bewilderment

In the deepest part of the Demon Abyss, time and demonic energy stand still.

There was no filth or mud as the outside world imagined, only a vast, distorted space shrouded in eternal darkness. Here, liquid demonic energy surged endlessly like the tides, yet within the inky blackness, specks of fluorescence flickered—the result of Yunhua's fall from grace, where immortal essence and demonic energy intertwined and eroded each other.

He cradled the dying white fox in his arms, stepping onto the void. With each step, crystal-clear staircases materialized beneath his feet, supporting them and winding their way towards the center of chaos.

It was a dwelling place with skin made of ten-thousand-year-old cold iron, bones made of Yunhua immortal power, and flesh made of chaotic demonic essence. The chains pierced through his origin, yet they were also integrated with him, serving as a seal of confinement, but also as a part of his power.

He placed Yun Shu beneath the source, on the softest "bed" at the bottom of the abyss. Her snow-white fox body slumped limply, and between her chest and abdomen, the horrific, stitched wounds still slowly oozed blood, staining his tattered clothes and cold fingertips a glaring red. Nine fox tails hung limply from his arm, like lifeless silk.

"Ball...ball..."

A subtle ripple passed through his unfathomable eyes. Yunhua lowered his head, with a kind of wild, clumsy yet affectionate gesture, and gently brushed his nose against Yunshu's moist nose.

This is his little apprentice, the cutest little fox ball in the world. Yunhua thought in a daze. But now, the soft fox ball is covered with the poison and aura of demons that he loathes.

It has been contaminated.

The primal instinct for destruction roared within him, urging him to crush all demonic creatures, including his corrupted disciple in his arms.

But in the deeper recesses of consciousness, almost completely obliterated by millennia of suffering, a completely different emotion surged forth.

Conflicting thoughts battled within his chaotic and shattered soul, threatening to tear him in two.

"Eek..."

The fox's unconscious mournful cry became the final, miraculous remedy to awaken him.

"Don't cry... Qiuqiu, don't... cry..." he awkwardly comforted, gently stroking the fox's soft little head. "The pollution... Master will... help you... remove it. Qiuqiu, don't cry..."

In his bewildered eyes, a tenderness that could be described as loving miraculously appeared. He repeated the nickname in a hoarse voice, then sat cross-legged next to Yun Shu, slowly and carefully raising one hand, palm down, and hovering it over the horrific wound.

The chaotic power, a mixture of immortal and demonic energy, gently flowed into Yun Shu's body. This powerful yet chaotic power of immortals and demons forcibly extracted the stubborn demonic poison and the turbid energy that had entered Yun Shu's body in an almost savage manner. After being transformed and filtered by Yun Hua herself, it was slowly returned to Yun Shu's body.

However, this effort had little effect, and the process was clearly extremely painful. Even in a deep coma, Yun Shu's body trembled violently, and intermittent, faint moans could be heard from her throat.

"Qiuqiu...does it hurt?"

The torrent of immortal and demonic power paused for a moment. Yunhua seemed unable to understand why his "help" would bring Qiuqiu more pain.

When he tried to continue, the white fox curled up slightly, as if seeking someone's protection.

The pooling of power suddenly came to a halt.

He stared blankly at the snowball, at its once-smooth white fur now matted with blood. Fragments of distant memories surfaced, completely overwhelming his destructive urges.

At that moment, Immortal Master Yunhua was holding a bowl of warm steamed sweet cheese, squatting by the spiritual spring and teasing the fox: "What's wrong with you today? Why are you crying so sadly? Tell your master, and your master will give you this snack, okay?"

The little fox wiped away her tears, grabbed her master's hand and placed it on top of her head: "My ears... and my tail, I can't put them back... but Brother Mountain Lord and the others... can..."

"I wondered what was wrong..." The immortal master chuckled, pinching the tips of his little disciple's soft ears. "What's there to be sad about? If you can't take them in, then don't. Qiuqiu's ears and tail are so pretty, they look so good when they're exposed. If anyone dares to gossip, your master, senior sister, and your brother Shanjun will all help you fight back. Be good, you're going to cry like a little fox."

The immortal master lifted the little fox onto his shoulder, and with the wind, carried the little creature, who had stopped crying and started laughing, to the clouds to see the myriad lights of the human world.

After that, Yun Shu never thought of hiding his fox demon characteristics again—even now, he can do it easily.

Yunhua looked around blankly, then quickly looked down at his hands, which were wreathed in an ominous aura. He possessed world-destroying power, but could no longer find his once superb medical skills.

Pain and confusion overwhelmed him once again.

In the end, he could only gently protect Yun Shu's weak heart and fading soul, hoarsely chanting a lullaby he had sung countless years ago to lull Xiao He and Qiu Qiu to sleep.

