Volume 13, Chapter 862 – How Can I Escape From Here?

“Big Sis, let me tell you a little secret: this necklace wasn’t originally red. That’s my blood inside.”

Qianqian leaned in and whispered softly.

“So what?”

Qi Huang steadied herself and asked.

“So as long as you’re wearing this necklace, I’ll know where you are no matter what. That’s the same type of collar my Little Black wears.”

Qianqian explained.

“Little Black? Who’s that?”

Qi Huang asked in confusion.

“Little Black!”

Qianqian raised her voice and called out.

DING-DANG… DING-DANG…

As the crisp jingle of bells echoed, a massive black zombie dog burst through the door and charged toward Qi Huang, barking wildly and drooling uncontrollably.

Qi Huang was startled and immediately stepped back in alarm.

“This is my Little Black.”

Qianqian patted the zombie dog’s huge head as she introduced it.

Qi Huang glanced at the dog’s neck and saw that it was indeed wearing a collar identical to hers, just a size larger. The only difference was that his had a bell hanging from it, not a butterfly pendant.

Qi Huang’s mouth twitched violently. She had the sudden urge to shove the cat-eared loli’s head into the gaping maw of this oversized black dog.

“Also, your necklace is different from Little Black’s. His only tracks location. Yours, on the other hand, has a self-destruct function. So make sure not to go more than a hundred zhang away from me.”

Qianqian casually added fuel to the fire.

“Self-destruct?”

Qi Huang’s face was filled with shock.

“Yep. Like I said, my blood’s inside. If it explodes, it’ll splatter everywhere. With that frail body of yours, I doubt you could survive it.”

Qianqian revealed everything without the slightest reservation, her face pure and innocent.

“Heh… self-destruct, huh… Keep pushing and I just might blow us both up.”

Reаd oո КаtRеαⅾinɡСafe

Qi Huang was so angry she laughed.

“If Big Sis doesn’t mind becoming a zombie, then go ahead. I don’t care.”

Qianqian replied nonchalantly.

Qi Huang let out a long, helpless sigh. She had clearly been too naive… this was a little demon, through and through.

“Little Black, stick to this Big Sis like glue from now on. Don’t let her escape. Got it?”

Qianqian gave orders to the dog.

WOOF WOOF…

Little Black barked obediently twice.

“Is this really necessary? I already have a dog collar, and now I get a dumb dog too…”

Qi Huang looked like she was on the verge of tears.

From that moment on, Qi Huang had no choice but to obediently act the part of a prisoner. Though the situation was grim, she still believed that as long as she was alive, there was hope.

Not long after, a mental transmission from Cheng Hongling sounded in her mind.

“Where are you now? Have you found any inhabited planets?”

Cheng Hongling sounded a bit impatient.

“No… not yet.”

Qi Huang hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn’t reveal she’d been captured.

“Why didn’t you respond when I tried to contact you earlier?”

Cheng Hongling pressed her.

‘Just woke up. If I’d responded earlier, I’d be a ghost.’

Qi Huang complained silently, then spoke aloud with a casual excuse: “Sorry, my dear. I was absorbed in cultivation and didn’t notice.”

“You expect a three-year-old to believe that? When have you ever been absorbed in cultivation? Unseal your spiritual imprint on the storage ring. Let me see what’s going on!”

Naturally, Cheng Hongling wasn’t that easy to fool.

“Let’s not do that. It’ll just delay our progress.”

Rеаⅾ оո KαtRеaⅾіnɡCаfе

Qi Huang immediately rejected the idea.

“Let me out!”

Cheng Hongling’s tone turned commanding, clearly sensing something was off.

“No way. Just stay in the storage ring and be patient. I’ll let you out when the time is right.”

Qi Huang gave a vague reply and promptly ended the mental transmission.

In the days that followed, Qi Huang spent every moment with a loli and a dog. Aside from cleaning now and then, she had no real tasks to do. During her free time, she racked her brain for ways to escape, but unfortunately, she hadn’t found an opportunity.

Still, it wasn’t all for nothing. At the very least, she had gained a deeper understanding of her enemies.

The most powerful being on this planet, Minghou Star, was naturally the Queen of the Underworld herself. She was a powerful fiend at the late Earth Demon level, roughly equivalent to the late-stage Earth Immortal Realm. In the Immortal Realm, she had virtually no opponents except for Immortal Emperors who ruled their own domains.

Because of her immense power, she was one of the eight most formidable fiends in the Immortal Realm. The ghost clans called them the Three Kings and Five Queens. The “Five Queens” were all Earth Demon-level female zombies, and all of them were descendants of Lu Yao.

‘Five Earth Demon-level monsters?’

Qi Huang wanted to cry. She couldn’t even handle one… let alone five. And it wasn’t just them; the fiends around them weren’t easy to deal with either. Take this cat-eared loli for instance. Qianqian might not be as strong as the Queen of the Underworld, but she was still a late-stage Monarch Demon, equivalent to a late-stage Monarch Immortal.

“No wonder she one-shotted me.”

