Volume 1, Chapter 458 – Offspring

The Heavenly Wolf was named Ruisuo. She was female, and the true ruler of this desolate island.

It was she who had brought Shi Lan here from that stretch of sea.

The disturbance from the tribulation had been far too vast, drawing many terrifying creatures from the Boundless Sea, and Ruisuo had happened to be relatively close.

Ruisuo was powerful, but to the current Shi Lan, that power amounted to very little.

After stepping into the Heaven-Man Realm, her strength had undergone yet another qualitative transformation. Below the Emperor domain, she feared no living being.

In the entire Lingyang Realm, a Heaven-Man cultivator was no weakling. One could already be called a great power.

Even in the Demon-Suppressing Army, where experts were as common as clouds, such a person could be appointed a second-rank Demon-Suppressing Marshal and command a million troops.

A Heaven-Man’s cultivation was tied to the strength of their own small world. The stronger that inner world, the greater the battle power one could naturally unleash.

Shi Lan could already call upon part of the Qiongluo Realm’s power, so her strength was far beyond that of an ordinary Heaven-Man.

Ruisuo was indeed strong, but she was still quite some distance away from the Emperor domain.

For martial artists of the Lingyang Realm, the Heaven-Man Realm required passing through nine heavenly tribulations. Rather than barriers, they were more like a kind of tempering imposed by the Heavenly Dao upon living beings.

Using the vitality within those heavenly tribulations to nourish the foundation of one’s small world would undoubtedly give one a greater chance when the time came to step into the Emperor domain and draw down the world-ending great tribulation.

But for Shi Lan, there was no need to undergo tribulation at all.

With the Qiongluo Realm, she needed no outside assistance to keep pushing her cultivation forward.

Once her cultivation was sufficient, she could directly draw down the world-ending great tribulation and ascend to the Emperor domain.

The method for cultivating the sixth layer of the Yuqing Creation Art had already surfaced in the depths of her mind along with her breakthrough.

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Unlike the ninefold classification of the Heaven-Man Realm in the Lingyang Realm, the sixth layer of the Yuqing Creation Art was divided into only three stages: minor accomplishment, major accomplishment, and perfection.

“Feeling better?”

Ruisuo slowly walked up to Shi Lan and transmitted her voice through divine sense. At the same time, she gradually shrank, turning into a giant wolf more than three zhang long.

Her attitude was very mild. The demons and devils of this region still understood the human race through the lens of antiquity, when humanity alone had flourished.

They believed that the lands of Lingyang were still a human world, with Sovereigns rising in great numbers and Great Emperors suppressing the age.

As time passed, generations of ancient demons and devils died off, hatred gradually faded, and only some legends and fear remained.

“Much better.”

Shi Lan felt a measure of gratitude toward Ruisuo. If Ruisuo had not taken her and Tianbai away that day, they might have run into even more terrifying creatures.

To some powerful beings, her flesh and blood was no different from a supreme tonic.

“I’ll be returning to Lingyang in the next couple of days. Thank you.”

With a flip of her hand, Shi Lan took out an immortal ginseng from the Qiongluo Realm and offered it to Ruisuo as thanks.

Ruisuo stared at the immortal ginseng for a long while, then suddenly shook her head.

“Shi Lan, you know, Ruitu…”

“Let’s not bring this matter up again. Don’t make both of us unhappy.”

Shi Lan frowned slightly and cut Ruisuo off at once, sounding a little impatient.

“I beg you. Help me just this once. Ruitu has incredibly high standards. In all these years, I’ve never seen her take a liking to anyone.”

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Seeing the displeasure on Shi Lan’s face, Ruisuo lowered her head and spoke in a humble tone.

“I won’t stop you if you want to leave, but even if it’s only to leave behind a trace of your bloodline…”

Shi Lan’s expression turned complicated, and she felt utterly helpless.

This sea region had developed along a path completely different from that of the Lingyang continent. The three races had gradually begun to merge, producing many half-demon, half-devil beings.

Most of these mixed-blood half-demon, half-devil creatures were not born through ordinary union between male and female. Instead, demons and devils would transform into eggs, then fuse in the blood essence of other races to develop a life-embryo.

From a certain angle, it was really no different from mating and giving birth.

“Stop hiding.”

Shi Lan swept a glance toward the nearby forest and suddenly spoke.

Rustle, rustle—

As the trees swayed, a figure stepped out.

She was a girl of sixteen or so, with brown hair draped over her shoulders, bronze skin, and an arresting figure.

Ruisuo’s daughter, Ruitu.

A true half-demon.

Her father had been a human, a mighty cultivator of considerable strength. Or rather, what remained of that mighty cultivator’s blood essence.

“Senior.”

Ruitu looked a little restrained. Leaning behind her mother, she greeted Shi Lan, head lowered, her smooth toes tracing lines in the sand, not daring to meet Shi Lan’s eyes.

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“I can agree to it. If you truly want a descendant with a powerful bloodline, I can give you a peerless portion of blood essence.”

Shi Lan let out a sigh. She had no desire to argue with a child, and she looked at Ruisuo as she spoke.

“Will it be Senior’s?”

Before Ruisuo could answer, Ruitu abruptly lifted her head. Her dark, bright eyes shone with dazzling hope.

“Of course not!”

A sharp shout shattered Ruitu’s fantasy, and she lowered her head once more.

Tianbai stood at the side, thoroughly confused, able to grasp only the general meaning. Thinking of how Ruitu had brought over spirit fruit the past few days, anger slowly appeared on her fair little face, and her cheeks puffed up.

She instantly categorized that behavior as courtship.

She must have swallowed a qilin’s gall to dare covet Her Excellency!

Tianbai instinctively wanted to bare her teeth, but after glancing at Ruisuo standing in front of Ruitu, she could not help feeling dejected again.

She was too weak.

“Ruisuo, my patience is limited.”

Shi Lan’s brows drew together tightly. She did not even dare imagine what sort of thing would eventually emerge from Ruitu’s body if she really left behind her blood essence.

Her offspring?

What an absolutely ridiculous joke.

Just the thought of it made Shi Lan’s scalp go numb.

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“If it’s not yours, I don’t want it.”

Ruitu muttered a complaint, twisted around, turned into an afterimage, and darted back into the forest.

“Sorry for troubling you.”

Ruisuo let out a soft sigh. She had never held much hope to begin with.

According to the ancient legends, the human race on land was extremely hostile toward foreign bloodlines. Even the Half-God Race, which possessed part human blood, had been driven into a dead end.

How could such a human race possibly tolerate descendants bearing foreign blood within themselves?

“Tell me before you leave. I’ll escort you out of this sea region.”

Shaking her wolf head lightly, Ruisuo did not persist any further. She turned and left, and with every step she took, her body expanded a hundredfold. Within a few breaths, the earth shook and the mountains swayed.

Clearly, keeping her size suppressed was very uncomfortable for her.

…

The whole matter was far too absurd, leaving even Shi Lan somewhat at a loss. Ruisuo’s decision not to bring it up again also let her breathe a sigh of relief.

According to the information Qinglan had sent back, the Huangze Mausoleum was about to open. Chu Hanzhou would definitely contact her soon. If, through some minor distraction, she were to miss the resting place of a Demon Emperor, it would be far too regrettable.

Thinking of the Demon Emperor, Shi Lan instinctively recalled those Supremes who had fallen within the Qiongluo Realm.

Most Supremes possessed worlds of their own. As they died and their Dao collapsed, those worlds would gradually begin to deteriorate as well.

But their worlds were far stronger than the small worlds of Heaven-Men. Most would not vanish outright, but instead drift through the great universe.