Chapter 66 Death Node
Xiao Sui immediately abandoned the task Xie Jingyan had given him and went straight to Medicine King Valley. He found Valley Master Han and asked about the doubts in his heart.
Master Han, his eyes darting around, said, "It's probably been sitting out for too long, and the aroma has faded."
"Does it still have medicinal effects?" Xiao Sui asked anxiously.
"Of course," Valley Master Han said, his voice clearly lacking confidence. "Why would I give it to the princess if it had no medicinal effect?"
“But even its scent has disappeared, how can you be sure it still works?” Xiao Sui asked seriously, “Where did you get that flower from?”
"I used flowers as medicine, not their fragrance. Doesn't the fact that the princess's health is improving prove that it's effective?" Master Han pushed him away. "I have many other patients here. I don't have time to explain so much to you."
Xiao Sui remained motionless. "Your forehead is sweating, your eyes are darting around, and your breathing is rapid."
Finally, he concluded: "You lied."
Valley Master Han took a deep breath, "I..."
Xiao Sui waited.
After hesitating for a long time, Master Han finally put down what he was holding and said, "I told the princess long ago that I'm not good at acting!"
"What do you mean?" Xiao Sui took a step forward, his tall stature making him appear even more imposing.
Master Han swallowed hard for no reason. “I should have told you sooner. The princess’s Netherworld Flower is fake. She found a fake flower somewhere and asked me to cooperate with her in the play to discourage you from going to the Ten Thousand Demon Cave every day. She was afraid that something would happen to you in there, so she planned to give up her own life.”
Xiao Sui looked extremely shocked and subconsciously denied it: "Impossible."
If the princess cared about him, why would she marry Yan Chongyan and drive him out of the Huaguang Sect's courtyard?
He felt dizzy and had to hold onto the table behind him to keep his balance.
Xiao Sui adjusted his breathing, "How come the princess's health is getting better and better?"
"It was the princess who asked me for the prescription, which prematurely depleted her life force." Master Han sighed. "I'm telling you this not to encourage you to continue going to the Demon Cave, but because I think you should know the princess's feelings for you. She loves you more than her own life."
The incision where his heart's blood had been drawn began to hurt again. He couldn't process what Valley Master Han had said. It was like giving a person who was about to die of thirst the most delicious nectar. He simply couldn't handle it.
"Alright, that's all I have to say to you," said Valley Master Han. "The rest is up to your fate."
"Thank you for telling me the truth." Xiao Sui thanked him solemnly and left.
He didn't have time to think about why the princess, who clearly cared about him, chose Yan Chongyan. What he needed to do most now was to find the real Five-Petaled Netherworld Flower for the princess.
He will make sure she lives.
A month later, Xiao Sui prepared to enter the Ten Thousand Demon Cave again. This time, he planned to stay inside and not come out for a while.
Before going in, he took the initiative to find Ah Shen, having already discovered that Ah Shen would occasionally follow him.
"I'll be away on a mission for a month or two, so you don't need to come with me during that time," he said bluntly.
Ah Shen was a little flustered, "You found me?"
"Yes, it's obvious."
Ah Shen explained, "Actually, the princess still cares about you. She asks me to come see you every now and then. It's just that she might prefer Young Master Yan now. Don't be too sad."
Xiao Sui nodded. "I know. I want to leave here and clear my head."
“That’s how it should be,” Ah Shen agreed, oblivious to his unease. “I’ll tell the princess if she asks.”
"Thanks."
Xiao Sui returned to his courtyard, quickly packed a few sets of clothes, and pretended to go looking for his fellow disciples. In reality, he took out a teleportation array to the Ten Thousand Demon Cave from out of A Shen's sight, and his figure quickly disappeared from the spot.
As Shen watched Xiao Sui reunite with his fellow disciples, each carrying a bundle, and after confirming that what he said was true, he immediately went to report to the princess.
"Have you left?" Ning Xi put down the herbal soup she was preparing. Her cheeks were still a light pink, and she looked to be in good health. However, she could feel that her body was becoming increasingly depleted. Even just sitting down made her feel short of breath and weak.
"That's fine too." She sighed, lowered her eyes, and felt a pang of longing in her heart, fearing that she would never have the chance to see Xiao Sui again.
Burning his indenture became their last meeting.
But in this way, Xiao Sui wouldn't witness her death firsthand, and she probably wouldn't turn evil because of her.
