Recruit demons to become heroes, hunt demons to become gods

Chapter 272 Fu Renying's Fate

"Junior Sister, this is your first time, we can't be too hasty. Let's go to the Yangyuan Spring to burn incense and bathe, and then hold a grand dual cultivation ceremony that is unique to us..."

Dou Eqing tricked the Zhong sisters into leaving as clones, controlling the jade puppet with his spirit body.

Although Xiao Yuzhu's cultivation level has reached the Void Refining Realm, she has not yet passed the Void Refining Tribulation and cannot be considered a true Void Refining cultivator.

Moreover, she was more considerate of Dou Eqing than other women. During their dual cultivation, besides seeking pleasure, she did not simply draw nourishment from Dou Eqing, but rather used her own yin essence to replenish him.

She knew the importance of yin and yang harmony. Dou Eqing's previous dual cultivation with Ji Xi and Ye Na had greatly depleted his energy, which was very detrimental to his health and cultivation.

Xiao Yuzhu not only provided him with physical support, but also offered him emotional comfort.

Her gentleness and understanding made Dou Eqing feel extremely at ease during this dual cultivation, and this mutually supportive relationship prevented Dou Eqing's cultivation from declining.

In a gesture of reciprocity, Dou Eqing, despite being in a hurry, still spent three days and two nights with Xiao Yuzhu.

During these three days and two nights, they not only achieved an unprecedented level of physical intimacy, but also established a profound connection in the depths of their hearts.

Every moment of intimacy allowed them to understand each other better and cherish this rare union of body and soul.

When Dou Eqing reappeared in the outside world, he had a beaming smile on his face.

His eyes sparkled with satisfaction and joy, as if he had undergone some kind of spiritual cleansing.

Guo Jia, who was waiting in the inner hall, noticed the change in him and, unusually, joked:

"Master's fighting strength is as good as ever, hehe!"

Guo Jia grinned foolishly, looking left and right as if searching for Ji Xi.

His unspoken meaning was to praise Dou Eqing for his prowess, for bringing Ji Xi down.

Dou Eqing ignored Guo Jia's teasing, his face ashen, and went straight to the point:
"What's the Minotaur's current situation? Has the Demon Hunter Sect heard anything about it?"

Upon seeing this, Guo Jia put away his playful expression, straightened his clothes, and replied solemnly.

His eyes were slightly lowered as if he were carefully choosing his words, but when he suddenly looked up, his gaze was sharp as lightning, and he spoke clearly, word by word:

"According to the scouts, the minotaur launched a surprise attack, massacring the camp of a pursuing force thirty miles away last night. After a brief half-hour engagement, he left..."

After recounting the information about the Minotaur, Guo Jia took out a jade slip and handed it to Dou Eqing.

Along with the jade slip, there was also the Silent Faro.

Clearly, the information about the Demon Hunter Sect is quite extensive and complex, and it would take too much time for him to explain it.

He had already recorded the relevant information in the jade slip, and Dou Eqing only needed to scan it with his divine sense to understand it.

Much of the information was valuable, but not immediately useful. The only thing that interested Dou Eqing was the conflict between Fu Renying and her daughter.

The reason is simple: her biological father broke through to the Void Refinement Realm and returned to the Demon Hunter Sect. Without Fu Renying's consent, Fu Shaoyun recognized Qiu Qianyun on her own.

However, Guo Jia's jade slip did not record the real reason why Fu Shaoyun recognized him.

It turned out that after Fu Renying returned to the Demon Hunter Sect's base, she told her daughter Fu Shaoyun everything that had happened after she and Shi Hao accepted the mission.

She first recounted how Shi Hao had framed her, then her dealings with Dou Eqing, and expressed her special gratitude to Dou Eqing for providing her with a very precious elixir to heal her injuries at a crucial moment…

In it, Fu Renying recounted all the wonderful feelings Dou Eqing had given her at the time, without any concealment.

It would have been harmless for a mother and daughter to discuss such matters, but she ended by saying, "You and Dou Eqing are not a good match; don't let him hold you back."

But he couldn't explain it clearly, so he could only use the fact that Dou Eqing had many women around him as an excuse.

