Chapter 243: Remember It Well, It Is Your Mother, Never Forget
“Little lamb calls, little lamb cries, the stars in the sky have fallen asleep…”
“Stop singing.”
“What’s the matter, Young Master? Does this maiden not sing well?”
“Not well.”
“Hmph! This maiden sings very well! Little lamb calls, little lamb cries, the stars in the sky have fallen asleep, the stars on the ground follow along…”
Sili, rolled up at Xiao Mo’s waist, continued singing.
However, as she sang, she constantly observed Xiao Mo’s expression.
Seeing that Xiao Mo didn’t bother with her anymore, she sang even louder and more boldly.
After this period of getting along, Sili felt she had vaguely figured out Xiao Mo’s temperament.
As long as she didn’t make Xiao Mo repeat the same thing twice, then he wasn’t truly angry.
“There’s a little child crying and crying, there’s a little dog running and running~”
Sili sang the nursery rhyme over and over, her dangling little feet swaying back and forth.
Although for Sili, this was still the first time being held around the waist by a man, the feeling was better than she had imagined.
Moreover, Xiao Mo’s large hands were like iron, giving Sili an extremely reassuring feeling.
Through the light gauze, Sili could even faintly feel the calluses on Xiao Mo’s palm.
This made Sili glance at Xiao Mo’s profile with some heartache.
Although Xiao Mo’s talent was astonishing, these calluses also showed how hard he usually trained with his blade.
It was precisely this diligence that allowed him to fully display his talent.
“How’s your foot doing?” Xiao Mo asked.
“Eh?” Xiao Mo’s voice interrupted Sili’s song.
She moved her ankle, “It feels about healed.”
“Good.”
As Xiao Mo’s words fell, he released his grip without warning, and Sili fell to the ground with a “ya!”
“If your foot is healed, walk yourself.” Xiao Mo said coldly, not even turning his head back.
“So unromantic, what a waste of such good looks,” Sili pouted and muttered, but she still quickly stood up, patted the dust off herself, and chased forward, “Young Master, walk slower, wait for this maiden…”
Before they knew it, another thirty hours had passed.
Just as most people had expected, the Hundun secret realm was unexplored and indeed had quite a few heavenly treasures and earthly materials.
Xiao Mo and Sili frequently encountered cultivators fighting over treasures, and saw quite a few corpses.
As for Wangxin’s safety, Xiao Mo wasn’t too worried.
Although Wangxin usually seemed like a docile little lamb but Wangxin wasn’t a fool. Her Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart could see clearly into people’s good and evil hearts.
Moreover, in Xiao Mo’s view, Wangxin’s strength really wasn’t bad.
She didn’t want to harm people, but others would also find it difficult to harm her.
Just when Xiao Mo and Sili had been in the Hundun secret realm for fifty hours, an anomaly appeared in the blood-red sky above their heads.
Almost simultaneously, all the cultivators in the Hundun secret realm raised their heads to look up.
Streams of black-blue qi continuously gathered toward one location.
“Young Master, what is this?” Sili looked at Xiao Mo uneasily.
“Hundun qi,” Xiao Mo narrowed his eyes, “Walk faster.”
“Yes, Young Master!”
Sili quickly followed behind Xiao Mo, not daring to joke around in front of him anymore.
An hour later, Xiao Mo arrived at the location where the Hundun qi had gathered.
Similarly, cultivators from other sects also arrived one after another.
“Heavens…”
Looking at the plain before them, Sili covered her mouth in surprise and unconsciously moved closer to Xiao Mo’s side.
On this plain, one enormous corpse after another lay upon the blood-red earth.
From the bone structures, Sili recognized the remains of true dragons, phoenixes, and qilins.
There was also what looked like a winged whale skeleton.
It might be the long-extinct Kunpeng.
The other cultivators were also stunned by the scene before them.
Some cultivators stepped forward, wanting to collect some of these exotic beast remains into their storage pouches.
After all, these divine beast remains were excellent materials for crafting magical treasures and pills but when these several cultivators forcefully struck the Kunpeng’s bones, a terrifying pressure scattered outward.
Many cultivators felt a sweetness in their throats and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
As for those cultivators who tried to take the remains, they all turned into drifting sand, body and soul annihilated.
Everyone instantly didn’t dare act rashly.
Besides the various divine beast remains, Xiao Mo also saw weapons thrust into the red soil.
These weapons were all covered in rust, and most were damaged. Even if they had weapon spirits, those had likely long since dissipated but when Xiao Mo walked before a longsword, even after so many years, he could still feel the killing intent remaining on this longsword.
Looking across the entire plain, it was hard to imagine what terrifying great battle had occurred in this place.
Each cultivator walked carefully through this graveyard, afraid they might touch some restriction, also wary of other cultivators secretly making a move against them.
Before long, Xiao Mo saw a deep pit.
