“I’m not human. As soon as I leave the demon seal, I’ll no longer be affected by this place’s prohibition.” Radiance suddenly burst from the heart demon’s eyes, as if he was yearning for something outside the Impassable Sea. That face, every angle of which was familiar to Xi Ping, began to look a little inhuman in its greed. “Don’t worry. As soon as I get out, I’ll make sure everyone in the world knows.” 

Xi Ping frowned, and the heart demon immediately changed his face once more, like turning the page of a book. He lowered his eyelids, and his rapacious gaze vanished. He once again seemed human. The heart demon waved his long sleeve and took Xi Ping lightly down from the treetop. 

The demons that didn’t dare to get too close followed after, unsatisfied, grumbling and swearing in horrifying fashion, cursing the heart demon to a bad end for not sharing his meal. 

Perhaps the demons’s curses came from affection and thoughtfulness; before they landed, the heart demon suddenly seemed to sense something. He came to an abrupt halt and pushed Xi Ping aside, then grabbed a demon that was tailing him. Before that captured scapegoat demon could express its views, it was suddenly frozen by something. It struggled twice as if in its death throes, then silently disappeared right before Xi Ping’s eyes. 

Xi Ping, tossed aside by the heart demon, went weak at the knees. If not for the heart demon pulling him up, he would have fallen—he had felt himself brush shoulders with the Impassable Sea’s great demon with the unspeakable name. 

Unprecedented terror nearly crushed his guts. This terror came out of nowhere, so there was no way to overcome it with reason. Xi Ping’s back was instantly soaked in sweat… What had the Zhou family raised? 

Did they really believe that they could control this thing? Did they really believe it could give them justice? 

“That was close,” said the heart demon that looked equal parts male and female, beaming and smacking himself on the chest. “We were nearly caught by him.” 

Xi Ping looked at him in incomprehension. “Trapped in this kind of place all the time, how can you always be so joyful? How can you still laugh?” 

The heart demon said, smiling, “How could I be qualified to be a demon if I wasn’t joyful? Those who experience both joy and sorrow are ordinary, and those who sigh endlessly are gods and buddhas. We demons are born with nothing. Each day we survive is another day of happiness. Watching you humans go through all the stages of life, experience your sadness, happiness, and anger, is like watching colored glass scatter rainbow light. Why shouldn’t I be joyful?” 

“You aren’t afraid of death?” 

“As long as humans don’t become extinct, demons will live forever.” The heart demon breathed a laugh. “At worst I’ll become a demon seed and lay silent for some hundreds or thousands of years. There will always be someone presumptuous enough to come along and stir me up. Do you think that this demon host in the Impassable Sea is made of the remnants of ancient days, or the hatred of the Zhou family given form?” 

As he spoke, he landed in the depths of the reincarnation wood forest, holding Xi Ping under his arm. A reeking wind blew past. An inscription one chi square appeared on the ground. 

“Tell your brother to have a look and see whether this is the right inscription.” The heart demon turned and licked his lips. He said to Xi Ping, “I won’t lie to you. After all, I’m not like other demons. I can’t bear to see people being miserable…” 

Xi Ping was about to reach into the mustard seed when he heard the heart demon lower his voice: “…or A-Ying suffering. Though he has wronged me, after all, I did watch him grow up.” 

Xi Ping’s hand suddenly paused. Hiding it from Prince Zhuang, he quickly asked the heart demon, “Suffering how? What do you mean?” 

“The Impassable Sea’s great demon will soon be restored. That will bring disaster and turmoil upon all creation. Not one of the members of the Zhou family who have sustained this demon will be able to escape this sin. The owners of the other spiritual bones died long ago, their souls departed. Isn’t he the only one left? If he’s lucky, perhaps he can go before the great demon is restored, suffer a little less…” 

Xi Ping bristled. “What nonsense are you talking!” 

“I’m not talking nonsense. Of the skeletons on the altar, the youngest are no more than seven or eight years old, and those who were fortunate enough to reach adulthood are still hardly older than twenty. After losing their spiritual bones, a person can’t live long… You must have felt that, too, or else you wouldn’t have been seized with an impulse and snatched his spiritual bones in this place where you can’t even fly your sword. Him, well, I figure that he has maybe a year or two left.” The heart demon sighed and stuck up one finger. “Shh—don’t tell him I was the one who said so. If he knew that I had told you the truth, he would certainly hate me to no end.” 

