Chapter 51: "If you marry me, the demonic soldiers will no longer attack the immortals..."

The scenery beside me rushed past so fast it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

The ethereal aura that permeated the surroundings gradually transformed into pure energy, and the misty fairyland became the landscape of the human race.

When Hua Xun sensed the familiar demonic aura behind him, his body was already tense to the extreme due to vigilance.

The large hand that held her tightly around the waist was like a cold, sharp shackle, making her want to escape.

Hua Xun struggled desperately, but the figure behind her remained as still as an impenetrable wall.

"Baili Sheng!" Hua Xun angrily called out the name of the person behind him.

The large hand around her waist stiffened for a moment, then relaxed its grip slightly, but still held her tightly to his chest.

Hua Xun struggled a few more times: "Let me go!"

"We haven't arrived yet," Baili Sheng finally spoke, his voice hoarse, as if trying to comfort him.

Hua Xun paused, then frowned and asked, "Where are you taking me?"

Baili Sheng fell silent again.

Seeing this, Hua Xun struggled even harder.

Baili Sheng let her struggle, holding her hand tightly and remaining unmoved until he saw the familiar mountains and forests below. With a flick of his sleeve, he transformed into a crimson demonic light and landed steadily on the branches and leaves on the ground.

The moment she landed, Hua Xun felt the force around her waist lessen considerably, and she quickly raised her hand to break free from Baili Sheng.

This time, Baili Sheng did not trap her again. He released his grip and gazed at her eyes and brows.

"Why did you bring me here..." Hua Xun's voice trailed off as she saw the distant scenery.

She looked up and around, and suddenly realized that this was... Cuiling Mountain.

—The place where she was born and lived for nearly a century.

It is now early winter, but the trees in the mountains and forests are still as lush and green as in summer.

Down the mountain, a great river flows eastward into the distance, the evening sun shining on its surface, making the water shimmer.

And after the great river...

Hua Xun stared blankly at the wisps of smoke rising from the houses, her eyes filled with disbelief.

After a long while, she finally followed the path she had walked countless times down the mountain, step by step, heading downhill.

Baili Sheng quietly followed beside her, his gaze fixed on her profile.

Hua Xun was unaware that as he crossed the stone bridge spanning the river, he saw three or five villagers washing clothes on the stones by the river with washing sticks in their hands.

Upon noticing her arrival, the villagers stopped what they were doing, turned to look at her, and gave her smiles that were almost friendly or even ingratiating.

Hua Xun stared at the unfamiliar faces, pursed her lips tightly, and looked toward the small courtyard not far ahead.

The courtyard that was most severely damaged by the fire has now been restored to its original state.

The small flowers she planted herself swayed in the wind in the courtyard, and the cool fragrance of silverwort wafted over.

The herbs were quietly drying under the eaves, and a bamboo basket of ginseng was placed in the woodshed.

Inside the room, her favorite sweet water was simmering on a small stove, steaming gently, and a storybook lay upside down beside the bed.

It's as if... the master is only leaving temporarily and will be back soon.

Hua Xun's gaze swept over every inch of this place.

The place she once considered "home".

"Why did you bring me here?" Hua Xun asked calmly, her voice extremely faint.

Standing at the door, Baili Sheng gazed at her retreating figure. Upon hearing this, his eyes flickered slightly, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Fulfill the promise I made here."

Hua Xun turned around and looked at him.

Baili Sheng met her eyes and said quietly, "When I return to the Demon Palace, I will never let you down."

Hua Xun was slightly taken aback. Upon hearing this promise that she hadn't thought about for a long time, she laughed incredulously: "Bai Lisheng, your promise is fake, just like this place, it's fake too."

The herbs being dried were not grown in Cuiling Mountain, nor were they wild ginseng.

The villagers of Dahe Village will not be friendly to her; they will avoid her as much as they can.

The cover of the storybook was blank; he didn't know what storybooks she had read or liked to read.

Even in early winter, Cuiling Mountain is already a withered yellow, devoid of lush greenery.

Baili Sheng's face paled slightly. He walked a few steps to Hua Xun and looked down at her: "But if you want, this place could become real at any time."

Hua Xun looked at him and solemnly shook her head: "No, this place can never be real."

Baili Sheng pursed her lips tightly, and after a long while, she managed to squeeze out a sentence: "...Why?"

"Because you said it yourself, everything that happened in those ten years was a lie, and you were only gentle to me because I could save you."

“Baili Sheng, you look down on my status and despise my lowliness. I don’t know why you suddenly seem like a different person, but I can’t pretend nothing happened and accept your charity promises again.”

Since being poisoned by the Spirit Rhinoceros Gu, Hua Xun has rarely reminisced about the past.

This was the first time in so long that she had looked back at those past events: "Bai Lisheng, you can't destroy my home with your own hands and then create another one so that I can pretend that none of those things ever happened."

