I only wanted you to apologize, and you want to be my son?
Xie Bing: I don’t have a son like you!
That idiot Jin Huo. The moment he shouted “Daddy,” Xie Bing was infuriated to the point of laughter.
“Shut up! I didn’t tell you to call me Daddy. I told you to apologize to Su Zhao.”
Jin Huo opened his eyes in disbelief, even more aggrieved. “Xie Bing, you’re bullying me!”
Xie Bing: “How am I bullying you?”
Jin Huo: “…”
He already called her Daddy and apologized. If this wasn’t bullying, what was it?
He’d already called her Daddy. What problem couldn’t be solved by calling someone Daddy?
Jin Huo wept bitter tears.
“Have you eaten?”
“Eaten…”
As soon as he opened his mouth, a hungry growl came from Su Zhao’s stomach. Su Zhao’s face flushed slightly, and he shook his head.
Xie Bing never expected a future Demon Emperor to be this shy right now.
She sighed, pulled out her large pot from her Storage Brocade Pouch, and the firewood crackled and burned as she cooked a meal for Su Zhao.
Su Zhao ate with great relish.
Xie Bing propped her chin on her hands, watching Su Zhao eat, and recalled the earlier events.
After Jin Huo apologized just now, Xie Bing let him down. The people of Crimson Flame Peak both wanted to beat up Xie Bing and were also terrified of her. Led by Jin Huo, they slipped away in the opposite direction.
It seemed they never wanted to see Xie Bing again for the rest of their lives.
After Su Zhao finished eating, Xie Bing crouched down to dig through the ashes and dug out steaming hot roasted sweet potatoes. She handed one to Su Zhao and sat to the side, happily eating her own roasted sweet potato.
“It’s very good, very sweet.”
Su Zhao cupped the sweet potato and ate slowly. Suddenly, he spoke with some hesitation. “Give me some time.”
Xie Bing didn’t quite understand. “Mm?”
Su Zhao took a deep breath. “I mean… give me some time, and I’ll become stronger.”
He said it—he would protect her.
The flickering, dim reddish firelight cast shadows on Su Zhao’s face. Xie Bing’s fingers paused. She nodded nonchalantly and replied casually:
“Got it.”
Young people, full of righteous fervor and hot-blooded zeal, loved to make grand promises.
Before her eyes, a scene seemed to unfurl hazily like a painting scroll:
It was also a winter like this. The very small Su Caiyi and Xie Bing squatted together before a campfire. When the fire died, little hands quickly dug through the ashes, pulling out steaming roasted sweet potatoes.
“Eldest Senior Sister, eat it, quick!”
Chubby little hands held the sweet potato out to her. His endearing little face was all smiles.
Xie Bing frowned and waved the image away from her mind.
When night came, Xie Bing lay on the couch, wrapped in a thick blanket to sleep.
She vaguely sensed that Su Zhao hadn’t slept all night. The young man’s footsteps were light as he carefully patrolled at the cave entrance and deeper inside.
She mumbled hazily, “Su Zhao, call me later to switch shifts.”
“Okay.”
An extremely soft reply.
The weather in the cultivation world was bitterly cold. Despite the heavy layers of warmth, as deep night fell, the temperature dropped to a terrifying degree. Xie Bing unconsciously curled up her body.
She vaguely felt a large, fluffy tail lighten its weight and quietly drape itself over her blanket.
Outside the cave, cold winds howled and snowflakes danced.
Where the long tail touched, it was like a small furnace, baking with warmth, holding back some of the chill.
…
Broad daylight.
Xie Bing woke up and stared blankly at Su Zhao.
It had been freezing cold; she’d been drowsy and unable to sleep. Then, suddenly, it was warm, and she’d accidentally fallen asleep.
“Why didn’t you call me to switch shifts?”
“I’m not tired.”
Su Zhao claimed he wasn’t tired, yet dark circles had already settled under his pale skin.
Xie Bing: “…”
Great. Now each of them had a set of dark circles. Neither was getting away.
…
Amidst the heavy snow, the two finally set off.
