Chapter 29#
The Peerless Great Demon, the Ba Serpent#
Lu Heng found this person quite strange. He had torn a piece of clothing—apologize properly and compensate accordingly, and he could name any price he liked. Why insist on dragging him to a clothing shop?
Just as he was puzzling over this, he heard Shikong transmit via voice: “There’s no harm in going. Just follow him.”
Lu Heng and his companion followed the man through a winding route, growing increasingly uneasy. The surroundings became more and more incongruous—how could there possibly be a clothing shop in such a remote area? Had Shikong not just assured him this person meant no harm, Lu Heng would already have made a move.
But when Lu Heng tried to press Shikong for more details about the oddity of the situation, the monk refused to say anything further, merely telling Lu Heng to observe carefully himself. As Lu Heng’s thoughts turned over, he saw the man stop at the gate of a small courtyard, and then his aura shifted.
“Bai!” The name escaped Lu Heng’s lips involuntarily.
Bai nodded and smiled. “Long time no see.”
“Did you seek me out on purpose just now? How did you know I’d arrived in Zhicheng?” With a moment’s thought, Lu Heng grasped the key to it all.
“As soon as you entered Zhicheng, I sensed your presence through the lingering aura on that memory-recording pearl.” Bai pushed open the small courtyard’s gate and gestured for the two to follow him inside. “It’s just that the restaurant was too crowded and conspicuous, so I had to come up with this way to draw you over.”
Though the courtyard wasn’t large, it was kept remarkably tidy and clean—clearly, its owner had put considerable effort into it. From the main hall emerged a graceful young woman, her belly rounded with child, moving with some difficulty.
Bai hurried forward to support her, his tone carrying a note of gentle reproach while his expression was nothing but tender. “Why didn’t you rest properly? Why did you come out?”
The woman’s brows relaxed into a smile, her eyes brimming with the bliss of an expectant mother. “We have guests—I am the lady of this house. How could I hide indoors? That would be far too rude.”
Bai shook his head helplessly, tapping her nose, then turned to introduce the two of them to Lu Heng. This woman, naturally, was Bai’s pregnant wife—Yunniang.
During the period they had waited for the Thousand-Leaf Lotus to bloom, Bai had shared some of the stories about himself and his wife with Lu Heng. Yunniang came from a wealthy merchant family. Back then, her family had despised Bai for having neither power nor status, and opposed their marriage. They locked Yunniang away, intending to marry her off as a second wife to the local prefect. The gentle and virtuous Yunniang did the most rebellious thing of her life—she eloped with Bai. Demon territory was unsuitable for human habitation, so after fleeing together, the couple settled here in Zhicheng.
After exchanging pleasantries, the pregnant Yunniang went back inside to rest, while Lu Heng and the others sat around the stone table in the courtyard, drinking tea and catching up on what had happened since their parting.
“That day, I left you behind when you were injured—I’m truly sorry,” Bai paused. “But when Master Shikong found our hiding place, he carried your aura, and I could tell he had spent a long time with you. Your bond with him must far exceed your bond with me, so I felt at ease entrusting you to Master Shikong. You don’t blame me, do you?”
Seeing Bai’s face full of anxious worry, Lu Heng waved his hand dismissively. “You lured those people away by yourself to protect me—how could I be so ungrateful? If anything, you’re my lifesaver. Without your secret technique shielding me during the Heavenly Tribulation, I’d have been reduced to ash long ago.”
“That Heavenly Tribulation wasn’t that powerful—it was no great matter to me. But to you, it was different. You hadn’t even come of age, and you’d just finished shedding your skin. How could I stand by and watch you take such a serious injury?” A flicker of guilt crossed Bai’s face. “Besides, this accident was my doing in the first place. If I hadn’t taken you to see the Thousand-Leaf Lotus reach maturity, none of this would have happened.”
Lu Heng had always been straightforward and free-spirited. Seeing Bai speak so candidly, he dropped all further pleasantries. He simply etched this bond into his heart—if ever Bai needed his help in the future, he would go to any lengths to repay it.
“When I first heard your wife was expecting, I couldn’t even imagine what kind of father you’d be. After everything that’s happened, I see you’re a very dependable man,” Lu Heng teased, partly to ease Bai’s lingering guilt.
Hearing Lu Heng praise him like that, Bai rubbed his nose sheepishly, though the corners of his mouth curled upward. “W-well, of course! I’m about to become a great demon, after all—I’m absolutely dependable!”
Seeing Bai glancing repeatedly toward the main hall even as they chatted, Lu Heng understood he was worried about his wife and decided not to intrude further.
As they were seeing Lu Heng and Shikong out, Bai said, “When Yunniang goes into labor, I’ll use the power of the Thousand-Leaf Lotus combined with a secret method to transform her into a half-demon body. By then, our family can return to settle in the demon territory. I’ll have to trouble you both to wait a while longer.”
There was no particular urgency about going to the demon territory, so Lu Heng and Shikong stayed at the Inn-Greeting Tower, continuing to cultivate diligently. In between their cultivation, they strolled through this small town full of southern frontier charm, and the days passed remarkably quickly.
Bai went out frequently to gather the auxiliary spiritual herbs needed for the day of delivery before his wife’s time came. Lu Heng hadn’t seen Bai for some time. In recent days, a vague unease had settled in Lu Heng’s heart, as though something was about to happen.
Demon intuition had always been accurate.
One night at the hour of Zi, Lu Heng was meditating when a tremendous boom suddenly sounded from outside the window. He looked out and saw a golden hemispherical dome of light appear in the sky to the south, illuminating half the town in a brilliant glow.
