Chapter 66: Demon Realm – Cooperation

Looking at Sang Chu, who had just returned, the old fox’s eyes crinkled with a smile. A little fox cub darted over to her, wagging its fluffy tail and blowing bubbles from its mouth, calling out in a childish voice:

“Grandma, why did she become Sister Xiaoyu’s little shadow?”

The old fox patted the little fox’s head and replied, “I just want her to use Xiaoyu’s appearance and identity to find the person who killed her and take revenge. Little one, hurry back and tell your brothers and sisters not to go out. Soon, the wolf demon will be captured.”

“Really?”

“Grandma has never lied to you. Now go on, hurry back.”

The little fox nodded, gave its tail a flick, and disappeared into a swirling vortex.

Standing at the entrance to Demon Mountain, Sang Chu saw the light fading and couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

No wonder so many people died here. These demons are each more ruthless and cunning than the last.

[Guangxi, have you finished analyzing the ingredients of that pill?]

Guangxi was currently working at high speed, having already found most of the materials in the demon realm. It quickly replied: [Analysis complete. Would you like to synthesize a pill with the same effects?]

[Yes.]

Sang Chu didn’t take it right away. Instead, she found a place to sit, with Yue Nai at her side. Yue Nai glanced at her, but didn’t seem to notice anything unusual, and soon left.

This made Sang Chu even more certain that the pill’s effects could truly deceive even the sharpest eyes!

While Guangxi was preparing to synthesize the pill, Sang Chu studied the process with interest, but then Guangxi hesitated:

[Master, there’s a powerful force inside this pill that I can’t analyze. The pill I synthesize won’t be as effective as the one you took.]

A powerful force?

So the reason the original pill was so effective was because of this force?

Sang Chu hesitated for a while before asking: [If I use the Spirit Jade, can you make a pill with the same effect?]

She sent the Spirit Jade directly into her small world for Guangxi to study. Guangxi suddenly materialized, its round body sprouting tiny hands to catch the Spirit Jade. After examining it carefully, it replied:

[Yes.]

It quickly found the necessary materials among the spiritual plants in her small world. Sang Chu used her spiritual power to speed up their growth, then extracted the power from the Spirit Jade and fused it with the ingredients.

The power of technology is truly amazing, Sang Chu thought as she watched the pill form before her eyes.

[Master, this pill is ready to use.]

Sang Chu didn’t use it immediately, but let Guangxi continue its research, feeding it the strange talisman she had obtained from the fox demon for further analysis.

Meanwhile, still in Xiaoyu’s form, she followed Tu You’s instructions and found her way to Tianfu.

“Huh? A little demon like you? What business do you have at Tianfu?”

Sang Chu smiled gently at the young man before her. “Little Tian, I’d like to meet someone from Tianfu. Could you introduce me?”

Gao Ming stared intently at Sang Chu. “Why do you want to see my father?”

Sang Chu replied, “You’re joking, Little Tian. With my weak abilities, what schemes could I possibly have? I just have some news about the wolf demon that I wanted to report to the elders. The demon realm is in chaos right now, and as a little sea demon, I’m scared too. So as soon as I heard something, I came straight to Tianfu. I need to hurry back to the sea clan before dark, so could you please help me out?”

Xiaoyu’s voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of shyness, and even Sang Chu herself hadn’t expected that it would unconsciously charm Little Tian.

Little Tian, dazed, replied, “Wait here, I’ll go get my father.”

“Thank you, Little Tian.”

Watching him leave, Sang Chu let out a sigh of relief. As long as she could cooperate with Tianfu, half the task of catching the wolf demon would be done.

She didn’t have to wait long before Little Tian returned, saying his father was available.

She followed him up three winding flights of stairs to a study.

Incense burned on the desk, and the elder sat behind it in white Daoist robes, holding a horsetail whisk, looking every bit the immortal sage.

Sang Chu bowed. “Xiaoyu of the Sea Clan greets the elder.”

He just nodded slightly, and Little Tian bowed and withdrew.

The elder asked, “You said you have news of the wolf demon?”

Sang Chu nodded, recalling how few celestial officials she’d seen along the way, and how the place seemed deserted compared to before. This confirmed what the old fox had told her—it was true.

