Stealing an Immortal Back to the Demon Realm Chapter 56

The Ceremonial Officer had been restless by Shang Ningye’s side.
But after that incident, her body inexplicably felt somewhat tired, so she settled down quite a bit.
People affected by the Charm Soul Spell wouldn’t have any memory of that experience.
The Ceremonial Officer didn’t suspect Shang Ningye. She just thought that the recent sudden changes in temperature had made her body unwell.
After all, the weather at the Taiqing Immortal Sect was still a bit too hot for her clan.
Seeing her quiet down, and having successfully found out that the upcoming wedding banquet was not fake, Shang Ningye felt a little relieved.
However, the unfamiliar trace of demon energy that had appeared in her dantian made her frown slightly.
Shang Ningye diligently circulated her beast core, slowly using her cultivation to remove the unfamiliar aura from the small amount of demon energy she had obtained from the Ceremonial Officer. Then, she converted that power for her own use, replenishing her inner reserves.
Although this was a secret technique of the Silk Flower Clan to enhance demon energy, aside from dual cultivation, she still didn’t quite like this feeling.
Especially these unfamiliar auras that had intruded into her dantian with the casting of the Charm Soul Spell.
Shang Ningye lowered her head and took a deep sniff of the fish pendant around her neck.
A wisp of Mu Qiuhan’s spiritual sense was hidden within it, and she could feel Mu Qiuhan’s unique aura inside.
This somewhat helped her forget the Ceremonial Officer’s aura.
The group advanced towards the heart of Qiyuan Mountain.
Qiyuan Mountain had been the territory of the Bai Clan for thousands of years.
The Bai Clan was one of the Six Great Demon Clans, descendants of the ancient demon Bai Ze. Their power in the Yao Realm was not to be underestimated.
It was only because their clan disliked meddling in worldly affairs that they had never produced a Monster King.
The Yao Realm was different from the Demon Realm; its power was dispersed among the major clans.
The position of Monster King was held in rotation by the strongest of the Six Great Demon Clans.
Below the Monster King were the Five Monster Saints, who were the leaders of the other five major clans.
The current Monster King, Feng Yi, belonged to the Phoenix Clan, while the previous Monster King, Su Hongyu, was from the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan.
Below the Six Great Demon Clans were countless smaller clans.
They each ruled their own territories, only unifying under the Monster King’s command when the Yao Realm faced a devastating catastrophe. Ordinarily, they merely had to offer annual tribute to the Monster King.
It was precisely for this reason that although the demon race was the most numerous compared to the immortal and demonic races, their strength was the weakest.
Furthermore, demon beasts of all sizes were often persecuted by cultivators because of the beast cores within them.
After all, for cultivators, the demonic qi in demonic cores could easily cause one to suffer qi deviation during cultivation. In contrast, the beast energy in beast cores, aside from being somewhat potent, had no other side effects, making them much easier to handle than demonic cores.
The royal city of the Bai Clan was called Cold Moon City.
The Saint King’s palace was located in the center of the royal city. The entire palace was built of pure white marble, perfectly complementing Cold Moon City, which was perennially covered in ice and snow.
Shang Ningye followed the Ceremonial Officer into the palace hall.
Fiery red decorations were everywhere amidst the lustrous white palace, an overwhelming sight. Yet, for some reason, Shang Ningye found them as jarring as fresh blood.
Although the royal hall was decorated very festively, it surprisingly lacked much of a joyful atmosphere.
Shang Ningye and Xuan Kong, guided by the Ceremonial Officer, entered the palace to meet the newly appointed Monster Saint, Bai Zhan.
Xuan Kong personally presented a wedding gift to this old neighbor, also intending to promote friendly relations between their two clans.
That newly appointed demon lord had a very gloomy demeanor. He accepted Xuan Kong’s gift and thanked him perfunctorily.
After a fleeting smile, his face returned to its previous indifference, showing not the slightest hint of joy for his impending wedding.
His gaze quickly moved from Xuan Kong and landed on Shang Ningye, who was on the other side.
Shang Ningye felt that undisguised gaze linger on her, looking her up and down for a long time.
Just as Shang Ningye’s patience was about to run out and she was planning to speak, the gaze timely shifted away.
Shang Ningye keenly noticed the faint, sinister smile playing on Bai Zhan’s lips as he looked away.
Recalling the Ceremonial Officer’s words on the way, Shang Ningye felt a little uneasy.
However, Bai Zhan didn’t seem to make any other moves and directly had someone lead them away to rest.
Elder Xuan Kong’s room was arranged next to Shang Ningye’s, very close by. This made Shang Ningye a little puzzled.
Could it be that I’m just overthinking things?
Mu Qiuhan was currently far away in the Demon Realm, and Feng Yi’s people hadn’t arrived yet. Even with Elder Xuan Kong nearby, Shang Ningye didn’t dare lower her guard.
During their brief meeting in the hall today, Bai Zhan hadn’t deliberately restrained his aura.
Shang Ningye estimated that this newly appointed Monster Saint’s cultivation level should have already reached the Integration stage.
If it were a one-on-one fight, Elder Xuan Kong would not be his match, not to mention this was Bai Zhan’s territory.
For the entire night, Shang Ningye sat cross-legged in her room cultivating, not closing her eyes once.
She even placed the spirit grass Mu Qiuhan had given her, which could detect the presence of Biluo Vine, beside her, showing extreme caution.
Fortunately, the night passed without incident.
