Devilish Disciple [Transmigration] 80

Chapter 80: You Don’t Belong Here, Do You?

The snow-white pearl, radiating a pure, gentle light, rested in her palm, like a miniature world of falling snow.

Li Yu could sense the pure divine power within it; it wasn’t an artifact, but solidified divine energy.

“Qing Nü…”

“Yes?”

“You are nearing the end of your lifespan, why expend your divine power to create this pearl, a gift for a stranger?” Li Yu looked into Qing Nü’s night-sky blue eyes, her heart filled with unease. “What if I lied? What if I exaggerated…?”

“It’s fine.” Qing Nü smiled faintly. “If your friend exists, then consider this a small token of apology. It might help her progress further on her path. And if she doesn’t…then keep it. Consider it a thank you for staying here with us.”

“Staying…with you?” Li Yu frowned slightly.

“The North Sea is cold, dark, and desolate. Without spiritual energy, even plants can’t survive here.” Qing Nü’s voice was soft, gentler than the moonlight. “Having another person here…is a good thing.”

“But I…” Li Yu hesitated, her eyes filled with uncertainty.

She wanted to say something but lost her courage.

She wanted to say that her reasons for being here weren’t entirely pure.

She wanted to say that she had too many secrets, that she might not be trustworthy.

She wanted to say that she couldn’t stay here forever, that she was destined to leave, to go somewhere far, far away.

She knew Qing Nü probably wouldn’t care, but she still wanted to ask—even such temporary companionship, was it worthy of such kindness?

But this was her final mission; as long as she waited patiently for the events to unfold, returned to her own time with the truth, everything would be over.

There was no reason to complicate things further.

As she hesitated, a pure white light, like snow, gently enveloped the little wolf sleeping in her arms.

Li Yu recognized it as a soundproof barrier.

Qing Nü looked into her eyes and asked softly, “Li Yu, do you know why I don’t teach Mu Tao myself?”

Yes, why didn’t she?

She had even said that Weisheng Xuanzhu wasn’t suitable for raising the little wolf, yet she entrusted it to him.

And the little wolf, whom she had rescued and raised, was now constantly by his side, yet she didn’t seem to mind…

“Xuanzhu, Mu Tao, their world…shouldn’t revolve solely around me.” Qing Nü said calmly, her voice almost a sigh. “If one day…I’m gone, I want them to have each other.”

“But you also know that Xuanzhu’s hibernation lasts for centuries. I…couldn’t bring myself to entrust Mu Tao to him.” Qing Nü looked at Li Yu, a hint of relief in her eyes. “But now that you’re here, I feel much better.”

Li Yu: “I…”

Qing Nü interrupted. “Li Yu, Mu Tao likes you very much, and you also like her, don’t you?”

Li Yu lowered her gaze, her fingers absently stroking the little wolf’s fur, her thoughts in disarray.

Qing Nü: “If one day, you leave the North Sea, take her with you.”

Li Yu: “…”

Qing Nü: “Is this…too much to ask?”

Li Yu quickly shook her head, wanting to say something, but the words wouldn’t come.

“That’s good.” Qing Nü smiled, seemingly relieved. “Perhaps, when Xuanzhu awakens, you’ll meet again… He’s never left the North Sea, he doesn’t know the outside world. Help him then, if you can.”

Why tell her all of this? Li Yu couldn’t understand.

These words, a plea, a request.

Qing Nü seemed to know her time was nearing its end, entrusting those she cared about to someone who appeared mysteriously, whose motives were still unclear.

Li Yu hadn’t been here long, hadn’t met Qing Nü many times, but in their brief interactions, she found it increasingly difficult to reconcile the Qing Nü before her with the ancient god who, according to legends, had fallen into darkness out of selfish desires.

If Qing Nü was someone who would unleash the Heavenly Demon to survive, why would she say these things now?

There wasn’t a shred of malice in her, perhaps even…acceptance.

—A willingness to sacrifice herself, to prevent this impending calamity.

Li Yu felt a mix of emotions.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you worried I’ll tell others?”

Qing Nü just chuckled and said firmly, “You won’t.”

Li Yu: “Why wouldn’t I?”

