Myriad Treasures Pavilion

But even when the pain became unbearable, Qi Xianqing still refused to make a sound.

Yet from the fingers gripping her shoulder, Yan Jue could feel wave after wave of pain and knew that Qi Xianqing really was hurting badly.

For some reason, Yan Jue’s heart gave a sudden squeeze.

If she had known this would happen, she should have knocked Qi Xianqing out with a hand chop just now.

Qi Xianqing did not know Yan Jue had drifted off in thought again. She only felt the girl’s steps falter as she carried her onward for another stretch of road.

Frowning, she said softly, “Thank you.”

Yan Jue ignored her outright, all her attention on finding somewhere to shelter.

After walking for quite a while longer, the sky had nearly gone completely dark before Yan Jue finally found a cave in the cliff face that could shelter them.

The mouth of the cave was hidden by lush green vines; only a dark opening could be faintly seen through them.

The sun had already set, and the surroundings were growing darker by the moment. Staying outside any longer would likely be dangerous.

This was unquestionably a good place to take refuge.

Yan Jue carried Qi Xianqing on her back, planted her left foot, and leapt hard, clearing the entrance in a single bound.

The moment Yan Jue ducked into the cave, she drew a deep breath.

The cave was clean, with no stench of wild beasts. Only a damp, watery smell lingered in the air.

The sound of dripping water was clear and distinct.

It was pitch-black all around. Yan Jue set the Spirit-Transforming Pearl on the ground; its dazzling light spread outward, vaguely revealing the cave’s full shape.

The interior was spacious, the walls made of earth, their surface uneven and rough.

Yan Jue reached out to touch them. They were still fairly solid.

Several naturally formed stone beds lay around them.

Cool water seeped down from above and gathered in the shallow cracks in the rock below, forming a small stream.

This should have been a tributary of the stream outside, since the water in the rock fissure extended outward.

Supporting Qi Xianqing, Yan Jue staggered forward a couple of steps and sat down on one of the stone beds.

The arrow was still embedded in Qi Xianqing’s leg, making her extremely uncomfortable. Yan Jue guessed it must have been poisoned. She pinched the shaft and yanked it straight out.

Clang—

The arrow fell to the ground.

Blood splattered out. Qi Xianqing’s vision went black for a moment from the pain, but she pressed her lips together and said nothing.

Yan Jue was startled by her reaction.

She had noticed the arrow in Qi Xianqing’s leg long ago, but without any medicine to stop the bleeding, she had not dared to touch it lightly.

Qi Xianqing was still as ruthless as ever; she even dared to use her own hand on herself.

Still drawing in cold breaths, Qi Xianqing slowly opened her eyes. Her voice was hoarse. “I did not mean to abandon you just now. The situation was too dangerous; I wanted to face it alone.”

Yan Jue: “At a time like this, you’re still saying that?”

Qi Xianqing only felt a sharp pain in her chest and coughed violently, coughing up a mouthful of thick blood.

Even if her dao heart had been wounded by those wraiths, Qi Xianqing knew it had always been steady; that alone was nothing worth mentioning.

It was the arrow that might have been poisoned. That was far more serious.

The cave fell silent.

Yan Jue pressed her palm against Qi Xianqing’s back from behind and tried to circulate energy to help her heal.

She did so for a while, but Qi Xianqing’s pulse only weakened further.

What was worse, after the arrow was pulled from Qi Xianqing’s leg, the wound still would not stop bleeding, and there were faint signs of rotting flesh. She had most likely been poisoned.

Yan Jue panicked a little and took out the jade seal from her Qiankun bag.

The jade seal had a healing function, but Yan Jue had already studied it before. That healing power referred to injuries of the mind; as for detoxification, its effect was negligible.

Using her meager divine sense, Yan Jue activated the jade seal. The emerald-green seal floated into the air, lowering a faint glow that enveloped Qi Xianqing.

Yan Jue then took out several Spirit-Condensing Pills from her Qiankun bag and fed them to Qi Xianqing, then produced a single Spirit Candle Fruit.

Using a sleeve arrow, Yan Jue peeled the fruit and handed Qi Xianqing a small piece. “Can you eat?”

Qi Xianqing shook her head and slipped back into a dazed sleep.

Her wound had only been roughly treated by Yan Jue, and blood kept flowing without end.

Along with the thick smell of blood came the faint, delicate fragrance unique to the Immortal Spirit Physique.

Yan Jue stood nearby, sniffing it, and her body began to tremble slightly, as though millions of ants were crawling across her skin.

As a demon and a fiend, the bloodthirst deep in her heart grew stronger and stronger.

A voice echoed in her mind.