She recounted to her daughter the names of all the women who had connections with Dou Eqing.

"Since Shi Liyuqiu and his master both had affairs with her, one can imagine how chaotic his romantic relationships were. You are still a novice in matters of love; how could you possibly handle such complicated emotional entanglements?"

Upon hearing this, Fu Shaoyun couldn't help but think of Fu Renying's description of the two women as similar to her mother in many ways, and blurted out, "So it's you who's more suitable!"

She intuitively felt that her mother had developed feelings for Dou Eqing and even intended to compete with her.

Upon hearing this, Fu Renying flew into a rage, her eyes blazing with fury and veins bulging on her forehead. She raised her hand and delivered a resounding slap to her daughter's face.

With that slap, five red marks immediately appeared on Fu Shaoyun's fair cheek. She covered her burning cheek, her eyes filled with tears, but she stubbornly bit her lip and refused to let them fall.

Fu Renying rarely hit her daughter like that, and this slap broke Fu Shaoyun's heart.

The mother and daughter were at loggerheads, one with her eyebrows raised in anger, the other with tears streaming down her face. Their past affection was now like a shattered porcelain cup, impossible to piece back together.

Fu Shaoyun left her mother's elegant garden in a fit of pique. Just then, Qiu Qiantian returned to the Demon Hunter Sect in triumph and was sent to the Ten Thousand Demon Cave to make a name for himself.

Upon Qiu Qiantian's return and hearing that his daughter had broken through to the Void Refinement Realm, he was overjoyed, his eyes gleaming with excitement, exclaiming repeatedly, "Double happiness! Double happiness!"

He searched everywhere for Fu Shaoyun as soon as he arrived at the Ten Thousand Demon Cave, and even prepared a lot of gifts for his daughter.

Fu Shaoyun had just suffered a great injustice at her mother's place, but now, seeing her biological father so eager to please her, the resentment in her heart vanished completely.

The father and daughter held hands and looked at each other. One smiled so broadly that her eyes disappeared, while the other smiled through her tears. They recognized each other on that occasion.

When Fu Renying heard that her daughter wanted to recognize Qiu Qianyi, her eyebrows shot up and her eyes flashed with anger.

She finally found the two of them and rushed forward, grabbing Fu Shaoyun's sleeve tightly until her knuckles turned white.

"You wretched child!"

Her voice trembled as she squeezed out the words through clenched teeth, "Do you know what kind of person Qiu Qianyi is?" As she spoke, she laughed bitterly, looking up at the sky, but two lines of clear tears slid down her cheeks.

Back then, Qiu Qiantian used despicable means to smear her innocence, causing her to wake up in terror every night for years, digging her nails into her palms.

Now this bastard child wants to recognize a thief as his father; it's like stabbing a knife into her heart.

Fu Renying grew increasingly resentful as she thought about it, her chest heaving violently, even the gold hairpins in her hair jingling.

She abruptly pulled her daughter behind her, glaring at Qiu Qianxin like a mother wolf protecting her cubs: "You old scoundrel Qiu! When you ruined my reputation back then, did you ever imagine this day would come?"

Before he finished speaking, he turned his palm into a claw and used the "Jade Maiden's Deadly Claw" move to strike the opponent's throat. The force of the wind generated by his fingertips even made the screen three zhang away sway.

Qiu Qianyi neither dodged nor avoided her, letting her sharp claws draw blood from his neck. He simply said sadly, "Yingniang, back then..." Before he could finish speaking, Fu Renying interrupted him sharply:

"Shut up! How dare you call me by my given name?"

She suddenly stopped and stepped back, pressing Fu Shaoyun tightly into her arms, her voice softening:
"Yun'er, how have I treated you all these years? That old scoundrel only relies on our bloodline."

She suddenly choked up as she spoke. It turned out that Fu Shaoyun was looking up at her, her phoenix eyes, which resembled Qiu Qianyi's, were filled with tears.

Fu Renying was struck dumb, and she lost her grip and staggered backward.

Looking at her daughter's features, which were strikingly similar to those of her enemy, she felt as if all the hatred she had harbored for the past twenty years had turned into piercing arrows.

