Chapter 61

Bai Zhuixu donned his battle armor and, upon receiving his orders, walked out with the Taichu Mirror.

He saw his younger brother standing by the immortal pond, frowning and looking deeply troubled.

Since the grand competition, Bai Yuxiao had matured significantly, but his worries had also grown.

Following his brother’s gaze, Bai Zhuixu noticed the direction of Mi Chu’s palace.

“Are you worried about her?”

Bai Yuxiao muttered unhappily, “Mi Chu left without even saying goodbye. With the chaos outside and demons daring to slaughter immortals, it’s not safe for her out there.”

“Where do you think she went?” Bai Zhuixu asked.

Bai Yuyao replied, “To visit her father at the spiritual vein in the Southern Immortal Realm.”

Bai Zhuixu glanced at him, “Lord Lou returned just a few days ago. If Mi Chu missed her father, she would have gone earlier, not right after he left.”

“Brother, what are you implying?” Bai Yuxiao’s tone turned cold as he sensed the underlying meaning in his brother’s words.

“Are you saying Mi Chu lied to me?”

Bai Zhuixu remained silent for a long time before speaking, “Yuxiao, if you don’t want to hear it, consider it my unnecessary concern. But these are troubled times. Instead of worrying about Mi Chu, you should focus on strengthening Kongsang’s border defenses.”

Bai Yuxiao disliked his brother’s lecturing tone, as if they were always right and he was always wrong.

He coldly retorted, “Worrying about Mi Chu doesn’t stop me from leading troops to patrol Kongsang. You treat the young miss so well, why can’t you be fair to Mi Chu?”

He wasn’t blind; he could see that despite his brother’s gentle demeanor, he was colder towards Mi Chu than others.

While others might not notice, Bai Yuxiao saw it clearly.

Since birth, people had always compared him to his brother.

They would say, “Your brother is a young hero, steady and intelligent. Before he was even a hundred years old, he was already favored by the realm lord. But you, you’re unruly and lack ambition, like a child who never grew up.”

Everything his brother did was right, and everything he did was wrong.

Bai Yuxiao didn’t resent Bai Zhuixu, but he had a rebellious streak and liked to go against the grain.

The first time he approached Mi Chu was because the young miss, whom his brother adored, had bullied her.

He wanted to be different from his brother, so he reached out to Mi Chu.

The more his brother indulged the young miss, the more he wanted to protect Mi Chu.

Bai Zhuixu sighed, “It’s not that I’m unfair to Mi Chu, but that you’re unfair to the young miss. Yuxiao, I know what’s on your mind, but have you ever considered that the young miss used to lack a soul? In terms of power and intelligence, she could never compare to Mi Chu. How could she have bullied Mi Chu?”

“She’s the realm lord’s daughter. Mi Chu is gentle and always yields. What’s wrong with that?”

Bai Zhuixu looked at him calmly, “Do you really think so? We grew up together. You know them well. You always see Mi Chu cry, but have you ever heard the young miss cry to you?”

Bai Yuxiao was speechless, his neck stiff.

“Chishui Liushuang is so domineering. Who could bully her?”

“But she also cries,” Bai Zhuixu said.

“At night, she hides under the covers and cries, but she never lets you see.”

Bai Zhuixu lowered his eyes, recalling, “Once, you saw her scolding Mi Chu and stood up for Mi Chu, even pushing her. In truth, she had been injured during daytime training, and Mi Chu had accidentally picked her ice jade flower, which she had carefully nurtured for a year to use on Madam Zi’s wrist scar.”

Bai Yuxiao’s body stiffened, and he pursed his lips in silence.

He remembered that day.

Not only had he pushed her, but he had also fought with her.

Although Bai Yuxiao hadn’t used much force, he had teased her, watching her get so angry she looked like a little lion.

But he hadn’t known she was upset, crying alone under her covers that night.

Bai Zhuixu said, “Yuxiao, I’m not denying everything about you. Your talent surpasses mine, but our personalities are different. You don’t have to live under the pressure of our uncles. Don’t listen to those voices.”

Seeing his brother remain silent, Bai Zhuixu felt a pang of sorrow.

Bai Yuxiao had been in a bad mood lately, likely sensing Mi Chu’s growing distance.

He used to visit her palace often, but now she always had excuses to avoid him.

