Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 13

Years later, their reunion was not marked by excitement or tears, but by a natural, calm surprise.

Su Qing and Xiu Fu had many things they wanted to tell each other, but they tacitly avoided mentioning anything.

They didn’t sit particularly close, nor were their postures intimate; it seemed like a polite exchange of pleasantries.

However, their hearts were very close, inseparable, as if basking in each other’s light.

The rootless fire floated between them, casting faint light and shadow on their gentle or resolute faces.

The long night was made less difficult with a friend by one’s side.

A few days later, Rainbow sought out Su Qing. She said bluntly, “How’s the recovery?”

Su Qing said, “It’s almost ready for the second time.”

The demonic energy and spirit from the last hunt had all been absorbed.

Su Qing was sixty percent confident of successfully performing the second purification.

Indeed, they called this process of expelling demonic energy “purification.” Everyone firmly believed that the moment the demonic energy here was completely purified would be the moment they could return to the present world.

Rainbow’s expression stiffened. “I’ll start preparing now.”

Su Qing shook her head, “The matter of hunting demonic cultivators isn’t urgent yet. I have something else I need to do…”

Ji Xinghong interrupted her, “What needs preparing isn’t hunting demonic cultivators, but forming an alliance. We’re forming a life-and-death alliance.”

A cluster of bright heart-fire leaped from her fingertip. “I said, to survive in this lightless realm, we must live and die together, your life for my life, my life for yours. After you arrived, the temptation increased, and the original restraints were too loose. We need to re-vow, swearing upon our heart-fire and spirit: ‘Our hearts are like raging flames, our spirits like bedrock. We live and die together, never abandoning each other.'”

Heart-fire was originally the embodiment of vitality and spirit.

Because it was sworn upon the spirit, once the vow was set, it could never be changed.

Even if they eventually left this place and returned to the mundane world, as long as they lived for a day, as long as their hearts beat for a day, the vow would continue for a day. It was undeniably potent.

Su Qing understood Rainbow’s meaning. She frowned and said, “It seems you not only want me to risk my life, but also want me to willingly risk my life?”

Rainbow clapped her hands with a hearty laugh, “Why not? I’ve already given my life to you too. A life for a life, isn’t that fair?”

The two looked at each other and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Su Qing, upon realizing Xiu Fu was here, had already given up on her plans for self-preservation.

With Rainbow’s help, her chances of success were even greater.

Moreover, why be so pessimistic? She might not even die. Wasn’t it in desperate situations that cultivators sought opportunities?

Contending with fate, nothing more.

The two discussed for a while longer.

Su Qing then brought up the matter she had originally wanted to talk about.

She took out a transparent soul body from the blazing white flame in her chest.

It was covered with complex and obscure golden patterns, which, upon closer inspection, appeared to be some kind of incantation runes.

This soul body was actually Blood Thorns’ spirit body.

When they were fighting for their lives, Su Qing ultimately gained the upper hand.

While absorbing the demonic energy, she also absorbed part of Blood Thorns’ spirit, but Su Qing didn’t strike the killing blow because a curse was planted deep within her spirit.

Just looking at it sent shivers down one’s spine; it seemed to be entangled with something ominous.

To put it bluntly, it was like a laborer seeing their indenture contract.

Once their fingerprint was pressed, they understood their fate for the rest of their life was to be treated like cattle and horses for others.

Su Qing subconsciously stopped absorbing, carefully peeling away the remaining soul body along with the runes.

Ji Xinghong came from the prestigious Ji family. With just one glance, she recognized the origin of this spell.

She raised an eyebrow and said, “It seems that demonic cultivator has some background. This rune is a soul technique.

Those on whom it is cast become puppets of the caster, obeying them without question, never to be free for all eternity.”

Su Qing sighed inwardly, “I’ve only heard of puppetry, and that’s only planted in flesh and bone. This is the first time I’ve seen something that can brand the spirit.”

