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

"That's her! Go after her!"

The long sword slashed through the sky, and Zhen easily dodged it with a slew. However, the sword relentlessly pursued her, and her injuries were not yet healed. If it weren't for Bai Qingyu, she would have surely died.

"You monster, let's see where you can run to!"

Seeing that Zhen's injuries had not yet healed, the cultivator became enraged and relentlessly pursued her, unaware of the great danger that awaited him ahead.

Please vote for me! I'm doing the splits!

Volume 1: Chapter 82 Heavenly Crane Slash!

The bird flapped its wings desperately to evade the longsword chasing behind it, but its injuries had not yet healed, which greatly reduced its speed and agility. The distance between the longsword and the bird was constantly closing.

"Hmph, trying to run away! Demon-Binding Net!" A disciple from the Demon-Subduing Sect shouted from behind, and a large golden net appeared in front of Zhen, covering it directly.

The Demon Subduing Sect is specifically designed to target demons. The magical artifacts they cultivate are used either to kill or capture demons or to fight against cultivators from other sects. Once the Demon Binding Net is unleashed, it tightens rapidly, pressing down like a five-finger mountain, making it impossible for Zhen to dodge.

As the demon-binding net was about to fall, the sense of powerlessness and despair made Zhen close her eyes. The disciples of the Demon-Subduing Sect behind her also felt that the situation was secure, their eyes turned ruthless, and they revealed sinister smiles.

He suffered a great loss last time. After being poisoned by the poison, he had to cut off his own arm to save his life. If he had hesitated for even a second, it wouldn't have been just a simple loss of an arm.

He was only a Golden Core cultivator in the early stage. If his arm was intact after it was broken, he could have reattached it. But his arm was corrupted into a pool of blood and bones right before his eyes.

We must get our lost arm back from this guy no matter what!

His attention was entirely focused on the poisonous bird, and he didn't notice a phantom appearing behind him.

By the time the disciple reacted, it was too late. The black phantom suddenly thrust out its umbrella-shaped sword. Bai Qingyu didn't know any swordsmanship, but she could overcome all techniques with brute force, after all, she cultivated demonic arts. The Demon Subduing Sect disciple's pupils shrank, and he even abandoned control of the Demon-Binding Net, throwing out an ancient bell.

hum!

The ancient bell and the phantom collided, and after a muffled sound, the ancient bell shattered and the black phantom disappeared. But before the disciple could breathe a sigh of relief, the demonic power that had been released after the black humanoid phantom disappeared condensed into a black and white feather.

The power increased rather than decreased; in a short time, the disciple almost shattered his teeth as he gathered spiritual energy on the blade and slashed out.

Everything happened too fast. After the long sword struck the black and white feathers, the feathers shattered and the fragments turned into hundreds of tiny feathers, all of which hit the disciple's body, just like being shot at point-blank range by a super-large caliber shotgun.

Zhen quickly tore apart the out-of-control demon-binding net and escaped while the Golden Core disciple was seriously injured.

The difference in strength is obvious. When the Golden Core disciple dealt with Zhen, he completely crushed him. But now, he was seriously injured after just one move in a head-on confrontation with Bai Qingyu.

The domineering demonic power was destroying the body's spiritual energy. Before the Golden Core disciple could even take out his pills, three more black phantoms appeared.

This black phantom is Bai Qingyu's innate skill; he was born with it after acquiring demonic power.

Although the features of the phantom were not clearly visible, it was clearly Bai Qingyu overall, with wings on its hands and holding an umbrella sword.

Three illusory figures attacked with one move each. The Golden Core disciple, disregarding his injuries, wielded his longsword in the sky to defend and parry all the illusory figures' attacks. However, this was not the end. Before he could break through the first three illusory figures, three more appeared, making a total of six illusory figures joining forces to attack.

Two fists can't beat four hands, especially since this disciple is missing an arm.

One against twelve, they were quickly killed and covered in wounds. At this moment, Bai Qingyu appeared directly above the disciples. The six phantoms, one person and one move, transformed into six streams of black light and entered Bai Qingyu's body. A huge phantom of the Guhuoniao appeared on Bai Qingyu's body.

As the umbrella-shaped sword in his hand slashed down, the long, sword-like beak of the phantom Guhuoniao suddenly spurted out.

To say that the disciple below was like the fish that Bai Qingyu caught in the river, he was probably in a state of utter despair.

As the umbrella was waved, it seemed as if several afterimages were waving the umbrella simultaneously.

