Zanxing (Retranslated)

Chapter 239 - Demon Queen Bu Jiang (2)

Zanxing was silent.

It shouldn’t have been related at all. If she hadn’t pulled Liu Yunxin back then, replacing her in falling into the ravine, she wouldn’t have ended up on Gufeng Mountain even in death. However, being the Demon King’s daughter, if things had truly developed according to the Heaven’s Dao, how could she have been so easily killed by Mu Cengxiao’s palm? In the end, it was all a twist of fate.

“Then why are you here?” Zanxing asked. “Who locked you here?”

“Who else could it be? Is there another lunatic in this world?”

Zanxing: “Gui Yansheng?”

Bu Jiang looked at her in surprise: “You’ve already met him?”

“Not only that, he’s the one who trapped me in the Ten Thousand Killing Formation, took the Xiao Yuan Pearl, and threw me here.”

Bu Jiang’s gaze grew even more astonished: “Impossible. How could he know your whereabouts? You mentioned the Xiao Yuan Pearl? How did it end up with you?”

Zanxing found it a bit troublesome to explain and rubbed her forehead: “It’s a long story, but let’s not discuss my side for now. What kind of person is Gui Yansheng? He claims to be my half-brother. Is that true?”

“To be honest, I don’t know if it’s true or not,” Bu Jiang shrugged: “I chose to be with your father because of his looks and abilities. Our demon race is inherently passionate, having multiple lovers is not a big deal. Your father was proud and aloof, and generally looked down on those with lowly bloodlines. From what I know of him, he wouldn’t have left with other bloodlines, let alone had dealings with humans. However, the Demon King’s seal on that lunatic is not fake, and his appearance does resemble your father to some extent, so it’s unlikely to be a lie. As for the entanglements between his mother and your father, I don’t know much about it.”

Demon King Gui Diaotang was a legend in the demon realm. It was said that his power was so great that even the rules of Heaven had no way to deal with him. When the demon race’s spiritual veins were depleted and they were being oppressed by cultivators in the human world, Gui Diaotang single-handedly awakened the Heavenly Demon bloodline and saved the entire demon race. He was handsome, cold-blooded, and domineering, a staunch supporter of bloodline supremacy. The strict hierarchy within the demon race began with him ascending to the throne. Heavenly Demon, Demon Fiend, Demon Cultivator, Demon Beast… The demon realm adhered to this hierarchy and maintained stability ever since.

Until the Xiao Yuan Pearl went out of control, Gui Diaotang began to go mad.

Bu Jiang was born with a demonic vein and was extraordinarily beautiful. At that time, seeing Gui Diaotang as handsome and powerful, she deemed him the only person in the entire demon realm who could match her, and thus became the Demon King’s queen. However, being the queen of demons was no easy task. Not long after, Gui Diaotang developed inner demons due to the Xiao Yuan Pearl. He began slaughtering people in the human world, prompting the cultivation world to send an extermination army, leading to endless battles between humans and demons.

Later, Fairy Qinghua killed Gui Diaotang. Bu Jiang was pursued by the extermination army, and had no choice but to send Zanxing to the human world. She took the remaining demons back to the demon realm to hide and recuperate. However, since Gui Diaotang’s death, the demon realm’s spiritual veins had been depleted, and the entire demon race lacked demonic energy. Demon cultivators’ cultivation stagnated, and sect cultivators occasionally came to hunt demons. If this continued, the entire demon race would be on the brink of extinction.

Two years ago, the depleted spiritual veins gradually began to show signs of revival. At first, Bu Jiang and others thought it was the resurrection of Gui Diaotang, but there was no anomaly on the other side of the Golden Gate Ruins. Then, Gui Yansheng appeared.

This young man had golden eyes and somewhat resembled Gui Diaotang. His Demon King seal shocked the demon race. The Demon King seal—only those of the Demon King bloodline could possess it. He claimed to be of the Demon King bloodline and the next Demon King.

But Gui Yansheng was a half-demon.

Everyone in the demon realm knew that Gui Diaotang despised those with lowly bloodlines. How could he have had a child with humans? Bu Jiang also had doubts.

Then, those who harbored doubts were all killed by Gui Yansheng.

In stark contrast to his youthful appearance was his extremely ruthless nature. The Asura Umbrella in his hand could capture others’ souls. Thus, not only did people die, but their souls were also tortured, eventually becoming a weapon in this young man’s hand—a truly heartless act.

He single-handedly eliminated all the demon clans that opposed him and imprisoned Bu Jiang.

Though Bu Jiang was of the Heavenly Demon bloodline, she was still affected by the spiritual veins of the entire demon realm. Over the years, to sustain the demon realm, she had already expended a great deal of her own blood and fought bitterly with Gui Yansheng, eventually losing. Gui Yansheng did not take Bu Jiang’s life but imprisoned her in the Abyss of Extreme Ice. The Abyss held guilty demons, and he was humiliating Bu Jiang.

“My only consolation was that the Xiao Yuan Pearl did not fall into the hands of that lunatic,” Bu Jiang said, looking at Zanxing. “But now that he has obtained the Xiao Yuan Pearl, he will only become more deranged.”