She had initially worried that Xiao Sui would lose his motivation to live after she left, but now it seems that his life has returned to normal after she kicked him out, and there are no signs of him becoming a demon god for the time being.
However, Xie Jingyan's disciples are indeed very poor, which may provoke Xiao Sui and cause him to turn evil in the future.
Ning Qi thought for a moment and then asked Qian Yu to bring paper and pen.
"What are you going to do?" Qianyu asked curiously.
"I want to write a few letters to Xiao Sui." Ning Qi was a little shy. She rarely wrote and was afraid that her handwriting would be ugly. But she didn't expect that the words would flow smoothly from the brush after she put pen to paper. They were a hundred times better than she had imagined.
Qianyu said curiously from the side, "If you have something to say to Young Master Xiao, why don't you just tell him directly? Why write a letter?"
"By the time he comes back, I will have already married Yan Chongyan. I'm afraid Chongyan will overthink things," Ning Qi said, trying to brush her off.
“It is right to take care of the prince consort’s feelings, but you don’t need to wrong yourself after you get married,” Qianyu said.
Ning Qi smiled and said, "I know."
As they were talking, Yan Chongyan came in from outside and, as usual, handed her a porcelain bottle containing his heart's blood.
However, his face seemed unusually pale this time.
Ningqi, as usual, had Zhizhi brew the medicine.
Yan Chongyan frowned deeply. "Princess, the Demon Clan has been making frequent moves lately, which could very well threaten the Huaguang Sect. I have been practicing formations with Master Jingyan and have no time to attend to the wedding ceremony. Can't our wedding really be postponed?"
"No." Ning Qi rejected him without even thinking.
She needs a larger audience when she reveals the truth.
"I don't understand. You used to hate me so much, but now you're in such a hurry to marry me. What do you mean by that?" Yan Chongyan's tone revealed his impatience.
Ning Qi shrugged. "It's nothing. I want to get married. Do you have a problem with that? If you do, go talk to my father."
Yan Chongyan stared, his throat tightening, "When are you going to change your willful ways?"
"Ding, your infatuation value has increased by 50," the system notification announced.
Ning Qi rolled her eyes. "It's not your place to lecture me. You should also change your habit of saying one thing and meaning another."
"When have I ever said one thing and meaning another?" Yan Chongyan asked.
Ning Qi immediately summoned Qian Yu to see the guest off, and then secretly poured away all the brewed medicinal liquid.
As the death point drew ever closer, Ning Qi's infatuation score inexplicably increased by several hundred points. The system seemed overjoyed, but Ning Qi felt nothing.
She just missed Xiao Sui more and more.
She refrained from asking about his recent activities, and would write him a letter whenever she thought of him.
Before she knew it, she had written twelve letters, which made up a thick stack in her hands.
The wedding ceremony was scheduled to be held at Huaguangzong. Yan Chongyan was busy practicing formations and hardly had any worries about the wedding.
Ning Qi was similar; she just went to the venue a few times as a formality and gained another hundred points of infatuation that night.
After that, she let Qianyu Zhizhi and the others decorate the courtyard, taking down the decorations from the New Year period and hanging up new red silk and red lanterns, and pasting the character "囍" (double happiness) on every window.
"Tomorrow you must get up at dawn to dress up, and then take a sedan chair to the main hall of Huaguang Sect. There, Master Jingyan will preside over the wedding ceremony, recite the love spell, and after the ceremony, host a banquet for the guests outside the hall..." Zhizhi chattered on and on about the wedding day's procedures.
Ning Qi was getting drowsy listening to the news. According to the system, the demons would invade Huaguang Sect during the day. Those rituals had little to do with her. She didn't really want to marry Yan Chongyan.
There was one thing she always kept in mind, and now, on the eve of her wedding, she could finally bring it up.
She asked, seemingly casually, "Where is Xiao Sui? Has he returned?"
Zhizhi shook her head. "I heard from Ashen that he hasn't come back yet."
"Let's contact him and ask," Ning Qi said.
Zhizhi's eyes widened in surprise, looking even more excited than her. "You want to contact him? You want him to come back?"
“I want to make sure he doesn’t come back tomorrow,” Ning Qi said.
"Huh?" Zhizhi's excitement immediately subsided. She found a communication talisman that she hadn't used in a long time and channeled spiritual energy into it.
The message symbol flashed, awaiting a response from the other side.
"If he comes back, tell him to wait for me at my house in Yandu. I have something to say to him," Ning Qi instructed.
