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!"