Chapter 33 Offset

Chapter 33: Counterbalance

Chu Ji glared fiercely at the person beside him.

Jun Xueyi snapped back to attention. No, he hadn't provoked this Young Master along the way, so he shouldn't be receiving this treatment.

Unless... Ha...

He recognized him.

He stared at the phantom beside the Young Master that even he couldn’t see. With this phantom present, yet the Young Master could still suspect and even confirm it was him—what had given him away?

The other had never seen his face. When he first approached wearing a mask, he had purposely pitched his voice higher. Later, he lost control and forgot about that act. Now, after taking a voice-altering pill, his voice was different too, not to mention the first impression he had left on the other.

How had he been recognized?

He felt an inexplicable sense of pleasure—it meant he wasn’t just a forgettable character in the Young Master’s eyes.

He could recognize him even like this.

So, had he been thinking about him just now?

Jun Xueyi said gently, “Let’s go. The Demon Nightmare Stone is just ahead.”

He wagered that the Young Master wouldn’t expose him before obtaining the Demon Nightmare Stone.

They had a silent understanding.

Chu Ji turned his face away, took a handkerchief from his storage ring, and carefully wiped the corner of his mouth. Sooner or later, he would chop off both of these hands.

One had fingered around in his mouth, the other...

They should both be chopped off. Since Jun Xueyi wanted to eat his flesh, he would chop off the other’s hands first, roast them, and force him to eat them.

As much as he thought about it, Chu Ji didn’t let go of the hand interlaced with the other’s.

They were still cultivating and absorbing spiritual energy.

For every bit his cultivation recovered, he would be able to chop this person into one more piece.

Worth it.

He told himself inwardly, worth it.

As for what this person said about dual cultivation, after learning it was Jun Xueyi, he gave up on exploring it further.

This damned dog that refuses to die.

How isn't he dead yet?

His life was tougher than a tortoise’s shell.

Jun Xueyi could tell from the other’s expression that he was cursing him. He was in a good mood—it was fine if he was cursing him, as long as it wasn’t someone else.

The two walked forward for another two days before finally spotting the Demon Nightmare Stone.

Chu Ji wanted to step forward but was held back by Jun Xueyi. “Immortal cultivators have broken into this secret realm before. There are guardian beasts near the Demon Nightmare Stone.”

Chu Ji’s expression shifted. Demon beasts, huh?

As they moved forward, a patch of Demon Nightmare Stones was encircled by a small stream, with only the head of a demon beast visible beneath the water.

Jun Xueyi said, “I’ll hold them off. You retrieve the Demon Nightmare Stone.”

Chu Ji looked at the demon beast in the water, closed his eyes to sense for a moment, and said with a grave expression, “Alright, be careful.”

Jun Xueyi drew his Soulbound Sword. If he still had his previous Technique, he could have frozen this entire stream. Now, he could only fight his way out and make the demon beasts chase after him out of hatred.

Hearing Chu Ji tell him to be careful, he was taken aback for a moment.

Then he smirked to himself. The Young Master’s heart wasn’t ruthless enough.

Knowing they were natural mortal enemies, knowing his own fate, yet the first thing he did upon seeing him was to challenge him with a sword. If the other truly wanted to kill him, he could have done as he did at the cliff that day—used demonic energy to immobilize him and ended it with a single strike.

He believed the Little Demon Lord had enough tools up his sleeve to pull it off.

He stepped forward and slashed with his sword, cleaving the water surface and instantly drawing out two Unicorn Fish. Jun Xueyi immediately flung out a talisman, combining it with his sword technique to obliterate the two fish in a burst of blood.

As long as they were demon beasts without awakened intelligence, they would inevitably be attracted by blood and flesh.

Sure enough, the Unicorn Fish in the stream rushed over frantically.

Chu Ji immediately channeled spiritual energy to his feet and leaped forward quickly.

Just as he reached mid-air, his spiritual energy abruptly vanished. Taken by surprise, he began to fall. Seeing the water below, Chu Ji instantly shouted, “Jun Xueyi!”

He didn’t want to fall into the water.

Was he forever cursed when it comes to water?

Whenever there was water, he inevitably ended up falling in.