"But..." Zhizhi's eyes flickered, "Young Master Xiao should know that you are getting married tomorrow. What if this reason can't appease him?"
“I told him I had something to give him, and that even if I couldn’t go, I would send someone to do it,” Ning Qi said.
Zhizhi nodded, but the communication talisman did not respond for a long time.
Seeing Ning Qi's increasingly furrowed brows, she tried several more times.
Deep within the forests of the Demon Cave, towering trees blocked out the sun. A stream rushed along the mountainside, and the stones along the stream, washed by the water, appeared disordered, revealing sharp edges. Lying on one of these stones was a man dressed entirely in black.
His eyes were closed, and his clothes were torn open, revealing several deep wounds that exposed bone. Blood flowed into the stream through the cracks in the rocks, gradually attracting nearby monsters.
However, these demonic beasts remained dormant, because two level-four demonic beasts lay not far from the man, their hearts pierced and completely dead.
Suddenly, a light shone from his chest, startling the monster that wanted to approach, causing it to retreat into the woods.
The man remained motionless, as if he were dead, with only the slight rise and fall of his chest indicating that he was still breathing.
His chest was pounding, and the man suddenly moved his fingers, took a deep breath, and regained consciousness.
A surge of heat rushed into Xiao Sui's chest, restoring a bit of strength to his icy body. He was completely unaware that the demonic mark on his body was beginning to appear.
He just wanted to raise his hand to take out the communication talisman, but his body felt like it wasn't his anymore, and his limbs ached as if they had been cut open.
He was facing two level-four demonic beasts alone just now, so he shouldn't have been in such a sorry state. However, the continuous extraction of his heart's blood did cause his cultivation to decline, and he was almost attacked by them and died here.
Fortunately...
He endured excruciating pain, large beads of sweat pouring from his forehead, tracing down his temples, across the wounds on his face, and finally settling into the stone.
Finally, he took out the talisman, the princess's communication talisman, the only one he had kept.
Xiao Sui gritted his teeth and channeled his last bit of spiritual energy into the talisman. His arm went limp and he released the talisman, which landed heavily on the sharp stone. The pain made him gasp uncontrollably.
The talisman floated lightly onto his chest and was quickly stained with blood.
"Young Master Xiao, you finally replied!" Zhizhi's voice rang out. "Where are you now? When are you coming back?"
It wasn't the voice he had been longing for. Disappointment overwhelmed Xiao Sui, leaving him with no strength left.
He lay back on the rock, feeling the increasingly dark surroundings. Not wanting her to suspect anything amiss, he held his breath and said, "I'm in Xuanzhou, I'll be back soon."
"Oh." Zhizhi's voice seemed to come from near and far. "Will you be back tomorrow?"
"Yes," Xiao Sui said.
"The princess wants to see you and wants you to wait for her at that residence in Yandu," Zhizhi said, following Ningxi's instructions.
“The princess is getting married tomorrow, but she wants me to wait for her at the mansion,” Xiao Sui said.
"Yes." Zhizhi's voice was a little weak.
"Okay," he readily agreed.
After saying that word, the other end of the communication talisman ended. Xiao Sui began to breathe rapidly again, but the air was so thin that it couldn't enter his lungs at all, and instead, his chest burned with pain.
Is the princess... trying to avoid disturbing him, which is why she asked him to go to Yandu?
He had already tried his best to make himself inconspicuous, so why was he even deprived of the right to go? How could the princess treat him like this?
Xiao Sui felt a pang of grievance, and his whole body seemed to deflate as he sank into the stone.
The temperature in his chest rose higher and higher, exceeding what a normal person could endure. It was scorching and stinging, as if he were being gnawed by fire ants. He struggled helplessly in place.
The moon rose overhead, and the breathing of the surrounding monsters grew louder, as if they were waiting to devour his corpse after his death.
Xiao Sui braced himself against the sharp rock with his elbow, used all his strength to roll over, and lay face down by the stream, digging his fingers into the mud.
He absolutely had to go.
He found the Five-Petaled Netherworld Flower!
He wanted to use it as a wedding gift for the princess...
Even though he is not popular at all.
The demonic energy unknowingly invaded his body, making the demonic mark on his body clearly visible.
The breathing of the surrounding monsters grew closer and closer, and Xiao Sui, his consciousness fading, slumped down onto the rock.
——
Before dawn, Ningqi was woken up by Qianyu and allowed to do her hair and makeup, dressing her in elaborate wedding attire and heavy jewelry.