Qing Nü: “Do you think I haven’t learned how to read people after all these years?”

Li Yu: “…”

Qing Nü: “Li Yu, there’s no need to feel guilty, I don’t need your honesty. Whatever your reasons, your arrival in the North Sea…is a blessing, for me, for them.”

Li Yu: “…”

If destiny was predetermined, then she would take Mu Tao away from here and would meet Weisheng Xuanzhu again.

But she couldn’t stay with Mu Tao or help Weisheng Xuanzhu.

She arrived too late, realized too late.

She was destined to betray Qing Nü’s trust.

Li Yu closed her eyes and sighed softly. “Qing Nü…are you waiting for Xuanzhu to enter hibernation?”

Qing Nü: “Yes.”

Li Yu: “Can you tell me why?”

Qing Nü: “You want to know?”

Li Yu nodded, her expression serious. “I want to know, everything about the North Sea.”

“Why you came here, why you went to see Yetan three hundred years ago, what you plan to do after Xuanzhu enters hibernation…” Li Yu looked into Qing Nü’s eyes. “I swear I won’t interfere with your plans. Will you…tell me?”

“Is it…that important to you?”

“It is!” Li Yu said firmly.

Qing Nü looked at her thoughtfully, her blue eyes deeper than the night sky.

Li Yu didn’t know how long the silence lasted.

The eternal night of the North Sea had distorted her sense of time.

She waited patiently for Qing Nü’s answer.

How long did she wait?

It felt like just a few seconds, yet also longer than this eternal night.

Until a soft sigh broke the silence.

“The North Sea…is a pure place.” Qing Nü’s voice was barely a whisper. “I searched the entire human realm…to find such a quiet sanctuary.”

Li Yu: “Did you come to the North Sea…to protect the Upper Spirit Lamp from the resentment in the human realm?”

Qing Nü shook her head and chuckled softly. “There are many secluded immortal mountains, far from the human realm.”

Li Yu: “…”

Qing Nü: “The best thing about the North Sea…is that it has almost nothing.”

She looked out at the wind and snow.

She said that since its birth, the Heavenly Demon had been revived four times, and she had participated in every battle to seal it.

The Heavenly Demon’s power was truly terrifying.

She had seen the boundless sea of resentment blotting out the sun, moon, and stars, seen the crimson blood staining the mountains and rivers—the human realm, ravaged, a scene of utter devastation.

To protect the human realm, many of her old friends had died in those battles.

The Upper Spirit Lamp was always entrusted to the strongest, she never imagined that one day, this responsibility would fall upon her.

When the Lamp was placed in her hands, she realized that those who once fought alongside her were gone.

And she herself was nearing the end of her lifespan…

She didn’t know how much longer she had, when the Heavenly Demon would be revived, or whether she would have the strength to lead the gods and immortals against it once more.

Even if she did, it would be a brutal battle, the consequences unimaginable.

Qing Nü suddenly asked, “Do you know…what the Heavenly Demon is?”

Li Yu was startled by the question.

After a moment of thought, she replied, “The Heavenly Demon is born from resentment. As long as resentment exists in the world, the Heavenly Demon’s soul fragment cannot be destroyed. It is the most powerful demon in the Three Realms, its lifespan comparable to the heavens.”

Qing Nü: “You’ve never seen the Heavenly Demon, have you?”

Li Yu: “…No.”

Qing Nü smiled. “I’ve seen it four times.”

Li Yu couldn’t help but ask, “What…what does it look like?”

Qing Nü: “The Heavenly Demon…it has no form…”

Li Yu: “Huh?”

Qing Nü lowered her gaze, her slender fingers toying with her teacup.

“The Heavenly Demon…is formless, shapeless, just a concentrated essence of resentment, capable of latching onto any obsession.” Her voice was calm, almost indifferent. “It isn’t anyone, and it can be anyone.”

Li Yu: “…”

Qing Nü: “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Li Yu frowned and shook her head.

“It can be you, me, a desperate soul, or someone consumed by ambition.” Qing Nü explained patiently. “As long as there is obsession and resentment in this world, the Heavenly Demon exists—and it cannot be destroyed.”

