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

Lying in bed, Bai Qingyu gazed out the pitch-black window.

Faintly, one could hear the sound of cultivators on the mountain chanting some kind of scripture, and countless streams of faith were converging on the western mountain, all originating from the countless people of the western state.

Suddenly, I felt a bit lonely and bored. Without Zhentian and the kids, life had become much less interesting.

Especially at night, without a real pillow, it's really uncomfortable to sleep.

After putting on her clothes, Bai Qingyu went to the courtyard, stood with her hands behind her back, and gazed at the full moon in the sky.

"I wonder how Zhen Tian and the others are doing now..."

·

In the courtyard, Mushan Zhentian was helping Xiaoyao, who had just finished bathing, dry her hair slowly with his demonic power. Looking at Xiaoyao, he thought of Bai Qingyu, who usually helped Xiaoyao with her hair at this time and would tell her fairy tales.

"Sister Zhentian, do you think Mother is doing well now?"

Xiao Yao lowered her head and asked softly.

"Of course that's great. I believe she'll be back soon."

"Hmm, do you know where Brother Shuten has been these past few days?"

"He went to see your mother, but he'll be back soon."

Shuten-dōji hasn't returned for over half a month. Even when he does come back, he only stays for half a day before leaving again, and then he's gone for several more days. He's not going to find Bai Qingyu as he told Shinten; instead, he's leading his men to continue sweeping through the surrounding demon races.

The demons of three or four states near Tongzhou have all been subdued by Jiu Tun. He said he wanted to become the Demon King, and now he has indeed shown the demeanor of a Demon King, unifying the demons of the four states. He has at least three thousand demons under his command, if not five thousand. Although the strength of these demons varies, together they are indeed a formidable force.

Of course, the real stronghold of the yokai is not here, and the yokai that Shuten-dōji has taken in are only a small part of them.

The vast majority of the monsters are in Bai Qingyu's hometown, which is the Ten Thousand Mountains.

After tidying up Xiao Yao's hair, Zhen Tian told her to go back to her room to sleep.

Zhen sat before Zhentian, her exquisitely doll-like face revealing no expression. "Is there really no way we can do anything?"

"Trust her, she can do it. All we need to do is stabilize everything and wait for her to come back." Zhen Tian stood up and sighed, "Even if we go, we'll only be adding to her troubles."

"And when I said she would be back soon, I wasn't just lying to Xiaoyao."

You mean...?

"It will be at most one or two years. We'll just have to wait for her to come back."

Zhen Tian's statement was not unfounded.

She has a feather left by Bai Qingyu, which contains her essence and blood. There are only three of these feathers in total. One is in her hand, and the other two are in the hands of Dong Qing and Chang Sheng. As long as you hold this feather, you can sense each other's approximate location after entering a certain range.

She could sense that another person with the feather had arrived.

If it's not in the direction of Tianyang Palace, then it's Liu Changsheng.

Although Zhen Tian hadn't spent a very long time with Dong Qing and Chang Sheng, he dared to say that he knew the two children quite well.

They didn't tell Dongqing what happened, fearing she might do something impulsive, but telling Changsheng would be a different story.

It's a kind of inexplicable confidence.

Despite saying this, Zhen Tian felt quite helpless. Unfortunately, she was too weak to do anything.

·

"Hey, Woody, what kind of demon is your aunt? Is she easy to get along with?"

Beside the campfire, the girl cupped her face in her hands, asking herself similar questions no less than thirty times along the way.

The girl's name was Ji Xuan, and she was sixteen years old, about the same age as Changsheng. She was intelligent, clever, and pretty. Of course, this obedient and well-behaved demeanor was only shown in front of Changsheng. After all, she was the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Cult, and in front of outsiders, she was more like Liu Changsheng—indifferent and cold.

Therefore, some people who saw Ji Xuan's appearance in front of Changsheng couldn't help but wonder if the Holy Maiden had been possessed.

Changsheng roasted two prepared fish over the campfire. After handing one skewer to the girl, he hesitated for a moment before saying, "She is the gentlest person I have ever met."

"Then, then, will she be satisfied with me?" Ji Xuan blinked, her eyes filled with anticipation.

"No, Auntie only likes children and children she raised herself," Changsheng answered honestly.

It was a perfectly normal statement, and Bai Qingyu himself did indeed have that kind of personality, but to Ji Xuan, it seemed to take on a different meaning. A tempting blush visibly rose to her cheeks, and while holding the grilled fish in one hand, she lowered her head and drew circles on the ground with her finger.

Her eyes were filled with confusion. "This...this...this isn't good, is it? Besides, it takes at least a year to conceive..."

Changsheng paused in his act of eating the grilled fish.

Something feels off.

"I'm not......"

"Oh dear, I haven't told Father yet. Can I tell him now? I wouldn't dare without Father's permission."

She cupped her face in her hands again, glanced up at Changsheng, and after their eyes met, she immediately looked down, her face flushing even more. "I guess I should ask now!"

Before Changsheng could even speak, the girl pulled out a communication talisman and immediately sent a message to the leader of the Heavenly Sect.

The leader of the Heavenly Cult readily agreed.

