Qin Yi and Ye Ling stayed in the stone house for two days. One day was spent refining pills, and the other was for digesting the results.
When they stepped out of the stone house, they were greeted by the morning sun. Ye Ling's body had faint, blood-colored scales that shimmered briefly before disappearing. This was the result of her fully merging with the bloodline of the blood flood dragon, giving her some dragon-like traits.
She had reached a stable level of transformation at the eighth stage of her cultivation. Her demon body and demon power had blended together, and all the mixed bloodlines in her body had been sorted out, forming a unique "Ye Ling Bloodline."
In Liu Su's eyes, the transformation of demons and the initial heart of humans were all at a beginner level, so she couldn't be bothered to differentiate them further and casually rated them as being at the early to late stages. In fact, every level has nine stages. When someone reaches the ninth stage and perfects it, they can break through to the next level, without any talk of a perfect late peak.
Initially, Ming He was rated by Liu Su as "almost perfect in her heart," which actually meant she was at the eighth stage.
In other words, Ye Ling's current cultivation level was on par with Ming He, who could once defeat her from a distance. Although Ye Ling hadn't learned much, her demon body was incredibly strong, and her talent was quite unique, so in a fight, she might not necessarily lose.
Qin Yi had also made significant progress.
He had only consumed two Peiyuan Pills and had already reached the third stage of the initial heart. Once, a lightning net could drain all his power, but now he could unleash it freely...
The reason for this rapid progress was simple: the Peiyuan Pill was a seventh-grade immortal pill. Pills of this grade were often used in many major sects, and they even had good effects for those at the initial heart level. For someone like him, who was still at the first stage, the huge energy from the pill was enough to almost burst his body...
"This kind of forced enhancement using external power is fast, but one must not become addicted. This time, it was out of necessity," Liu Su advised. "While external pills can be considered a path, relying too heavily on them is not beneficial for your own cultivation. Wise people usually only use pills as aids to break through barriers. While there are rare cases of people becoming immortal through pills, it’s not very reliable."
Qin Yi understood this well.
Chang'e was someone who became immortal through pills, but who could she defeat...
Self-cultivation is the solid foundation.
So even though he had several pills left, he decided to hold off on taking them for now.
Time waits for no one. He was worried about Li Qingjun and really didn’t have the patience to hide away and cultivate slowly.
"Let's go to the demon city," Qin Yi said, taking Ye Ling's hand as they started down the mountain.
As they reached halfway down, they both paused.
The corpses of demons scattered across the mountains, including the blood flood dragon, had all been cleaned up. Even the blood in the blood pool had been completely drained.
"..." Qin Yi was sure that the formation he set up outside the house hadn't been approached by anyone. To clean up this countless number of corpses was no small task, and yet no one had even come to take a look at the mountain top?
Ye Ling hesitated and said, "Could it be that old eagle uncle knows we were inside and didn't want to disturb us?"
"The most likely scenario is that the demons from the White Kingdom came to clear it out, which means they do have some goodwill towards us," Qin Yi pondered. "But this matter... is getting stranger. Could it be they don't realize we have the essence of demon blood?"
Ye Ling said, "I think that old eagle uncle is quite nice, nothing strange about him."
Qin Yi scolded, "You need to be more cautious. I can't be with you all the time. If you keep being so naive, you might get sold in the demon city and still help count the money!"
Ye Ling pouted and mumbled, "Then just stay with me and don't go..."
Qin Yi didn't catch that clearly and was about to ask when Ye Ling suddenly dashed down the mountain, saying, "Let's see who is faster!"
...
"That human and little snake are back again."
"Oh my, he smells worse. How many days has it been since he washed...?"
"I am a flower bathed in heavenly dew."
"Yes, and you often bathe in our droppings."
A fight soon broke out by the tree.
Qin Yi felt embarrassed but couldn't help but find it amusing.
Actually, these demons were quite entertaining. If all the demons from the White Kingdom were like this, they would be quite suitable for Ye Ling.
On another tree, a bird said, "Actually, I think that little snake really wants to bite him."
"How do you know?"
"It has been secretly watching him. If it’s not to bite him, then what else?"
Huh? Really? Ye Ling scratched her head in confusion. She didn't realize she had been staring at her brother, and besides, he really did smell bad...
Liu Su's voice suddenly chimed in, "And you say you haven't considered your son's snake bloodline..."
Qin Yi was so angry he almost spat blood. "It's not like I was looking at her!"
Another bird by the tree said, "Isn't that human also secretly watching the little snake? Does that mean he wants to bite the little snake too?"
Qin Yi: "..."
Ye Ling's cheeks turned red as she lowered her head and muttered, "If it's brother, then it’s okay to bite him softly. Just a little, or it will hurt..."
Qin Yi: "…We should leave this place soon. These birds are giving me a headache."
"Oh," Ye Ling said softly, "but brother really does smell bad."
Qin Yi was in tears. Was this my fault? How long has it been since leaving Nanli? I haven't had a bath, and I've been through several battles, rolling around in piles of corpses, covered in blood and dirt. How could I smell good...
But it was strange. Ye Ling had gone through the same experiences and had even been in the blood pool several times. How come she was still so fair and fragrant?
I heard snake venom has a pleasant scent, right? Yeah, that must be it. Qin Yi felt quite disgruntled.
Amidst the chatter of birds and the rustling of trees, the two continued on their way. After walking less than ten miles, Ye Ling suddenly stopped, her eyes wide open.
Qin Yi gasped, losing all sense of humor.
Is this the demon city?
Ahead, there were endless brown city walls. Looking far into the distance, he couldn't see the ends on either side. Just judging by the length, it could be several times the size of Li Huo City.
They say the rift is so wide that even birds can't fly over it. Qin Yi felt this city was probably as wide as the rift...
As they got closer, he could see the city walls were at least twenty zhang high, like a twenty-story building!
This was the first time Qin Yi had seen such high city walls. Was this even a city wall?
The walls were made of something that didn’t seem to be built from bricks or stones. It looked like huge feathers connected together, each feather several zhang wide, with fluff that was as thick as a person.
Demons walked through the city gate, making it look like ants crawling into a hole...
Just the faint demon energy emanating from the city walls was enough to suppress Qin Yi's power, making it feel like an overwhelming force was pressing down on him.
"What on earth is this...?"
Turning to look at Ye Ling, she was staring blankly at the city walls, unable to speak for a long time, clearly shocked.
Liu Su's voice suddenly rang out, "This is the body of the Kunpeng turned into a city, its feathers became the walls, and its flesh turned into the land."
"Kunpeng!"
"Yes... its demon power still protects this area. Perhaps this is why the city can stand in the valley, gathering countless demons without being broken by human cultivators."
Qin Yi swallowed hard. Indeed, with Ming He's attitude towards demons, her elders had clearly traveled through this place but didn’t take action or gather fellow practitioners to do so... Perhaps this was the reason.
This creature had been dead for so many years yet still held such power. Qin Yi believed that if this Kunpeng were alive, even a sneeze could cause countless human cultivators to drop dead.
It was strange, though. As Qin Yi got closer, that terrifying oppressive force seemed to dissipate around him, almost like it was avoiding him.
What was it afraid of?
Qin Yi glanced at the wolf-tooth club.
"I killed it," Liu Su said calmly. "Perhaps it still harbors some fear of my presence."
Qin Yi: "…"
"But... I'm not proud of it." Liu Su's tone became a bit somber as she murmured, "Compared to it... it feels like it is eternal, while I have long been dead for thousands of years."
(End of Chapter)