Li Yu: “…”

Qing Nü: “But it can be…weakened.”

She looked at Li Yu, her gaze serious. “It’s like the gathering and scattering of clouds, unpredictable yet cyclical.”

Qing Nü: “Now…it’s gathering again.”

Li Yu: “Qing Nü…”

Qing Nü: “Someone has to…disperse it.”

Li Yu: “…”

Qing Nü said that she would disperse it again, before her soul completely dissipated.

Her power was fading; she needed another way to achieve this seemingly impossible task.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking, is the Heavenly Demon’s revival truly…a bad thing?” Qing Nü said. “Every time it’s revived, it’s because the resentment in the world has exceeded its capacity—They seek out the Heavenly Demon’s soul fragment, awaken it, and create a new body for it, a new soul.”

Her expression was serious. “And the Heavenly Demon, in turn, absorbs this resentment, causing calamities.”

Li Yu: “Qing Nü…”

“But…have you ever seen how…clean the world is…after the Heavenly Demon is destroyed? …Without it, that resentment…wouldn’t dissipate so easily.”

Li Yu’s eyes widened slightly, a sudden understanding dawning on her, a lump forming in her throat.

“What if…the Heavenly Demon’s revival only serves to absorb the world’s resentment, then quietly disappears…in a desolate place?” Qing Nü said thoughtfully. “What if…I could control its fate?”

If she could become the Heavenly Demon, absorb all the resentment, and then vanish, wouldn’t the human realm be at peace for millennia?

But it was too dangerous; she needed to go somewhere far away, a desolate place.

This way, even if something went wrong, it would buy time for the other gods and immortals.

She said that when she first came to the North Sea, she was struck by its silence and desolation.

A lightless place, untouched by the sun, moon, or stars.

The biting cold, the endless, dark sea, seemingly inhospitable to any life.

From that moment on, she knew that there was no better place for her plan.

Qing Nü smiled faintly. “But I never imagined…that such a desolate, lightless sea…would still harbor life.”

Her smile was complex, a mix of sadness and something else Li Yu couldn’t decipher.

She had been prepared to live alone in this lonely, eternal night, waiting for the resentment to fill the world.

But her arrival had awakened something hidden in the depths, a being even more ancient, more silent than this eternal night.

As it slowly rose to the surface, massive waves shattered the deathly silence.

She saw it looking at her, at the moon she brought with her.

Its enormous, dark eyes, deeper than the abyss of the North Sea, bottomless.

And within those terrifying depths, a faint reflection of the moon.

She saw curiosity in its eyes.

She had never imagined that such a desolate place could sustain life.

It was eerily quiet, almost completely devoid of emotion.

She tried talking to it, but it didn’t understand, didn’t respond.

She landed on its back, but it didn’t react, indifferent, as if it could remain like that for millennia, a solitary island, letting the snow cover its massive form.

It was clearly awake, yet its consciousness seemed to be slumbering in this silent, lightless sea.

She couldn’t remember how long it took her to gently awaken it from its slumber.

She only remembered that when it finally “woke up,” the night sky above the North Sea was filled with stars.

More accurately, not just stars, but even the dark sea shimmered with a dreamlike starlight.

She could sense that it wanted to give her something, perhaps to repay her for the moonlight.

But she could also sense the immense, almost dangerous power within that starlight—every spark draining its life force.

“The North Sea was so beautiful at that moment, and I thought…perhaps this was fate, meeting it, meeting this power.” Qing Nü chuckled humorlessly. “With this power, I could create a formation strong enough to slay the Heavenly Demon…and I would trap myself within it, become the Heavenly Demon, absorb the resentment…”

“The heavens and the earth would tremble, and all the gods and immortals would see it, they would come rushing here.” She smiled faintly. “And their combined power would fuel my demon-slaying formation.”

Li Yu’s grip on her sleeve tightened.

“So, I became even more determined,” Qing Nü continued.

From then on, she settled in this lightless sea.

To obtain its power, she stayed with it, on its massive back.

She taught it to speak, to think, to live.

She saw it always looking up at the moon and named it Xuanzhu, meaning “heavenly candle,” a metaphor for the moon.

