Chapter 34#

Chapter Thirty-Four#

Pei Huang spoke slowly, and at some point Xue Jingci fell asleep. Later, the thunder and rain gradually ceased, and sunrise brought a fine day.

Xue Jingci woke up quickly, went to the military camp with Jiang Chengyi, and had Pei Huang stay to take charge at the City Lord’s residence.

Yan Xing indeed had a way with leading troops. Although there was only one night’s time, he had set up heavy traps at the Chasm Cliff, stopping the majority of the demon race’s army.

This day passed safely. After nightfall, the cultivators had no excuse to continue staying in the Buddha hall and could only return to their original residences.

Xue Jingci slept on the familiar bed, feeling it was a hundred times better than the cold, hard floor, and soon fell asleep.

In this sleep, he actually had a quite eerie dream.

In the dream, he was standing at the city gate and eventually died from ten thousand arrows piercing his heart.

Xue Jingci woke up with a start and turned his head toward Pei Huang, only to see him looking pained, yet his teeth were tightly clenched all along.

This man truly could endure.

A person caught in a nightmare would have their soul damaged if awakened abruptly. Xue Jingci gently pushed Pei Huang, not daring to use too much force.

But it had no effect.

The cold wind poured in from the window. Xue Jingci went down to close the window and choked into a cough from the wind.

When he turned around again, he saw Pei Huang had sat up.

Pei Huang stared at Xue Jingci, his gaze still somewhat unfocused. Xue Jingci poured a cup of water and handed it to him. “Had a nightmare?”

“Mm.” Pei Huang drank the water, the buzzing of the maidservants’ piercing screams seemingly still ringing in his ears.

He never would have thought that the Young Master had actually died by self-immolation.

In the dream, the flames surged over his body, and he clutched a wedding dress tightly in his arms, saying with a mix of crying and laughing, “Did you think dying would let us part?”

The wild wind blew up the paper money on the ground. He murmured almost crazily,

“I’ve burned myself for you too.”

Love and hate were both buried in the flames.

Pei Huang didn’t understand this kind of nearly insane feeling, only feeling it was so heavy it was suffocating.

Clearly in the notebook, the feelings between the two were so beautiful at first, yet in the end they evolved into this.

Seeing him holding the cup in a daze, Xue Jingci vaguely guessed what he had dreamed of.

Had Yan Xing not led the troops in time to resist the demon race last night, the City Lord and the Young Master probably would have died this night.

They should have dreamed of the causes of their deaths separately.

That dream was too real, as if they had truly died once.

But Xue Jingci wasn’t dying for the first time, so he didn’t have much of a feeling.

However, for Pei Huang, this might be too terrifying.

Xue Jingci looked Pei Huang up and down. Clearly this person had broad shoulders and long stature, muscles brimming with strength, and had long passed the age of being called a child, having the appearance of an adult male.

But he always subconsciously thought of that thin youth in Donglai Village.

Xue Jingci reached out and patted Pei Huang’s back like coaxing a child. “It’s just a dream; don’t be afraid.”

“I didn’t feel afraid.”

Pei Huang emphasized unconvinced. Xue Jingci thought for a moment and crisply withdrew his hand.

Then there was no need to coax him.

Pei Huang felt that warm, soft hand pull away from his back and immediately felt regretful, but to have him deliberately show weakness and act pathetic was something he couldn’t do.

Because of the nightmare, both were in no mood to sleep further, and sat like that until dawn.

At dawn, hurried footsteps came from outside the room. A guard knocked on the door and said, “City Lord! The demon race is attacking!”

Xue Jingci got up quickly and asked calmly, “How many people?”

“The vanguard has about three thousand elite troops. Just as the City Lord predicted, all have wings on their backs!”

Xue Jingci’s expression relaxed slightly, and he took the City Lord’s residence’s guards to the city gate to resist.

Now the city defense army had all gone to the Chasm Cliff, and the main force was rushing over from the Front Sand Pass.

