Stealing an Immortal Back to the Demon Realm Chapter 62

Qiyuan Mountain. Cold Moon City.
Mu Qiuhan and her subordinates traveled for days, finally arriving outside this city five days later without stopping.
Mu Qiuhan’s external injuries weren’t too severe.
Additionally, after taking the Yin-Yang Mystic Dragon Pill, her cultivation had greatly improved, her cultivation speed had reached a new level, and her natural recovery ability had also significantly increased.
After using a large amount of top-grade spiritual medicines, her abdominal wound was almost completely healed by the time they arrived.
The group halted outside the city but encountered no demon clan soldiers coming to investigate or greet them.
Wu Ling found it very strange.
“Your Majesty, the messenger we sent should have arrived in the city two days ago. Why haven’t we encountered anyone bringing back a reply along the way? Could something be wrong with Chu Yue’s spell?”
“Hmm?”
Mu Qiuhan glanced at her, a hint of amusement in her expression.
“You’d better not say that in front of Chu Yue.”
She found it rather amusing.
Chu Yue’s feelings for Wu Ling had long been obvious to the naked eye.
Yet, for some reason, Wu Ling these past few days kept thinking Chu Yue was after her position as High Priestess, and she had been trying to pick fights with Chu Yue all along the way.
Whenever there was an opportunity, she would find fault with Chu Yue.
It was hard to tell if she was genuinely clueless or doing it on purpose.
Hearing Mu Qiuhan speak so defensively of Chu Yue, Wu Ling felt a bit sour.
“What? So she’s allowed to fail, but no one else is allowed to talk about it?”
“If you ask me, she just hasn’t thoroughly mastered the spell Your Majesty taught her. Otherwise, with the talisman on that letter, the Bai clan members should have been here to welcome us long ago.”
Mu Qiuhan’s expression turned somewhat grave.
“Haven’t you considered that perhaps they don’t welcome our arrival?”
Wu Ling was about to reply when Chu Yue pushed the door open and entered.
“Your Majesty, I’ve scouted around and found that the defenses outside Cold Moon City are weak. There are only a few guards at the city gate, and the whereabouts of most others are unknown. I’m afraid something might have happened in the city.”
Seeing Mu Qiuhan’s grave expression, Chu Yue asked cautiously, “Your Majesty, should we enter the city?”
Hearing this, Wu Ling also glanced at Mu Qiuhan and asked tentatively.
“Your Majesty, your injuries haven’t fully healed yet. How about letting this subordinate sneak into the imperial city first to investigate the situation?”
Chu Yue also agreed.
“Your Majesty, this subordinate also believes you shouldn’t rashly go looking for Elder Shang. How about this subordinate waits with you outside the city for news from Wu Ling?”
Mu Qiuhan snorted.
“Why bother with all that trouble? Didn’t you say Cold Moon City’s defenses are weak? Can’t we just go straight in?”
Chu Yue and Wu Ling looked at each other in dismay.
Wu Ling became a little anxious.
“Your Majesty, absolutely not! We came here this time without the Bai clan’s permission. If we forcibly enter the imperial city, wouldn’t that give them an excuse to attack the Demon Realm?”
Mu Qiuhan gave her a strange look.
“When did I say I was going to force my way into the imperial city? I said, Chu Yue and I will go into Cold Moon City to wait for your news.”
Hearing this, Wu Ling felt a wave of relief.
Chu Yue also breathed a sigh of relief, trying not to show it.
Just a moment ago, she too had thought Mu Qiuhan was going to lead her and Wu Ling to storm Bai Zhan’s imperial palace.
It’s really great that Your Majesty doesn’t have that idea.
How could they know that Mu Qiuhan had long since placed a sliver of her spiritual soul on Shang Ningye?
Although these days she vaguely felt something was off with Shang Ningye, she hadn’t considered the possibility of possession.
The two had just exchanged messages last night.
Mu Qiuhan told Shang Ningye about her impending arrival in Cold Moon City, and Shang Ningye was happy to hear it.
At this moment, that sliver of her spiritual soul showed no unusual activity, so she wasn’t anxious enough to force her way into someone else’s imperial palace.
