Great Demon - Chapter 81 Part 1

The winding corridor twisted and turned. Just as Changying chased away the little demon, she felt her blood surging uncontrollably. The connection between them seemed to be growing stronger—she knew she was close to finding Zhuyou. Yet, as she looked around, there was no sign of her.

All around her, embarrassing noises filled the air. She was anxious, desperate to know Zhuyou’s current state, as if something were tugging at her heart. Just as her frustration peaked, a voice, clear as a spring, doused the fire raging inside her.

She followed the voice and looked up, catching sight of red gauze fluttering in the wind. The entwined patterns on the thin fabric were identical to those on Zhuyou’s robes, only in a slightly different shade.

She knew well that although they could also wear garments woven from silk, their usual attire was formed from dragon scales and feathered plumage. The slight difference in the fabric startled Changying, making her realize—

Zhuyou… had likely already awakened her true form.

It was time for it to awaken. Back in the sand city, Zhuyou had already uncovered the past. She had been only one step away from breaking through her realm. After all she had gone through, her spiritual consciousness must have grown dense, thick with threads of memory. The events of millennia past must now be resurfacing in her mind. Everything was in place—if she didn’t awaken her true form now, then when?

Still, Zhuyou must have concealed her cultivation level, which was why Changying couldn’t see through it.

If she couldn’t see through it, then they must be evenly matched.

Changying tilted her head back. She should have been overjoyed, but as the surrounding sounds of men and women entwined in ambiguous whispers filled her ears, she found herself unable to feel even the slightest bit of joy. Her chest burned with frustration, an uneasy feeling creeping into her heart—Zhuyou shouldn’t be here.

Her brows furrowed as she quietly set up a barrier, preventing any demon or devil from barging in.

“You came, but didn’t say a word?” Zhuyou, seated on the roof’s eaves, leaned forward and looked down, seeing Changying standing still with her head tilted back.

The dragon looked utterly foolish—her fine brows tightly knitted, one hand pressed against her chest. Already pale-faced, her gesture only made her look even more frail and sickly.

Changying finally parted her lips. “Why are you here?”

Zhuyou gazed down at her, silver-white hair draping over her face, shrouding her expression in shadow. “Shangxi City is right here. If not here, then where else?”

“I wasn’t referring to Shangxi City,” Changying said, her frown deepening.

Zhuyou suddenly understood. Her fingers, hanging at her sides, curled in embarrassment, but she stubbornly kept up an air of indifference. When she first stepped into this place under Guanshang’s guidance, she too had felt ill at ease.

This land of pleasure was truly filthy.

To make matters worse, the demons and devils in the distance showed no restraint, wailing and moaning, unclear whether from pain or pleasure. A dragon and a phoenix meeting in such a place—how truly disgraceful.

Zhuyou choked for a moment but then countered, “Why don’t you ask me instead how I broke through the Ultimate stage, and how I survived that near-death heavenly tribulation?”

Changying fell silent. Only then did she dare to be certain—Zhuyou had indeed awakened her true form. She had truly broken through her realm, even her robes had changed.

Changying had once wanted to extract her own immortal bone to give to Zhuyou, but Zhuyou refused, choosing instead to take the dangerous path.

Since Zhuyou would not accept the immortal bone, Changying dared not forcibly stop her, fearing something might go wrong. Fortunately, Zhuyou had uncovered Shangxi City’s mysteries. That was good—this way, she could enter the Ultimate stage without enduring the calamity of heavenly thunder and earth fire.

Tilting her head back, Changying could no longer immediately discern Zhuyou’s true form as she once could. Suspended behind Zhuyou, her awakened spirit was a vague silhouette—seemingly a phoenix, yet its body glowed with a brilliant crimson light, so dazzling that it seared Changying’s golden eyes.

Changying narrowed her gaze, finally seeing the dense spiritual power surrounding Zhuyou. The red was deeper than blood. Judging by her cultivation, she had indeed broken through the Ultimate stage in a single leap.

For others, this was a realm that could take millions of years to reach. For them, it was within arm’s reach.

