The rising steam from the abandoned tea caused Tora's heart to stir with unease. For some odd reason, she felt nostalgic.
Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion as she tried to decipher the reason. She felt like she was missing something, a part of herself hidden behind the wall of reality—a reality in which she was no longer a part.
Tora flicked a ball of qi, breaking the cup instantly. The hot tea quickly overtook the table's surface, just like the overwhelming scent of perfume that invaded her nostrils.
"It seems the floral pattern is displeasing to you." The voice was indescribable. It appeared to be neither man nor woman as it approached her. "This humble one is Ningli."
Her lustrous lips wore a daring smile as her peach blossom eyes glinted with humor. She bowed humbly towards the peerless immortal that sat with his gaze cast downwards.
Her gaze beamed with curiosity as they trailed Jing Yi's appearance. Ningli felt her lips dry. Her tongue ran along them alluringly, wetting them. When their eyes met, Ningli felt her cravings intensify. It must taste good.
"Is it a curse?" Tora had always wondered why Ningli acted like such a degenerate in the novel. Is it that easy to kill a Demon Lord?
How her eyes hazed at the sight of an immortal was impossible to miss.
"A curse?" The question snapped her out of her daze. Her lips twitched as she cautiously sat across from Tora. "Is there a curse strong enough to overtake me?" Her words were sarcastic.
"I thought that you would attempt to hide it." Tora watched the other with great interest. "This is good."
"I have yet to cause trouble."
"I never said you did." Ningli felt a chill run up her spine. The look that the young immortal gave her was foreboding. "The you in the future, however, will."
The words caused Ningli to go rigid with shock. She couldn't understand the implications behind that sentence. What future me? What trouble?
"Nails sharper than any weapon, skinning the victim as the lips suckled on the oozing blood." Ningli and the older lady flinched. Their already paled skin became white with fright. "Why is the Demon Lord, of all people, committing such a vile act?"
The silence didn't stop Tora from running her mouth.
"You can drink as much blood as you want. Why stoop so low as to dirty your own hands?"
The switch from white to green to purple was amusing to the eyes. Tora gleefully watched the change in both of their expressions.
"I would think that those who follow
"Cultivation is one thing. The Dao is another. I do not follow the Dao."
"Yet you cultivate." Tora frowned at her repetition.
The people of this world can't seem to separate morals from practice and discipline.
"Is it a curse?" Tora repeated her question once more.
Ningli's lashes fluttered slightly. She could feel the unusually sharp nails dig into her tough skin. The way her body constantly emitted a nauseated fragrance, the way her hunger could never be satiated, the way her pupils dilated at the sight of a 'meal,' all of this she hated.
"It will be a long story..." Her words softened as she took a seat. Seeing that the other had no intentions of leaving, Ningli continued, "I wasn't born a humanoid creature nor was I born through the creation of life. I was merely a consciousness, having no form or freedom, existing without ever living."
Ningli touched her fingers to the table, gently dragging the wetness and pulling the water out of the surface. The spilled tea was a shade of pale yellow, it danced around in the air, slowly forming the shape of a human.
"Just like the tea, I was pulled together into a form by a powerful Master. The name Ningli was given, deeply ingrained into my soul...or should I say—what has now become my soul?"
"Was this Master the previous Demon Lord?" After deliberating, Tora asked with curiosity. The novel mentions only two Demon Lords, Ningli and the protagonist.
"Yes, Demon Lord Yushu had become weakened after his battle with Immortal Lord Jing Zhan. He was paranoid, fearing that the Demon Lord title would fall in the hands of someone unworthy, so he created me."
Jing Zhan?
"My father fought with Yushu?" Tora knew that Jing Zhan's existence demanded respect, which was why Jing Yi could do whatever he wanted outside of the Jing clan. But she never knew it was due to Jing Yi's father fighting against the Demon Lord.
"That—does the Young Master not know...?" Ningli looked at the young man with confusion.
"It appears that I've been kept from the world quite preciously." Although her words were humorous and sarcastic, her expression wore a grim and frustrated look.
It seems I've underestimated the Jing Clan. It's no wonder Jing Qinru had Jing Yi wrapped tightly around her toes.
Not just the Jing Clan...I've also underestimated this stupid novel.
"You should be careful. To know nothing of the world is one thing, but to know nothing of your family is another." Ningli felt sympathy for the Young Lord in front of her.
"I'll manage. Continue."
"The world thought Demon Lord Yushu to be dead, only Immortal Lord Jing Zhan and Cultivator Wei Ziyang knew that he was still alive." Ningli's lips were pressed tightly. Her face showed apprehension, unsure of whether to speak on the matter or not.
"Speak."