Not only are girls sensitive, but young boys, just coming of age, can also sense when something is off.

Bai Zhuixu wasn’t one to talk much, but Bai Yuxiao was his flesh and blood, and he couldn’t ignore him.

He feared Bai Yuxiao would sink deeper and end up hurt.

“Think it over. While I’m away from Kongsang, take care of our parents and protect Kongsang. Yuxiao, take care.”

The young man stood stiffly for a while, only speaking when his brother’s figure had disappeared into the distance, “Brother, take care out there.”

Bai Yuxiao paused for a long time before turning his head.

That direction wasn’t just the way to Mi Chu’s palace; it was also the direction Jimo Shaoyou had taken Liu shuang to heal her injuries.

His recent dissatisfaction, irritability, and melancholy had started the day Mi Chu left.

But even his brother had forgotten that the day Mi Chu left was also the day another little immortalhad boarded the immortal carriage to attend the Four Sea Banquet.

He lowered his head, his eyelashes casting shadows on his cheeks.

Time passed unnoticed in the mountains, and in the blink of an eye, it was already June in the mortal world.

Summer had arrived, and as demon blood stained the earth, immortal blood also began to spill.

Countless demons quietly migrated to the demon mountain.

It was the only place untouched during this time.

Some said they had seen a green demon bird in the demon palace, its wings as large as a palace, capable of spitting ice and summoning hurricanes with a flap of its wings.

It was much like the legendary Qingwu demon bird from ancient times.

Thus, the demon mountain’s reputation spread, thanks to the Qingwu demon bird.

The demon palace grew more crowded, and the once-empty halls were now overflowing.

Little demons worked during the day to expand the mountain and slept on the floor at night.

They didn’t need sleep, but after years of blending into mortal society, they had picked up all sorts of mortal habits.

Cong Xia walked in lightly, complaining, “What’s going on? Some even brought mortal wives to seek refuge. Do they think the demon palace is a shelter?”

Fuheng was also at a loss for words and asked the mountain lord, “Should we drive some demons away?”

The demons coming to the mountain were of mixed quality, not only difficult to sustain but also overcrowding the place.

They thought the mountain lord was a kind-hearted man and the demon bird was the main force against the immortal soldiers, but that wasn’t the case.

The real killing machine was just now emerging from the cold pool, having finished dressing.

The little demon bird used to attract demon generals was just a baby demon bird, force-fed with rare treasures to mature quickly.

If the mountain lord beckoned, it would chirp foolishly, utterly clueless.

Yan Chaosheng had gathered a group of brutes but lacked strategists.

Hearing about the situation, he coldly said, “Tell them to kill immortals. Kill ten, and they can stay on the demon mountain. If they want to bring family, kill ten more. The demon mountain doesn’t support freeloaders. If they cause trouble or complain, chop them up and feed them to other demons.”

Cong Xia lowered her head, meekly agreeing.

Despite her deep admiration for the cold, murderous man before her, she didn’t dare to look at him too much.

In just a few days, the mountain lord had grown taller.

Once a youth similar in height to Fuheng, he now stood half a head taller, his frame more imposing.

Moreover, since returning from the Weak Water, he had changed, becoming ruthless and no longer soft-hearted.

The air was tinged with a faint smell of blood, and scattered black scales littered the ground, soon to be cleaned up by palace maids.

Only those close to him knew that he had been particularly irritable lately, his snake scales constantly shedding, leaving behind sickly gray patches.

His true form remained unstable.

What his true form looked like now, no one knew, which was why he had released the demon bird to establish his authority.

A few days ago, a female demon left by Lao He, unwilling to give up, tried to seduce him.

She happened to witness him shedding scales and transforming, and was torn to pieces in the palace.

Though Cong Xia had been tempted, hearing about this incident, she abandoned any such thoughts.

Yan Chaosheng didn’t like anyone seeing his true form.

Fuheng, however, wasn’t concerned with these matters.

What worried him was, “The demon mountain’s presence is growing. In just a short time, we’ve killed thousands of immortal soldiers. The demon mountain is no longer safe. A new immortal general has taken command of one of the immortal troops. He fights and retreats, not engaging directly but ambushing at the mountain’s base. I heard it’s the immortal soldiers from Kongsang and Changliu.”

