I am Guhuoniao, not an umbrella demon, please do not disturb me.

The flower and bird scroll was so lifelike that the scholar had never seen such a young girl before. Because of the bleak reality of his life, he did not want to face reality and the world. His mother was in poor health, his family was destitute, he could not pass the imperial examinations, and he had nothing. At the age of thirty, he did not even have a wife.

Escaping reality, I encountered the Flower and Bird Scroll, and naturally became like this.

Bai Qingyu's appearance made him almost unable to believe his eyes.

With a casual flick of his wrist, the painting hanging on the wall flew over, automatically rolled up, and landed in Bai Qingyu's hand. Fortunately, the painting contained nothing unclean; the scholar regarded the flower and bird scroll as his only treasure and did not do anything disgusting to desecrate it.

"I'll take this painting; I'll buy yours with money, just like this fruit."

The scroll depicting flowers and birds disappeared from Bai Qingyu's hand. When she raised her hand again, the apple-like fruit that had been on the windowsill fell into her palm. Instead, several dozen taels of silver and a few taels of gold appeared on the scholar's windowsill.

This money wasn't for buying fruit; it was stolen anyway, so Bai Qingyu couldn't be bothered to spend the money.

This money is for buying the painting "Flowers and Birds Scroll". After all, the painting belongs to someone else.

"May I ask, fairy...?"

Seeing Bai Qingyu take the things and want to leave, the scholar hurriedly tried to stop him, but he lost his balance and fell out of the window, knocking over the hot porridge and silver on the windowsill, soaking his head and face.

The scholar didn't care. He quickly got up, not even bothering with the silver that had fallen on the ground, and hurriedly looked around. He found that Bai Qingyu's figure had disappeared. He searched the entire courtyard like a madman, even looking around outside the courtyard, but there was nothing there.

The only things that could prove Bai Qingyu had been there were the silver coins on the windowsill and the faint fragrance in the air.

The scholar's illness, which had been caused by his obsession with the flower and bird scroll, was thus easily cured. He didn't care that Bai Qingyu had taken the scroll away. After picking up the scattered silver coins, he stood in the courtyard in a daze for a long time until it got dark before returning to his house. He lit a lamp and, in the dim light, tried to use his brush to depict Bai Qingyu's figure. Unfortunately, with his skill level, he couldn't even capture a tenth of Bai Qingyu's temperament.

Finally, continuing his impotent rage, he crumpled up the painting his subordinates had already finished and threw it aside.

·

Bai Qingyu was unaware of the scholar's thoughts. She returned to the seaside, sat on a boulder, facing the sea and with her back to the hazy moonlight, and tossed the painting of flowers and birds into the air. In the air, the painting unfolded automatically, and every line emitted a pale golden light.

Hana-no-Juan lacks spiritual energy and cannot manifest, but she is conscious.

A soft, melodious voice reached her ears, "Thank you, young lady."

Bai Qingyu knew that the voice belonged to Hua Niao Juan.

“I’ve encountered something similar before, this scholar.” Bai Qingyu rested her cheek on her hand, gazing at the flower and bird scroll in mid-air. “Unlike your situation, the scholar I met was bewitched by a female ghost in the mirror, and he met with her in the mirror every night.”

"Over time, he began to increasingly escape from real life and immerse himself in it. If this continued, he would be drained of his life force and die within six months at most."

"If it were just that, I wouldn't bother helping him. He knows his own choice. Dying in his dream might not be a bad thing for him. But the problem is, he has a seventy-year-old mother at home. What will happen to his mother if he dies? His mother raised him with great difficulty. How can he just leave like that?"

"Later, I smashed the mirror and prayed for the female ghost to be released from her trance. The scholar hated me very much."

What Bai Qingyu didn't say was that the scholar immediately let go of his hatred after seeing her appearance, and the scholar who collected the flower and bird scroll was in a similar situation.

“The real world is too cruel, so it’s normal to run away. I can understand him.” Hana-chan’s voice was still so gentle. “Just like the person who created me, he also ran away from the real world, which is why he created me. Unfortunately, he left the human world after creating me.”

"Were you created by someone else?"

Bai Qingyu felt he had asked a silly question. The Flower and Bird Scroll was a painting; it couldn't have been created naturally.

"Yes, in human terms, he is a cultivator."

“Cultivator…”

That makes sense. The Flower and Bird Scroll was created by a cultivator, who infused it with spiritual energy during the creation process, giving it a spiritual quality.

