Chapter 143: Core Demon-Suppression Cave

Following Jiang Feng's instructions, Hua Su hurled the magic core outward and instantly retreated in a frenzy. As he backed away, he kept his eyes locked on the magic rift. At that single glance, his eyes widened so far they nearly fell out of his head, and he almost froze in his tracks.

An incredible sight was unfolding before him.

That demonic dragon, a creature on par with a powerful demon general, was vanishing!

It was not retreating back into the magic rift, nor was it being injured; rather, starting from its throat, it was turning ethereal inch by inch.

Trapped right in the center of the magic rift, half of its body thrashed wildly as demonic energy radiated fiercely in all directions. Yet, no matter what it did, it could do nothing to halt the process. Within moments, both the creature and the rift it inhabited vanished entirely. The surrounding area returned to peace, looking as though nothing had ever happened—save for the riverbed, which was now missing a massive section.

"Th-this... what is going on?!"

Hua Su had witnessed the sealing of magic rifts more than once or twice, but he had never laid eyes on a sealing method like this.

The most crucial part of it all was that demonic dragon.

Hua Su could sense that it hadn't been sent back; it had vanished along with the magic rift itself. In other words, it had been killed!

A demon general, slain by a single magic core!

Could there be anything more unimaginable than this?

He spun around to question Jiang Feng, only to find that Jiang Feng had lost consciousness at some unknown point. He had toppled into the water and was drifting downstream with the current.

Hua Su hurriedly lunged forward, hauled him out in one swift motion, and pressed a finger against his nostrils.

Jiang Feng's breathing was extremely faint, but reasonably steady. The ming-energy within his body was terribly weak, yet its fluctuations could still be felt. Clearly, he had simply collapsed from sheer exhaustion and passed out. There was nothing seriously wrong with him.

Hua Su let out a breath of relief and cast a bewildered glance toward the location of the magic rift. It was completely pristine, the air thoroughly clear—had the magic rift truly been sealed? Exactly what kind of object was that magic core? How could it possess such terrifying power?

Carrying Jiang Feng, he flew up to the bank. Bai Guo lay with the upper half of her body draped over the edge of the riverbed, teetering on the verge of falling in. If not for her tattered garments, Hua Su might not even have recognized who she was.

Hua Su stripped off his outer robe to wrap around Bai Guo and was just about to take flight toward Thousand Lions Bridge when someone blocked his path.

Kuzhan stared fixedly at the unconscious Jiang Feng in Hua Su's arms and said coldly, "Hand him over to me."

Hua Su's voice was colder still. "Even a fool knows that's impossible!" He sized Kuzhan up and said with utter disdain, "The second sealing of the magic rift was completed by Jiang Feng. That means your transaction with him has completely failed. What right do you still have to demand anything?"

Kuzhan raged, "You people were the ones who rushed in to seal the rift; what does that have to do with me?"

"Oh?" Hua Su raised an eyebrow. "Then let me ask you: if he or we hadn't stepped in, would you have had the ability to seal it yourself?"

Kuzhan fell silent. What Hua Su said was true; right now, his powers were at their weakest in history, and he utterly lacked the capability to seal the magic rift or fulfill his bargain with Jiang Feng.

Hua Su let out a cold snort. "Jiang Feng is unconscious right now. If you're willing, you can wait until he wakes up to discuss it. However, you should know very well what you need to do in the meantime."

With those words, he took Jiang Feng and Bai Guo and flew away, without sparing Kuzhan a single glance.

Kuzhan's expression shifted through a myriad of emotions. Instead of intercepting Hua Su, he turned around and sprinted away in the opposite direction.

...

Jiang Feng did not remain unconscious for long.

At the break of dawn, he drifted back to consciousness, and the moment his eyes opened, they met Hua Su's anxious gaze.

Hua Su immediately reached out, seized Jiang Feng's wrist, and sent a surge of ming-energy probing inward.

There was not the slightest abnormality within Jiang Feng's body. Having rested for so long, though his ming-energy had not yet fully replenished, it was more than sufficient for daily circulation.

Jiang Feng looked around in confusion and asked, "Teacher Hua, did you save me?"

Hua Su started, snapped his head up, and stared at him. "You don't remember?"

Jiang Feng was equally baffled. "Remember what?"

Hua Su asked, "Where does your memory stop?"

Jiang Feng recounted everything that had happened beforehand to Hua Su, ending with, "... Bai Guo gave me the divine artifact, but was invaded by demonic energy herself. Kuzhan and that demon named Chaofeng were fighting right beside us, and the demonic energy was growing denser... After that, I have no idea."

Seeing the expression on Hua Su's face, he felt something was amiss and asked, "What happened afterward? When did you arrive, Teacher Hua?"

Hua Su could tell at a single glance that he wasn't lying.

He let out a breath and said, "Master Gan and I went to hunt down a ming-beast to gather some necessary materials, but on our way back, we were waylaid by several demons." He spoke casually, but how could ordinary demons ever manage to stall a martial emperor of the spirit-ming realm like him?

Hua Su continued, "I shook them off, and remembering your situation, I rushed right over. Just as I arrived, I saw the magic rift about to open and that demon general trying to kill you, so I struck it down, pulled out its magic core, and gave it to you..."

He recounted everything that had happened subsequently to Jiang Feng. Jiang Feng looked at him blankly, utterly unable to recall any of it.

