Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I answered without even thinking. “Yes!”

The Evil Demon gave a scornful laugh. “Little girl, you agreed awfully quickly. Do you even know what dual cultivation means?”

I clenched my fists. “Over the years, when those ox-nosed priests from White Jade Capital came to Meng Family Village to collect immortal herbs, I once overheard them mention it. Dual cultivation is the union of man and woman, yin and yang complementing each other.”

Afraid the Evil Demon would change his mind, I hurriedly tore off my tattered clothes. “I’m a woman. I can do it!”

The Evil Demon’s voice was full of disdain. “No.”

“Why?”

The Evil Demon yawned, sounding drowsy. “You’re too badly wounded. You wouldn’t survive dual cultivation at all.”

Panic burned through my insides. “Then… then can you heal me?”

The Evil Demon snapped, “You stupid thing! This venerable one is suppressed here with only a wisp of soul remaining. I can barely look after myself. How am I supposed to save you?”

I fell into despair.

But then, the Evil Demon suddenly laughed. “Qiongqi is an ancient vicious beast. The Nine Nether Yin Fire it breathes can melt all things, but its flesh and blood are an incomparably rare sacred medicine for healing. They can make rotten flesh grow anew and cure the sick.”

Hope rose in me again at once. I knocked my head against the ground over and over. “Thank you, benefactor, for showing your disciple the way. Thank you!”

So the reason I had been gravely wounded yet had not burned to death in the Yin Fire was because of Qiongqi’s blood.

Enduring the excruciating pain in my body, I followed the scent of blood and crawled forward bit by bit.

My vision was blurred, and I could not see clearly. I could only grope around, searching for blood on the scalding ground.

I scooped up a handful and drank. It was sticky and burning hot, fishy and salty on my tongue. I had no idea whether what I was drinking was Qiongqi’s blood or the blood of the people of Meng Family Village.

Grandfather, Auntie Wang, little Tiger, Big Brother Li… One familiar face after another flashed through my mind.

When there was no food, I ate the charred corpses.

I could not stop. Only by surviving would I have the right to speak of revenge.

Chapter 7

The Evil Demon had not lied to me. Qiongqi’s flesh and blood truly had miraculous effects.

Three months later, my eyes had healed, and the sword wounds on my body and face were slowly closing. In the end, they formed red, hideously twisted scars.

I did not care about any of that.

Late autumn was full of rain. The downpour came in sheets, but when it fell upon Meng Family Village, it was evaporated by the scorching Yin Fire. The vapor condensed into white mist in midair.

With my bare hands, I dug pits and buried the remaining bones of my fellow villagers. There were sixty-eight graves in total.

I climbed to the top of the hill and looked around. Inside the barrier, the Yin Fire was still burning. Pits of lava, large and small, were everywhere. For a hundred li in every direction, the land was charred black, without the slightest sign of life, like a ghost city in purgatory.

Outside the barrier, however, everything was lush and green. It was as if they were two different worlds.

My clothes had long since burned away. Naked as I was, I stepped across the scalding earth and slowly walked to the very center of the village, stopping beneath the black idol.

I lifted my head and glared at the idol in fury.

Just then, the Evil Demon’s mocking voice came from beneath the ground. “Little girl, your hatred has not lessened. In fact, it is growing stronger by the day.”

I immediately knelt and knocked my head to the ground three times. “Your disciple’s injuries have mostly healed. I beg you to grant my wish.”

The Evil Demon ordered, “Sit cross-legged. Cut your wrist and drip your blood three inches beside the stone idol.”

I bit open my wrist, did as he said, and then closed my eyes.

I entered a realm I had never touched before. My mind was a vast expanse of gray haze. From the distance, the black silhouette of a tall man slowly emerged. I could not make out his features. A cold, murderous aura emanated from him, chilling me to the bone.

Was this the Evil Demon? The great fiend who had opposed the Supreme God a thousand years ago?

“Cast aside your stray thoughts. Do not let your mind wander!”

The Evil Demon barked the order. He hovered in midair, looking me over. “Not bad. After eating Qiongqi’s flesh and blood, a mere mortal has actually reached Foundation Establishment cultivation.”

I was so nervous I hardly dared to breathe. “Your disciple has also felt a force growing inside me lately.”

“Enough nonsense. Lie flat,” he ordered coldly.