“I think we should give our team a name.”
Xie Bing felt her morale was a bit low.
Two people the world deemed worthless, now a team—what should they be called?
Su Zhao: “Anything is fine with me.”
Xie Bing scratched her head and was about to speak when a surprised shout suddenly came from not too far away: “So it’s Little Bingbing!”
Xie Bing: ??
It was Ming Wen, the founder of the Gossip Newspaper.
Ming Wen scurried over, his face full of sycophancy. “I was thinking your team could add one more—me.”
“You?”
Xie Bing narrowed her eyes. This eager enthusiasm—there had to be a catch.
“Not adding.”
“Little Bingbing!”
Xie Bing broke out in goosebumps. “Talk properly.”
Ming Wen said helplessly, “Here’s the thing. I was originally teamed up with my martial brothers…”
“And then? Why were you kicked out?”
Ming Wen sighed, his face a picture of complicated misery.
He showed Xie Bing the draft he’d just written:
—Shocking! Why Did Zhang Yan of the Law Enforcement Team Abuse Public Power? It Was Actually to Pursue Fairy Mingyun of Bright Moon Peak.
—Utterly Depraved! Rong Mingxu of Bright Moon Peak Had Secretly Been Engaged to Fairy Mingyun All Along! Exposing Rong Mingxu’s Chaotic and Filthy Past.
Xie Bing: What’s the problem?
Ming Wen looked dejected. “I’m from Bright Moon Peak.”
“Mingyun is my older sister.”
“Rong Mingxu is my sister’s new suitor.”
“The people I teamed up with are Rong Mingxu’s direct junior brothers and also my junior brothers.”
Xie Bing: ??
What a messy circle. Ming Wen actually dared to write things like this.
Hard to say if he had serious journalistic integrity or was just courting an early assassination.
Just like that, they became a trio.
A gossip reporter, an innate demon, and a waste Object Cultivator—a fine alliance.
Xie Bing lost all interest in naming their team. Ming Wen, a man of the pen, was, however, full of enthusiasm:
“In that case, we shall be called the ‘Loving Family’ Team!”
Xie Bing: I refuse.
How could she still not escape middle-aged group chat names even after arriving in the cultivation world?
It was already the fifth day. They hadn’t found any artifacts, but Ming Wen had already dashed off over a dozen articles.
Xie Bing had read Ming Wen’s drafts, all kinds of shocking and explosive topics. She had no idea where he got so much inside information.
She felt deeply worried for Ming Wen’s future:
“I feel like you might spend the latter half of your life in a wheelchair.”
Ming Wen chewed on his brush handle, not caring at all. “If my legs break, so be it. As long as my right hand isn’t broken, I can still write.”
It seemed he intended to dedicate his finite life to the infinite cause of gossip.
Su Zhao suddenly went rigid, a flash of lightning in his hand, the Thunder Spirit Sword appearing.
He blocked in front of Xie Bing, staring at the staggered peaks ahead. His voice was cold. “There’s Devil Qi!”
Ming Wen threw his brush aside, raising his spirit sword as well, looking around nervously. “Where? Where?”
How was this possible?
The central Abyssal Chasm was, comparatively, the most peaceful region. Devil Qi hadn’t been seen here for decades. How could Devil Qi suddenly appear?
A long while passed. Silence reigned.
Ming Wen: “You little wolf cub, are you doing this on purpose?”
Xie Bing shook her head and walked forward. “A demon cultivator’s sense of smell is innately sharp. Something abnormal must have happened. Let’s keep moving forward and heighten our vigilance.”
Her words hadn’t even finished when, at the very furthest edge of their vision, a plume of Black Qi suddenly shot into the sky!
Spirit sword lights splashed through the air. Black demonic beasts roared.
Xie Bing’s pupils constricted. That sound was all too familiar to her. Those were Devil Nightmare Beasts from the Devil Realm!
“These are Devil Nightmare Beasts. We can’t beat them. Withdraw, quickly!”
As Xie Bing spoke, she turned her head and froze. “Where’s Ming Wen?”