If peach blossoms can become spirits, then a painting becoming a spirit isn't too far-fetched.

"This young lady..."

"My name is Bai Qingyu."

"Hmm, Miss Bai, you're a cultivator too, right?"

"No, I am not a cultivator, I am a demon."

"A monster? I guess I should be considered a monster too."

"Not being human, yet possessing such high intelligence, it is naturally considered a demon. The definition of a demon is very broad."

Bai Qingyu chatted casually with Hana and Tori, and time passed slowly. She didn't plan to go home for the time being; she could go back tomorrow. After all, Zhen Tian was there to help keep an eye on things at home.

During their conversation, Bai Qingyu suddenly asked, "Can you transform into human form?"

In the Demon Book, Flower and Bird Scroll can transform into a human form, exactly like the one in the painting. What impressed Bai Qingyu the most was the exaggerated size of her chest, which even slightly outshone the little snake. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't impressed.

"Hmm...it should be possible, but I don't have that power."

"Let me help you."

Bai Qingyu used his demonic power to envelop Hua Niao Juan and slowly nourish her. In just a few days, Hua Niao Juan will be able to take human form.

A gentle sea breeze blew as Bai Qingyu carefully examined the pale golden fruit she had brought in her hand.

This fruit has no special effects and is not valuable except for its strong vitality, but for some reason, it always gives her a feeling that it is quite important.

I can't quite pinpoint where it is, but keeping it should be useful.

As for Black Mountain, we can give them even better natural treasures later. She has a lot of fruits of this quality, all of which she obtained from the Demon Subduing Sect and the Fate Sect.

As dawn broke, Bai Qingyu got up and flew towards the sea, intending to circle around first and perhaps make some discoveries.

I wonder how that little guy Changsheng found the Sea Kingdom.

The group of cultivators were like headless flies, and it was a stroke of luck that he was able to find them.

Volume Two: Journey Through the Demon Book: Chapter Twenty-Eight - Sea Clan and Sea Kingdom

The vast ocean stretched out before Bai Qingyu, who flew aimlessly across its surface. Before leaving, she had thoughtfully placed a sensory object on the shore, so that even if she lost her way at sea, she could find her way back.

Getting lost in the sea is a terrifying thing, and it's the same for someone of her strength. The sea is so vast that it's okay if you don't go deep, but once you do, you're doomed. No matter how strong you are, you can't fly in the sky forever. Whether it's spiritual power or demonic power, it will eventually be exhausted.

At this point, even sending a telepathic message to someone outside for help is impossible, as they cannot sense your location at all.

A layer of mist gradually rose on the sea surface, and Bai Qingyu increased the altitude of her flight.

She didn't know exactly how far she had flown, but in any case, she could no longer see any trace of the mainland behind her. All around her was a vast expanse of sea, with nothing at all—not a trace of the Sea Kingdom, nor any sign of cultivators.

Under normal circumstances, at most a few hundred cultivators could be mobilized. It's impossible to mobilize a large number of them since the exact location of the Sea Kingdom hasn't been found yet. And if these few hundred cultivators are scattered into this vast sea, the possibility of them meeting each other is infinitely close to zero.

"I wonder how Xiao Changsheng and the others found this sea kingdom."

She searched until the afternoon, but all she saw was the vast blue sea. She was already tired of it. She thought about diving into the sea to search, but then she decided against it. She was a bird, not a fish, and she was wearing feathered clothes. She didn't like the feeling of her feathers getting wet.

Bai Qingyu believes that finding the Sea Kingdom is more about fate. Just like the monsters in the Demon Book, sometimes you can't find them if you deliberately search for them, but you will meet them if you don't care.

At this point, almost all the demons she encounters are like this; they are all met unintentionally.

With this mindset, Bai Qingyu simply wandered around on the sea, as long as he could control his aura and not be discovered by other cultivators.

With her small feet touching the sea surface, Bai Qingyu used her demonic power to scoop up a passing whale from the water. She sat cross-legged on the whale's back and slowly moved forward, without a destination or even a definite direction. Wherever she swam was wherever she was.

In a leisurely manner, Bai Qingyu released the flower and bird scroll beside her, no longer using demonic power to envelop her. Demonic power could nurture her, but she also needed to make her own efforts.

"Thank you," came Hana-chan's voice.

"No need to thank me, it was just a small favor. In a sense, we are indeed quite destined. If you don't mind, you can stay by my side. I think it's quite inconvenient for you to be like this now."

