We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 521: The Holy Woman Ceremony of Tushan

As the great whale broke through layer upon layer of cloud and flew straight toward the direction of the North Sea, the earth below was cast in its enormous shadow.The whale's own flying speed was already exceptional.

With the formation's support, three days later they had already crossed millions of li, and the North Sea was only a step away.

By this point, some of the Hanshan Academy scholars had noticed that the direction they were traveling seemed to be leading toward the Ten Thousand Laws Realm.

In particular, when they observed the academy's deputy Dean Chao Xi standing not far away, one hand clasped behind him while the other was curled tightly into a fist, a visible tension in his expression.

But they asked nothing. They simply pressed down whatever questions stirred inside them and kept them buried.

At the same time, Little Green's heart was growing more and more tense.

Though these three days had been remarkably fortunate, with no one having intercepted them, until the day they left the Demon Realm behind, she would not feel at ease.

Especially now, so close to the end, was precisely when she could least afford to slacken.

A thunderous boom filled the sky, and peals of thunder rang out one after another. Dark clouds gathered ceaselessly, as though at any moment a torrential downpour would fall but when everyone looked into the distance, as far as the eye could see in every direction, the sky was clear and unbroken, a vast expanse of blue.

Only directly overhead was there this band of dark clouds and wherever the whale flew, these clouds spanning ten li in every direction followed without fail, like a shadow inseparable from the body.

"Sister."

Little Green turned her head and glanced at her elder sister, worry rising in her expression.

She understood. What she had feared had happened after all.

"I know."

Bai Ruxue gave a quiet nod, her expression still as undisturbed as ever.

As though even if the sky fell, it could not stir so much as a ripple within her.

A tremendous roar shook the heavens.

The thick black clouds overhead were suddenly torn apart.

A beast of thunder, as vast in form as a mountain range, stepped out through empty air.

Its shape was that of an ox, its body a deep blue-grey with no horns, one foot only, its roar like the crack of thunder itself.

Following behind it, a black water serpent threaded through and among the clouds in continuous, restless motion.

This black serpent had already grown four limbs with four claws, and carried the faint signs of a bloodline reversion toward the true dragon, as though only one final step remained.

Beyond that, a flier fish descended from high above, its gaze fixed and calculating.

Its form was like a common bird's, its feathers a vivid red, with three tails, six feet, and four heads.

As the Northern Canon of the Demon Realm had recorded, "The Peng River flows from this place and joins the western waters of Lake Pi. Within it are many slender fish, their form like birds with red feathers, three tails, six feet, four heads, their call like magpies, and those who eat them are freed from sorrow."

All three great demons were each a demon king in their own right, and the instant they appeared, a terrible pressure saturated every corner within a thousand li. Even with the great formation protecting the scholars, cold sweat had risen on more than a few foreheads, and they wondered what they had done to draw the attention of three such powerful demons.

"Bai Ruxue, you have gone rather too far!"

The black serpent blocked the whale's path, its gaze fixed with a hungry intensity on Bai Ruxue as it spoke in a cold and flat tone.

"Gone too far?" Little Green stepped forward, contempt plain in her expression. "My sister is returning to the North Sea, and you come to block the road. Who exactly has gone too far here?"

"Miss Little Green misstates things." The flier fish called Shuo spoke.

"These scholars have been studying at the Hanshan Academy, and the Hanshan Academy has long occupied a place of concentrated spiritual veins within our Demon Realm, drawing off the Demon Realm's fortune. These scholars are people of the Demon Realm, and should be dealt with by us."

"Dealt with by you?" Little Green gave a cold scoff. "These scholars carry the fortune of the Demon Realm within them, and are the first generation of demon scholars ever produced, favored by the Confucian great path, every inch of them a treasure. Should they be eaten alive by you, or rendered down into medicine?"

"These are things that belong to our Demon Realm. There is no need for you to concern yourselves." The thunder beast called Chang said in a low, heavy voice. "Leave these scholars behind, and the two of you may go!"

Just as Little Green was about to say something further, Bai Ruxue stepped forward and spoke in an unhurried voice. "And if we refuse to leave them?"

Her voice was not loud, and yet no one present dared to disregard a single syllable.

"Refuse? Then do not expect to leave the Demon Realm!"

The thunder beast took one step forward.

In an instant, bolts of lightning, thick as rivers, came crashing down toward the great whale.

Bai Ruxue glanced up at the sky with an unhurried expression.

Great silver-white dragons condensed from freezing cold surged upward, shattering those lightning strikes to pieces, then hurled themselves straight at the thunder beast.

The black serpent reared its head and opened its jaws, breathing out a stream of scorching black vapor.

Wherever that black vapor reached, the silver-white dragons were dissolved entirely.

