“Xuan… Xuanli…”
Gu Baiqing tried to call out to the clearly not-right Mo Xuanli.
But Mo Xuanli’s eyes didn’t even glance at him. His attention was wholly drawn toward the power emanating from the outer formation.
Slowly, strange black runes began to creep up from his neck, spreading across his face.
The symbols looked ancient, carrying a deeply ominous aura. They made his already cold expression turn even harder, sharper, evil.
A light burst from Mo Xuanli’s dantian. Gu Baiqing immediately sensed the spiritual art of Wuxiang Temple, and realization hit him, the seal restraining Mo Xuanli’s bloodline had been shaken.
Could the Hidden Gods Clan’s formation really be that powerful?
He’d thought it would merely affect Mo Xuanli’s mind, forcing him toward exposure as a hybrid but what was happening now looked more like it was dragging him into full demonic transformation. This shouldn’t be possible! It wasn’t even a true Demon-Summoning Array, how could it have this effect?
Gu Baiqing couldn’t make sense of it. He didn’t know whether the issue lay within Mo Xuanli himself or if some other force was interfering, but the demonization value had already broken past 80, and the system was blaring a warning.
There was no time for panic. Gu Baiqing’s mind raced to the strategy satchels, and two options appeared.
Option One: Fight with full force, drain the demonic energy to stabilize the value. But wasn’t the reason he’d been holding back because he couldn’t go all out? If he was discovered, wouldn’t that be the end?
Option Two: Use spiritual power to stabilize the inner seal, the maintenance method had been provided.
Gu Baiqing immediately chose the second option. At last, a workable plan! Maybe he’d wronged the emergency pack before, at critical times, it truly came through.
He didn’t care about the demonization value anymore. What mattered was that he absolutely couldn’t let Mo Xuanli truly fall into demonic transformation.
Even if one day he were to become a demon, it had to be by his own will, never because someone else forced him.
Abandoning all struggle, Gu Baiqing stayed close to Mo Xuanli, channeling spiritual power into his right hand and pressing it directly against Mo Xuanli’s dantian.
A gentle light seeped in, suppressing the unstable seal.
Gu Baiqing could feel it gradually stabilizing but Mo Xuanli was growing more agitated.
His attention finally shifted. His power was being suppressed, and a soul as powerful as his abhorred constraint.
Whoever dared bind him… had to die.
To Mo Xuanli’s eyes, the figure before him was no longer recognizable, only the hated spiritual aura remained.
He tightened his grip, intent on killing Gu Baiqing outright.
But halfway through, his hand suddenly froze, stopped by the aura of the Godslayer Sword.
If that hand couldn’t move, then he’d simply use another way to kill.
Raising his other hand high, he gathered demonic energy into his palm, the murderous aura surging toward Gu Baiqing.
Out of the corner of his eye, Gu Baiqing saw it, but he couldn’t stop now, he needed all his focus to stabilize that half-immortal seal. The ancient seal could not tolerate even a flicker of distraction.
Just a little more, just a little, and it would hold. Gu Baiqing gritted his teeth, prepared to take the hit head-on.
With his cultivation, he’d survive it, at worst, he’d be gravely injured.
Thinking this, Gu Baiqing closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear to watch Mo Xuanli truly strike at him.
But the fierce palm strike still came.
Gu Baiqing’s chest exploded with pain yet in the next second, the impossible happened.
Mo Xuanli was suddenly thrown back, as though struck by an invisible force, crashing to the ground while Gu Baiqing landed safely. That palm had only felt like a light tap to his chest, and at the very last moment, it was as if all the spells had failed.
Dazed, Gu Baiqing steadied himself and looked ahead. Mo Xuanli was kneeling on one knee, head bowed, blood pouring from his mouth. His white robes were soaked red, he was badly hurt.
Gu Baiqing panicked, thinking the sealing spell had backfired and harmed him.
And the sealing technique still wasn’t finished, the seal remained unstable. Gu Baiqing could only stay on guard, reinforcing the array around the house.
Meanwhile, Ao Hang, perched on the roof, finally sensed movement. Setting down the sleeping Three Bean, he jumped down, but was stopped by Gu Baiqing’s newly reinforced barrier, leaving him baffled.
