Chapter 409 - 218: "Dan Demon

Chapter 409: Chapter 218: "Dan Demon

Feng Bei lay in bed with Zheng Xiu. They held each other through the quilt all night, whispering softly.

By the latter half of the night, Zheng Xiu was utterly exhausted and finally fell into a deep sleep.

「Three days later.」

Thanks to the nourishing meals prepared by Zheng Erniang, Zheng Xiu’s body recovered quickly.

The Crow Fosterer’s Suicide Technique had nearly extinguished all the life force in Zheng Xiu’s body. If not for the protection of Unbreakable, he truly might not have survived.

Recalling such a terrifying Magic, Zheng Xiu was reminded of the three remaining eyeballs. ’Maybe I should raise a Crow Fosterer of my own,’ he mused.

On the morning of the third day, Qing Shisan brought over a wheelchair. Feng Bei then pushed Zheng Xiu into the courtyard to enjoy the sun.

The long-awaited sunlight shone on Zheng Xiu’s face, which was still a sickly pale.

He savored the momentary tranquility, closing his eyes as his consciousness drifted away.

Zheng Xiu had painstakingly crafted the legend of the Eternal Purgatory in the Imperial City, and now it was finally time to reap the rewards. Here, in the courtyard of the Zheng Residence, he found that he could enter his Heart Prison just by settling his mind.

With Feng Bei standing guard beside him, Zheng Xiu had nothing to worry about. ’Having a wife who can fight really is a load off my mind.’

The scenery in the Heart Prison was the same as ever. After a moment, Zheng Xiu glanced at the chained [Painter] Deceitful Object in the corner and sat down at the long-missed Game Table.

The gloomy scenery, paradoxically, filled Zheng Xiu with a sense of warmth. On the Game Table were three small figures: [Zheng Shan], [Zheng Baimei], and [Zheng Er].

[Zheng Shan] and [Zheng Baimei] had each been struck by the Crow Fosterer’s Magic once, and had each died once. Now, the two Incarnations’ forms were hazy and indistinct. Only their heads were solid; the rest of their bodies was just a cloud of gray mist.

After being thoroughly killed, the two Incarnations seemed to have entered a revival period, rendering them unusable for the time being.

With a casual wave of his hand, Zheng Xiu summoned a Paper Scroll. It broke through the gray mist, floated in from beyond the bars, and landed on the table.

Zheng Xiu’s information was clearly recorded on it.

[Host]: [Zheng Xiu]

[Path]: [Prisoner] (Jiazi Seventh Gate)

[Restriction]: [Surprise Cage (Incomplete)]

[Fitting]: [Twenty Percent]

[Derivation]: [Observing the Sky from Prison (Masterful)], [Divine Travel (Masterful)], [Projection (Masterful)], [Unbreakable (Masterful)]

[Talent]: [No merchant is honest (Masterful)], [Foreign Language (some accomplishment)]

[Experience]: [White Carp’s Initial Search for Secrets, Tumultuous Times Shock Waves (Newcomer to the Martial World)], [Chang’an’s Escape from Danger, Vast Righteous Qi (Retired from the Jianghu)], [Mercilessly Slaying the Immortal Lady, Angrily Saving the Fair Maiden (Heroic Youth)], [A Glimpse, A Century in the Painting (A Century of Solitude)]

’Something’s different.’

Zheng Xiu stared, stunned. When he’d emerged from the World in the Painting and realized the world around him hadn’t changed in the slightest, he’d known. The World in the Painting was nothing more than the "memories" and "longings" Gongsun Mo had spent a century painting. He couldn’t change a thing in it, nor would it have any effect on the Common World.

Zheng Xiu had thought that would be the end of it, but unexpectedly, the [Prisoner] Path had recorded it.

It counted as having cleared a Ghostly Realm.

It had been added to his [Experience].

A save file had been created.

’[Foreign Language]? What a strange Talent.’

Before Zheng Xiu could wonder when and where he had learned [Foreign Language], he noticed something else. With the saving of the [World in the Painting] Ghostly Realm, his [Prisoner] Path had advanced by another gate.

’But I haven’t even entered it yet.’

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the ground beneath his feet gave way, and he plunged into a mire.

THUD!

A faint point of light grew distant in his vision as Zheng Xiu sank deeper and deeper.

Zheng Xiu was no rookie when it came to visiting the Path, so he took this in stride. He waited quietly for his consciousness to sink to the bottom, until his feet touched solid ground. Beneath him was a road, and at its end stood a half-open gate. That was the Seventh Gate of the [Prisoner].

The gate was already open, waiting for Zheng Xiu to step through.

DONG!

As Zheng Xiu approached, flesh like writhing steel rebar began to squeeze through the gate, warping its frame into a bizarre shape. A violent, foul, black wind whipped his long hair back from his face. The twisting flesh forced its way through, reforming itself in the space between the Path and the gate.

Zheng Xiu’s jaw dropped. He tilted his head back little by little, watching wide-eyed as the chunks of flesh that had squeezed through the gate reassembled, like pieces of a model, into a colossal, twenty-meter-tall behemoth.

The monster had a gigantic mouth, so dark within it looked like a black hole. Its body of knotted muscles writhed with every movement, like a mass of fleshy worms. What shocked Zheng Xiu most were the three thick arms on each side of its torso, each as long as the creature was tall. At a glance, its overall shape resembled a spider made of pure muscle.

A line of twisted text appeared before his eyes.

[You have delved deeper into the Path.]

[You have Captured ’Dan Demon’ in the Path.]

Zheng Xiu now knew the monster’s name.

Dan Demon.

The scene reminded Zheng Xiu of the first time he’d "Captured" the Caged Sparrow.

Back then, the Caged Sparrow had flown right into him, and that was all it took for a successful "Capture."

But this time...

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The twenty-meter-tall Dan Demon let out a piercing roar and charged, throwing a massive fist at Zheng Xiu.

The corner of Zheng Xiu’s mouth twitched.

’This "Capture,"’ he thought, ’isn’t going to be so easy.’

Half of Zheng Xiu’s body was instantly blasted into a cloud of mist, and his consciousness went blank for an instant.

Zheng Xiu had never imagined he could face a life-or-death crisis within the Path itself.

After one of its six muscular arms sent Zheng Xiu flying, the Dan Demon pressed its other arms to the ground. Its cavernous mouth gaped open, splitting at the corners from the strain, as a terrifying ball of black light gathered within.

Zheng Xiu was hammered into a daze by the punch. The part of his "body" that had been blasted away reconsolidated. He had just struggled back to his feet when he saw the black light gathering in the Dan Demon’s mouth. His heart hammered in his chest, and he was utterly dumbstruck.

"Don’t tell me this motherfucker is a cannon turret?"