Zhuyou noticed the dragon studying her but did not lift the concealment spell on her cultivation. Instead, she let her overwhelming presence slowly unfurl.

Unlike the Dragon Clan’s aura, the Vermillion Phoenix’s presence was like scorching flames, turning the cool evening breeze into sweltering heat.

Yet Changying did not buckle beneath this pressure. She remained standing motionless in the corridor, her gaze fixed on the hem of Zhuyou’s silk skirt. “So, you really did manage to find a way to conceal yourself from the Heavenly Dao.”

Zhuyou lifted her head and looked up at the sky. Shangxi City lay half in darkness, half in light—a stark boundary separating the two. One half reflected the deep glow of the firmament, while the other was illuminated only by the flickering lanterns suspended in the night.

She said, “I did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be standing here unharmed.”

Changying’s golden eyes darkened, a shadow flickering in their depths. She realized that Zhuyou must have learned Shangxi City’s secrets from Guanshang. But the true nature of this mystery remained unknown to her.

At this point, it seemed that only Guanshang understood Shangxi City’s intricacies.

“If I were to ask, would you tell me?” Changying hesitated for the first time.

Zhuyou’s brows carried a subtle smile, but she still didn’t move from the eaves. Her legs swung idly, bare feet peeking out from beneath the silk skirt, resting lightly against the dark tiles. Half-lidded eyes cast a glance toward the place where the snake demon had met its end. She said, somewhat lazily, “Even if I don’t say it, you’ll find out.”

When she emerged from the Endless Abyss, she had brought the Devil Lord’s hun soul with her. Now, that hun soul was clenched tightly in her grasp—though, unfortunately, its awareness had been sealed, rendering it incapable of speech.

Changying froze for a moment, suspecting the Vermillion Phoenix was toying with her. She had gotten used to it over the past two hundred years and had long since run out of patience for it.

“You came to capture me?” Zhuyou asked leisurely. “I left you a keepsake before I left. I wonder if you’ve taken a good look at it.”

Changying frowned. Zhuyou’s words carried hidden meaning. The keepsake she left behind—it must have been that single mustard seed. Shaking her head, Changying said, “I came to see if the Devil Lord’s three hun soul and po soul have reunited.”

Zhuyou turned over her palm, revealing the hun soul of the Devil Lord resting in it. “They haven’t.”

She was remarkably nonchalant, as if she weren’t afraid of someone snatching it away. As if, to her, the Devil Lord’s hun soul was nothing more than a trivial trinket.

The hun soul was turbid and filthy, quite different from an ordinary devil hun soul. Strangely, it contained traces of immortal energy, intertwined in black and white.

With just a glance, Changying immediately understood the situation. This was indeed one of the Devil Lord’s hun souls, but it was tangled with the two hun souls patched together by Jingyi using Burning-Heart Wood. Now, the Devil Lord was attempting to devour the immortal hun soul entirely. If he succeeded, he would truly become half-immortal, half-devil—ordinary divine power and immortal energy would be useless against him.

What a cunning plan. Clearly, before his annihilation a thousand years ago, the Devil Lord had already considered this method. That’s why he orchestrated his reincarnation into the Phoenix Clan and dragged one of the ancient gods into the devil’s domain.

Changying tilted her head, her face turning cold and grim. “You still carry it with you?”

“I don’t keep it because I like it,” Zhuyou retorted, unable to hold back. This dragon truly had a talent for twisting her words. She didn’t even know why she was explaining herself—it just spilled out. She curled her outstretched fingers back into a fist and said calmly, “I suppose you don’t want to see him devour the immortal hun soul, but I won’t give it to you—unless… you take it from me.”

Changying frowned deeply. She suddenly felt that Zhuyou was trying to tell her something, but her words were too vague to decipher.

Zhuyou continued leisurely, “Though I have broken through the Ultimate stage, my fated tribulation is yet to come. I expect it will arrive soon, but I don’t know how one of my po souls will be taken. When that tribulation falls, I imagine it will be much easier for you to seize this devil hun soul.”

“You’ve already restored your spiritual form—are you planning to revive Guanshang and absorb his devil energy as well?” Changying asked coolly.

