Chapter 58
Translator: Hiohbye
Editor: PlayerProphet
Bai Yang was shocked. He believed the Demon King of Eternal Night would remain stoic even if he were to stand in front of Mount Tai. No matter how many challenges he faced, his expression always understated the true gravity of events, whether a qi deviation or an army of demons besieging the Palace of Eternal Darkness. Even as everyone panicked, even when everyone abandoned him, he’d never so much as furrowed his brows.
Bai Yang couldn’t withhold his panic. “Your Highness… am I beyond saving?”
Did the Demon King’s expression mean that he was going to die?
He couldn’t die! He still hadn’t finished his mission!
The Male Lead’s meridians had been fully unblocked. His speed was ten times faster than an ordinary cultivator, so as long as he continued cultivating in earnest, he would be able to break through Golden Core soon, and reach Nascent Soul Stage.
If he was lucky and he found additional opportunities, it was possible he could reach the Great Vehicle in ten years or so, and finally ascend as an Immortal.
“Don’t talk like that!” the Demon King bellowed.
Bai Yang was terrified.
“I won’t let you die,” the Demon King said. He took in a deep breath, and a dim light flashed in his pupils. He reached out and pushed Bai Yang’s shoulders down. “Xie Ze Tian, rest a.s.sured, I will definitely not let you die.”
Bai Yang was at a loss for words.
The Demon King’s expression was too solemn, his gaze too earnest, and his tone too heavy… too heavy for Bai Yang to believe that the Demon King wasn’t making a significant oath.
Bai Yang believed he was telling the truth.
“Your Highness, what happened to me?” The more he thought about it, the more certain he became about his oncoming demise. Why would the Demon King say these things to him, otherwise?
The Demon King stroked Bai Yang’s face. Before, Bai Yang would have silently avoided his hand. This time, the Demon King’s gaze made it impossible to turn away.
“You’ve been poisoned by the Rebirth Gu,” the Demon King said softly.
The Rebirth Gu?
Bai Yang scrambled through his mind to find any memories pertaining to the Rebirth Gu.
The Rebirth Gu was said to be a gu created by an ancient cultivator. It was an extremely powerful type of gu. Rather than poisoning the host and killing them quickly, the gu would slowly devour its host. How long the host would live was dependent on their level of cultivation. If a powerful cultivator was bitten, they could live for about two years, but if the victim’s cultivation was weak, they would be sucked dry in two or three months.
After the host died, the gu would return to the person who raised it. Because the gu would absorb so much of the victim’s cultivation, the gu could be refined into an extremely powerful pill.
The most frightening thing was… there was no cure for this kind of Gu.
Upon hearing the Demon King’s words, Bai Yang was stunned. It was like that, huh?
So he wouldn’t die right away?
Bai Yang calculated in his mind that with Xie Ze Tian’s current level of cultivation, the gu could survive on him for a long time. It was said that there was once a Great Vehicle cultivator who had been infected and lived for five years. As long as he continued to cultivate, he could survive for another eight to ten years.
That was enough time for the Male Lead to ascend! If his mission was nearly done, it would be fine if he died after that.
He relaxed, and turned to comfort the Demon King. “Your Highness, there’s no need to worry. With your subordinate’s current cultivation, I will live for a good amount of time. Perhaps we’ll be able to find a cure before then.”
The Demon King nodded. “Yes, there are many capable experts and specialists in the Demon Realm. We’ll definitely find a cure. Here, close your eyes. Let me pa.s.s on some cultivation to you.”
“Wait…” Bai Yang said, startled. The Demon King wanted to give his cultivation to Bai Yang?
The Demon King had just wasted a thousand years of cultivation to form into a pill for Bai Yang, and now he wanted to hand over even more?
“There’s no need for that,” Bai Yang refused. He couldn’t take any more of the Demon King’s cultivation. Furthermore, they were still in the human realm, not the demon realm. If they were discovered, they would both perish there.
The Demon King was the sole ruler of the Demonic Realm. He couldn’t die in a place like this!
“Close your eyes!” the Demon King ordered. He reached out and covered Bai Yang’s eyes with his palm.
Bai Yang opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
The Demon King grabbed his hands. Their ten fingers intersected, with the palms of the hands facing each other.
Bai Yang suddenly felt like his palm was extremely sensitive. Every inch of his skin, every single nerve, could feel every bit of the Demon King’s palm.
Warm demonic magic flowed from where their palms touched.
The Demon King pa.s.sed his cultivation to Bai Yang without the slightest reservation. Did he not know that they were still in the Human Realm, that there were still people chasing after them, that they were still in great danger? Did he not know that if they were caught, he could die?
No, he definitely knew.
What kind of person was the Demon King? Every thought was deliberate, every plan meticulous. He had to know about the danger they were in, but he went through with it anyway.
Because he believed Bai Yang’s life was more important.
When he realized that, Bai Yang’s heart began to pound.
