Chapter 33:

Sang Qi was born no different from other half-demons, abandoned and wandering, hiding and fleeing. It was not until his teens that he encountered wolf demons from the Tianlang Clan in the wilderness and learned that his silver eyes and wolf ears were the symbols of the Tianlang race.

“He’s a half-demon,” the elders of the Tianlang Clan scrutinized him coldly. Suddenly, they recalled his identity. “Could he be the offspring of the Tianlang King and that human female cultivator?”

Later, he gradually learned his origins from their words.

His father was the previous Tianlang King, who fell in love with a human female cultivator at the age of eight hundred and had a child with her. The Tianlang Clan prided themselves on their noble bloodline and refused to accept the “Good Demon Certificate” issued by the Demon Appraisal Department of the Cultivation World. They had always been at odds with the Five Sects of the Immortal Alliance. Later, by coincidence, the venerables of the Five Sects and leaders of several great demon clans entered a secret realm together to search for treasures left by the ancient god, and used this as an excuse to jointly kill the Tianlang King. The pregnant human female cultivator lost her support and gave birth to a half-demon son in hiding in the countryside. This infant was born with silver hair and silver eyes, and a pair of fluffy wolf ears, which terrified the midwife. The villagers, unfamiliar with the cultivation world, only knew she had given birth to a monster and wanted to burn mother and child alive.

Although she was a cultivator, giving birth to a half-demon caused great damage to her body. The weak mother carried the infant in her arms and ran for an unknown length of time before finally choosing to abandon him—under a Fusang tree growing at a fork in the road.

That became Sang Qi’s home for the next several years.

The Tianlang Clan never gave Sang Qi any sense of belonging. Among humans, he was a half-demon; among demons, he was half-human. The Tianlang King had other offspring, all born with silver hair and silver eyes, possessing both beast forms and the ability to transform into humans, with demon cores granting them lifespans of several thousand years, their strength far surpassing Sang Qi’s. He was merely a despicable, weak, and unwanted half-demon.

—Half-demons are born with sin.

This was the belief instilled in Sang Qi for many years; the blood flowing in his veins was impure.

Both the human and demon races believed that half-demons tainted their bloodlines. They were born with original sin, thus deprived of the ability to reproduce, which was a punishment from the heavenly Dao. The Dao itself deemed half-demons unworthy of existence.

During the struggle for the new Tianlang King’s throne, his elder brother sold him to the Demon Race in exchange for their support. He became a demon slave, possibly even destined to become their food. Although a half-demon’s body was tougher than a human’s, it could not withstand the constant erosion of demonic energy day and night. His companions struggled hard to resist the demonic energy, but he did not—he embraced the piercing pain that crept through his bones.

—The blood in my veins is tainted; I am destined to fall into filth.

He accepted the demonic energy, allowing it to seep into his blood, unintentionally opening a door to evil. From then on, half-demons had their own path of cultivation. He became the first half-demon to cultivate demonic techniques and the most powerful half-demon in history. He shared the demonic cultivation methods with other half-demon slaves, gaining followers of his own. Demons had low intelligence, and he easily gained their trust. Thus, half-demons became allies of the Demon Race, and he, once a lowly demon slave, rose to become the revered High Priest of the Demon Realm.

Sang Qi finally achieved the respect and importance he had longed for, yet something still felt incomplete. He didn’t know what he was searching for until he met Su Ningxi. It was then that he realized he had always been seeking a pair of kind and gentle eyes—eyes that would accept his imperfections, embrace his impurity, and love all of him.

He first met Su Ningxi when he was gravely injured. He had been hunted by the Law Images, barely escaping with serious wounds, when he encountered the female cultivator on a cultivation journey. Fearing she might reveal his whereabouts, he knocked her out and took her away. He fainted from blood loss in a cave, never expecting that the woman he had knocked out would awaken before him. Even more surprisingly, she didn’t leave.

She had lit a fire and was sitting across from him, chin resting on her hand. The firelight illuminated her delicate and beautiful face, her bright eyes sparkling with starlight. Seeing him awaken, she smiled brightly: “You’re awake!”

His hideous wounds on his chest and abdomen had been carefully bandaged, and even the bloodstains on his body had been cleaned. Sang Qi was momentarily dazed, thinking he must be dreaming, until the female cultivator handed him a roasted fish with a smile and asked: “Are you hungry? Want to eat some fish?”

Sang Qi had expected a sword thrust instead, so he instinctively dodged backward, pulling at his wounds and causing them to bleed again.

“Why did you dodge?” she pouted. “Is my cooking really that bad?”

She placed the fish on a rack and walked over to support Sang Qi, but he seized her delicate throat.

Sang Qi rasped, “Who are you? What do you want?”

The female cultivator blinked: “I’m Su Ningxi from Mirror Flower Valley. You kidnapped me, didn’t you want me to help you heal?”

