Chapter 15
Chapter 15: The Wind Left No Trace
After many days, the half-transparent figure drifting in her sea of consciousness snapped upright.
It stared at its surroundings for three seconds, then flailed and sank straight into the “water.” After struggling for a while, it finally adjusted to the new sensation and managed to stand with both feet on the surface.
“I-I—I’ve become a god?”
Hu Qing lit up with joy.
Juan Bu gave a snide laugh. “A god wouldn’t even dare think like you. This is just your divine soul taking shape. Any decent lower-realm cultivator can do it.”
Even so, Juan Bu couldn’t help admiring her. For Hu Qing to condense her soul into a true body this quickly wasn’t just luck—it was also because she’d stubbornly practiced manifesting her spiritual sense into physical forms for years.
A cultivator’s soul was normally just a haze of light and shadow. Only an immortal’s divine soul could condense into a genuine body. What high-level cultivators called a split soul might look like the person, but it was really an illusion held together by spiritual power. Once that power scattered, it vanished.
When Hu Qing had tried shaping herself with soul power before, she’d only managed a fake mannequin. This was completely different.
Juan Bu deliberately made it sound ordinary so Hu Qing wouldn’t get cocky. In truth, for her to achieve soul-form at her current cultivation was nothing short of a miracle. It had to be the Scorching Sun Blaze.
Then another thought struck him. Hu Qing’s cultivation speed was terrifying. Could it be the influence of the mysterious White Egg and the Gold-Devouring Divine Beast she’d contracted inside her space?
Had they dragged her along for the ride?
Very possible.
“Huh.” Hu Qing tilted her head. “I feel like my soul looks… not quite like me.”
With a swipe of her hand, a spray of waves leapt up and became a watery mirror. She peered in—and whistled. The girl reflected there was stunning.
“Wow. A real beauty.”
She pinched her cheeks, completely enchanted. “Even professional retouching couldn’t do this.”
Juan Bu said flatly, “Clearly you care a lot about looks. That’s why your soul is so much prettier than your real body.”
Hu Qing went silent for a beat. “I’m already pretty, okay?”
Spiritual power was basically natural cosmetic surgery. She’d grown more and more beautiful compared to the beginning, and she was slowly returning to her original appearance. If anything, her soul looked even closer to her true self.
Maybe one day, this body would lose every trace of its old origins and become fully hers.
Then again, it already was. Her soul and body matched perfectly—one hundred percent.
“Get up,” Juan Bu urged. “If you don’t, you’ll rot.”
Hu Qing didn’t rush. She looked toward the small red sun floating in the distance. The light wasn’t harsh at all, so she drifted closer, staring intently.
“So that’s the Scorching Sun Blaze’s true body? Then what was it that flew onto my face that day?”
Up close, the little sun still wasn’t much bigger than a fist. It wasn’t even a perfect sphere—more like a lopsided, childish ball that looked oddly cute.
Smack.
A tiny flame hand popped out of the fist-sized sun and slapped Hu Qing across the cheek.
Hu Qing immediately withdrew the “cute” comment. That force was not childish at all. Brats really did all hit the same way—no sense of restraint.
She slowly lifted a finger and touched the red ball. “Little baby, you have to be gentler. I’m not as tough as you.”
As if it understood, the flame hand twitched, and the next pat was much lighter.
Hu Qing smiled. “Good. Be obedient, and later Sis—Auntie—will take you to make lots and lots of fun things.”
Juan Bu muttered, “There she goes, sweet-talking again.”
The flame hand whooshed back into the sun.
Hu Qing blinked, momentarily stunned. It didn’t believe her?
Fine. Trust could be built slowly.
Juan Bu couldn’t hold back. “You want it to refine artifacts for you? It’s still a child.”
“Shh.” Hu Qing hurriedly drifted away. Her soul-body felt weightless. “Don’t say that here. What if it hears you?”
“I was whispering,” Juan Bu said. “I just think it’s too young. It won’t cooperate with you. Find another Spiritfire.”
Hu Qing fell silent. Spiritfire was that easy to find?
Besides, cooperation came with time. And she didn’t need the Scorching Sun Blaze to do anything complicated—just let it breathe fire.
