Chapter 8: Praying to Seek the Divine Lord.
The barrier around Eternal Ashes City was opened that night.
Bathed in the faint starlight and carried by the gentle evening breeze, Hua Xun flew out of Eternal Ashes City and away from the territory of the Demon Clan.
He didn't look back even once.
The dark and majestic demon palace behind us receded further and further away until it was no longer visible at all.
But the moment Hua Xun stepped out of the Demon Realm, she stopped.
In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, she didn't know where to go for a moment.
She should go to the God, perhaps he has a way to cure the curse.
But in just fifteen days, the God appeared and disappeared like a fleeting cloud, and she didn't even know where to look for him.
Lost in thought, Hua Xun grew increasingly uneasy.
Once she settled down, she realized she had returned to Cuiling Mountain.
Like a weary bird returning to its nest, she finally relaxed when she arrived at the place she knew best.
Exhausted, Hua Xun found a lush tree canopy, nestled on a branch, and gazed into the distance, lost in thought.
I stayed there for the entire night.
Images of the past ten years spent with Baili Sheng flashed through his mind, followed by images of Baili Sheng and Fairy Qingjiao together, and then the divine figure of Lord Jiuqing, untouched by mortal dust...
The Cuiling Mountain was dark and cold in the dead of night. Accompanied by the whistling wind, Hua Xun gradually came back to his senses, looking at the love gu in his sea of consciousness and the red light that permeated around it.
The same magical light that once saved her life is now slowly eroding it.
Hua Xun thought pessimistically, if she couldn't find the God Lord, would death be all that was left for her?
For some reason, Hua Xun remembered what Baili Sheng had said: Once the Gu worm enters the flesh, there is no possibility of suppressing it.
Is it possible to suppress the Gu worm before it takes root in the flesh?
But if magical power touches the Gu worms, it will backfire. Who can suppress the Gu worms? Baili Sheng?
Hua Xun rejected this answer in her heart.
Regardless of whether he would help her, she simply didn't want to have any more entanglements with him.
A thought suddenly occurred to Hua Xun:
It would be better to indulge in unrestrained behavior for fifteen days, and then die peacefully.
He spent all his savings, exchanged spirit stones for silver, and bought all the fancy clothes he had previously been reluctant to buy, changing one every day, no, every half day.
She also wants to eat her favorite braised pork knuckle, sweet soup, and peach pastries...
She often overheard people in town saying that Rouge Pavilion and South Wind Tower were places of pleasure and happiness, but she had no idea what was inside.
Hua Xun recalled the first time she heard someone mention those two places with a wink. She went home and asked Baili Sheng about it with great interest, but his face turned unusually gloomy after hearing it. He even said that if she went to such a place, she was never allowed to touch him again.
At that time, she was used to his feigned gentleness and thought he was angry, so she hurriedly assured him that she would never go there.
Now I'm determined to go and see for myself, to get a look and experience it...
Her thoughts wandered until dawn, when Hua Xun heard a few "cooing" sounds.
Hua Xun transformed back into her original form, jumped down from the tree branch, and rubbed her lower abdomen.
She was a little hungry.
Dahe Village is gone. Hua Xun flew to a nearby town, intending to find something to eat.
Then it suddenly dawned on me that the town seemed somewhat different from what it used to be.
The town is called Wufang Town. It is located northwest of Huiyun City. It is not a prosperous town. It has about five hundred households. Most of the people here make a living by farming and trading.
In the past, the town's market was just a few scattered vendors hawking their wares, but today, for some reason, it is bustling with activity and traffic.
Even wealthy landowners who considered themselves superior would dress in the finest silks and satins and personally arrange the purchase of incense burners and offerings with their maids and servants.
The entire town seemed to have turned out, with a massive influx of people. They even hired a dragon and lion dance troupe, who beat drums and gongs, creating an extremely lively atmosphere.
Hua Xun, in human form, walked along the edge of the market, looking at the joyous scene with a puzzled frown.
"Miss Hua?" Amidst the commotion, Hua Xun heard someone calling her from behind.
She turned around and saw the owner of the pharmacy standing there, holding incense sticks, his eyes full of surprise: "Owner Li?"
Having traveled through the demon realm and then seeing familiar faces from the human world again, Hua Xun felt as if she had been transported to another world.