Finally, she gave a bitter laugh, and as she turned away, the hem of her skirt, embroidered with white lotus flowers, left a long trail of water on the bluestone slab—it was her tears that had shattered the moonlight on the ground.

Although their farce didn't cause a big commotion, it still let the outside world know that Fu Renying and her daughter had a conflict.

Fu Renying returned to Yayuan, her heart aching more and more as she thought about it, her hatred almost burning her to the core.

Suddenly, Dou Eqing's handsome face flashed through her mind.

Her fingers unconsciously dug into her palms as she stared at the flickering candlelight on the table, a cold smile suddenly creeping onto her face.

Qiu Qiantian has only just entered the Void Refinement Realm. If Dou Eqing helps him, he can order his five Void Refinement Realm cultivators to set up an ambush on Qiu Qiantian.
"Crack!"—The porcelain cup was crushed to pieces.

She was completely unaware as the broken porcelain pierced her flesh, and beads of bright red blood trickled down her palm lines, just like the blood that flowed when Qiu Qiantian defiled her that day.

A crow suddenly cawed sharply outside the window, startling the candlelight and causing it to flicker wildly.

She raised her hand and licked away the blood, savoring the rusty taste on her tongue.

This stain should be washed away with blood.

"I had almost forgotten about you, but you came back to die, so don't blame me for not caring about Yun'er's feelings and making you die too."

Fu Renying murmured, as if revealing a secret from the depths of her heart.

Her voice was low and soft, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor, as if every word carried endless thoughts and emotions.

Her eyes were unfocused, as if she were recalling fragments of the past, or perhaps looking forward to the unknown future.

A faint sadness permeated the air, making one feel a pang of sympathy for her.

Fu Renying did indeed secretly come to the Baishan Sect's headquarters to look for Dou Eqing, but Dou Eqing was being entangled by Ye Na and several other women.

Dou Eqing, through the rough information he gleaned from the jade slip, deduced that the conflict between Fu Renying and her daughter stemmed from Qiu Qianyi.

"Send someone to ask Qiu Shaozhen to keep an eye on Qiu Qiantian's movements."

He made this arrangement on a whim, just in case.

Dou Eqing found the method of using nepotism to win over Luo Daling from the brothel to be very effective.

If this method were applied to the Qiu family, Qiu Qiantian would be an insurmountable obstacle.

Dou Eqing returned the jade slip to Guo Jia, then took the Silent Faro and pondered the matter of the Minotaur.

Seeing this, Guo Jia prepared to leave, but suddenly remembered something else.

"Fairy Su and the others want to see you. The Flower Picking Pavilion suffered heavy losses in this war between humans and demons, and only she and a few others are left in this Ten Thousand Demon Cave."

The Fairy Su he was referring to was Su Shang.

"Let them come."

A short while later, Su Shang brought Sheng Cailing to see Dou Eqing.

Su Shang's eyes were like autumn waters, her brows like spring mountains, and before she spoke, she already carried a hint of sorrow:

"How cruel Dou Lang is! He swallowed up my Flower Pavilion's foundation, treating the sisters like pawns used to cross the river. Open your eyes and see how many remnants of beauty remain in the pavilion now!"

After saying this, she covered her face with her sleeve, her fingertips trembling slightly, like raindrops hitting a crabapple tree.

Upon hearing this, Dou Eqing's eyes flickered slightly, and his knuckles tapped three clear sounds on the sandalwood table:
"If that's the case, what do you intend to do?"

These words were spoken frankly, like a swift knife cutting through tangled hemp, yet a faint, enigmatic smile played at the corners of his lips, making them impossible to decipher.

Suddenly, Sheng Cailing took half a step forward, her crimson lips parting slightly with a clear, resonant sound:

"In chaotic times, even precious treasures only invite disaster. We should only seek..." Before she finished speaking, her wide sleeves fluttered like a crane spreading its wings, "...to find a way to establish ourselves!"

She emphasized the last four words, and a glint of light flashed in her eyes.

Dou Eqing suddenly clapped his hands and laughed loudly, causing dust to fall from the beams: "What a fine foundation for making a living!"

