Chapter 1: The promise: "If I return to the Demon Palace one day, I will never betray you."...

As evening approached, a layer of mist rose in the mountains, covering the entire landscape.

Hua Xun emerged from the forest, stepping on withered branches and carrying a bamboo basket. Her dusty cloth clothes were torn in several places, revealing tiny bloodstains. The braid that she had worn on her left shoulder that morning was now somewhat disheveled, with a gray-black feather stuck in her hair.

Some black mud smeared on her pretty, fair cheeks. Even after the mud fell off, some black marks remained.

Hua Xun walked down the mountain dejectedly.

Since this morning, nothing seems to be going smoothly.

First, when I entered the mountain, I was chased and chattered by several magpies. The medicinal herbs I collected in the mountains were the most common and cheap ones, such as plantain and violet, which would not sell for much money in the human world.

I finally found a few ginseng plants that were decades old on the cliff, but I slipped and almost fell off the cliff again.

She hurriedly used the wind control technique that Baili Sheng had taught her, which barely managed to stabilize her body. Unexpectedly, she felt a pain in her dantian, causing her magic to stagnate. Just as she was about to fall headfirst again, she was fortunate enough to transform into her crow form and escape disaster.

Unfortunately, several tufts of its feathers were still plucked by the vines that entangled it on the cliff.

She wasn't the kind of beautiful, golden crow to begin with, and now that she's missing a few tufts of feathers, she's probably bald.

Perhaps she could ask Baili Sheng to teach her the art of "hair regrowth".

Thinking of this, Hua Xun's steps became lighter, and she walked quickly down the mountain.

Hua Xun's home is located in a small mountain village called Dahe Village at the foot of Cuiling Mountain, on the west side.

Dahe Village is very small, with only about twenty or thirty households. The villagers usually stay at the east end of the village and rarely come to the west side. The narrow mountain path down the mountain is deserted.

Today, for some reason, several village women were washing clothes by the river near her house, a villager was carrying water with a shoulder pole, and several children were skipping stones on the water.

"That woman is back." A villager nudged his companion with his carrying pole.

"That doesn't even qualify as a person..."

"I heard she has gray wings, and she looks so fair and clean. Is that true?"

"Of course it's true, I saw it with my own eyes. The wings are huge, big enough to blow someone away. Oh, and this witch has also kidnapped a short-lived husband from somewhere. That pretty boy lives in the courtyard, never leaving the house..."

"Oh dear, if it weren't for the distinguished guests who came to the village and booked half the village, we wouldn't be here to fetch water..."

"Cinderella, with wings, wherever she flies, disaster strikes..." Several children chanted in unison a rhyme that had come from who-knows-where, their faces full of innocence.

Hua Xun ignored him and walked forward calmly.

A small figure appeared in front of me.

Hua Xun stopped and looked at the little girl with her hair in a bun. Her eyes were clear and innocent as she curiously examined her.

Hua Xun smiled slightly.

The little girl laughed, opening her small hands to show off the slightly melted candy: "Eat candy, it's sweet..."

Before the little girl could finish speaking, a village woman rushed over and picked her up, saying, "You brat, you really don't want to live anymore, she's a demon..."

Hua Xun pursed her lips, not feeling much sadness because of the fear and avoidance of mortals, but she didn't linger and walked towards a lonely little courtyard not far away.

The gate to the courtyard was half open, and the wall was surrounded by thorns and vines, lush and green.

The courtyard has two main houses and a woodshed. A grape trellis, some small peach blossoms and silver grass are planted in the yard, swaying gently in the evening breeze.

"I'm back!" Hua Xun's voice rang with joy as she returned to her own territory.

A figure slowly emerged from the main house, dressed in the most ordinary blue cloth robes of the human world, but his face stood out starkly against the dim background behind him.

Baili Sheng's face was still pale, like a jade sculpture eroded by wind and rain, pale and translucent, but her eyebrows and eyes were beautiful and stunning, and her lips were waving a smile, like ripples thrown into an icy lake.

Seeing her disheveled appearance, a hint of worry appeared in his eyes: "What happened?"

"It's nothing, I just tripped and fell." Hua Xun smiled and put down the bamboo basket. "How are you feeling? Have you taken any medicine? Has your magic power recovered?"

“Your body is much better now, and you’ve taken the medicine. As for your magic power,” Baili Sheng paused for a moment, his eyes darkening slightly, “…it hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

Hua Xun, fearing he might be upset by this, smiled and comforted him, "It's good that you're better. Even without magic power, you can still heal yourself by taking medicine from the human world. Besides, even so, you are still the best teacher. Look, you taught me all my magic power!"