Qi Huang couldn’t help but feel helpless after figuring that out. She was just a crippled cultivator whose Divine Sense barely reached the early Monarch-stage. Going up against a genuine late-stage Monarch Demon-level fiend? She was lucky she didn’t die on the spot.

The sense of danger in her heart grew more intense. She began thinking of every possible way to escape.

This is a black-colored planet, with endless oceans covering over ninety percent of its surface. From beneath the water, thick Yin energy constantly billowed out, blotting out the sky.

Thousands of meters below the surface, in a sunken basin, stood a grand palace. Moss and algae clung to its walls, thick with the weight of time. Though countless aquatic fiends moved in and out of the place, it was far from chaotic. Their movements were orderly like a disciplined human army.

In the largest palace at the center, a snake-tailed humanoid fiend was reclining on a throne, resting. Her body was curvy and seductive, and her face stunningly beautiful, bearing a seven-to-eight-point resemblance to Lu Yao.

“Sea Queen, the informant we placed on Minghou Star has a report.”

A female zombie with a fish tail handed her something shaped like a Thousand-Mile Communication Tube.

“Oh?”

Rеаⅾ οո КatRеαԁіnɡСafе

The snake-tailed woman’s eyes lit up as she took the device.

“Speak. What do you have to report to this queen?”

The Sea Queen held the “Thousand-Mile Communication Tube” with interest.

“Reporting to Your Majesty. There’s a high chance that the Blood Tear has already been found by the Queen of the Underworld.”

A woman’s voice came from the tube. If Qi Huang were present, she would immediately recognize it as “Aunt Hong’s” voice, the female specter who had accompanied Qianqian to Cangmang Planet to capture her.

“‘High chance’? That’s the intelligence you’re giving me? I’ve told you many times, don’t contact me unless you’re absolutely certain. Do you want to blow your cover?”

The Sea Queen’s tone turned sharp.

“Forgive me, Sea Queen!”

Aunt Hong apologized in a panic, then stammered out an explanation: “Here’s what happened…”

She then recounted the entire process of capturing Qi Huang, and added: “I don’t know exactly what the Blood Tear looks like, so I can’t confirm it one hundred percent. But judging from the way the Queen of the Underworld and her daughter treat that woman, I’m eighty to ninety percent sure the mark on her face is the Blood Tear you’re looking for.”

The snake-woman Sea Queen fell silent for a long while before finally saying, “Fine. I’ll trust you this once. Keep watching from there. If the Queen of the Underworld leaves, report back to me immediately. Understood?”

“Yes!”

Aunt Hong accepted the order respectfully, then hesitantly pleaded, “Your Majesty, I’ve been your informant for decades. When will you release my son?”

“Don’t worry. As soon as I get the Blood Tear, I’ll reunite you with him. So do your job well, and don’t play any tricks.”

The Sea Queen promised.

“I wouldn’t dare! I swear on my life to serve you, Your Majesty!”

Aunt Hong quickly pledged her loyalty, and the conversation ended.

The fish-tailed female zombie nearby opened her mouth as if to speak, but wisely chose to stay silent.

“Prime Minister Jiang, curious about what she said?”

The Sea Queen glanced at her.

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Prime Minister Jiang bowed repeatedly.

“Good. Keep that awareness.”

Rеаԁ oո ΚаtRеadinɡСαfе

The Sea Queen looked pleased, then dismissed the other servants before saying, “That informant just told me there’s an eighty to ninety percent chance the Queen of the Underworld has found the woman with the Blood Tear.”

“Eighty to ninety percent? So it’s not confirmed?”

Prime Minister Jiang frowned slightly.

“The Queen and her daughter are guarding the girl like a treasure. It’s not confirmed, but that’s exactly why the informant suspects she’s the one.”

The Sea Queen shook her head.

“So, what will Your Majesty do?”

Prime Minister Jiang asked.

“Of course we act immediately.”

The Sea Queen answered without hesitation.

“Forgive my boldness, but if we can’t be certain, wouldn’t it be too risky?”

The Prime Minister tried to reason.

“This is one of those times where it’s better to believe than doubt. Who knows if the Queen has other Demon Lords’ spies around her? If all the other descendants of the Demon Ancestor find out, it’ll be even harder for me to get the Blood Tear.”

The Sea Queen’s tone turned grave.

“Then Your Majesty must be extremely cautious. The Queen of the Underworld is not an opponent to be taken lightly.”

The Prime Minister advised again.

“I know.”

The Sea Queen waved it off, then sank into deep thought. After a long silence, she finally ordered, “Prime Minister Jiang, I’m giving you two tasks. First, spread a rumor that a fragment of the Demon Ancestor’s heart has appeared on Baofeng Planet in the Tian’e Star System.”

“You… You’re trying to lure her away?”

Prime Minister Jiang quickly grasped her intent, then expressed concern: “It’s a good plan, but will the Queen believe it? Now that she has the Blood Tear, she’s unlikely to leave her nest so easily.”

“That’s why the play must be convincing.”

The Sea Queen’s expression turned vicious as she opened her mouth, and spat out an actual piece of heart tissue.

“Your Majesty, you—?!”

Prime Minister Jiang was stunned.