"Others would not know, but the three were bonded brothers. Their friendship ran deep."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Their fight was merely an act, a role-play to fool the world. It was never meant for Jing Zhan to kill the Demon Lord."
Ningli dropped the spilled tea into a new cup brought by the older lady. She eyed Jing Yi with suspicion before saying, "I'm not sure how Immortal Lord Jing Zhan conceived a child...when his only lover was Demon Lord Yushu. Young Master...do you perhaps know of your birth?"
"I am adopted."
"Ah..." Her eyes widened and her lips twitched. The dejected gaze was enough to trigger Tora's curiosity.
What's with that look?
"What? Did you think he birthed me or something?"
"A man can't birth a child..." Her voice was soft when she retorted. "I thought that perhaps...he formed you with alchemy or something similar..."
"Enough with the nonsense. Continue your story." Tora could care less about what Jing Zhan had done. Her only purpose was to figure out the current situation.
"Joy killer..." Ningli rolled her eyes as she signaled for the lady to bring some snacks. "Unlike the title of Immortal Lord, there can only be one Demon Lord. This position cannot be vacant due to the balance of the universe. There cannot exist one without the other. The two powers keep each other in check."
Her pale tongue licked the hard candy that was placed before her. It was unnatural and disgusting.
"Demon Lord Yushu was cultivating me into his substitute. Within a year, I was fit to carry the title of Demon Lord. By transferring his title, he had given up his cultivation and fell into a deep slumber. I watched over him for another year, until Immortal Lord Jing Zhan arrived and took him away."
"Were you always like this?"
"No...I stayed at that place for over ten years, spending all of my time cultivating the books that Demon Lord Yushu left behind. Four years ago, I grew curious about the outside world. The things I could do. What kind of food was out there, I wanted to learn more."
Her eyes aimlessly stared off as she reminisced the past.
"I left the only place I knew and stumbled into Fu Village. That's where I met Madame Fu Linjin, the Matriarch of the Fu Family that ran the village." Ningli gestured to the older lady in the room. Her eyes were gentle as they exchanged warm smiles.
"We were plagued by misfortune, our daughters lost and our men killed. No amount of money could solve this issue, and no immortal sect would extend a helping hand. If it weren't for Ningli appearing, we would have never learned of the Demonic Cultivators that were terrorizing us."
"They took only the girls and left the boys?"
"Yes...my daughter...they took her as well." Madame Fu felt her eyes water at the thought of her lost daughter.
Weird...why only daughters?
"When I arrived, the town was picture perfect, prosperous almost, beaming with vitality. The people grinned from ear to ear, eagerly welcoming any newcomers with open arms. I might not have known much, but the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach warned me of danger."
"An illusion?" Tora had read about this type of trap. It was similar to Li Weisheng's experience during one of his regressions.
"It was a large rune drawn with the blood of the innocents. If it weren't for Taiyao, I would have been stuck in the illusion."
It was then Tora noticed the jade bracelet wrapped around the pale wrist. Ningli caressed it lovingly before covering her wrist with the wide sleeve. For a very brief moment, Tora perceived the bracelet wiggling around.
"A sentient weapon...?" Was it happy...???
Tora had never seen a weapon react happily to the caressing of its owner before. Even when she had the Godly weapon 'Sword of Ire,' it never reacted so humanly.
"Taiyao takes the form of a bracelet. Its true power, however, is unmasked in the form of a whip." Ningli happily recounted Taiyao's entire existence, forgetting that she had long derailed from the origin of her story. "Taiyao is one of three whips. Each belonging to the three bonded brothers. This one was one of Demon Lord Yushu's earth-shaking weapons."
"So the golden whip that my Master uses is also—," sighed Tora as she rubbed the headache that slowly crept up her skull.
"
What kind of OP super weapons—!!!?
"This is ridiculous..." Tora whispered and urged the other to continue her story. "Forget the weapons and continue your story."
"Ah..." The disappointment oozing off of Ningli made Tora uncomfortable.
Sure enough, this cultivation world is filled with freaks. What's she looking so sad for?
"Young Master, you seem to be quite the unfeeling type of immortal." Madame Fu chimed it with a slight annoyance in her tone. "Aren't you the least bit curious of how the three weapons found their Masters? One of them is your father, you know."
"I am not." Both of the ladies felt helpless at the young man's straightforwardness. "Madame Fu, you must have noticed something was off if there was truly an illusionary rune cast?"
"That's the odd part. I never noticed. If it weren't for bumping into Ningli and being awakened from the illusion by the power of Taiyao, I would have still been stuck there."
"You didn't destroy the rune even though you could?" Tora stared at Ningli with an inexplicable feeling.
"I did..."
These people are talking in circles... Tora was dumbfounded. She had never been in a situation where she understood nothing at all.
