Chapter 33: Demon Kind

That was half an hour ago.

After Lord Bloodfeather fled, the demonic birds in the imperial city dispersed. Many ordinary birds, usually seen daily, finally flew out of their nests, trembling, into this familiar yet broken city.

A small sparrow with brown-grey feathers and a short tail landed in an inconspicuous courtyard.

Large sections of the courtyard walls had collapsed, and a faint smell of blood still lingered in the cracked stones. Yet, the light from the house within was calm, its dim yellow glow filtering through the window paper like the twilight sky before sunset, or like blush softly applied to a young girl's face.

The little sparrow's dark, beady eyes stared at the room. It liked that color; it brought a sense of peace, much like the city now, free from the clamor of the demonic birds.

Suddenly, the little sparrow cleverly raised its head, its gaze falling below the clouds. Under the newly cleared night sky, the inky clouds grew fainter, and across the deep blue expanse, an incongruous streak of crimson light appeared, resembling a long serpent winding through the heavens.

The little sparrow feared snakes. It shivered, wanting to beat its wings and fly away.

But then it suddenly saw that the serpent was indeed moving in its direction. Frightened, it flew higher, perching on a distant roof beam, cautiously peering down.

The crimson serpent wasn't coming for the sparrow. It was formed from countless tiny red lights, weaving down from the sky, silently entering the courtyard. Not long after, the light within the courtyard visibly flickered many times, then abruptly extinguished, plunging everything into darkness.

Sounds of struggle emanated from within. Then the windows shattered, the main door broke, and even the high roof was pierced with a hole.

The little sparrow sensed an extremely dangerous premonition. It immediately flapped its wings and flew off, letting out a short, warning chirp into the night. However, the people who had just survived a great disaster were still immersed in the joy of the evil spirits being vanquished and naturally could not hear it.

When the anomaly occurred in the imperial palace, Ning Changjiu felt a slight stir within him, sensing something.

At that moment, the water on the stove had boiled. Ning Changjiu picked up the iron kettle and stood by the table to brew a pot of tea. Because the water was scalding hot, he had to hold the kettle high, allowing the hot water to cool as it descended. By the time it landed in the cup and steeped the tea leaves, it would be at the perfect temperature.

This had been Ning Changjiu's habit for many years, so his technique was highly skilled, not a single drop splashing out as the water poured into the cup.

"Every action a person makes can reveal a lot," Ning Changjiu said, pushing the porcelain cup toward Ning Xiaoling. He smiled and added, "Thinking back now, on the day I first woke up, when I poured you a cup of hot water, it was that specific pouring technique that made you suspicious."

Ning Xiaoling hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She picked up the porcelain cup and took a sip, having to admit that the tea brewed by her Senior Brother was indeed far superior to her own large-bowl steeped version.

She put down the cup, looked at the young man in white before her, and asked, "That day, Senior Brother, when you sat on the chair with your hand raised motionless in mid-air, what were you doing?"

Ning Changjiu replied, "I was fishing."

Ning Xiaoling recalled that when Lu Jiajia asked him what he was good at earlier today, his answer had been fishing.

"Fishing? For what?" Ning Xiaoling asked.

Ning Changjiu answered, "I don't know either. It's just a habit I formed when I was a child. Back then, my Second Senior Brother gave me a wooden stick and told me to go to the river and catch a fish without using a line or bait."

Ning Xiaoling exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible?"

Ning Changjiu said, "I didn't understand it at the time. Later, I learned that there are countless invisible threads in this world. Those threads connect everything. As long as we can grasp them, we can control everything in the world. They are the fishing lines truly cast down by Heaven into the human realm."

Ning Xiaoling gestured in the air beside her, shaking her head. "I don't believe that," she said.

Ning Changjiu smiled faintly. "I didn't believe it either back then. I sat by the river with that wooden stick for a whole day. Coincidentally, a fish stopped in the stick's shadow. I swiftly knocked it out, then scooped it up and brought it back to my Senior Brother."

Ning Xiaoling let out a giggle and asked, "Your Senior Brother didn't scold you?"

Ning Changjiu also smiled. "Quick reflexes are also a skill. Why would he scold me?"

Ning Xiaoling thought for a moment, then stopped smiling. She asked, "Are you fishing for something now, too?"

Ning Changjiu said, half-jokingly, "Of course, I'm fishing for a little fox lurking underwater."