Once Yun Shu calmed down a bit, he silently fixed his gaze on a certain spot. Then, without hesitation, he hugged the little fox tightly and took a step forward. His figure instantly traversed the chaotic spacetime and reappeared where his gaze had fallen—there, a huge, abnormal rift had appeared, surging with the most ancient and dangerous chaotic power.

“‘Primordial Origin’… can wash away… dirt…”

He and the weakened celestial fox in his arms vanished into nothingness.

"Qiuqiu... Master will accompany you... for purification..."

Meanwhile, the upper level of the Demon Abyss was deathly silent.

The rebel forces, including the Smoke Domain Envoy, had long since vanished into thin air. Only the lingering stench of blood and demonic remnants in the air proved that the destruction was not an illusion.

Mo Yiheng knelt on the edge of the abyss, his injuries from being casually thrown by Yun Hua still fresh, and he coughed up blood. But he didn't care about his own condition, or rather, he cared more about the condition of another person. Ye Xiuluo and his sister helped him up, but he rushed straight to the spot where Yun Hua had disappeared, intending to leap into the abyss and fight the demon god who had taken his master to the death, but he was firmly stopped in place by his two capable subordinates.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" Night Asura was unusually urgent. "The Demon God is enraged, and the Fox Immortal is severely injured... If you venture deeper now, you will only face death!"

"Get out of my way!" In extreme fear, Mo Yiheng's demonic energy surged uncontrollably again. "He took Master away! He's gone mad, he'll kill him! Master—!"

"Who doesn't know he's mad?! Precisely because he's mad, you absolutely cannot go down!" Jade Guanyin's tone was icy and incisive. "The Demon God now clearly sees the Fox Fairy as his possession, while simultaneously harboring extreme hatred for the Demon Race. As the Demon Lord, the one with the heaviest demonic energy in the entire Demon Realm, what can you do by going down now, besides enraging the Demon God and making the Fox Fairy's situation even more difficult? Are you suggesting that the Fox Fairy take another hit from the Demon God for your sake?!"

As if doused with a bucket of ice water from a brazier, Mo Yiheng instantly fell silent. A moment later, he collapsed to his knees, his palms bleeding profusely.

Yes... what can he do?

He swore he would protect his master every time, but in the end, it seemed he never succeeded. His position as Demon Lord was insignificant in the face of his master Yunhua's absolute power. He even... even directly caused his master to be seriously injured.

For a moment, he felt that he was not as good as Murong Jin—at least Murong Jin was able to personally kill Liu Qing immediately after learning the truth.

After a long while, he finally stood up unsteadily, his voice hoarse and barely audible: "...Purge the traitors and clean up the mess."

He glanced one last time at the bottomless abyss, his eyes brimming with suppressed fury: "Night Asura."

"Your subordinates are here," Night Asura and Jade Guanyin replied in unison.

"Use all available resources to monitor any unusual activity here. If... if there is any news from Master or Grandmaster, immediately send a message to me."

"yes."

Taking a deep breath of stale air, Mo Yiheng turned around and slowly, step by step, left the ruins. His back remained upright, yet shrouded in a lingering gloom.

In the far north, there is a mountain pavilion.

In the courtyard, the pair of Snow Demons were no longer as ferocious as before. Instead, under the taming of the Mountain Lord, they had become docile and affectionate—to be precise, they were only affectionate towards the Mountain Lord and the raccoon dog. On the Snow Demons' bodies, light blue light outlined their limbs and bones, slowly condensing and refining under the Mountain Lord's guidance, emanating an icy chill that could almost freeze the soul.

The seven-day period has arrived.

Yunhe and Wuying stood guard on either side, their powers, one immortal and one demon, simultaneously flowing into the Mountain Lord's body to help him complete the final step of the extraction.

The Soul Lamp lay horizontally on the Immortal Venerable's lap. Inside the lamp, the white flame, which had already solidified considerably, flickered erratically, sometimes as weak as a candle in the wind, and sometimes leaping suddenly to the top of the lamp, as if enduring immense pain.

Beside her, Wu Ying even breathed very softly. As a healer, she could clearly sense the persistent low pressure and sorrow surrounding Yun He. For the past few days, Yun He and the Soul Lamp had been almost inseparable. The Immortal Venerable's fingertips would often probe into the lamp, gently stroking the white flame, trying to confirm the safety of the person it represented. Occasionally, the Immortal Venerable would also infuse it with immortal power, attempting to soothe the fox spirit from afar.

“Immortal Venerable…” Wu Ying couldn’t help but speak, wanting to ask, but was interrupted decisively.

"Silence." Yunhe's gaze was unwavering, but his cold voice was colder than the northern wind. "At this crucial moment, you must not be distracted."