Today was the most crucial day. As long as they held out, once the reinforcements arrived tomorrow, the city would truly be defended.

Pei Huang chased Xue Jingci out but was stopped by him.

“You stay and guard the city, protect the commoners in the city. This was her wish.”

Pei Huang was stunned for a moment, feeling uneasy in his heart, but knew this was the dream Xue Jingci had last night.

If they wanted to escape here completely, they had to fulfill the wishes of the City Lord and the Young Master.

“You go with peace of mind.”

Pei Huang stared at Xue Jingci and smiled. “I’ll be the one to guard here.”

The battle to defend the city was harder than Xue Jingci had expected.

With three city gates, he, Jiang Chengyi, and Xiao Xun each guarded one. Originally Xiao Xun was to guard the most dangerous North Gate, but was stopped by Xue Jingci, who directly ordered him to go to the south to meet the reinforcements.

Those members of the demon race were good at using bows and arrows and hid outside the city gates, not stepping in even a single step, while Xue Jingci didn’t dare to leave the city gates rashly.

Several stray arrows flew over. Xue Jingci swung his sword and raised his hand, instantly striking the arrows down, but the guard behind him was hit, and blood splashed on his body.

Xue Jingci didn’t let that person withdraw, knowing that defending the city gates was the greatest obsession of these guards’ souls.

He focused his mind and concentrated on the battle. The warm sunlight fell on him, turning from bright red to golden yellow, then to bright red again.

This battle lasted for a full day and night. More and more demon race soldiers broke through the defensive line and lunged toward the city.

They couldn’t retreat, couldn’t let those demons know that the military force in the city was extremely weak. They forcibly created the aura of several hundred people using just a few dozen.

By the second half of the night, those of the demon race seemed to have completely lost their patience, no longer hiding outside the city gates for sneak attacks, but attacking directly toward the city!

“They only have a few dozen people!”

The leading member of the demon race only then saw the situation in the city clearly and was startled to realize they had been tricked. In shame and annoyance, he actually poured out all his demon power and shouted, “Take the City Lord’s head! There will be a great reward!”

As his voice fell, all of the demon race attacked Xue Jingci in unison, no longer fighting back no matter how the other guards attacked.

Xue Jingci’s pressure increased sharply, the sword energy pressing into the web between his thumb and forefinger until it pained.

His gaze sharpened and killing intent boiled. An invisible dark shadow enveloped his whole body, even breaking through the limitations of the illusion for a moment.

However, soon the shackles of the Heavenly Dao were like an invisible hand pressing toward him.

Only then did Xue Jingci restrain himself, his figure leaping lightly and quickly escaping the demon race’s offensive.

In the next second, the long sword in his hand swirled rapidly, turning in a circle as if cutting straw.

Those of the demon race didn’t even know what had happened; they didn’t even have time to let out a scream before they fell dead.

Xue Jingci took a breath, but his ankle was suddenly caught by a vine and dragged straight toward the outside of the city gate.

He swung his sword to cut the vine, but the vine was like a weed, sprouting from countless cracks in the ground; as soon as one was cut, there was another, impossible to kill off.

Seeing his heel was about to step out of the city gate, a dark shadow leaped down from the night sky, descending like a meteor sword rain from heaven.

Pei Huang’s gaze was terrifyingly cold. With a light flick of his sleeve, countless red-eyed black ants fell from within.

They crawled toward the vines densely, gnawing them clean in an instant.

They didn’t even let go of the demon race corpses on the ground, soon devouring them clean, leaving only a man-shaped bloodstain on the ground.

Rain pelted down, and the cold water splashed on Pei Huang’s brow, yet couldn’t wash away the killing intent condensed between his eyebrows.

His entire person was like an asura crawling out of hell, with murderous aura all over.

Several guards collapsed on the ground, watching helplessly as black ants crawled onto their bodies, only to be swept away by a wave of sword energy.

They saw the City Lord grasp the Young Master’s wrist.

“Calm down.”

