Chapter 60: You Are Yourself
Every demon in the world could trace its lineage back to its progenitor. The progenitor of the demon was reviled as the ultimate traitor to humanity. Whenever she was mentioned, people would curse her as nothing more than "that miserable bitch." This hatred stemmed primarily from her cold, sadistic cruelty toward her kind, contrasted sharply by an affection for animals, especially dogs, whom she treated like her children.
After she chanced upon and consumed a Forbidden Fruit, she became the world's very first human-demon hybrid. Possessing the unique ability to pass her demonic energy onto other living creatures, she could awaken their intelligence and set them upon the path of demonic cultivation.
She nurtured hundreds of powerful Great Demons. To help these Great Demons survive their tribulations and take on human forms, she took the initiative to raid human settlements, capturing massive numbers of ordinary humans to use as sacrifices when they sought recognition.
In the end, the progenitor of the demons met exactly the kind of fate one would expect. An alliance of humanity's strongest elites stripped her of her status as a human being and hunted her down. They killed her, crushed her bones, and scattered her ashes to the wind.
Unfortunately, the moment the progenitor of the demon had come into being, demonic energy had already permeated the world. From that moment on, any creature fortunate enough to absorb this energy had a chance to unlock its intelligence, embark on the path of cultivation, and evolve into a terrifying Great Demon.
Bluebird knew all too well about the predicament she was facing. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead...
When a demon sought recognition from a human, it would completely drain everything from its target. It siphoned the victim's essence to supplement its power, elevating its intellect and reinforcing its foundation to shed its beastly body and take human form. The moment Bluebird uttered an answer, the same would happen to her, and she would die on the spot.
Just as she was about to speak against her will, the bubble inside her ear, which had been serving as an earpiece, expanded. It enveloped her frame, and in the next heartbeat, the scenery blurred and shifted. Yu Xian had teleported her back to the original mountaintop. Feeling the suffocating pressure abruptly vanish, she gasped for air, completely overwhelmed by the dizzying sensation of having just cheated death.
Yu Xian also teleported back to the mountaintop and rushed straight toward Bluebird. "Are you alright?"
At first, he hadn't realized she was in danger. It was only when the creature suspected of being Hu Weijie sought recognition by asking whether it looked more like an immortal or a god that he realized Bluebird had likely been immobilized or captured. Without hesitation, he had activated the bubble hidden in her ear and teleported her back.
After catching her breath, Bluebird said, "I'm fine. But there's a monster inside the airport. I suspect it's Hu Weijie."
At that moment, a tremendous roar erupted from the direction of the Starbird Airport. A gigantic fox burst out of the terminal. It possessed nine tails, its body covered in grotesque masses of unnatural muscle.
The creature swept its gaze across the landscape before suddenly lifting its head and locking onto Yu Xian's group. The bizarre muscles covering its body bulged violently. Moving with an unsettling lack of coordination, it charged forward on all fours, crashing through everything in its path as it raced toward the mountain.
Watching the massive creature rapidly close the distance, Gong Qian frowned. "The muscles on its body are too strange, and a lot of those protrusions look completely redundant."
Yu Xian knitted his brows. "If he really is Hu Weijie, I'm afraid we won't be getting anything useful out of him."
Zhang Shou pulled a firearm from his spatial ring. His palms were breaking out in sweat as the massive fox drew closer and closer. "That thing is fast! Salted Fish, I think we should focus on taking it down first. We can worry about everything else afterward."
It wasn't that he feared death. But such an enormous fox charging directly at him created an overwhelming sense of pressure.
"Then let's do it." Gong Qian clenched her fists and kicked off the ground, rocketing down the mountainside to meet the beast.
At the same time, Yu Xian took a step backward. Passing through a bubble, he instantly appeared high in the sky. He looked down at the nine-tailed fox below, flicked his fingers, and released countless tiny bubbles. The bubbles descended toward the ground, quickly forming a circular perimeter around the creature.