"Bai Ruxue, this is not your Four Seas!" The black serpent roared with fury.

"Young Miss Bai! These scholars have no connection to the Four Seas whatsoever. Surely the Four Seas is not here to claim a share of our Demon Realm as well?" The flier fish still had not moved, still attempting to persuade.

"The Four Seas has no interest in whatever small benefits you see in any of this." Bai Ruxue's tone was soft and unhurried. "Only, what these scholars principally study is my husband's learning. That being so, they are in a sense my husband's students."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The black serpent burst into loud, mocking laughter.

"You humans cannot even protect your own sages! You suppressed his learning, and could not even leave behind his name! And now it falls to us beasts of the Demon Realm to carry on his tradition for you."

"Bai Ruxue, what a useless figure your husband must be. Humans will not study his learning, but beasts do. Could it be that his was the learning of beasts?"

The black serpent's mockery rang out across a hundred li in every direction.

Little Green's anger blazed, a fury in her chest that she could barely contain, and she was about to transform into her true form and charge at the black serpent to tear it apart but she had barely taken one step before her sister was no longer where she had been standing.

By the time Little Green understood what had happened, all she saw was the black serpent's body suddenly fold at a sharp angle, as though its spine had been snapped under someone's foot, and its entire body dropping rapidly downward.

A thunderous crash.

The black serpent struck a mountain peak with tremendous force, splitting the whole peak apart, sending dust and debris billowing up for a thousand li in every direction.

As the dust gradually cleared, everyone could see: Bai Ruxue's delicate embroidered shoes were standing steadily on the black serpent's spine.

The black serpent was pinned beneath her and could not move, with no strength even to struggle.

"I did not hear that clearly." Bai Ruxue looked down at the black serpent beneath her feet, her voice as calm as still water. "Would you... dare to say it again?"

In those golden, slit-pupiled eyes, there was no anger, no killing intent.

Because in her eyes, this black serpent was already dead.

"Old thing! If you do not act now, I am genuinely going to die here today!" The black serpent did not beg for mercy. Instead it threw its head back and shouted upward at the sky and the moment those words left the black serpent's mouth, a cloud-serpent five hundred zhang in length slowly pushed its enormous head out from within the clouds above.

Little Green stared at the cloud-serpent, her small hands tightening involuntarily into fists.

She had just been wondering how three demon kings of the Immortal realm had the audacity to come and block her sister's path.

So there was an old cloud-serpent behind them giving them courage.

The cloud-serpent looked down from above, its gaze settling on Bai Ruxue, and spoke slowly. "Young Miss Bai, please show some mercy."

"I did not expect that the legendary cloud-serpent clan would also emerge into the world, to contend for the Demon Realm." Bai Ruxue looked at the cloud-serpent with a calm expression, her tone carrying neither warmth nor coldness.

"Ha ha ha, well, the times are unsettled." The cloud-serpent clan's leader, Kongsheng, said with a smile. "Our cloud-serpent clan needs to step out and take a hand in keeping things in order, if only to prevent these younger ones from causing too much trouble."

"Keeping things in order?" Bai Ruxue gave a cold, clear laugh. "Since when has the Demon Realm needed the cloud-serpent clan to keep things in order?"

At those words, the whole of heaven and earth fell into a sudden deep silence.

No one present had anticipated that Bai Ruxue would show the cloud-serpent clan's leader not even a moment's consideration.

But the cloud-serpent clan's leader's expression did not change. He gave only a faint smile, his tone remaining composed. "Whether we can keep things in order does depend on whether the other demon clans are willing to give us some small face. But, Young Miss Bai, might you give us some small face, and let him go?"

"Your face?" Bai Ruxue asked lightly in return. "What is your face worth?"

The moment those words left her lips, the foot in the embroidered shoe applied the faintest additional pressure.

A sharp crack rang out.

In that single instant, the black serpent's spine beneath Bai Ruxue's foot was snapped clean through.

"Bai Ruxue! You have gone too far!" The cloud-serpent leader's voice went cold, his fury undisguised.

"And so?"

Bai Ruxue was unmoved, and continued to apply pressure with her foot.

The black serpent let out howls of agony that shook the mountains and valleys around them.

Gradually the howling grew lower and lower, weaker and weaker.

The time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, the black serpent was crushed to death under Bai Ruxue's foot while still alive.

"I will say one final thing."

Bai Ruxue clasped her hands before her and let her cool gaze sweep across everyone present.

"Get out of my way."

Bai Ruxue's voice rang out across heaven and earth, lingering long and in that same instant, Bai Ruxue released the full suppression she had been keeping over her own cultivation level.

Endless dragon fortune came rushing toward her from all four directions.

The dragon roar of the ancient true dragon rang through heaven and earth, sending wind and clouds into upheaval.