After saying that, she pointed with her fingers and snatched the teacup from a distance, then took a few sips.

Baili Sheng smiled gently, his gaze falling on her tattered clothes and exposed skin, and said softly, "Go and change your clothes first."

Hua Xun responded and went back into the inner room. When she came out again, she had changed into a peach-colored cloth dress.

Baili Sheng stared at the color, his brows furrowing slightly. "Just now, I heard someone talking outside the door?"

Hua Xun smiled as she recalled the words of the mortals: "They were villagers who came here to wash clothes and fetch water, so it's understandable that they said a few words of gossip."

“Mortals are always like this,” Baili Sheng lowered his eyes, a hint of contempt and sarcasm hidden in his smile, “believing in ‘those who are not of our kind must have different hearts,’ yet they are so weak and pathetic.”

“Mortals are, after all, made of flesh and blood, so it’s normal for them to be afraid of demons,” Hua Xun knew that Baili Sheng disliked humans, so she subtly changed the subject. “By the way, Baili Sheng…”

As she spoke, she spread the herbs she had gathered on the bamboo mat, turned to meet Baili Sheng's gaze, and said dejectedly, "I still haven't mastered the Wind Control Technique you taught me. I always feel like my meridians are blocked when I cast spells. Could you teach me again later?"

Baili Sheng smiled faintly: "Your dantian is still immature and your demon core is fragile. The Wind Control Technique requires a lot of mana. It's not too late to take your time."

Hua Xun grew increasingly frustrated: "Am I really completely devoid of talent for cultivation?"

Baili Sheng looked at her frail figure, which was comparable to that of an ordinary person: "Everything has its own strengths."

Hua Xun, being naturally optimistic, agreed upon hearing this and gradually cheered herself up.

Baili Sheng looked at her easily satisfied expression and silently looked away: "I heard that a group of people came to the village today?"

Hua Xun thought of the "benefactor" the villagers had mentioned earlier and nodded: "Judging from the villagers' tone, those people are quite important."

"Could it be..."

"Hmm?" Hua Xun was puzzled, but when she saw Baili Sheng's thoughtful expression, she seemed to remember something, and her expression gradually became serious. "Could it be that the demons have tracked us here?"

The demons have always disliked the human race and rarely come to human territory. In addition, although the human race is weak, it has tens of millions of people and continues to reproduce generation after generation, making it a good place to hide and avoid the world.

They've been here for ten years without letting a word slip, so how could this be...?

Baili Sheng shook his head: "I don't know."

Hua Xun thought for a moment and said, "I will send the ginseng to the shop in town tomorrow and stop by to check on it on my way back."

“Okay.” Baili Sheng stretched out her hand, her slender and beautiful fingers spread out, and a few bright red berries lay in her palm. “These are the ones that grew on the tree today. I saw that they were growing just right, so I left them for you.”

Hua Xun paused for a moment, looked up at Baili Sheng's serious eyes, and then casually smiled and accepted it.

Although her true form is a crow, she doesn't particularly like berries.

After all, the wild fruit trees in the mountain village that have never been tended by anyone produce mostly sour and astringent fruit.

However, Baili Sheng probably just thought the fruit looked nice and wanted to save it for her.

Thinking of this, Hua Xun smiled and said, "Then remember to take the herbs that have been drying in the sun to the woodshed to air dry in the shade first thing in the morning."

Baili Sheng nodded in agreement, but as she turned to go back into the house, her smile faded, her eyes lowered, and only a deep indifference remained.

After a long while, he stretched out his palm, the faint scent of berries lingering on his hand.

With a cold laugh, Baili Sheng's palm glowed with a crimson light, dispelling the faint fragrance. The crimson light then seeped into the ginseng in the bamboo basket on the ground.

On the ginseng, a bright red seal bearing his secret imperial edict faintly appeared before finally vanishing into nothingness.

*

Hua Xun rested well for a night, and the disordered energy in her meridians gradually subsided. Her dantian was no longer swollen and painful. The next morning, she took the ginseng to the pharmacy in town.

Hua Xun lived in Cuiling Mountain for nearly a century and knew the deep mountains and forests like the back of his hand.

Those ginsengs that are hundreds of years old have long since developed sentience, so she doesn't want to pick them; she only picks the small ginsengs that are only a few decades old.

Even so, the ginseng she picked was the best in the surrounding area, and it was always favored by the owner of the pharmacy.

This time was no different. As soon as Hua Xun entered the pharmacy, the owner ordered someone to bring the ginseng to her and quickly brought out a bulging package.