"So you broke the illusionary rune that made everything seem picturesque and save the town?" Before they could answer, Tora continued, "And Madame Fu woke up from the illusion before it was broken to find that the girls were taken and the men were killed? When, in this event, did you go seek help from the cultivators?"
"That's not how it happened..." Madame Fu took the initiative to sit down. "I will tell you my story..."
OH—
MY—
GOD—
FUCK ME!
Should I just kill them and become the Demon Lord!?
The sudden oppressive atmosphere choked them both. They quietly gaze at the darkened expression of the young immortal, unsure of why he had become so angry.
If I become the Demon Lord...I can just kill whomever I want. No?
"What do you mean by...kill?" Ningli's voice interrupted Tora's thoughts. She looked up to find both the ladies looking at her warily.
Did I say that out loud?
"Young Master—you said, IF you became a Demon Lord, you would kill whomever you wanted." She stood up, shielding Ningli from Jing Yi's gaze. "The only way to become a Demon Lord..."
"Stop right there." Tora felt odd that the weaker lady stood firm to protect the current Demon Lord. Regardless of Ningli's status, Tora knew she could kill them both relatively quickly. "I would kill you both if you don't stop yammering about irrelevant things. Just get to why you got cursed."
"It happened after breaking the illusionary rune. The perfect town had become desolate and haunting. The things I thought were people turned out to be puppets with no faces. And those that were actual people were trapped in another illusionary rune...a rune I couldn't discover even with the help of Taiyao."
Ningli quickly explained, fearing the young man would kill them if they continued to digress.
"When I told you that we were plagued by misfortune, I meant to say that, in the illusion, our village began to experience unnatural deaths. Every household's head started to drop dead, including my husband." Madame Fu didn't dare relax or dally about. She still stood firm before Ningli.
"Every week, a man would die unnaturally. Some had their limbs removed and sewed back oddly, some died with their skin removed, and some had missing organs. It was so startling that I went to call upon a sect for help. I feared it was a demon or an evil spirit that was terrorizing us. But when the cultivators arrived, they saw nothing wrong and left."
"You could imagine my fear when I awoke from this nightmare to find my daughter as a faceless doll." Madame Fu's voice trembled as she bit back a sob. "I don't understand how or when we got caught up in such an illusion."
"Madame Fu..." Ningli tried her best to comfort the grieving woman. "I tried to wake the others from the illusion by using Taiyao, but we were attacked before we could do anything."
"They were Demonic Cultivators?"
"Yes, a fearsome group."
"They did not recognize the Demon Lord?"
"It seems you were truly kept away from the world..." The two of them looked at Tora with brows raised in deep contemplation.
"Young Master, Demonic Cultivation is simply a path that deviates from the Dao. A Demon is a being born from the world. Just like humans, Demons are a race of beings separated by their cultivation paths. A Fox Spirit is a born demon, whose cultivation depends on whether or not it wants to become immortal. Whether it becomes a Yaoguai or a Yaojing depends on how it cultivates."
"So you do understand that Cultivation and the Dao are two different things." Tora couldn't help but poke fun at Ningli for her statement earlier.
"You are too simple-minded. The path you are Cultivating is one and the same as the Dao. All Cultivation leads to the life of an immortal, however, the difference is in its foundation. My Cultivation is not one and the same as yours, therefore, I do not follow the Dao."
"I will not argue with you about this." Tora wasn't a person of this world, so she felt it dumb to argue with someone who saw things differently.
"Regardless of the path, I am the current Demon Lord, and all demons will acknowledge me as their Lord. Those who practice Demonic Cultivation also practice choice. They are more inclined to acknowledge me, but if they don't, they will simply create an opportunity to steal the title of Demon Lord."
Ningli had a troubled expression on her face. She looked at the young man with caution before opening her mouth again.
"During that attack...they said something I couldn't understand. 'The preparations are done. The rise of the new Demon Lord shall begin.' The attack was so fierce. By the time I realized this, it was already too late. I had been caught in a spell and quickly fled with Madame Fu."
Ningli tapped Madame Fu, asking her to move away. Her mouth opened wide. A pale tongue stuck out, curling upward and revealing its underside.
A dark marking greatly contrasted the white tongue. It ominously stared back at Tora, causing her hair to stand from the sheer sight of that ugly thing.
"They relentlessly pursued us, only stopping when we escaped to this town. My weakened state caused me to experience my very first fever. When I awoke, my body had changed into...this. A disgusting vile thing with an unknown marking under the tongue."
"It is thanks to the grace of your Jing family that they stopped pursuing. This village came to be because of Immortal Lord Jing Zhan. I believe it protects the people from Demonic Cultivators."
"Oh?" Tora could barely hide the grin that was spreading across her lips.
Did I just stumble onto a hidden plot?