Chapter 82
As time went by, the only way between the demon realm and the monster realm used to be by water. After many years of development, a land route was built.
She hummed a song all the way, acting as the driver while enjoying the scenery.
Her stomach rumbled, and she took out the food she had bought at the market and ate it in big mouthfuls. She had also bought a small jar of wine. She ate grass and gnawed on a chicken leg. Life couldn't be more enjoyable.
Little did she know, she had already been targeted.
She felt drowsy shortly after eating, and her mind seemed more foggy than usual.
She had a vague feeling that something was wrong. She glanced at the wine she had just drunk. The tavern owner had been so enthusiastic towards her, and she had impulsively bought it. Could there be something wrong with the wine...?
As she lost consciousness, a figure emerged from behind the carriage. The man glanced at the unconscious Mo Xiaoxin and a wicked smile appeared on his face.
When Mo Xiaoxin woke up again, she found herself locked in a dark cave.
In a daze, she looked at the layout of the cave and it seemed familiar, but Mo Xiaoxin couldn't remember it for a moment. She rubbed her head and chest, which felt a little uncomfortable. She must have been poisoned.
She sensed someone watching her from not far away, turned her eyes to look in that direction, and was startled.
Across from her sat rows of people, all sitting cross-legged, their bodies thin and bony, their hair disheveled and their clothes tattered, looking as if they were on the verge of death.
A strange black sphere hung above their heads, barely keeping them from falling. Some had their eyes closed, while others stared at her with their eyes wide open.
This eerie scene sent chills down Mo Xiaoxin's spine. She glanced at her head and saw that it was completely empty.
She tried to stand up, but found that she had no strength and could not circulate her spiritual energy.
She touched the box that Mu Xiaoxiao had given her and breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, it was still there.
She didn't know what kind of poison she had been given, but she found a purple pill based on the general effects that Mu Xiaoxiao had described to her.
After taking it, she felt a cool, refreshing sensation in her throat.
The dizziness and discomfort have disappeared!
She never expected the medicine Xiaoxiao gave her to be so miraculous; she had never tried it before.
She still felt weak, so she searched for some pills and took out a green one.
This is the Panacea, capable of curing hundreds of poisons. It's the simplest and most effective method, but unfortunately, there's only one of these pills, making it extremely precious.
Never mind, let's eat first and get through this.
She swallowed it, and before long, her body gradually recovered. She then tried circulating her spiritual energy.
Streams of spiritual energy flowed through her body. Mo Xiaoxin was overjoyed. This is wonderful!
Just as she had guessed, her ice magic would always recover when she was in danger.
The people opposite her were still staring at her without moving, as if she were dead.
She stepped forward without fear to investigate and found that these were either demons or monsters, and each of them had a small mark on their wrist, as if blood had been drawn from them.
She suddenly remembered seeing a similar mark on Heng Xiaotao's wrist.
These people now look blank and their souls seem to have left their bodies, just like when Heng Xiaotao had an attack of her illness.
Who brought them here? And what do they want from them?
She recalled the cave she had seen at the Ye family's house...
Could it be that the place she is in now is the cave where the Ye family used to conduct experiments?
Mo Xiaoxin counted the people in the cave; there were about twenty.
She clenched her fists. The Ye family had indeed committed countless evils!
There was a rustling sound outside, as if someone was coming.
Mo Xiaoxin quickly sat back down and closed her eyes.
The footsteps, approaching from afar, stopped in front of Mo Xiaoxin. In the quiet cave, she could hear the person's soft breathing.
It's a man!
Mo Xiaoxin remained motionless as the man helped her up and wrapped something around her neck. Mo Xiaoxin understood that this meant she would be like the others, with a black thing hanging on her head.
Her hands were slowly raised, and just as the man was about to attack Mo Xiaoxin, Mo Xiaoxin suddenly opened her eyes and struck straight at him.
The man quickly dodged backward, creating distance between the two.
"The Demon Queen is indeed extraordinary; even when she is poisoned, she can easily recover."
That night was in Deqing.
Mo Xiaoxin coldly stared at the man who had revealed his true colors. "It really was you! Your Ye family has been doing shady things all along!"
Ye Deqing raised an eyebrow: "So what? My beloved Demon Queen is in my hands. Tell me, will the Demon Lord obey me?"
Mo Xiaoxin frowned, sensing that Ye Deqing's tone suggested a larger scheme: "What exactly do you want to do?"
Ye Deqing: "What I want to do, the Demon Queen will find out soon enough."
Ye Deqing moved his right hand slightly, and the black spheres above those people's heads suddenly began to tremble. Then, all those people raised their heads and stared ahead.
The black sphere began to emit a faint red glow, the contrast between black and red creating an eerie effect. The dense clusters of light resembled a flock of night herons.