“Elder, have you noticed that there are far fewer celestial officials around lately?”

The elder’s eyes sharpened. “What do you know?”

“I only know that the wolf demon is working with a nine-tailed fox called Huhui. This nine-tailed fox is a powerful demon from the Fire Clan. If you want to catch the wolf demon, Huhui is the key.”

The elder asked, “How did you find out? And why come to us instead of your own demon king?”

Sang Chu smiled bitterly. “If I had any other choice, I wouldn’t have come to Tianfu for help. The sea clan is weak, and my own sister was killed by the wolf demon. Our demon king doesn’t want to provoke the powerful fire fox clan, so I came here to seek outside help. I just want to catch the wolf demon and bring peace to the demon realm. Elder, you are known for your kindness and justice, always helping the weak and fighting evil. That’s why I risked everything to come here for help. Please, help us get rid of this evil.”

The elder was silent for a long time before finally saying, “Do you know what you’re asking?”

“I know very well. If you don’t believe me, you can investigate for yourself before making a decision. I won’t disturb you any longer. I’ll take my leave.”

With that, Sang Chu flicked her big fluffy tail and left Tianfu. As she exited, she bumped into Tu You.

Sang Chu blinked in disbelief—this tall, handsome man with delicate features, standing nearly two meters tall, was actually the human form of the little bunny she knew?

How could she ever see Tu You as a bunny again after this?

“You…”

“You…”

They stared at each other in awkward silence.

Sang Chu: [Should I leave first and talk later?]

Tu You nodded, and after they both slipped away to a secluded spot, Sang Chu couldn’t help but ask: [Why can’t I enter the small world?]

Her spiritual power could enter, Guangxi could enter, any living thing could enter—except her.

Tu You explained: [To prevent dead travelers from hiding inside, the small world is set up with a barrier. Any living thing can enter, but the contract holder cannot. Just give up.]

[Fine!]"

"Here’s a fluent, natural English translation of your text:

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**Chapter 67: The Demon Realm – Cultivation**

On their way to Demon Mountain, Sang Chu and Tu You finished dividing up their belongings.

After Tu You finished, she stared blankly at Sang Chu for a moment before blurting out, “Sang Xiao Chu, you… you’re really something!”

Sang Chu replied, “What can I do? Who told me to be weak? If I don’t play some tricks, how am I supposed to survive?”

Tu You handed over all her things to Sang Chu, who simply stored them in her jade storage ring. Afterward, she handed the ring back to Tu You, saying, “This jade ring is too conspicuous on me. You’d better keep it.”

Her spiritual sense and Light Brain were both inside the ring’s space, so even if she wasn’t holding the ring, she could still access them.

After taking the ring, Tu You looked at Sang Chu and asked, “There aren’t any live creatures for sale in the market, but I’ve bought pretty much everything else we need. What should we do next?”

Sang Chu said, “Let’s collect as many cultivation methods from Demon Mountain as possible. The more we have, the better our chances of finding one that suits my brother. I don’t believe he’s completely talentless—he can’t be without any spiritual roots at all!”

Tu You didn’t want to dampen her spirits, but couldn’t help saying, “It’s really possible, unless he has an empty root or a mutated supreme root. Otherwise, it’s basically impossible for him to awaken any abilities.”

“What exactly are these roots?” Sang Chu asked, a bit confused. Although she’d heard some explanations before, this was reality, and things were different from the stories she’d read.

Tu You explained as they walked, “An ‘empty root’ is what’s called a ‘useless root’ in common terms. It’s different from other roots. For example, you have a heavenly root, and your heavenly root contains the power of the five elements. So no matter what kind of power you use, as long as you awaken it, you can gain the corresponding abilities. Once your root is filled with power, you can unlock other abilities. In your apocalypse terms, that’s called ‘awakening.’

“But an empty root, as the name suggests, is empty inside—it doesn’t have any innate power. It needs a huge amount of spiritual energy to be poured into it, and even then, it might not awaken. That’s why it’s called a ‘useless root.’”

That actually sounded a bit like her brother’s situation.

Sang Chu looked at Tu You again. “Then what about a mutated root?”

