Chapter 191: The Dao Fetus Opens Its Eyes

Chen Qiankun coughed forcefully twice without looking back: "Which goes to show, a person really can't stay idle. I'll go write that letter right now."

He strode off in another direction.

Worthy of an Embracing Elixir Realm cultivator—at his age he could still move like the wind, vanishing in just a few breaths.

Jiang Qiulan's expression was calm; she raised the tips of her brows slightly.

Though the old general was rather clumsy in cultivation and not very powerful, precisely because of that he was far more cautious than the other Zhen Mo generals, absolutely unwilling to let any momentary carelessness cause trouble in Outside Qingzhou.

After all, asking younger colleagues for aid was the sort of thing that, once spoken of, would damage one's reputation.

But whenever he felt a matter was even slightly beyond his control—for instance, sensing a demon at Qingfeng Mountain—even if that demon did nothing at all, he would still immediately have a demon-catcher send word to Lady Yushan.

Yet now he could actually spout such nonsense.

It seemed his confidence was truly rock-solid.

Jiang Qiulan looked toward Shen Yi; clearly, the old general's confidence came precisely from the man before her.

The Miss's lips curved slightly: "I'm quite curious—what exactly did the old general see, that made him set aside his worries and caution?"

"I think he's been plenty cautious."

Shen Yi gazed in the direction Chen Qiankun had left, feeling an inexplicable admiration for the man's ability to keep his eyes open and pretend he hadn't seen anything.

"There's actually no need to have General Chen send word."

Jiang Qiulan walked over slowly: "I had originally planned to come to Yangchun River, settle this matter, and then go find you."

Shen Yi turned his head in confusion: "Mm?"

"About seven or eight days ago, every named demon within Outside Qingzhou suddenly began withdrawing."

A hint of puzzlement colored Jiang Qiulan's voice: "Does this have something to do with you?"

After their last parting, she had thought Shen Yi needed demon cores; her own realm had hit a bottleneck, and sitting in idle meditation was useless, so she planned to ask the Zhen Mo generals of other commanderies whether there were any demon traces.

Yet the replies she received were astonishingly uniform.

The demons that had been ravaging the twelve commanderies had vanished without a trace in just a few short days.

The only one capable of such a thing was the Howling Moon Demon King.

It was as if the old demon king had deliberately given the Zhen Mo Si and the demon-catchers a holiday, letting them find time to rest properly.

"……"

Shen Yi lowered his eyes, pondered briefly, then shook his head: "It has nothing to do with me."

The timing didn't match.

At that point he had just finished killing the Green-Faced Lion and the Rabbit Demon; unless General You had also mastered the Carefree Wind-Riding Art to perfection and then sprinted at full speed to report to the demon king, there was no way the reaction could have come this fast.

"Something about this sits uneasy with me."

Jiang Qiulan seemed already accustomed to speaking her true thoughts in front of Shen Yi: "The little demon king was wounded. By their usual habits, they would never give the Zhen Mo Si a chance to pull their hands free, yet now they've done the opposite—even arranging for the old flood dragon to ambush General Chen…"

Without Shen Yi, the attack would very likely have succeeded.

And then the Zhen Mo Si would have been thoroughly enraged.

Jiang Qiulan's puzzlement lay precisely here: Howling Moon withdrew the demons, then enraged the Zhen Mo Si—what was the point? Surely not to lure Jiang Yuanhua out.

The Howling Moon Demon King and the Inspector had faced off for so many years; surely he knew that, in this man's eyes, anything other than Outside Qingzhou was something he could endure.

"……"

Shen Yi's brows knit tightly—he had only killed five, and the demons' side was already starting to withdraw.

This was not good news at all.

Once they gathered together, they would naturally notice several more Embracing Elixir demon lords were missing; even if they didn't know it was his doing, they could deduce that Outside Qingzhou now possessed the ability to assassinate them in utter silence.

What a pity.