She saw that the people on the far left looked dazed, as if they were in a daze. The black sphere above their heads was also unusually large and was constantly writhing. Finally, the black sphere sucked something out of one of their heads.
Mo Xiaoxin was stunned; that thing was the man's soul.
The soul struggled frantically, but to no avail. The black sphere swallowed the soul whole, and then grew even larger, becoming as big as a human head.
After his soul was devoured, the man was finally exhausted. Even though his head was being pulled up by the black sphere, his entire body was hanging limply.
"What are you doing collecting their souls?" Mo Xiaoxin asked, puzzled.
To cruelly and vividly extract a person's soul from their body must be incredibly painful! She felt goosebumps all over her body.
Ye Deqing: "Since the Demon Queen is so clever, why don't you take a guess?"
Mo Xiaoxin had no idea what this pervert was up to. The fact that he had gone through so much trouble to kidnap these people meant that it couldn't be as simple as just wanting to eat their souls.
She was new to this world and didn't understand some of its rules.
Seeing that Mo Xiaoxin couldn't guess, Ye Deqing said with some regret, "Considering that the Demon Queen is so humble and eager to learn, I'll tell you. I only take three-tenths of these people's souls. This three-tenths is their essence, energy, and spirit. I use their souls to make precious medicinal herbs, and then have powerful demon realm experts consume them so they can be used by me and become my puppets. As for these people..."
He glanced at the withered, drooping figure on the ground and said dismissively, "It's just medicinal material used to make medicine."
Mo Xiaoxin exclaimed in surprise: "You want to cultivate your own power!"
Ye Deqing gave Mo Xiaoxin an approving look: "Hmm, not bad. Now guess what my ultimate goal is?"
Mo Xiaoxin was shocked. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that Ye Deqing was playing a very big game.
"You... do you want to become the overlord of this demon realm?" Mo Xiaoxin's voice trembled slightly.
Ye Deqing laughed heartily: "The Demon Queen is indeed extremely clever!"
He looked ambitiously at the black spheres that were still continuously absorbing people's souls: "Do you see my Soul-Devouring Bowl? This is something I meticulously researched and developed. Do you know how much effort I put into inventing this thing? Do you know how much time I spent on becoming the Demon Lord? I've laid out layer by layer to become the head of the four major families. My magnificent empire is finally about to have its day!"
Ye Deqing's eyes were filled with a thirst for power.
Mo Xiaoxin was shocked. She never expected that Ye Deqing's ambition was so great that he actually wanted to climb to the position of Demon Lord.
Mo Xiaoxin sneered: "So, for your ambition, you're willing to kill so many people?"
Ye Deqing shook his head: "I didn't take their lives. I spared their lives so they can continue living. There will just be a few minor side effects..."
Mo Xiaoxin's lips were trembling.
He didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with what he did; on the contrary, he felt that he had a very good conscience and hadn't killed them.
This person is utterly inhuman and utterly unreasonable!
"Ye Deqing! A monarch should love his people and his country and care for them, not play with the lives of his subjects at will! Your heart is truly wicked!"
Ye Deqing clearly disagreed: "Being powerful, ambitious, and able to lead everyone to become the world's hegemon are the qualities a monarch should possess most! Not hiding in the Demon Palace all day counting stars! People who don't know the situation would think our Demon Realm is full of cowards!"
Mo Xiaoxin found Ye Deqing's sophistry laughable. As a demon lord, Leng Huai brought peace and prosperity to the demon realm when he was around. Yet, in Ye Deqing's words, he was portrayed as someone who hid in the palace and only knew how to enjoy himself.
"It is precisely because of people like you that the Demon Realm is so restless, and that Leng Huai is so exhausted!" Mo Xiaoxin said disdainfully.
"I simply cannot reason with women like you. If I, Ye Deqing, were to become the Demon Lord, I would surely unify the demon realm, the human realm, the underworld, and even the immortal realm and the divine realm under the control of my demon realm!"
Mo Xiaoxin sneered: "You've got quite the nerve, but you don't have the ability!"
Ye Deqing's eyes were filled with greed: "If I can make the Demon Queen, who knows ice magic, my puppet, then my plan will definitely be twice as effective."
Mo Xiaoxin stared coldly at the person in front of her who seemed about to skin her alive: "That depends on whether you have the ability!"
Having said that, Mo Xiaoxin conjured an ice sword in her hand and swiftly attacked like the wind.
Unlike in the Ruins of Ashes, there was no lava pool here to restrict metal-type spells. Ye Deqing dodged quickly like a slippery fish, and Mo Xiaoxin couldn't get close to him at all.
While easily dodging, Ye Deqing took out a knife and pierced his finger. The Soul-Devouring Bowl sensed the blood and emitted bursts of black light. Then, the blood flew into the bowl and merged with it, emitting a terrifying black and red light.