The pit was as large as a lake.
Scorching magma flowed within the pit.
At the edge of the pit stood a young girl, staring blankly at the rolling lava.
“What are you looking at?”
Xiao Mo walked forward and spoke to the young girl.
Wangxin jumped with a startled “ya!” When she turned her head and discovered it was Xiao Mo, her eyes flashed with delight, “Xiao Mo, are you alright…”
“I’m fine. What about you? Did you encounter any trouble these past few days?” Xiao Mo stood beside Wangxin.
“Nothing much,” Wangxin shook her head, “Just a few people who wanted to kidnap me, but I knocked them all out.”
“Do you remember what they looked like?” Xiao Mo asked.
Wangxin quickly grabbed Xiao Mo’s sleeve in fright, “Xiao Mo, I’m really fine…”
Even without being able to read Xiao Mo’s inner thoughts, Wangxin knew that Xiao Mo wanted to kill those people.
“Forget it, as long as you’re fine,” Xiao Mo didn’t press further, “So what are you looking at here?”
“There’s something at the bottom of this lava,” Wangxin said softly.
“What thing?” Xiao Mo asked.
“I don’t know,” Wangxin shook her head, “But I just feel there’s something down below.”
Just as Wangxin’s words fell, the earth violently trembled, the magma in the pit continuously roiled, and cracks split open across the ground.
“Let’s go!”
Xiao Mo had a bad feeling and grabbed Wangxin’s hand to run back but it was already too late.
In just one breath, the entire plain collapsed, and everyone fell downward, dropping into the magma.
With a moment of disorientation, when Xiao Mo opened his eyes, what he saw was complete chaos.
This feeling was extremely wondrous.
You could see your own hands and feet clearly, your vision had no obstruction whatsoever, but before you was complete emptiness.
“Wangxin!”
“Sili!”
Xiao Mo walked forward while calling out their names, but there was no response.
After walking for a long time, Xiao Mo didn’t see a single person.
“Xiao Mo…”
After who knows how long, Wangxin’s voice sounded behind Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo turned to look, and Wangxin came running toward him but just as Wangxin was about to touch Xiao Mo, his brow furrowed, his long blade unsheathed, and he struck down with one slash!
The “Wangxin” before Xiao Mo turned into emptiness and scattered with the wind.
“As expected, an illusion.”
Xiao Mo sheathed his long blade and continued forward.
“Young Master, quickly come save this maiden… Young Master…”
Before long, Xiao Mo saw Sili being besieged by several cultivators again.
Xiao Mo stepped forward and killed those several cultivators.
“Thank you, Young Master. Young Master has saved this maiden’s life again.”
Sili breathed a sigh of relief, the hand hidden behind her back gripping a short sword as she walked to Xiao Mo’s side.
Just as Sili was about to stab toward Xiao Mo, a flash of blade light passed, and “Sili” similarly turned into emptiness.
Xiao Mo spent about another incense stick’s worth of time in this chaos.
The longer he stayed here, the more Xiao Mo felt his consciousness growing fuzzy, his mind gradually becoming lost.
“Master…”
A familiar voice came again. Xiao Mo looked and saw Jiang Qingyi standing before him.
“Qingyi…” Xiao Mo called out softly.
“Master, I finally found you…” Jiang Qingyi walked forward step by step, “Master, you made me search for so long.”
“Xiao Mo…”
At the same time, another voice he would never forget came from behind Xiao Mo.
Turning around, Ruxue was crying, walking toward him step by step, “Xiao Mo… I miss you so much… Why did you leave me behind? Xiao Mo, say something…”
Looking at them, Xiao Mo gripped his long blade tightly.
He knew this was all fake, but his gradually lost consciousness told him they were all real.
Just as Xiao Mo was about to sink into oblivion, he steeled his heart and stabbed the blade toward his own heart.
Xiao Mo suddenly opened his eyes and found himself lying on stone bricks. Wangxin was kneeling beside him, looking at him worriedly.
“Xiao Mo, you’re awake…” Wangxin’s heart filled with joy.
“Mm.”
Xiao Mo sat up and looked around. All the cultivators were lying on the ground, fallen into sleep.
This was a very large cavern, surrounded by rock walls with no visible exit.
Looking up, the magma was actually floating above their heads.
“What happened?” Xiao Mo asked, his head aching a bit.
“I don’t know…” Wangxin shook her head, “That magma was an illusion. After you fell from above, you fell asleep like everyone else. Only I was awake.”
“I see…” Xiao Mo took a deep breath, calming his thoughts.
Xiao Mo guessed he had fallen into inner demons but Wangxin had the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart, her inner heart was perfectly clear, she had no inner demons at all, so naturally she was awake.
“Young Master… Young Master, don’t… this maiden is shy… oh my Young Master”
Just as Xiao Mo had stood up, Sili’s voice came from nearby.