The Demon King had always been good to him, but Bai Yang had never felt much in response. Sure, he was moved by the Demon King, but the grat.i.tude he felt was only on the surface, and had never penetrated his heart.
He’d always felt that when the Demon King was good to him, it was a burden. In order to avoid that burden, he went out of his way to repay the Demon King every time. Now, he didn’t know what was happening. Bai Yang’s heart raced.
At twenty-something years old, no one had treated Bai Yang so well aside from his parents and his brother. No, if this world wasn’t fake, the Demon King treated him the best in both worlds, even better than his own family.
But the world was fake, and the Demon King wasn’t a real person. He was just made of virtual data.
Bai Yang’s heart ached.
He couldn’t help but open his eyes to look at the beautiful, peerless man in front of him.
Why was he fake?
Was he really fake?
Bai Yang’s mind spun, confused and restless. The flow of energy became choppy. The Demon King noticed and murmured, “Calm down. Don’t think about anything else.”
Bai Yang calmed himself down, and concentrated on healing.
It was better not to think about it for now.
He didn’t want to think about it.
After a while, Bai Yang felt that his meridians seemed to have improved greatly. His chest no longer felt so stuffy. Even the restless gu inside of him seemed to have calmed.
At that moment, he heard someone’s voice in the distance.
“Is it here?” Sect Head Zhao’s voice said.
Bai Yang’s heart beat faster. Sect Head Zhao and the others had found them so quickly?
“He’s carrying my gu. I feel him nearby,” someone responded.
“Let’s split up!” someone said. “Even if we have to dig three feet down, we must find them!”
The fact that the gu’s owner could sense him was a terrible, terrible thing.
“Calm down. Don’t overthink it,” the Demon King said. He’d heard the voices outside, but his expression remained unchanged.
“Your Highness, they’ve already chased us here. What should we do?” Bai Yang couldn’t help but ask. “The gu is on my body. They can sense it.”
“Don’t worry, the formation I set up will hold them off for a while. Even if they sense the gu, they won’t be able to find us,” the Demon King said. His voice was gentle, as if he was trying to comfort Bai Yang. “Focus on clearing your meridians. Not a single one of these people can stop me.”
It was true. Even if the Demon King were weakened by a formation in the human realm, these people were not worthy of being his opponents.
Bai Yang was comforted. He closed his eyes.
Outside, the people walked around the formation, but were unable to find anything. They couldn’t find any indication that Bai Yang was in the area, if not for the fact that the person who raised the gu could feel the gu’s presence. That was the only reason they hadn’t left yet.
“What’s this?” Finally, someone seemed to notice something unusual.
“What did you see?” someone asked.
“There seems to be something on the ground. Have Elder Long come take a look.”
A moment later, someone walked over. Seeing something on the ground, he blurted out, “This is a trace of a formation! There’s a formation in this area! The person we’re looking for is definitely hidden around here!”
“No wonder I could feel his presence nearby without seeing him. He was hidden in the formation!”
“What do we do?”
“I’ve never encountered this kind of formation before. It must be a special kind of magic from the demonic realm. However, the basis of a formation is always the same. The formation has legs and an eye. To destroy it, we must find the individual legs; only then can we find the eye.”
After discovering how to destroy the formation, the group searched and found several unusual spots.
Bai Yang’s nervousness grew, knowing that they were getting closer and closer to breaking the formation.
He opened his eyes and found that the Demon King’s eyes were also open.
Four eyes met. Bai Yang found a remote patch of darkness in the Demon King’s eyes, like the clear night sky of summer. The darkness of that night was infinite, yet peaceful.
“Don’t worry,” the Demon King said. His voice was soft, like he was comforting a fearful child.
His voice calmed Bai Yang’s anxious heart again.
“Found it!” someone cried in glee.
The Demon King grabbed Bai Yang’s palms. A violent blaze of fire surged up. It was extremely painful. Bai Yang nearly screamed, but managed to bite his lip and restrain himself at the last moment.
There was a violent racket outside, and the ground began to shake. Bai Yang knew that the formation had been destroyed.
“They’re here!”
Bai Yang and the Demon King were revealed.
At that second, the Demon King stood up. Still holding Bai Yang’s hands, his feet shot into the air and he rushed into the sky.
Five silhouettes pounced over, flashing like sharp swords, and followed them into the air.
The moment the five rushed up after them, the Demon King dropped down onto the head of the first person. They smashed into the ground, leaving a crater.
The others hurried to dodge, but were quick to rush back up again.
The Demon King’s figure flashed to the sky. Remaining hand in hand with Bai Yang, he managed to fight five people at once, using his legs to kick people in the air.
Bai Yang’s mouth hung open. People fight like this, too?
Expert strafing, perfect attacks, Bai Yang wanted to scream “pog!”
The Demon King’s G.o.dly attack managed to give Bai Yang the time he needed to receive the transferred power. Hands finally freed, the Demon King beat up their attackers until they flew off, spitting blood, unable to get back up.