Zhuyou let out a soft, mocking laugh. “I have already reached the Ultimate stage—his pitiful devil energy is hardly worth my attention. But the mysteries of the Endless Abyss are profound. If I don’t revive him, I fear I will never uncover how I ended up in this state.”

“You…” Changying’s heart pounded wildly.

“My spiritual form may have recovered, but my devil bone have not fully dissipated. Thus, I cannot be called a god—nor am I purely a devil.” Zhuyou lowered her gaze to meet Changying’s, then added, “Since that’s the case, what’s so unusual about bearing the burden of karmic debts?”

Changying stepped forward, finally getting a clear view of Zhuyou. Her silver hair gleamed like frost as she toyed with the devil hun soul in her hands.

“Come and take it,” Zhuyou said softly.

Changying’s pupils shrank sharply as she surged forward on the wind. Zhuyou abruptly rose from the eaves, retreating several yards.

When Changying flew toward her, she finally caught a clear glimpse—Zhuyou’s phoenix markings at the corners of her eyes had returned to a deep crimson.

Once pristine and innocent, now like a blood-stained silver moon—gorgeous yet dangerous.

But unlike other devils and demons who used beauty to bewitch others, Zhuyou did not giggle coquettishly or feign weakness. She remained as aloof and untouchable as ever.

Her silver hair scattered in the wind, her eyes filled with that same innocent look, but the crimson markings at her eye corners glowed like embers. With a palm strike, she shattered the green tiles beneath Changying’s feet into dust.

Forced to evade, Changying lunged forward and caught Zhuyou’s wrist.

Zhuyou suddenly transformed into the Vermillion Phoenix, her brilliant four wings flaring open. Changying hastily released her grip as the once-darkened phoenix now burned with dazzling intensity.

Changying was momentarily stunned—it felt as if she had returned to three thousand years ago, when the gods still reigned, and devils ran amok.

The soaring Vermillion Phoenix illuminated heaven and earth. Flaming feathers rained down, igniting towering flames that wrapped around Changying.

A sudden surge of water burst forth, freezing into ice with a loud crack, extinguishing the phoenix fire. Shattered ice crystals scattered across the ground.

The Vermillion Phoenix shrieked, preparing to unleash more flames.

Just as Changying was about to transform into a dragon, the phoenix spoke in a human voice, “If you fight me here, you’ll alert the devil soldiers Guanshang hid nearby. If they escape now, you’ll never find them again.”

The Vermillion Phoenix flapped her four wings, her gaze burning as she looked down at Changying.

Understanding dawned on Changying. Without a word, she retrieved the mustard seed Zhuyou had previously given her, and with lightning speed, dragged the Vermillion Phoenix into the small, enclosed world within.

Inside was a frozen landscape of endless snowfields, with bitter winds howling past.

Zhuyou swiftly reverted to human form, her long silver hair blending with the snow. Barefoot on the icy ground, she wavered for a moment before darting a hundred yards away.

Changying chased after her, watching as Zhuyou pulled a fire bow and a handful of flaming phoenix feathers from the void, launching dozens of burning arrows at her.

Yet, not a single arrow struck close—they were oddly inaccurate.

Growing suspicious, Changying turned to see the flaming arrows melting the snow, revealing the thick ice beneath. Deep within the hundred-yard-thick ice, a shadowy form became visible.

Frozen beneath the ice was Guanshang’s body, with a soul-fused Crystal of Law placed beside it.

But Zhuyou didn’t seem intent on breaking the ice to retrieve these items. If she wanted them, why had she given the mustard seed to Changying back in the desert?

Changying’s eyes darkened with realization—Zhuyou must have remembered fragments of the past even then. She had handed over the mustard seed deliberately…

Because she feared she would not survive her next tribulation.

Yet Zhuyou’s fated po soul tribulation remained unresolved. By leading Changying here, it was clear she wanted her to safeguard Guanshang’s body and the Crystal of Law.

Changying’s expression turned cold. With a flick of her wrist, snowflakes surged up, covering the exposed ice completely.

She advanced on Zhuyou, her voice low and tense. “What exactly are you planning?”