Master and disciple stared at each other in bewilderment for a long while before Hua Su finally shook his head and said, "Never mind, we can talk about it when you remember. There are far too many species of demons, and I couldn't tell what kind that fellow was either. Perhaps it was some bizarre mutant..."

Jiang Feng opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Hua Su hurriedly asked, "What? Did you remember something?"

Jiang Feng hesitated for a moment and shook his head. "No, nothing..."

...

The sealing of the magic rift this time was only temporary; it would open again in two days, and its power would be even greater.

That meant the work on Gan Fuxing's end could not stop at all and had to proceed as usual. Hua Su was not only a spirit-ming martial emperor but also a pivotal figure in the Demon-Subduing Army, and the coordination work with the veterans required his personal involvement.

He had stayed put purely out of worry while Jiang Feng was unconscious, burdened with lingering concerns as well. Now that Jiang Feng had awakened, he had to return to his duties.

Before stepping out, he hesitated, turned back with a rather peculiar expression, and asked, "When you lost consciousness... was Master Gan's disciple a man or a woman?"

A remarkably graceful figure flashed through Jiang Feng's mind, and a wondrous voice echoed in the depths of his memory. He froze for a moment before answering honestly, "A woman. The moment we arrived there, Kuzhan exposed her identity."

Hua Su's gaze grew even stranger. He paused for quite a while before slowly tossing out a single sentence: "Hmph... take care of yourself."

Hua Su walked out, leaving Jiang Feng staring at his retreating back, a faint premonition of misfortune welling up within him.

The moment Hua Su departed, he was left all alone in the room.

Jiang Feng released his ming-energy to sense his surroundings. He appeared to still be within the Mustard Pavilion; the room was thoroughly protected by defensive artifacts, and outside, not a single soul was in sight, not even guards.

He let out a breath of relief, reined his ming-energy back in, and focused his attention on his Heavenly Heart Seed.

Far away from the magic rift, the Heavenly Heart Seed had returned to its original state, dominated by ming-energy.

However, it was glaringly obvious that right opposite the branch of ming-energy, a brand-new black branch had appeared.

This branch had only unsealed five apertures, but it was clear that, just like the ming-energy branches, the first branch possessed a total of nine joints, with one aperture per joint. For now, every single one of them was completely empty, with nothing embedded within.

The demonic energy was stored quietly inside, minding its own business and never interfering with the ming-energy.

This was the reason he hadn't told Hua Su the truth.

Hua Su hailed from the Demon-Subduing Army and held an intense, ingrained hatred for the demon race. How could he possibly explain to him that he could not only absorb ming-energy, but also harness demonic energy just as easily? Jiang Feng didn't even dare to imagine what would happen if he suppressed his ming-energy and relied entirely on demonic energy.

Would he transform from a human into a demon?

Jiang Feng let out a long breath. He was born human and raised human, sworn enemies to the demon race. He had long since accepted his identity and had never once thought of changing it.

He tested it out in the room and discovered that as long as he didn't deliberately channel it, the demonic energy obediently stayed put inside the dark branch, remaining completely motionless. In other words, whenever he utilized ming-energy, there would be no flaws whatsoever to catch anyone's attention.

Jiang Feng finally relaxed. At that moment, the Heavenly Mystery Cube seemed to sense his consciousness, and the blocks upon its surface began to shift constantly, projecting images outward.

Jiang Feng cared deeply about what had happened while he was unconscious. He discovered that, aside from calculating and analyzing data for him, the Heavenly Mystery Cube could also record and replay all the information surrounding him.

Scene after scene of imagery flowed past, and Jiang Feng's consciousness followed closely, growing more astonished the more he watched.

He witnessed Bai Guo's transformation, along with her singing and dancing. He saw Chaofeng prostrating himself before him. He saw the magic core Hua Su had spoken of and learned how it had been produced.

Bai Guo... was a descendant of the Heavenly Dancers? The name "Heavenly Dancer" felt somewhat familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.

Jiang Feng pondered for a good while before it suddenly dawned on him.

Back in Nameless Valley, Zhong Fan had once given him an entire room full of books, most of which he had read. Among those books were a few fragments recording legends that had long since been lost to time. One of the key sections pertained to ancient bloodlines.

In primeval times, there were three major divine clans among humanity who possessed the purest and loftiest bloodlines, granting them supreme and ultimate power.

Those bloodlines had long since diluted through the ages, yet among their descendants, those with relatively pure and powerful lineages could still fuse with ming-heart seeds and become martial cultivators.

However, in most cases, the power humans derived from ming-heart seeds had nothing to do with their bloodline. Only a tiny fraction of people—like his elder sister Jiang Chen—possessed a sliver of innate bloodline abilities, usually a sign of atavistic bloodline awakening.

The Jiang family were descendants of medicine folk; judging by that, Bai Guo must be a descendant of the Heavenly Dancers. Did she also possess an awakened ancient bloodline?

Medicine folk could heal themselves and others, but what was the ability of the Heavenly Dancers? Pacification, temptation... These were what Jiang Feng had experienced firsthand, yet he felt there was more to it than that.

Jiang Feng pressed a hand against his chest, feeling his heart beating fiercely beneath his skin. With every single beat, a trace of golden blood- Qi surged forth from his veins, completed a full circulation through his body, and returned to the golden bloodline.

Up to now, the Heavenly Heart Seed, his self-healing ability, and the submission of the demons all seemed to be tied to this golden bloodline. What on earth was it? Was it also one of the three major divine clans? (To be continued...)

Today's third chapter. Manuscript reserves are in critical shortage, urgent shortage!
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