Jun Xueyi was setting up a Sword Formation when he heard this. He quickly whipped out a whip, wrapping it around Chu Ji’s waist, and using his own strength, flung him toward the Demon Nightmare Stone. Due to the counterforce, he himself fell into the water.

He surfaced in less than a second, leaping into the air with his sword pressed against a Unicorn Fish, and used his Technique to dry himself off.

Chu Ji landed steadily and looked back briefly. Seeing Jun Xueyi had emerged from the water, he paid no further attention.

The ground was covered with Demon Nightmare Stones. They weren’t brought here later but formed naturally here. During the great divine-demonic war, the impact was immense. It wasn’t surprising for an immortal sect’s secret realm to have such a place, but in that case, only a demon body could cut them away.

If Xiong Qun were here, he could transform one hand and shatter these to take away. But his demon body...

He gritted his teeth. Since he couldn’t take them away, he would absorb as much as he could.

He voraciously absorbed the demonic energy from the Demon Nightmare Stones.

The commotion alerted the Unicorn Fish in the stream. Having guarded these Demon Nightmare Stones for so long, how could they allow someone to absorb them in their territory?

Jun Xueyi saw this and immediately gave chase. Using the dense school of fish as leverage, he reached Chu Ji’s side and promptly took out a stack of talismans. Combining them with his Sword Formation, he fended off the Unicorn Fish. He asked, “Can’t we take them away?”

Chu Ji had no time to respond.

The massive influx of demonic energy directly activated the devil markings on Chu Ji’s body.

Demons were born with demonic energy, but once it was consumed, recovering it took an extremely long time. Demonic energy was to demons what blood was to humans.

If ordinary people lost too much blood, they would die. If ordinary demons lost too much demonic energy, they would also die.

If one cultivated to a certain level, this wouldn’t happen, but recovery would be as slow as humans replenishing their blood. Humans could rely on various elixirs and food to replenish their blood, but demons could only rely on Demon Nightmare Stones.

Once Demon Nightmare Stones were everywhere, but during the war between gods and demons, demon cores were shattered, and both sides died together. The remaining demons could only devolve into their current fragile state to survive, just as vulnerable as humans.

Demon Nightmare Stones don't regenerate. After so many years of use, the Demon Palace has long since run out of them.

Too much demonic energy is bad for the body, like an overload of blood and qi—it can be harmful.

Chu Ji could only grip the jade pendant on his chest, storing the demonic energy inside and sending the extra through the pendant to his people.

Jun Xueyi glanced back and pulled out all his talismans from his storage ring.

These Unicorn Fish kept coming endlessly—they came back to life right after dying and were very poisonous.

He held up the Sword Formation and barrier, waiting for Chu Ji to finish what he was doing.

It wasn't long before he saw Chu Ji open his eyes.

"Are you full?"

Chu Ji was startled, "Huh?"

Jun Xueyi said calmly, "I've studied ancient texts. Demons live on demonic energy."

So, when young demons can't yet sustain themselves with spiritual energy, older demons feed them with their own demonic energy.

The Young Master's cultivation is so high he doesn't need to eat, but that doesn't mean he isn't hungry.

Chu Ji got annoyed again, "You know too much, don't you?"

Jun Xueyi: "The more I know, the easier it is..."

"...to raise a Little Demon Lord."

Chu Ji let out a cold snort, "To make it easier to get back at me, right?"

Jun Xueyi smiled faintly, "If that's how you see it, I won't argue."

Chu Ji would have to spend his entire life with someone he despised or even hated—you could call it revenge, and he wouldn't contradict it.

Chu Ji glared at him, then looked down at the many Demon Nightmare Stones still on the ground. The secret realm only opened once every ten years, and he couldn't call for help from inside. If he could take these stones back, they could feed many young cubs that had been taken in by the Demon Palace.

Those cubs were sent to the Demon Palace because their elders couldn't provide enough demonic energy to raise them. They relied on the elder demons in the palace for survival. With these stones, at least the elder demons wouldn't go into battle with depleted demonic energy and be at a disadvantage.

He paced in place a few times, then gritted his teeth and took out a piece of cloth from his storage ring. "Jun Xueyi, even if you die today, don't take this blindfold off. Or I'll slice you to pieces."

