Chapter 44 - To The Demon Empire!

As the symbol disappeared within the egg, Luo Xiao stared at it intently while his remaining soul power dropped at a steady rate.

A few long breaths passed, yet nothing seemed to happen. Confusion filled Luo Xiao as he looked at Jiang Yao with worry. “Did I... Did I fail?” Luo Xiao asked.

Despite being the second strongest on the continent, Jiang Yao had no way of telling exactly what was happening. He had never performed that specific spell, and as such he couldn’t really comment on why exactly nothing was happening.

“I don't know,” Jiang Yao said. Just as he was about to say something else to try and reassure Luo Xiao, his expression changed, and his words remained stuck in his throat.

All of a sudden, Luo Xiao’s expression had become vacant. His eyes looked blankly in front of him without registering the world. In Luo Xiao’s mind, however, things were different.

What he saw was an endless plane full of light. The light was extremely gentle and made one feel awe as they gazed at it, but Luo Xiao quickly noticed that it was weak, almost too feeble to affect even him. While it retained its dignity and still inspired awe, it held no strength and made one feel as if they could extinguish it with a flick of their hand.

“Hello? Are you...?” Luo Xiao said, his words trailed off as he looked around.

He didn’t know exactly what he was searching for, but regardless there was nothing but the gentle light. “Hello?” Luo Xiao said again.

A few long breaths seemed to pass even though Luo Xiao didn’t really feel the time. The gentle light seemed to weaken with every passing second, making his heartbeat quicken with worry.

Luo Xiao somewhat understood that the space he had found himself in was something like the dragon’s mind. However, there was nothing in here, and the main reason was that the dragon was practically still an infant. What sort of personality would a dragon still inside their egg have?

Luo Xiao looked around once more, thinking about how to proceed. He could still vaguely feel his body and his soul energy, which was disappearing quickly as it was being used to keep him in the dragon’s mind.

“Hey... I’m Luo Xiao, a soul cultivator... I don’t know what your name is, but you can hear me, right?” Luo Xiao said, “I want to save you because I don’t want to see you disappear just like this. I... I’m not sure you can reply or even understand, but please trust me. I promise that I won’t harm you.”

After waiting a moment to give the dragon time to think about what he’d said, if it could even understand him, Luo Xiao’s fingers moved once more. He formed a new set of hand seals inside the white space. A transparent thread different from the golden soul energy appeared from within his Soul Palace, but it was an essential part for the bond to be formed.

Once that thread appeared, the white light that surrounded him stirred, enclosing on the transparent thread. A second later it accepted the thread without hesitation and completely devoured it, instantly making Luo Xiao feel extremely weak.

However, he felt that the white light was strengthened a bit from that little transparent thread of energy and a presence appeared within the space, looking at him.

Luo Xiao said nothing when he felt the presence look at him. The white light quickly faded away from view as he gradually returned to his own body. Despite that, at the very last moment, he could feel as if there was gratitude contained within that gaze.

After that his vision swirled, and he found himself back in their hotel room holding the dragon egg tightly as Jiang Yao intently stared at him.

“I think it succeeded,” Luo Xiao said, gently caressing the surface of the egg with his fingers as a smile blossomed on his lips.

“You did, I can feel that its energy is stronger now,” Jiang Yao said before grabbing Luo Xiao’s hand, a teasing glint in his eyes. “Now, since you’re finished, why not come lay next to me in bed?”

Just thinking about it made Luo Xiao’s face flush red but he couldn’t refuse. Jiang Yao had already done more for him that he could ever repay with just kisses even if the other considered it an equal exchange.

Luo Xiao and Jiang Yao spent the next few days in Heavenward City. While the fame of the mysterious bidder had spread far and wide, the fact that the Seventh Demon Prince was in Heavenward City had spread even faster. Many had managed to connect the two even though nobody stated that they were related in any way.

Mu Xiu and Mu Bing’er kept silent on the matter too, neither confirming or denying the speculations.

The time spent in the city was used by Luo Xiao to get himself used to the bond that was created through Twilight’s Blessing. It constantly depleted his soul energy so he had to account for that loss even if it was not that big. Thankfully, the spell was showing its effect as during those few days Jiang Yao had confirmed that the loss of life force was gradually lessening. But even still it would be a long time before it would be able to increase steadily.

There was another thing Luo Xiao gained that was rather unexpected - a spatial pouch, given to him by Jiang Yao. While it was clearly far more unassuming than the one Jiang Yao owned, it was his own spatial object, and he could finally put some things inside and carry them himself.

The main reason for the spatial pouch was the dragon egg. While Twilight’s Blessing was a miraculous spell, it wasn’t without limitations. One of which was its range. They discovered that the two who bonded had to be in relatively close proximity, and Jiang Yao had judged that Luo Xiao could just put the egg in a spatial artifact to make it easier.