Ningxi's neck felt increasingly heavy until her head was covered in jeweled hairpins. Qianyu turned to her face and exclaimed, "Princess, why are your dark circles so heavy?"
Ning Xi barely slept that night, after all, it was her last night in this small world. However, she couldn't tell Qian Yu the truth, so she smiled and said, "It's my first time getting married, I'm a little nervous."
"What are you saying?" Qianyu said softly, "Do you want to get married several more times?"
After confirming that the last hairpin was in the correct position, Zhizhi said, "It's alright for the princess to get married a few more times."
Ning Qi chuckled, and Qian Yu quickly moved the powder puff away to prevent the princess's face from getting covered in powder, glancing at Zhi Zhi.
Zhizhi immediately pursed her lips.
"Zhizhi, go and give this to Xiao Sui," Ning Qi said seriously, pointing to a stack of envelopes and a small package beside her.
Zhizhi already knew about her plan and nodded.
Ning Qi thought for a moment and then said, "Tell him it's best to read one letter a year, not all at once."
Zhizhi was puzzled: "Actually, you can bring him back after a while."
"Never mind." Ning Qi shook her head and began to make up a story, "Yan Chongyan is a jealous man, and I'm afraid he won't tolerate Xiao Sui. I'm afraid he'll secretly harm him behind my back."
“It’s alright. I think Young Master Xiao can beat Young Master Yan, and Young Master Xiao is also willing to be a concubine,” Zhizhi said seriously.
Ning Qi tapped her on the forehead. "Alright, get back to work."
Zhizhi muttered something, picked up the stack of things, and went out.
Qianyu carefully applied lip rouge to Ningxi and put on a red veil. A maid from the palace told them it was time to get into the sedan chair and depart.
The sedan chair arrived smoothly at the main hall of Huaguang Sect. The places along the way were all decorated with red silk, which made it look very festive.
Seeing a large number of Huaguang Sect cultivators gathered outside the hall, curiously looking around, Ning Qi immediately sat up straight and lowered her veil again.
As the music began, the palace master of ceremonies announced in a loud voice, "The auspicious hour has arrived! Princess, please step over the fire basin to ward off evil and bring good fortune!"
Ning Qi didn't need to get out of the sedan chair. Qian Yu carried the sedan chair and led her across the brazier. Sandalwood incense was placed in the charcoal fire, and the smell was very pleasant as they passed by.
The master of ceremonies then called out, "Passing over the saddle, may you have a safe and smooth journey!"
The sedan chair passed over the saddle on the ground.
"The ceremony is over, now we welcome the princess into the palace." As he spoke, the musicians changed their tune.
Ning Qi was helped down from the sedan chair by Qian Yu. Her head was covered with a red veil, so she could only look down at her feet. She was helped forward by Qian Yu.
A red felt cloth was laid on the ground. Two eunuchs led her in front, and two others followed behind. She slowly stepped into the hall and was led to a man.
The man was wearing crimson cloud-patterned shoes embroidered with a design of phoenixes singing in harmony; he was clearly Yan Chongyan.
The music changed again, and the master of ceremonies announced: "Princess and Prince Consort, please take your seats and perform the wedding ceremony."
Yan Chongyan took a step closer to her and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Why haven't your servants come?"
Ning Qi curled her lip disdainfully under the veil, "I didn't let him come because I was afraid you'd be jealous."
"Ding, your infatuation value has increased by 100," the system said, unable to hide its excitement.
Ning Qi really didn't expect that he would believe what she said casually.
The master of ceremonies continued, "First bow to Heaven and Earth..."
The music wasn't loud, and it was quickly drowned out by a distant rumbling sound, like thunder.
The weather, which had been sunny just moments before, suddenly turned gloomy, with dark clouds looming overhead, bringing with it an ominous feeling that a storm was brewing.
The master of ceremonies paused for a moment, then continued, "The sun and moon shine together, kneel!"
Ning Qi and Yan Chongyan knelt down at the same time.
"One kowtow, a second kowtow, a third kowtow!"
The sound of hurried footsteps came from not far away, extremely discordant with the celebratory music.
Someone rushed in in a panic, completely disregarding the presence of the emperor and other members of the royal family, and shouted at Xie Jingyan, "Master, the demons! The demons are attacking!"
The music went completely off track, and a gust of wind blew up beside her. Ning Qi could feel that Yan Chongyan had suddenly stood up.
Then came Xie Jingyan's calm voice, "Everyone, don't panic! All disciples, listen to my command and follow me to fight against the demons!"
