I Swear I’m Not a Demonic Cultivator - Chapter 47
Chapter 47: Tie Yuyao
The wind and snow slashed through the sky like icy blades.
Tie Yuyao, her slender shoulders bearing the weight of a man far larger than herself, trudged across the boundless snow plains.
Ahead, on the horizon, a massive black dot emerged.
It wasn’t a mountain, but a fortress built from colossal blocks of iron and ice.
Above the fortress, a banner flapped fiercely in the frigid wind, emblazoned with a blood-soaked battle-axe.
Ironblood Fortress.
The Northern Territory’s first line of defense against the Beast Tide, and the ancestral stronghold of the Tie Clan.
Here, there was no ethereal qi of the Central Continent, nor the resplendent splendor of the Eastern Region.
Here, only the harshest laws of survival and the most direct worship of strength reigned supreme.
The Tie Clan, one of the Northern Territory’s Righteous Dao sects, had withstood the ravages of millennia of snowstorms and beast blood, their resolve tempered to steel, unwavering in their frontline defense against the Beast Tide.
Creak—
The heavy iron gates swung open. The guards, spotting Tie Yuyao, immediately bowed in salute.
“Young Mistress!”
But when they saw the bloodied, tattered man slung over her shoulder, their faces clouded with confusion.
“Young Mistress, what is this…?”
“Found him,” Tie Yuyao’s voice, though crisp and decisive, was nearly swallowed by the wind. “Still breathing. Looks sturdy. Make sure he doesn’t die.”
Without further explanation, she dragged Fang Zheng into an empty stone chamber within the fortress.
Thump! Tie Yuyao unceremoniously dumped Fang Zheng onto a stone bed covered with animal hides.
A charcoal brazier burned in the room, warding off some of the chill.
Tie Yuyao took a few ragged breaths before finally scrutinizing her “spoils of war.”
She drew her boning knife and, with practiced strokes, slashed apart Fang Zheng’s tattered Azure Cloud Sect disciple robes until his upper body lay completely exposed.
Even Tie Yuyao, hardened by countless bloody scenes, couldn’t help but frown at the sight.
This injury… it was strange.
No knife wounds, no sword slashes, no scorch marks from spells.
His wounds had erupted from within!
Countless fine crimson lines crisscrossed his skin, as if his body were a porcelain vessel stretched to its breaking point, ready to shatter.
His meridians were shattered, and even his bones were riddled with hairline fractures.
But what truly alarmed her was his Dantian Qi Sea.
There, a deathly silence reigned, broken only by the sight of a dark-golden Golden Core, its surface spiderwebbed with cracks and emitting an unsettling aura.
Tie Yuyao tentatively channeled a wisp of her Spiritual Energy into Fang Zheng’s body.
This was the Tie Clan’s unique Ice Heart Manual, a balanced and harmonious technique renowned for its healing properties.
Yet the moment her Spiritual Energy entered Fang Zheng’s meridians, it reacted like scalding water poured into freezing oil!
The deathly still Golden Core suddenly trembled violently, unleashing a surge of overwhelmingly tyrannical, incomparably pure energy—yet imbued with an aura of endless death and violent savagery.
This energy possessed both the majestic purity of Righteous Path Cultivation Techniques and the brutal ruthlessness of Demonic Path techniques!
These two diametrically opposed qualities had inexplicably merged into a perfect whole, defying all logic.
Pfft!
Tie Yuyao felt a massive force slam into her chest, her breath catching in her throat as she was jolted back half a step, her face paling slightly.
“What the hell…” she muttered under her breath.
In her entire life, she had never encountered such a bizarre Cultivation Technique.
Neither Righteous nor Demonic, yet both at once.
Abandoning her attempt to heal him with Spiritual Energy, she realized his body was like a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest spark.
From a pouch at her waist, she retrieved several stalks of black herbs that emitted a peculiar cold aura. Using the hilt of her knife, she crushed them into a dark green paste and roughly smeared it over Fang Zheng’s wounds.
This was “Frozen Blood Grass,” a specialty of the Northern Territory, renowned for its miraculous effects on external injuries.
After completing this task, Tie Yuyao settled down by the charcoal fire and began sharpening her beloved boning knife.
She had done all she could.
This man’s Dao Foundation was utterly ruined; he would likely never tread the path of immortality again.
Still, judging by his sturdy frame, if he survived, he’d make a decent laborer.
In the Northern Territory, strong, able-bodied workers were always in short supply.