That was the courtyard where Bai lived. That dome was Bai’s barrier formation. Something had gone wrong!
Lu Heng and Shikong rushed at once toward Bai’s courtyard, only to find it surrounded on all sides by cultivators. A variety of magical artifacts emitted multicolored light, striking the barrier in a relentless barrage. The barrier’s glow grew ever dimmer, clearly on the verge of collapsing.
Yet there was not a sound from within the courtyard.
Lu Heng burned with anxiety, desperate to enter the courtyard. They carried tokens Bai had given them, so they would not be blocked by the barrier itself. But the besieging cultivators would not let them in so easily. The cultivators wore robes of a similar style—obviously from the same sect. The appearance of two unfamiliar faces immediately drew their attention.
A figure leapt from the crowd. Judging by his attire, he was the leader. “Two fellow Daoists, the Clear Spring Sect is handling an important matter here. Please withdraw.”
Lu Heng couldn’t be bothered to say more and directly summoned his long whip.
The man’s expression shifted. “A demon? It seems you’re an accomplice of the demon beast in this courtyard!”
Several more figures immediately separated from the crowd, facing Lu Heng with aggressive hostility.
The leader then noticed Shikong standing off to the side and cupped his hands in a salute. “Might this master be from the Phantom Sound Temple?”
The Phantom Sound Temple was one of the leading great sects, and whenever cultivators experienced abnormalities in their Dao hearts, they needed to seek out the temple’s senior monks to expel inner demons. Thus, it held an especially prestigious position—ordinary cultivators would always show deference to its disciples.
Shikong, however, returned the greeting with full courtesy, pressing his palms together.
Seeing that Shikong tacitly confirmed his identity, the leader tempered his demeanor somewhat, adding a measure of respect. “Master, do not be deceived by the demon beside you. The demon beast in this courtyard has stolen our sect’s precious treasure…”
This man certainly knew how to distort the truth. Seething with fury, Lu Heng was about to strike when he heard Shikong say to him, “Let’s go in.”
The words had barely left his lips when Lu Heng saw a colossal golden palm materialize in the air, sweeping the blocking cultivators aside. With the situation critical, Lu Heng and Shikong didn’t bother entangling themselves further with these cultivators and entered the courtyard directly.
Taking in the scene within, Lu Heng’s heart lurched. Bai’s wife lay in the courtyard, her body drenched in blood, her fate unknown. Bai’s expression was anxious; with the Thousand-Leaf Lotus in hand, he was performing the final step of the refinement.
Upon seeing Lu Heng and Shikong, Bai looked as though he’d seen saviors and said urgently, “Zheng, help me stabilize the formation—the refining is at its final step. I have no attention to spare for maintaining the barrier.”
“But I’ve never studied barrier formations,” Lu Heng said, somewhat frustrated with himself for having devoted all his effort to cultivating his own strength without learning any of these miscellaneous arts.
“No matter,” Shikong said. “In recent times, I’ve done some research into demon techniques. But this barrier can only be sustained with demonic qi. Watch me perform it once.”
With that, Shikong traced intricate and profound runes in the air. Bai’s barrier formation was exceptionally advanced, and the technique required to sustain it was naturally no simple thing. Though Lu Heng’s comprehension was extraordinary, being pressed into service at the last moment inevitably led to mistakes in his haste.
The barrier in the sky grew ever dimmer under the ceaseless assault. Compounding matters, after another thunderous boom, the golden dome shuddered violently several times and was on the verge of vanishing—it had apparently been struck by a powerful magical artifact.
Seeing this, Shikong had no time to hesitate. He wrapped his arms around Lu Heng from behind, his left hand resting on Lu Heng’s dantian, his right gripping Lu Heng’s wrist. “Follow my guidance and circulate your demonic qi.”
Shikong was tall and imposing, while Lu Heng still had the frame of a youth. As he spoke, Lu Heng felt Shikong’s lips, opening and closing, lightly graze against his hair, and his face flushed instantly. Lu Heng’s senses had never been so acutely attuned. Even through several layers of clothing, his back seemed to feel the solidity of Shikong’s chest, along with that gentle breath that kept brushing across his hair.
However, the severity of the situation would not allow Lu Heng to be distracted for long. He steadied his mind. “Let’s begin.”
Lu Heng was already thoroughly familiar with Shikong’s spiritual energy. The moment it probed into his dantian, Lu Heng, in perfect harmony, parted off a thread of demonic qi, gently wound it around the spiritual energy, and guided it along through his meridians. On the outside, Shikong also led Lu Heng’s hand in a slow yet perfectly rhythmic manner, tracing one profound mark after another in the air.
With the supplement of pure demonic qi, the barrier quickly stabilized. Its golden light blazed brilliantly, and the attacks battering it from outside were like scratching an itch through a boot—utterly incapable of posing any threat.
Only then did Lu Heng spare his attention to check on Bai’s side.
The Thousand-Leaf Lotus in Bai’s palm, under the refining, had slowly transformed into a plump droplet of liquid. Bai brought that drop of spiritual liquid to Yunniang’s lips, urging her to swallow it quickly.
Yunniang struggled to open her eyes and gave a faint shake of her head. “I feel the child’s life fading within me—fear he’ll be born poorly if born at all. Save this medicine for him.”
“Be good, Yunniang. You’re barely holding on yourself. The child… we’ll have other children.”
But Yunniang stubbornly clenched her jaw, refusing to swallow the medicine. With no other choice, Bai pinched her cheeks open and forced the spiritual liquid into her mouth.
The moment the spiritual liquid entered her body, Yunniang’s complexion visibly improved. She clenched her teeth, her face contorted by excruciating pain. This long and agonizing labor had finally reached its final stage.