Chapter 618: The Holy Infant
The underground world.
Pavilions were as numerous as trees in a forest, and there were numerous palaces.
The buildings were all new; the Celestial Prison Demon Court had built them here recently.
This demonic faction of the Xuandu Continent saw this place as their home base. Numerous extremely powerful formations had been placed between the various palaces and pavilions.
Within one of the many pavilions.
“Qing Jin, have you thought it through?” asked the Pineflame Daoist, his expression conflicted.
Qing Jin sighed. “Master, what if I don’t agree? What will you do then?”
The Pineflame Daoist was her master, as well as the third high elder of the Hidden Dragon Sword Sect.
In the past, he occupied a lofty position. As an Earthly Immortal, the people respected and revered him.
Yet now, he’d long since submitted to the Celestial Prison Demon Court.
Furthermore, he planned to betroth her, his apprentice, to Ma?Chengkong, one of the Celestial Demon Prison’s dharma protectors. She wouldn’t be his wife, either; she’d be a concubine!
“Qing Jin, times have changed,” the Pineflame Daoist said softly. “The Celestial Prison Demon Court shall preside over the Great Zhou going forward. This is the direction of the future, and no one can change it. Now, even our Hidden Dragon Sword Sect has had no choice but to lower its head in submission.
He paused here, then looked at her. “The smartest thing we can do now is recognize our situation. Take now, for instance. Dharma Protector Ma Chengkong has taken an interest in you. If you become his Dao Partner, you’re destined to soar. Meteoric success is just around the corner!”
The more he spoke, the more impassioned he sounded. “This is an opportunity others can only dream of. If you miss it, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!”
Qing Jin’s face paled, and her jade-line fists silently clenched. She flashed the Pineflame Daoist a bleak smile. “Master, in my heart, I’ve always seen you as a father figure, but… You want to betroth me to a bloodthirsty old fiend as a concubine…”
She took a deep breath, then murmured, “I truly regret it. I regret that I didn’t choose to remain by Su Yi’s side as a servant. If I had, perhaps this would never have happened to me.”
“Su Yi?” The Pineflame Daoist froze, stunned, then burst into cold laughter. “Never mind that Su Yi has long since left the Great Zhou. Even if he were here, if he tried to take the Celestial Prison Demon?Court on all?by himself, he’d be no different from a mantis trying to block a chariot!”
He paused, then said, “Besides, recently, the Celestial Prison Demon Court’s forces have traveled throughout the nation, seizing everyone connected to Su Yi. Qing Jin, had you truly become his servant, how could it possibly have ended well for you?”
Qing Jin pursed her lips, her expression stubborn. “It’s precisely because Su Yi isn’t here that they dare act without reservation! If the Celestial Prison Demon Court were really strong enough to take him down, why would they resort to attacking those around him?”
Bang!
The Pineflame Daoist slammed the table and shouted, “Qing Jin, quit being so childish! Do you have any idea how grievous the consequences will be if you refuse to become Dharma Protector Ma’s concubine?”
Qing Jin paled, and she said staunchly, “There’s no evil he wouldn’t commit. Even if I die, I won’t lower myself by giving my body to a vile old man like him!”
“You…” The Pineflame Daoist was so angry he practically spat fire.
Suddenly, a raspy voice rang out. “Pineflame, I, Ma Chengkong, dislike coercing others.”
A disheveled, body old man pushed open the door and walked inside. His face was covered in deep wrinkles, and his eyes were tawny yellow. He had a mustache and a hunched back. A sinister, imposing aura emanated from his entire body.
“Dharma Protector Ma, why are you here?” Mere moments prior, the Pineflame Daoist had been visibly infuriated. Now, he shot to his feet and walked up with a smile, nodding and bowing at the waist, the very picture of a fawning boot-licker.
Qing Jin watched this play out, her heart filling with indescribable loathing and disappointment.?This… This is the man I once saw as a father figure?
The withered Ma Chengkong glanced at the Pineflame Daoist, “Leave us, you worthless wretch.”
The Pineflame Daoist shook frown head to toe, then averted his gaze. “Dharma Protector Ma, please, give me just a little more time. I’m sure I can convince Qing Jin to agree…”
Whap!
Ma Chengkong backhanded the Pineflame Daoist, sending him staggering back. He fell onto his backside, cheeks swollen and hair in disarray.
Then, he turned his tawny eyes on Qing Jin, and his thoroughly-wrinkled face broke into a hungry, lewd grin. “I’ve already run out of patience. Flowers ought to be plucked while they’re still in bloom. You refuse to listen? Then I’ll teach you obedience in the bedroom!”
Qing Jin shuddered as she realized that the hideous old monster was about to force the matter.
The Pineflame Daoist said frantically, “Qing Jin, don’t just stand there! Hurry up and agree!”
Bang!
Ma Chengkong kicked the Pineflame Daoist, sending him flying out of the room. “Get the hell out of here, you eyesore! Don’t spoil my fun!”
With that, he walked up to Qing Jin, smiling so broadly that his eyes narrowed into slits. “Don’t be nervous. I promise you unprecedented pleasures, a joy even greater than becoming a deity or immortal. In the past, after tasting pleasure, a few other stubborn little beauties started drooling at the mere sight of me, as if they wanted nothing more than to eat me up! Hahaha…!”
The combination of his lewd words and hideous smile pushed Qing Jin past the limits of her tolerance. She gave into panic and despair.
She gripped the shortsword she’d hidden in her sleeves and thrust it at her throat.
Clang!