As long as there were enough demon cores and lifespan, both the Immortal-Demon Nine Transformations and the Tiannan Dan Shi held the potential to break straight through to the next realm.

By Shen Yi's earlier calculations, the number of demon lords under the Howling Moon Demon King should have been more than ample; with his current strength, given enough information, assassination was almost risk-free.

Now things were a little uncomfortable.

Taking in Shen Yi's expression, Jiang Qiulan pressed her red lips together lightly—sure enough, she wasn't the only one who felt something was off.

She said quietly: "I'd like to stay with you for a while."

Last time, she'd merely chatted with him for a few sentences, and her realm had inexplicably advanced.

"……"

Shen Yi gathered his thoughts, thought it over briefly, and immediately understood what this woman was after; he felt a touch helpless: "I already told you—chop a wooden stump and stick it there, and the effect would be the same."

She's hit a realm bottleneck again and started clutching at straws, hasn't she.

"I'm free anyway."

The curve at the corner of Jiang Qiulan's lips grew a touch more pronounced: "With General Shen here, even General Chen doesn't need my help. If I'm not mistaken, the three demon lords you mentioned eliminating earlier should be from Tingyang Commandery, right?"

"Truly impressive," her voice carried a little less cool detachment and a little more clear, pleasant brightness.

"It's alright."

Shen Yi couldn't shake the feeling this conversation had happened somewhere before.

Let her tag along, then.

It happened that he had nothing to do either.

Since becoming a Silver Bell demon-catcher, this was the first time Shen Yi had found himself in the awkward predicament of having no demons to kill.

He turned and headed toward the widow and the madman's lodging.

The two of them had long since tidied a room spotlessly clean.

In the courtyard, Old Man Chen was still pinching his brush, pondering how to write the letter so as to appear utterly nonchalant, yet make the generals of other commanderies envious of him.

Until the young lady in black armor, hands clasped behind her back, calmly stood behind him watching him write: "There's even one for me?"

Chen Qiankun dry-coughed twice, awkwardly crumpling the letter he'd prepared to send to Lady Yushan.

Fang Heng rose respectfully and bowed, secretly laughing to himself — in Outside Qingzhou, there truly was no one who didn't fear his senior sister.

Inside the room, the door tightly shut.

Shen Yi did not rest, but instead took the old flood dragon's demon core out of the silver bell.

The demon suddenly showed an unusual movement.

Though he did not know the reason, it was certainly nothing good.

His current strength had undergone a qualitative leap, but if he faced a true Demon King, it would still seem somewhat insufficient.

The flood dragon was already among the Nine Transformations of Immortal and Demon; he planned to use this demon core on Tiannan Dan Shi.

He opened the panel, using the flood dragon core to fill the outer pill.

The vast lifespan of the demon began to drain away.

One hundred years… six hundred years… one thousand three hundred years…

Shen Yi did not know how dull and tedious the world within the panel was, but within his sight, the Dao Seed in his body, brimming with vitality, was now taking shape at a terrifying speed!

A demon core from a flood dragon that had achieved perfect Core Formation, containing nearly seven thousand years of its cultivation, ceaselessly filled the deficit of the Heavenly Demon outer pill, which then fed the Dao Seed through this outer pill.

The fierce demonic power was entirely devoured by Shen Yi's Dao Seed.

Along the blood threads spreading out from the Dao Seed, the shapes of a body and a head gradually appeared, growing increasingly solid; it curled up within the inner core, like a sleeping infant.

【In the two thousand six hundred and seventieth year, you successfully condensed a Dao Fetus upon the Dao Seed. The demonic power came from heaven and earth, and the Dao Fetus condensed from demonic power was a being born of heaven and earth. You quietly gazed at its blurred face, and finally a trace of irrepressible excitement welled up in your heart.】

【Just then, you suddenly noticed it opened its eyes and gave you a mocking smile.】

(End of chapter)