Just as Gu Baiqing finished mending the array, Mo Xuanli attacked again on instinct, his white figure flashing forward like light, startling Gu Baiqing into drawing Morning Snow at once.
But seeing Mo Xuanli’s face pale with injury, he ultimately couldn’t bring himself to strike.
No one noticed a small red seed flying out from Mo Xuanli’s movements.
As Mo Xuanli closed in, Gu Baiqing seized the chance, raising his hand and striking again, channeling the unfinished sealing technique directly into Mo Xuanli’s dantian.
This time, it seemed to have a strong effect, Mo Xuanli actually froze.
It was as if a ferocious beast had suddenly calmed down; the murderous aura gradually dissipated.
Gu Baiqing watched as the runes on Mo Xuanli’s face slowly faded, the demonic energy around him weakening, and the system warnings disappeared almost simultaneously.
Could this… mean the demonization value was decreasing? Was it the system’s technique taking effect? Or had the Hidden Gods Clan’s formation stopped?
Just then, Mo Xuanli suddenly grabbed Gu Baiqing’s shoulders.
Gu Baiqing was shocked, thinking the transformation had repeated, but he saw Mo Xuanli lift his head to look at him. The eyes staring at him were no longer black-red, they were the familiar dark red he had seen before. The cold, merciless expression on his face had softened into something recognizable…
“Xuan…” Gu Baiqing suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. Before he could speak, Mo Xuanli suddenly pressed forward. His ruby-red eyes, deep with desire, mirrored the uncontrollable demonic urge that appeared every time he advanced, pinning Gu Baiqing against the door. What followed was a kiss, familiar, aggressive, and overwhelming.
Gu Baiqing still couldn’t resist the practiced assault. Always one step behind, he was gradually overpowered. This kiss was not pleasant, it came with a suffocating sensation and a strong metallic taste of blood, since Mo Xuanli had just vomited blood.
He could only use one hand to maintain the technique while the other couldn’t gather any spiritual energy to push back the shameless, lustful little demon in front of him.
Mo Xuanli, sensing the familiar aura, felt joy throughout his body. He had seemed trapped in darkness before, with nothing at all but now, he was free and had everything. He eagerly began groping; soon, he finally touched warm, smooth skin.
The little demon clung like a dog to its treasured bone, unwilling to let go. The kiss moved downward from the lips, as if he wanted to taste every inch.
Gu Baiqing was furious, almost to the point of vomiting blood. He was exhausting his spiritual power to save his disciple, and the disciple was rebelling against him, utterly disrespectful. Ironically, the previously insufficient spiritual power was being replenished by the disciple’s movements, even seeming to surge past its limit. Too… unfair.
Not only was he furious enough to vomit blood, he was nearly in tears. He wanted to just leave him alone, such a disobedient disciple!
But this familiar little demonic puppy removed the fear Gu Baiqing had felt before. Although irritating, it was now manageable.
Once the seal was secured, he would hit him with 100,000 volts!
Gu Baiqing endured the abnormal sensations coursing through him, gritting his teeth in frustration, thinking that only this focus could prevent himself from being further affected by Mo Xuanli’s stimulation.
At that moment, Ao Hang in the courtyard hesitated, when suddenly someone burst in.
Turning, he saw it was Gu Baiqing’s junior brother, and lowered his guard.
Chu Fei, seeing Ao Hang pause, rushed toward the door.
Ao Hang didn’t know the situation inside with Mo Xuanli and could only follow.
Chu Fei noticed the formation on the door and window but didn’t think much of it, they assumed Gu Baiqing had no spiritual power, and such formations were there to prevent accidental demon attacks.
Chu Fei was here to find Mo Xuanli. With chaos outside, Mo Xuanli should have been the one dealing with it. Seeing how dark his second senior brother’s expression was, he knew his second senior brother was clearly displeased.
“Senior Brother, where’s Mo Xuanli?” Chu Fei knocked on the door.
At that moment, Gu Baiqing was pinned against the door. Chu Fei’s knock reverberated through him.
Gu Baiqing panicked and was about to respond when a sudden pain in his abdomen forced a low groan from him, crushed in his mouth. He could only push against Mo Xuanli’s gradually squatting shoulders, awkwardly adjusting his voice:
“He’s with me… he’s drunk and resting. What’s wrong?”