Xue Jingci saw that Pei Huang’s state was not right and was about to remind him not to forget his identity as a demon race spy, but his hands were caught in return and pulled forward heavily, almost falling into Pei Huang’s embrace.

Pei Huang hugged him tightly, his arms even tighter than the previous vines, making it hard for Xue Jingci to breathe.

Xue Jingci pushed him. “Let go, I’m fine.”

Pei Huang didn’t let go, his breathing trembling, shaking along with his heartbeat.

The rain fell, and Pei Huang was completely soaked, his wet hair stuck to his face as he rubbed against Xue Jingci’s neck like a puppy.

Xue Jingci was stunned for a moment and patted his back.

Pei Huang felt cold all over his body at the thought that he had almost been dragged away from the city gate, his blood almost freezing.

Xue Jingci heard the military horn sound, knowing the reinforcements had entered the South Gate.

No wonder Pei Huang would come to find him.

Xue Jingci stopped moving until someone approached, and only then did he speak again. “Let go, otherwise it’ll be hard to explain.”

Pei Huang realized Xue Jingci was talking about the ants on the ground.

He quickly let go and cleared the battlefield.

Faint cheers came from afar; this battle was finally won.

Both the commoners and the cultivators breathed a sigh of relief.

However, just when everyone thought they could leave the secret realm, there was unexpectedly no movement.

Only when the City Lord gave the order that a rolling banquet was to be held throughout the city to celebrate did everyone settle down again, guessing they could only leave the illusion after the victory banquet.

But no one knew that not long ago, someone had already sought out Pei Huang.

“You’ve indeed developed a divided heart and betrayed the demon race. I’ll give you one last chance.”

That person had a pair of demon eyes and was currently staring fixedly at Pei Huang, saying, “Although our main force has suffered much loss, the elite still remains. Tomorrow is the victory banquet; I want you to give this packet of poison to the City Lord tonight and have her die before the banquet.”

“This way, the human race will be without a leader, and when we strike back then, this city will surely perish.”

Seeing Pei Huang hesitate, the person sneered, “You are a half-demon body, belonging neither to humans nor to demons. These years must have been very painful, right?”

“The Lord promised you that after the task is successful, he will use a fox tribe’s demon core to reshape your meridians. Then you can become a complete demon race, no longer this thing that is neither human nor demon.”

“If you persist in refusing, tomorrow your identity will be completely revealed to the world. I assume the victory banquet also needs some things to sacrifice to those dead soldiers. Do you think the City Lord will kill you to sacrifice to the flag, to appease the people’s anger?”

Pei Huang calmly took the medicine, finally knowing why the Young Master agreed to be a spy.

A half-demon person drifts outside the demon and human races; he must really want to have his own tribe.

But there was another possibility: he fell in love with the City Lord and wanted to get information to help her, thus agreeing to be a spy.

Pei Huang had a faint decision in his heart. He grasped the poison and said, “I understand.”

He walked out of the corridor, turned toward the kitchen, and carefully selected a jar of peach wine.

Returning to the bedroom, he saw Xue Jingci sitting by the window from afar.

As the wind blew, the branches rustled, and petals flew up, falling on Xue Jingci’s brow and hair, unexpectedly more intoxicating than the wine in Pei Huang’s hand.

“City Lord.”

Pei Huang walked over quickly, picked up the wine, and said with a smile, “Tomorrow the city celebrates, and there are too many people and not enough wine. I saw the kitchen was going to add water to the wine and hurriedly saved this jar to taste with you.”

He picked up the cup on the table and poured a cup of wine to hand to Xue Jingci.

The candlelight was reflected in the wine, swaying and flickering, looking like the sun had fallen in, the sunset scattering its lingering glow.

However, soon both of them saw that the light in the cup instantly turned a ghostly blue.

The temperature of the entire space grew cold. Xue Jingci stared at that cup of wine, not speaking for a long time.

If he hadn’t guessed wrong, the final test of this illusion lay right here.

This cup of wine was of vital importance.