Xiao Mo looked over and saw her drooling, the corners of her mouth lifting. Who knows what her inner demons had encountered.
Xiao Mo’s brow twitched. He picked up his blade sheath and slapped it on Sili’s body. The bone-piercing pain of the blood baleful qi immediately woke Sili up.
Sili opened her eyes. When she saw Xiao Mo, she couldn’t help but freeze, “Eh? Young Master? How am I here? Weren’t you with this one at Ten Thousand Flowers Peak? You were just about to bring this one into the room.”
“Stop dreaming and get up quickly!” Xiao Mo kicked her and ignored her.
“Xiao Mo, can you lend me some spirit stones? I want to set up a formation array to see if I can use the Clear Mind Sutra to wake the others…” Wangxin tugged at the corner of Xiao Mo’s clothing.
“I’m afraid it’s too late,” Xiao Mo shook his head, “Look.”
Following Xiao Mo’s line of sight, Wangxin saw cultivators completely sinking into their dreams, their life flames extinguishing.
The dead cultivators turned into points of spiritual power light, gathering toward the giant stone in the center of the cavern, as if becoming nutrients for that giant stone.
Some cultivators also woke up through their own willpower, but these were ultimately in the minority.
In less than half an incense stick’s worth of time, of the original three thousand plus cultivators, fewer than a hundred remained awake.
“Crack!”
The sound of stone splitting echoed through the cavern.
Everyone looked up at the giant stone ahead, which was covered in cracks, as if something was about to break out of its shell!
“Roar!”
With a beast’s roar echoing through the cavern, the giant stone completely shattered, and an exotic beast burst out.
“Hundun?”
Sili jumped in fright.
Its form was like a dog with long fur and four feet, resembling a bear but without claws, with eyes but unable to see, almost exactly like the legendary Hundun!
But this Hundun’s aura seemed very weak. From the spiritual pressure emanating from its body, its strength seemed no greater than an ordinary Nascent Soul realm cultivator.
“Roar!”
Another angry roar.
Hundun spat out a mouthful of black Hundun fire, and instantly dozens of cultivators were annihilated.
Then Hundun stomped down with one foot. Several people were locked by Hundun’s aura and couldn’t dodge at all, bursting into blood mist.
The cultivators naturally couldn’t just wait for death and simultaneously brought out their life-bound magical artifacts to attack Hundun.
This was Hundun after all!
Its entire body was treasure!
Taking advantage of its current weakness, perhaps they could really kill it!
However, they soon discovered they were wrong.
No matter how weak Hundun was, these people before Hundun were simply no match at all.
As if they were just ants that Hundun could casually stomp to death!
But the Imperial Beast Sect cultivators were very composed, even extremely excited.
Led by Chen Yunxi, the Imperial Beast Sect cultivators smeared a type of mud on themselves.
Hundun seemed to ignore them and killed toward other cultivators.
What they needed to do was wait for Hundun to kill all the other cultivators.
Then they would use the sect’s secret treasure to subdue Hundun and bring it out of the secret realm.
Especially Wu Qingfeng, his gaze had been fixed on Xiao Mo, and he couldn’t help but reveal a cold smile.
So what if Xiao Mo was strong?
He would still die at Hundun’s hands today but the next moment, what Wu Qingfeng saw made him suspect he was dreaming!
Xiao Mo, holding his long blade, walked step by step toward Hundun.
Hundun sensed the threat, turned its head and spat Hundun fire toward Xiao Mo but Xiao Mo only needed one blade strike to split the Hundun fire in half.
With each step Xiao Mo took forward, the baleful qi around him grew thicker, and his eyes gradually turned crimson.
With Xiao Mo as the center, blood baleful qi gradually spread.
In less than two breaths, the entire cavern became blood red.
“Heaven and Earth Illusory Red…”
Sili’s heart skipped a beat.
She had heard of this killing move of the Blood Demon Sword Formula but was seeing it for the first time.
Xiao Mo used his blade as a brush, blood baleful as ink, and as if putting brush to paper, slashed down toward Hundun with one strike.
“Roar!”
This blade strike solidly landed on Hundun’s body.
Hundun let out a painful roar. Its back was split open with a gash by Xiao Mo!
Hundun locked onto Xiao Mo’s form, then raised its foot to stomp down on Xiao Mo, wanting to crush this human into blood mist but Xiao Mo held his long blade horizontally and actually forcibly blocked Hundun’s giant claw.
Xiao Mo exerted force and lifted.
Hundun’s body lost balance and staggered backward.
By the time Hundun steadied itself, Xiao Mo had already leaped up, his blood blade slashing again!
“Roar!”
Hundun was completely enraged.
The Hundun qi around it condensed into several “vines” that lashed toward Xiao Mo.