“What, drunk? At a time like this?” Chu Fei was incredulous. “Wake him up! The formation outside has activated, we have two demon spies at Zixiao Sect. He should be out helping.”
Gu Baiqing wanted to wake him too but he had to simultaneously deceive Chu Fei outside while enduring the little demon’s antics.
“No problem. He’s tired today. Let him rest.”
Chu Fei didn’t expect Gu Baiqing to indulge his disciple so much. Irritated, he said: “You won’t do it? I’ll wake him up.” He tried to push the door open, only to find it wouldn’t budge, was it locked?
Suddenly, a low, muffled grunt came from inside.
Chu Fei froze. Ao Hang raised an eyebrow, this sound…
Gu Baiqing bit his lip with all his strength. His arms strained with bulging veins to hold Mo Xuanli back.
By now, the lower part of his body was reacting, Mo Xuanli’s breath continuously pressing against him…
He was extremely sensitive. As a man, having someone this close, touching him, even without direct contact, was enough to trigger natural responses.
It was a tremendous temptation. For a moment, the little demon could dominate his thoughts, coaxing him into surrendering to potential pleasure.
But Gu Baiqing’s rationality refused to allow it.
Normally, such incidents could be dismissed as a demon’s natural behavior, Mo Xuanli saw no gender distinction, only an object in front of him. So hugging, kissing, even actions that once nearly terrified him were somewhat understandable.
But if Mo Xuanli did this now, it would take advantage of his compromised state, an improper act, a humiliation, after all, he might not even know what he was doing. A man could never easily do this to another man.
He was treating him as he would any other target, just curiosity, a desire to taste.
All of this was unacceptable.
Yet Mo Xuanli pressed closer, his presence increasingly overwhelming, driving Gu Baiqing nearly insane.
And outside, Chu Fei’s voice continued: “Senior Brother? What’s wrong? Open the door!” He assumed Gu Baiqing was injured.
Gu Baiqing could only try to keep his crumbling reason together as he answered, “I’m cultivating, don’t bother me!”
As he spoke, Mo Xuanli, seemingly unhappy about being rejected over and over, tilted his head up. Those innocent crimson eyes stared at Gu Baiqing with a trace of grievance, as if Gu Baiqing were the one in the wrong.
Gu Baiqing’s gaze went unfocused, his mind hazy. His hand slipped from Mo Xuanli’s shoulder to his chin, trying to move that dangerous weapon away from such a fragile area.
But Mo Xuanli, clearly displeased, suddenly bit down on the thumb near Gu Baiqing’s lips.
Feeling Mo Xuanli’s tongue curl around his finger, Gu Baiqing’s pupils contracted, this was too seductive. He really couldn’t take it. In the next instant, he almost lost all self-control, ready to let Mo Xuanli do whatever he wanted.
Yet even so, Gu Baiqing still didn’t want to treat Mo Xuanli that way. Enduring the immense temptation, he abruptly grabbed Mo Xuanli’s chin, pulled him up, caught him by the neck, and drew him close.
“Here… kiss here instead… don’t move anymore… please, Xuanli…” Gu Baiqing’s voice was hoarse, tinged with a pleading note. The next moment, he took the initiative to kiss Mo Xuanli, perhaps to prevent something worse from happening. He’d rather choose a way he could at least accept, as a substitute for everything else.
Mo Xuanli’s pupils constricted slightly. The taste below should have been exquisite, just thinking about it made him lose control, but this taste now was just as delicious. He wanted it too. Yet perhaps because this was the first time the one in his arms had taken the initiative to kiss him, the sweetness of that willing touch made Mo Xuanli’s heart ripple, and he forgot the violent impulse that had consumed him just moments before.
Outside the door, the two others could only hear fragmented, indistinct sounds.
Chu Fei listened with a completely blank face, he hadn’t the faintest idea what was happening. But Ao Hang’s face had already darkened. He said to Chu Fei, “He’s indeed cultivating. Don’t disturb them.”
In the end, Chu Fei had no choice but to leave.
Ao Hang glared in disgust at the closed door, then leapt up onto the roof, hugging a little kitten. His heart was full of resentment, he was stuck babysitting a cat, while Mo Xuanli was down there cuddling a person.