Xi Ping grasped Prince Zhuang’s wrist bone in the mustard seed. Before he could speak, Prince Zhuang said, “The heart demon takes pleasure in toying with human hearts. No matter what he says to you, you can’t believe a word of it.” 

The heart demon stood in front of Xi Ping, tapped the mustard seed hanging around Xi Ping’s neck, and silently shook his head, mouthing, Lies. 

Xi Ping: “…” 

Prince Zhuang said, angrily, “In a bottomless den of demons, are you going to trust a heart demon, or trust me?” 

The heart demon couldn’t hear the private conversation between the two of them, anyway; he only put his hands behind his back and shook his head, sighing, as if regretting something. 

These two between them had nearly driven Xi Ping mad. They were both taking advantage of the fact that he was new to cultivation—he lacked common knowledge and was easy to trick! 

Prince Zhuang got right to the point: “Do what I told you. I have no close friends or relatives in the mortal world. I don’t have a shred of care apart from debts. If you dare to let him touch your spirit, I’ll end myself on the spot at once.” 

Xi Ping said involuntarily, “San-ge, don’t…” 

The heart demon’s fascinated gaze came his way. Xi Ping immediately shut his mouth.

As if he had been pushed into a corner and had no way out, he took out Prince Zhuang’s finger bone, shaking. As soon as the finger bone left the mustard seed, a blanketing inscription flashed on the ground. The demons nearby immediately became restless. One was bewildered and actually took no heed of the heart demon’s presence, brazenly throwing itself forward. 

Without so much as taking a look, the heart demon casually snapped his fingers, and the demon’s head was instantly separated from its body. Then it disappeared, “swallowed” by the Impassable Sea. 

“It must be here,” the heart demon said. “You can draw your talisman.” 

Xi Ping took a whole bottle of mind-clearing pills from his mustard seed and miserably swallowed half of it. He felt that these things weren’t even as bracing as strong tea. He inspected his own spirit inside and out to confirm that the heart demon hadn’t stealthily tampered with him. Then he steadied himself and concentrated, using his consciousness to draw a demon subduing talisman on his spirit—this was his first time drawing an unfamiliar talisman on something other than talisman paper. Presumably because, when forced by circumstances, a person’s latent potential is limitless, Xi Ping, an amateur who messed up half the time when drawing a contamination-avoiding talisman, actually succeeded on his first try. 

The demon subduing talisman that he had no way to activate settled on his spirit with a rumble, solemn and sinister, then turned invisible. 

Prince Zhuang gave him no breathing space: “Now that you’ve learned to do it, draw a demon subduing talisman on my spiritual bones with blood from your fingertip.” 

Xi Ping’s hands were shaking. 

The heart demon calmly asked him, “Better now?” 

Prince Zhuang said, “Hurry, don’t make me urge you a third time.” 

Xi Ping clenched his teeth, pricked his finger, and drew the talisman on Prince Zhuang’s spiritual bones—regardless of everything else, he first had to stabilize san-ge. 

He thought: I have to get these spiritual bones out of here. 

In that moment, this insufficiently shrewd young man showed all his thoughts on his face; meanwhile, perhaps because he had let his mind wander, his stroke went wild midway through the talisman. 

Prince Zhuang’s spiritual sense felt it at once. “You got it wrong. Draw it again!” 

Under the heavy pressure, Xi Ping at last collapsed. He suddenly drew back his constantly bleeding finger, held his head, and knelt beside the hopeless inscription. 

The heart demon keeping watch over him was like a faithful and reliable comrade-in-arms, protecting him perfectly in the ring of the demon host. He said kindly and understandingly, “The demon subduing talisman is a Zhou family secret that has never been passed down. You aren’t part of the Zhou bloodline. It’s too much to expect for you to succeed on your first try. Try a few more times. I’ll wait for you.” 

Xi Ping ignored him, eating the rest of the elixirs. 

The overdose of elixirs narrowly steadied his mind. Xi Ping opened bloodshot eyes, and a thought suddenly appeared in his mind: wait, would his san-ge, who could pry open a nest of demons centuries old with a single crack, really kill himself? 

