Chapter Fifty-Four: Do What You Love

Akali was still confused when Xuanyuan Tunhan, like driving a duck onto a perch, hurried her to perform the ritual and purify the villagers of demonic energy.

“Hurry up, there’s no time. This is your duty.”

Akali glanced at the villagers, then at Yi Tianling. Under his earnest gaze, she began to recite the incantation.

Ning Xianyu had been standing beside the Blood Source Stone, but Xuanyuan Tunhan pulled her away.

She had no choice but to retreat a little, watching Akali begin the ceremony once again.

This time, the ritual was simpler. The Blood Source Stone took effect quickly; wisps of dark demonic energy seeped from the villagers and were drawn into the vortex within the stone.

Perhaps because there wasn’t much demonic energy, before long the black mist faded from the villagers’ faces, and even the barrier of demonic energy that had entrapped the entire town was absorbed into the Blood Source Stone.

Xu Town was restored to a sky of clear blue, and the air felt refreshed and clean.

Once again, Akali collapsed after the ritual. This time, however, she didn’t faint; Yi Tianling caught her directly in his arms.

Yi Tianling looked at her with tender concern. “Akali, you’re free now.”

Akali smiled.

Ning Xianyu’s feelings were a bit odd. During the ceremony, even the demonic energy in the air had been drawn away, yet there was not the slightest reaction from Xuanyuan Tunhan.

[System, is the method of using the Blood Source Stone to absorb inner demons especially different from the way it absorbs ordinary demonic energy?]

Otherwise, why would Xuanyuan Tunhan be completely unaffected?

The system replied: [I don’t know. In the original book, Xuanyuan Tunhan neither obtained the Nine-petal Epiphyllum nor the Blood Source Stone. In the end, he was swallowed by his inner demon and perished in self-destruction.]

Ning Xianyu quickly interrupted it: [That was in the past. In the current plot, the great villain has possessed both the Nine-petal Epiphyllum and now the Blood Source Stone. He definitely won’t self-destruct.]

But then why hasn’t the Blood Source Stone eradicated his inner demon?

Could it be because it’s been with him for too long, making it harder to cleanse?

[Do you think, like Yang Guo, he needs to sleep on the Blood Source Stone for a while, and gradually his inner demon will be cleansed?]

The system admitted it had no idea; this was beyond its programming.

Meanwhile, Xuanyuan Tunhan, glancing at the sky, said, “Let’s go. The people from the Demon Realm are coming.”

Yi Tianling asked in surprise, “Will they really dare to chase us here?”

Xuanyuan Tunhan replied with biting sarcasm, “If we dared to go there, why wouldn’t they dare come here?”

This time, they were at fault; even if the demon lords did come, the cultivation world would remain in the wrong.

He called to Ning Xianyu, “Let’s go.”

Xuanyuan Tunhan produced a flying artifact and told Yi Tianling and Akali to get on.

Ning Xianyu looked at the Blood Source Stone, feeling helpless as she was left to lug it along.

She had started off as a layabout; how had she ended up as the porter?

Ah, fate is truly unpredictable.

Their little group fled in haste.

At first, Ning Xianyu thought they were headed back to Jade Immortal Sect—after all, that was the villain’s stronghold, full of cultivators who could stand against the demon lords.

Who could have guessed that instead of heading that way, their course took them far to the remote northwest.

That region was desolate and barren, sparsely populated, with many places entirely devoid of people.

Why go there?

Ning Xianyu didn’t understand and, receiving no answer, could only grit her teeth and race along.

They traveled for an entire day before finally arriving at a bleak place where not even grass grew.

It was cold, with snow piled deep everywhere. Most creatures couldn’t survive here, and even cultivators rarely came.

They could endure the cold, but would not willingly come to a place so devoid of spiritual energy.

Xuanyuan Tunhan produced tents for everyone to rest.

Ning Xianyu looked down at the Blood Source Stone. “What about this?”

The Blood Source Stone was a peculiar item; it couldn’t be stored in anything with spatial magic, not even the tents.

“Just leave it outside. No one can steal it.”

That was fair; there wasn’t a soul around, so who would come all the way out here to steal something?

Ning Xianyu set the stone down and even patted it. “Be good, don’t go wandering off.”

The swirling energy inside the stone seemed to shift, as if responding to her.

Ning Xianyu thought she must be imagining things—what response could a stone possibly give?

Cheered, she entered the tent, feeling as if spring had arrived within, and breathed a long sigh of comfort.

Yi Tianling carried Akali inside too, found a room, and the two went off to whisper in private.

Ning Xianyu also wanted a room to herself; after hauling the Blood Source Stone all this way, her arms ached. All she wanted now was to sprawl out somewhere comfortable.

But Xuanyuan Tunhan caught her by the arm and dragged her into a room.

Ning Xianyu sat helplessly on the wide bed, watching the villain lie back in comfort on the other side.

“Ancestor, what are we supposed to do now?”

Xuanyuan Tunhan closed his eyes, voice soft. “Do…”

“Do?”

Do what, exactly?

Ning Xianyu clutched her clothes, thinking her virtue was about to be compromised.

The lecherous old fiend had finally lost control—so much for the myth of men without desire.

“Do whatever you like to do,” the villain said at last.

See, she thought, just as expected—a dirty old man at heart.

Ning Xianyu pressed her hand to her chest and looked at him, aggrieved. “Ancestor, right now our genders are swapped—this doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”

Wouldn’t that put him at a disadvantage? Was he really fine with that?

Xuanyuan Tunhan opened his eyes with exasperation and shot her a contemptuous glance. “What do you like to do most?”

Ning Xianyu thought carefully. “Eat?”

He rolled his eyes, but didn’t throw her out.

She ventured on, “Eat, sleep, play?”

Xuanyuan Tunhan closed his eyes again, saying nothing.

Ning Xianyu pondered a while longer, then understood.

So what he meant was, she could do whatever she wanted.

But she guessed she probably wasn’t allowed to leave the room.

Perched on the bed, she mulled it over for a couple of minutes, settled down, and then tentatively pulled a bag of fruit from her storage pouch.

She ate two pieces. The man beside her didn’t react.

She ate two more. Still no reaction.

Very well, it truly seemed she was free to do as she pleased.

Ning Xianyu took out all sorts of fruit drinks and sweet dew from her pouch, setting them in a long row beside the bed, until the floor was covered.

Then she pulled out a length of aquatic grass.

This grass was fascinating: it could grow very long, was as flexible and soft as plastic, and once Ning Xianyu discovered it, she’d picked some to use as straws.

She stuck a grass straw into her drink, lay down, and opened her system’s playback function.

The system now had an added benefit: it could search novels from other worlds and play them in all sorts of sultry voices.

So she listened while she sipped her drink.

There could be no greater pleasure in life than savoring a drink while listening to an audiobook.

Xuanyuan Tunhan opened his eyes and caught sight of the look of bliss on her face.

He’d thought sitting on the bed eating was already the pinnacle of laziness, but to think she could manage to drink lying down.

Indeed, the lazy have their own ingenious ways.