Hua Xun opened it and saw that it contained all the medicinal herbs she needed.

While medicinal herbs from the human realm are not as effective for immortals and demons as they are for mortals, they can still nourish and rejuvenate, and are ultimately beneficial and harmless.

After saying goodbye to her employer, Hua Xun prepared to return to the village.

“It would be best for you to stay away from the mountains for a while,” the landlord called out to her. “These past two days, many cultivators have passed through the town and said they sensed demonic energy there. Please wait until things have calmed down before going into the mountains.”

Hua Xun hurriedly thanked him, secretly wondering if what those cultivators sensed was Baili Sheng's "demonic energy".

Or have the demons tracked Baili Sheng's whereabouts and already tracked him to this area?

But now that Baili Sheng has lost all his magical power and his demonic energy has dissipated, apart from his physical body, he is no different from an ordinary person, so it should be difficult to detect his aura.

Even so, Hua Xun was still worried.

First, let's find out who the "distinguished guest" in Dahe Village is. After returning home, let's take Baili Sheng to the depths of Cuiling Mountain to avoid trouble.

With this in mind, Hua Xun quickened her pace on the way back.

I secretly hope that these people are not here to capture Baili Sheng.

Thinking of Baili Sheng's still pale face and the sadness he felt when he mentioned that he had not yet regained his magic power, Hua Xun couldn't help but sigh with worry.

She still remembers the first time she met Baili Sheng, which was fifty years ago.

At that time, Hua Xun had not yet fully transformed. Although she already had a human body, the wings on her shoulders were still dusty gray.

While she was searching for a way to transform into human form in the Green Ridge Mountains, she encountered several rogue cultivators who were exorcising demons.

Seemingly, they never expected that her decades-old little demon would actually refine a demon core, and they were single-mindedly determined to capture her and take her back to refine it.

Hua Xun fled east and west, and actually managed to escape the traps set by those rogue cultivators. Unfortunately, her demon core was damaged, her wings were broken, and she was on the verge of death.

It was at this time that she met Baili Sheng.

She lay disheveled among the withered branches and leaves under the tree, while he stood high above her on a weak branch at the top of the tree.

The branches and leaves were as small as goose feathers, yet Baili Sheng stood on them, motionless.

He wore a simple black robe with intricate magical patterns floating on it. His dark black hair was tied up with a dark gold crown. He stood tall and straight, which reflected his stunningly handsome face. He was breathtakingly beautiful, flamboyant and eye-catching.

He glanced at her lying not far away, looking down at everything as if it were an ant.

Perhaps he was in a good mood that day, and as he stared at her, who was about to die, he said with great compassion: if she could climb to the tree where he was, he would save her.

Hua Xun is a demon who can bend and stretch, and since she only climbed a few steps, it really doesn't count as "bending".

Without a second thought, he dragged his badly injured body forward a few steps.

Baili Sheng smiled, and in an instant, it was as if ten thousand flowers were in full bloom.

Hua Xun, who has always loved bright colors, was stunned.

In the next instant, Baili Sheng pointed his finger, and Hua Xun instantly felt a powerful demonic energy flow into his body. His injuries healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, his demon core gradually became round, and even his unformed wings gradually shed their gray feathers and turned into fair arms.

Not only has she recovered from her serious injuries, but she has also successfully transformed into human form.

Hua Xun blinked, looked up and saw that the treetops and leaves were still motionless, but Baili Sheng had already taken flight.

Following closely behind was a pale pink, clear, ethereal light, and a voice saying, "Demon, where do you think you're going!"

A few indulgent chuckles lingered in the sky before the two figures quickly disappeared a thousand feet away.

Later, Hua Xun learned that the handsome man was Baili Sheng, the Demon Lord who unified the demon and monster races and possessed an innate demonic body.

Its magical power is so great that even the immortals have to be wary of it.

Some even said that the Demon Lord's abilities were probably only comparable to those of a divine lord with an innate divine body from outside the Three Realms.

An old locust tree that had become a spirit in the deep mountains and forests said: "A demon must know how to repay kindness."

For Hua Xun, however, it was like a strange encounter; she didn't even know where to repay the debt of gratitude.

Unexpectedly, thirty years later, a turmoil broke out between the immortals and the demons, and she saw him again.

The Left Protector of the Demon Realm and the former Demon King secretly defected to the Immortal Clan and set up an execution array to besiege Baili Sheng.

The Imperial Slaughter Array also has another name: the God-Devouring Array.

As its name suggests, it can even devour the body of a god.