Gui Yansheng was unpredictable, making it impossible to discern what he was thinking. Even his own trusted subordinates could be chatting and drinking tea one moment, and the next moment, have their heads chopped off without hesitation. Even when Gui Diaotang went mad, he did not exhibit such erratic behavior.

Most demons were unwilling to follow this young Demon King, as no one wanted to casually lose their life. Only a small number of obsessively inclined demons believed that the demon race had been chased like stray dogs by the cultivation sects for years. They wanted to take revenge and exterminate everyone in the cultivation world to the last person.

Zanxing frowned slightly upon hearing this: “He wants to avenge Gui Diaotang?” After saying this, she saw Bu Jiang glance at her, and Zanxing paused before correcting herself: “…I mean, he wants to avenge Father?”

“Revenge?” Bu Jiang laughed, “I doubt it. On the first day that the lunatic took the throne, he dismantled the original Demon King’s palace. I don’t see any father-son affection in him. You know, in a lion pride, when the leading lion grows old, it is often killed by younger lions who take its place. I think, if your father were still alive, he would have merely been a stepping stone for him to ascend to the throne.”

“Didn’t he tell you?” Zanxing asked. “Why he returned here and how he has been living all these years?” Unlike Zanxing, who could blend into human society due to her sealed Demon King power, Gui Diaotang had golden eyes. It might not have been so easy for him to live among humans as an ordinary person.

Bu Jiang suddenly fell silent, her gaze drifting to the emptiness of the Abyss, lost in thought.

Zanxing waited patiently.

After a long time, the woman finally spoke again, saying, “That lunatic imprisoned me here. At first, he would occasionally come to speak with me. I heard that his beloved was killed by demons years ago, in order to protect him back to the demon realm.” Her voice was flat. “Perhaps that’s why he went mad.”

Zanxing’s mind suddenly recalled what Gui Yansheng had said to her.

“Neither belonging to humans nor to demons, does that mean you deserve to be bullied, driven away, treated as an outcast, and die worse than an ant?”

Being a half-demon must be more difficult than merely being a human or demon, which was perhaps why he said, “I want to change this rule.”

“Forget it,” Bu Jiang continued, “The lunatic’s words are full of contradictions and half-truths, no one knows which of his statements are genuine. Rather than guessing what he wants to do, we should first focus on you…” Bu Jiang’s words brought Zanxing back to the present. “Since you have obtained the Xiao Yuan Pearl, your cultivation should have improved. Climbing from the Abyss of Extreme Ice to this place must require some skill. What is your current level of cultivation? Also, what is that in your arms? Is it your spirit beast?”

Mention of the spirit beast made Zanxing’s mood suddenly more somber.

With her identity changed so suddenly, not only was she now hunted by the cultivation world, but also targeted by Gui Yansheng’s deadly schemes. Yet she had become an ordinary person with no power to defend herself. At this moment, Zanxing could truly empathize with Gui Yansheng’s feelings from years ago—being caught between enemies and lacking even basic self-defense was quite pitiful.

“I have no cultivation now,” Zanxing said after much thought. “Although I had help from friends in the Ten Thousand Killing Formation and managed to survive by luck, I lost all my spiritual power and my Golden Core was destroyed. Later, when I encountered Gui Yansheng, he took my Xiao Yuan Pearl and used his magic weapon to extract my soul. Thankfully, I had a Decoy Talisman given by my senior brother that helped me through that ordeal. The reason I could climb out of the Abyss of Extreme Ice is that I wore a flower fox fur coat gifted by my senior sister to ward off the cold. As for my spirit beast…” Zanxing untied the fox fur coat, revealing the sleeping Mimi in front of Bu Jiang. “It’s a Silver Moon Lion, but it has only a faint trace of spirit beast bloodline and may never awaken fully. During the Ten Thousand Killing Formation, it endured a lot of divine fire for me, and now it is very weak.”

Bu Jiang’s smile gradually froze.

“Even if I hadn’t encountered all this, perhaps I’m not as strong as you think,” Zanxing said, looking at Bu Jiang. “However, this is only temporary. Once I get out of here, I might think of another way to save you. After you’re out, we can gather the demon clan and discuss countermeasures.”

She hugged Mimi close again, fastening the fox fur coat, her expression not showing any signs of dejection but rather an encouraging brightness that grew in adversity.

This brightness gave a glimmer of hope even in such a dire situation.

Bu Jiang sighed, “You have a bit of the same spirit as your father once had.”

“But, it is impossible for you to get out of here alone.”

Bu Jiang spoke with a tone as if describing something entirely ordinary. “When you climbed up, you must have seen those figures in the ice cavern. They are all sinners thrown into the Abyss of Extreme Ice. Each of them tried to climb out, but none were able to truly leave. The names on these ice walls are all of those who stayed here. Among them, there were outstanding talents and demons feared by even their sects, but in the end, they all remained.”

“The Abyss is the coldest place in the Three Realms. No matter how determined a person is, in the end, even their mental strength will freeze and become just another piece of ice in the cavern.”

“So the abyss grows deeper as more people die here and the exit becomes farther away.”

Her gaze was fixed on Zanxing, and her words were both sobering and cruel.

“Your fox fur coat won’t last three days.”

*

Author’s Note:

Bu Jiang: Let me see which unlucky child this is.

Oh, it turns out it’s my own (-.-)