The immortal soldiers from Kongsang and Changliu were responsible for “cleansing” their territory.

Yan Chaosheng lowered his eyes, his fingers tightening.

Fuheng knew that once the immortals reacted, the demon mountain would be the first to face their wrath.

And their mountain lord, still recovering from his injuries in the Weak Water, relying solely on a superficially impressive demon bird and the few great demons on the mountain, would struggle against the true might of the heavenly army.

The mountain lord needed to heal, stabilize his true form, and find a magic artifact to protect the demon mountain.

Otherwise, they would all have to move before the immortals could react.

He briefed Yan Chaosheng on Bai Zhuixu’s troop movements.

The immortals were killing their people, but they couldn’t kill the immortal soldiers because a nearly impenetrable barrier protected the army.

“It’s a strange mirror,” Fuheng said.

Yan Chaosheng spun around and sat down, lightly tapping his fingers.

Suddenly, he smiled and said, “Since they’ve delivered themselves to our doorstep, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

His smile couldn’t be described as lighthearted; instead, it seemed to recall something, tinged with somberness.

Apart from the day he killed someone, Fuheng had never seen him like this.

Yan Chaosheng tossed the Ten Commandments Ring to him, his smile cold, “The Taichu Mirror—they probably don’t know how to use it properly. Fuheng, take some men and teach them.”

He cut his hand, letting blood flow freely into the Ten Commandments Ring.

These immortals had likely long forgotten that the Taichu Mirror was originally used by his father to control spiritual energy, reclaiming the world’s swamps to prevent them from flooding the mortal realm.

It was, after all, a royal artifact.

He didn’t know how it had ended up in Bi Xun’s hands, used to trap a mortal city.

With the Taichu Mirror, the demon mountain’s barrier issues would be resolved.

Only his unstable true form remained, needing to be stabilized as quickly as possible.

With his true form unstable, he couldn’t guarantee there would be no mistakes when facing the heavenly army.

“I’ll make a trip to You Mountain,” Yan Chaosheng suddenly said.

You Mountain? Almost no one had heard of this place.

Yan Chaosheng tossed a primordial pill to the little demon bird beside him, casually saying, “In ancient times, Ru Shou lived there.”

(T/N: From the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Ru Shou is Chinese god of autumn. He’s connected to the west, metal, and is sometimes seen as a god of punishment. Often depicted as having a human body, the face of a tiger, sharp claws, and white fur.)

His inherited memories told him that Ru Shou had perished with his father’s era.

After tens of thousands of years, he didn’t know who the master of You Mountain was now.

It didn’t matter. In the end, they would do whatever he wanted.

Shaoyou supported the weak, translucent girl in his arms, his voice gentle, “You Mountain is the entrance and exit of the western sun, covered in purple jade.”

They arrived at sunset, the sky ablaze with color.

You Mountain, though called a mountain, wasn’t large.

Instead, it resembled a small realm independent of the Eight Wilderness, neither an immortal realm nor the mortal world.

Shaoyou led her westward into You Mountain, where Liu shuang indeed saw countless beautiful jades.

There were also various bloodstone chicken-blood stones, the small realm so beautiful it seemed painted with colors.

Immortal cranes couldn’t enter.

Shaoyou said, “I’ll carry you. The master here is Zhan Xueyang. He’s eccentric, but don’t be afraid when you see him.”

His calm demeanor made Liu shuang feel less awkward.

This life was different from the last; she had memories, while Shaoyou had none.

She climbed onto his back, recalling a time when she was very young and he had carried her like this.

Back then, she had been injured in her haste to retrieve Shaoyou’s scattered soul, and on his back, she had insisted on being let down.

Shaoyou had threatened to drop her if she kept squirming.

“My father never carried me like this,” she had said at the time, causing Shaoyou’s face to darken.

Remembering this, she rested her head on Shaoyou’s back, unable to suppress a soft laugh.

Shaoyou’s senses were sharp.

“What is it?”

She repeated the words, masking the amusement in her eyes with a sigh, “Shaoyou, my father never carried me like this.”

Shaoyou, inexplicably compared to Chishui Chong, felt a mix of embarrassment and annoyance.

He recalled being forced into a marriage alliance with her and learning that the little immortal was too young, always feeling as if he had taken advantage of her.