The disciple who launched the attack earlier liked to shout something, and Bai Qingyu has now picked up the habit.

"Hmph, trying to run? Heavenly Crane Slash!"

The wooden umbrella fell, and the Golden Core disciple's pupils constricted. He only had time to throw out two of his magical treasures before he was sent flying. He was knocked down by Bai Qingyu's umbrella and almost turned into a streak of light as he crashed to the ground. His death was so gruesome that even a god couldn't save him.

Bai Qingyu didn't care about his death; she was more concerned about her umbrella.

No matter how good the materials are, they are still just ordinary things, not even considered magical artifacts. This umbrella killed the guy with a single blow. Even though it was wrapped in demonic power, the poor umbrella still felt like it was about to fall apart.

"My umbrella, oh, what a pity."

After easily defeating the cultivator, Bai Qingyu used his phantom teleportation technique to relocate to the area below.

The Golden Core disciples could fly, but the two remaining Foundation Establishment disciples couldn't. They could only run behind, but their speed wasn't slow either, and they arrived after the battle was over.

Without saying a word, one umbrella was used to kill the two disciples, who died on the spot while they were still in shock.

With that, the two accomplices and the witness were also killed, and once the matter was settled, no one would know about the poison anymore.

After searching through the two disciples, Bai Qingyu pulled out two storage rings. However, these rings were somewhat rubbish, with a capacity of only about the size of a box, containing items such as pills and spirit stones.

Spirit stones are the currency in the cultivator community. If you really want to spend them, you can only do so in towns where cultivators trade, or in the capital city.

A burst of demonic fire burned the corpse to ashes. Bai Qingyu searched the body of the Golden Core disciple and found that the advanced disciple was indeed worthy of the title. He had three rings on his body, along with a jumble of pills, spirit stones, herbs, and rare treasures.

"Pretty good, at least we broke even."

While he was using demonic fire to dispose of the corpse, he saw Zhen transform back into human form and walk over quickly.

"Are you alright?" Bai Qingyu rummaged around and took out a small porcelain bottle called the Spirit-Nourishing and Life-Strengthening Pill.

"No."

"That's good. I've already taken care of those three guys. No one will bother you anymore."

To Bai Qingyu's surprise, after saying this, Zhen bent her knees and tried to kneel down, but fortunately she was quick enough to use her demonic power to support her.

"What are you doing?" Bai Qingyu frowned.

Honestly, you can thank her in any way you like, but she absolutely hates it when people kneel down.

"I have no way to repay your life-saving grace." Zhen lowered her head, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

"Then isn't there a sentence you're missing?" Bai Qingyu asked, somewhat amused.

Zhen raised her head, her eyes showing confusion, clearly not understanding the meaning behind Bai Qingyu's words.

"Shouldn't the next sentence be 'The only way to repay her is with my body'?" Bai Qingyu said this to tease Zhen. She should be happy to have resolved such a big problem, but this girl had to do this.

Zhen wasn't completely clueless. Upon hearing the words "offering herself in marriage," her eyes momentarily glazed over, and a faint blush crept onto her cheeks. However, though her eyes were in disarray, her mind remained calm. She actually nodded, looking quite serious, though her voice was much softer.

"My body is still very weak, and I haven't developed in two years. If... if you want, yes, you can."

Upon hearing this, Bai Qingyu was completely speechless. She realized she didn't understand this girl at all; she'd taken a joke seriously. It made her sound like a female pervert...

With a helpless sigh, he said, "Fine, come back with me first. If you really want to repay me, you can stay. You're a pitiful bird, all alone. Demons have a hard time surviving in this world."

As he spoke, he reached out a hand to Zhen. Zhen hesitated for a moment but still took Bai Qingyu's hand and followed Bai Qingyu slowly toward home.

Walking behind Bai Qingyu, silently gazing at the beautiful figure in front of her, Zhen didn't quite understand why such a powerful demon like Bai Qingyu would take her in and risk saving her life.

She seemed to have the answer to this question, yet also felt she didn't. She just felt that Bai Qingyu was a somewhat complicated person. Usually, she had a calm and indifferent expression, but just when you thought she had a cold personality, you could sometimes see her smiling so happily. She was so serious and earnest when teaching children, but occasionally she would joke around with the monster named Zhen Tian beside her, and even play pranks on people.

She can be gentle, yet she can kill three people without blinking an eye; she can be ruthless...