She told it that the power of the stars was too dangerous, too taxing on its body, it would be better to cultivate the power of frost and snow with her.

It listened attentively to everything she said…

And when she asked for its power, even knowing the cost, it didn’t hesitate, didn’t even ask why.

That day, she sealed the borrowed power within a moon pendant, then, pretending that nothing had happened, continued her life in this land of eternal night.

She said she felt guilty, unsure how to repay it, so she taught it everything she knew, hoping that one day it could leave this sea, see the wider world beyond the North Sea.

So, when it finally learned to transform, she used the power of the Heavenly Mirror to create an illusion of an island in the sky above the North Sea, trying to coax it out of the deep sea, teaching it how to live like a human.

And she succeeded.

Xuanzhu was no longer the clueless creature from before; he was now capable of leaving the North Sea, capable of leaving her.

But she hoped he would sleep first.

She didn’t want him to know what she intended to do with the power he gave her—it would be too cruel.

Qing Nü’s smile turned bitter. “More importantly… I was afraid he would stop me.”

Li Yu: “…”

Qing Nü: “His world is too small, he only sees what’s before him, not the distant future.”

Li Yu sighed deeply.

So many things finally made sense.

The reason Weisheng Xuanzhu could wield the power of the stars, a power supposedly unique to the fallen god, was because it was his power; the ancient god had simply borrowed it from him.

And he never used it, firstly because of its high cost, and secondly, because Qing Nü didn’t want him to.

All the spells he used were taught by Qing Nü.

But when he decided to revive the Heavenly Demon, he betrayed her wishes and reclaimed that power.

Qing Nü’s concerns were valid.

He truly only saw what was before him, not the distant future.

Such a person, to keep what he wanted, would stop at nothing.

Even if he obtained the truth he sought, would he truly stop? Li Yu wondered.

Just then, Qing Nü spoke again.

Qing Nü: “Li Yu, have you ever…wondered about the moon in the sky?”

Li Yu: “The moon?”

Qing Nü: “Yes.”

Li Yu hesitated. “It never rises or sets, it’s always full…is it some kind of artifact?”

Qing Nü: “It’s called the Heavenly Mirror.”

Li Yu: “The Heavenly Mirror?”

Qing Nü nodded. “Everyone knows that the Upper Spirit Lamp seals the Heavenly Demon’s soul fragment, but few know that the Heavenly Mirror was also forged by the gods, alongside the Lamp.”

“It’s an illusion, a void, capable of creating many forms…” A faint smile appeared on her lips. “But its true purpose…has always been to seal the Upper Spirit Lamp.”

Li Yu: “…!”

Qing Nü: “To ensure the seal on the Heavenly Demon was secure, unbreakable, the gods decided to add another lock—and the Heavenly Mirror is that lock.”

“The Upper Spirit Lamp contains the Heavenly Demon Soul Seed, and the Heavenly Mirror seals the Lamp—The Lamp is visible, the Mirror hidden. Only by breaking through the darkness can you reach the light. This is a secret passed down through generations of Lamp guardians.”

Li Yu stared at her, surprised.

Qing Nü continued, “For millennia, besides the guardians of the Upper Spirit Lamp, very few have known about the Heavenly Mirror, and those who could activate it…are all gone now.”

“Then…why tell me?” Li Yu frowned.

“I don’t know, I just…feel that there’s no one else to tell.” Qing Nü said, a thoughtful look on her face. “Your appearance here…perhaps it’s…destiny.”

Then she asked casually, as if joking, “When the Heavenly Demon’s soul is scattered again, will you…take the Heavenly Mirror with you?”

“…Me?” Li Yu was stunned.

“Mm.”

“Qing Nü, I…”

“Don’t worry, it was just a casual question; I’m not asking for your agreement.” Qing Nü said. “I’ve already entrusted everything to Yetan—the Heavenly Mirror, the Upper Spirit Lamp, she’ll find a suitable guardian before her soul dissipates.”

Qing Nü fell silent.

After a long moment, she suddenly asked softly, “Li Yu…you…don’t belong here, do you?”

Li Yu: “…?”