If she ate Qi Xianqing, she would break through directly to the sixth realm, or even the seventh, the Wandering Spirit realm.

In an era before sages appeared, the eighth realm was already the peak for humans.

For demons, the seventh realm was already unimaginably rare.

If she ate Qi Xianqing, she could even dominate the entire demon race.

Yan Jue could not help swallowing.

The sound was especially harsh in the quiet cave.

Yan Jue clapped a hand over her mouth, not knowing whether Qi Xianqing had heard it.

...

Qi Xianqing really had heard that swallow.

She was too weak, and her thoughts inevitably turned dark.

In her gradually blurring consciousness, Qi Xianqing silently counted how many demons she had killed in her life.

The demons she had killed before were not only for the sake of her righteous heart, but also to avenge her parents, who had been killed by a tiger demon.

Then Qi Xianqing thought of the two wraiths from earlier.

Her parents had truly left this world, yet they had become such mindless ghosts. They could not even be reincarnated; without someone to send them off, they could only drift aimlessly through the mortal world.

At that thought, Qi Xianqing clenched her fists, and tears slid down her cheeks.

But inside this cave, she could feel her life slipping away little by little.

She was running out of oil and would go out like a lamp.

The wound was still bleeding; it might draw other demons.

She was far too weak now to protect herself.

Rather than be eaten by some other demon, Qi Xianqing would actually rather be eaten by that fox demon.

She had lost so much blood. The blood of the Immortal Spirit Physique must be very tempting to Yan Jue, but would Yan Jue really eat her?

If she died here, then who would send her parents’ souls on their way?

-

The sky had gone black. Yan Jue slowly walked out of the cave.

She was filthy all over as well, looking exactly like a beggar, but her face was dark and terrifying.

She had to find somewhere before night deepened further.

If every corner of this world really contained a Myriad Demons Pavilion, then she would definitely be able to find one!

In Yan Jue’s eyes, the Myriad Demons Pavilion was capable of anything. She would surely find a way to detoxify Qi Xianqing there.

Yan Jue walked for a long time, then stopped beside a large tree and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, a very dim golden light had lit up within them.

She settled her mind and began to sense the demonic aura around her.

But there was no demonic aura to be felt anywhere nearby.

Cold sweat broke out across Yan Jue’s forehead. She moved forward slowly, feeling her way along. Every so often, she would open her eyes and carefully judge whether any demonic aura was swirling overhead.

It was already autumn, and the dew grew heavier by the hour.

Yan Jue had an ice spiritual root and did not fear the cold, but her legs were trembling slightly from sheer exhaustion.

She did not know how far she had walked before she could no longer hold out and collapsed beside the stream.

Earlier, while Yan Jue had been rushing along with Qi Xianqing on her back, she had deliberately observed the terrain around them.

Although she and Qi Xianqing had drifted very far with the stream, the chance that they had floated out of Fuxian Mountain was small.

She remembered that back in Qingye Town, when she first visited the Myriad Demons Pavilion, she had once heard someone say that demons built the Myriad Demons Pavilion deep in the mountains and old forests in order to avoid attracting human attention.

So there had to be a Myriad Demons Pavilion somewhere around Skyferry City.

And Skyferry City was surrounded on all sides by mountains. The only mountain there was Fuxian Mountain.

Thinking of this, Yan Jue gathered her strength again and continued forward.

The trees in the deep mountains were very tall, with thorny vines hanging down from above.

Moonlight could be seen overhead, guiding the way, but Yan Jue still accidentally scraped her skin on the thorns as she walked.

Blood slid down her arm, and even her dao robe was torn and ruined.

Yan Jue walked for a long time before she finally saw an open space ahead where she could make out the mountains and the stars.

She took two steps at once and hurried over, then looked up at the sky.

In the darkness, her eyes flickered with a deep golden light. Holding her breath, she focused completely and mobilized all her divine sense to sense everything around her.

Everything seemed to fall silent.

Just when Yan Jue was nearly in despair, she finally spotted a dense mass of black aura a little farther ahead.

It was like a person who had walked through the desert for a long time and finally seen water; Yan Jue’s heart instantly surged with wild joy.

The Myriad Demons Pavilion was there. She only needed to walk over.

-

Because she had learned the Myriad Demons Pavilion’s location, the rest of Yan Jue’s journey was relatively easier.

She took a gourd from her Qiankun bag. It was full of pills, originally all the Spirit-Condensing Pills intended for Bai Ying.

Spirit-Condensing Pills also helped replenish spiritual power, so Yan Jue swallowed them all. She sat down and circulated her energy to steady herself for a moment, then continued on her way.

Under the moonlight, a ragged girl could be seen stumbling along the mountain path, miserable but determined.

