Chapter 223: So I’m the Protagonist After All (19)
Entering this tall, silent Black Stone City built of dark demonic bricks once again, Su Mingxiu seemed to be able to smell the familiar scent of blood from the cracks between the bricks.
Even though not every member of the demon race was insane, the way they obtained their power at birth determined that they were destined to be incompatible with the rest of the nine continents.
In her previous life, when Su Mingxiu hadn’t yet awakened her self-awareness, she hadn’t realized how strange the existence of the demon race was. They seemed to be born to be enemies of the world, yet they were able to reproduce so many clansmen. But now, knowing that all the scripts were arranged by the Heavenly Dao, she only had one feeling:
The Heavenly Dao’s scripts were really bad.
Not to mention how absurd those small worlds she had transmigrated to before were, even its control over this world now…
If only it could learn how the storytellers in the mortal world polished their scripts, it wouldn’t have come up with such absurd settings and still refuse to change.
The person holding the Demon Lord’s token had a cold expression, driving them to the cliff where the Black Stone Dock was located, not allowing them to approach the spire standing in the blood lake.
Because it was sealed outside the Sea’s Edge, the Demon Abyss was a place where even sunlight couldn’t reach.
And that blood lake, although it was called that, was actually just because of the special formation beneath it. Over time, it had become this color, not because it was filled with blood.
Su Mingxiu looked down at the dark, bottomless lake surface, remembering that there seemed to be a dungeon below. She wanted to recall more, but was suddenly pushed hard from behind, “Don’t peek at the Black Stone Dock! If you implicate us and we are punished by the Demon Lord, I’ll use you as a snack!”
She slipped and accidentally kicked two black stones into the calm lake water, which seemed ready to churn at any moment, but there was no sound.
Su Mingxiu didn’t say anything and followed the demoness who had bought them to their assigned place. Because the place where this Demon Lord resided was too desolate, without any entertainment, and life was too monotonous, they rarely bought low-level cultivators back. The people below didn’t know how to arrange them, so after thinking about it, they let them dig for demon stones.
This was what the low-level demons, who couldn’t cultivate any demon techniques, used to keep warm. After all, there was no sunlight here, nothing grew, and it had been sealed by the sects of the nine continents. So the demons could only rely on studying the natural resources here to find a way to survive.
Demonic beasts were the only gift in this desolate land. The demons would raise these beasts, trade them, sell them, and then work hard to save money to exchange with those demons who had awakened their bloodlines and had precious abilities for some herbs to supplement their nutrition. However, the things that could be grown in the soil here were more or less poisonous.
Therefore, even though these demons were fragile at birth, once they reached adulthood, they would more or less possess some strange abilities.
Getting off track.
Su Mingxiu’s attention returned to the present. Thinking that she had never fallen to the point of mining in her several lifetimes, she decided to speak up and improve her treatment, “We are cultivators from the nine continents, from major sects. How can you humiliate us like this! Former Junior Sister, quickly show them your power!”
Huaxuan: “?”
Was her relationship with Su Mingxiu really that good?
Not knowing what the other person was up to, she didn’t want to pay attention. Who knew that her elbow would be nudged hard, and the seed she always kept in her sleeve fell to the ground, naturally growing into a small tyrant flower.
But because the soil had no spiritual power and was not nurtured by Huaxuan, it only revealed a small head, listlessly, and didn’t grow any further. It didn’t show the imposing manner that usually scared cultivators and demonic beasts.
“You…”
Huaxuan’s face changed drastically after her trump card was exposed. But the demoness who had bought them and had been fierce all this time reacted even more strongly. Seeing the green plant, she said in shock, “You have wood spiritual power?”
“Are there any others among you who have wood spiritual power? Speak up, and you won’t have to suffer in the mines.”
Xuan Chan was a little tempted, but thinking of the human corpses hanging at the entrances of the demon restaurants along the way, and the scene in the market where they discussed how to eat people and which parts to sell to demon cultivators for medicine right in front of the victims, her face turned pale, and she didn’t speak in the end.
But there was someone more shameless than her: “Me!”
Su Mingxiu actively took a big step forward, afraid that others wouldn’t see her.
Xiao Xingwei, Xuan Chan, Huaxuan: “…”
They just watched her performance with wooden faces.
The demoness looked at her suspiciously. In the end, based on the principle of “rather catch a mistake than let one go,” she took Su Mingxiu and Huaxuan away.
Then she ruthlessly threw Xiao Xingwei and Xuan Chan into the demon stone mine. To prevent these cunning cultivators from having any other ideas, each of them had a black ring around their necks, which could instantly decapitate them if they rebelled.
Standing on a piece of scorched earth that was said to be used for cultivating spiritual plants, Su Mingxiu repeatedly touched the black ring around her neck. She didn’t expect that her fate with this thing actually originated from the Demon Abyss.
Now she was almost perfectly replicating the trajectory of her previous life. So the related memories came flooding back. While she was touching the neck ring, the demoness saw that she hadn’t moved for a long time and asked suspiciously, “Don’t you have wood spiritual power? Why aren’t you doing anything?”
For the sake of the righteous path’s plan, Huaxuan endured it again and again and didn’t expose her. At this moment, she was paddling by the side, slowly using her spiritual power to grow a mutated demon seedling, which had just grown a purplish-red leaf.
Su Mingxiu blinked, “My lord, you don’t know. My spiritual power is weak. Although I became a senior sister in the sect because I started cultivating early, my talent is far inferior to my junior sister’s. If I want to be like her, I’m afraid it will take two or three days—”
“Useless thing!” The demoness found that she couldn’t immediately prove her ability and raised her hand to summon a long whip. Before she could whip it, she heard her quickly say, “But I’m very good at tending flowers and plants. If there’s a garden nearby, the flowers and plants I take care of can thrive.”
