The dry branches crackled as they burned, and the warm yellow flames danced, casting Su Luowei and Wen Miaomiao's eyes in a deep red hue. With just one glance, they knew that they understood each other's intentions.
Xie Hanzhu rubbed her nose and suddenly burst into laughter, breaking the subtle atmosphere.
"If you really become immortal, Sister, don't forget to help out us juniors," she joked, squinting her eyes and then smiling smugly, shaking her head with satisfaction. "My sister is a Celestial Venerable—how impressive does that sound?"
Across the fire, Xie Hanzhu winked at Meng Shuying. "Isn't that right, Meng Shuying?"
Meng Shuying, who was quietly wiping her spiritual sword, looked up, but her gaze didn't fall on Xie Hanzhu. Instead, she looked at her sister. The firelight cast a warm yellow glow on Su Luowei's profile, making her look particularly gentle.
Meng Shuying spoke seriously, "Then I'll have to work even harder."
Su Luowei smiled, her dimples forming small indentations on her cheeks. Whether she could become immortal was still uncertain, but Meng Shuying... she was almost certain to achieve immortality.
In the original story, Meng Shuying had become the fifth Demon Lord. If anyone was likely to hold the other back, it was undoubtedly herself.
She hadn't forgotten that Meng Shuying had sacrificed a significant portion of her own cultivation to help restore Su Luowei's power. Although Su Luowei didn't often speak about it, it didn't mean she didn't care.
Ever since they formed a Dao companion bond, Su Luowei had felt as if something had connected her to Meng Shuying. Often, without needing to speak, the other person could understand her thoughts.
Just as a tinge of guilt began to rise in her heart, Meng Shuying clasped Su Luowei's hand in her own, her deep eyes quietly gazing at her, full of indulgence.
Meng Shuying could sense Su Luowei's feelings, and similarly, Su Luowei could sense hers. Without words, she could feel the deep, passionate affection in Meng Shuying's heart, warming her like a comforting bowl of soup on a cold winter day.
While the two exchanged tender looks, Xie Hanzhu grew impatient. She waved her hand to catch everyone's attention. "By the way, Meng Shuying, weren't you investigating those missing people? How did you end up here?"
Meng Shuying reluctantly turned her gaze from her sister to the fire on the ground. Her eyes grew colder as she began to speak. "I originally planned to find Jiang Ye and ask if she knew anything about the disappearance of the Qingxu Sect disciples. But I didn't expect..."
She paused, her voice becoming even colder. "I didn't expect to catch them discussing when to open the Seal of Demons."
"They?" Su Luowei frowned, a vague suspicion forming in her mind. "Besides Nanyangzi and Jiang Ye, who else was involved?"
"Yue Lanmeng and... Han Yi." Meng Shuying thought for a moment, then corrected herself, "No, he's no longer Han Yi. He should be called Ning Feng now, the evil cultivator Ning Feng."
Worried that her sister wouldn't remember, Meng Shuying added, "You fought him once before, remember?"
Su Luowei certainly remembered. After all, that was her first real battle after transmigrating into the novel, and the scar on her wrist was thanks to him.
After Ning Feng fled, his power was greatly reduced, and he was hunted by old enemies. Eventually, he encountered Han Yi, who had been reduced to a fool. To escape his pursuers, he used a secret technique to possess Han Yi's body, taking his name and continuing to move through the world.
After the young women he had kidnapped were rescued and the altar beneath the Lin Manor destroyed, Ning Feng returned to Qionghua Peak, where he and Yue Lanmeng conspired to summon the Demon Lord by other means.
That's when Meng Shuying discovered that everything had been orchestrated by Yue Lanmeng.
Facing the end of her life, Yue Lanmeng had prepared two plans. First, she found Ning Feng, a former enemy turned ally, and taught him how to activate the altar. If all else failed, she could gamble on summoning the Demon Lord and trading the opening of the Seal of Demons for his help in advancing to the Mahayana stage.
Second, she intended to enjoy her remaining time by finding a disciple with great potential and a beautiful appearance, raising them to the Nascent Soul stage before seizing their body.
Originally, she had set her sights on Wen Miaomiao, but when Wen Miaomiao became Zhan Xuehan's disciple, Yue Lanmeng reluctantly turned her attention to Meng Shuying.
Upon learning that Meng Shuying was close to forming her Nascent Soul, Yue Lanmeng planned to abandon Ning Feng's scheme and even secretly instructed him to halt the summoning.
But she failed.
Luckily for her, Ning Feng had already gathered enough energy from the young women's blood and successfully summoned the Demon Lord, which saved Yue Lanmeng's life.
The Demon Lord, intrigued by her offer, granted her a wisp of demonic energy to preserve her life and even personally assisted her in breaking through to the Mahayana stage. He promised that if she successfully opened the Seal of Demons, he would bestow upon her a piece of the divine bone when he returned to the mortal realm.
The allure of becoming a Mahayana cultivator and gaining a piece of divine bone was irresistible, tempting any cultivator.
After leaving the familiar Qingxu Sect, Yue Lanmeng worried about how to discreetly open the Seal of Demons. Unexpectedly, Meng Shuying presented her with the perfect opportunity.