Even if he really did correctly draw the demon subduing talisman on the spiritual bones, wasn’t the decision to toss the bones out a matter of an instantaneous decision? San-ge was far away on the mainland. He couldn’t do anything to control him. Even when he couldn’t walk, Xi Ping would openly comply but secretly disobey—was it possible for san-ge not to know what he was like? 

Xi Ping broke away from the spiritual bones, went behind Prince Zhuang’s back, and quickly asked the heart demon. “He wants me to draw a demon subduing talisman on his spiritual bones. Will the demon subduing talisman harm them?” 

First, the heart demon froze. Then he began to laugh in disbelief. 

Xi Ping said urgently, “What are you laughing at?” 

The heart demon clapped and said, “I’m laughing because Zhou Ying was born in a lightless world, grew up in the Impassable Sea, has been at odds with his parents and his siblings, is fickle and immoral, with less common human feeling than even we true demons possess—he would be unimaginably happy as a star of calamity bringing turmoil upon the world. But, of all things, he has you… You pull him back to the human world.” 

Not only was there no happiness in being human, you were also doomed to die. 

The heart demon narrowed his eyes craftily. Then his expression became solemn. He said, “Did he also tell you that the spiritual energy in his spiritual bones could activate the demon subduing talisman, but that the effect would be limited, and it could only shield you for a moment?” 

There was no need for Xi Ping to speak. It was all written on his face. 

The heart demon said, “The spiritual energy on his spiritual bones can indeed activate the demon subduing talisman. But over the years, he has been placed on the altar consecrated to the demon host. Spiritual stones and spiritual energy can only become nourishment for the demon host by passing through his spiritual bones. What do you think will happen when the ‘spiritual energy’ that has nourished demons touches the demon subduing talisman? If you successfully draw a demon subduing talisman on them, his spiritual bones will simply explode your mustard seed and detonate the demon host.” 

Xi Ping’s eyes popped: he’d known it! San-ge had been tricking him the whole time! 

He didn’t listen to any more of Prince Zhuang’s lies. He abruptly stood up and planted the finger bone right onto the exit inscription. The long-expectant heart demon turned into misty smoke and seeped into the center of Xi Ping’s brow, entering his spirit. 

“A-Ying, this little brother of yours isn’t easy to trick.” Landing in Xi Ping’s spirit, the heart demon laughed heartily and immediately broke his promise. With a wave of his sleeve, he was ready to wipe away the demon subduing talisman on that spirit. “I’ve won! You…” 

But he couldn’t finish speaking. The moment the heart demon touched Xi Ping’s spirit, the invisible talisman suddenly revealed itself. The heart demon saw the talisman clearly, and his laughter abruptly cut off. 

This was no demon subduing talisman! 

Xi Ping had no idea what a demon subduing talisman looked like. The talisman that Prince Zhuang had taught him to draw on his spirit was a primer for activating an array, tied to the demon seal. When the heart demon reached out to wipe it away, it was as if he had brazenly slapped the demon seal that he had been racking his brain to escape for thousands of years! 

Zhou Ying! 

In the Impassable Sea, the ten position demon seal immediately noticed that a demon was attempting to escape. It instantly connected with the primer on Xi Ping’s spirit. 

Like a handful of dust, the heart demon was swept away by the demon seal without making a sound. 

Xi Ping felt his mind buzz. A brutal aura charged through his spirit, passing right through him, but it didn’t hurt him one bit. For a moment he couldn’t work out what had happened. Meanwhile, now that the suppression of the heart demon was gone, the fearless demons around him immediately threw themselves towards him. 

“San…san-ge?” 

“Hurry!” This time Prince Zhuang’s aggravated fury wasn’t a pretense. “I knew that if you could obey orders, your name wouldn’t be Xi. Just you wait, Xi Shiyong. When you get out of there, I’m going to beat you up!” 

Xi Ping’s bloodshot eyes were lit up by the exit inscription. He jumped down. “Even if you beat me to death, I still won’t regret it!” 

“Really?” Just then, a quiet and gentle voice sounded while Xi Ping was completely unguarded. The heart demon that had clearly been swept away by the demon seal reappeared in his spirit. “Xiaobao, if I were you, I wouldn’t have spoken so soon.” 

Xi Ping’s pupils abruptly contracted—how could the heart demon know his pet name?! 

Could it be that he had been able to “hear” everything just now…?