Ning Xiaoling sighed. "Senior Brother, you're not suited for jokes."

So Ning Changjiu stopped smiling for real. Only two cups of tea, gently steaming, remained between them.

Ning Changjiu suddenly glanced at the window, his gaze seeming to penetrate the paper and reach far beyond.

"That old fox has been defeated," Ning Changjiu suddenly said.

Ning Xiaoling's eyes widened. She sensed the demonic seed, deeply rooted with her innate spiritual root. Though it seemed unbelievable, the demonic seed's reaction wouldn't lie; its main body had been destroyed, leaving the seed like a rootless duckweed.

Every great demon, upon reaching a higher cultivation realm, can condense its own demonic seed, much like a tree flowering and bearing fruit.

This demonic seed is akin to another heart for them.

It can only be grafted into soil that shares its lineage and origin; otherwise, the recipient would immediately go mad and die violently. The demonic seed also represents new life; even if the main body dies, the seed can still take root and sprout anew, using any lingering consciousness to complete its rebirth.

The more powerful and rare a demon race, the harder it is to find someone of the same lineage and origin. Thus, when this girl, whose innate spirit was a fox, appeared in the imperial city, the Red-tailed Elder awakened immediately. He used almost all his power to influence the city, casting forth that invisible, intangible demonic seed.

That night, Ning Qinshui opened her body's spiritual apertures, allowing the vengeful spirits and malevolent ghosts to stream in. These spirits were the wind, and the seed cast by the old fox was like a dandelion seed carried by that wind.

Once the seed landed, it took root and sprouted, becoming inextricably linked with her innate spirit, impossible to sever.

As long as this seed remained, Ning Xiaoling would eventually become a demon or fall into depravity.

Therefore, during the assassination that night, if Ning Changjiu hadn't arrived in time, this demonic seed would have been activated prematurely, with unimaginable consequences.

If the old fox had truly escaped the underground palace, he would have reclaimed this seed, devouring the demonic power it contained along with the innate spirit to which it was attached. If the old fox died, this demonic seed would have used her body as new soil.

So, no matter what, Ning Xiaoling could not escape death.

On that first night, she heard the old fox speaking to her through the demonic seed and couldn't sleep. But to prevent her Senior Brother from noticing anything, she maintained a carefree facade.

In truth, for days, the demonic seed had already been subtly influencing her, even attempting to fully possess her body.

The demonic seed's corrupting influence had become terminal; it was an inescapable death trap.

Ning Xiaoling leaned back in her chair, as if all her strength had been drained. Her previous cheerfulness seemed like a final, illusory dream she had woven. She said weakly, "Senior Brother, our luck is truly bad."

Ning Changjiu replied, "Sometimes, a talisman that summons ghosts can become a charm for dispelling evil by changing just a few strokes. Many things in this world can be altered this way, producing completely different effects. Demonic power evolves from spiritual energy, so it can naturally be inverted."

Ning Xiaoling said, "But I don't know how to alter talismans..."

"It's alright, Senior Brother is good at this," Ning Changjiu said, looking at her face calmly. "Just sleep, and when you wake up, everything will be fine."

Ning Xiaoling cupped her face, regretting, "If I had told you about this sooner, could things have been different?"

Ning Changjiu said, "I've known for a while, so don't worry about it."

Ning Xiaoling noticed the disturbance outside and said, "Senior Brother, I know you might not be you, but for some reason, I always feel in my heart that you are still my Senior Brother."

Ning Changjiu ruffled her hair. "I always will be."

Outside the window, the sparrow's short chirping sounded.

A crimson serpent wound its way in, penetrating all obstacles, surging towards Ning Xiaoling's body like a stream rushing into a gorge.

Ning Changjiu couldn't stop it. In fact, he had no intention of stopping it.

He had been waiting for this very moment.

Only by truly luring out the old fox would he have a chance to extract the demonic seed without harming Ning Xiaoling's life.

The crimson serpent was the old fox's last concentrated spiritual essence, refusing to dissipate.

At this moment, the crimson serpent coiled around her body like a soul-worm. Ning Xiaoling stared ahead in despair, tears streaming from her eyes. In just a few moments, the pupils in her clear, bright eyes became almost invisible, turning completely pale.

A snow-white tail burst forth from behind her, swaying with a large, illusory shadow.