The laughter abruptly ceased, her eyes turning as cold as an icy pool: "I fear the towering Wutong Divine Tree will attract the attention of the Nine Heavens Phoenix—" She suddenly leaned forward, the jade hairpin tassel sweeping across Sheng Cailing's eyes, "Have you prepared the Dragon-Slaying Blade?"

As soon as Dou Eqing finished speaking, he turned and returned to his seat.

At this moment, Sheng Cailing stood with her hands behind her back, her high-tied black hair glistening with morning dew. Her dark, fitted outfit accentuated her sharply defined waistline, and her phoenix eyes held three parts arrogance and seven parts fierceness, making her a veritable image of a female immortal general treading through snow. This dashing and heroic figure, upon seeing Dou Eqing, was like strong liquor entering his throat, stirring up the dormant ruthlessness within him.

Although Dou Eqing was still secretly weaving his web, the appearance of a dragon and tiger was already beginning to emerge between his brows.

The gilded bell hanging from Sheng Cailing's waist jingled as she turned, each sound seeming to strike at his ambition.

Dou Eqing remained silent, only pressing his thumb against his chin, his eyes gleaming like a hawk eyeing its prey.

The woman, however, seemed oblivious to the intense gaze, and with a slight tilt of her neck, she gave Su Shang a wink.

But then Su Shang's slender hand held the draped crimson shawl, and a faint smile suddenly appeared on her lips:

"The Flower Picking Pavilion is long gone, a mere shell in name only. It would be better for your true self to go to your celestial realm for secluded cultivation, leaving only a puppet outside to provide some noise."

These words were spoken so casually, as if they had been prepared in advance, with even the ending tone carrying a sense of nonchalance.

"So, the decisions about everyone else are also left to you two?"

Dou Eqing then asked the question.

"I'm returning to the Judgment Hall, but I need your treasures to enhance my cultivation."

Saint Cailing spoke again.

Dou Eqing frowned slightly, his mind preoccupied with the important matter of the Minotaur, and he did not want to waste time on trivial matters at the Flower Picking Pavilion.

He flicked his sleeves, thinking to himself, "They're just a few surviving female cultivators. Even if they don't benefit me, Old Demon Dou, they can be given to other members of the sect as partners."

His slender fingers picked up the jade bottle and condensed the Heavenly Origin Liquid obtained from fifth-order merit into a fine thread—half a drop of shimmering dew was added to each fifth-order Spirit Enhancement Pill. Only on the fifth-order top-grade Breakthrough Pill, his fingertip trembled slightly, and the entire drop of Heavenly Origin Liquid bloomed like a golden crow falling into the sea, bursting with starlight between the pill's patterns.

Then, he gave these pills, which had been enhanced by the Heavenly Origin Liquid, to Sheng Cailing.

After receiving the jade bottle, Sheng Cailing probed its contents with her divine sense.

Dou Eqing narrowed his tiger-like eyes slightly, and saw that she showed a satisfied expression after examining the pills.

Sheng Cailing put away the elixir bottle, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Dou Eqing with a gentle, spring-like gaze.

She moved with light, graceful steps, as if she wanted to get close to Dou Eqing, as if she wanted to be intimate with him in return for the generous gift he had given her.

Suddenly, she twisted her slender waist, and her jade hand flashed out like lightning. Dou Eqing's Fire Dragon Drill had already fallen into her palm. The movement was so fast that it only left a blur in the air.

Her crimson lips almost touched Dou Eqing's ear as she breathed softly:

"If I haven't promised anyone by the time I break through to the Mahayana Realm..." Before he could finish speaking, the force of his palm suddenly increased, forcing the Fire Dragon Drill to tilt its head back. "I might as well let you have it."

Its ending sound was sweet and sticky, yet it carried a hint of chill.

Seeing this, Su Shang hurriedly turned around, covering her face with her wide sleeves, her ears already bright red. The copper bells on the eaves were rang by the wind, their tinkling sound adding to the enchanting yet eerie atmosphere of the moment.

After reaching an agreement with Su Chang and the other two women, the other female cultivators of Caihua Pavilion only needed to follow Su Chang's orders, and the matter was completed in just one hour.