Baili Sheng's body was tense, and he swayed slightly.

The things I had done and the words I had said in the past came to mind one by one.

"What if I said I regretted it?" Baili Sheng's voice was hoarse. "What if I were willing to make you my Demon Queen..."

Hua Xun looked at him in surprise, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"You don't believe me?" Baili Sheng asked back.

"Should I believe you?" Hua Xun asked rhetorically, remaining silent for a long time before speaking in a hoarse voice, "I always remember you saying that the Demon Queen could never be a little demon like me."

Baili Sheng's fingertips trembled.

"And Fairy Qingjiao?" Hua Xun asked, lowering her eyes. "I remember your wedding is coming up soon..."

“Nothing good ever happens,” Baili Sheng interrupted her. “That was just a demon festival.”

On the night he realized his true feelings, Qingjiao stood alone in the Demon Palace, standing there all night.

She left early the next morning.

Hua Xun paused for a moment, then shook her head after a long while: "But I don't want to."

Baili Sheng stood motionless, his eyes dark and lifeless: "Why?"

Hua Xun's gaze was somewhat unfocused: "Baili Sheng, back in Dahe Village, I seriously thought that after you returned to the Demon Clan, even if you weren't the high and mighty Demon Queen, even if you recognized me as family, I could still cultivate magic on my own and no longer be bullied by others."

"I've also thought that if you can't go back to the Demon Realm, then we can just continue living like this in Dahe Village, which would be quite nice."

"But you humiliated me when I wanted to."

"Now, I don't like..."

"Hua Xun!" Baili Sheng interrupted her, his face pale.

Hua Xun paused for a moment, then continued softly, "I don't like you anymore."

Baili Sheng felt a sudden silence around him, with a sharp buzzing echoing in his ears, which eventually condensed into the word "I don't like it," repeating over and over again.

Behind her was still the bed where he had recuperated from his injuries for three years.

It was as if just a moment ago, she was by the bedside, flipping through a storybook and frowning as she complained to him about the heartless men in the book; the next moment, she had transformed into the person before him, resolutely rejecting him.

After a long while, Baili Sheng finally heard his own tense voice: "This is nothing more than the Spirit Rhinoceros Gu..."

His voice was very soft, as if he were speaking to Hua Xun, or perhaps comforting himself.

Hua Xun frowned, about to speak, when she saw Baili Sheng raise his hand, and magic power overflowed from his fingertips.

She was startled and instinctively tried to back away, but the magic bound her within, then flowed into her brow: "Suppress it, and you will be able to see clearly..."

Baili Sheng murmured, and the surging magic suddenly stopped.

All was silent.

Her mind was empty; there was no trace of the Spirit Rhinoceros Gu.

The Lingxi Gu has been cured.

His final self-deception also crumbled.

Baili Sheng's fingertips remained on Hua Xun's brow, but the powerful magic gradually became disordered.

The surrounding scenery also became distorted and chaotic.

The distant mountains and forests transformed into a demonic forest brimming with demonic energy and undefeated throughout the four seasons. The peaceful village gradually revealed the majestic and sinister true form of the demon palace. The great river turned into the roaring Crimson Moon River, and the villagers washing clothes became respectful demon guards...

The fabricated pure energy has vanished, leaving only dense turbid energy.

Baili Sheng before them had also transformed into the form of a demon lord, dressed in black robes, with a silver crown binding his hair, and a crimson hair ribbon floating amidst the dark and blood-red demonic energy.

All the illusions created by magic collapsed at this moment.

Hua Xun stared in horror at everything before her, belatedly realizing that the "little home" she had just stood in had also transformed back into the Brahma Sound Palace.

The palace, carved from black jade, had stone walls inlaid with luminous pearls, and purple gauze curtains swayed violently.

Hua Xun was horrified and subconsciously took two steps back, about to fly away.

"Where to?" Baili Sheng asked in a low voice, his eyes completely dark.

Hua Xun's steps froze, and then she found herself gently wrapped around the waist by a wisp of demonic energy as soft as silk.

The demonic energy, carrying an irresistible force, guided her slowly toward Baili Sheng.

Hua Xun hurriedly used his magic to condense a dark blue sphere of light in front of him.

Baili Sheng absorbed all of her attacks and steadily pulled her to his side.

"Want to return to the Immortal Clan?" Baili Sheng raised his hand and gently touched the cheek of the girl so close to him. "How about I go back with you in a few days?"

Hua Xun opened her eyes wide.

She understood perfectly well what Baili Sheng meant...

"You want to send troops to the Immortal Clan?" Hua Xun's throat tightened, and her initial resistance gradually subsided.

Baili Sheng watched her every move: "Don't you like it?"

The moment he uttered the words "I don't like it," he remembered her words again, and his brows furrowed.