This eerie magical artifact sent chills down her spine...
We must finish this quickly!
A chill crept up her spine, and she focused her spiritual energy into the Ice Crystal Sword, preparing to stab Ye Deqing.
Ye Deqing calmly and gently tapped the Soul Devouring Bowl with a small stone, and the Soul Devouring Bowl emitted a huge booming sound.
Mo Xiaoxin's head instantly throbbed with pain. The sound was as if someone was banging a megaphone next to her ear, and her eardrums were about to burst.
Those on the ground covered their ears in pain and curled up in a ball upon hearing the sound.
"Your Majesty, I have long coveted your Ice Soul." Before Ye Deqing could finish speaking, the Soul Devouring Bowl suddenly emitted a piercing buzz, transforming into a huge black vortex that tore spiderweb-like cracks through the void.
Mo Xiaoxin's pupils contracted sharply, realizing something was wrong.
Unexpectedly, the Soul-Devouring Bowl possessed such a powerful suction force that it nearly tore her soul apart. She even seemed to have lost her senses.
Inside the cave.
An old man in a black robe was seen continuously nourishing the Soul-Devouring Bowl with his blood, while the woman on the ground was trembling all over. The Soul-Devouring Bowl above her head was spinning violently. Suddenly, a transparent figure floated out from the woman's body, and the Soul-Devouring Bowl, as if it were hungry, fiercely absorbed the transparent figure.
In a daze, she seemed to see skyscrapers and endless work...
Is she going back...?
No, she's clearly doing a mission!
The system won't let her off the hook until she completes the task!
She pressed her tongue against her teeth and bit down hard! A strong, metallic taste of blood spread through her mouth, instantly clearing her mind and bringing her wandering soul back to reality.
Ye Deqing frowned deeply: "Damn it! Their willpower is quite strong!"
She flipped backwards on her toes, and the Ice Sword transformed into a torrential downpour of ice blades.
Ye Deqing's withered hand swept across the void, and nine golden chains burst from the ground, directly shattering the ice blade.
Mo Xiaoxin retaliated by throwing out ice shard chains again. The two collided and burst into dazzling sparks, instantly freezing the ground into spiderweb-like ice patterns and twisted metal grooves.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the patterns on the surface of the Soul-Devouring Bowl were becoming increasingly scarlet, and the suction force had intensified, setting off alarm bells in her mind.
We must finish this quickly, or her soul might really perish here today.
The Soul-Devouring Bowl, now saturated with blood, suddenly swelled several times in size, enveloping Mo Xiaoxin in a devouring force field.
She felt as if her soul was being torn apart by a thousand hands. The moment her back hit the stone wall, she spat out a mouthful of blood onto the surface of the Soul-Devouring Bowl, and the blood was instantly absorbed.
Ye Deqing grinned maliciously as he approached, his golden chain wrapping around her wrist. "Struggling is useless. Obediently offer your soul!"
"Absolutely not!" Mo Xiaoxin's nails dug deeply into her palms, her spiritual energy surging through her meridians. "Even if I die, I'll take you down with me!"
Mo Xiaoxin gritted her teeth, a chill emanating from her body; success or failure hinged on this moment!
The raging flames melted the golden chains, and she seized the opportunity to plunge the Ice Crystal Sword into the Soul Devouring Bowl.
Cracks appeared on the surface of the black bowl, but suddenly thousands of tiny chains rolled out, piercing through the ice flames and stabbing into her ankles, while black mist spread like venomous snakes.
Damn it! That old bastard had a backup plan!
The excruciating pain made her vision go black, but her grip on the sword tightened even more.
At the critical moment of life and death, Mo Xiaoxin poured her last spiritual power into the Ice Sword, which then emitted a strong icy blue light.
I won't lose to him!
Mo Xiaoxin gritted her teeth.
She stared at the Soul-Devouring Bowl that was still hovering above her head, and with all her might, she pierced through it: "Shatter!"
With her movement, a deafening roar shattered the sky, and the Soul-Devouring Bowl exploded into countless fragments.
Ye Deqing staggered backward, his eyes flashing with disbelief and rage: "He actually... destroyed my Soul-Devouring Bowl!"
Mo Xiaoxin was thrown backward by the recoil, her back slamming against the cold stone wall, causing her pain. With her last breath, she pulled the Demon God Staff from behind her and slammed it down at Ye Deqing.
Ye Deqing lost too much blood and did not expect that Mo Xiaoxin could shatter the Soul Devouring Bowl. He was hit by the Demon God Staff without paying attention and spat out a mouthful of blood. He then collapsed to the ground.
Mo Xiaoxin gasped for breath, her body limp and weak. She barely managed to sit down, supporting herself against the stone wall, but her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
I can't die here... I must survive...
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