A crisp, clear sound rang out, and the shortsword went flying.
Qing Jin’s wrists were in agony.
Ma Chengkong was now mere inches away, his gaze fiery. “How could I just let you die before I’ve tasted you?”
Qing Jin’s beautiful face filled with despair.
However, seeing a beautiful woman so helpless only made Ma Chengkong even more excited. Malevolent flames surged within him, but just as he was about to act——
“Su Yi of the Great Zhou has come for a visit!”
Every word was like the ringing of a bell, reverberating throughout the area and shaking the entire building. Even the tables and chairs trembled.
Ma Chengkong shuddered from head to toe; he was obviously alarmed. The malevolent fire building in his chest dissipated into nothingness, and his wrinkled face was instantly grim.
Su Yi!?
The punk kid Elder Chu spoke of?
Ma Chengkong’s?expression filled?with bewilderment.
Su Yi!?Qing Jin had already given into despair, but when she heard this familiar voice, her eyes lit up, and her spirits rekindled.
“He’s actually… killing his way into the Celestial Prison Demon Court’s lair?” An indescribable emotion coursed through Qing Jin’s entire body.
“Hmph! I’ll kill that Su kid, then come back to deal with you, you little bitch!” Ma Chengkong snorted coldly, turned, and rushed off.
He could already hear the commotion from outside the pavilion, and he realized that the sect’s other experts were already responding to Su Yi’s arrival. He naturally dared not delay.
“No, I have to go watch too!” Qing Jin cast aside all other concerns and rushed outside.
“Qing Jin!” The Pineflame Daoist tried to stop her, but he was one step too late.
He stood in place, his expression shifting erratically. “Su Yi… that punk really dares act up here? Isn’t he afraid they’ll kill him?”
After a moment’s hesitation, he gnashed his teeth and charged out.
……
A thousand-foot blood-colored vortex hovered over the underground world.
There was a cauldron sitting on an altar directly beneath it. Its interior was full of churning blood, and an infant who looked carved out of jade sat within the liquid.
The infant looked utterly innocent, but the sight of his snow-white body immersed in blood gave him a strange presence: sacred, yet strange and unsettling.
His hands were crossed over his stomach, forming an ancient seal. Wisps of unearthly black light surged around the altar like mist and flowed into the infant’s body.
A black-robed man with a head of red hair held a suet jade bottle and stood piously to the side of the altar.
Tu Baizhen!
An elder of the Celestial Prison Demon Court and an advanced cultivator of the late-stage Spiritual Manifestation Realm!
Every time the infant was on the verge of absorbing the last of the blood-red liquid inside the cauldron, the black-robed, red-haired Tu Baizhen walked up respectfully and poured red liquid out of the jade bottle.
This was?bloodmeal?gathered from the bodies of martial artists, and it was like a miraculous medicine.
“Esteemed Holy Infant, the loftiest bloodline of our Celestial Prison Demon Court, Spiritdemon Goldblood, flows through your veins, and a portion of an ancient demon emperor’s will is sealed within your sea of consciousness.
“Now that the spiritual energy of the Azure Continent is recovering, it will soon welcome an unprecedented golden age! All you need to continue your cultivation. The day you prove your Dao and become an Emperor awaits you!”
Tu Baizhen’s gaze was fervent, and he addressed the infant in the cauldron with awe and piousness.
It was then that a booming voice emanated from afar.
“Su Yi of the Great Zhou has come for a visit!”
Boom!
The sacrificial altar swayed, and the infant seated cross-legged within the burbling, blood-filled cauldron silently opened his eyes.
What did they look like?
They were calm, icy, distant, and indifferent, yet bright red, like doorways to hell.
The infant was the picture of innocence, with features that looked carved out of jade. However, those eyes gave him an unsettling, sinister, malevolent aura.
Tu Baizhen’s heart trembled beneath the infant's gaze, and his soul?palpitated?in terror. He hurriedly lowered his head and said in a quavering voice, “Esteemed Holy Infant, please, calm your fury! Your subordinate will go slaughter that scoundrel right away!”
The infant rose within the cauldron.
Whoosh~
Blood surged and churned, forming interweaving strands and covering the infant in crimson robes.
When the infant left the cauldron, he emanated a terrifying, malevolent presence, bearing down on Tu Baizhen. He felt suffocated, and his face filled with astonishment.?Is the Holy Infant already this powerful?
Clang!
The infant stretched out his hand, and the cauldron’s abundant fresh blood transformed into a sword fully four feet long. Fresh blood flowed around its blade, and its interior was like a miniature purgatory. Countless vengeful souls howled and wailed inside it.
The infant furrowed his brow, seemingly displeased, then stretched out his hand and tapped the blade.
The four-foot blood sword shook, then shrank down to three inches and fell into the infant’s palm.
The infant broke into a satisfied grin. “I’m going with you.”
He had the raspy voice of an old man.
The combination was extremely unsettling: an infant clan in red?Daoist?robes, holding a sword of blood, with icy, crimson eyes and a voice imbued with the vicissitudes of years gone by.
“You cannot!” Tu Baizhen said nervously. “Esteemed Holy Infant, Elder Chu requested that you weren’t to leave the Altar of Blood Sacrifice until the onset of the Radiant Epoch…”
“One more wasted word, and this lofty one will kill you,” said the Holy Infant.
With that, the infant turned and left, stepping into the sky and soaring into the distance.
Tu Baizhen’s expression flickered back and forth, both terrified and frantic. In the end, he gnashed his teeth, pressed off the ground, and gave chase.
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