After seeing Sheng Cailing off, Dou Eqing began to contact the Minotaur.

When he contacted the Minotaur and secretly left Stone Gate City, he unexpectedly ran into Fu Renying.

Dou Eqing asked, puzzled:
"How did you find me?"

He still thought that Fu Renying had followed him all the way from Shiguancheng.

"Are you alone? Where are the others?"

Saint Cailing did not answer but asked a question in return.

It turned out that Fu Renying hadn't followed him out of the city, but rather that they had met by chance.

Fu Renying couldn't wait to find Dou Eqing to deal with Qiu Qiantian, so she sought help from Zhou Yutong instead.

She believed that she and Zhou Yutong could solve Qiu Qiantian's problem.

After Zhou Yutong agreed to help, Fu Renying deceived Qiu Qianyi, saying that as long as he fought her fairly and could defeat her, he could have her and accept his fate from then on.

Otherwise, if he is unlucky enough to die at her hands, he should not complain.

Even if Qiu Qiantian escapes from Fu Renying's clutches, he cannot return to the Demon Hunter Sect and promises never to fight her for his daughter again.

Despite suspecting something was amiss, Qiu Qiantian still agreed.

After all, if Fu Renying were subdued, not only would he be able to enjoy her beauty, but he could also use her power to completely control the Qiu family and gain a very high status in the Demon Hunter Sect in the future.

This will greatly help Qiu Qiantian's future spiritual practice.

Although Qiu Qianyi had a fortuitous encounter on his journey as a rogue cultivator and broke through to the Void Refinement Realm in one fell swoop, those years of hardship, living in the open and risking his life, made him fully understand the value of the sect's protection!
Sects and factions can provide cultivation resources that are difficult for independent cultivators to obtain.

Within the Demon Hunter Sect, he not only obtained precious elixirs and magical artifacts, but also countless cultivation insights and secret manuals left behind by his predecessors. These resources played a crucial role in a cultivator's path of cultivation.

In addition, the exchanges and sparring within the sect also benefited him greatly. Through interaction with other cultivators, he could continuously revise his cultivation methods and avoid many unnecessary detours.

These are priceless resources that independent cultivators cannot match.

In his darkest hour, Qiu Qianyi gritted his teeth and swore amidst a rain of blood: "If I can return to the Demon Hunter Sect, I will never again be a lone wolf in this life!"

Although he is now temporarily accepted by the sect because of his Void Refinement cultivation, the hatred he felt for Luo Kui over the theft of his wife is like a sharp blade hanging over his head—Luo Kui is not one to let things go easily.

Old grudges have not been settled, and new hatreds are brewing. The waters of the Demon Hunter Sect are three times more dangerous than those in the desolate mountains and wilderness!

Therefore, although he returned to his sect, he still faced a great danger to his survival.

Fu Renying's offer was very tempting. Even though he was not strong enough, he would try his best to make a bet with Fu Renying and fight her.

Qiu Qianyi believed that he had been wandering in the outside world for thousands of years and his strength was no less than that of Fu Renying. With the help of the treasure he obtained during his breakthrough to the Void Refinement Realm, he did not think that Fu Renying could defeat him.

Fu Renying was worried that something unexpected might happen if the fight dragged on, so she was eager to kill Qiu Qianyi, which made the battle seem very sudden.

This led to the chance encounter with Dou Eqing.

Moreover, it wasn't just a chance encounter between the two; they had only been talking for a short while when Qiu Qiantian arrived and witnessed it.

"So that's it! So she cheated on her husband and was planning to conspire with outsiders to murder him!"

Seeing Ren Ying and Dou Eqing talking mysteriously together, and noticing that Dou Eqing was more handsome than himself, Qiu Qiantian subconsciously assumed that Dou Eqing was Fu Ren Ying's lover.

He charged at the two men, cursing angrily.

When Qiu Qian saw his Daoist partner standing very close to a handsome stranger, he was immediately filled with rage.

But seeing that Dou Eqing was handsome with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, even more so than himself, he was consumed by jealousy and gritted his teeth.

"What a despicable woman! How dare she conspire with some scoundrel to murder her own husband!"