He then said to the emperor, "I will send someone to escort you to the secret passage and help you leave."
The emperor asked a very strange question: "Is it at this time?"
Xie Jingyan nodded, signaling his men to take Xie Xiyue away with him.
Ning Qi lifted the red veil and saw only Yan Chongyan's back. He ran out of the hall with Xie Jingyan and began to set up the formation according to the formation they had trained.
The sky not far away was dark and gloomy; upon closer inspection, it turned out to be countless demons standing in the air on their magical artifacts.
Qianyu helped Ningxi up, "Princess, let's leave through the secret passage too."
"I won't leave! I will live and die with the Huaguang Sect!"
A cool voice rang in her ears. Ning Qi looked over and saw Xie Xiyue being held back by a cultivator. She hadn't expected Xie Xiyue to say those words before her.
She suddenly realized that they were both equally pathetic, having their lives controlled by others without their knowledge.
She shook her head at Qianyu, "I am a disciple of the Huaguang Sect, and there is no reason for me to run away when the sect is in danger."
“But your cultivation level…” Qianyu said worriedly.
Ning Qi pushed her aside and walked out of the hall. Led by Xie Jingyan, the disciples quickly took their positions and released their spiritual energy, and an array was slowly forming.
However, the demons did not give them time to prepare and rushed over in a swarm.
The remaining disciples took up their weapons to fight back, and the clanging of swords against each other filled the air, while blood mist continued to fall from the sky.
Qianyu quickly shielded Ningqi behind her and killed two demons in succession.
Soon, the formation on Xie Jingyan's side was completed. A dazzling white arc-shaped light enveloped the entire main peak, and all the demons who stepped into the formation exploded and died, turning into black mist.
The morale of the Huaguang Sect members soared, and someone shouted, "Give it your all and kill them all!"
"Such arrogance." A bone-chilling cold wind suddenly arrived, and a middle-aged man with wide sleeves and black hair landed outside the formation, smiling as he slashed out with his sword.
The black knife slipped from their grasp, and before anyone could see what happened, the head of the cultivator who had just been encouraging everyone was already on the ground.
People around him gasped in surprise.
Xie Jingyan quickly noticed the unusual situation and his pupils constricted after recognizing the man's face. "The Demon Lord? He actually came?!"
He immediately ordered everyone to unleash even more spiritual power without reservation.
The formation's aura intensified, and the man calmly stretched out his hand. The broadsword flew back into his hand as if it had a mind of its own, and along its trajectory, the disciples with slightly weaker cultivation directly coughed up blood.
The formation had a flaw, and the light suddenly dimmed.
The Demon Lord's smile widened, and more demons followed behind him, supplying him with demonic energy.
He quickly realized that Yan Chongyan was the key to the formation, and the blood-stained tip of his knife was aimed at him from a distance.
Taking advantage of Qianyu's inattention, Ningqi rushed towards the center of the formation. Perhaps due to the intervention of the original plot, she passed through unimpeded and was not stopped by the demons.
Sure enough, this was her fate. Ning Qi gave a self-deprecating laugh to herself, rushed behind Yan Chongyan, and stood back to back with him.
"Princess!" Qianyu rushed after her, but was stopped by the demons.
Yan Chongyan was shocked. "What are you doing here! This is not the time to fool around. Get out of here!"
"Ding, 500 points of infatuation added!" The system shouted in Ning Qi's mind, almost cracking its voice.
“I’m not joking around.”
She looked around, glanced at the Demon Lord amidst the chaos, and then addressed the crowd, saying loudly, "As the rumors say, I am not the real princess."
The others looked at her with puzzled expressions.
"Now is not the time to talk about these things," Yan Chongyan said rapidly.
"It's time," Ning Qi said loudly. "On the day of the princess's birth, the emperor and Xie Jingyan calculated that the princess would sacrifice her life to fight against the demons and save the people! Therefore..."
Her gaze fell upon the emperor, who was being escorted away. He looked at her in surprise. "They replaced me, making me the scapegoat who sacrificed himself for everyone."
The people around her, while fighting against the demons, looked at her with suspicion and uncertainty.
"But since I've enjoyed the treatment of a princess, I'm willing to take on all of this."
"What are you saying?" Yan Chongyan asked urgently, wanting her to get away from here.
"Ha, what a touching speech." The Demon Lord laughed sarcastically, swung his greatsword disdainfully, and his body drifted, instantly entering the formation and rushing towards Yan Chongyan's location.
