Great Demon - Chapter 71 Part 2

Zhuyou let out a soft chuckle. “As long as she is within the Three Realms, she can dig a thousand feet deep and still find whatever she seeks, capture whoever she wants. There is only the possibility of her imprisoning others—who could truly escape her sight?”

Hanzhu’s heart tightened, and she asked cautiously, “Then, since we took the Turbid Mirror, could she have known from the very beginning?”

That is exactly the point, Zhuyou thought.

Hanzhu carefully studied her mistress’ expression and felt a jolt in her heart. Quickly, she said, “Then she must have come this time for the Turbid Mirror. But if that’s the case, why didn’t she take it when she was here? Coming all this way for nothing—she seems so unpredictable…”

“She’s injured.” Zhuyou’s tone was unhurried, but a shadow flickered in her expression.

“Huh?” Hanzhu was momentarily stunned. She thought to herself, Even a Nine Heavens’ Divine Venerable can be injured?

Suddenly, the sound of galloping hooves filled the official road as a caravan approached. The clatter of hooves was loud and rhythmic, and as they drew closer, it became clear that the horses were laden with heavy goods, dragging a carriage behind them. If they crashed into anything, they wouldn’t be able to stop immediately.

The rider at the front narrowed his eyes and saw two women standing on the road ahead. They didn’t seem to hear the approaching carriage and remained utterly still. Alarmed, he shouted, “Move aside!”

Someone in the carriage behind him called out, “What is it?”

But in the blink of an eye, the women had vanished. Not a trace of them remained—not even a shadow. The road ahead was completely empty, with only the deep grooves left by carriage wheels in the mud. There wasn’t a single footprint.

The rider froze for a moment. When the carriage passed the spot where he had just seen the figures, he suddenly snapped back to his senses. Had he encountered a mountain spirit?

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a mountain spirit—it was a devil.

If it had been any other kind of devil, the caravan would have been thrown into chaos, their lives toyed with until not a single one of them remained.

But Zhuyou didn’t bother with such trivialities. In the blink of an eye, she had already moved a hundred miles away, drawing closer to the great desert west of the human world.

The desert stretched far and wide. If one were an ordinary mortal, who knew if even a year’s journey would be enough to reach its midpoint?

But Zhuyou was different. She moved as though walking on solid ground, crossing mountain ranges in a single step, leaping over swamps and treacherous terrain in an instant. There was nothing that could stand in her way.

Her journey was effortless, but the same couldn’t be said for Hanzhu, who followed behind, panting heavily and not daring to relax for even a moment. She feared that if she blinked, she would lose sight of her mistress.

In less than an hour, the trees around them grew sparser, the hills became increasingly barren, and the scattered houses around them gave way to long stretches of emptiness. After a long while, a river finally came into view.

The sky was a vast, clear blue, devoid of even a wisp of cloud. The scorching celestial light poured down upon the land, and the mortals below toiled under the blazing sun.

The farther west they traveled, the more desolate the land became, as if stepping into a world beyond the Mortal Realm. Compared to the bustling riverside towns they had passed, this place was a near wasteland—windswept and uninhabited. Sand dunes stretched endlessly, vast and boundless.

This was the great desert of the human world.

Zhuyou slowed her pace. Previously, she had been moving with the wind, but now her figure suddenly descended, landing in the yellow sand with a soft thud, sending up a small cloud of dust.

Hanzhu followed close behind, her green robe billowing like a fluttering butterfly.

Zhuyou glanced around, frowning as she raised a hand to shield her eyes. The sunlight was so blinding that she could barely keep them open.

The celestial radiance bathed the endless desert in golden hues, making it seem as though the ground was paved with gold.

The wind was scorching and wild. Even when standing still, the force of it felt as though it could sweep a person away. No wonder they hadn’t seen a single mortal upon entering this land.

Hanzhu caught her breath and asked, “Mistress, is this the place?”

Zhuyou tilted her head to gaze at the sky, squinting slightly against the dazzling light. Perhaps it was the searing heat, but she suddenly felt as though she were bathing in divine radiance—her entire body uncomfortable.

The sky was just as blue as what she had seen within the Turbid Mirror. Only then, the sky had been an endless ocean, a chaotic scene where neither sky nor earth was as it should be.

Zhuyou didn’t dare make a hasty conclusion. She knelt down and pressed her pale palm against the scorching sands.

The sand was indeed blisteringly hot, and buried beneath the surface were countless lost hun souls. But without exception, they were all mortal souls that had yet to enter reincarnation.

Every corner of the human world had celestial beings overseeing it. The one in charge of this place should have been Goddess Luoyou. Luoyou was passionate and uninhibited, unlike the distant and aloof celestials of the Nine Heavens. She had not returned to the heavens for a long time, and Zhuyou had little impression of her.

At least she wasn’t as troublesome as the Evil-Punisher Divine Lord. Luoyou was rarely at her designated post, preferring to be wherever the revelry was.

