Chapter 73 "I am not a demon..."
"Fellow practitioner?"
Ya Feiyu keenly caught the key words, her eyes trembling, and she asked in return, "You mean... I cultivate both spiritual and demonic energy?"
Seemingly surprised by Ya Feiyu's question, the previously somewhat aggressive aura suddenly solidified, hovering in mid-air with a bewildered air. A faint, translucent purple mist emanated from it, clinging to Ya Feiyu as if sensing something. Its glowing eyes narrowed slightly. "What, haven't you realized it yourself?"
...No, it wasn't that he wasn't aware; on the contrary, Ya Feiyu was fully aware of it. His body was a mixture of spiritual and demonic energy. An ordinary person wouldn't have survived this long, but he was different. As the former patriarch of the Tianyu Clan, he possessed the purest bloodline of a demon immortal, and his body had a relatively strong resistance to demonic energy. Although the Blood Jade Demon Pearl had never left his body during this time, it had never caused him any irreversible damage. In fact, in recent years, without external stimulation, the Blood Jade Demon Pearl had gradually calmed down, and even Ya Feiyu himself probably forgot about the existence of this little pearl.
However, the reality is quite different from what the air mass said.
Although demonic energy and spiritual energy both originated from chaos, they possess drastically different properties. Over millions of years, both have been refined by humankind, and the similarity between the two energies is now virtually nonexistent. Generally speaking, a person can only cultivate one energy as their primary path at a time. It is extremely rare for someone to cultivate both demonic and immortal energy simultaneously; even if such a person did, they would have long since suffered a qi deviation and are therefore negligible.
Ya Feiyu's current state is one of "demonic energy entering his body," which is far from "dual cultivation of immortality and demonism." He hadn't paid much attention to this before, but now, after hearing about this energy cloud, Ya Feiyu circulated his spiritual power and could indeed see a faint dark purple tinge showing through the once clear silver spiritual flow. It was demonic energy, inconspicuous yet hard to ignore, mixed in with his spiritual power.
This demonic energy had been accompanying him since some unknown time, and for some personal reasons, Ya Feiyu subconsciously chose to ignore it. Over time, he actually took it for granted and didn't pay any attention to it.
Seeing his reaction, the owner of the ruins knew that he probably hadn't realized this, and his tone inevitably carried a hint of disappointment: "Your own body... you don't care at all...?"
"...I have indeed neglected my cultivation during this period."
To minimize the effects of demonic energy entering his body, Ya Feiyu had barely improved his cultivation level during this period, and he didn't know how long it had been since he had properly examined his golden core. To be honest, he felt somewhat ashamed.
The owner of the ruins seemed to take a deep breath, and a gust of cold wind blew past from behind, causing Ya Feiyu to shiver involuntarily. The cloud of air circled him a few times, and the voice returned to its languid tone: "But the scent on you... doesn't quite smell like an ordinary person..."
"No matter what you are..." A faint laugh echoed from the darkness, its form gradually disappearing. Its dimly glowing eyes grew farther and farther away until they vanished completely, leaving only a hoarse, ethereal voice reverberating, "Anywhere further ahead... I advise you not to come any closer..."
Ya Feiyu finally breathed a sigh of relief, looked straight ahead, and said with a determined look in her silver eyes, "Thank you for your guidance, senior. I will be careful."
"Heh...a bird as stubborn as a donkey..."
The sound gradually faded away until the last note fell silent.
Ya Feiyu withdrew his gaze, composed himself, and continued walking forward.
...
All the way to the end of the corridor, the scene was completely different from what Ya Feiyu had imagined.
He had assumed this place would be a silent and terrifying one, the final source and destination of the surging demonic energy beneath the earth. He expected it to be permeated with the aura of death, its pure blackness and still air making any unsuspecting intruder feel its gloom and terror. But then, the warm light of torches flickered before him. Having walked without any light source, the sudden appearance of light startled Ya Feiyu. He even thought it was some kind of illusion created by demonic cultivators. Only after cautiously approaching did he realize it was simply a harmless torch, untouched by any demonic intervention. Following the light for a while, a heavy door appeared before him. The underground space was limited in height, and this door wasn't tall, yet its oppressive feeling was several times greater than the outer door.
Half-believing, Ya Feiyu raised his hand and touched the stone door covered with a thin layer of dust, channeling some spiritual energy into his palm. The next second, the world before his eyes suddenly went white, and his mind buzzed. Ya Feiyu's pupils contracted, his body trembled, and he hurriedly withdrew his hand. He stumbled backward, leaning against the wall, panting slightly, and it took him a while to recover from the feeling. He was somewhat frightened, a bead of cold sweat sliding down his forehead. The feeling was like... like being stared at by some kind of monster, sending chills down his spine.
