23: Master, is this "Devouring Heaven Demon Art" just for propping up the corner of the table?

Hidden God Sect, Main Hall.

On a simple wooden bed, Leng Yanran slowly opened her eyes.

The effects of that Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Pill were extremely potent; although it hadn't completely repaired her Meridians eroded by Demonic Evil Qi, it had at least pulled her back from the brink of death.

She struggled to sit up, her first reaction being to warily survey her surroundings.

What met her eyes were walls with gaps letting in the wind, a roof missing half its structure, and a broken table with a missing leg propped up by bricks.

A faint smell of mold permeated the air.

"Where is this?"

Leng Yanran frowned; her memory was still stuck on that Youth in White Robes at the Mass Graves.

"Awake?"

A lazy voice came from the doorway.

Leng Yanran looked up sharply to see Li Daoxuan walking in, holding a bowl of dark... medicinal soup?

"How do you feel? You won't die, but your body is more fragile than paper."

Li Daoxuan placed the bowl on the bedside table with a "thud," the force of which caused some liquid to splash out.

"Ninety percent of your Meridians are severed, and your Dantian is like mush, filled with Heavenly Demonic Evil Qi. Forget about practicing ordinary Cultivation Techniques; your life will likely remain this way."

He was telling the truth.

Leng Yanran's condition was even worse than he had imagined.

She was essentially a cripple.

Leng Yanran didn't speak.

She just stared fixedly at Li Daoxuan, her cold eyes filled with wariness and scrutiny.

She didn't believe there was such a thing as unconditional love in this world.

This man had gone to great lengths to save her; he must have an ulterior motive.

"What exactly do you want?" Leng Yanran asked bluntly, her voice hoarse. "My body? Or the Cultivation Techniques in my head?"

"Pfft—"

Li Daoxuan, who had just taken a sip of water, spat it right out.

He looked Leng Yanran up and down, his gaze like someone picking out pork at a wet market.

"Young lady, confidence is a good thing, but excessive confidence is just narcissism."

"Look at yourself now—covered in wounds, with half your mask broken, looking like a female ghost. To be honest, even the chicken in my backyard is more fair-featured than you."

"As for Cultivation Techniques..."

Li Daoxuan sneered and shook his head. "That amateurish Demonic Technique of yours? I'd find it too stiff to use as toilet paper."

Leng Yanran: "..."

In her past life, she was the noble Demon Empress, sweeping through the eight directions, with suitors lining up from the Demon Realm to the Immortal Realm.

This was the first time in both her lives combined that she had been called ugly!

And she was even compared unfavorably to a chicken?!

"You!"

Leng Yanran was so angry her chest heaved violently, which aggravated her wounds and made her cough uncontrollably.

"Alright, alright, don't get worked up. Be careful not to let your wounds reopen."

Li Daoxuan waved his hand, looking impatient.

"I saved you only because I saw you have an extraordinary skeletal structure, making you a good candidate for culti—cough, cough, a good candidate for manual labor."

"As long as you take me as your Revered Master and join my Hidden God Sect, I guarantee your injuries will heal, and I can even help you resolve the hidden dangers of your Cultivation Technique."

"Well? Consider it. You won't get another chance like this."

Take him as Revered Master?

Leng Yanran sneered.

She, the dignified Demon Empress, would take some unknown rogue as her Revered Master?

It was a massive joke.

Although this man was indeed somewhat mysterious, she was more inclined to believe he was using this method to extract the memories in her mind.

"No need."

Leng Yanran refused flatly, her tone icy. "I will surely repay the debt of saving my life in the future. But as for the matter of apprenticeship, do not mention it again."

"Now, please leave. I need to circulate my Qi to heal."

She was issuing an eviction notice.

Li Daoxuan looked at her "I'm number one in the world, don't try to fool me" expression and didn't get angry.

Instead, he was amused.

She had character.

As expected of an SSS-grade potential, she had a temper.

If she had bowed down after just a few words, he would have truly suspected if this Empress was a fraud.

"Fine."

Li Daoxuan shrugged and turned to leave, acting like he respected her choice.

"Since you're so stubborn, then as your Revered Master, I won't force you."

"Heal yourself slowly. By the way, the dog outside has a bit of a bad temper. You'd better not wander around, or if you're bitten to death as an intruder, don't blame me for not warning you."

As he spoke, he walked over to the broken table.

Just as he was about to sit down, the chair wobbled.

"Tsk, this table leg is uneven again."

Li Daoxuan frowned and looked around, seemingly searching for something to prop up the table leg.

As if suddenly remembering something, he flipped his wrist.

A flash of light appeared.

An extremely ancient-looking, even somewhat tattered thread-bound book appeared in his hand.

The cover of the book was made of some unknown beast skin, appearing a deep black; the pages were yellowed, and the corners were worn and frayed.

Li Daoxuan didn't even look at the title before casually stuffing it under the wobbling table leg.

Thud.

The table instantly became stable.

"Hmm, the thickness is just right."

Li Daoxuan nodded with satisfaction, then sat at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and began to savor it.

The entire process was smooth and natural.

As if that book were truly just an ordinary stepping stone.

However.

On the sickbed.

Leng Yanran, who had been icy and distant just a moment ago, completely froze the moment she saw the book, as if struck by the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning.

At that moment, her pupils dilated to the extreme.

She stared fixedly at the spine of the book stuffed under the table leg.

Although only a few words were visible, and the script was ancient and obscure.

She... recognized it!

Even if it were turned to ash, she would recognize it!

That was... the "Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art"!

And it wasn't the incomplete version she practiced, but the legendary, long-lost... complete Imperial Scripture personally written by the first ancestor of the Demon Realm!

Boom—!!!

Leng Yanran felt her brain explode.

That was the supreme Demonic Classic she had spent her entire life searching through ten thousand realms for, yet failed to find!

It was the root cause of her Qi Deviation in her previous life due to practicing the incomplete version, which ultimately led to her falling with regret!

It was the greatest obsession of her life!

And now.

This supreme Imperial Scripture, enough to make the entire Demon Realm and even the Immortal Realm go mad... was just... by that man... casually... used... to prop up a table leg?!

Leng Yanran's worldview collapsed at this moment.

It shattered more thoroughly than dumpling filling.

She looked at the back of the Youth in White Robes who was leisurely drinking tea; her gaze shifted from initial wariness and scrutiny to confusion and shock, finally turning into deep... fear.

A person who could casually take out the complete "Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art" to prop up a table... then what kind of Heaven-Defying Cultivation Technique must he be practicing himself?

He said just now that my amateurish Demonic Technique was too stiff for him to use as toilet paper... It turns out he wasn't insulting me.

He was stating a fact!

Leng Yanran felt her face burning with pain.

Shame.

Utterly humiliated.

She had actually tried to use "taking him as Revered Master" to manipulate him just now?

It was like a toad at the bottom of a well shouting at a Dragon in the sky, "What are you looking at?"

"I... I..."

Leng Yanran opened her mouth, but found her throat so dry she couldn't say a single word.

Li Daoxuan seemed to notice her gaze.

He turned his head and, following Leng Yanran's line of sight, saw the book pressed under the table leg.

"Oh, you mean this?"

Li Daoxuan kicked the table leg, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather.

"Loot seized from the Blood Fiend Sect just now. It looked thick enough, perfect for propping up the table."

"What? Are you interested in this kind of trash?"

As if suddenly remembering something, he showed a "kind" smile.

"If you like it, I don't mind giving it to you."

"Anyway, I have no use for this kind of trash."