Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 14

Light and dark, two sides of the same coin, interdependent, yet in opposition.

Ji Xinghong told Su Qing that the tree she had illuminated had lasted for thirty days before being completely consumed by demonic energy.

In the first seven days of being illuminated, this tree even used its own vitality to expel the surrounding demonic energy, causing the neighboring trees to be deeply blessed, sprouting clean, fresh branches and leaves.

Although this small area of light ultimately vanished, unable to withstand the dense demonic energy around it, this was undoubtedly good news.

It meant that as long as Su Qing and the others ignited the light, it would continuously grow, expanding as it existed.

This increased their efficiency.

Originally, Su Qing thought it might take half her life here to purify the demonic energy, and that was the most optimistic possibility.

Now, she thought, it might succeed in just a few hundred years.

At worst, everyone would have graduated by then, and she would just be a new student fresh out of the secret realm. It wasn’t… unbearable.

After all, life wasn’t a track, it was a wilderness.

If it could be a wilderness, why couldn’t it be a forest? That’s right, life should be spent in a forest.

Su Qing closed her eyes, numbly comforting herself. She began the second purification with the life-and-death alliance.

This time, the location was still on the outer edge of the forest. She chose a thick ancient tree.

This tree was at least a thousand years old, about ten meters tall, its branches and leaves deeply permeated with demonic energy.

Black mist swirled through its crown, like an unyielding aura of death.

Su Qing gently touched the tree trunk with her hand. It was as cold as iron, completely lacking the warmth of wood. Indeed, after all, it was a twisted, dead tree.

She sat beneath the tree, five hearts facing upward, and began to meditate.

Her figure, tiny beneath the tree, at first glance seemed to merge with it.

Demonic energy surged into her body without ceremony, entangling her spirit, attempting to devour her completely.

Su Qing silently chanted the heart-fire mantra.

Silvery-white flames overflowed from her body, pouring into the tree roots, climbing along the ancient tree’s veins, from the trunk to the branches and leaves. At every fork, light spots appeared.

The dots sensed each other, connecting into lines, and the lines intertwined, outlining the tree’s lifeline.

It suddenly ignited, and a sky-reaching light radiated outwards in circles.

The people assisting nearby all showed expressions of shock, muttering involuntarily, “So this is how it is.”

How could one person’s light be so immense? Although her cultivation was only at Foundation Establishment, where did she get such great power?

Danyue gazed intently, “No matter how many times I see this, I can’t look away. It’s truly too bright.”

Xiu Fu frowned worriedly but said nothing. She could see that this light could not have appeared for no reason; it must have come from Su Qing acting as a medium, exchanging with demonic energy.

Demonic energy could transform into vitality; this was a good thing. But Su Qing, as the medium, would surely not be having an easy time.

She summoned the rootless fire, silently guiding the overflowing light into the fire seed, making it burn more fiercely.

Everyone did not forget what they needed to do. Dividing into two, one group hunted the attracted Soul Beasts, while the other sat in meditation, absorbing the light purified by Su Qing.

This purification lasted for a full three months. During this time, Ji Xinghong guarded Su Qing’s side without leaving her for a single step.

Undeterred Soul Beasts and demonic cultivators, smelling the scent, sought them out and were all decisively killed by her.

Beast cores were taken from Soul Beasts, and heart-fire from demonic cultivators.

This sister always acted swiftly and decisively, taking and using everything without waste.

Because, at this time, Su Qing’s surroundings within a radius of one li were as bright as a melted day.

In this domain, Soul Beasts and demonic cultivators automatically received a weakening debuff.

One step in meant one step weaker, and by the time they reached the center, they were so weak that only their illusory forms remained.

Therefore, Ji Xinghong, while cultivating and guarding, could still manage. She neglected neither.

As for Su Qing, she actually couldn’t feel anything anymore. It was simply too cold.

Beneath her tightly closed eyes, what she saw was death, as deep and turbulent as the ocean under a moonless night.

Her own tiny spark of light was so weak, like a lonely little lamp.

