Dual Cultivation Teasing, Frost in Beautiful Eyes
Blood Nether Demon Lord's withered palm surged with thick crimson light, blocking Mu Xueyi's lethal sword thrust straight at his brow in the nick of time!
The instant the sword tip clashed with the blood light, a visible shockwave erupted, churning the blood pool into violent waves while loose stones rained from the cavern walls.
Mu Xueyi's expression shifted slightly. Her toes tapped lightly on the blood surface, and her figure drifted back like a swallow, instantly returning to Su Rui's side.
She lowered her voice, a hint of confusion in her tone. "What happened? He shouldn't have sensed my sneak attack at that moment!"
Su Rui's gaze swept over the surging blood mist in the cavern, realization dawning. "This blood qi must be an extension of his divine sense. From the moment we stepped into the cave, we've been within his perceptual range."
Mu Xueyi focused intently and indeed spotted faint energy fluctuations weaving through the blood mist. Her delicate brows furrowed. "So this is the uniqueness of the Blood Fiend Sect's cultivation art—it can refine an entire cavern into one's domain of perception!"
Blood Nether Demon Lord slowly rose from the blood pool, blood qi roiling around him. Behind him, it coalesced into a faint, shadowy crimson demonic silhouette.
"Who exactly are you two? How did you breach the outer restrictions without alerting anyone?"
His sunken eyes gleamed with dangerous bloodlight as he scrutinized them closely, his voice hoarse and low. "Judging by your bone age, you're both quite young! To form a Nascent Soul at such an age—truly formidable juniors!"
"You're talking too much!"
Mu Xueyi said coldly. Ming Lan in her hand suddenly bloomed with brilliant radiance, the phoenix patterns on the blade seeming to come alive.
Her figure shot forth like lightning, leaving an afterimage in place. As she swung Ming Lan, she unleashed the twelfth form of the Jade Phoenix Sword Art: "Phoenix Wings Soaring to the Heavens."
The sword light transformed mid-air into a pair of resplendent phoenix wings, each feather forged from pure sword qi, whistling through the air with tearing shrieks as they bore down on Blood Nether Demon Lord.
In response, Blood Nether Demon Lord formed a bizarre blood seal with his hands. A thick blood shield instantly materialized before him.
Countless agonized, twisted faces emerged on the shield's surface, emitting shrill wails.
The phoenix wing sword gang slammed into the blood shield with a deafening boom!
The shield shuddered violently under the dazzling sword light, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface as the myriad resentful spirits howled even more miserably.
Yet the shield held, blocking this mountain-splitting strike dead in mid-air.
"Oh?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Blood Nether Demon Lord's eyes. "Isn't this the Sword Sect's Jade Phoenix Sword Art? I see..."
He closely examined the sword intent swirling around Mu Xueyi and continued, "With your early-stage Nascent Soul cultivation and such masterful execution of the Jade Phoenix Sword Art, you must be that heaven-sent prodigy everyone's been talking about lately—Mu Xueyi!"
As the righteous path's premier sect, the Sword Sect's sword arts were unmistakable once displayed, revealing one's identity instantly.
Mu Xueyi's gaze turned icy. Her sword stance shifted abruptly, unleashing the fifteenth form of the Jade Phoenix Sword Art: "Phoenix Radiance Piercing the Firmament!"
This time, the sword light condensed into a majestic fire phoenix mid-air, its wings spanning three zhang wide. Every feather blazed with searing flames, charging forth with the momentum to incinerate all creation.
Wherever the fire phoenix passed, even the blood mist in the air evaporated completely.
Blood Nether Demon Lord's face grew grave. His hands flashed through seals as blood qi surged wildly around him, forming nine blood barriers before him, each emblazoned with a ferocious ghostly face.
Sword light collided fiercely with the blood barriers in a thunderous roar. The entire cavern shook violently, stalactites shattering from the ceiling and plummeting down.
Blood Nether Demon Lord barely withstood the blow. Eight of the nine barriers shattered, the last one riddled with cracks.
His breathing grew ragged, his eyes filled with disbelief. "What a tyrannical sword art! This strike's power far exceeds early-stage Nascent Soul... The rumors are true—you truly have the capital to rival that freak Yan Mingli!"
As he reeled from Mu Xueyi's sword move, Su Rui's figure flickered like a specter behind him, trailing strings of black afterimages. "Your nonsense really is too much."
The second form of the Heavenly Extreme Demonic Flame Art, "Demonic Dragon Devours the Soul," erupted ferociously!
Jet-black demonic flames shaped into a ferocious demonic dragon, its eyes burning with eerie blue fire. It opened its massive maw in a silent roar and smashed into Blood Nether Demon Lord's back.
"Pfft—"
Blood Nether Demon Lord's protective spiritual light shattered on impact. He spewed a torrent of blood, his body hurtling dozens of meters like a snapped kite before crashing into the cavern wall, embedding himself in the stone amid a shower of debris.