Sang Qi’s handsome face darkened as his silver eyes scrutinized her expression, trying to detect any deception. “I’m a half-demon. Why wouldn’t you kill me or report me?”

He believed that Su Ningxi’s refusal to kill him must mean she had ulterior motives.

Su Ningxi smiled gently: “Why would I kill you? You’re strange. Your wound is bleeding again. Let me take care of it for you.”

Without waiting for his reaction, she reached toward the wound on his waist. A cool, refreshing vitality covered the injury. Sang Qi was surprised to find the pain significantly eased, even showing signs of healing.

He cultivated demonic arts, which repelled human cultivators’ spiritual energy. It was impossible for a human cultivator to heal him with their spiritual power. There was something peculiar about Su Ningxi’s abilities.

Moments later, the wound stopped bleeding, and Su Ningxi withdrew her hand, her face slightly pale. “Your wound is too severe. I’m exhausted today. I need to rest overnight to recover.”

Sang Qi unconsciously loosened his grip on her throat and asked hoarsely, “Who exactly are you, and why do you have such strange healing abilities?”

Su Ningxi smiled: “My master says I have the Yin-Natured Body, filled with endless vitality, making me the most suitable for cultivating the Spring-Birth Technique.”

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly closed her eyes and collapsed forward onto Sang Qi’s thigh, falling fast asleep.

Sang Qi checked her pulse and realized she was merely asleep, probably due to the excessive spiritual energy she had used to heal him.

He had kidnapped her with no good intentions, merely fearing she might reveal his whereabouts, and also thinking that if his demonic energy leaked, he could consume her flesh and blood to replenish his demonic energy with her heart demons. However, her strange spiritual energy changed his mind—he decided to keep her around to heal him.

Su Ningxi was a very peculiar female cultivator, unlike any other cultivator he had ever met. In his mind, cultivators were all lofty, self-righteous hypocrites, while Su Ningxi was a seemingly elegant and gentle woman who was actually clumsy and carefree.

The first time he realized this was when she went out to find food but got lost and couldn’t find her way back. Sang Qi had already suspected her intentions, secretly following her and watching helplessly as she circled the woods dozens of times before he finally emerged to lead her back.

“I’m so glad I met you,” a teary and desperate Su Ningxi clung to Sang Qi’s leg, sobbing with joy. “I suspect there’s a formation here. Otherwise, how could I not find my way out?”

Sang Qi tugged at his robe, thinking to himself: I suspect you have a problem with your brain.

She healed him at great cost, needing long periods of sleep and large amounts of food to replenish her strength every day. However, her cooking was comparable to poison. She seemed to lack a normal sense of taste, eating with great delight, which left Sang Qi in disbelief.

Later, he took over the task of roasting meat.

It was hard to imagine him, a half-demon werewolf, roasting rabbits for a woman.

Sang Qi suspected he might also have a brain problem.

“Today in the woods, I thought you were going to save that rabbit, but I didn’t expect you to eat it,” Sang Qi sarcastically remarked.

Su Ningxi happily finished the roasted rabbit, its golden color and delicious aroma filling the air. Upon hearing Sang Qi’s words, she smiled and said, “Rabbits are so cute. They’re definitely delicious.”

“Don’t you think it’s cruel?” Sang Qi asked.

“Ah?” Su Ningxi looked puzzled. “But I need to live too.”

“Can you justify eating other lives just to survive?” Sang Qi’s silver eyes coldly stared at her. “What if I wanted to eat you to survive?”

Su Ningxi frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said, “Then make it quick. I don’t like pain.”

Sang Qi was slightly taken aback. “That’s it?”

Wasn’t she supposed to beg for mercy or angrily curse him?

Su Ningxi added, “Also… add more cumin. It tastes better.”

Sang Qi: “…”

Suddenly, he felt that he was more human than her.

Unconsciously, he reached out and touched Su Ningxi’s forehead. Her delicate, warm skin concealed beneath it the unique spiritual pulse of a human—definitely a human.

Feeling the roughness of his fingertip, Su Ningxi suddenly blushed and muttered, “What are you doing?”

Sang Qi withdrew his hand and calmly replied, “I suspected you weren’t human.”

Su Ningxi furrowed her brows, then suddenly reached out and touched Sang Qi’s soft wolf ear. His ear twitched violently as the most sensitive part was rubbed. He immediately froze, blood rushing involuntarily to his cheeks. His pale, handsome face suddenly flushed with a vivid crimson hue, his eyes slightly red, but it was impossible to tell if it was from embarrassment, anger, joy, or hatred.

Su Ningxi smiled: “I suspect you’re not a werewolf.”

Sang Qi abruptly pulled up his hood, covering his ears and face so his expression couldn’t be seen, though his somewhat heavy breathing betrayed his emotions.

