Chapter 2721: Their Story
Demon Teng Valley was covered in poisonous weeds, the soil a dark purple-black color.
Inside the valley, the space was vast. Through the thick toxic mist and demonic miasma, one could see numerous boiling black pools. If an ordinary cultivator were to accidentally fall into one of these pools, they would instantly turn into white bones.
Extremely dangerous.
Mu Lingxi carried a spatial cloth bag as she walked into the valley.
"Roar!"
The toxic mist rolled, pitch-black like waves of ink, surging up to hover above her head.
Within the mist, a thick black python could be seen, sporting seven large wings that blotted out the sky and covered the earth.
"Hua!"
The black python flew down, its body shrinking as it stood before Mu Lingxi.
It took the form of a child, four or five years old.
Demon Teng stood barefoot, his face covered in demonic patterns, his pupils filled with evil intent, revealing two rows of sharp teeth. He complained, "Starving, starving! Send some saint-level living beings in here for me to eat."
"Haven't we already agreed that you won't eat flesh-and-blood beings anymore? How have you forgotten again?"
Mu Lingxi tapped him on his bald head.
"Didn't forget! But eating a few now and then to satisfy a craving should be fine, right?"
Demon Teng, quick-eyed and swift-handed, snatched the spatial cloth bag tied at Mu Lingxi's waist. Opening it, he frowned in disgust. "Why is it emerald olive fruits again?"
Saying this, he sat down on the ground, pulling out fruits as crystalline as jade and stuffing them into his mouth.
"Smack! Smack!"
One fruit per bite.
He didn't even spit out the pits.
"These emerald olive fruits were all tributed by cultivators from hundreds of thousands of miles around. If taken outside, each one could sell for a hefty price, and you're still being picky?"
Mu Lingxi sat down beside him, placing her hands on her knees, her gaze fixed on the sky.
"What kind of price? How many sacred stones? Would they be auctioned off in a grand hall? Or sold in those magnificent ancient cities you mentioned?" Demon Teng asked excitedly, full of curiosity.
Mu Lingxi replied, "Although emerald olive fruits have great alchemical value, they're not particularly rare. They wouldn't make it into an auction house."
"Tell me more about the outside world! I want to hear stories about the Dragon Clan, the legend of the Sword God, and the tales of the Heavenly Court are also very interesting." Demon Teng scratched his ears and cheeks, looking expectant.
The Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm was almost completely isolated from the outside world. Disciples like Guye Jing only emerged once every ten thousand years.
Although Demon Teng was the mount of Liu Shen, he had never left the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, rarely even leaving this valley. Thus, he was full of curiosity about the outside world.
His understanding of the outside world came entirely from Mu Lingxi's stories, which he found endlessly novel, listening with great relish and longing.
"Let's skip it for today," Mu Lingxi said, her spirits low, lacking her usual smile.
Demon Teng, oblivious to subtle cues, pressed on, "Why? Just tell me one story, even a short one!"
"Counting the time, it's been a thousand years since I came to the Hell Realm," Mu Lingxi suddenly said.
"A thousand years? What about it? A thousand years is pretty short—I've been in this valley for tens of thousands of years." Demon Teng continued eating the fruits, looking carefree.
Suddenly, as if struck by a thought, he asked, "Oh! I've always wondered—you said the Heavenly Court and Hell are opposed, with no room for coexistence. Why did you, a cultivator from the Heavenly Court, come to the Hell Realm?"
"To find someone."
"Did you find them?"
Mu Lingxi was silent for a long time, biting her red lip gently, then shook her head. Pain and cold resolve flickered in her eyes as she said in a deep, somber voice, "He was killed a thousand years ago!"
Demon Teng nodded. "Killed, that's good, that's good... no, that's not what I meant. I mean, who killed him? Do you want me to help you get revenge? I'm ferocious!"
His childish face twisted into a fierce expression, gritting his teeth and glaring.
Mu Lingxi said nothing, only shaking her head gently.
"By the way! The plan we discussed the other day—we can put it into action!"
"We'll sneak out together. I'll help you get revenge, and you take me to have fun. We have to go to the Heavenly Court, and the Kunlun Realm too. I must swim in that Heavenly River you mentioned."
Mu Lingxi's heart ached, her eyes reddening. "My enemy is incredibly powerful—Xiu Chen Heavenly God, who shakes the Hell Realm. You're no match for him."
"That's fine! Even if I'm not a match now, there might be a chance later." Demon Teng's round eyes showed no fear.
Mu Lingxi shook her head again. "Even if you one day gain the power to rival Xiu Chen Heavenly God, Master won't let you act. How could a god of the Hell Realm kill another god of the Hell Realm?"
A thousand years ago, when she learned of Zhang Ruochen's death at the hands of Xiu Chen Heavenly God, it struck her like a thunderbolt, nearly shattering her.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was one of the top-tier gods in the world, renowned throughout the Hell Realm.
With her cultivation, she was less than an ant before a terrifyingly powerful being like Xiu Chen Heavenly God. Seeking revenge was nothing but wishful thinking.
Mu Lingxi had long abandoned her family in the Kunlun Realm. In her heart, where Zhang Ruochen was, there was home.
But Zhang Ruochen's fall was like the collapse of her faith. It felt as though she had lost everything, unable to think of what to do next.