Time passed unnoticed.
On the stone bed, Fang Zheng’s eyelids fluttered.
He slowly opened his eyes.
The world swam into focus. First, a blurry haze, then the ceiling of the stone hut sharpened into clarity.
Warmth.
That was his first sensation upon regaining consciousness.
Not the biting chill of wind and snow, nor the tearing agony of spatial turbulence, but a… long-forgotten warmth, enveloped in the embrace of flames.
Fang Zheng stiffly turned his neck.
He saw the girl sitting beside the firelight.
Her head was bowed as she focused intently on sharpening a small knife against a whetstone.
The flickering flames cast a soft glow across her delicate profile, imbuing her features with a gentle outline.
Fang Zheng simply watched her.
Motionless.
His mind was a blank slate, as if completely scoured clean by snow and wind.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Who is this person before me?
He couldn’t remember, nor did he want to.
That memory was a hellish abyss—a touch would ignite his Divine Soul into ash.
So, he merely stared.
With an empty, bewildered gaze, he stared at the sole source of light and life in this alien world.
Tie Yuyao soon noticed.
Fang Zheng’s gaze was fixed squarely upon her.
At first, she paid it no mind.
But after the time it takes to burn an incense stick had passed, that unwavering stare remained glued to her.
Tie Yuyao’s knife-sharpening movements slowed, her brow gradually furrowing.
What does this guy… think he’s doing?
Being stared at like this by a man made her deeply uncomfortable.
She lifted her head, meeting Fang Zheng’s unwavering gaze.
Their eyes locked.
Fang Zheng remained completely expressionless, his pupils like pools of stagnant water, as if she were no more alive than a stone or a tree.
This prolonged scrutiny from a man ignited a nameless fury within Tie Yuyao.
At that moment, Fang Zheng suddenly felt his lips cracking and his throat burning as if on fire.
He instinctively knew he needed water.
He saw it.
Beside Tie Yuyao, near the brazier, stood a clay pot filled with water.
Water.
The thought became Fang Zheng’s sole obsession.
He struggled to prop himself up with his arms, his broken body trembling.
Agonizing pain surged through him like a tidal wave.
He staggered off the stone bed, his bare feet landing on the icy stone floor.
Then, step by step, he began to walk toward Tie Yuyao.
Witnessing this, Tie Yuyao’s fury reached its peak.
The moment he gets within half a meter, I’ll shove my foot down his throat.
Tie Yuyao retreated half a step, drawing an invisible line in the air before her.
Just try to cross this line!
Fang Zheng remained completely unaware of her intentions, continuing his slow advance toward his target.
Watching Fang Zheng gradually approach, Tie Yuyao seethed inwardly.
Well, well, well!
He actually dares to approach!
This is a provocation! A blatant provocation!
Does this bastard think I, a mere woman, wouldn’t dare do anything to him?
Fine! Excellent!
Fang Zheng’s gaze remained fixed solely on the earthenware jar.
He trudged forward, one heavy step, two steps…
Finally, he crossed the invisible line and stood before Tie Yuyao.
With a trembling hand, Fang Zheng reached past her, attempting to grasp the jar.
Now!
Tie Yuyao moved with lightning speed.
Before Fang Zheng could react, her hand shot out like a steel vise, clamped down on his jaw and forcefully yanking it open.
Crack!
Fang Zheng’s mouth was wrenched open.
Immediately afterward, he saw a white-socked foot rapidly enlarging before his eyes.
The next instant, the foot was brutally shoved into his mouth, filling it completely.
The world went instantly silent.
Fang Zheng’s pupils constricted sharply for a fleeting moment.
The deathly silent, chaotic consciousness within him felt as if it had been struck by a massive hammer!
Agony, humiliation, absurdity, bewilderment…
For the first time, countless emotions exploded within his shattered heart!
Just then…
Creak—
The stone hut door was pushed open.
A man as burly as an iron tower, his face stern and his beard like steel needles, strode in.
Ironblood Fortress Lord, Tie Yuyao’s father, Tie Xue Leng.
As soon as he entered, he witnessed the utterly bizarre scene before him.
His precious daughter was standing on one leg, brutally shoving her other foot into the mouth of a half-dead, unfamiliar man.
The muscles in Tie Xue Leng’s face twitched violently.
His thunderous voice reverberated through the deathly silent stone hut, brimming with utter bewilderment and suppressed fury!
“What the hell are you doing~ Ahahaha~ Ouch~”