Yan Chongyan quickly raised his longsword to defend himself, but a powerful surge of demonic energy made it difficult to breathe.
The black mist enveloped him completely, constantly squeezing his body as if a giant hand were tightly gripping his internal organs. He tasted a metallic sweetness in his throat and vomited a mouthful of blood.
"Pathetic." The Demon Lord scoffed, demonic energy coiling around the black blade, gleaming coldly as it pierced straight toward Yan Chongyan's heart.
Yan Chongyan was momentarily panicked. He was too close to the Demon Lord, and the difference in their cultivation levels was too great. He simply couldn't dodge it!
At that moment, he was suddenly pushed aside, and in the black mist, he could only vaguely see a pair of incredibly bright eyes.
Yan Chongyan was terrified. He steadied himself and looked ahead. The demonic energy had dissipated, and Ning Qi was standing where he had been standing, a large knife stuck in her chest.
His pupils suddenly contracted, the surrounding sounds vanished in an instant, and his heartbeat almost stopped.
"Ningxi!" he heard himself shout, and his body rushed forward before his brain could give the command.
Blood trickled from Ning Qi's lips as her adrenaline surged, masking the deadly pain in her chest.
The Demon Lord looked at her with some surprise and said coldly, "You're just a worthless piece of trash with no spiritual power. You dare to block my blade? Die!"
Ning Xi raised her hand and gripped the blade tightly. Her palm quickly embedded itself in the blade, leaving a deep wound. With a sudden burst of strength, she pulled the broadsword out.
Blood gushed out like a fountain, and she could feel her body getting cold; her life was slipping away at an alarming rate.
However, as her blood flowed into the formation, the light surrounding the formation gradually brightened and began to spread outward until it became dazzling!
The demons who tried to enter the formation exploded and died the moment they were touched by the white light, while some were quick enough to escape the formation.
The Demon Lord stood at the center of the formation, and several beams of white light emanated from his body, piercing through it.
He looked down in terror, let out a shrill scream, and tried to fly away from the formation by touching the ground with his toes.
"The princess can really defeat the demons!" someone shouted excitedly. "Long live the princess!"
Xie Jingyan appeared at this moment and stopped the Demon Lord.
Ning Qi had already lost all her strength, and her body fell backward, landing in an unfamiliar embrace.
Her vision blurred, and she vaguely saw Yan Chongyan seemingly panicked, holding her and calling her name repeatedly, "Ningqi, Ningqi!"
The system excitedly shouted in her mind: "Ding, 1000 points of infatuation added! Host, we have completed the mission! My God! We even exceeded the score! We exceeded the mission target! This is unbelievable!"
The pain gradually seeped into her entire body like a rising tide. She couldn't hear what the system was saying at all, and could only frown and barely manage to shut it down.
The Demon Lord was stopped by Xie Jingyan, and the rest of the demons withdrew from the formation, seemingly all of them severely injured. The morale of the Huaguang Sect cultivators soared, and they shouted, "Eliminate the demons!"
The blinding light expanded further, enveloping the entire Huaguang Sect.
Ning Xi's body was almost frozen stiff. She breathed a final sigh of relief, and her consciousness began to drift away. She didn't even notice that the person holding her had been punched hard.
The next moment, a familiar scent enveloped her, pulling her back from the brink of death. She barely opened her eyes and was shocked to see Xiao Sui. His hand trembled as he covered her chest, as if trying to stop the blood from flowing out.
"Don't waste your energy," Ning Qi thought, trying to speak to him. She opened her mouth with immense difficulty, blood and froth gushing from her throat. With all her might, she uttered the hurtful words, "Get out... I don't want to... see you..."
"Princess." A hoarse voice, trembling with tears, seemed to ignore what she was saying, and his forehead pressed against hers.
Something wet and salty landed on her lips.
"Princess, I have found the Five-Petaled Nether Flower. Please open your eyes and take a look." A pleading voice rang in her ears. Ning Qi wanted to open her eyes and see him one last time, but her eyelids had lost their strength and drooped heavily.
She wanted to touch Xiao Sui one last time, but only moved her index finger slightly.
Xiao Sui noticed, took her hand in his, and kept calling her name, "Princess, Princess... please don't scare me..."
His calls grew increasingly helpless, his voice growing fainter and fainter.
Gradually, she could no longer hear at all.
Ning Qi's consciousness completely dissipated.
Qianyu finally reached the princess, slowly squatted down, and saw her hand hanging limply to the ground.