“When Miss Hua stopped delivering ginseng a while ago, I thought something had happened to you,” said Li Dongjia happily. “It’s so good to see you safe and sound today.”
Hua Xun felt a warmth in her heart: "I went to look for my relatives a while ago."
Li Dongjia asked, "Have you found that girl?"
Hua Xun paused, nodded, then shook her head: "It's been so long since I last saw them that my family no longer recognized me, so I came back."
“Faces change easily, but true feelings are hard to find,” Li Dongjia comforted her. “Since your relatives don’t recognize you, it’s to remind you to cherish the people around you.”
"Don't you still have a husband at home?" Li Dongjia knew that Hua Xun used to gather ginseng to save her family. "From now on, it's more important for the two of you to live a good life together."
Hua Xun's forced smile faltered slightly, and she casually changed the subject, looking around: "Is there some joyous occasion in Wufang Town?"
"The young lady still doesn't know?" Perhaps tired, Li Dongjia switched the incense stick to his other hand. "The earth's veins in the southwest were in turmoil, almost causing a great disaster. At the critical moment, the Nine-Tiered Divine Lord emerged from seclusion and stopped a natural calamity. I heard that the Divine Lord's Dharma form is as tall as the sky and as firm as the sea, one hand holding Luanfeng Peak and the other stabilizing the Canghai Sea, how majestic..."
Hua Xun was slightly taken aback.
The image of the Nine-Tiered Divine Lord preventing a massacre in the Demon Realm that day appeared in his mind.
Listening to Physician Li's devout praise now, it's as if through his words, we can see the serene image of that holy light dispelling the natural disaster.
Li Langzhong continued, "When the Divine Lord emerged from seclusion, it happened to coincide with the Jiazi year of the Immortal and Human races. The head of the Qingxu Sect specially burned incense and inquired of the Heavens, seeking instructions from the Immortals. The Immortal race is willing to open its gates wide and celebrate together with the Human race in the wilderness of Duguang, so that both races may rejoice together."
"This is the first time in thousands of years that the human race has celebrated this grand event with the immortal race, so naturally the whole race is overjoyed."
"I heard that several elders and immortals of the immortal race have personally extended an invitation, and that Divine Lord Jiuqing will also be there to bestow blessings upon all living beings."
Hua Xun's breath hitched.
A celebration for both ethnic groups.
Will Lord Jiuqing also go?
Wouldn't it be that the Divine Lord will appear in the Wilderness of Tokugawa in ten days?
In an instant, a glimmer of hope gradually rose in Hua Xun's heart, and her previously bewildered expression slowly transformed into a firm determination with a clear direction.
"Although we are far from the wilderness of Duguang, we can't miss such a grand event as the God's departure from the pass. That's why we're holding a few temple fairs at the God's Temple..." Li Dongjia said incessantly.
Hua Xun snapped out of her daze and smiled gratefully, "Thank you, Mr. Li."
Li Dongjia waved his hand: "Why don't you go buy some incense and pray for your injured husband at home?"
Hua Xun clutched her purse tightly, her initial desire to splurge vanishing instantly: "I... have something to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."
"Mr. Li, see you again someday."
Hua Xun waved her hand and walked quietly against the crowd, her expression blank.
Hua Xun suddenly snapped out of her daze when someone bumped into her shoulder and apologized.
At that moment, she made up her mind.
—Go to the wilderness of Duguang to seek an audience with the divine lord.
If we could meet the Divine Lord, with his immense supernatural powers, he would surely know how to break this love curse.
When the time comes, the debt of gratitude will be settled, the love spell will be broken, and the sky will be the limit for birds to fly.
*
The Wilderness of Duguang is located in Shu. Because the Jianmu, a divine tree that connects the realms of immortals and humans, grows there, the surrounding spiritual energy is extremely pure and abundant. This has nurtured the most powerful immortal cultivation sect of the human race - the Qingxu Sect.
Therefore, throughout history, nearly half of those who ascended to immortality came from the Qingxu Sect.
The celebration between the two races was held in Canglian City, where the Qingxu Sect was located.
Hua Xun pondered the information he had overheard from several low-level rogue cultivators and secretly made a plan in his heart.
Wufang Town is about 6,000 li away from Canglian City. It would take her eight or nine days to fly there, just in time for the celebration.
They could just pack up and go.
Hua Xun exchanged two spirit stones for twenty taels of silver, bought some food and put it in his pocket, and then flew on the road to Canglian City.