Harboring a persistent, inexplicable unease, Shang Ningye finally waited until the wedding banquet the next day.
As the next Sect Master of the Taiqing Immortal Sect, Xuan Kong was arranged in a prominent position in the hall to observe the ceremony. Shang Ningye sat beside him.
The auspicious time arrived, and the bride, dressed in wedding attire, finally appeared in the hall.
The bride was supported by a maidservant on each side as she walked into the hall. A long, bright red train trailed behind her like a phoenix tail.
The bride’s head was covered by a fiery red veil, completely obscuring her face. Only the tall, upswept hairstyle beneath the veil could be discerned.
Perhaps because she couldn’t see the path beneath her feet, the bride walked very slowly.
As she passed by Shang Ningye, she seemed to pause for a moment.
After all, they had spent hundreds of years together day and night. Although Shang Ningye couldn’t see the woman’s face beneath the veil, she quickly recognized her aura amidst the strong scent of cosmetics.
It’s Chu Xue!
It really was her!
Shang Ningye now finally understood why, despite having no prior acquaintance with Monster Saint Bai Zhan, he had specifically invited her by name.
It was indeed because of Chu Xue.
Shang Ningye had never seen Chu Xue in her human form before, so she looked at her a few more times.
However, it was these few glances that made her realize something was wrong with the bride.
Chu Xue’s fiery red wedding attire covered her from top to bottom, so ordinarily nothing should have been visible.
However, when she took a step, a small section of her slender ankle was exposed, whether intentionally or not.
Shang Ningye was closely examining Chu Xue’s transformed appearance when, with just a glance, she saw a moderately sized iron ring fastened around the ankle that had been accidentally exposed.
Although the appearance of this iron ring looked quite different from the one she had worn before, its material was clearly the same dark iron Mu Qiuhan had used to lock her spiritual energy when she first went to the Demon Realm.
How could this be?!
Could it be that Chu Xue, one of the main figures in this wedding banquet, was being forced?
Was this why she was captured and brought back by the Bai Clan?
Shang Ningye was among the guests and couldn’t conveniently show any emotion on her face, but her mind was already racing with thoughts.
She tried to send a voice transmission to Chu Xue, who wasn’t far away, but it seemed there was some kind of restriction around Chu Xue, and Shang Ningye’s spell failed.
Not only that, but Bai Zhan, who was on the ceremonial platform waiting to receive the bride, glanced in her direction at that moment.
Shang Ningye then became even more certain that the restriction around Chu Xue had been set by him.
She didn’t dare act rashly again and could only patiently wait for a more suitable opportunity.
Finally, the lengthy ceremony ended.
The bride was sent back to the rear hall first, leaving only the groom in the front hall to entertain the guests.
Shang Ningye secretly sent a voice transmission, covertly telling Elder Xuan Kong about this discovery.
Taking advantage of a group of performing little demons leaving their seats, she transformed into a twig, mixed into the bouquets they were holding, and silently left the main hall.
At the same time, she brought out a magic artifact that Mu Qiuhan had given her.
A mechanical puppet that looked exactly like Shang Ningye appeared beside Xuan Kong.
It was so realistic that even Xuan Kong himself would need to examine it closely to tell the difference.
This puppet had been commissioned by Mu Qiuhan, at great expense, from the Pavilion Master of Ruili Pavilion. It was intended for Shang Ningye to use in case she encountered danger, but unexpectedly, she used it here.
After Shang Ningye managed her “golden cicada sheds its shell” escape from the main hall, trying to get to Bai Zhan’s bedchamber proved somewhat difficult.
Cold Moon City and the Demon Realm were two extremes—one cold, one hot—but they shared one commonality: very little vegetation.
It was quite difficult to traverse this world of ice and snow using her peculiar movement technique.
Shang Ningye was momentarily stumped.
Seeing that the group of performing little demons was getting farther and farther from the main hall and would soon be heading out of the palace, Shang Ningye had no choice but to make a risky move.
Just as a nearby patrol of soldiers had passed, Shang Ningye activated her beast core and cast the Charm Soul Spell on the little demon in front of her.
The transformed twig fell from the little demon’s hand to the ground.
Controlled by the Charm Soul Spell, the little demon didn’t notice that one of the peach branches in its hand had fallen to the ground and continued straight on with the others towards the palace exit.
After landing, Shang Ningye took out a magic artifact for disguising her form from her storage ring and disguised herself as the Ceremonial Officer.
She had noticed yesterday that the Ceremonial Officer also had the surname Bai and held a rather high position in the palace, likely being some sort of ‘imperial relative’.
This disguise successfully fooled the patrolling soldiers along the way.
Shang Ningye followed Chu Xue’s aura to the bedchamber in the rear hall.
Since I’ve come this far, I might as well be bolder.
She took out a bottle of medicinal pills from her storage ring and, imitating the Ceremonial Officer’s tone, said to the guards outside the bedchamber, “The Saint King sent me to deliver some medicine to Her Ladyship.”
The guards looked at each other but didn’t make way.
One of them looked at Shang Ningye with considerable suspicion.
He scrutinized Shang Ningye carefully and finally asked, “Your Excellency, do you have the Saint King’s handwritten order?”
Shang Ningye knew in her heart that although the magic artifact Mu Qiuhan had given her could change her form, it couldn’t alter her aura.
For this reason, she had specifically used another magic artifact to completely conceal her aura, but unexpectedly, she still aroused the guards’ suspicion.