Chapter 56: The Demon Realm – Unexpected Discoveries

【You really are stingy, you know! You don’t have much stuff left!】

Sang Chu: 【I want to leave this place, but there’s no way out. Besides, with Tao Yao’s mind-bending powers here, the only way he’ll let his guard down and let me go is if he thinks I’m on his side and harmless.】

Otherwise, if she and that demon-catcher started fighting—

The main thing was, she couldn’t beat any of the demons here. Even if Tu You could steal something, there was no way they’d get away unscathed.

To be honest, she couldn’t even beat the withered butterfly lying on her lap!

Luckily, he thought she was one of his own and only scammed her out of a bit of spirit jade. If he’d really wanted to hurt her, it would’ve been all too easy.

After walking for a long time, the ice butterfly fluttered around Sang Chu on the barren ground. “It’s all spirit earth here. It’s just that nobody likes it. Take as much as you want!”

After saying that, she thought for a moment and moved closer to Sang Chu. “So, did you give all your spirit jade to Sister Tao Yao?”

Sang Chu: “I kept four pieces for my journey, but I can only give them to you after I get out. If I give them to you now and you leave me behind, I’ll have nothing left and no way out.”

“You really don’t have any more?”

Sang Chu nodded. “All I have left in my storage is this bag of broken spirit jade. I don’t even know how much it’s worth, so I just took it all out. I didn’t expect there’d be nothing left at all... except for your four pieces. Sigh…”

The withered butterfly tugged at Sang Chu’s sleeve. “Don’t worry, this spirit earth and spring water can be sold for a good price too. I’ll help you pack it up!”

As she spoke, she suddenly flapped her wings and took off, making Sang Chu’s eyes widen in surprise. She’d thought the withered butterfly couldn’t fly and that’s why she’d been clinging to her. Turns out, she just liked being close!

The butterfly landed and started gathering the spirit earth.

Once again, Sang Chu felt that spending spirit jade to buy things here was the right call. Compared to this butterfly’s true form, she was nothing.

With a single flap of her wings, she could probably sweep up all the spirit earth around!

The withered butterfly turned and saw Sang Chu spacing out. “Hey, kid, where do you want the spirit earth? Hurry up and tell me.”

“Ah? Oh, right! Just a second.”

Sang Chu turned an empty storage pouch into a ring. “Here, just put the spirit earth in here.”

The withered butterfly nodded and used her big wings to sweep all the spirit earth into the storage ring. In no time at all, it was full.

Withered Butterfly: “Want more?”

“Uh…”

She didn’t have any more empty storage pouches.

“Don’t be greedy.”

The ice butterfly looked at the now full storage ring with disdain. “Your storage is so small! Are you really that poor?”

Withered Butterfly: “Yeah, the ice butterfly’s right. You’re really poor.”

“Don’t say that!”

“Tao Yao-jie?!”

“You—you haven’t gone back yet…”

Tao Yao suddenly let out a cold laugh. “How could I go back when you’re talking about me behind my back?”

She walked over with a mischievous look, holding a bag of fruit. When the ice butterfly saw her, she visibly shrank back. “That’s the demon peach!”

“That’s right. Didn’t you say you were out of fruit? I went to pick some demon peaches. But then I heard you gossiping about me. What, talking behind my back makes you feel better?”

The ice butterfly hurried over to Tao Yao, hugging and clinging to her. “Sister, Tao Yao-jie, I was just joking! You’re so generous, can’t you give me one too?”

The ice butterfly’s voice was so sweet it gave Sang Chu goosebumps.

Tao Yao shoved her away. “Go on, get lost.”

She walked up to Sang Chu and handed her a bag of demon peaches. “Eat these to recover your spiritual energy. These peaches aren’t cheap—they’re a top product for wood-type demon cultivators. Here, take them all!”

Sang Chu accepted them without hesitation. “Thank you, Tao Yao-jie.”

“You’re welcome. Now, have you got all the spirit earth you need?”

The withered butterfly, looking a bit wilted, said, “All done, but this kid’s storage is so small, it’s already full.”

Tao Yao hadn’t expected that. She glanced at the ground, realizing how much spirit earth was gone, and looked at Sang Chu with even more admiration.

She really hadn’t expected this kid not to even have a decent storage artifact, yet she’d given away so much spirit jade.

“Kid, as for the spirit jade, I’m not giving it back. But if you need anything else, just tell me, and I’ll get it for you.”

Sang Chu said awkwardly, “Sister, all my storage is full of spirit earth now. If you think it’s okay, could you give me some seeds? Any kind will do.”

Withered Butterfly: “Good idea! You can mix the seeds right into the earth. That’s a great method!”

The ice butterfly looked at Sang Chu with new respect. “Didn’t think you’d catch on so fast, kid!”

Tao Yao: “You’re planning to go to the demon realm, right?”

Sang Chu didn’t know how the topic changed so quickly, but she nodded.

After getting confirmation, Tao Yao said, “Since that’s your plan, go wait for me at the boundary marker. I’ll go find you some seeds and bring them to you there.”

Boundary marker? Isn’t that the entrance to the demon realm?

“Okay, thank you, Tao Yao-jie.”

“You’re so polite. All right, go on ahead. If you’re late, you won’t make it into the city. I’ll go find those seeds now!”

Tao Yao was always so energetic—she said she’d go, and off she went in a whirlwind.

She was like a gust of wind, gone in a flash…

Sang Chu: “Tao Yao-jie has always been like this.”

The ice butterfly didn’t mind. “Of course. She’s like a thunderstorm. Come on, let’s go to the boundary marker. You’re really lucky, you know. Tao Yao-jie doesn’t let just any demon take spirit jade into the demon realm.”

“Why not?”

The withered butterfly shrank back into her small form and clung to Sang Chu’s leg:

“The boundary marker needs demon power to open. Tao Yao-jie usually guards it herself, so it’s really hard for anyone to get through. After the boundary marker is the Demon Corridor. It takes most demons three years to walk through it to reach the demon realm. But since we’re all demons, we live long lives, so three years isn’t much. That’s why we only go to the demon realm during big markets or festivals.”

“Three years?!”

If she had to walk the normal way, she’d have to turn back to the apocalypse before she even got halfway!"