At first, everything went smoothly, passing through relatively large city-states, where most of the inhabitants were ordinary people.
However, as Canglian City drew closer, Hua Xun clearly sensed that the surrounding spiritual energy was becoming more abundant, and the number of cultivators was gradually increasing.
Occasionally, a swordsman would fly overhead, as graceful as a shooting star.
Hua Xun had no choice but to carefully conceal his demonic aura.
It wasn't until Hua Xun saw cultivators in uniform robes flying overhead again, and luxurious flying boats speeding towards Canglian City, that she knew she had probably entered the cultivation realm of a prestigious sect.
To avoid being exposed as a demon by highly skilled cultivators, Hua Xun had no choice but to transform into human form and descend to the ground, using spiritual energy to travel swiftly on the wind every day.
For some reason, every time she used the Wind Control Technique, her meridians would feel a dull, aching pain, so she had to take advantage of the night to properly treat them.
On the evening of the seventh day, the demonic light surrounding the love potion in the sea of consciousness gradually weakened, but unfortunately, the heavens did not cooperate and it began to rain.
The rain started as a fine drizzle, but later turned into raindrops the size of beans, which crashed down with thunder and lightning.
Hua Xun landed in a village inhabited by ordinary people and hurriedly ran into an empty temple to avoid the rain.
Once inside, Hua Xun realized that this was actually the temple dedicated to the deity of this village.
Perhaps because the celebration is approaching, the temple is decorated with extra festive decorations, and the stone lions at the entrance are tied with red ribbons.
The magnificent shrine was mysterious and sacred, and the statues were covered with gold leaf, shining brightly and beautifully in the night.
But the face of that statue...
Hua Xun looked up and stared intently at the tall statue.
It had a more worldly air about it, as understood by ordinary people, but it couldn't compare to even a fraction of the divine splendor and holiness of the avatar of the God.
Hua Xun recalled the scene when the God Lord willingly drank the poison to save the young demons back in the Demon Realm.
The immortals disliked demons, and she once thought that the gods were the same way, so she never dared to enter the gods' temple to pray. But that day she realized what "gods love all living beings" meant.
That is why, upon learning that the God would appear at the celebration, she came without hesitation.
The first time, Hua Xun knelt on the prayer mat, looked up at the statue, and silently murmured, "By the Divine Lord Yisheng Zhaohui, I, your humble daughter..."
She pondered for a long time, unsure of what to ask for, and finally murmured to herself, "I am Hua Xun, a little demon who was afflicted with the love potion along with the God."
"I saw the God-King in the Demon Realm that day, but he probably doesn't know me."
“These past few days, the demonic light that suppresses the love potion has become increasingly weak, and occasionally my sea of consciousness will churn and my spiritual palace will feel dull pain.”
"Does the Divine Lord have a headache?"
"I have discovered that using chuanxiong and angelica as medicine, supplemented with spiritual energy, can relieve pain when drunk. If you have a headache, you can also try this method."
"However, the Divine Lord's magical power is profound, so he probably doesn't need to..."
Before he could finish speaking, another thunderclap struck, and the wind and rain blew open the window and also lifted a corner of the curtain beneath the shrine.
By the flickering candlelight, Hua Xun saw neatly arranged offerings behind the curtain.
Fruits and snacks were readily available, their enticing sweet aromas filling the cool night air.
Hua Xun had already finished eating the food he brought on the way, and upon seeing such a sumptuous meal, he couldn't help but lick his lips.
Looking at the statue again, she suddenly had a request: "Your divine grace is boundless and shines upon all directions. You must understand why I ate a few of your offerings when I was so hungry and thirsty. If I survive, I will repay you for all the offerings."
After reciting the prayer, Hua Xun swallowed hard, carefully stepped forward, and took out a pear blossom pastry from the offerings.
Pear blossoms are sweet and delicious, with a soft texture.
Hua Xun swallowed the food in a few bites, and after eating several more, she reached her hand back into the curtain.
Just as Hua Xun was about to devour a plump peach, she pulled it out, when she noticed a strange white mist rising from the statue, and echoes reverberating through the small temple.
"What kind of little demon dares to eat my offerings?"
A note from the author:
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A certain demon: Once the love potion enters the flesh, there is no possibility of suppressing it (please don't come begging me).
Ah Xun (with a determined look): Let's go find the God!
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