"Wifey, our teamwork's pretty good, right?"
Su Rui turned after landing the hit, flashing Mu Xueyi a wicked grin laced with smug satisfaction.
Mu Xueyi ignored him entirely. She knew Nascent Soul cultivators had tenacious vitality, especially one like Blood Nether Demon Lord who practiced blood path arts—he couldn't possibly die so easily.
Sure enough, just as she tensed in vigilance, the stone wall exploded!
Blood Nether Demon Lord burst forth, drenched in blood, a trace of fear in his eyes.
These two's strength defied normal early-stage Nascent Soul standards. Either one alone was trouble enough; together, he had no chance of survival!
At this life-or-death juncture, he bit his tongue hard, spraying essence blood. His hands formed seals as his blood qi ignited furiously!
"Trying to flee?"
Mu Xueyi immediately unleashed the fourteenth form of the Jade Phoenix Sword Art: "Starry River Phoenix Dance." Sword light poured like a galactic cascade, myriad shadows blasting toward Blood Nether Demon Lord.
Yet at the moment of impact, his figure forcibly dissolved into a streak of blood light. At the cost of burning his essence blood, he executed the secret art "Blood Shadow Escape" and shot outward.
"Damn it!"
Mu Xueyi's face changed. He'd instantly slipped her divine sense lock, fleeing hundreds of li away!
"Don't worry, wifey. He won't get away."
Before the words finished, black flames flickered around Su Rui. He merged into the void, activating "Flame Soul Burning Escape." His form turned into a black streak of light and vanished from Mu Xueyi's sight.
So fast even an afterimage couldn't form.
A thousand li away, above a barren mountain.
Blood Nether Demon Lord finally halted his Blood Shadow Escape, gasping raggedly in mid-air.
The price of burning essence blood had severely damaged his vitality, but surviving was a stroke of fortune.
The moment his breathing steadied, a flat voice sounded from behind. "Your Blood Fiend Sect has a sect-protecting grand array. Your wisest choice would've been to return and activate it against intruders, not flee to this isolated wasteland."
Blood Nether Demon Lord's face drained to paper-white.
He never imagined his desperate blood escape secret art would be overtaken so effortlessly.
Now gravely wounded and essence blood depleted, he couldn't fight, let alone flee.
He suppressed the blood surging in his throat and forced a bitter smile. "Fellow Daoist speaks wisely. Normally, this old man would activate the sect array. But injured as I am, with only two early-stage Nascent Soul elders left in the sect, even if we barely manage to activate it, it couldn't withstand your thunderous assault..."
As he feigned helplessness with a long sigh, his right hand hidden in his sleeve secretly pinched a spell, stirring the remnants of blood fiend qi in his dantian. He stalled verbally. "But this old man truly doesn't understand—what offense did we give to warrant your invasion of my cave and demand for my life?"
Su Rui's lips curved in a cold arc. "Laozi wants the Millennium Blood Jade on you."
"So it's that treasure."
Blood Nether Demon Lord feigned enlightenment and quickly said, "Though it's our sect's supreme treasure, it's worthless compared to this old man's life. Since Fellow Daoist needs it, I'll hand it over."
He retrieved an exquisite jade box from his storage pouch, maintaining a placating smile as he tossed it to Su Rui.
The instant the box flew, savage chill erupted in his eyes. The secretly amassed blood fiend qi detonated, unleashing his strongest remaining strike!
"Brat, take this old man's Blood Fiend Heaven-Shattering Strike!!"
A beam of ultra-condensed blood light shot like an arrow at Su Rui, corroding the air with sizzling sounds and warping the surrounding space!
Yet facing this horrific attack, Su Rui merely raised his right hand slowly, tapping lightly with one finger.
A tiny black vortex appeared at his fingertip, devouring all light.
"Hum—"
The blood light disintegrated upon contact like hitting an invisible barrier, scattering into a rain of blood!
"How... how is this possible?"
Blood Nether Demon Lord's eyes bulged—this was his most shocking moment ever.
This strike could never be so casually blocked by a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator! Yet this kid did it—with one finger?!
A faint smile played on Su Rui's face. "No need for surprise. In laozi's presence, all who cultivate demonic arts in this realm are equally pathetic."
Before the words faded, his right hand ghosted to Blood Nether Demon Lord's crown.
"No—!!"
Terrifying suction erupted from his palm. Blood Nether Demon Lord let out an ear-piercing shriek as his entire soul was ripped from his body, twisting and wailing in Su Rui's grasp before being utterly refined.
In moments, the demon became a cold corpse, eyes wide in death.
Surprisingly, the jade box he'd thrown indeed contained the genuine Millennium Blood Jade.
And during the soul extraction, Su Rui gleaned some unexpected information from Blood Nether Demon Lord's memories...
Returning, Su Rui rendezvoused with the arriving Mu Xueyi in a midway valley.
"That old ghost's escape art was tricky—he got away." Su Rui lied impassively.