Wu Ling accepted the order and headed towards the imperial city alone.
The closer she got to the imperial city, the more uneasy she felt.
There was an aura in Bai Zhan’s palace that made her feel a strong sense of threat.
This definitely wasn’t something achievable by a Mahayana stage cultivator who was only slightly stronger than her.
Bai Zhan had only recently broken through to the Mahayana stage; this was evidenced by a lightning tribulation and couldn’t be faked.
Besides him, who else in the demon clan had such high cultivation?
Could it be Feng Yi?
Could it be that Feng Yi was about to break through the Mahayana stage and enter the Tribulation Transcendence stage?
If that were true, it would be troublesome.
Your Majesty couldn’t possibly return to her former peak strength in a short time, and the Demon Realm had just lost Leng Yi, a powerful general.
If Feng Yi really broke through the Mahayana stage at this time, wouldn’t the advantage the Demon Realm had worked so hard to gain over the years cease to exist?
What should I do?
Could it be… I have to persuade Her Majesty to release that traitor from the Sacred Yin Illusionary Realm?
Wu Ling silently approached the palace wall, her mind racing with thoughts.
She didn’t know that she had already been spotted moments ago.
The one watching her was, naturally, Qing Wu.
A few days ago, Qing Wu had used very forceful means to imprison the Bai clan’s new king, Bai Zhan, and abolish his newly acquired throne.
Then, she had pushed Chu Xue onto that throne.
Perhaps because everyone had witnessed Bai Zhan’s tyrannical methods over the years, and Chu Xue was the only surviving direct blood relative of the former king, Bai Zhen, besides Bai Zhan.
The process of changing kings went surprisingly smoothly, without encountering much resistance.
Some of the guests who had previously attended the wedding banquet had not yet left.
Only a few days later, they suddenly received invitations from the Bai clan for the new king’s succession ceremony, leaving them stunned.
Xuan Kong was one of them.
After the banquet that day, he had stayed in Cold Moon City with Shang Ningye’s puppet, quietly awaiting news from her.
When Shang Ningye sent word that she was leaving first, Xuan Kong guessed she had already found Chu Xue and was probably trying to sneak her out.
So, he deliberately stayed in the city for a few more days, intending to provide cover for Shang Ningye.
Who would have thought that now, although Shang Ningye and Chu Xue had returned, he would hear news of the Bai clan undergoing a major upheaval.
Xuan Kong was utterly shocked for a moment.
His Martial Grand-Aunt felt particularly unfamiliar to him this time she returned.
She must have received some kind of ancestral inheritance within the demon clan, as her cultivation had suddenly surged.
Besides that, Shang Ningye’s temperament was no longer as easygoing as before; she had become much tougher.
So much so that Xuan Kong now spoke to her with a degree of caution.
The new king’s enthronement ceremony was currently underway in the imperial palace.
Fearing Bai Zhan’s old forces might make a comeback, almost all the troops in Cold Moon City had been moved into the palace for defense.
Therefore, the city’s defenses were weak.
Qing Wu had known in advance about Mu Qiuhan’s arrival.
After a comprehensive assessment, she concluded that the arrival of the demon race members this time would not pose a threat to the new king’s ascension or to herself.
Therefore, she specifically instructed the city defense soldiers that if they encountered anyone from the Demon Realm, there was no need to report it specially; they could just let them enter the city.
The reason she didn’t specifically arrange for anyone to welcome them was, firstly, because Chu Xue’s succession was too rushed, and she genuinely couldn’t spare the manpower.
Secondly, it was also because she subconsciously avoided contact with Mu Qiuhan.
Whenever matters related to Mu Qiuhan arose, Shang Ningye’s spiritual soul would become unusually agitated.
She would attack again and again, trying to regain control of the body.
Although Qing Wu was always the victor, on such occasions, she needed to expend considerable effort to barely manage to make the body act according to her will.
Qing Wu didn’t want this, hence her reluctance to interact with Mu Qiuhan.