She understood better than anyone the pain Yun Shu was experiencing. Every abnormality in the soul fire felt like a needle piercing her heart.

That's why she couldn't afford to let anything go wrong with one of the key ingredients—the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Essence.

Finally, Snow Demon let out a long howl within the courtyard. At the same time, Mountain Lord's joyful whisper rang out: "It's done!"

The two looked up and saw that he had cupped his hands into a basin, in which floated a crystal core about the size of a pigeon egg, with a dark blue color and an interior that looked like thousands of morning stars and ice flowers.

This is the ten-thousand-year-old ice spirit.

Before he could even rejoice, Yunhe suddenly stood up, a gust of wind causing the Soul Lamp to spin in place, before being held in the Immortal Venerable's palm again. Inside the jade lamp, the white flame representing Yun Shu was almost extinguished, even giving Yunhe a sense of crisis that "it will dissipate."

Junior brother... something happened to Qiuqiu?!

Thinking of this, she ignored the ten-thousand-year-old ice soul without hesitation, sat cross-legged, and rapidly extended her divine sense, following the aura of the soul lamp, successfully finding the edge of the Demon Realm. She wanted to go deeper, but her divine sense could not penetrate the chaotic power of immortals and demons in the Demon Abyss.

The Demon Abyss Secret Realm... Master... Yunhua.

With a suspicion in mind, she changed her target and successfully found Mo Yiheng's sea of ​​consciousness in the Demon Palace.

"It's... Uncle-Master?" Mo Yiheng's tone was clearly dejected, but when he realized it was Yun He, he became slightly excited. "Uncle-Master! Master... Master, he..."

"Slow down, explain everything clearly."

Mo Yiheng readily agreed, and within a quarter of an hour, he explained the whole story and Yun Shu's extremely dangerous situation.

Indeed. Yunhe sighed softly, his expression grave, yet his gaze held a hint of ease.

Master... has finally woken up to see his children.

"Master Uncle, what should we do now... Grandmaster..."

“If you are only worried about Yun Shu’s safety, then there is no need to be.” Yun He’s tone returned to calm. “Because even if it means the destruction of heaven and earth to save Yun Shu, Master… Yun Hua will do it without hesitation. Even though he is mentally damaged and his memory is confused now, his purpose in taking Yun Shu down is not to harm her.”

Therefore, more than 10,000 years ago, Yunhua, for the safety and future of Yunhe and Yunshu, did not hesitate to destroy his two souls and seven spirits and personally step into the seal.

"But……"

“No buts.” Yunhe said firmly. “This is the second question I want to ask: Are you so panicked because Yun Shu was taken away by the insane Yun Hua, or because you feel you failed to protect him?”

"Yun Shu is my mentor, and I will naturally protect him for the rest of my life..." Mo Yiheng was eager to express his feelings, but Yun He interrupted him again.

"Yun Shu is your master, that's true. But he is also a fox spirit who has lived for ten thousand years and is worshipped by the people. He doesn't need anyone's entire life. His life is far more tenacious than you imagine. Today, he was not injured just to save you, but more so for the innocent demons behind you, and for the world behind the demons. If you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself after he returns."

The other end of his consciousness suddenly fell silent, and Mo Yiheng remained silent.

Yunhe sighed softly and advised the boy who had fallen in love: "Mo Yiheng, you can't live only for him. You may love him, but you can't have only him. As the Demon Lord or anyone else, you will have a world independent of him. Never mind, you haven't lived for ten thousand years like us. You are still young and it is normal that you can't understand this."

She paused, then continued, "I have obtained the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Soul, and will soon travel to the Western Regions to find the remaining medicinal ingredient, the Molten Jade Marrow. You only need to remember that Yunhua will not let Yunshu die, and that is enough. You are the Demon Lord, and you still have your subjects. Focus on protecting your Demon Realm and be your overlord. Yunshu will not treat a child who only has eyes for him differently. If your mind remains unchanged after today, then recognize this."

Yun He finished speaking. Before Mo Yiheng could react, she severed her divine sense, turned around, took the Ice Soul, and put it into her sleeve, preparing to proceed with the next step of her plan.

"Thank you for your trouble." After expressing her gratitude to her old friend, she turned and left the pavilion. "Wu Ying, we should head to the next place. Time is running out, can we still hold on?"

Wu Ying released the cat and chased after it, using actions instead of words.

"Alright." Yunhe smiled. "Mountain Lord, see you another day."

As soon as they finished speaking, the two of them transformed into a streak of blue light and disappeared into the horizon, leaving only the Mountain Lord holding his younger sister and shaking his head helplessly with the little devils.

"You left in such a hurry. I was thinking of inviting you to stay for dinner... Never mind." The mountain god raised his finger, releasing a wisp of cold wind. "Then I wish you a safe journey."