Mu Xueyi's fine brows arched. "With your strength, he slipped away?"
"What, in wifey's heart, is hubby already invincible under heaven?"
Su Rui chuckled lowly, shrugging. "That old ghost's mid-stage Nascent Soul after all—a minor realm above me. Escaping my grasp isn't strange."
Mu Xueyi's face darkened slightly, clearly dissatisfied.
"But rest easy, wifey."
Su Rui pivoted, eyes glinting. "That old ghost's likely heading to Black Abyss City next. It's the demonic path's central hub. From Blood Cloud Child's memories, I learned the auction there in five days might feature Illusion Dream Crystals. If we're lucky, even Netherworld Soul Stones could appear."
He leaned in suddenly, peering through her veil into those clear, cold peach-blossom eyes. "What's wrong, wifey? You seem preoccupied."
Mu Xueyi turned slightly aside, her tone frosty. "Didn't you say if my identity's exposed, the demons will swarm me?"
"Correct. Given your status, that's inevitable."
Su Rui nodded, teasing. "If you fall into their hands, heh heh heh... just like I told you before, your fate would be terrible."
Mu Xueyi fell silent.
Su Rui raised a brow. "Scared?"
"What do you think?"
Mu Xueyi met his gaze, her eyes devoid of fear.
Mountain winds stirred, lifting stray locks from her forehead, her plain white skirt fluttering gently.
Truth be told, when Su Rui first described her potential capture and treatment, a flicker of fear had stirred in her heart.
Yet strangely, with him at her side now, her mind was serene.
Even she hadn't noticed—deep in her subconscious, she'd already trusted this dangerous man to protect her.
She knew he loved bullying and ravaging her, but he'd never allow anyone else to do so.
Su Rui gazed at her a moment, then burst into hearty laughter. "Good—no fear! That's worthy of being my wifey."
He waved grandly. "Let's go—to Black Abyss City. Let those demonic riffraff witness true Demon Lord flair."
Mu Xueyi followed silently, watching his flamboyant back. Beneath her veil, her lips curved in the faintest smile.
It lasted but an instant, vanishing into the wind.
Black Abyss City, the most prosperous hub in the demonic territory, nestled in a desolate rift valley.
Its walls, built from Xuanming Black Iron Stone, towered skyward, etched with twisting demonic runes that faintly glowed dark red.
Atop the walls, ferocious beast-head statues stood at intervals, their maws flickering with ghostly light—clearly nodes of a mighty defensive array.
Beneath the massive gates, cultivators streamed in endlessly, their auras motley and laced with the demonic path's signature baleful yin chill.
Su Rui and Mu Xueyi arrived at the gates as dusk fell.
Drawing on intel from Li Wuhen's and Blood Nether Demon Lord's memories, Su Rui strode up casually, naming a mid-tier demonic sect and flicking a wisp of pure demonic qi at the guards.
Sensing at least Core Formation-level fluctuations, the guards dared not slack, bowing respectfully to let them enter.
Inside, the sights were even more shocking.
Streets broad, paved in somber ink-black stone. Buildings grotesque and bizarre, adorned with skulls and beast heads. No lanterns hung from eaves—instead, clusters of eerie ghostfire burned, casting the city in eerie, flickering light: sinister yet strangely thriving.
Occasionally, cultivators zipped overhead on bone dragons, blood clouds, or bizarre flying banners.
Most striking was the grandest structure at the city's heart—the auction house, the demonic realm's largest and deepest venue.
Its monthly grand auctions drew demonic cultivators far and wide, overflowing with rare treasures, secret arts, even ancient demonic artifacts or pilfered righteous secrets—a feast for fiends.
The next one was in five days.
Su Rui turned to the veiled woman beside him, a devilish smile curling his lips. "Auction's five days off, wifey. Shall we find a top inn, grab a room, and have a good 'dual cultivation' session to boost our cultivation?"
In the cultivation world, inns offered more than mere lodging.
Each room featured spirit-gathering arrays drawing from underground veins or ambient qi—far superior to the wilds, if not quite sect-grade.
Mu Xueyi's peach-blossom eyes frosted over beneath her veil, her aura chilling further.
She shot Su Rui a sidelong glare, voice piercingly cold. "Su Rui, you got your way once in your cave last time! Dare try anything now, and don't blame my sword for showing no mercy!"
With that, she headed straight for the nearby inn with the "Nether Spring Pavilion" plaque.
In the lobby, ignoring the approaching attendant, she went to the counter, tossed a pouch of spirit stones, and said coolly, "One superior room. Quiet."
Grasping the jade token etched with room number and basic restriction rune, Mu Xueyi whirled gracefully up the spiral bone staircase without a backward glance, vanishing into the corridor depths.
Su Rui sauntered in leisurely, eyes tracking her until the white silhouette faded.
Far from heeding her warning, he licked his dry lower lip, murmuring low. "Heh... laozi's planning to get frisky. What can you do about it, my dear wifey?"