Yan Jue soon reached the place where black aura had been swirling in her vision.

Still cautious, Yan Jue stopped a young man passing by. “Hello, is this the Myriad Demons Pavilion?”

The man looked at her as if she were a monster. “Of course it is. Can’t you see the sign over there?”

Yan Jue looked up and indeed saw the large words Myriad Demons Pavilion written on the plaque.

This branch of the Myriad Demons Pavilion had been built in a huge mountain valley.

Countless shops had been built into the mountainside, all perched high above; different buildings were linked by hanging bridges. Yan Jue supported herself on a rope ladder and climbed up before she could clearly see the full view of this Myriad Demons Pavilion.

Mist swirled through the valley. The only sources of light were the red lanterns hanging from the bridges and the lamplight spilling from the shops.

Hazy and dreamlike.

Yan Jue looked up at the shop in front of her: Weapon Refining Shop.

She shook her head and, holding onto the bridge, made her way to the other end of the valley, where she saw another signboard: Spirit Pet Shop.

All kinds of demons moved about on the hanging bridges, their expressions rather leisurely.

The Myriad Demons Pavilion was originally a shopping place for the demon race, and most of the demons who came here were small fry with no particular background.

Some demons had already transformed into human form but still kept beast heads.

Some simply did not transform at all, with all kinds of little rabbits and little dogs running to and fro across the bridges.

The scene was as absurd as ever.

Yan Jue wanted to find a medical hall.

Qi Xianqing had been wounded by an arrow.

And looking at Qi Xianqing’s current state, there was an eighty to ninety percent chance the arrow had been poisoned too.

The situation was far too complicated. There was no way Yan Jue could just buy a little medicine from the Pheasant Spirit’s shop and call it done.

Yan Jue walked around the Myriad Demons Pavilion once; along the way, she nearly got sent flying by several bull demons charging around wildly, yet she still did not find any sign of a medical hall.

The Myriad Demons Pavilion did not have a medical hall.

Yan Jue stopped. Exhaustion was about to swallow her whole, and once again she felt that same deep helplessness.

Why was she in such a hurry?

Because she liked Qi Xianqing, of course...

In the original story, the female lead and male lead would surge ahead triumphantly all the way, then ascend directly. But because of her, the plot had already changed far too much; who knew whether this Heavenly Dao would be displeased and bring down some other punishment?

She did not want Qi Xianqing to die.

She had already looked everywhere. Now only...

Yan Jue slowly raised her head and looked at the exquisite nine-story tower in the very center of the Myriad Demons Pavilion.

All the other shops here had been built into the mountain, small and delicate.

Only that tower had been built on flat ground, and its height almost surpassed every other shop.

It had nine stories in all, grand and magnificent.

A clean-cut goat demon happened to pass by. Yan Jue hurriedly stopped him. “Excuse me, what is sold in that tower?”

“What is sold?” The goat demon was clearly shocked. “This is your first time at the Myriad Demons Pavilion, isn’t it? You don’t even know that?”

Yan Jue: “...I don’t.”

The goat demon smiled. “This is Fuxian Mountain, very close to the demon realm. That place is the headquarters of the Myriad Demons Pavilion.”

The Myriad Demons Pavilion headquarters?

Yan Jue remembered that when she first browsed the Myriad Demons Pavilion, someone had introduced it to her as a place run by a bunch of turtle spirits, basically like a marketplace, providing a venue for demons who needed to trade goods. The turtle spirit bosses did not even personally stay there; the location changed at any time, and it was not really a very serious organization.

But the Myriad Demons Pavilion did have a headquarters.

The control center where the turtles, whose status among the five demons was noble, stayed year-round was the Myriad Demons Pavilion headquarters.

No wonder this branch of the Myriad Demons Pavilion was so hard to find; even the outside was covered in formations.

Because the turtle spirits were here, of course they would not set the Myriad Demons Pavilion in a place humans could easily find.

“This tower is called the Myriad Treasures Pavilion. It was built by a turtle spirit lady. The Pavilion Master of Myriad Treasures knows everything under heaven and earth; as long as one is willing to pay a certain price, anyone can hear the information they want there.”

Yan Jue froze.

There was actually such a tower...

The goat demon grew animated and happily explained, “Living in that tower is the turtle spirit lady, who answers everything without holding back. But she’s extremely stingy. If you want her to answer your questions, you must trade with your most precious possession.”

“The price for getting your questions answered is sky-high. Very few demons can afford it.”

“The ones who come all this way, exhausting every scheme just to seek an audience with the Pavilion Master of Myriad Treasures, are all humans.”

Yan Jue stared at that exquisite tower in silence for a long while, then touched the Qiankun bag at her waist.