Mo Xuanli had made it sound so serious earlier that Ao Hang had thought something truly grave was happening but in the end, the two of them were having quite a pleasant time while he was left out in the cold. D*mn it!
Not long after, lightning flickered faintly inside the house. Mo Xuanli fainted and was carried back onto the soft couch.
Gu Baiqing, dazed and disoriented, straightened his clothes and then collapsed onto the bed.
Meanwhile, Chu Fei had returned to Fu Zhiyi’s side. Representatives from all sects were gathered around the Hidden Gods Clan’s formation, watching as more and more people, looking dazed and entranced, were drawn toward it. The expressions on their faces grew darker, among the affected were even trusted members of their own sects.
“How could this be… he’s actually—”
“D*mn it, that beast! My daughter’s still with him!”
“That b*stard, I even took him in back then…”
“He… how could he? He’s always been such a good child. His parents were both disciples of our sect. How could this be…”
Whether born as demons or corrupted later, all of them appeared here now.
Fu Zhiyi’s face was grim as he turned to Chu Fei. “Where are they?”
He felt uneasy. Given how serious the situation was, Gu Baiqing should have asked Mo Xuanli to help. That child was usually so sensible, why hadn’t he shown up after noticing something strange? Unless… something had happened. The thought made him uneasy, and he immediately sent Chu Fei to check.
“He’s drunk and sleeping,” Chu Fei said irritably. “Senior Brother, you really should rein in Fourth Senior Brother a bit. He used to be so strict, now he’s spoiling Mo Xuanli rotten. Isn’t he afraid he’ll ruin the kid?”
But Fu Zhiyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s fine then. As long as everything’s going smoothly. What about the floating island? Any chaos?”
“Relax. Nan Zhi noticed something off. I told her what’s happening, she’s patrolling the island and calming everyone down,” Chu Fei replied.
Fu Zhiyi nodded with a faint smile.
Meanwhile, Nan Zhi had noticed two new disciples heading somewhere strange. She was about to follow when Chu Fei stopped her. After hearing the situation, she grew worried and hurried back to check on everyone else especially Yun Yue.
Yun Yue was a medical cultivator, and still injured. What if she ran into a demon who had lost control?
Nan Zhi rushed to Yun Yue’s courtyard. Seeing no light inside, she knocked on the door. Soon, Yun Yue’s voice came from within.
“Nan Zhi? I was resting, my clothes aren’t proper for receiving guests. What’s wrong?”
“Oh, as long as you’re fine. Just stay inside for now, all right?” Nan Zhi frowned slightly. “What’s wrong with your voice? You sound so weak.”
“If you were woken up like this, you’d sound the same,” Yun Yue replied, voice gentle and laced with a faint laugh.
Nan Zhi felt awkward. “All right then, I’ll go.”
“By the way,” Yun Yue said suddenly, “why is there a strange fluctuation from the formation outside?”
Knowing now that Yun Yue definitely wasn’t one of the demons, Nan Zhi gave her a brief explanation.
Yun Yue immediately grew tense. “Then our sect…”
“Two of them already gone,” Nan Zhi said, her tone a little unhappy but not shocked or furious, which meant she didn’t know the ones involved.
“I see. I’ll stay put so I don’t cause trouble. Once it’s safe, I’ll come out.”
“Mm.” Nan Zhi nodded and left.
By dawn, the formation was complete, they had captured about thirty to forty demon infiltrators.
They didn’t kill them outright but restrained them, intending to extract information.
Yet some had sworn blood oaths of silence and were destroyed on the spot.
Only a few remained, all of them apparently of high rank.
They showed no fear of torture, even mocking the cultivators’ stupidity and declaring that the Holy Maiden would soon lead the demon realm to annihilate the cultivation world.
The sect leaders conducting the interrogations were furious.
For the moment, unable to extract any information, they decided to rest and regroup. Outside, the gathered cultivators were demanding an official explanation.
Amid the tense uproar, Yun Yue finally stepped out of her room and made her way toward the courtyard where the two masters and disciples lived. Ao Hang was still perched on the roof; when he looked down and saw that it was just a harmless little girl, he paid her no mind.
When Yun Yue knocked on the door, Mo Xuanli who had been lying unconscious on the soft couch finally stirred and slowly woke up.