“I kidnapped you because I wanted to eat you,” came the low, hoarse voice from under the hood. “I am Sang Qi, the Demon Realm’s High Priest. I was gravely wounded while being hunted by the Law Images and have been hiding here. I cannot be exposed to daylight, or I will suffer from the leakage of my demonic energy. There’s another way to compensate for the pain of demonic energy leakage—eating human flesh raw, using the heart demons generated by the fear and hatred of a dying human to replenish what I need.”

Su Ningxi looked at him in astonishment.

Sang Qi stared at the firewood; a drop of oil fell into the flames, causing them to flare briefly. He didn’t know how Su Ningxi would react, but whatever it was, it would surely be within his expectations.

He didn’t look up, but he heard rustling sounds from across, followed by a warm body leaning close to him. Su Ningxi’s gentle voice came from nearby.

“Yesterday afternoon, when I returned, I noticed something was off with you. You looked weak. Was it the pain from the leakage of demonic energy? Then why didn’t you eat me? That way, you wouldn’t have to suffer,” Su Ningxi’s shoulder leaned against his.

“If you really need to eat me raw… then could you at least do it quickly?”

Sang Qi grasped her wrist, his thin lips pressing against the pulse beating there, slightly opening his mouth, feeling the beat of her life with his teeth.

With just a slight bite, her warm blood would flow into his mouth…

But he never bit down. He slightly lifted his head, his cold silver eyes like twin silver moons, gazing at the girl sitting beside him with her eyes closed.

“Aren’t you afraid? Don’t you hate me?” he rasped.

Su Ningxi’s heart was pounding fast. She was naturally afraid, but hate?

She sighed, opened her clear and warm eyes, and looked at him with a touch of pity. “You’re just trying to survive too…”

“No, I’m a half-demon,” Sang Qi’s voice was deep and hoarse. “I was born with sin, bloodthirsty, cruel, and vile.”

Su Ningxi chuckled softly, stroking his back gently. “Under the heavenly Dao, what’s the difference between humans and beasts, demons and devils? Trees and grasses break through rocks and soil to grow. Rabbits eat grasses to grow. Beasts eat meat, and humans eat beasts. Yet even the strongest life in this world will eventually die, buried underground to become nutrients for grasses and trees. All living beings have their own meaning in existence. The heavenly Dao is neither good nor evil, neither strong nor weak. The existence of half-demons is the meaning bestowed by the heavenly Dao, while the disdain for life is not the Dao’s way, but the way of the mundane world.”

“We humans also need to consume many lives to survive. This rabbit I ate is no different from me being eaten by you,” Su Ningxi’s lips curved into a smile. “But I respect every life I consume. Even if my cooking isn’t great, I won’t waste or betray the sacrifices of every life.”

“So although I’m afraid of being eaten by you, I won’t hate you. Perhaps this is the meaning of meeting you,” Su Ningxi’s hand gently stroked his silver hair. “Sang Qi, I’m glad I met you. You might not know, but… you’re actually very gentle.”

Her voice softly touched his heart, like a small stone dropped into the center of a ripple, stirring up waves.

Following his heart, he kissed her warm, soft lips.

Her bright eyes flashed with surprise, perhaps she thought he was going to start biting from her lips, but until the end, his thin lips tasted every part of her body without ever biting down even slightly.

Sang Qi thought he liked being alone, but it was only because he had never met someone like her—someone who gently embraced all his past misfortunes and gave him the only warmth of his life.

Then it was shattered with a sword.

He secluded himself for thirteen years, sinking into nightmares, lying to himself. The one who deceived and hurt him couldn’t possibly be Su Ningxi. But in his dreams, the image of the Spring-Birth Sword falling and Su Ningxi’s cold face right in front of him kept replaying.

The emptiness of his right arm reminded him, this was reality. He was just a half-demon.

No human would truly like a half-demon.

But he loved her so much that he could still give her a chance. He would bind her and take her back to the Demon Realm, imprisoning her for life. Fortunately, a cultivator’s life was long enough to accompany him until the end. If he were to die first, he would take her with him. Even if she had deceived him, hurt him, and he hated her, as long as she stayed by his side, it would be enough.

However, when he emerged from seclusion, the news he received was that she was dead…

She had married Gao Fengxu and even bore him a daughter, but died at the Moonlight Villa.

Sang Qi refused to believe it. He personally dug up every grave at the Moonlight Villa, but none bore her face.

Under his feet lay the smashed head of Gao Fengxu, and no one could tell him where Su Ningxi had gone.

But from a little demon slave, he faintly sensed the presence of her lingering aura…

He brought her back and gave her a name: Mu Xuanling.

Xuanling is a tree that grows in the Demon Realm, used for summoning souls.

All his painstaking efforts were just to find her body, to find her soul…