Zhuyou released her divine sense. A mist-like aura split into eight tendrils and burrowed swiftly into the sand, vanishing into the depths.

In mere moments, she had located an intact blackened bone buried a hundred feet below, untouched by the shifting sands. The bone clearly belonged to a devil, though its owner had long since perished—its hun souls and po souls utterly destroyed.

“This should be the place.” Zhuyou stood up, gently rubbing her fingers together as the fine sand on her palm slowly trickled down.

She narrowed her eyes slightly and let out a soft laugh. Fortunately, devil bones were not something that could be completely eroded by the human world’s wind and sand. Otherwise, with the brief glimpse she had in the Turbid Mirror, who knew how long it would have taken to find this precise spot?

Hanzhu felt a surge of joy in her heart. “Mistress, it is a good thing your vision is peerless. This place was truly difficult to find.” Standing to the side, she quickly used her spiritual power to form a curtain of shade, shielding her mistress from the blazing sunlight.

Zhuyou lightly brushed her palms together, and not a speck of dust remained on them. She closed her eyes, recalling the scene she had witnessed in the Turbid Mirror.

A group of ancient Devil Clan warriors charged forward, riding devil horses with an overwhelming momentum. Their bodies were covered in devil markings, and their devilish aura surged like a rising tide. However, this aura was suddenly torn apart by blinding crimson flames. Like dark clouds blotting out the sky, phoenix feathers rained down, piercing through the devilish energy like a torrential red downpour.

Vermillion Phoenix.

Zhuyou tilted her head slightly. What exactly was the connection between the Vermillion Phoenix and her?

“Mistress?” Hanzhu’s voice suddenly rang in her ears.

Hanzhu called out several times in distress, but instead of regaining clarity, Zhuyou only sank deeper into a daze.

Zhuyou’s hand, hanging by her side, suddenly twitched. She failed to pull herself out of the chaos, as if she had fallen into the Turbid Mirror once more. Yet… she had not taken the Turbid Mirror out of her mustard seed pouch.

Her eyes remained tightly shut as the howling winds around her abruptly changed. They morphed into the sounds of warhorses neighing and the fierce shouts of devil warriors. The rustling of sand seemed to echo the crackling of a great fire. In an instant, the silhouettes of devil soldiers emerged before her eyes—a massive force, vast enough to flatten the sand dunes beneath them.

The warriors of the ancient Devil Clan were all tall and robust. Even the women stood nearly seven feet tall, far from delicate and frail.

Just as the devilish energy was condensing, a sudden flash of light split through it. A single feather, its tip ablaze, shot through the rift and streaked toward the sand dunes below.

With a thunderous boom, a towering inferno erupted across the desert. The Devil Clan attempted to summon the celestial sea, but the heavens above remained unmoved. They could only conjure great waves, yet they failed to quench the flames.

The devil horses, already nothing but skeletal remains, were instantly reduced to exposed bones, leaving behind nothing but bare frames.

The devilish energy that had blotted out the sky was burned away, leaving behind gaping holes. Countless phoenix feathers rained down like arrows, piercing the ancient devils below and leaving them covered in wounds.

One devil shouted, “A mere Vermillion Phoenix dares to block our path?”

From the heavens, a voice responded, “With all the evil you have wrought, should you not be stopped?”

Zhuyou suddenly froze.

That voice—why did it sound exactly like hers?

A searing pain split through her head, as if thousands of insects were gnawing at the threads of her soul. She instinctively raised a hand to clutch her forehead, her face as pale as a sheet.

Hanzhu cried out in alarm, “Mistress!” Seeing Zhuyou’s tightly shut eyes and furrowed brows, she grew increasingly frantic. She pressed a palm against Zhuyou’s back, preparing to channel spiritual energy into her. But before she could do so, a powerful force surged from Zhuyou’s spiritual sea, nearly knocking her off her feet.

The mustard seed within Zhuyou’s sleeve suddenly became unbearably hot. Though it was merely a tiny object, it radiated a scorching heat as if capable of setting the heavens ablaze.

Aside from a few insignificant trinkets, inside that seed… was only the Turbid Mirror.

Zhuyou could not open her eyes. It was as if she had been plunged into the midst of that gods-and-devils war. Her soul felt as if they were being torn apart, and a chilling sensation crawled up her spine.

***

Meanwhile, far away in the East Sea, Changying’s pupils shrank abruptly. She clenched her fingers tightly, the hair on her body standing on end, and an inexplicable unease filled her heart.

In a cold voice, she said to East Sea Monarch, “No need to thank me. I will bring them to the Heavenly Palace another day.”

“Your Divinity, are you leaving?” East Sea Monarch hastily inquired upon seeing her rise.

Changying gave a curt nod, her expression unreadable. Before East Sea Monarch could utter a word to persuade her to stay, her figure had already vanished.