The whip stopped before it was swung.
The demoness remembered that there really was a flower garden nearby. However, it was planted by the Demon Lord herself, and without permission, they didn’t dare to let anyone go there casually.
But those flowers were brought from the underworld and had been wilting recently. The Demon Lord had casually said to let her take care of them… What if these cultivators really had a way?
Fifteen minutes later.
Su Mingxiu was still led to the sea of flowers. Seeing the Lycoris radiata covering the mountain, just like the back mountain of the Hundred Flower Sect, her eyes also turned a bright red.
But these flowers, unlike the harmless ones on the back mountain, emitted a gloomy aura. Now, because they were rooted in the soil of the Demon Abyss, they were mixed with an indescribable demonic energy, and ordinary people didn’t dare to approach them.
At the edge, there were a few wilting flowers drooping by the roadside.
Even the demoness who brought her here took half a step back, “You stay here and take care of this sea of flowers. Remember, don’t enter the corner gate at the edge without permission.”
After saying that, she threw half a black pill to Su Mingxiu, “This is enough for you to survive for two days. Two days later, I will come and check on your results.”
Without the demon supervisor, Su Mingxiu naturally put away her slightly flattering false face, looked down at the Lycoris radiata in front of her, and after a while, stepped over them.
There was a small path in the sea of flowers that was not easily discovered. But for her, a Great Ascension cultivator, it was not difficult to find.
She ignored these demonic plants that refused to grow without being fed flesh and blood, and walked straight to the small gate she had been warned not to enter.
She gently raised her hand and pushed open the gate…
A gust of wind from somewhere blew the scenery behind the gate, almost making her smell the fragrance of flowers.
The amazement in Su Mingxiu’s eyes flashed. A moment later, after seeing the spring scenery hidden in this desolate corner of the city, she finally knew that the so-called flower fragrance was her illusion.
The spring flowers growing here were just an illusion.
But even these illusory roses were still as bright as fire, the sunflowers were still facing the sky, the peonies occupied a corner, blooming proudly, and even the water lilies in the distant pond were exactly the same as those in her memory, in her small garden.
—It was Sui Yihuan, who had planted the spring scenery she gave her here.
Standing in front of this familiar scenery, Su Mingxiu recalled the scene from her previous life when she had mistakenly entered this place.
At that time, she didn’t know how much Sui Yihuan had done for her, nor did she remember the passionate entanglement between them in the secret realm.
So when she saw this corner of spring, she only felt that it looked familiar, and then guessed that perhaps the mysterious person who planted these flowers was a rare existence in the Demon Abyss who could communicate peacefully.
But later, because of their subsequent interactions, she changed her mind.
“Who allowed you to trespass here!”
A slightly angry voice suddenly came from behind.
Faster than this voice was the red thread extending from the black neck ring on Su Mingxiu’s neck, all held in the other person’s hand. With a casual hook of her finger, Su Mingxiu involuntarily flew towards her, even her neck landing in that cool palm.
The tightening fingers paused for a moment upon seeing her face, and the killing intent that was enough to make the flower essence in the illusion tremble suddenly froze.
Sui Yihuan finally understood why the face she had seen through the demon stone earlier looked flawed. Because there was something clumsy covering this face.
Her thumb moved slightly, unconsciously caressing Su Mingxiu’s throat.
…Why was it her? Did she remember something?
And the person whose neck was being held by her, like a small bird held in her palm, didn’t even raise her eyelids at this moment. Her whole body trembled, as if extremely frightened, and her voice also trembled slightly, “I, I was assigned here to take care of the flowers. Seeing this gate, I thought that the area behind the gate was also within my care.”
Sui Yihuan pursed her lips, her wide black sleeves drooping. If the force in her fingertips hadn’t lessened, anyone who saw this scene would have thought that she wanted this person to suffocate to death little by little.
She finally let go, letting the disguised woman in front of her stand properly, “Didn’t that person tell you that you’re not allowed to enter the area behind the gate?”
The person being questioned trembled again.
As if frightened by her.
Sui Yihuan looked away and didn’t ask any further questions, just coldly said, “Get lost.”
But the person in front of her, who had been keeping her eyes down, said softly, “You’ve said that before…”
Before the new Demon Lord could get angry, Su Mingxiu’s gaze moved from the corner of her robe, embroidered with red patterns and complicated lace, to her eyes. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, like a butterfly wanting to land on her bright clothes. When those dark, bottomless eyes met Sui Yihuan’s—
The master of the Black Stone Dock watched as the audacious cultivator who had infiltrated the Demon Abyss, the corner of her lips curved upwards, forced a refreshing smile onto that ordinary face, even with the brightness of sunlight pouring down.
“But I said, I’m best at tending flowers and plants. I’m instinctively attracted to beautiful flowers and plants, so I couldn’t help myself and opened the door.”
She finally met Sui Yihuan’s gaze, the smile on her lips growing instead of diminishing. Even though she wasn’t using her original face, it was impossible to look away from her.
The next moment.
Sui Yihuan watched as she, like a dodder flower in the mortal world, raised her hand softly and bonelessly, audaciously placing it on her shoulder. Her voice was like a secluded orchid as she approached, and the fragrance of flowers on her body drifted into the Demon Lord’s nose as she spoke, “Now I see the most beautiful, the most heart-stirring, the most desirable flower—”
“Would Your Lordship be willing to grant me permission to take care of her?”
She was so close, the deadly red thread of the neck ring still wrapped around the person’s fingertips, her life could be taken away by the angered person at any moment. But Sui Yihuan’s breath hitched, and it was as if she was the one about to suffocate.
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