Hua Xun frowned, her voice trembling: "You will incite chaos throughout the Three Realms..."

The demon race didn't have much compassion to begin with; she was simply thinking of the god who loved all living beings.

Warfare breeds karma, and karma can cause the earth's veins to break.

Can a deity whose soul has already been damaged still bear the prayers of all living beings?

Also, if the people he loves die in the war, will he be sad?

"So what if the Three Realms are in chaos?" Baili Sheng chuckled softly. "Hua Xun..."

After saying her name, he paused for a moment in a strange way before continuing, "Ah Xun, I said we could go back to the days in Dahe Village."

"It was you who didn't want him."

Hearing Baili Sheng's address and looking into his dark eyes, Hua Xun felt both shock and surprise.

Perhaps his past contempt for her was too deeply etched in her memory, for she never imagined that Baili Sheng's words were actually serious.

“If I had agreed to your request,” she asked tentatively, “would you have refrained from seeking revenge?”

The chaos in Baili Sheng's eyes froze for a moment.

He recalled that after he realized his feelings, he had lay alone on the soft couch in the Brahma Sound Hall, closed his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.

Shang Qu requested an audience with him. After reporting on military affairs, he hesitated and asked: "It has only been a little over ten years since the last war between the two races. Do we really have to send troops to the Immortal Race?"

Baili Sheng did not respond, so Shang Qu tactfully withdrew.

But Baili Sheng remembered the dream he had once had.

He did not burn down Dahe Village, nor did he kill those people; instead, he took Hua Xun to his side.

She decorated the cold, dark magic palace beautifully, and would ask him with a smile, "Does it look good?"

She would lie on the tatami mat and read storybooks, and when she got annoyed, she would puff out her cheeks and complain to him.

He will continue to teach her to write and will impart to her the correct methods.

No one dared to bully her anymore.

At that time, I will certainly not suffer from sleepless nights, nor will I be forever lonely.

Suddenly, an absurd thought popped into his head: if Hua Xun were willing to come back to his side and get along like they had for the past ten years, it seemed that there was nothing wrong with not seeking revenge.

So he built a brand new "Dahe Village" to "bring" her back.

But she didn't want it anymore.

She said she didn't like it anymore.

Baili Sheng looked at Hua Xun, who was gazing at him, and asked, "If I said no, would you believe me?"

Hua Xun's eyes flickered.

Baili Sheng laughed, took her in his arms and flew out of the palace. They stopped in mid-air and looked at the thousands of demon soldiers standing in neat rows in the distance: "If you marry me, the demons will no longer send troops to attack the immortals."

As long as we stay away from the immortals and Changsang Jiuqing, we can start a new decade, or even a hundred or a thousand years.

You can always fall in love with something again.

*

White Mist Cliff.

The deity, seated high on a lotus throne, closed his eyes, listening to the myriad chaotic prayers in his sea of ​​consciousness. His figure was as white as snow and as pure as jade, ethereal and otherworldly.

After an unknown period of time, as darkness fell around them, the Divine Lord Jiuqing opened his eyes.

Upon realizing that night had fallen, he seemed slightly dazed, lowered his head to look at his left knee, stared at it for a moment, and then transformed into a golden star, appearing outside the palace.

The trailing white robe lingered in the clouds, its black hair and wide sleeves fluttering in the breeze.

The lonely god wandered aimlessly through the White Mist Cliff, just as he had for the past ten thousand years.

Looking ahead, there is no starting point; looking back, there is no end.

Endless loneliness.

The peach petals fluttered in the wind, and a few landed on his shoulder.

The deity paused, looked up, and saw a lantern hanging on a peach branch, swaying gently and emitting a faint light.

On the jade table to the side, the portrait mirror covered with peach blossoms remained silent, like an inanimate object.

It's so quiet.

He heard a murmur in his mind that was different from that of other beings.

Just as the cry of the Golden Crow pierced the sky, Liu Huo, flapping its fiery red wings, flew over and obediently landed beside the God Lord's legs, letting out a few soft cries.

The deity lowered his eyes to look at it, his voice almost a murmur: "Did you go to find her?"

"Jie."

The deity remained silent for a few moments, then smiled and said, "Now that A-Xun has left, there's no need to bother her any further."

Liu Huo opened its eyes wide and quickly chirped a few more times.

The deity paused slightly, his smile fading, and his voice lowered: "Ah Xun, did you go...?"

The girl left with Chang Hao without looking back.

Aside from the prayer uttered to the statue, there were no other words spoken.

Liu Huo nodded vigorously, then seemed to remember something. His eyes became anxious, and he jumped up and down, barking several times in a panicked voice.

The smile on the god's lips gradually faded.

For the first time in ten thousand years, he questioned whether he truly understood the language of the Golden Crow clan.

Otherwise, why would Liu Huo say that A Xun is missing?