Jun Xueyi turned his head, catching the scent of Chu Ji's fragrance. Chu Ji's nimble fingers blindfolded him.

......

Silently, Jun Xueyi took out one more Teleportation Talisman and reinforced the barrier.

He had the Young Master to thank for these talismans. That sword strike from the other had caused all the blood in his body to be replaced, and he'd used the blood that was replaced to make these talismans, which were now coming in handy.

Blindfolded, his senses of smell and hearing grew sharper.

He heard a faint sound of steps, as if something small had landed on the ground.

He drew another sword and planted it in the ground in front of him.

The blade was bright, reflecting the movements of the person behind him.

The rule was only not to remove the blindfold, not that he couldn't adjust it.

The sword acted like a mirror, reflecting a small, dark cub standing before a Demon Nightmare Stone several times its size, shaking its ears before whipping its tail against the stone.

Jun Xueyi almost blurted out "Be careful"—it looked painful.

"Crash—"

The Demon Nightmare Stone fell.

The little cub, no bigger than a lynx, sat on the ground, hugging its tail and blowing on it, its ears drooping in pain.

White... its belly was white. Last time at the bottom of the cold pond, Chu Ji had been lying face down, so Jun Xueyi hadn't seen its belly. Half of its tail had been tucked away, and in the darkness of the pond, he had only seen black.

Now he noticed the tip of its tail was also white.

The tail tip looked as if dusted with snow, and its amber-gold pupils had narrowed to slits from the pain.

Jun Xueyi raised his sword, pretending to accidentally bump it against the Demon Nightmare Stone.

A crisp snapping sound rang out.

It was his sword.

Though not his Soulbound Sword, this sword was forged from excellent materials. Yet, before the Demon Nightmare Stone, it was as fragile as a leaf.

Chu Ji was jolted awake by the sound and looked over. Seeing Jun Xueyi's talismans dwindling, he knew that once they were gone, the other would have only two choices: flee immediately or die here.

Why was he helping? Wasn't he supposed to be taking revenge?

These talismans were expensive—some couldn't even be bought with money. Back when Jun Xueyi was severely injured by the Heavenly Python, he hadn't used such talismans.

A vague thought surfaced but vanished just as quickly.

The Little Demon Lord had always been like this since childhood. Among demons, no one who met him failed to help or like him. Even in the immortal sect, it was the same.

Though Jun Xueyi was different.

Perhaps this was just how protagonists were.

They wouldn't kill until the very last moment.

After all, he was the final stepping stone.

Thinking this, he stood up and whipped his tail against the Demon Nightmare Stone again.

Each time he broke one, he gasped in pain.

Two, three, four... fifty-two... one hundred fifty-two.

Jun Xueyi silently counted the number of times Chu Ji broke the stones. More than half of the Demon Nightmare Stones remained.

He watched quietly and noticed that Chu Ji failed to break one this time, indicating the pain was so intense that he unconsciously lightened the force of his tail whip.

Jun Xueyi still had over a dozen talismans left, enough for the other to break twenty more stones.

Jun Xueyi asked softly, "Why are you taking the Demon Nightmare Stones back?"

Chu Ji was in so much pain that his consciousness was hazy. He hugged his tail and lay on the ground to catch his breath.

He didn't even bother wondering how Jun Xueyi knew what he was doing.

"My people need me. I am their Little Demon Lord."

After speaking, he slowly stood up and lashed his tail again.

Jun Xueyi murmured, "But you're still young, just a little demon who hasn't even shed his baby fuzz."

Chu Ji didn't hear him; he was too hazy with pain, relying on sheer will to lash out with his tail.

Jun Xueyi counted to ten; he had only one talisman left in his hand.

"Enough, I'm impatient. Let's go."

Chu Ji came to his senses, instantly transforming back, his face pale and sweat beading at his temples.

Jun Xueyi used the talisman and took out the only teleportation talisman he had kept. "Go..."

"Look out!"

A Unicorn Fish, completely different from the ones in the stream, came from nowhere, its horn aimed straight at Chu Ji.

Jun Xueyi used the talisman and instantly appeared in front of Chu Ji, taking the hit.

Chu Ji's face was instantly sprayed with blood—Jun Xueyi's blood.

He looked up,

Jun Xueyi said, "Use the talisman I gave you. Go!"