Juan Bu said, “I’m worried it can’t control its aura. If the Scorching Sun Blaze’s presence leaks from your artifacts, you’ll be hunted.”
Hu Qing’s temples throbbed. “We’ll deal with it when we get there.”
She turned to examine the space’s carrier. What had once been a dull, lifeless patch now shimmered with spiritual light, like a treasure.
Once she gathered enough materials, she could patch it into a small secret realm where living things could actually grow.
The Emotionless Thread drifted smoothly too, gleaming with a new luster. Hu Qing considered braiding it into a loop—seen from afar, a floating clump of hair was terrifying.
The Xue Sha Pearl looked clearer than ever. It kept sending her the same frantic message over and over: I want to feed on Xue Sha. I want to feed on Xue Sha. I want to feed on Xue Sha.
Hu Qing soothed it. If there was a suitable chance, she’d let it out.
The Devil Emperor Token, on the other hand, was gloomy. It said: Keeping me is useless. You should entrust me to someone else.
Hu Qing’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. I can melt you down and refine you into something else. Perfect timing—I want to test the Scorching Sun Blaze’s power anyway.
The Devil Emperor Token went stiff. You’re not even Devil Clan.
Hu Qing raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t fixed. She wasn’t exactly known for unshakable willpower. Who knew? Maybe one day she’d lose control and walk the Devil Path.
Everything in her sea of consciousness seemed fine. After checking her space and finding nothing unusual, her awareness withdrew, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Her eyelids itched faintly. Something was falling toward her eyes, and she reflexively shut them. After a moment, she swept with her spiritual sense and froze.
She’d become a nest.
A huge tree hollow, to be exact. Juan Bu had somehow found a place spacious enough that she didn’t have to curl up.
Right now, she was sprawled inside a rotting tree core. Thick moss covered the floor and walls—so plush it was softer than her bed back home.
If not for the meter-thick pile of dead grass and dry leaves on top of her, she would’ve loved this treehouse.
Unfortunately, she was buried. And right above her belly was a litter of newborn pups, squealing in nonstop panic.
The opening of the hollow was directly above. She could see a round patch of sky, the exit about twenty meters up. The tree had to be enormous.
But about two feet above the pups, there was a small side hole not even fist-sized. At that moment, a paw reached in, groping for them.
Hu Qing stared blankly for several seconds. The animal world in the immortal realm was this… primitive?
Couldn’t it use spiritual power to rip the tree open?
Juan Bu said, “A tree that can grow this old can withstand demon beasts. And demon beasts aren’t people—they don’t fling spiritual power around at every little thing.”
Hu Qing thought about it for a long time and still couldn’t decide whether Juan Bu meant demon beasts were stupid, or people were.
The animals inside looked rabbit-like. The one outside looked cat-like. Their meat… she wondered if it tasted good.
Half an hour later, she had her answer.
Hu Qing formed a ball of water, rinsed her mouth, then flicked a bit of fire to burn the small bones to ash. She stomped out every ember to make sure she wouldn’t start a forest fire, then got up and left.
“The meat was tender and springy. Pretty delicious,” she said, smacking her lips. “Too bad I didn’t have enough seasoning. I should’ve taken more spices from the tenth princess’s kitchen.”
She sighed dramatically. “Tenth princess, tenth princess… do you miss me yet?”
The tenth princess didn’t have time to miss her. When she finally remembered Hu Qing, it was like being shocked. “Hey—where did that person go? That cook?”
She didn’t even know Hu Qing’s name.
And neither did the maids. No one had ever respected Hu Qing enough to ask. They only called her “you,” or barked orders.
“That human clan cook died at the teleportation formation,” someone reported. “During the Devil Clan ambush.”
The tenth princess froze. “Dead? Really?”
She didn’t know why, but it felt like a waste.
The maid answering was the same one who’d tried to kill Hu Qing. She nodded confidently. “Yes. The Devil Clan killed her. She was too weak to resist.”
The tenth princess hesitated, then remembered something. “Did the slave mark react?”
The maid went blank. She exchanged looks with the others. Had they even placed a slave mark on that cook?
Seeing the uncertainty, the tenth princess waved her hand. “Forget it. If she hasn’t come back after this long, even without a mark she’d be dead anyway.”
And just like that, Hu Qing’s matter was carried off by the wind, leaving no trace.