“Indeed, soul techniques are not something ordinary people can use, which is why I said she must have some background; there must be someone behind her,” Ji Xinghong said. “Those who can cast soul techniques either have incredibly high cultivation, far beyond the demonic cultivator’s realm, capable of unilaterally crushing her, or it’s a family secret technique passed down. Of course, it could be both.”

“Although you should consider the master before beating the dog,” Ji Xinghong said indifferently, “this isn’t the present world after all. And you didn’t tamper with the soul technique curse on her spirit. Even if her master wanted to hold it against you, they wouldn’t be able to trace it back to you. You can rest assured of that.”

Su Qing wasn’t actually worried about being traced.

When she and Blood Thorns were mutually eroding each other, she had inadvertently seen many of her memories.

These memories were very fragmented, mostly extremely bloody snippets, with only a very small portion showing Blood Thorns’ interactions with her master.

But that master was always very far from her, sitting high up, and with the concealment of secret arts, Su Qing couldn’t even clearly see the person’s figure, leaving no blurred impression.

Despite this, Su Qing also realized that the person had many subordinates, and likely wouldn’t care about the disappearance of a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator.

The only truly useful information Su Qing gained from these memories was probably three things.

First, a demonic bone was hidden in the Myriad Beast Forest. She had already confirmed this through intelligence from the Abyssal Void.

And this demonically charged world they were in was very likely the location of the demonic bone.

The reason they couldn’t leave was because they were all trapped in the demon bone’s lair, serving as its nourishment.

Second, Blood Thorns had been tracking a female cultivator.

This person had red scales on her face, an ominous sign, and demonic energy overflowing from her body. Su Qing confirmed that this was Ye Mingshi, whom Bayin had asked her to find.

Blood Thorns had already fought Ye Mingshi in the Dragon Boat Secret Realm, and it was then that she realized Ye Mingshi was naturally born with a demonic bone.

But Blood Thorns wasn’t aware that a soul beast had been planted within her spirit; she only thought she was controlled by the Thread of Control in her bone marrow, and still fantasized about exchanging bones, improving her cultivation, and regaining her freedom.

This time in the Myriad Beast Forest, the two unexpectedly met again.

In their chase, Ye Mingshi was forced to use her demonic bone ability again.

Fortunately, Blood Thorns hadn’t fully recovered from the serious injuries Su Qing inflicted earlier.

For a time, neither could gain the upper hand, circling each other for a long time until Blood Thorns inadvertently arrived here in a moment of distraction.

And Ye Mingshi, Su Qing was certain she was also here.

The character “Ye” hidden among countless “kill” characters might have been related to her.

This lightless realm was born because of the demonic bone, and Ye Mingshi also had a demonic bone.

Demonic bones might be able to sense each other.

It was not impossible for Ye Mingshi to be at the demonic bone’s location, or mixed within the demonic cult.

However, Su Qing currently couldn’t go looking for her. Her strength wasn’t enough.

The third thing was that she finally understood the origin of the jade-like object in her body.

It was an immortal bone, to be precise, the remains of the Carefree Immortal.

No wonder that jade-like object had a purifying and transforming effect on demonic energy; it turned out to be for this reason.

But she never expected that the item Little Goose left her would be the remains of the Carefree Immortal.

No wonder she said at the time that she and the Carefree Immortal had an agreement: if someone from the Sword School provided a satisfactory ending, she would give this item away.

It was all because of the Carefree Immortal.

Rainbow’s actions were swift.

The camp personnel were quickly reshuffled under her leadership.

Those willing to make the heart-fire vow and form a life-and-death alliance could stay.

Those unwilling were not forced, but these people needed to find new territory and establish new factions.

Danyue, Quanjue, and Zhu Qing from the first team were the first to respond.

Rainbow had commanded respect in the camp for a long time; almost a third of the people joined her team without much hesitation.

The remaining people, after three days of consideration, half chose to stay, and half chose to leave.

Their choices were also easy to understand.

This place was enveloped in demonic energy, full of dangers, and had a high casualty rate.

However, they had already developed a relatively viable set of operating rules.

Following these rules, while not solving the problem, could at least delay it.

