The two of them had just taken a step forward.
“Boom!!”
The bushes behind them suddenly exploded with a loud bang!
A streak of black and red mana sliced through the sea of trees, carving out a path.
As the dust cleared,
the figure stepping out was none other than the medicine-seeking man whose arm Qimeng had severed with a single slash!
His left arm, which should have been severed completely, had actually reattached itself, squirming with bizarre fleshy tentacles. As expected of a demon's body, it had recovered in such a short amount of time.
“My, my... You really are persistent.”
Qimeng stopped in her tracks and let out a sigh.
“What's the matter? Did that beating just now not wake you up? Did you run all the way back here just to throw away your life?”
The medicine-seeking man's eyes were completely chaotic, and the mana around his body was surging wildly out of control, exuding a magic pressure that was easily at the High-tier Extraordinary Rank.
There was something off about him; even his way of speaking carried an unnatural, discordant feel.
“Give... give me the Sacred Spirit you obtained... I beg of you!”
“And if I don't?” Qimeng tilted her head slightly.
“Kill...”
“Like hell you will!”
Before the word could fully leave his mouth, Qimeng's figure vanished into thin air, turning into an elusive, beautiful afterimage!
He came at the perfect time!
She had just broken through to the Extraordinary Rank and was worrying about not finding a decent meat shield to test out this transcendent body!
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The medicine-seeking man frantically swung black-and-red light blades, blasting the surrounding ancient trees to splinters.
Yet, facing this earth-shattering onslaught, Qimeng didn't use even a single defensive spell!
Relying solely on her seemingly petite and slender physical body, she charged straight in with a fierce and incredibly gorgeous display of close-quarters combat!
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The muffled, thunderous sounds of fists slamming into flesh echoed through the forest!
Qimeng tilted her head, dodging a mana slash by a hair's breadth. Her fair fist, carrying the sound of breaking air, drove hard into the medicine-seeking man's chest!
“Crack!!”
It was a powerful torso that the demon race took pride in.
Yet, under Qimeng's heavy, mountain-like lethal punch, it collapsed like a thin, brittle cracker!
He couldn't even last three exchanges.
“Boom!!”
The violent mana shattered with a loud bang!
The medicine-seeking man flew backward, crashing into the dirt. His entire body twitched as he lost all ability to resist.
“Phew... How satisfying. The toughness of this body certainly didn't disappoint~”
Refreshed and invigorated, Qimeng walked over to the unconscious medicine-seeking man with leisurely steps.
Inside the body of the Demon Prince, the green light in Baikui's eyes flickered violently.
Heavens!
That was a powerful demon who had severely wounded even a Demon Marquis! Her Master had actually thrashed him like a punching bag with nothing but her bare fists?!!
However, Qimeng did not deliver the final blow.
She looked thoughtful, her beautiful eyes sweeping over the chaotic mana surrounding the medicine-seeking man.
Then, she suddenly looked up and spoke to the empty air.
“Hey~ Stop hiding in the shadows and watching. Give me your exact coordinates, or else... prepare to lose him forever.”
“Eh?!”
Baikui's gaze sharpened, and his parasitic body fell into a defensive stance.
“Master... is there a hidden enemy nearby?”
“They aren't nearby. They're far away.”
Qimeng gave the medicine-seeking man on the ground a kick, analyzing coldly.
“I already found it strange when he was snatching the Spirit Maiden. This guy is clearly a ruthless character who doesn't fear death, someone who could slaughter all the demons in the camp without even blinking. How could he choose to retreat just because of a severed arm?
I didn't think much of it back then, but fighting him now, it's obvious he has absolutely no idea how to use his own power... Hehe, so you've been controlling him from behind the scenes since then, haven't you? The lady hiding backstage?”
After a brief silence, a weak female voice drifted out from the throat of the unconscious medicine-seeking man.
“Please... please show mercy! My location is to your east... in a hidden cave! I beg you... do not kill him!”
...
A short while later, in front of the cave on the eastern side of the Flourishing Forest.
Baikui dragged the unconscious medicine-seeking man like a piece of dead weight, while Qimeng stopped in the sunlight about ten meters away from the cave entrance, refusing to take even a single step toward the pitch-black cavern.
“Come out. This lord has no interest in crawling into dark, cramped spaces.”
Qimeng called out coldly.
Soon, a weak set of footsteps echoed from inside the cave.
A slender figure emerged, stumbling as she supported herself against the rock wall.
It was a pale human woman—the very same person whom the medicine-seeking man had protected on his back that day.
The woman's eyes were filled with disbelief.
“How... how did you know I was the one controlling him from behind?”
“It was way too clumsy.”
Qimeng casually plucked a wild fruit from a branch and took a bite.
“This guy's fighting style was completely disjointed. All of his reckless, wild frenzy was gone; he was entirely like a puppet being pulled by strings! Tell me, since you already managed to save your own skin, why did you stalk me and come back to fight to the death?”
The woman let out a bitter laugh, her gaze both tender and sorrowful.
She stared at the unconscious medicine-seeking man on the ground.
“I want... to save him.”
“Oh?”
Qimeng blinked, her inner gossip-loving soul catching fire.
“You two really are a devoted couple~ First he risks his life to save you, and now you risk yours to save him.”
However, the woman shook her head as if all her strength had been drained, a tragic smile spreading across her lips.
“Actually... he is not my husband.”
“Huh?”
Qimeng froze mid-bite.
“Wait a minute! Isn't that a bit too much information all at once? Do tell!”
The woman slid down against the rock wall and sat, beginning to recount a bizarre and painful past.
“In name... he was my demon pet.
I come from a human summoner family. When I was ten, I secretly performed a heretical summoning taboo, accidentally summoning him—a demon—and signing a contract with him. At first, he resisted and hated me, but as we spent day after day together... we became each other's only comfort in this cold world.
Later, because humans and demons walk different paths, he chose to leave.
And I, complying with my family's interests, married a human lord on the border. My husband was a heroic man who cared for his people and was reasonably gentle to me... until that day, when the demon army breached the city walls.”
Two streams of clear tears rolled down the woman's face.
“As the city fell, not wanting to watch the citizens be slaughtered, I performed the summoning taboo once more in despair... I never expected that he, who had left me long ago... would actually answer the call.
He saved me, and in the process, saved my husband as well.”
Hearing this, a trace of irony flashed in Qimeng's eyes.
“Isn't that a happy ending? What happened next?”
“Later...”
The woman smiled, her spirit utterly crushed.
“Later, the Church found out about my association with a demon. I thought my heroic husband would defend me... but to appease the Church's anger and the panic of his subjects, he bound me to the stake with his own hands.
He even personally fed me a life-extinguishing poison before pushing me onto the pyre.”
The woman's eyes grew completely numb.
“But the moment the flames rose... having heard the news, he turned back. He slaughtered everyone from the Church, slaughtered the freemen who had reported me to the Church... and in the end, he personally snapped the neck of my heroic husband.
At that moment, I could no longer tell who was the hero saving the world, and who was the demon from hell that could never be fully slain.”
At this point, the woman leaned quietly against the rock wall, tears streaming down her pale face.
Rate on N.U.