Once those few days were over, the original plan was to slowly head towards Cloudsoar City and reach it over the course of a few long months of exploring the continent. However, Jiang Yao found himself unable to wait, and thus, barely out of Heavenward City, he took Luo Xiao in his arms like a bride and flew up in the air, heading to the next big city.

As Luo Xiao had advanced to the Sky Rank, he had less trouble enduring the long flights, and because of this, the time they took to reach the next city was just a few days.

There Luo Xiao experienced something he never even thought existed in the world - teleportation arrays.

The experience of traveling through them was a whole lot different than flying, leaving Luo Xiao heavily disoriented after only two or three per day. Even with the time that Jiang Yao gave him to recover, the distance they covered in merely a week was comparable to two months of traveling by flying.

The continent of Tiandi was truly too big to be encompassed on any map or traversed quickly.

In total, it took Jiang Yao and Luo Xiao around three weeks using teleportation arrays to arrive at the Demon Empire. Specifically, they had arrived at the edge of the Demon Empire, in the middle of a plain full of flowers and magical herbs.

Located at the center of the continent, the Demon Empire was by far the largest and strongest country. It had more abundant heaven and earth essence than anywhere else in Tiandi, and Luo Xiao felt the difference just by breathing.

“This is my home, Xiaoxiao,” Jiang Yao said with a chuckle as he watched the awe Luo Xiao felt simply at the dense heaven and earth essence. “Come on, we still have a long road ahead until we reach Cloudsoar City.”

Holding Jiang Yao’s hand, Luo Xiao nodded a bit. “It’s... so different from home. Even the plants seem greener,” he said.

“Come, Xiaoxiao. We still have a few teleportation arrays to go through until we get to Cloudsoar City,” Jiang Yao smiled, “I promise you, Cloudsoar City is unlike anything you’ve seen before.”

With those words, Jiang Yao led the way through the flowery plains, deciding to simply walk to the nearest city. Its walls were already peeking behind the plains.

By the time the sun had begun to set Jiang Yao and Luo Xiao arrived at one of the outermost cities of the Demon Empire. Quickly going through any inspections and payments, Jiang Yao led Luo Xiao through crowds of demons and occasional humans to the location of the teleportation array.

Luckily, while Jiang Yao was the Seventh Demon Prince, not many people had seen him face to face and survived, and even if they had, nobody would believe it was him. After all, the Demon Empire knew that the Seventh Demon Prince was a cold, emotionless man that killed without mercy and allowed nobody close to him. The current slightly smiling Jiang Yao who talked and explained things to Luo Xiao as they passed through the crowds seemed nothing like what the rumors portrayed.

A few minutes later the two reached the teleportation formation, and only after a few other people passed through, did the two of them step in the formation itself. A second later it lit up and white light engulfed Jiang Yao and Luo Xiao’s figures, teleporting them away.

Moments later, the two of them appeared in a city located thousands of kilometers away. The sense of vertigo immediately attacked Luo Xiao, but he had already passed through tens of transfer arrays over the last three weeks and had gradually developed a resistance to them.

The setting sun illuminated their figures as they stepped out of this particular array.

“Xiaoxiao, we’ll rest here for the night.” Jiang Yao said with a smile. His thumb gently rubbed Luo Xiao’s palm as the two made their way through the crowds which were mostly filled with demons.

Even though Luo Xiao knew that the people were actually demons and not humans, he couldn’t help but feel surprised at how similar the cities were to the human ones.

There were children playing in the streets, men carrying around materials, and women selling delicacies at food stalls just like humans did. Of course, compared to common human villages, the demons were much stronger, and many looked curiously at Luo Xiao who was usually the only human nearby.

The demons could intuitively tell that Jiang Yao was a strong demon without feeling an ounce of demonic aura from him - his unnatural beauty was enough to confirm their speculations. Instead, many gazes focused on Luo Xiao as he was clearly a weak, young human.

Even more eyes lingered on the two of them as they found an inn and got a room for the night. Various whispers found their way around the city, and soon everyone knew of the handsome demon and the pretty human that walked with him.

The next day quickly arrived and just as quickly the two of them left the city via another teleportation array, heading deeper into the Demon Empire.

The more Luo Xiao saw of the Demon Empire, the more awe and fear filled his heart. Even the outer cities were bigger and grander than Heavenward City, and that city had left a strong impression on him. However, the more he saw, the more he found himself eager to see just how grand this Cloudsoar City that Jiang Yao spoke of was.

“Come on, Xiaoxiao... This is the last teleportation, I promise,” Jiang Yao said with a smile, his expression even warmer than usual as he patted Luo Xiao on the head.

“You’ve been saying that for the last three days, Jiang Yao,” Luo Xiao said. He almost rolled his eyes but didn’t protest as the milky white light enveloped the two of them and their figures disappeared.