"Princess?" she called softly.
The people who had been chatting and laughing with her before would never respond to her again.
She choked back tears and said to Xiao Sui, "Give me the princess, and I will take her away."
Xiao Sui remained motionless, holding the princess tightly like a stone statue.
"It's too chaotic here, let's take the princess away first!" Qianyu pushed Xiao Sui forcefully through her tears.
Xiao Sui looked up, and Qian Yu was shocked to find that his face was as pale as a ghost, covered in blood and tears. He murmured and asked her, "Why... was it just a little bit short?"
She was startled and wanted to say something, but it was clearly not the right time. She forcefully pulled him up and said, "Let's go!"
Xie Jingyan and the Demon Lord fought fiercely within the formation. Thanks to the formation's assistance, Xie Jingyan gained the upper hand after exchanging dozens of blows, forcing the Demon Lord into a retreat.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Demon Lord threw his greatsword out of his hand, feigning an attack, but actually using it as cover to escape outside the formation.
He clutched his chest, glaring resentfully at the Huaguang Sect members, and shouted to the remaining demons, "Let's go!"
As soon as the words were spoken, the demons fled in a panic.
Xie Jingyan narrowed his eyes and did not order any further pursuit.
The dark clouds that had blotted out the sun moved away, and the sky returned to its azure blue.
The disciples of Huaguang Sect cheered, but when they looked towards the center of the formation, a somber atmosphere filled the air.
Yan Chongyan blocked Xiao Sui and Qian Yu's way and said to Xiao Sui, "He can't leave."
Qianyu panicked, "What are you doing? The most important thing now is to get the princess to a safe place."
"Are you going to let someone radiating demonic energy take the princess away?" Yan Chongyan asked sternly.
Qianyu looked at Xiao Sui in confusion, only then realizing that what surrounded him was not spiritual power, but demonic energy!
She exclaimed, "Young Master Xiao, what's wrong with you?"
"What's going on?" Xie Jingyan landed in front of them and looked at Xiao Sui. "It's obvious that there's still a remnant of the demon race here."
"He's not a demon!" Qianyu said urgently. "Master Jingyan, he must have accidentally come into contact with demonic energy!"
"How is this possible..."
"Get out of my way," Xiao Sui said in a hoarse voice.
Xie Jingyan frowned. "You betrayed Xiao Sui. Put the princess down."
The others also sensed the demonic energy emanating from him, and someone shouted, "He's a demon! Kill him!"
"Keep him away from the princess!"
"He killed the princess."
Xie Jingyan ordered, "Everyone, listen to my command! Immediately execute the traitor Xiao Sui!"
"He's not!" Qianyu stood protectively in front of Xiao Sui and the princess, weakly trying to explain, but no one listened to her.
She turned to look at the silent princess. If the princess were still alive, she would never have allowed these people to bully Xiao Sui like this.
The cultivators of Huaguang Sect quickly surrounded Xiao Sui.
Yan Chongyan said, "Put down the princess and surrender. She's been so good to you, do you really have such a heart that you'd use her body as a hostage?"
"How could you say such a thing?!" Qianyu questioned him incredulously.
Xiao Sui's face remained expressionless. He calmly handed the princess to Qianyu, then opened his storage bag and gave her a five-petaled flower that emitted a fluorescent white light.
A faint fragrance wafted into her nostrils.
"You found another one?" Yan Chongyan said incredulously. "Did you just come out of the Demon Cave?"
Xiao Sui remained silent. After ensuring Qian Yu's safe departure, he gripped the sword in his hand.
"Everyone, attack together and kill him!" someone shouted, and dozens of cultivators swarmed over.
"Wait, perhaps there's more to it than meets the eye," Yan Chongyan called out, but no one paid any attention.
Xiao Sui's lips were pale, and cold light flashed constantly in his hands. His tall, slender black figure moved nimbly among the cultivators, and the demonic energy on his body grew stronger and stronger.
With a "thud," the longsword pierced his body, halting his movements.
With his brief pause, more and more swords pierced his body, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Don't kill him!" Qianyu cried out in anguish, clinging tightly to the princess.
But these people completely regarded Xiao Sui as a demon, and countless long swords pierced his body, pinning him to the ground.
Xiao Sui's knees slammed heavily to the ground. His body was supported by a dense array of longswords, preventing him from falling. He hung his head and coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
The blood that flowed from him almost formed a small river in front of him.
He soon became completely silent.
