When Zhu Weiyang came to her senses, she was already standing, somewhat dazed, before the carved wooden doors of Bai Li's little pavilion. She couldn't even remember how she had left that wooden hut.
The night wind brushed past the tips of her hair, carrying a hint of chill. She raised a hand to touch her cheek and realized, to her surprise, that tear stains had half-dried at some unknown point.
"Going back?" Bai Li's voice suddenly came from behind her.
Zhu Weiyang turned her head and saw her leaning against the doorframe, her snow-white robes fluttering gently in the wind. Those fox-like eyes were narrowed slightly with an all-knowing cleverness.
"Back where?" Zhu Weiyang asked without thinking.
"Back to the Demon Race, of course." Bai Li chuckled lightly.
Zhu Weiyang fell silent. She gazed at the hazy silhouettes of distant mountains and suddenly felt that in this vast world, there was nowhere she truly wished to go.
"I don't know," she finally answered in a low voice.
Bai Li approached slowly, the moonlight cloaking her in a layer of silver radiance. She extended her hand, palm up: "Why not just stay, then?"
"This wide world is far more interesting than the Northern Frontier."
Zhu Weiyang looked at that hand—slender and pale, glowing with a soft light beneath the moon. She hesitated for a long time, but in the end, she did not reach out.
"I can't stay," she said, her voice very soft, tinged with bitterness. "There are still many people in the Northern Frontier who need me."
Bai Li did not press her. She withdrew her hand without the slightest anger, merely smiling. "Then you should go back."
"But—" she paused, and her tone suddenly turned earnest. "If you ever change your mind, you can come back anytime."
"This door will always be open for you."
Zhu Weiyang pressed her lips together, murmured her thanks, and turned to leave. Her steps were heavy, as though she were bidding farewell to something.
Yet fate seemed unwilling to let her depart in peace.
Just as she stepped beyond the bounds of Bai Li's pavilion and onto that dim, forested path—the space beneath her feet suddenly twisted violently.
An intense sensation of weightlessness slammed into her. Before she could react, her consciousness lost all sense of direction within a chaotic vortex.
When her awareness returned, it felt as though an invisible hand had hurled her down from a great height.
Bang—!
The violent impact plunged her vision into darkness. Nearly every bone in her body seemed to cry out in agony—especially her right shoulder and back, where the pain was so intense it nearly drove her back into unconsciousness.
She struggled to push herself upright, her entire body aching as though her skeleton had been torn apart.
It was only then that she realized she was lying in the center of an enormous hall—far larger than any ordinary chamber. And all around the hall, at varying heights, standing or sitting, a ring of figures surrounded her.
A moment of stunned silence washed over the faces of the cultivators who had clearly been gathered for some kind of assembly—as though ice water had been dashed across them.
They were evidently dumbfounded by this spectacle of a person appearing out of thin air, dropping from the sky like an unexpected reinforcement. One by one, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped, their gazes filled with bewilderment and disbelief.
However, once their eyes adjusted to the light and focused clearly on the "uninvited guest" at the center of the fall, the mood in the hall shifted.
They took in the delicate brows knitted slightly in pain and dizziness, those bright eyes misty with a hint of innocence and fear, and that breathtakingly beautiful face that even dust and grime could not conceal.
A different, far more dangerous expression began to slowly surface on those faces that had been so full of ferocity, violence, or cold indifference.
Greed.
Bare, undisguised greed. It was the look a predator wore when it spotted its prey.
The scent in the air made Zhu Weiyang's heart sink. Blood, staleness, chaos... and a dark aura that stirred a primal unease deep within her soul.
She quickly swept her spiritual sense across her surroundings. These cultivators' cultivation levels were not particularly high—most ranged from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core.
But the aura clinging to them sent a chill through her—it was the mark of souls that had been eroded and twisted by dark power.
They were demonic cultivators. And the kind that had fallen completely, stripped of all humanity.
Zhu Weiyang's heart plummeted to the very bottom. This was no ordinary abduction or accident.
She had stumbled into a demon's lair.
The demonic cultivators around her began to stir, whispers rising and falling like a tide. "Where did this woman come from? How did she just drop in out of nowhere?"
"So pretty..."
"Hehehe..."
"Who told you to touch her?!" A cold and authoritative voice echoed from the depths of the hall.
The demonic cultivators fell silent instantly.
A middle-aged man in a black robe emerged from the shadows, his features dark and stern. His cultivation was the highest among them all—at least mid-Nascent Soul.
His gaze settled on Zhu Weiyang, his pupils contracting slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes. But it quickly morphed into something far deeper: greed and scrutiny.
"Interesting..." he murmured to himself. "This woman carries a peculiar aura. She's no ordinary cultivator."
"Take her away," he said, waving his hand with casual indifference. "Throw her in the dungeon. Don't harm her—I'll interrogate her personally."
Two demonic cultivators immediately stepped forward, seizing Zhu Weiyang by either arm.
She struggled, but her body was riddled with injuries and her spiritual power was in chaotic disarray from the spatial transmission. She was utterly powerless to resist.
She was dragged through dim corridors, the sound of chains scraping against stone echoing through the empty passageways like some dark omen.
[
Hey everyone,
I hope you're doing well. I'm writing this with a heavy heart because, for the first time in over two years of creating content for you all, I've been hit really hard financially.
I've always tried to keep things running smoothly—updating regularly, posting daily, and even putting out bonus chapters on Patreon. But right now, I'm in deep trouble trying to manage my education expenses on top of everything else.
This is the first time I've had to ask, but if you've ever enjoyed my work and have the means to help, please consider supporting me on Patreon. Even a small contribution would mean the world to me right now and would help me keep creating the content you love while staying afloat personally.
Thank you for reading, and thank you even more if you choose to help.
patreon.com/Alex_Cruise
]