One day, Meng Shuying went on a rampage, destroying the Huanshi Sect and severely injuring Nanyangzi. Yue Lanmeng sent Ning Feng to negotiate with Nanyangzi, offering him a deal.
In exchange for his help, she promised to heal his injuries and, after their plan succeeded, capture Meng Shuying so he could have his revenge.
Nanyangzi, a naturally suspicious man, didn't trust Ning Feng at first. But Nanyangzi had one glaring weakness—his love for beautiful women. Yue Lanmeng handed over Jiang Ye as a "deposit" to win his trust and secured permission to stay at Danyang Sect to work on opening the seal.
Before Meng Shuying and the others arrived, Yue Lanmeng and Ning Feng had already slaughtered many young women to prepare for opening the Seal of Demons. At that moment, the disciples sent by Zhan Xuehan to investigate were being held in the Danyang Sect dungeon.
After discovering all this, Meng Shuying intended to return and warn the others, but she accidentally alerted those inside. Yue Lanmeng and the others pursued her, eventually forcing her into the Seal of Demons, where Ning Feng attempted to have the demonic energy within the seal devour her.
After that, she ended up in the same ruined city as Su Luowei and the others.
Although the demon realm lacked a sun, it still had cycles of night and day. As the blood moon set, the sky in the east began to brighten, hinting at the approach of dawn.
The four of them silently packed up their belongings, extinguished the fire, and prepared to set off.
The journey from Nanwang City to the Demon Palace was long, and according to Wen Miaomiao, even with a smooth journey, it would take at least ten days on foot.
In the mortal realm, such a distance would be no problem, but in the demon realm, they couldn't use their swords to fly. If anyone discovered they were human cultivators instead of demons, it would bring a lot of trouble.
Among the four, only Meng Shuying exuded enough demonic energy to appear formidable. The other three had to rely on castor bean juice to conceal their spiritual energy, making them appear as low-level female cultivators.
To avoid drawing attention, they once again disguised themselves as a married couple with their maidservants, with Meng Shuying, who had the highest cultivation, taking on the role of the husband.
They thought that this disguise would make traveling through the demon realm easier, but they hadn't even left Nanwang City when something unexpected happened.
At the city gate, an old woman was waiting.
The old woman was hunched over, holding a cane in one hand and a basket covered with a blue cloth in the other. She was sitting on the road under the city gate. When she saw them approaching, she smiled and greeted them.
Was she a demon cultivator or just an ordinary human?
If she was a demon cultivator, it didn't seem likely because she didn't have any demonic energy. But if she was an ordinary human, that didn't seem right either.
After all, how could an ordinary person be wandering in a desolate city so early in the morning? It was as if she had been waiting for them.
As they got closer, the old woman used her cane to slowly stand up, as if she had something to say to them.
In the next moment, a flash of bright sword light streaked across the scene, accompanied by demonic energy. The old woman was sliced in two.
The old woman fell heavily to the ground, blood flowing from her body and soaking into the cobblestones.
The attack had come so suddenly that it wasn't until then that the other three realized what had happened.
Wen Miaomiao looked puzzled. "Was she a demon cultivator?"
Xie Hanzhu was more direct. "She looked like a harmless old lady. Meng Shuying, weren't you a bit too rash?"
Only Su Luowei had a serious expression on her face. "She's neither a demon cultivator nor a mortal... Ah Ying, do you have any idea what she was?"
"I've never encountered anything like that before, but I instinctively felt it was dangerous."
Ever since entering the demon realm, Meng Shuying had noticed that her senses seemed sharper than before, especially her sensitivity to the demonic energy in the demon race.
She knew that these changes were likely related to her unique bloodline, though she wasn't sure if they were a blessing or a curse.
The moment she saw the old woman, Meng Shuying's intuition warned her that anything with such an aura was dangerous.
She couldn't quite describe the feeling, but if she had to, it was somewhat akin to being stared at by a venomous snake while gathering herbs as a child.
Cold, damp, and a chill that seeped into her bones.
In the next instant, black mist suddenly emerged from the two halves of the old woman's blood-soaked body. The mist surged toward them, enveloping Su Luowei and Meng Shuying with a piercing scream.
The black mist was intangible, impervious to swords or blades. Wen Miaomiao and Xie Hanzhu gripped their swords, trying to rescue the two from the mist, but they couldn't get close.
Whenever they approached, the mist emitted a shrill scream that left them dizzy and disoriented, rendering them unable to fight.
Trapped within the black mist, both Su Luowei and Meng Shuying seemed to hear two childish voices.
"It's been so long since our master sent us out. I really missed the fresh air outside, hehe."
"Who are these two? They must be important if our master sent us to fetch them."
"Who cares who they are? Since our master wants us to take them back, we just need to follow orders, hehe."
"Yes, if we're late, the master won't be happy!"
This couldn't continue. A cold gleam flashed in Meng Shuying's eyes as she unleashed her demonic energy, clashing with the black mist.
"Hmm—" One of the childish voices sounded puzzled, and upon sensing Meng Shuying's resistance, the mist grew more aggressive, using all its power to try to drag them away.
A strong wind suddenly whipped through the area, forcing Wen Miaomiao and Xie Hanzhu to close their eyes against the gale. When the wind finally died down, Su Luowei and Meng Shuying were gone.