“A-Ying, you left your spiritual bones here with me for nine years.” The heart demon reached out a hand and picked up a withered seed—what the demon seal had scattered just now had only been a heart demon seed. “Because I missed you so much, I couldn’t resist leaving a tiny bit of my consciousness on your spiritual bones. Such profound brotherly love. Truly moving.” 

Now, Xi Ping’s spirit was completely undefended. When the heart demon easily walked in, Xi Ping became a puppet in the heart demon’s hands. 

The heart demon laughed heartily. With Xi Ping’s hands, he grabbed Prince Zhuang’s bones inside the mustard seed. “A-Ying, you’ve disdained these spiritual bones of yours for a long time, haven’t you? Since you’re so eager to destroy the good and bad together, why don’t I help you…” 

The Impassable Sea opened wide. The salty smell of the sea poured in. 

The heart demon laughed wildly. He could already smell the aura of an ascended spirit. 

He had “heard” Xi Ping and Prince Zhuang’s private dialogue perfectly—right now, outside the Impassable Sea, there was a completely clueless ascended spirit cultivator, the master of the Sword that Mended the Heavens from two centuries ago. 

These brats in their teens and early twenties were no more than appetizers. Life and death seemed like important matters to them. Their flavor lacked depth. 

The Way of the Heart of an ascended spirit cultivator, refined for hundreds of years—now that was a delicacy for a heart demon…

But right at the moment that the heart demon was about to use Xi Ping’s hands to smash Prince Zhuang’s spiritual bones, he suddenly went stiff. 

He was stuck at the exit to the Impassable Sea. He opened his eyes wide and slowly lowered his head, like a rusted machine. He looked at Xi Ping’s hand—Xi Ping’s flesh was cracking bit by bit. A rumble began to sound in his ears, and his spirit began to quake. 

“What…did…” 

You just do? 

The spirit was the foundation of the consciousness. Since he had infected Xi Ping’s spirit, Xi Ping had stopped talking. Therefore, he didn’t answer—inside his mustard seed, the bottle containing the established foundation pill that had been put there like a lucky charm was empty, its contents mixed in with the large quantity of mind-clearing pills. It had passed straight through his meridians and spiritual bones! 

Xi Ping already had spiritual bones. Through hundreds of years of accumulation by the Zhou family, the bottom of the Impassable Sea had spiritual energy as plentiful as Flying Jade Peak. The conditions were perfect for establishing a foundation. If he only took an established foundation pill, he would immediately establish a foundation by force. 

A vast spiritual wind rose throughout the whole valley of the Impassable Sea and poured into Xi Ping’s spiritual bones and spirit. 

But he had no Way of the Heart. It was the Way of the Heart that was the key to an established foundation! 

How could anyone on earth be so arrogant as to dare to establish a foundation without a Way of the Heart! 

Without a sufficiently firm Way of the Heart to stand guard, even if your spiritual bones were as complete as could be and all else was ready, your spirit would still shatter the moment you established a foundation by force. Was he done with living? Didn’t he want Zhou Ying’s spiritual bones anymore?  

But the heart demon that had thought he had won a complete victory would never know the answers to these questions. The spiritual wind that rose when a half-immortal established a foundation was enough to change the weather; it completely blocked the heart demon’s line of retreat. When the spirit that had no Way of the Heart went to pieces, the heart demon that had stepped onto that spirit was annihilated without a sound. 

Far away in Guzhou, Prince Zhuang’s expression changed abruptly. He lost his footing—

Prince Zhuang had known from the start that his and Xi Ping’s “private” conversation could be overheard by the heart demon: he had cut off his connection to his spiritual bones nine years ago; if the heart demon hadn’t tampered with them, it wouldn’t have been worthy of being called a heart demon. 

Hearing Xi Ping repeatedly say “Shifu is outside the Impassable Sea,” he had known what audacious notion Xi Ping was getting at. 

The more powerful a master, the more dangerous it would be for him to encounter the heart demon. Suppose that General Zhi, a person who so rarely descended to the mortal world, really had come in person to look for Xi Ping in the mess of the East Sea on account of a beam of sword energy; then, given Xi Ping’s temperament, he would rather break himself at the bottom of the Impassable Sea rather than drag his shifu down. 

Prince Zhuang had only played along with that brat because he had thought that he had some magic weapon for controlling demons; but instead, he had taken an established foundation pill right in front of them without either of them knowing! 

What kind of lousy idea was this!?