Chapter 99: Volume 1 Chapter 99: Demon Lord x Nine-Tailed Fox x Orthodox Sect Leader (4)

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Divine Clan's primordial god perished together with the Demon Lord, their divine souls annihilated. Meanwhile, the villain Fuxue, son of the Demon Clan, was sealed beneath the Abyss.

At that time, Fuxue was still young, his power far surpassing that of the previous Demon Lord, making it impossible to destroy his body and soul completely. The Divine Clan could only seal him.

Chill Iron was driven through each segment of his spine, linked to his flesh and evil spirit, to suppress his growth.

Day and night, without cease, the torment gradually turned the boy Fuxue into an emotionless demon.

In the story, this seal lasted a thousand years, until it weakened slightly and Fuxue broke free, escaping the Abyss.

Heavy, icy cold iron hung in midair; as she drew nearer, Jiang Zhi saw his body covered in frost.

Brutal yet unbearable to behold.

Jiang Zhi stopped before him, not yet speaking; the boy kneeling on the ground, having perhaps heard the sound, slowly lifted his head.

It was a flawless face, pure and ignorant like an ancient elf, features so delicate they resembled a doll displayed on a counter, his black hair falling along the sides of his face to his waist, setting off skin as white as jade fat.

Shockingly, his eyes had been gouged out, leaving empty, pitch-black voids.

The boy showed a bewildered expression, then after a moment whispered:

"Who… are… you?"

Jiang Zhi froze for a moment, her gaze sweeping the surroundings, a sense of illusion arising in her heart.

Everything before her felt extraordinarily real, completely unlike the illusion the system had described.

The boy, receiving no answer, drooped his head; as he moved, the cold iron on his body clanged, emitting a piercing sound.

Jiang Zhi pressed her lips; the boy before her looked under ten, frail and weak, burdened with heavy chains larger than anyone else's, making anyone feel reluctant.

Especially since his face held no trace of resentment or anger, only deep loneliness.

Today marks the first hundred years of his sealing; ahead lie endless thousands of years with no end in sight, hearing any sound, only ceaseless silent solitude.

Even though everything before her was an illusion brought by the fantasy, Jiang Zhi still felt some discomfort.

She half‑knelt and asked gently: "Does it hurt?"

Hearing the sound, the boy suddenly lifted his head, brows curved, "No… no, it hurts."

He was overly excited and had not spoken for a long time, so his words stumbled, not fluent.

Before she could speak again, the boy leaned forward, his hollow eyes slightly lifting, a faint phosphorescent glow spilling onto his face as he hesitantly asked: "You… are… you… come… to… accompany… me…?"

Jiang Zhi was unaccustomed to his word‑by‑word outburst, barely grasping his meaning.

Seeing the boy's earnest, expectant look, the words she wanted to say suddenly stopped; she slowly nodded and replied:

"Mm, I've come to keep you company."

Since it's an illusion, I'll go along with him.

The boy was overjoyed; if he still had eyes, they would surely glitter now, filled with starlight.

"I… my… name… is… F… u… x… u… e." He could not wait to tell her his name; after speaking, he curiously asked: "And you?"

Jiang Zhi: "Zhizhi."

"Zhi, zhi." The boy tried hard to say her name smoothly, but after many attempts he still uttered it syllable by syllable, yet he was not discouraged.

Next time he will surely get it right.

The illusion was too real; whether the temperature here or the details of the cavern's crevices, it matched the true Abyss exactly.

The boy seemed to understand nothing, and also did not know.

He didn't even know why he was sealed here.

The boy merely thought he had done something wrong.

He greatly enjoyed Jiang Zhi telling him stories, wanting to hear any tale, as if he had endless energy.

"Zhi, zhi, star, star, what… are… they… like?"

"Zhi, zhi, I… am… also… a… mortal…?"

"Zhi, zhi…"

After finishing a story, he had countless questions to ask her.

Jiang Zhi inexplicably felt as if she were caring for a child.

She needed no food, but at that point she grew a little drowsy.

The system informed her that it was already eleven at night; the usually early‑to‑bed, early‑to‑rise Jiang Zhi grew sleepier the more she spoke.

"Let's continue tomorrow." She yawned, lay down on the ground, half‑closed her eyes, and told him: "I'm going to sleep."

The boy did not know what 'sleep' meant, did not ask further, but listened intently to her steady breathing.

Not long after, pain intensified throughout his body, a piercing chill assailed him, making him unable to straighten his waist, his back bowed, frost crept over his complexion, dark ancient patterns spread, faintly flickering with a mysterious sheen.

The Divine Clan had placed a spell in the cold iron; each day a period of time, the cold iron piercing his bones released chill poison, which, like countless needles, brought him endless agony.

These were merely attempts to destroy his soul‑body, but they had never succeeded; even the not‑yet‑adult Fuxue was simply too strong.

In her sleep, Jiang Zhi was awakened by his suppressed moan; opening her eyes, she saw the boy sprawled on the ground, struggling and trembling.

The cold iron hanging above his head flickered with dim and bright light, giving a chilling sense of danger.

And the boy, whose body was pierced with cold iron, endured torment that ordinary people could not bear.

This happened every day, never a moment of respite.

"Fuxue!" She stepped forward; before touching his body, her fingers felt a bone‑chilling cold.

Cold.

She halted in place, brows tightly furrowed.

The boy lying on the ground still retained some consciousness; hearing the sound, he slowly lifted his head, his pallid little face forcing out a smile.

"Zhi, zhi, I… am… fine."

He had grown accustomed to it; everything he endured had become routine.

Jiang Zhi never expected that at this moment he could still comfort himself; he asked the system, "Can I restore my mana?"

777 hesitated a moment, then said: "There is a method to restore the Host's mana, but after leaving the illusion, there will be a period of sleep."

"... Host, actually you don't need to worry about the villain; it's just deep in his memory now, not reality."

So doing these is just futile.

Jiang Zhi smiled: "Brother Seven, you don't understand this. As long as the villain regains his memory, everything in the illusion, he will also know."

777 immediately understood; for the mission, it was like heavenly help.

"I will now restore the Host's mana."

As soon as 777's words fell, Jiang Zhi felt his whole body start to heat up, until the demon core inside his body recovered.

The moment she restored her mana, she first dispelled the boy's chill, but her little mana was insignificant before the cold iron forged from extreme cold meteorite iron, utterly unable to make a dent.

She bit her lip, pondered briefly, then immediately extracted the demon core from her body, placing it on the boy's brow; the heat from the fire-attribute nine-tailed demon core quickly absorbed all his coldness.

The cold poison was blocked, and the torment it brought gradually faded.

The boy's complexion returned to normal.

The demon core returned to her body; Jiang Zhi instantly spat out a mouthful of blood from the cold, could not maintain her human form, collapsed to the ground, enveloped by the cold air.