’s attack remained relentless. He didn’t spare the child a glance. As he quickly retrieved his sword with his right hand, a massive red light flared up, striking towards Cloud Qingwu with a fire imbued with immense power.

“What does that have to do with me?” he asked, sounding confused.

Cloud Qingwu was already severely wounded and, fearing for the child in his arms, tried his best to block the attack. A coppery taste in his throat was unstoppable, and blood dripped from his chin onto the child’s face.

He must have been out of his mind to demand that a demon care about another’s life.

Even if this child was related to Leng Lici, was he not going to eradicate this demon today?

Thinking of this, Cloud Qingwu turned and drew a barrier. He then conjured another spell, creating a swaddling cloth for the child, intending to settle the baby first.

Unexpectedly, the moment the child landed, its small face crumpled, and the next second, an earth-shattering “Waaah!” erupted.

He felt as if all his strength had been drained, and a mountain-like force descended from the sky.

“Thud!”

With a huge sound, Cloud Qingwu found himself kneeling on the ground. The reason the commotion was so loud was that he wasn’t the only one kneeling; his enemy, who had been about to press his advantage, was also on the ground.

?

He was momentarily confused, instinctively looking at the other victim. He saw a flash of fiery red leap up, and a red light imbued with full cultivation came chopping down fiercely, clearly driven by extreme annoyance.

Cloud Qingwu gritted his teeth, held the child, and dodged sideways.

“Waaah waah waah—”

The child in his arms cried even more heartbrokenly. For a moment, only her cries could be heard in the cave, as if she wouldn’t stop until she had completely shaken the cave apart. She seemed to have suffered some inhuman treatment, utterly grief-stricken and heartbreaking.

“Clang!”

Leng Lici watched his bone sword fall to the ground like a useless piece of bone, unable to believe his eyes. His attention distracted, the pressure on his body surged, and a cloud of dust rose as his knees made intimate contact with the earth once again.

“Get up!”

He stared fixedly at the bone sword on the ground.

The bone sword remained lifeless.

“Get up!!”

The bone sword was still lifeless.

The child’s piercing cries multiplied the irritation in Leng Lici’s heart. The continuously draining magical power also fueled his anger. But the more this happened, the more stubbornly he insisted on casting spells, trying to make the bone sword move.

For a moment, it seemed like his enemy was this disobedient sword.

Cloud Qingwu glanced at the possessed Leng Lici, knowing he was useless to rely on. He looked at the relentlessly wailing child in his arms as if facing a formidable enemy.

His mind quickly flashed through memories, trying to grasp a way to handle the current situation.

When Yuan’er was little, his aunt seemed to coo like this?

Cloud Qingwu hesitantly patted the child’s butt twice—no use.

He clenched his jaw, stood up, and swayed his body, but the large movements ended up creating a kind of rocking-cradle motion.

Still no use.

He hardened his heart and released his tail.

The child stared blankly at the snow-white, long, and fluffy-tipped tail, momentarily forgetting to cry.

Encouraged, he decided to try harder, swaying his tail a few more times and getting closer.

“Giggle—”

The child grinned, reaching out a small hand to touch the tail.

“Swoosh—”

The sword, which had been as lifeless as a dead fish, instantly softened and sprang back to life.

The mountain-like weight on his body also vanished immediately. Cloud Qingwu felt his body suddenly lighten.

Cloud Qingwu: “…”

He looked down at the child, then at Leng Lici. Leng Lici’s gaze was fixed on the child.

Leng Lici: “…”

Cloud Qingwu pointed a finger at the demon crest on the child’s forehead: “She might truly have some relation to you.”

Leng Lici frowned deeply. After a long hesitation, he walked over. He stared at the half-golden demon crest and reached out his right hand, wanting to investigate further.

The moment he reached out, a chubby little hand grasped his.

“Eeya yaa—”

The tyrannical, murderous aura on the Demon Lord was forced to freeze for a moment, but it was extremely brief. As a familiar sensation spread from the hand holding his, the killing intent shot straight up.

Such a thing that could control him shouldn’t exist.

Leng Lici coldly looked at the child’s innocent smiling face, channeling his demon power into the grasped finger.

Even if it was a child.

“Bang!”

A flash of white light repelled Leng Lici. The pressure that had vanished returned and pinned him to the ground again. His breathing became heavy, and his eyes towards the child were full of resentment.

Why!

The child seemed to sense this resentment. Her smiling eyes drooped, and her mouth pouted.

“Your child, and you want to kill her?”

Cloud Qingwu knelt on the ground, looking at Leng Lici in disbelief. The tail he was about to retract had to be released again, attempting to comfort the child. As collateral damage, he had to clean up the mess left by the culprit. Even a god, in utter bewilderment, truly wanted to laugh.

“A child? What kind of thing is that.”

Leng Lici sneered.

When the pressure on his body finally dissipated, Leng Lici’s emotions also calmed down. He conjured a spell, and his completely disheveled and dirty state instantly vanished. He stood up without a word, searching through the ruins.

This matter was very likely related to the Ancient Guardian Lamp.

But no matter how hard he searched, there was no sign of the lamp.

The person searching in the distance finally stopped, then turned and walked towards the entrance without a word.

“Hey, where are you going?” Cloud Qingwu followed him in a few steps. Before figuring out the child’s situation, he couldn’t let Leng Lici leave just like that.

Moreover, there was no way he could take this child back to the Celestial Realm.

Leng Lici didn’t look back, only dropping one sentence: “Danxue Mountain.”

Danxue Mountain was the residence of the Phoenix Clan, and the Ancient Guardian Lamp was originally their divine artifact. Leng Lici had come to the same conclusion as him. Cloud Qingwu no longer hesitated and followed suit.

At the end of the sky-spanning rosy clouds, rolling mountains faintly emerged. The Phoenixes’ magnificent tail feathers bestowed a unique splendor upon the clouds as they glided.

But the moment Leng Lici approached, this splendor immediately turned into sharp hostility.

“You evil demon, what are you doing here again?!”

Leng Lici’s gaze lightly swept over the guards blocking his path, his chin slightly raised: “Move aside.”

“Never!” Huge bird feathers grew out of their backs and flew into the air. Three Phoenixes quickly arranged themselves in a triangle formation. As they simultaneously flapped their wings, the surrounding airflow immediately became turbulent.

“Fellow Divine Friends, wait a moment.”

Cloud Qingwu arrived a step late and immediately spoke up to stop them when he saw the formation. He walked in front of Leng Lici, blocking his already prepared attack, and looked at the Phoenixes in the formation: “I have an urgent matter I wish to consult with the Phoenix Divine Lord about. Please notify him.”

Then, he turned his head and warned in a voice only the two of them could hear: “Don’t cause any more trouble.”

The guards recognized Cloud Qingwu, and the formation dispersed. They landed and saluted: “Greetings, Bai Ze Yuanjun.”

Cloud Qingwu raised his hand: “Fellow Divine Friends, no need for formalities.”

The leading Phoenix looked at Leng Lici, then hesitantly at Cloud Qingwu: “How could Your Highness be with this demon creature?”

Cloud Qingwu sighed: “It’s a long story. Please, my young friend, inform the Divine Lord. Rest assured, I will keep an eye on him and won’t let him harm Danxue Mountain.”

“Based on you?” A sneer came from behind.

Cloud Qingwu seemingly unintentionally bounced the child in his arms, his tone meaningful: “Why don’t you test me?”

The gloom in Leng Lici’s eyes deepened. He looked away.

Seeing this, the guard finally transformed into a Phoenix and flew toward the mountain interior.