Her gaze fell on the slender hand holding hers, and Zhen silently removed the label of "cold" from Bai Qingyu's image.

Suddenly, I became curious about what she had been through before.

After smoothing her messy white hair, Zhen quickly caught up with Bai Qingyu in the gentle breeze and came to his side.

Bai Qingyu said her face was as delicate as a doll's, because dolls don't smile, and neither did she. What Bai Qingyu didn't notice at that moment was that the corners of the doll-like lady's mouth curved into a subtle smile.

Perhaps staying is a good choice.

Book 1: Chapter 83 The Birth Mother, the Foster Mother, and the Son of God

Bai Qingyu once boasted that he would adopt all the strange beasts in the world as his offspring.

Of course, this was just her bragging, but to be honest, the reason she took in Zhen was actually quite simple: she just liked the girl and didn't want to let her go out to her death, that's all.

In the leisurely courtyard, Bai Qingyu, seeing that it was getting late, personally cooked a sumptuous lunch to welcome a new member to the family.

In the afternoon, Bai Qingyu put the five umbrellas she had made into a small basket and went out. She returned in less than half an hour. Her umbrellas were exquisitely crafted and beautifully designed, and were very popular among the people in the city. In addition, they didn't sell for much money, so they could be described as good quality and inexpensive.

However, after today, she will clear out this batch of inventory and will no longer plan to make and sell umbrellas. The reason is actually very simple: a severe drought will arrive in a few months. What is the use of making so many umbrellas? Are they meant to be sold to people for sun protection?

Not only does Bai Qingyu not intend to continue selling umbrellas, she also plans to leave after a while.

With the drought approaching, there's nothing she, a mere bird demon, can do. When chaos erupts in the city, she'll have nothing to eat.

We had planned to stay here longer, but no one expected another drought.

"Sigh, life is tough." In the afternoon, Bai Qingyu was sitting in the courtyard reading a book when she suddenly sighed.

Beside her, a small white snake, nearly six meters long and more like a python than a snake, rested its head on Bai Qingyu's leg. Hearing Bai Qingyu's words, it looked up, then looked down again, seemingly bored.

Bai Qingyu suddenly thought of something, lowered his head and said, "Little Bai, aren't you a dragon? Can you summon wind and rain? There will be a severe drought soon. If you can summon wind and rain, we won't have to leave. Besides, that would be a great act of merit!"

As soon as he said those words, Bai Qingyu felt as if he had been looked down upon by Xiao Bai, and he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.

"A severe drought?" Behind him, Zhen passed by carrying a plate of fruit.

“Yes, there’s a severe drought.” Bai Qingyu snapped the medical book shut. “We might have to move.”

"I stayed here mainly to help Xiaodie recover. She's too thin and weak to travel, but it seems we have no choice but to continue."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiaodie, who was engrossed in reading, looked up and said, "I'm fine, Auntie. Don't worry about me. I can manage."

"We'll see. Anyway, there's still time to make up for it properly."

To be honest, when I first met Xiaodie, she was an ugly duckling. But after getting her hair done, it's clear that she has a good foundation. If she's nurtured a little longer and her hair grows back, she has a real chance of transforming into a swan when she's two years older.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. No matter how good-looking a child is, even someone like Dongqing, if they lived the life Xiaodie had before, they would become an ugly duckling, barely able to get enough to eat. How cute could they possibly be?

"Zhen, come here and sit down!" Bai Qingyu patted the swing next to her.

Upon hearing her words, Zhen obediently walked over. Without asking Bai Qingyu why she wanted to see her, she simply sat down next to Bai Qingyu. Her small face was expressionless, and with her eyes even bigger than Zhen Tian's, she looked exactly like a large porcelain doll.

"You can relax more at home."

"Yes, Aunt... Auntie."

"That's right." A smile immediately appeared on Bai Qingyu's face. What could be a better title than "aunt"?

"Then, Miss Zhen, could you tell your dear aunt about your past? I think it's very necessary for us to get to know each other better."

Bai Qingyu smiled, "Why think so much now that we've already got the kid? Just ask what you need to ask."

"After you finish speaking, if you're interested, I can also talk about my past."

Her previously calm eyes regained much of their sparkle upon hearing Bai Qingyu's words. Zhen looked up at the sky, paused briefly to process what she had said, and then recalled, "I was born by the sea. That day, an old man on the beach took me home, and I spent my entire childhood in that small fishing village."

"Later, the fishing village was hit by waves, and many villagers died as a result."