“A mutated root is similar to an empty root, but not quite the same. As long as you have spiritual power to stimulate it, a mutated root will definitely awaken—sometimes even instantly. People with mutated roots have no bottlenecks in their cultivation. This kind of root is extremely rare. Empty roots are hard to awaken and even harder to cultivate with, but once a mutated root awakens, nothing can stop your progress.”

Sang Chu said, “If those are the only two possibilities, then I hope my brother has a mutated root. But just in case, I’ll search the entire Demon Mountain. I have my Light Brain, so you and I can split up and search. My Light Brain is also studying alchemy, so if it works out, I’ll scour the whole Demon Mountain!”

Tu You couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you afraid of being discovered?”

“What’s there to be afraid of? Even if I get caught, I can just run back to the apocalypse. Who says I’m weak? If it weren’t for those white energy stones being impossible to take, I’d have dug them all up and built a Demon Mountain in the apocalypse! But the Light Brain says those stones contain unknown powers, and if I take them, I might attract the attention of some big shot from the upper realms.”

Tu You said, “Good thing you didn’t take those stones. If you had, my investigation team would be toast!”

There were powerful restrictions on those stones. If someone tried to steal them, they’d be immediately teleported away—very dangerous.

Sang Chu reassured her, “Don’t worry, I value my life. I don’t do things I’m not sure about. This isn’t a game—if I die, there’s no respawn. If I’m not 100% sure, I won’t risk my life.”

She wasn’t alone—she had family and friends waiting for her back in the apocalypse. She couldn’t afford to die!

“Alright, being cautious is a good thing. Let’s split up and search,” Tu You agreed.

Sang Chu nodded, and the two of them entered Demon Mountain one after the other.

But as soon as Sang Chu entered one of the cultivation caves, the effects of the pill she’d taken wore off!

Why did it last such a short time?

Just then, her Light Brain sent a message: “Master, I’ve analyzed the ingredients of the pill you took. I’ve also detected similar spiritual plants in the storage space. Should I start making more?”

“Yes, make more,” Sang Chu replied.

She let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t dare eat the fox demon’s pills, but if her Light Brain could make pills with the same effects, she could use those.

After all, the Light Brain was just a highly intelligent AI, not a demon fox.

Soon, the Light Brain notified her that the pills were ready. Sang Chu immediately took one.

Gradually, she felt her skin start to itch. She scratched at it, only to discover that a layer of dead skin was peeling off!

Shocked, she quickly pulled out a mirror.

She’d thought her appearance was already decent, but when she looked, she realized all her old skin had fallen away, revealing new, fair, radiant skin beneath—even her scars had disappeared.

Her snowy, translucent skin left Sang Chu stunned.

It had been so long since she’d seen herself look this young.

After the apocalypse, she’d suffered a lot of injuries, and the scars were so deep that even the healing abilities of the mutated world couldn’t fix them.

But now, after less than a minute, her skin was flawless and the scars were gone!

Now, even if she stood in front of the fox demon, she might not recognize herself.

As long as she kept her wood ability suppressed, she wouldn’t be discovered.

Thinking of this, Sang Chu immediately contacted Tu You and told her everything about the Fire Jade Fan.

Tu You was silent for a long time before finally saying, “If that’s the case, I’ll go buy a purifier and seal the weapon. Once we finish our business in the demon realm, we’ll purify it.”

“Can you remove the fox pill inside?” Sang Chu asked.

“No need to remove it. Just neutralize the excess power on the surface. That way, you can use the weapon without activating the pill’s power. Wait here, I’ll go buy the purifier. Be careful and hide yourself well.”

Tu You had always thought Sang Chu was overly cautious, but now realized she’d been too careless herself. If Sang Chu really died in the demon realm, she’d be in trouble too. Thinking about it now, it was good that Sang Chu was so careful—at least she could keep herself alive!

Sang Chu sat cross-legged in the cave, activating her wood ability to connect with her spiritual roots. Suddenly, a white jade slip floated in front of her, containing martial techniques for using wind power. Sang Chu’s eyes widened in amazement.

“Whirlwind Slash!”

With a shout, Sang Chu followed the instructions on the jade slip, channeling her spiritual power. A spinning blade of wind formed in her hand and slashed toward the cave wall. Each strike was sharper than the last, and the powerful attacks opened her eyes to a whole new world!"