Taking the lead, Ming Wen had already flown over on his spirit sword, his eyes full of excitement. “A front-page headline is coming!”
Xie Bing: That damn journalist.
Su Zhao: “Should we go over?”
Ming Wen turned his head. “Xie Bing, are you a member of the Loving Family or not? Get over here!”
Xie Bing took a deep breath, the Frost Spirit Sword materializing in her hand with a shimmer.
“Let’s go.”
…
It was clearly heavy snow weather, yet this particular canyon was filled with swirling yellow sand, blotting out the sky and sun, making it almost impossible to see the surrounding environment.
The cultivators were trapped within the terrifying yellow sand, unable to even stand steady. Fearsome Devil Nightmare Beasts tore and bit around them, and the attacks from their own spirit swords even caused friendly fire.
“Junior Sister Xuan Yao, where are you?” someone was shouting.
Xuan Yao gripped her spirit sword tightly, steadying her nerves. Before she could respond, the ground beneath her feet softened. Even the ground had turned into mushy quicksand, swallowing half her body directly.
At the same time, panicked screams erupted from all around.
The terrifying roars of the Devil Nightmare Beasts were right next to their ears.
Xuan Yao circulated her spiritual energy with all her might but couldn’t stop herself from sinking into the quicksand. In that instant, a massive wave of panic surged in her heart, and she involuntarily murmured: “Shifu…”
They had been searching for days and finally found a top-tier earth-element artifact, the Prime Yang Sand, inside a cave. They had nearly exhausted all their spiritual energy just to barely defeat the spirit beast guarding the sand.
At that moment, a terrifying Devil Qi engulfed the entire cave. A large swarm of Devil Nightmare Beasts appeared and directly snatched the earth-element artifact, the Prime Yang Sand!
The Devil Nightmare Beasts of Devil Cultivators were extremely fearsome, typically only bred by high-level Devil Cultivators. They were notorious throughout the entire Devil Cultivation World and infamous in the Cultivation World as well.
Unlike other demonic beasts, they were not stupid; their intelligence was very high. Not only did they devour a cultivator’s cultivation and body, but high-level Devil Nightmare Beasts would also devour artifacts for their own use. The group they encountered included a Devil Nightmare Beast leader.
After swallowing the Prime Yang Sand, the Devil Nightmare Beast actually directly activated the artifact. The entire cave transformed into a sealed environment. Even their teleportation bracelets became useless.
The Prime Yang Sand was one of Taixu Sect’s top-tier artifacts and was surely the highest-tier artifact in this trial. It could turn the entire world into sand. Xuan Yao had been certain it was theirs, never imagining they would be the ones broken instead.
Just as Xuan Yao fell into the quicksand, she saw through the sky-filling yellow sand and black mist a familiar flash of a cyan robe.
“Oh no! They all fell in!”
Ming Wen, front-line journalist, charged in, his pupils shrinking.
Some were left with only broken limbs and severed arms. The terrifying, ferocious Devil Nightmare Beasts were feasting heartily.
A Devil Nightmare Beast was devouring a cultivator. Ming Wen turned his head, and a gigantic, bloody maw was right in his face.
“AAAAHHH!”
Ming Wen screamed, swallowed whole into the belly of the Devil Nightmare Beast in the blink of an eye, his voice gone.
Xie Bing’s face was ice-cold. She cleaved down with the spirit sword in her hand, grinding her teeth. “Spit him out!”
Amidst the howling wind, a faint, elusive sound of a flute drifted in.
All the Devil Nightmare Beasts trembled as if hearing some terrifying noise and dived into the quicksand one after another.
Su Zhao said vigilantly, “That’s the sound of the Soul-Capturing Flute. It’s said the flute was just recently obtained by the Devil Venerable, Nangong Wumei. A large swarm of Devil Nightmare Beasts appearing, Nangong Wumei is nearby.”
What of it, even if it were the Devil Venerable himself?
The Loving Family—not one member could be missing.
Xie Bing’s eyes reddened, and she jumped straight down.
“Saving people!”
The sand slowly closed up, and everything seemed to return to tranquility.