Grayish-black seawater surged into her body, scrambling to extinguish that tiny light, then flowing out.

However, the flame was extremely resilient.

Under such impact and compression, it not only didn’t extinguish but also dyed the inflowing seawater golden.

Xiu Fu would come to her side twice a day.

She wouldn’t say anything or do anything, just quietly sit with her for a while, then hold her hand, cold as ice, and transfer a wisp of her own heart-fire into Su Qing’s body, using this method to tell Su Qing that everything was alright.

Su Qing would sometimes lie quietly beneath the sea, so cold that her body was covered in layers of thick frost, and even her eyeballs and brain seemed to have frozen into ice.

She would even get lost between light and dark, unable to distinguish where she came from or where she was going.

Fortunately, there was this faint light, though tiny, it was enough for her.

Outside, after a slow accumulation of a round of light, people spontaneously transferred all their heart-fire to the rootless fire, condensing a larger heart-fire.

Then they used this spark to illuminate other trees.

Originally, these fires would be completely extinguished in three days and nights, not on the same level as Su Qing’s effect of expelling demonic energy with an immortal bone.

But under the light of Su Qing’s domain, these weak lights, as if protected, could last for half a month, and even slowly absorb brilliance, assimilating into the light illuminated by the immortal bone.

One person’s power would be smaller, but these thousand-plus people all used themselves as vessels, fire seeds and fuel, so the speed was considerably faster.

Three months later

the demonic energy within a ten-mile radius was completely purified.

When Su Qing opened her eyes again, her surroundings were a lush green.

New vitality happily danced on the branches, and pure white light fell upon her through the leaves, casting a gentle, misty glow.

It was a joyous occasion. A green light spot finally appeared in the pitch-black map.

Ji Xinghong said softly, “You’ve worked hard.”

She had been guarding Su Qing’s side all along.

If Su Qing were ever in danger from demonic energy, the life-and-death alliance would prioritize her life, concentrating all flames on her.

But Su Qing didn’t utter a sound, enduring it all. It took someone with great perseverance to achieve this.

It must be said, such endurance and tenacious vitality were truly worthy of a body cultivator.

Ji Xinghong couldn’t help but think, ‘Speaking of which, Twenty-Six’s age is actually similar to her brother Ji Xingjian’s. Although Xingjian is also a young genius, he is ultimately impetuous, arrogant, and very foolish. Compared to Twenty-Six, he is quite far behind.’

Since the last time he came out of the Dragon Boat Secret Realm, not only was his cultivation completely ruined, dropping to early Qi Refining, but after returning, he fiercely practiced swordplay and kept muttering something like, “Those hateful Sword School people, the advantage was clearly mine back then…” She wondered which Sword School member had made him so distraught. She would like to meet them.

Sometimes, he would inexplicably say, “What’s the difference between a donkey and a mule? Why nitpick?” Then he would stare blankly into space. Ji Xinghong guessed he had some youthful thoughts.

Thanks to this sudden boyish sentiment, he finally stopped constantly calling out “Big Sister, Big Sister, Big Sister” and recklessly yelling at Li Weiyang, giving her a period of peace.

She no longer had to sneak in and loosen his joints in the middle of the night while he slept.

Su Qing gazed at the increasingly robust flame in her chest.

She seemed to have touched the edge of breaking through Foundation Establishment.

She just didn’t know if the cultivation of her spirit could be transferred to her physical body…

This journey was dangerous, and a bit bitter, but the gains were truly substantial.

Of course, she hadn’t forgotten that the prerequisite was to leave here alive.

“I vaguely saw some images,” Su Qing said. “I absorbed the demonic energy of the Myriad Beast Forest, so what I saw should also be scenes from the Myriad Beast Forest. But they were all ordinary sights like the changing seasons, the sun rising and setting. Nothing special.”

Perhaps, when she converted enough demonic energy, she could unearth a bit of the forest’s truth.

The subsequent matters were left to Rainbow and the others to conclude.

