Chapter 409.2: The Black Demon Abyss, Bloodline

The moment Ji Buping saw that tablet, his face changed. The jade tablet was black, which signified a core member within the Black Demon Abyss.

Qi Yuan appeared thoroughly pleased. "Thank you, Sister Horns."

No wonder people said beauty alone could be a disaster, but beauty combined with other things was an absolute killing blow.

The purple-robed woman's gaze drifted to Jiang Lingsu, sizing her up thoroughly. "Is this your little concubine?"

The look she gave her was the sort a villainess in a drama would give the female lead before sizing up the male lead.

Jiang Lingsu, who had been holding onto Qi Yuan's arm, felt distinctly uncomfortable under that gaze. Nevertheless, hearing herself described that way left her both irritated and oddly thrilled.

Qi Yuan said, "Ahem... no, she's not."

Sister Horns said bluntly, "Good thing she's not. Aside from having slightly bigger... assets, she doesn't have much else going for her."

Jiang Lingsu's face went instantly red. Still, she knew couldn't afford to lose her temper, or it would cause trouble for her senior brother. I'll endure it. I'll endure it!

Qi Yuan said gently, "Lingsu is a good person."

Most of Jiang Lingsu's anger melted away.

Sister Horns asked him, "How about you? Are you interested in becoming my little concubine?"

He declined flatly, "Ahem, sorry, that's not really my thing."

The woman looked at him and smiled with amusement. "Just you wait, handsome. Soon enough you'll understand exactly how much power and charm I have."

She sounded exactly like a knockoff domineering CEO from some drama. With that, she blew Qi Yuan a flirtatious glance and vanished from sight.

***

A voice-transmission slipped into the purple-robed woman's ear. "Young Mistress, was there anything unusual about that human cultivator just now?"

"He carries our Black Demon Abyss bloodline, and its concentration is no weaker than mine." A flicker of curiosity crossed the woman's eyes as she raised her hand. A mark had appeared on her pale white arm. "The Demonic Heaven Mark is glowing. He'd make a fine little concubine!"

"His bloodline is that good?!" Her guardian was utterly stunned. "How could the Black Demon Abyss have let a bloodline like that slip out into the world? Which branch does he belong to?"

In the upper world, the Black Demon Abyss was almost fanatically obsessed with bloodline purity. If an infant were born and tested to carry an especially precious bloodline, their entire family could leap several social ranks overnight. Some such infants, even while still mortal, were treated like a god within the Black Demon Abyss.

Once they ascended to Yin Spirit, they'd receive treatment befitting a Heavenly Venerable. Precisely because of this, the Black Demon Abyss's core bloodlines almost never leaked out into the wider world.

When the Demonic Heaven Mark failed to determine the source of the handsome cultivator’s bloodline, a flicker of astonishment crossed the purple-robed woman’s eyes. "Well, it doesn't matter which branch he belongs to. What matters is that I'm the one who found him, which makes him mine. So tell me, how do I win him over and get him to willingly become my little concubine?"

Her guardian asked, "Um... With your charm and standing, winning him over should be no trouble at all. Should I have someone investigate his background and origins, just to be thorough?"

"No need." The purple-robed woman shook her head. "Pity, I still need to track down the Dawn Star Jasper Beast, or I'd drag him back to Sixth Heaven right now."

In fact, that was precisely why she had traveled from Sixth Heaven to the Moluo Clan's territory. That rare, unusual creature would help her tremendously in refining her bloodline further!

***

Meanwhile, Qi Yuan turned the pitch-black jade tablet over in his hand. A satisfied smile spread across his face. "The Black Demon Abyss really is easy to get into after all."

Not far off, Ji Buping seethed with envy, though he didn't dare show it. Offending someone important within the Black Demon Abyss was the last thing he wanted. He'd always longed to join them. Even a stray rat that crawled out of that place seemed a cut above him.

Ji Buping said in a somber tone, "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist!"

Then, the man slipped away without lingering further.

Jiang Lingsu clenched her small fists, thoroughly deflated. "Senior Brother, you were right. I really was being conceited. Turns out, there isn't a single wealthy young master in the immortal realm who's interested in me! Instead it's you who's caught the eye of some young mistress and now I'm the one making trouble for you. Is this what it feels like to be looked down on, dismissed?"

It was the first time she had ever been on the receiving end of such treatment and it left her questioning everything.

Qi Yuan shrugged. "What's there to worry about? You're not the protagonist of some drama. It’s just some rare in-game event. Come on, let's head to the Black Demon Abyss's outpost. Time to go mooch for some free food."

"No way. This time I'm going to cultivate seriously and work my way up to Yin Spirit!" Jiang Lingsu gritted her teeth, then immediately deflated again. "Ugh, my talent is just too poor. Reaching the Yin Spirit realm is so hard."

***

With the purple-robed woman's token in hand, Qi Yuan's entry into the Black Demon Abyss's outpost as a guest official went off easily. In fact, they didn't even bother investigating his background carefully. That spared him the trouble of using the Great Forgetfulness Sutra to slip past unnoticed.

Inside the outpost, he ran into Ji Buping again. The man appeared distinctly awkward and was still nursing his jealousy. His fourth-grade bloodline had earned him the rank of a Profound-tier guest official. As for Qi Yuan, thanks to the token, he held the rank of Earth-tier, one level above him. It didn't sit well with Ji Buping at all.

Qi Yuan paid it no attention whatsoever. Since Jiang Lingsu couldn't stray too far from him, the two ended up sharing the same cave, though in separate rooms.

Just then, a flash of inspiration struck him. "Do you think I should get one of those tattoo stickers and pretend I've got a high-grade bloodline too?"

He'd noticed that the Black Demon Abyss cultivators all bore certain marks corresponding to their bloodline status.

Wherever Black Demon Abyss cultivators went within the Moluo Clan's territory, the local Moluo cultivators treated them like foreign dignitaries, practically worshipping the ground they walked on. One could say Black Demon Abyss cultivators enjoyed a kind of privileged "foreign VIP" treatment among the Moluo Clan.

Now that Qi Yuan counted as something of a half-VIP himself, wouldn't slapping on a fake tattoo let him strut around with a bit more swagger?

She suddenly grew enthusiastic. "What kind of mark? Where would you put it?"

Qi Yuan said quite seriously, "What do you think of a crescent moon? Right on the forehead?"

"I think it'd look good."

He shook his head. "Actually, my skin's too pale. I couldn't pull off the Bao Zheng[1] look."

Then, something occurred to him and he grew curious. "No, wait. Come to think of it, maybe I don't need to fake it at all. There's something in my body that resembles the Black Demon Abyss bloodline. Where could it have come from?"

Back when the purple-robed woman had approached him, he'd already sensed she wasn't the shallow type who'd taken an interest purely because of his looks. Besides, how could anyone from the upper world be that simple-minded? So, quite openly, he'd eavesdropped on her conversation with her guardian.

1. The "Bao Zheng look" meme in Chinese internet culture refers to joking comparisons made about someone with a very dark or stern facial expression, likening them to the legendary incorruptible judge Bao Zheng (Judge Bao), who is traditionally depicted with a pitch-black face and a crescent moon on his forehead. ☜