"You've all gone mad, killing your own people like this!" Qianyu shouted angrily.
“Miss Qianyu, you have suffered a series of blows and are unable to bear it, so you are talking nonsense here.” Xie Jingyan walked up to Xiao Sui calmly. “He is full of demonic energy and is undoubtedly a demon.”
He placed his fingers on Xiao Sui's neck, feeling no pulse beneath his fingertips. Finally, he straightened up and said to everyone with a beaming smile, "The remaining demons are dead. We have successfully repelled the demon invasion!"
"Great!" the crowd cheered.
Only Yan Chongyan looked at Xiao Sui's corpse, then at the princess, and walked up to her, feeling no joy whatsoever.
"What about the substitute life the princess mentioned earlier?!" Xie Xiyue rushed up and asked.
Xie Jingyan's expression changed slightly, and he said reassuringly, "The princess may have been misled by the slander of others, but she is indeed the greatest contributor to defeating the demons. We will never forget her sacrifice. She gave her life to protect Huaguang Sect."
Xie Xiyue's face was covered in tears. "I...I would rather she hadn't saved everyone."
"You silly child." Xie Jingyan gave her a reproachful look, pulled her aside, and said to the others, "Everyone, take a rest."
Just as everyone was about to disperse, a large cloud of black mist suddenly drifted in from afar.
"The demons are here again?" someone exclaimed in alarm.
Everyone stared at the black mass.
Xie Jingyan stepped onto the sword, wanting to investigate further, but the black mass suddenly swooped down, heading straight for Xiao Sui's body.
The black mass enveloped Xiao Sui and then quickly flew away into the air.
“They’re going to take Xiao Sui away!” Yan Chongyan said.
"Stop it!" Xie Jingyan shouted sternly.
Someone rushed forward to try to pull Xiao Sui's body back, but as soon as they touched the black mass, his body suddenly exploded, turning into a cloud of blood mist that drifted down and landed on everyone's faces and bodies.
No one dared to make any further moves and could only watch helplessly as the black group led Xiao Sui away from there.
Xie Jingyan's face was ashen, his jaw muscles clenched, and he muttered to himself as if trying to comfort himself, "He can't live. He's already dead. Even if he's taken away, it won't make a difference."
——
The black mass carried Xiao Sui all the way back to the Demon Realm, into a deep cave, where it merged with another, even larger black mass, together enveloping Xiao Sui's unconscious body.
"What do we do! We're too late!"
"The Demon God is already covered in wounds."
"I sensed it a long time ago, but you just couldn't find the location!"
"You didn't find the right one either."
A cacophony of voices erupted, creating an incredibly noisy scene.
"Stop!" A slightly more mature voice silenced their chatter. "The Demon God can still be saved. Tell me everything that happened to him."
Several voices rang out at the same time, recounting the events of the previous day in three or four different versions, giving everyone a headache.
"Those worthless cultivators who besieged the Demon God are of low character and lack martial ethics!"
"They all deserve to die!"
A mature voice called them back to a halt, "Why did the Demon God activate the Demon Seal and then go to a place where cultivators gather?"
"have no idea."
"I don't know either."
This sentence was repeated eight times.
Only one voice said weakly, "When we first arrived, those monks were discussing some princess."
The largest black mass fluctuated slightly. "The princess? How is she?"
"Do you know that princess?" another voice asked curiously.
"I suppose so." A mature voice tinged with a hint of smugness. "Tell me quickly, what happened to her!"
"He's dead, he's not breathing."
"It seems they sacrificed themselves for those monks."
These dark figures were talking.
The mature voice clicked its tongue meaningfully, "This is troublesome. The Demon God and the princess did not have a good end either."
"Again?" The other voices keenly caught the oddity in its words. "What do you mean?"
"You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you." The mature voice carried a hint of superiority. "Now, let's save the Demon God. Those of you in your twenties, you're in charge of removing the swords from his body. Those of you in your thirties, you're in charge of stopping the bleeding. I'll be in charge of repairing his body. Let's get started!"
"Alright!" Everyone enthusiastically wrapped around Xiao Sui's body and began to pull out his sword.
A voice asked, "What will happen if the Demon God and the Princess don't have a good ending? Why is it so difficult?"
The voice laughed loudly, "It will make me inexplicably ten years younger, oh dear, that's quite a challenge."
Other members of the criminal organization expressed their doubts.
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Author's Note: Next up will be the complete version of Xiao Sui and the brand new version of Xiao Qi. [Okay]
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