The wooden chair beneath Ning Xiaoling instantly shattered. She rose stiffly, gazing blankly forward, an extremely bizarre aura emanating from her body, resembling both demon and deity.

Ning Changjiu met her snow-white eyes for a moment.

Ning Xiaoling looked at him, thought for a moment, and then said uncertainly, "Senior Brother?"

Her voice had become extremely cold and faint; there was almost no emotion in that "Senior Brother," more like a block of ice slowly melting against her chest.

The girl's demonic power surged in mere breaths. After all, it was the essence of the old fox's six shattered divine souls, now condensed. Had it not been constrained by Ning Xiaoling herself, she should have instantly broken into the Purple Court realm.

But even at the peak of longevity, with the four keys temporarily losing their spirituality in the city, the Immortal Sword re-sealed in the Jiazi Hall, the imperial palace's killing formation destroyed, and Lu Jiajia's injuries unhealed, where could there be any power to stop her now?

Ning Changjiu looked into her eyes and said, "You've arrived?"

Ning Xiaoling looked at him indifferently and said, "Sometimes I can't tell if your calmness is feigned or genuine."

Ning Changjiu said, "I can't tell who you are either."

Demonic power surged around Ning Xiaoling, making her Daoist robes ripple as if in a strong wind. She held one hand behind her back and formed a hand seal with the other, her face still devoid of expression. "That old fox is dead, and your junior sister is dying too. I am me, and I haven't thought of a name for myself yet."

She was Ning Xiaoling's innate spirit, the broken-tailed snow fox. Now, through the demonic seed, she had absorbed the residual demonic power after the Red-tailed Elder's death, causing her realm to surge dramatically. She had directly taken over, becoming the host and seizing control of Ning Xiaoling's consciousness.

Ning Changjiu nodded and said, "It's good that you're not my junior sister. I can kill you without hesitation."

Ning Xiaoling stood motionless, the illusory snow-white fox tails behind her still increasing in number. She stared at Ning Changjiu and said, "I know there are many extraordinary people in this world, and you might be one of them. But at this moment, you haven't even entered the Profound Realm. How can you kill me?"

As she spoke, Ning Xiaoling's figure suddenly recoiled, but a snow-white finger was already steadily pointing towards her. A halo of light shimmered around the fingertip, as if burning with the purest holy fire in the world.

Ning Changjiu's expression was calm and serious. This was the "Seal of Demon" finger he had pointed that night.

After Ning Xiaoling took three steps back, several slender fox tails that had already grown behind her burst open like a peacock's fan, then gradually condensed into two thicker, bushy long tails.

This was her first battle. Although the old fox's spiritual essence contained many fragments of combat experience, she hadn't had time to calmly digest them. At this moment, she felt a little nervous.

But this hint of nervousness lasted only an instant; the confidence brought by her overwhelming power quickly calmed her.

She also pointed a finger, and fox fire blazed between her fingertips. Instantly, the entire house was filled with a crimson glow, as if a great sun were hidden within. Ning Changjiu's faint point of light seemed as if it could be swallowed and overwhelmed at any moment.

But in just a moment, the fox fire collided with Ning Changjiu's finger. The two forces astonishingly canceled each other out, extinguishing together. The light in the room was a fleeting phenomenon, instantly swallowed by darkness again.

A moment later, the roof beams shattered, tiles crashed down, and wooden windows and doors splintered. Ning Changjiu's figure fell into the courtyard, and three distinct claw marks were visible on the back of his white robe.

Ning Xiaoling's figure arrived in an instant. She burst through the roof, leaped high, landed nimbly, and just as she was about to rush to kill Ning Changjiu, her feet were suddenly snagged by something.

A golden light, like a thin thread, wrapped around her ankle. The thread, deeply buried underground, now emerged like a fishing net pulled from the water. Countless golden threads revealed themselves, densely interwoven across the courtyard, rising and falling silently, resembling thousands of crisscrossing strings.

"A formation?" Ning Xiaoling instantly realized, but her foot could not break free.

Ning Changjiu pointed a finger directly at her brow, speaking four words aloud: "Sitting-Forget, Purify-Heart."

Those were the first four characters from the stele pavilion on the mountain path back then.

As the true words were uttered, dust floated down from the air, fine blades of grass gently settled, and the stars, the moon, tall buildings, and birds all seemed to sit cross-legged in forgetfulness, as if all sounds in the world had fallen silent.