"There's definitely a denser demonic energy behind this," Ya Feiyu was certain. Besides demonic energy, there were very few other energies in the world that clashed with spiritual energy to such an extent. With demonic energy this dense, Ya Feiyu couldn't easily break through as before; this was troublesome. He slightly turned his head, looking at the stone door, and felt the Blood Jade Demon Pearl buried deep within his body, as if summoned by some unknown force, uncontrollably resonating with the demonic energy behind the door, worsening his dizziness. Ya Feiyu frowned deeply. The demonic energy and spiritual energy, initially intertwined, separated again, clashing within his body, ultimately causing him only suffering. He painfully slid to his knees, clutching his head, panting like a defeated dog.
"Why are you running away...?" The voice of the ruins' master, which had barely faded away, appeared again, as if he had never disappeared. Ya Feiyu, experiencing a sharp ringing in her ears, barely managed to hear his voice. She slowly raised her eyes, her silver pupils shimmering with tears, her face pale, looking as if she had just been submerged in water. The ruins' master paused, then slowly said, "This is... your advantage..."
“No.” Ya Feiyu’s voice was weak and feeble, lacking any sense of authority. He said hoarsely, “I will not go down the same path again… I am a cultivator, not a demonic cultivator, not a demon lord…”
After he finished speaking, he covered his head with his hands, his voice soft yet shrill: "I'm not..."
The owner of the ruins let out a soft, distant sigh: "I don't know... what you've been through..."
"But... if you don't use demonic energy... you'll be trapped here for the rest of your life..."
"Because the route we came from was also blocked..."
Ya Feiyu suddenly woke up, looked up in surprise at the sudden point of light in the darkness, pursed his lips somewhat uncomfortably, then lowered his head to look at the floor, his right hand clenching weakly, then quickly letting go.
"I'll lose control," he murmured, his lowered eyelashes obscuring the expression in his eyes.
Why...don't you trust yourself a little?
"Spiritual energy acts according to its master's will, and so does demonic energy..."
"As long as you accept it... nothing is impossible..."
Its voice, melodious and ethereal, yet in that instant, it precisely struck at Ya Feiyu's deepest weakness. He fell silent, the unfocused look in his eyes sharpening slightly. He gazed at his hands and slowly closed his eyes. The owner of the ruins was right. From the moment of his rebirth, he had been resisting this demonic energy, as if it were evidence of his sins from his past life, constantly reminding him: "The sins you committed in your past life, do you think you can escape them by fleeing here?"
He took a deep breath, suppressing the surging thoughts in his heart. For a moment, his mind was clearer than ever before. He hadn't reached this state in a long time, and he could hardly feel any ease. Even his breathing was unusually relaxed. He took a deep breath into his chest, then exhaled sharply. When he opened his eyes again, a faint dark purple mist had gathered in his palms. The energy surging in his dantian was no longer clear spiritual power, but turbid demonic energy. This feeling wasn't entirely unfamiliar, but no matter how many times it happened, it would bring Ya Feiyu back to his most confused and muddled period, each time piercing his heart.
Here it comes again. Ya Feiyu thought, he closed his eyes, trying to steady his somewhat disordered breathing and heartbeat. That feeling of instinctively wanting to run away when he saw demonic energy was back again.
There is no escaping it.
A voice echoed in Ya Feiyu's mind, reminding him of this. He also tried to cast aside the nightmares brought on by his overly heavy past. He gathered demonic energy, raised his hand, and touched the heavy door. The previously restless demonic energy behind the door sensed his presence and instantly calmed down, becoming docile. After a short while, the stone door suddenly swung open, and all the demonic energy inside rushed out. Ya Feiyu subconsciously used his demonic energy to protect himself, preventing the surging gas from harming him in the slightest.
He could hardly believe it. Had his familiarity with demonic energy really reached such a level?
Although he hadn't dealt with demonic energy for quite some time, the mark deeply etched in his heart could never be erased. Ya Feiyu's silver eyes darkened. He was about to turn back to thank the ball of energy, but when he turned around, all that remained behind him was empty darkness.
Ya Feiyu was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously called out, "Senior?"
No one answered; only the bleak wind blew by, as if the so-called owner of the ruins was just a hallucination that seemed real.
Ya Feiyu remained silent for a moment, then looked away and gazed at the pitch-black space beyond the stone door. It was even darker inside than it appeared from the outside. Ya Feiyu held up a ball of flame in his palm for illumination, but as soon as he could see the path ahead, the flame was extinguished by a gust of demonic energy.
Ya Feiyu: "..."
Well, it seems that even though the demonic energy here has dissipated, it is still as unfriendly to spiritual energy as ever.
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