He roared, his eyes bloodshot as if spitting fire. Before he finished speaking, he pounced like a tiger.

When Fu Renying saw him coming so aggressively, as if their affair had really been exposed, her face turned deathly pale, and her slender hands unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes.

Dou Eqing, however, remained calm and composed, a cold smile playing on his lips.

Although I haven't broken through to the Void Refinement Realm yet, I've already stepped into it with one foot in the Void Refinement Realm.

Moreover, Xiao Yuzhu and Ye Nashi in the Ziwei Immortal Mansion can lend their strength to him, so dealing with Qiu Qianyi, who has just broken through to the Refining Void Realm, is not a problem.

But he turned slightly to the side, and his wide sleeves moved without any wind.

Qiu Qianyi's fist barely grazed his face, the force of the blow sending his bangs flying.

"Fellow Daoist, why are you so angry?"

Before Dou Eqing finished speaking, his right hand moved like a snake emerging from its hole, with three fingers together, aiming straight for the opponent's throat.

This move, "The Flying Serpent," is fluid and ruthless.

Seeing that his opponent had not yet used a weapon, he did not bother with the White Tiger Demon-Slaying Blade and instead engaged in a fistfight with his opponent.

Qiu Qiantian hurriedly retreated to defend, but unexpectedly, the opponent's move was a feint.

Dou Eqing suddenly swept his left leg out, kicking him right in the back of the knee.

With a sharp "crack," Qiu Qiantian cried out in pain and knelt on one knee, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

Although Qiu Qianyi broke through to the Refining Void Realm, his physical cultivation was still inferior to Dou Eqing's.

Fu Renying watched with great interest, never expecting that Dou Eqing could fight beyond his level so easily.

Therefore, she was in no hurry to intervene, lest she scare away Qiu's ex-boyfriend.

It would be best to wait for Zhou Yutong to arrive so that the three of them could surround and annihilate Qiu Qianyi here.

Despite the excruciating pain, Qiu Qiantian suddenly launched an attack.

He formed his right hand into a claw and stabbed straight into Dou E's heart, a move known as "Black Tiger Digging Out the Heart," which was extremely insidious.

Dou Eqing did not dodge or evade, but instead stepped forward, his left shoulder sinking down, using his "camel hump shoulder" technique to take the blow head-on.

As the two figures clashed, Dou Eqing suddenly changed his move.

But then he saw his five fingers, like hooks, gently brush against Qiu Qianyi's wrist pulse.

Qiu Qianyi suddenly felt his entire arm was sore and numb, and his moves immediately became chaotic.

"What superb grappling skills!"

Qiu Qiantian felt a chill run down his spine, but forced himself to remain calm on the surface.

He suddenly lowered his body and used a "lazy donkey roll" move to barely avoid the oncoming killing blow.

He drew a gleaming short dagger from his boot; the blade gleamed with a faint blue light in the sunlight, clearly coated with a deadly poison that would kill on contact with blood.

Moreover, this dagger is extraordinary; it is a mid-grade sixth-tier treasure.

Upon seeing this, Fu Renying cried out, "Be careful!" Before she finished speaking, she had already darted out like a swallow, intending to shield Dou Eqing from this sneak attack.

She knew that Dou Eqing was only at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, and that he would have a hard time dealing with such a fierce ambush on his own.

Fu Renying secretly resolved that she could not let Dou Eqing get hurt no matter what, and that it was all her fault for standing by and doing nothing.

She quickly adjusted her posture, attempting to neutralize the enemy's attack using her best skills in light footwork and agile movements.

However, Qiu Qianyi was clearly prepared and his offensive became even more fierce. Fu Renying had no choice but to go all out and use her body as a shield to block the attacks for Dou Eqing.

Although Dou Eqing did not notice that Qiu Qianyi had hidden a knife in his sleeve, he became alert upon hearing Fu Renying's exclamation and wanted to back away.

Suddenly seeing Fu Renying rushing towards him regardless of her life, and about to be injured by the poisoned blade, he couldn't help but curse inwardly, "How stupid!" But he couldn't betray her sincerity, and for a moment he couldn't think of a solution that satisfied both of them.

(End of this chapter)