Cultivation itself became meaningless.
Just as she was about to follow him in death, the master of the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, Di Lao, accompanied by the realm-protecting demon god, visited the Great Luo Divine Palace of the Tian Luo Divine Kingdom.
In a chance moment, that powerful realm-protecting demon god secretly transmitted a voice to her, hoping for her help.
Mu Lingxi thought she had misheard—how could a saint-level cultivator like her possibly help him?
She asked many times but received no response from the realm-protecting demon god.
Later, she consulted ancient texts.
Finally, she learned the identity of the realm-protecting demon god.
Thus, Mu Lingxi guessed that Chi Xingtian had not completely died; a sliver of his consciousness and perception must have survived. But this sliver was extremely faint, only occasionally awakening.
Most of the time, he was in a dazed state.
Later, this was proven correct.
Having lost all hope, Mu Lingxi suddenly saw a glimmer again.
The hope of revenge!
If she could fully awaken Chi Xingtian, with his immense power, he might be able to kill Xiu Chen Heavenly God.
So, Mu Lingxi offered her only copy of the *Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription* to Di Lao, in exchange for becoming a disciple of the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm.
If there was no hope of revenge, what was the point of living?
When a person no longer cares about life or death, how could they care about a mere stone inscription?
Wind blew through the valley.
The sound of the wind was as sharp as a blade's cry.
Demon Teng asked, "The person you came all the way to the Hell Realm to find a thousand years ago—who was it?"
"Why don't you tell me the story between you two?"
Mu Lingxi took out an emerald olive fruit and took a bite. "Our story is very long. It would take three days and three nights to tell it all."
"Hey! I love long stories! Hurry up and tell me, please, pretty please?" Demon Teng completely missed the bitterness in Mu Lingxi's eyes and the longing in her gaze.
The emotions in her phoenix eyes gradually faded, becoming calm. "It starts in the Kunlun Realm."
"In the Kunlun Realm, there was an ancient sect called the Moon-Worshipping Cult. The cult wanted to expand its influence into the Eastern Domain but was constrained by the imperial court and the Martial Market Academy."
"So, they sent a holy maiden to infiltrate the Martial Market Academy, under the alias Duanmu Xingling. That holy maiden was me."
Demon Teng was intensely interested. "Is the status of a holy maiden very high? Like the Tian Ge Mu of the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm?"
Mu Lingxi smiled and shook her head. "It can't compare to the Tian Ge Mu. The holy maiden of the cult is just a pawn of the cult leader, sometimes even used as a tool to win people's loyalty. Don't interrupt—let me continue."
"The Martial Market Academy was very shrewd; direct infiltration was impossible. So, Duanmu Xingling first enrolled in a remote academy. That place was located in the Demon Ridge."
"Around the Demon Ridge were thirty-six commandery states. The person I was looking for was the Ninth Prince of one of them, the Yunwu Commandery. Technically, I was his senior sister."
Demon Teng grew even more excited, cheering, "A story of a prince and a holy maiden?"
"A story of a senior sister and a junior brother?"
"Is there any connection between the Demon Ridge and the Heavenly Demon? Was the *Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription* discovered in the Demon Ridge?"
"I told you not to interrupt! Why do you have so many questions? I'm not telling anymore!" Mu Lingxi said angrily.
Demon Teng said, "Go on, go on, I won't say anything, I won't ask! I'll eat the fruits! Isn't that enough?"
Next, Mu Lingxi recounted many details of the Demon Ridge, mentioning many fellow disciples.
She was both telling a story and reminiscing, fully immersed in her emotions.
Unknowingly, half a day had passed.
But she had only reached the underwater Dragon Palace of Tongming River when a divine voice sounded in her ears: "Lingxi, come to the Yunliu Divine Palace to see me."
Mu Lingxi's willow-leaf-like brows furrowed slightly.
"Keep going! Why did you stop? Were there dragons in the Dragon Palace?" Demon Teng propped his chin on one hand, focused and anxious.
"Master has sent me a message to go to the Divine Palace to see her. I'll continue next time. Remember, eat all the emerald olive fruits."
Mu Lingxi put down the other spatial cloth bag and walked out of the valley.
"That Ah Liu is such a troublemaker! Why does she have to see Mu Mu now? It's driving me crazy!" Demon Teng sat down, then stood up, pacing back and forth in the valley, having lost all appetite for the fruits.
The fruits had no taste at all.
Many gods would forge divine palaces.
A divine palace served both as a residence and cultivation abode, as well as a defensive and offensive war artifact, to prevent ambushes or disturbances during seclusion.
But these palaces were not true divine palaces.
A true divine palace must have the ability to gather profound meaning and sacred dao rules.
For example, no single cultivator could ever grasp more than one-tenth of the Truth Esoterica, but the Truth Divine Temple could.
That was a true divine palace.
Guye Yunliu's divine palace was located at the bottom of the Nine Demon Caves, gloomy and dark, in a place where light never reached.
As Zhang Ruochen entered the divine palace, he sensed that the demonic dao rules here were incredibly dense, with dark rules and death rules crisscrossing, devouring the heaven and earth rules.
From this, it was clear that Guye Jing's mother's divine palace must have gathered a large amount of profound meaning.
It was this profound meaning that drew these rules to this place.