Su Qing, before the third purification, got a few days of short vacation.

She didn’t have to do anything, just find some sense of being human again and maintain a good mindset to cope with the next purification.

The feeling of being human was simple. Su Qing said, “I want to eat something, something delicious.”

She wanted to go back to school to eat in the cafeteria, eat from the small copper pots, small wontons, meat board noodles, fried spring rolls, etc.

In short, she wanted to gorge herself in the cafeteria, eating from morning to night, until even the cook lady who always refilled her bowl couldn’t help but say, “Child, stop eating, I’m scared.”

Quanjue said coldly, “That can’t be satisfied. We only have two options here: eat some light or eat some demonic energy.”

Danyue hesitated for a moment, “Or I can have someone list dishes for you, and you can just imagine eating them?”

“Forget it…” Su Qing thought for a moment, then said, “I miss my sword. It’s been with me since it was born. I fed it three meals a day with my own hands. I’ve never been separated from it for so long. I wonder how it’s doing. Does it have separation anxiety?”

Quanjue thought, ‘What kind of sword needs to eat? And has separation anxiety? It’s probably just a sword cultivator’s wishful self-delusion.’ But the words that came out were, “There are no swords, but plenty of scoundrels. Shall we catch a few demonic cultivators for you?”

Su Qing, “…No need.”

Quanjue coughed, “Anything else?”

Su Qing said casually, without much hope, “Does petting a cat count?”

Quanjue also seemed to feel a bit apologetic. She readily said, “That’s simple. Anything that meows is a cat! I’ll find someone, no, find a cat for you to pet.”

‘No, it’s completely different.’

Alas, this poor life where you wanted nothing but got nothing was truly familiar.

Su Qing carefully recalled her short decades of life and was startled to realize she had lived this kind of life almost entirely.

Thanks to them, she finally found a sense of being human, especially the feeling of being poor.

She’d just chat with Xiu Fu instead.

A few days later, the third purification began.

This time, it took six months, illuminating an area of fifteen miles around.

This, along with the previous two times, gradually opened up a bright ground camp.

The members of the life-and-death alliance could finally walk freely on the surface, instead of having to shrink back underground like mice during the day.

Su Qing’s spirit strength also slowly refined to early Golden Core stage.

Her heart-fire capacity also increased significantly, and each session lasted longer than the last. This time, she saw some other time fragments of the forest, but still no clues.

At this time, the half of the people who chose to leave had also gradually returned.

Ji Xinghong did not stand on ceremony with them; she made them swear a double heart-fire oath and allowed them to reside only on the outskirts of the camp.

This meant their chances of being attacked by Soul Beasts increased, and the danger level rose. Many people left in anger, but Ji Xinghong was unconcerned.

“Is this a place where you can come and go as you please? People must be responsible for the choices they make, and I must also be responsible for those who chose to stay from the beginning.”

Even so, more people still chose to stay.

Because, unlike last time, this time they saw real, tangible hope.

And this hope was brought by Su Qing.

It was like light in the dark night, a life-saving straw.

Many people even exaggeratedly gave her nicknames, which should have been honorifics, but these titles only circulated privately.

Su Qing tried hard to pretend not to know, until Xiu Fu specifically held back a laugh and asked her, “Do you want to be called Alliance Leader, Saintess, Cult Master, or Everburning Flame, Son of Light, Daughter of Destiny?”

Su Qing said with a blank face, “Please call me Swordsman Twenty-Six.”

“If I absolutely have to use these embarrassing titles,” Su Qing paused, then said firmly, “Please call me Leader.”

Everything else was superficial.

Only this title of Abyssal Void Demonic Cult Leader was something she had truly seized. She was the most loyal believer, after all.

Abyssal Void Leader, Swordsman Twenty-Six, Su Qing, felt much lighter in spirit amidst this banter.

The viscous, cold, and painful feeling that constantly dragged her down seemed to have disappeared.

She exhaled a non-existent breath, feeling lighter in her heart. She could prepare for the fourth purification.