The cloud-serpent leader stared at Bai Ruxue, his expression dark, yet he did not make a single move.

Cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of both demon kings Chang and Shuo.

Their cultivation was already at the middle stage of the Immortal realm, and yet in this moment an uncontrollable urge to kneel was rising inside them.

"Unexpected. Young Miss Bai, so young, and yet already at the peak of the Ascension realm!"

The cloud-serpent leader said coldly.

"Since Young Miss Bai is determined to take them with her, we naturally have no way of holding them back any further. But what the North Sea has done today, our cloud-serpent clan will remember!"

Having said those final words, the cloud-serpent leader turned his enormous body and surged upward into the sky, vanishing in an instant.

With the cloud-serpent leader gone, the other two demon kings naturally did not dare to continue their defiance. They followed quickly in retreat, terrified of being the next one crushed to death.

Once all the demons who had blocked their path had withdrawn, the great whale faced no further obstacles and passed out of the Demon Realm in safety.

After experiencing all of this, the scholars of the Hanshan Academy had come to a full and certain understanding. This journey was no expedition for study. They were fleeing for their lives.

Once they left, the Hanshan Academy in the Demon Realm would cease to exist.

Two more days passed, and the great whale at last arrived within the boundaries of the North Sea.

The whale carried everyone aboard and hovered steadily above a small island.

This was the final destination of their journey.

"Elder Sister Bai!"

"Elder Sister Bai, you are back!"

"We missed you so much!"

As Bai Ruxue slowly descended from the whale, a group of children surged forward and gathered around her.

Among these children there were humans and demons both, the youngest not yet five years old, the oldest no more than about eight.

"Elder Sister is back. Have all of you been good while I was away?"

Bai Ruxue crouched down and gently stroked the children's heads, her expression entirely tender, without any trace of the manner she had shown when she crushed the black serpent.

"We were very good."

"That is right, Elder Sister Bai. We listened to Elder Sister Sisi in everything, and we studied very hard too."

"Elder Sister Bai, who are all these big brothers and sisters?"

The children spoke over one another, pairs of curious eyes looking over all the big brothers and sisters that Elder Sister Bai had brought back with her.

"These older brothers and sisters will also be studying on this island from now on, and will also be responsible for teaching all of you to read and write."

Bai Ruxue gave the children a simple explanation then she turned to Chao Xi and said, "Teacher Chao, from today everyone will be studying at the Unity of Knowledge Academy on this island, and these children are the seeds of learning for our North Sea."

"In the future, we will continue to send more and more children here to study."

"None of you need to concern yourselves about safety. Simply focus on your scholarship. As long as I am here, no one will dare harm you."

"Many thanks to Your Majesty. If Your Majesty had not intervened to save us, our Hanshan Academy would certainly have been finished." Chao Xi stepped forward and gave Bai Ruxue a deep bow.

"Teacher Chao is too generous. As I said before, what everyone here principally studies is my husband's learning. That being so, I could not possibly allow my husband's legacy to be severed here."

Bai Ruxue smiled faintly, her tone warm and certain.

"I still have matters to attend to. If Teacher Chao needs anything at all, please do not hesitate to ask."

"Of course, of course. Safe travels, Your Majesty."

Chao Xi quickly gave a nod and saw the Lord of the Four Seas off.

After saying farewell to the children, Bai Ruxue went into the depths of the sea together with her sister, returning to the Dragon Palace.

"Little Green, the affairs of the Unity of Knowledge Academy will need your careful attention."

In the palace, Bai Ruxue spoke to Little Green.

"That is no problem, Sister. But Sister, are we going to build a hall of cultural worship?"

Little Green asked with genuine curiosity.

Most academies had a hall of worship, and Confucian academies in particular were generally dedicated to the sages who had come before. The Hanshan Academy, being a demon academy, had not built one to worship human sages.

"Of course we will build one." Bai Ruxue gave a nod.

"Oh? We are going to worship the Confucian forebear sages?" Little Green was displeased. She held an extremely poor impression of both the human race and the Confucian tradition.

"Who said anything about worshipping the Confucian forebear sages?" Bai Ruxue smiled at her sister.

"Could it be that Sister wants to..."

Little Green understood immediately what her sister meant.

"But Sister, if we worship Elder Brother Xiao, that means a portion of the Confucian literary fortune would flow to him. Those hypocrites in the Confucian school would come looking for trouble with us."

"Trouble?" Bai Ruxue gave a cold scoff. "They would not dare."

"Oh, Little Green." Bai Ruxue shifted the subject. "There is something I need you to do."

"Please say it, Sister." Little Green gave a nod.

"The Tushan clan over there is holding a ceremony to select a Holy Woman. Go on my behalf."