However, apart from the divine lord who has been in seclusion for hundreds of years outside the Three Realms, there are no more innate gods in this world today.

Therefore, the killing array set up by the mortal immortals was also weakened in terms of its destructive power.

Although it is unknown why Baili Sheng fell into the trap and entered the killing formation, some say that he willingly entered the formation to save a fairy.

But when Hua Xun sneaked into the Demon Palace, she did indeed see Baili Sheng fall from the killing array and be swallowed up in a terrible state.

At the center of the execution formation, there was also a light pink light and shadow.

At that moment, Hua Xun was so stunned by Baili Sheng's appearance that she had no other thoughts.

Baili Sheng's limbs were as if they had been shorn of flesh and blood by a powerful magic array. Apart from his face, all that remained of his limbs and internal organs was a skeleton, still bleeding profusely, with bits of bone and flesh sliding off one by one, dripping down.

His powerful magic and demonic energy dissipated as his flesh and blood were torn apart.

Hua Xun suppressed her fear, swallowed hard, and then dragged him out of the Demon Palace. She carried him on her back and flew desperately toward the human world.

Midway, one of his bloodied arms nearly fell off. Hua Xun didn't dare to stop, so she simply held the arm, which was now just bone, in her mouth and rode away at full speed.

Hua Xun and Baili Sheng hid in the deep old forest of Cuiling Mountain for nearly a hundred days, surviving on wild fruits every day.

Baili Sheng's injuries were still horrific, so she wove a straw rope, imbued it with her meager magic power, and hastily wrapped it around his nearly broken body.

It wasn't until March that Hua Xun took Baili Sheng to the home she had settled in Dahe Village.

Every day she would collect spring dew to cleanse his marrow and purify his heart, go to the deep mountains to absorb impure energy, and then return home to repair his wounds little by little.

That's the good thing about crows; they can eat both fresh and rotten food, and they can transform both spiritual and turbid Qi into their own usefulness once it enters their bodies.

Normally, Hua Xun consumes both spiritual and turbid energies without any dietary restrictions, but demons need to feed on turbid energies. During that period, she absorbed too much turbid energies, and even her demon core became tainted with demonic energy.

For the first year, Baili Sheng rarely spoke, only occasionally moving his eyes when Hua Xun treated the wounds between his legs.

One day, while gathering herbs, she fell off a mountain and remained unconscious all night. When she returned home, it was already evening of the next day. Baili Sheng looked at her seriously, a rare occurrence, and then asked in a hoarse voice, "I am already a cripple, why did you save me?"

Hua Xun said earnestly, "You are my benefactor, you saved me."

Baili Sheng remained silent for a long time before suddenly speaking: "Hua Xun."

He called her name for the first time.

Hua Xun was pleasantly surprised: "You still remember me?"

Baili Sheng did not respond, but only gave a slight smile. His flesh and blood had only grown a thin layer, and his body was frail and broken, but that did not stop his face from being stunning and dazzling.

Hua Xun remained silent, quietly feeding him the medicine, skillfully treating his injuries, and slowly infusing the Qi she had absorbed during the day into his body to heal him.

In the silence, Baili Sheng looked at her and said softly, "If I can return to the Demon Palace one day, I will never let you down."

A low, husky voice echoed softly in the simple courtyard, as solemn as a promise.

Hua Xun pulled herself out of her memories.

Although Baili Sheng failed to regain his magical power, he has already grown new flesh and blood, which is already very good.

While pondering, Hua Xun arrived at the house where the villagers had mentioned the "distinguished guest" was staying.

These are also the only two brick and tile houses in Dahe Village.

Hua Xun silently transformed into her original form and leaped onto the wall. Before she could even take a closer look, she sensed a surge of spiritual energy.

That was the aura of a cultivator from the human realm, and their cultivation was quite profound.

No wonder the villagers called them "distinguished guests".

For mortals, immortals are too distant. To be able to see a cultivator who is closest to an immortal even once in one's lifetime is considered a great blessing.

What are you doing in Dahe Village, cultivator?

Could the "demonic energy" that those cultivators spoke of really be Baili Sheng?

Hua Xun was startled and hurriedly flew towards her home in the west.

The village wasn't very big, and we returned to the courtyard in no time.

In the past, if she returned home late, Baili Sheng would always light a candle and wait for her, but now the courtyard was pitch black.

Only deathly silence remained.

Hua Xun hurriedly entered the house: "Baili Sheng..."

The house was empty; there was no one there.

A note from the author:

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Long time no see, new post!

I've finally decided to start writing "Love Poison"!

The section reviews are now open and will be updated around 9 PM every night.

Hope you like it~