Moreover, after each direct confrontation between the two souls, although Shang Ningye’s spiritual soul would remain dormant for a long time, when it awakened again, it would be somewhat stronger than before.
Qing Wu could sense that Shang Ningye had already discovered this secret.
These past few days, her attacks had become more frequent.
She was taking advantage of the injuries caused by the clashes between their two spiritual souls to secretly use the body’s power to recover and enhance her own spiritual soul’s strength.
This body belonged to Shang Ningye, after all, and the abundant spiritual energy within it shared the same origin as her soul.
When Shang Ningye’s spiritual soul was injured, the body would subconsciously mobilize spiritual energy to heal it.
Although she could directly obliterate Shang Ningye’s consciousness, Qing Wu was unwilling to do so.
After all, in terms of bloodline, Shang Ningye was her descendant, and a direct one at that.
If she hadn’t sown those seeds in the valley of Longxuan Mountain thousands of years ago, Shang Ningye would not exist in this world.
She only wanted to occupy Shang Ningye’s body, not for this descendant to disappear from the world.
Once she found a more suitable body, she would consider helping Shang Ningye adapt to a new one.
Qing Wu was currently mingled among the guests, carefully examining the puppet beside Xuan Kong.
“All sorts of rare treasures were used. She’s quite generous with you.”
It’s just a pity that Shang Ningye’s own bloodline power is still too weak.
The puppet refined using her blood essence as a catalyst was still not strong enough; at best, it could contend with a Void Refinement stage cultivator.
Sensing the emotional fluctuations of the spiritual soul within her body, Qing Wu lazily popped a snow fruit into her mouth.
“You’re still too young. This little bit of favor doesn’t mean much.”
“When she has to choose between you and the throne, which do you think she will choose? Hmm?”
She considered herself someone who had been through it.
Back when she and Bai Ze were deeply in love, they were inseparable, full of sweet nothings, no less intense.
But when it came to the bloodline of their offspring, it was a different story.
Without her knowledge, Bai Ze had coupled with his own sister, giving birth to Bai Zhen’s parents – Bai Yuan and Bai Shu.
When Qing Wu learned of this, she left in a fit of anger.
She swore never to see Bai Ze again for the rest of her life.
Although regrets remained, so many years had passed, and the extreme desire she once had to eradicate all of Bai Ze’s descendants had faded considerably.
She wanted more to see for herself just how capable those “pure-blooded” descendants, for whom Bai Ze had abandoned her, truly were.
Upon seeing them, most of Qing Wu’s anger dissipated.
Bai Ze’s fourth-generation descendant, Bai Zhan, had personally killed all his direct brothers, leaving only a young girl who had fled years ago.
Learning that Chu Xue had fled to escape the Bai clan’s inhumane marriage system, Qing Wu helped her out.
She imprisoned Chu Xue’s husband, with whom she had just completed the wedding ceremony, and directly pushed the girl onto the throne.
That girl, probably to avoid becoming a breeding tool, despite having an excellent bloodline, had deliberately kept her cultivation stuck at the late Void Refinement stage for all these years. Truly foolish.
If you don’t want others to arrange your life, how can running away be a good solution?
The only way is to make yourself stronger.
She coached and prodded the girl for a few days and finally persuaded her to take on the Bai clan’s burden.
Qing Wu, meanwhile, stayed behind the scenes, acting as the power behind the throne.
Perhaps because her arrangements weren’t detrimental to the Bai clan, the girl had been quite obedient and compliant recently.
She listened to her in everything.
Qing Wu was reasonably satisfied with Chu Xue.
She even felt that if this girl asked for her help, it wouldn’t be out of the question for her to assist in stabilizing the situation.
Now that Mu Qiuhan had suddenly arrived, Qing Wu felt somewhat irritated.
Consequently, her attitude towards the person Mu Qiuhan sent wasn’t good either.
That girl from the Demon Realm was skulking around outside the city, thinking she was being stealthy, but she didn’t know Qing Wu had been clearly watching her movements all along.
Qing Wu snorted coldly.
Nevermind. After that girl Chu Xue is formally coronated, I’ll go meet the people from the Demon Realm.