It wasn't that he wanted to give his daughter away so much; it was mainly because Changsheng herself was outstanding enough.

Let's take one point as an example.

Changsheng, at the age of sixteen, possessed the strength of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

When the leader of the Heavenly Cult first saw Changsheng, he could hardly believe his eyes.

Even someone at the very top of the world's pyramid felt that this talent was far too terrifying.

At the age of sixteen, even in the Heavenly Sun Palace, being able to reach the Foundation Establishment stage would be considered genius, and reaching the Golden Core stage would be considered monstrous.

As for the Nascent Soul stage, above the Golden Core stage is the Nascent Soul stage, and above the Nascent Soul stage is the Nascent Soul stage.

Two whole major realms!

It's true that this kid has a demonic sword, but the leader of the Heavenly Cult has also experienced the demonic sword era.

The Demon Sword had three hosts: two of them were his subordinates, and one was his good brother.

It can be said that the gap between these three and Liu Changsheng is far too great. This is the first time he has seen such a young host who can control the Demon Sword so well.

In truth, the previous three hosts were no different from puppets controlled by the demonic sword.

When it came to Changsheng, the situation was completely reversed. The Demon Sword, acting like a delicate little girl, didn't bewitch him but instead fawned over him.

If the Demon Sword knew what the Heavenly Cult Leader was thinking, it would definitely curse him out.

He had no choice but to try to please a host who could block him, unblock him, and then block him again at any time. Otherwise, he might be forgotten one day, and then, after who knows how many years, Liu Changsheng would suddenly remember, "Oh, so the Demon Sword still has consciousness. How could I have forgotten it?"

That's what's truly terrifying.

Not only in terms of strength, Liu Changsheng also greatly satisfied the leader of the Heavenly Cult in terms of his work. He didn't waste any words, just gave a goal and that was it, without any hesitation. He was able to complete some seemingly impossible tasks perfectly.

Because he had saved Liu Changsheng once, the leader of the Heavenly Cult used this favor to ask Changsheng to do two things, both of which were completed perfectly without any shortcomings.

Most importantly, this guy is grateful and loyal.

The leader of the Heavenly Cult admired Liu Changsheng so much that he wanted to recruit him into the cult, offering him the high positions of protector and elder. Unfortunately, Liu Changsheng did not agree.

Now that his daughter has taken a liking to him, and Liu Changsheng has neither been annoyed nor rejected him, this has given the leader of the Heavenly Cult hope. If things go well, then this kid will be his son-in-law, and he won't be able to refuse to join the Heavenly Cult.

The leader of the Heavenly Cult is an old monster who has been around for many years. He has seen far too many people and experienced far too many things.

Having a daughter at this age shows how much she cherishes it.

“Father agreed.”

Liu Changsheng remained silent for a while, then said, "What I mean is, my aunt likes to adopt children."

"Adopted children are never as good as your own children, are they?"

"This... I don't know either."

Awkwardly, the night passed, and Liu Changsheng continued towards Tongzhou carrying his belongings, with Ji Xuan skipping and hopping beside him.

Liu Changsheng saved Ji Xuan's life more than once.

After they were separated for a while, Ji Xuan kept looking for him until one day she discovered that Liu Changsheng was working for the Heavenly Sect.

·

Meanwhile, in a certain mountain range.

Shuten-dōji unleashed his full power, blasting a Nascent Soul stage demon to pieces with a single punch.

After months of risking his life to cultivate within the Ghost Gate, coupled with the demonic sword techniques taught to him by Bai Qingyu, his strength improved to a terrifying degree.

Enveloped in black and white demonic energy, in his Ghost King form he stood a full four meters tall, with explosive muscles all over his body. The demonic energy climbed up his body, forming black lines. Coupled with his wild red hair and arrogant and fierce expression, he truly looked like a god or demon descending.

After the great demon in the Nascent Soul stage died, countless demons around him knelt down in worship, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

"Greetings, Demon King."

"Greetings, Demon King."

"Alright, all of you get up!" Shuten looked around. "Let's go, follow me and continue on our way!"

Shuten-dōji's sweep was simple: he would fight the enemy leader one-on-one, defeat him with the strongest force, and then recruit all of his subordinates.

Before he could even speak, the surrounding demons immediately knelt down.

The demon race worships the strong, and Shuten-dōji, who is like a god or demon, naturally became their object of worship.

If you looked down from the sky at this moment, you would see that Shuten-dōji's sweeping route was heading west, heading straight for the far western border state.

·

Time flies, and March has passed in the blink of an eye.

After wandering around for a while, Changsheng held Bai Qingyu's feather and looked towards Tongzhou.

Previously, Bai Qingyu's exact location could not be determined, but now it can be roughly determined.

He had obtained this feather before he left Bai Qingyu, even earlier than Dong Qing had.

"It's over there."

As they walked towards Mushan, Ji Xuan remained by his side.

Along the way, they were not just traveling, but rather on a journey, only their journey was heading towards another feather.

"It's incredible that a demon king could emerge from Nanshan. Since we're heading in the same direction as Nanshan, we might be able to meet this demon king." Ji Xuan said with a smile. Recently, she had been hearing the term "Nanshan Demon King" from various cultivators.