These “vines” were condensed from Hundun fire. As they swept through the air, they even shattered the secret realm, revealing brief moments of void.
Xiao Mo’s figure moved around. Each time his long blade blocked a vine’s strike, he would turn the blade to slash at Hundun.
Blood-red blade qi and black Hundun vines continuously collided, like black ink and vermillion splashing against each other.
Xiao Mo’s long blade “painted” on Hundun’s body strike after strike, leaving several wounds.
“Boom!”
Xiao Mo was swatted by Hundun and smashed into the rock wall, his entire body embedded in it but the next moment, Xiao Mo pulled himself out of the rock wall and slashed at Hundun again, sending it crashing to the ground.
Watching this scene, everyone stood frozen in place, not even daring to breathe hard.
None of them had expected that a Golden Core realm cultivator could suppress Hundun.
Although this Hundun was currently weak, it was still one of the Four Great Fierce Beasts after all, and its physique was far stronger than ordinary demonic beasts by who knows how much!
“Stop!”
Suddenly, after Xiao Mo and Hundun had exchanged over a hundred moves, Chen Yunxi sensed something was wrong and shouted loudly.
The next moment, Xiao Mo held his long blade and slashed down!
Blood Demon Sword Formula, Blood Dawn.
Blood baleful qi like red clouds slashed toward Hundun.
“Boom!”
Blood baleful qi and Hundun qi merged and scattered, raising a storm with a deafening roar.
When everyone steadied their minds and looked forward, Hundun had already fallen before Xiao Mo but even so, it still tightly protected its abdomen.
Chen Yunxi and the others tried to step forward, but when they wanted to take a step forward, the violent blood baleful qi made cold sweat break out on their foreheads, and they couldn’t help but retreat.
They sensed that Xiao Mo didn’t take them seriously at all but if they dared to step forward now, they would surely die!
In the distance, Xiao Mo looked calmly at Hundun, while Hundun looked at Xiao Mo angrily.
It wanted to get up but no longer had the strength.
Actually, from the over hundred exchanges just now, Xiao Mo had discovered that this Hundun was not just weak in aura.
Its life essence had nearly disappeared. It had long been at the end of its rope, just barely holding on, and couldn’t have lived much longer anyway.
Otherwise, if he fought with it, the final outcome would really be hard to say but Xiao Mo could be certain that even if he won, he would pay an extremely high price.
“Roar…”
Hundun roared softly at Xiao Mo, then moved its claws away from its abdomen and looked at the long blade in Xiao Mo’s hand.
Xiao Mo first froze, then as if understanding something, raised his long blade and cut open its belly.
Within Hundun’s flesh and blood was something like an egg membrane.
Xiao Mo cut through the outer membrane again. Inside the soft membrane was a pink ball of flesh with wings.
Legend said Hundun had the form of a dog or bear with long fur and four feet.
There were also legends that said Hundun was a ball of flesh with fleshy wings.
Looking at it now, the flesh ball was Hundun’s juvenile appearance. After growing up, it would take the form of a dog or bear.
“A Hundun cub!”
When everyone saw what Xiao Mo held cradled in his palm, their hearts beat wildly.
This was a Hundun cub!
And its eyes hadn’t opened yet!
All fierce beasts had one common understanding, that whatever they saw the first moment they came into the world, they would regard as their parent!
Although Hundun “had eyes but couldn’t see, had ears but couldn’t hear.”
But that didn’t mean they truly couldn’t see. It was just that Hundun had lazy personalities and could perceive the world without using their eyes. They would only use their eyes to look at things they cared about.
Xiao Mo placed the Hundun cub before Hundun.
Hundun seemed to forget the pain of its wounds and extended its tongue to continuously lick its child.
Although Hundun was sexless, one could also say all Hundun were mothers. They didn’t need to mate. When they reached a certain age, they would naturally conceive the next generation within their own bodies.
After Hundun finished licking its child clean, its life flame was about to extinguish.
Leaning beside its child, Hundun gently nuzzled its child and gradually closed its eyes, completely losing its breath.
Just when the mother had left for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the little Hundun’s wings trembled slightly, as if about to open its eyes.
“Young Master! Quickly have Hundun look at you. If the first thing it sees when born is you, you’ll be its parent!”
Sili shouted at Xiao Mo.
Hearing Sili’s words, Xiao Mo extended both hands toward the little Hundun.
Just when everyone thought Xiao Mo would turn the little Hundun toward himself.
Xiao Mo positioned the little Hundun facing its mother.
Hundun slowly opened its eyes. The first thing it saw was its mother who had already closed her eyes.
“Migu… migu…”
Hundun flapped its wings and flew forward, continuously nuzzling its mother, as if wanting to wake her up.
“This is your mother.”
Xiao Mo slowly spoke to Hundun.
“Remember it well. It gave birth to you, protected you. Never forget.”
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