Chapter 26 - The peerlessly talented demon ba snake (9): This little buddy is really fun to play with

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Translated by: Niladri

Edited by: celes

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He turned out to be a member of the demon race. However, it was not surprising since he could emerge abruptly amidst such a dense mountain forest. Generally, such a feat was impossible except for the demon race.

“My name is Zheng, from the Ba Snake clan.” Lu Heng saw Bai smiling at him and looked friendly, but his strange behavior made Lu Heng unable to resist asking, “Are you cold? Why are you shivering all the time?

“No, I’m not. It’s natural. It’ll be fine later.” Bai spoke with a trembling voice.

“……” Lu Heng was rendered speechless.

Bai was almost falling apart from his shivering. Why would he overcome his natural instinct to come talk to him? Lu Heng, who wasn’t taciturn at all, asked directly.

“How can I leave a cub alone as a member of demon race!” After all, Bai’s cultivation was higher and more profound than Lu Heng. At last, he calmed down.

Lu Heng took a look at his short stature and fleshy little hands and reluctantly accepted the idea of becoming an adopted cub.

So Bai constructed a thatched-roof hut to live in beside Lu Heng’s bamboo house, and they quickly became familiar. Bai’s thoughts were pure and getting along with him felt pleasant.

Bai had a good understanding of the demon race and was able to answer all of Lu Heng’s doubts. It was the custom of the demon race to take care of the pups. Every adult of demon race had the obligation of acting as the guide of the pups and helping them understand the various inheritances of the demon race. The demons had always been more united than the humans, which was also the reason why the demon race was not weaker than the human race despite their smaller population.

One night, Bai mysteriously said that he would take Lu Heng to see something good. Lu Heng saw his appearance, and his curiosity was aroused. The two men, after turning corners seven or eight times, arrived at the bottom of a big tree wide enough to be embraced by four people. Bai smashed forward with his hand, and the place overgrown with weeds, scattered like fog, and a pitch-black hole appeared.

There were no leaves to cover the entrance, and now the moon was at its peak, allowing the moonlight to shine directly through the gap in the leaves above to the bottom of the hole. Lu Heng looked down curiously, only to see a dim halo, and could not see what was happening below.

“Below is a legendary elixir. I’ve gone in and explored it. There’s no danger.”

Lu Heng let out his spiritual power to explore, and indeed, as Bai said, there was no danger below. On the contrary, there was a refreshing feeling inside.

So Lu Heng jumped down the cave boldly with Bai.

The roots of the trees were entwined all around the cave, and from one of the unusually strong roots, drops of pea-sized turquoise-green liquid flowed out and went into a square puddle about one zhang side (3.3m) on the ground. In the pool, layers upon layers of palm-sized lotus leaves could be seen. In the midst of the protective encirclement of lotus leaves, a white and flawless bud shyly poked it’s head.

“This is the legendary elixir, the Qianye Lotus,” said Bai in a tone of offering precious advice.

The Qianye Lotus could be used by mortals to revitalize flesh and bones from the brink of death or by cultivators to increase their cultivation, but it was not very useful for demons.

Just by watching Bai’s shining eyes, the words ‘praise me’ were practically written on his face. Lu Heng gave him face and said, “Amazing, you could find such a precious legendary elixir.” [T/N: give face= respect one’s feelings]

“Is that so?” Bai rubbed his nose embarrassingly. “I’m just lucky. That day I came to this mountain forest to find an elixir, which happened to have crashed while flying into the top of the tree. [T/N: flying elixirs? :O] But suddenly an outburst of spiritual energy upset the balance, and the elixir toppled from the flying artifact and fell right into the hole.

Possessing a timid disposition, chasing after flying artifacts, the behaviour of this Bai was enough to lose the face of the entire demon race. But perhaps because “fortune favours fools,” he managed to find such a rare elixir.

“Doesn’t this Qianye Lotus grow only on the tops of snowy mountains with pure and abundant spiritual energy?” Lu Heng had some doubts.

“It’s a pity that the old tree was here.” Bai felt a little sad, “This tree was born with great potential and would have soon become a demon. But somehow, the main root was broken, and the sap from the tree’s heart that was accumulated over the years leaked away to form a small soul spring. But this Qianye Lotus was lucky enough to find a place to grow in.”

“It’s a pity since this plant had almost turned into a demon spirit. It’s quite difficult to do so. It was on the final step.” Bai seemed to feel sympathetic, and then he cheered up again. “But the one who gained the most was me. I found the Qianye Lotus that I could not find in the entire continent. I was lucky to encounter it here!”

“This Qianye Lotus is of no use to the demon race. What do you want to do with it?” Lu Heng asked.

“It’s for my wife.” Bai rubbed his nose shyly. “My wife is from the human race, and she’s pregnant now. It’s never easy for the humans to give birth to heirs of the demon race. She’s not in good health. I’m worried about the danger in labour, so I’ve been searching for this Qianye Lotus.”

“You are married!” Lu Heng was shocked to see that Bai, whose face looked very young, was married.

“I’m just tender-faced. Don’t look at me like that. One more tribulation, I’ll be a great demon.” Bai was proud enough to stand up and straightened his chest.

“This future great demon, don’t you know that the humans have a saying that the guarding one’s heart against others is indispensable? Such a precious elixir, you just brought me here to see it at will?” Lu Heng teased again.

“This elixir is of no great use to the demon race; that is to say, it can only be appreciated while watching the process of its maturity. Of course, good things should be shared with peers.” Bai calmly retorted.