As Bai Qingyu spoke, she took out a flute and gently played it.

This scene stirred up a certain melody deep in Bai Qingyu's memory. It can only be said that this melody left such a deep impression on him that he had never forgotten it, even after being reborn into this world for decades.

The flute's light and melodious sound, amidst the whales' cries on the sea, created a particularly evocative atmosphere, adding a dreamlike quality to the already beautiful melody.

As it turns out, even someone without talent can succeed if they put their mind to it. Bai Qingyu used to be quite terrible at playing the flute; even her two children, whom she raised herself, thought it sounded awful and didn't know how to comfort her.

Now, Bai Qingyu plays the flute quite beautifully.

Even the flower and bird scroll in the painting couldn't help but ask, "Miss Bai, could you tell me the name of this piece of music?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Qingyu put down her flute and gazed at the calm sea ahead.

"This piece of music is called Big Fish."

"A big fish..."

As the waves crashed, time seemed to stand still. Bai Qingyu couldn't help but think how wonderful it would be to bring her children here. She thought they would love it here, though they might only like it for a day or two before finding it a bit boring.

As evening approached, Bai Qingyu was about to leave. She waved her hand, rolled up the flower and bird scroll, and put it away. Just as she was about to get up and leap into the sky to release the poor sperm whale, she suddenly sensed something.

Something was rapidly approaching her and trying to surround her.

Bai Qingyu stood up, narrowed her eyes, and casually sensed with her demonic power. She saw that more than a dozen killer whales had surrounded her in the calm seawater, and the encirclement was constantly shrinking.

If it were just a regular killer whale hunt, that would be one thing, but the key point is that these dozen or so killer whales are not simple. Not only do they possess a certain amount of demonic power, but they are also riding on the backs of some kind of demon race.

It is a humanoid creature with blue skin, an extremely ugly appearance, and shark-like gills.

Aside from being humanoid, with the same eyes, nose, and mouth, these guys are almost indistinguishable from normal humans. Even their ears are shaped like fish fins, not to mention the scales on their bodies and their bald heads.

Bai Qingyu's first reaction was that she had encountered the Merfolk, but it seemed that something was different.

The sea breeze blew through Bai Qingyu's white dress as she held an umbrella in one hand, the handle resting on her shoulder in a pose that was both ethereal and picturesque. With the backdrop of the sea and the red clouds in the sky, she truly looked like a celestial being descended from the Immortal Realm. However, her otherworldly and refined temperament did not attract even a second glance from the dozen or so merman warriors.

Emerging from beneath the seawater, the sperm whale circled continuously around Bai Qingyu.

The merfolk warriors appeared incredibly thin, with long, slender limbs. They wore armor, held sharp tridents, and had extremely wary and ferocious eyes.

The ocean is much larger than the land, so Bai Qingyu was not surprised at all that a force like the Merfolk existed. It would be strange if they didn't exist. In fact, it could be said that the forces in the ocean were far more than just the Merfolk; there were also Flood Dragons and Sea Demons.

These powerful forces may not be members of the Sea Kingdom, but they certainly have deep ties with it.

Despite being surrounded, Bai Qingyu remained calm; on the contrary, she was somewhat pleased.

Just as she had thought, entering the Sea Kingdom mainly depended on luck and fate. If it were that easy, she wouldn't have had a chance at all, as there were too many talented cultivators in the world.

This idea worked perfectly; the other party appeared before she even had to look for them.

The merfolk surrounding her weren't very strong; there were only four Golden Core cultivators and not a single Nascent Soul cultivator. With that kind of strength, she could wipe them all out with a flick of her fingernail.

Bai Qingyu was not surprised to be surrounded by such a group of soldiers, because the aura she had been displaying was only at the Nascent Soul stage, which was why she hadn't noticed their encirclement immediately.

It wasn't that she wanted to hide her strength and lure people in; she simply didn't want any potential cultivators to discover her. Once discovered, killing her would be bad, but not killing her would also be bad, as she would inevitably be exposed regardless.

It's certain that no one has discovered them now, otherwise a powerful figure would have already followed them.

As for whether outsiders would have doubts, Bai Qingyu didn't think it was important.

"What are you going to do?" Bai Qingyu asked, using his demonic power.

The advantage of doing this is that even if there is a language barrier, the other person can still understand her meaning.

The voice came, and the merfolk exchanged glances without slipping their hands. Instead, the last merfolk, who slowly emerged from the sea, spoke.