Gong Qian collided head-on with the nine-tailed fox. Her fist slammed into its head, and the enormous creature exploded on the spot.
Instant kill?
For a moment, everyone was stunned, but then the blood, shredded flesh, and fur rapidly gathered in midair. In the blink of an eye, the nine-tailed fox was fully resurrected.
Zhang Shou remarked to the others through the spatial bubbles.
—Assuming it really is Hu Weijie, those nine tails mean he should possess Dragon-rank strength. He shouldn't be this much of a pushover.
Bluebird agreed.
—And it was trying to seek recognition from me just now. That's strange too.
Yu Xian thoughtfully stared at the resurrected fox.
—Could it have injected the same drug Sun Youhu and the others used? Only a much larger dose?
His suspicion arose mainly because when the fox's body was knitting itself back together layer by layer, he had caught a clear glimpse of its muscle texture. The glowing lines threading through those muscles bore a striking resemblance to the radiant patterns that had appeared on Sun Youhu's muscles after he used the drug.
Down below, Gong Qian unleashed another punch, blowing the nine-tailed fox to pieces once more. Just as expected, the creature immediately began to regenerate. Watching even more intently this time, Yu Xian confirmed that the line on the muscle of the fox shared a ninety percent similarity with the patterns seen on Sun Youhu and his men.
Gong Qian continued to batter the massive nine-tailed fox from every conceivable angle, effortlessly blowing it to pieces with every single punch. But her attacks seemed to accomplish little. The fox regenerated endlessly without any signs of fatigue, launching itself right back at Gong Qian.
It was entirely devoid of fear, and it likely possessed no self-awareness whatsoever. Yet, with every single charge, it would mutter under its breath, repeatedly demanding to know if Gong Qian thought it looked like an immortal or a god.
Struck by a sudden inspiration, Yu Xian utilized a bubble to teleport to a position not far from Gong Qian. He barked out at the charging beast, "You're neither an immortal nor a god. You're yourself. You're Hu Weijie!"
The violently rampaging nine-tailed fox instantly froze as if paralyzed by an unseen force. Its pupils split and vibrated frantically, and then its colossal body withered at a visible rate, as if some hidden power were aggressively draining away the flesh and blood beneath its pelt.
Gong Qian instinctively wanted to seize the opening to finish it off, but Yu Xian reached out a hand and gently held her back. "There's no rush. Let's see if he can find his way back to himself."
If Hu Weijie could regain his sanity, they could extract far more secrets about the drug from him, the primary objective of their entire trip. Killing Hu Weijie would sever their only lead, bringing them absolutely no benefit.
By this point, the massive fox had shriveled up. A humanoid figure was slowly sprouting from the very crown of its head. This entity possessed a furry, beastly lower body and a human torso.
A massive, grotesque eye stared out from the center of its chest. "If I'm myself... then who am I? Am I an immortal? Who am I? Hu Weijie?"
The humanoid figure muttered to itself as it leaped from the fox’s head to the ground. Instantly, nine tails of varying colors, composed entirely of pure energy, manifested behind its back, blazing like roaring, furious flames and radiating a staggering, scorching heat.
Gong Qian's expression turned dead serious. "It looks like it has completely ascended to Dragon rank."
Previously, although the massive fox possessed nine tails, its actual strength hadn't been anywhere near Dragon rank, likely hovering around Wolf rank at best. Now, however, this humanoid monstrosity had absolutely attained the power of a true Dragon-rank entity.
Yu Xian maintained his gaze on the humanoid figure. "You are Hu Weijie, the father of Hu Tu'er and the husband of Hu Xian'er."
The humanoid's head abruptly snapped to the side, its lifeless, dead eyes tilting to glare at Yu Xian. Without warning, one of its tails morphed into a colossal hand and lunged forward to seize him, but Yu Xian instantly teleported himself and Gong Qian away, leaving the giant palm to grasp at nothing but empty air.