She climbed down from the bridge and walked across the flat ground for a while before quickly arriving in front of the nine-story tower.

There were no guards at the entrance, and the doors of the tower stood open, as though welcoming customers inside.

Lights glowed faintly within. Yan Jue frowned and stood outside, peering in for a long time before taking a few steps forward. The instant she stepped onto the stone stairs, golden light suddenly flashed before her eyes.

The stone statue beside the tower somehow came alive and turned into a small red mountain leopard.

The little mountain leopard sprang straight in front of Yan Jue.

Its fur was bright red, it had five tails, and a single large horn on its head. It stared with a pair of black eyes, came close, and sniffed Yan Jue lightly.

“Red fox, demon race,” the little mountain leopard said in a soft voice, delivering its judgment.

Its body flashed, then turned back into a stone statue by the door and fell asleep.

Yan Jue walked straight inside.

She had originally thought the owner of this kind of tower would be some flirtatious fox-spirit type of woman.

Who would have thought it was actually a lazy old turtle.

On the top floor of the tower, the candlelight was dim. A huge screen was carved with exquisite, intricate patterns; a celadon-blue incense burner sat in the corner, with purple smoke curling up from it and a faint fragrance drifting through the air.

The woman wore a long dress of fine gauze embroidered with gold thread. Her figure was slim and delicate, a pair of foreign spectacles perched on the bridge of her nose. She lay quietly on a beauty couch, fast asleep.

Yan Jue forced herself to be patient and sat nearby to wait for a long while.

She was practically burning with impatience.

Just as Yan Jue was thinking about whether she should use Drifting Ice to smash this person awake, the woman finally opened her eyes.

The beauty propped herself up, yawned lazily, and at last looked at her. “What is your question?”

Yan Jue sat upright across from her, expression solemn. “Where is the nearest medical immortal?”

She needed a doctor who could cure Qi Xianqing in a single treatment, not an ordinary healer, but a medical immortal.

The turtle spirit lady lifted her eyelids and gave her a languid look, then yawned again. “What do you have to offer me?”

Yan Jue: “I have more than two thousand top-grade spirit stones here.”

Yan Jue felt her question was very simple and absolutely worth more than two thousand top-grade spirit stones.

The woman adjusted the spectacles on the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “We do not accept spirit stones here. Only rare treasures.”

She asked again, “What rare treasure do you have to exchange with me?”

Yan Jue took out something from her Qiankun bag.

It was a jade flask.

Yan Jue: “This is Yin Spirit Water. It is extremely rare in this world and not something easy to obtain.”

This had been found in the Demon Lord’s treasure pouch last time.

Such an extremely yin and sinister item was undoubtedly a treasure to people of the Demonic Cult, but it was of little use to her.

The woman shook her head. “Even so, it is still not enough to answer your question.”

The air fell briefly silent.

Out there just now, Yan Jue had already learned that the Pavilion Master of Myriad Treasures was extremely picky, but she had never expected the other party to be this difficult to deal with.

After a long silence, Yan Jue took out another item from her bag. “This is a demon core; it’s the core of a tiger demon.”

The woman paused slightly.

Lying in Yan Jue’s palm was a golden demon core, the size of a hand.

It was large, overflowing with spiritual energy, and anyone could tell at a glance that it was extremely precious.

The woman frowned slightly. “There are countless tiger demons in this world. What is so special about your tiger demon core?”

Yan Jue: “The two old tigers that have been wreaking havoc in the western border all year round, a male and a female, are the leaders of the western tiger demons. This is the demon core of those two tigers.”

The woman considered this, then suddenly curved her lips. “I’ve heard of those two big tigers as well.”

“But their cultivation was extremely high, and demon cores are yin in nature. This core happens to be the product of the fusion between the two.”

Yan Jue nodded. “Exactly.”

The woman: “This demon core is indeed worth your question, but for me, its value is too high.”

“Why go to such lengths, when you clearly possess such treasures, only to exchange them for a question not worth that much?”

Yan Jue frowned. “You mean you know I have other treasures?”

Could this turtle spirit truly know everything under heaven?

There were indeed other things in her Qiankun bag.

For example, the Spirit-Transforming Pearl, Sheming Xu, the sleeve arrows, and so on.

But Yan Jue felt that none of them could compare to the value of the male and female tiger demon cores.

The turtle spirit’s gaze fell on the wound on Yan Jue’s arm. “The blood of a nine-tailed fox demon is an extremely precious material. After being used in medicine, it can cure all illnesses and even help a dying person prolong their life.”

“The lady is a nine-tailed fox demon,” the turtle spirit said coolly. “A bowl of your blood is enough for me.”