Just then, Mu Qingxue happened to put down her bowl and turn her head to see this scene. With a flash, she appeared right in front of Ling Yu, her fingers darting out to press swiftly on the acupoints across his chest, cutting off the flow of his spiritual energy.
"Are you crazy?! Can't you see it's devouring your spiritual energy! If it keeps absorbing any longer, your completely shattered meridians won't have any spiritual energy left to support them, and you'll die!"
No sooner had Mu Qingxue finished speaking than Ling Yu, thoroughly startled, hurriedly tossed the sword aside.
"Uh... minor issue, minor issue!"
"You call this a minor issue? If I hadn't sealed your acupoints, you'd be dried up like a mummy by now!"
Ling Yu scratched his head and gave a silly laugh. "Well, I've got Miss Mu here, haven't I?"
Seeing him like this, Mu Qingxue, though she had meant to lecture him further, simply gave up and unsealed his acupoints.
She stood up and blew out the oil lamp.
"Hey... what are you blowing out the lamp for?!"
"To sleep. What else?"
With that, Mu Qingxue dragged her feet over to the bed, lay down, and tugged the quilt away from Ling Yu and over herself.
"Hold on, we're a man and a woman alone together, sleeping in the same bed, and under the same quilt—isn't that a bit inappropriate? What if I try something to you?"
"You? A Level 2 Swordsman without a single connected meridian left in your entire body, what are you going to do to me, a Level 2, Third-Tier Plant Mage?"
In the dark, Mu Qingxue's face was practically burning red enough to explode, but she forced herself to speak with an air of utter indifference.
During the three days Ling Yu had been unconscious, she had slept the exact same way. It wasn't because she wanted to take advantage of him, but simply because she had no other choice. She couldn't very well sleep on the floor.
This house and all its furnishings had been built by her mother back when she was still around. For over twenty years, apart from cultivating, she had done nothing but read the books her father left behind; how was she supposed to know about such things?
The first three days were fine since Ling Yu was completely unconscious, so she had managed relatively easily.
But now that Ling Yu was wide awake, how could she possibly sleep peacefully?
Thoroughly defeated by her words, Ling Yu fell silent, lying back down with his back turned to her.
The moment he lay down, the refreshing fragrance of herbs rushed into his mind, instantly leaving him alert and full of energy.
The two of them lay back-to-back. Mu Qingxue kept her eyes tightly shut, trying to force herself to sleep, but to no avail.
After a long while, unable to sleep a wink, Ling Yu spoke up, "Miss Mu, are you asleep?"
"Not yet," Mu Qingxue replied.
"You've been in the Forest of Ten Thousand Demons for so long, you must know this place really well, right?"
Mu Qingxue stared out the window at the full moon, her back to Ling Yu.
She had no idea how long she had been in the Forest of Ten Thousand Demons. Ever since she could remember, she had never once stepped outside of it. Every day was spent either cultivating or tending to flowers—a dry and monotonous life.
In truth, on the day she found Ling Yu, she had actually planned to walk out of the Forest of Ten Thousand Demons and explore the vast world beyond, but his injuries had been so severe that she had no choice but to put that idea on hold for the time being.
Recalling that day, a glimmer of tears flashed in her dark eyes, and a single, crystal-clear teardrop rolled down her cheek.
When Ling Yu received no reply for a long time, he assumed she didn't want to talk to him and fell silent.
"I suppose so." Her voice was slightly hoarse, though Ling Yu didn't catch it.
"Then do you know where the Tianling Spring is in the center of the Forest of Ten Thousand Demons?"
Mu Qingxue thought for a moment. She had never heard of any Tianling Spring. If he meant pools of water in the center of the forest, she knew of one not far from her doorstep where the spiritual energy was extremely dense; she often practiced there, and it was surrounded by all sorts of bizarre "plants."
Although Mu Qingxue was in the Fa-Yao Realm, she had never left the Forest of Ten Thousand Demons, so she only knew the names of a few things in the entire forest—and those she had made up herself.
"No. There's a pool of spring water not far from the entrance. Do you want to go take a look?"
Ling Yu was left completely bewildered. The two of them were simply not on the same wavelength, so he didn't say anything more.
Seeing that he had stopped talking, Mu Qingxue said nothing either, and drifted off to sleep before she knew it.
"Where is this?"
Looking around at the unfamiliar yet strangely familiar surroundings, Mu Qingxue was overcome with confusion.