There was no need to deliberately put themselves in danger.

Moreover, they were not optimistic about Rainbow’s proposal.

The forest here, where it was permeated by demonic energy, was vast.

How could one person, or a group of people, solve it? It was better to wait patiently for external support or a turning point as the best strategy.

More people chose to stay. One reason was that everyone was thoroughly exhausted and wanted to end all this as soon as possible.

Now that there was such a possibility, trying was better than doing nothing.

Moreover, exchanging lives and living and dying together was a rule they had been adhering to all this time.

Putting this rule into practice also provided them with security, so they were not resistant.

Those who left wanted to persuade the Healer to go with them.

Xiu Fu shook her head and refused, “I will share half of the rootless fire with you, and I will teach you the method of expelling demonic energy, but I cannot go with you.”

“Why?” Some were very confused. Many of them had been in the camp before the order was established and had spent many days with the Healer, developing deep affection. “Come with us. Can’t we protect you if Rainbow isn’t here?”

Xiu Fu said gently, “This has nothing to do with it. It’s just that wherever my friends are, there I am. I have already made up my mind.”

Over the past ten years, she had grown a lot. She would not be a deserter a second time.

The night after the camp was completely reshuffled was exceptionally quiet and profound, even appearing particularly desolate and broken due to the departure of many people.

The mood of those who remained was not high.

Everyone had made a decision, but no one knew what kind of outcome this decision would bring.

The more people’s hearts were in turmoil, the more someone needed to step forward and take responsibility.

In the past, Su Qing would sometimes step up at critical moments, but in the Sword School, no matter what happened, because there were reliable senior sisters, teachers, and stewards, she only needed to dutifully be a junior sister or student to hide under their wings.

Now, she had to step forward again.

This would be a heavy burden, but fortunately, she wasn’t alone.

Rainbow was by her side, Xiu Fu was behind her, and the more than a thousand people who remained shared her fate and that weight.

At this moment, these countless people huddled together, their chest flames flickering, both quiet and vibrant.

There was no need for a blood oath ceremony here, nor any additional conditions.

The vow of the life-and-death alliance was determined by the heart-fire; soul and flame lived as one, vow and spirit coexisted.

Everyone knew deeply that once the vow was made, once the spark was ignited, it would burn deep within the spirit, leaving a lifelong brand.

Although this was merely a temporary measure here, no one could guarantee whether the vow made with the spirit would become ineffective after leaving, because it most likely would not.

But no matter what, surviving first was the top priority.

“From now on, we are bound by a life-and-death alliance. With Twenty-Six as the center, we will do our best to protect her, prioritize her life, and never harm or secretly plot against her.”

“The sun and moon are bright; heart-fire is light.” Rainbow said in a deep voice, “Hearts like raging flames, spirits like bedrock, living and dying together, never abandoning each other. If this vow is violated, bodies will perish and spirits will dissipate.”

Before her words finished, a cluster of silvery-white heart-fire automatically surged from her chest, flying into mid-air.

Since they had come this far, there was no room for hesitation. In this sunless underground, the voices of over a thousand people rose simultaneously, like a premonition.

“Living and dying together, never abandoning each other. If this vow is violated, bodies will perish and spirits will dissipate.”

Numerous heart-fires ignited, completely illuminating this cold and dangerous night.

The flames condensed, and the vow, like an invisible golden thread, tightly linked everyone’s destinies together. With this vow made, they truly became an alliance that shared fate.

And this sharing was a promise to Su Qing.

Rainbow and the others were assuring her that her life and the lives of everyone here were placed on both sides of a scale, with equal weight.

She truly, as she said, placed all her chips on Su Qing’s side.

Su Qing couldn’t say whether she was dashing and bold, or truly trusted her, trusted her own judgment?

Su Qing thought, ‘Perhaps I’m not a perfectly good person after all, lacking much of a spirit of selfless dedication. I need a little promise before I’m willing to step forward.’ But this wasn’t bad, especially since someone had already thought of this promise for her.

In the blink of an eye, the second purification began.