“Did you never think that I might take this Qianye Lotus and exchange it with cultivators for valuable treasures for the demon race?”

“Yes, right!” Bai’s expression was like being struck by a thunderbolt. “No, how can you stand on the side of the human race?”

Lu Heng finally couldn’t help but bend forward in a fit of laughter. It was so funny. He simply believed what others said. He was afraid that he would end up paying the traffickers if he was sold off.

Bai realized that Lu Heng was making fun of him and scolded angrily, “How can you make such a joke with your elders as a cub?”

It was Lu Heng’s turn to be struck dumb. For the first time during his long life in this world, he had the idea of stepping up his training and getting rid of this childish appearance as soon as possible. As he thought of this, Lu Heng remembered the demon core given by Min.

Although in Lu Heng’s inheritance, it was also mentioned that demon cores willingly given away would not have any negative effects if absorbed; it was only that the demon core had been inside the body of Linyang County Lord, and Lu Heng felt that something wasn’t right with the demon core when he remembered the deaths of the servants in the courtyard.

At the time of his departure, Lu Heng was also deliberately instructed by Shi Kong that the matter of the demon core should be determined after he had consulted relevant classics in the sect’s repertoire. Before he returns, he was not allowed to absorb the cultivation from the demon core.

Now Bai, who knows about the demon race, unexpectedly happened to be here. Lu Heng took out the demon core and briefly explained the matter to him. Bai received the demon core, inspected it very minutely, and thought about it for a long time.

“Voluntarily bequeathed demon cores can improve the cultivation of demons greatly. Among demons, this is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Bai handed back the demon core to Lu Heng. “But after careful investigation, I feel something is not right about this.”

Lu Heng nodded, agreeing that his instinct also told him that this demon core was somewhat strange.

Bai said, “We demons always have instinctive warnings against dangerous things. Since you and I think so, and this demon core has been used for evil techniques by the Linyang County Lord, it is better to be cautious.”

Then he added, “But it’s a pity to miss this opportunity. So, when the Qianye Lotus has matured, I will take you back to the clan and hand over the demon core to a demon who is proficient in such things, then you can absorb it for cultivation which is more appropriate. What do you think?”

Lu Heng was not a short-sighted person; naturally, he wouldn’t refuse Bai’s proposal.

The Qianye Lotus blooms once a millennium, and when it blooms, the Qianye leaves fall away. This elixir can then be considered to have entered the mature stage. Bai was waiting for the Qianye Lotus to mature, and Lu Heng was waiting for the return of Shi Kong; thus, they could be each other’s companions.

Over the past month, Shi Kong hadn’t returned. Perhaps anticipating Lu Heng worrying, he used a paper sparrow to send messages. The paper sparrow moved round cutely, but the voice was smooth as water and cold as the moon: “Cultivation cannot be relaxed, waiting for the matter of the sect to be resolved, and then this poor monk will return immediately.”

This contrast was so intriguing.

Lu Heng mused that even when he was young, he had probably been speaking in a solemn manner with a chubby face. The more Lu Heng thought about it, the funnier he felt, even gleefully tapping the table. He was happy to let the paper sparrow say it again and again until the door of the bamboo house was gently knocked.

Lu Heng picked up the paper sparrow carefully and went to answer the door. Unsurprisingly, the man in front of the door was Bai.

“That Qianye Lotus will mature tonight; you and I will go to see the elixir maturing together. You may have an epiphany if your comprehension ability is strong.” Bai turned to leave after saying that.

Such a good thing, Lu Heng will not miss, and he went with Bai to the place where the Qianye Lotus was growing.

Around the big tree, Bai laid down several barriers. Bai took Lu Heng inside the barriers and explained to him that the barriers had the function of isolating spiritual Qi. When the Qianye Lotus fully bloomed, just like when a heavenly treasure is unearthed, there will be spiritual signs. If it is not blocked, one fears that it will arouse the greed of ambitious people.

“You should also turn into the original form; it is more susceptible to comprehension.” Bai had already turned into a giant white rabbit of a person’s height. It’s lovely to see him talk his moving harelips.

Lu Heng also turned into his original form, but the moment when he turned into a snake, Bai jumped to the side and stopped again. Although his face was covered with fur, Lu Heng felt that his face was red and burning.

Bai explained embarrassingly, “Instinct, this is instinct.”

Lu Heng saw that he and Bai were several orders of magnitude different in body shape and had a profound understanding of the courage of the rabbit clan.

The bright moon in the sky had quietly climbed above the heads of the two demons, only for them to see the thousand lotus leaves in the spiritual spring beginning to wither slowly. The more withered the lotus leaves become, the more succulent the central bud became, until all the lotus leaves turned into dust motes and floated up in the air and the bud slowly blossomed.

“It will take some time for this Qianye Lotus to fully bloom, try to calm down, pay attention and comprehend its ripening process,” Bai told Lu Heng.

Lu Heng, upon hearing that, hurried to restrain his mind and started to focus on self-cultivation.

The spiritual spirit in the cave was so strong that it almost began to materialize into essence. Fortunately, Bai’s technique of restraining the spiritual essence was quite profound. This spiritual spirit did not leak even a little bit. Otherwise, the sensation of violent spiritual turbulence would certainly be noticed by surrounding cultivators.

As the Qianye Lotus slowly bloomed, Lu Heng felt something was wrong. But before he knew it, something flew out of the bag, hovered around in the air, and went directly into Lu Heng’s dantian.