Suddenly, her consciousness shifted, and a towering hundred-meter-tall monster with pitch-black skin and a giant axe appeared right before her eyes.
A voice echoed in her mind: "Xuexue, carry our hopes and survive!"
Only then did Mu Qingxue notice two other people standing before her. Their bodies were covered in wounds, and their tattered clothes were soaked in blood.
"M-Mom! Dad!"
"Mu Yun, let's send Xuexue away from here together!"
The man said nothing. He raised a finger toward the sky and shouted loudly, "Qingyun, emerge!"
In an instant, countless flying swords formed a sword array, enveloping the three of them within it.
Outside the array, the giant raised its massive axe, which was wreathed in dark purple spiritual energy. The terrifying fluctuations of energy caused the color of the world to drain away, turning the previously clear skies into a roaring tempest of thunder and lightning.
It was the realm of a Demon Venerable! When a being of the 7th Stage made a move, heaven and earth were shaken, and all things turned to dust!
Yet, strangely enough, when the giant's axe cleaved down onto the sword array, it only produced a faint, hairline fracture.
Inside the array, Mu Qingxue wept bitterly as she looked at the two figures before her—her own biological parents.
"Xuexue, promise Mom you'll live a good life!"
At this moment, Mu Qingxue's flawless, jade-white face was covered in tears as she choked out a reply, "M-Mom... Xuexue misses you both so much!"
The woman wanted to say more, but the man cut her off. "Hurry, the sword array can't hold much longer!"
Then, looking sternly at Mu Qingxue, the man said, "Xuexue, remember: you are a human, not a monster. You are your mom and dad's most precious treasure."
With that, a beam of cyan light shot from Mu Yun's fingertips and pierced straight into the center of Mu Qingxue's brow.
Sobbing heavily, Mu Qingxue pleaded, "I know, Dad! Can't you both stay? Don't leave me all alone!"
Yet as if they couldn't hear her at all, the two exchanged a glance, then burst out of the sword array and soared into the air, shouting in unison: "Qingyun: Final Form!" "Qingqiu: Blood Sacrifice!"
Mu Yun pointed two swords toward the sky, while Jiu Qing crossed her hands over her chest.
Instantly, a powerful wave of spiritual energy erupted outward from the pair as its center, directly crushing the giant's spiritual power into nothingness.
With a single slash, the axe in the giant's hand shattered into pieces.
A bloody mist poured from Jiu Qing's body as she slowly grew translucent, gradually merging into one with Mu Yun.
This was a secret technique unique to the Qingqiu nine-tailed foxes: it allowed one to instantly transfer all their spiritual energy into another person's body at the cost of dissolving their own physical form.
Mu Yun, too, had exhausted his spiritual energy, expending his lifelong cultivation until his body and soul perished together.
This move was the couple's ultimate trump card. A fusion technique between a Level 2 Sword Immortal and a Stage 1 Demon Venerable was already pushing its limits to destroy a peak Stage 3 Demon Venerable. But since this particular Stage 3 Demon Venerable had already nearly depleted its spiritual energy, and though Mu Yun and Jiu Qing were practically drained themselves, they had resolved to unleash their final trump card for the sake of their child!
Unsurprisingly, the giant turned to dust and dissipated into the air.
Meanwhile, the figures of Mu Yun and Jiu Qing grew illusory in the sky, finally dissolving into specks of starlight that slowly faded away...
"Mom! Dad!"
Mu Qingxue woke up with a start, bolting upright with eyes full of tears.
Ling Yu, who had been meditating nearby, was startled. "Ah—!"
Coming to his senses, he looked over at Mu Qingxue, who had just woken up. Intending to see what was wrong, Ling Yu found himself completely transfixed.
In the girl's dark, crystalline eyes, tears still flickered. The locks of hair beside her temples were soaked with fragrant sweat, and she was panting heavily, her chest rising and falling.
"Miss Mu?" Ling Yu called out to her with a hint of concern.
Hearing someone call her name, Mu Qingxue finally snapped out of the remnants of her dream.
"Huh? Is something wrong?" Her gaze was still somewhat vacant, and she looked thoroughly dazed.
"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
"No."
Ever since she lost her parents and began living in the Forest of Ten Thousand Demons thirteen years ago, she had no friends and no family. Relying on no one, she had lingered on in this perilous place, barely surviving.
Growing all alone from a toddler who knew nothing into someone of the Fa-Yao Realm, she had long since grown accustomed to being by herself, accustomed to loneliness, and accustomed to bearing everything on her own shoulders...