Demon Queen's Immortal Bride

In the eastern reaches of the Central Continent, legends tell of a land where immortals dwell. There, mountain ranges rise and fall like waves, stretching on for tens of thousands of li. At the heart of these mountains stands one that pierces the clouds, lofty and majestic, like the moon surrounded by stars—blessed by both heaven and earth. This mountain is known as Longxuan Mountain. That night, the moon hung bright and the stars were sparse. A sudden, shrill cry tore through the stillness above the mountain's base. "Z-Zombie! She's come back to life!" Following the source of the voice, one would find a woman sitting up from within a pit of earth. She clutched her ears, frowning deeply, as though the sudden noise had given her a headache. Dressed in a white robe, the woman's clothing was now soiled by mud, leaving her looking quite disheveled. Her once lustrous black hair hung in a tangled mess down her back, dulled and lifeless. Even her jade-like face had not been spared—a streak of dirt ran straight down her delicate nose. In the moonlight, the mark appeared especially vivid, even a little comical. Yet, none of this could hide the icy, lethal aura that radiated from her. Though still coughing violently, her back remained ramrod straight—alert like a predator poised to strike. After a few coughing fits, the strange sensation in her nose finally subsided, and the ringing in her head began to fade. She lifted her head, and the hand forming a seal unconsciously loosened. The sight before her left Mu Qiuhan slightly dazed. Above her was the glaringly bright moon, and she… seemed to be sitting in an open pit of earth. Mu Qiuhan quickly scanned her surroundings but saw none of the people she had anticipated. Instead, to her right, she spotted a young girl in light green gauze robes kneeling at the edge of the pit. The girl looked no more than a teenager and held a clump of yellow soil cupped in her palms. Wide-eyed, the girl stared at her motionlessly, as if struck dumb by a binding spell. Was this the faint cultivator presence she had sensed earlier? Although Mu Qiuhan had already noticed that her body was far from normal, she didn't attack immediately—this girl's cultivation was far too weak. If she wasn't mistaken, the girl hadn't even formed her core yet. Someone at that level posed no threat to her life. Still... Mu Qiuhan cautiously extended her divine sense, trying to detect other presences nearby. When she had first awakened, she had heard faint rustling around her, as if someone had quickly retreated and hidden among the trees. There were definitely others nearby. As her divine sense stretched outward, a chill ran through her. In her current state, she couldn't sense their exact positions or cultivation levels! Her fingers tightened around the hand seal instinctively. Her last memory was of being surrounded by a group of immortals, forced to self-detonate her dantian. What was this situation now? Could it be that Daoist Xuande had intervened at the last moment and stopped her from perishing with her enemies? If so, then why did her dantian feel so empty, her meridians so agonizingly broken? Could it be... they had captured her and crippled her cultivation? Shocked, Mu Qiuhan tried to circulate her spiritual power—only to discover that while it still existed within her, it was completely out of control. A cold dread crept up her spine. Just then, a timid voice broke into her thoughts. "S-Senior Sister... is that really you?" Mu Qiuhan returned to herself and turned her attention to the harmless-looking girl before her. Senior Sister? What kind of game was the Immortal Sect playing now? Unsure of the girl's intent, she simply played along, replying, "Mn. What... what time is it now?" Unexpectedly, the girl suddenly burst into tears. "Senior Sister! Wuu wuu… I knew you wouldn't die!" Mu Qiuhan froze. She recalled hearing someone earlier shout "She came back to life!" and now, seeing the soil in the girl's hands... So she had self-detonated her dantian, and someone had come to bury her? But under such intense spiritual backlash, was her physical body truly unharmed? Lowering her gaze slightly, Mu Qiuhan finally noticed the pit she was in. It was about half a person deep and roughly ten meters wide. To her shock, she found seven or eight corpses lying around her. Her initial reaction was alarm—but upon sensing no vital energy from them, she sighed in relief. When she had awoken earlier, her body had felt so strange that she had focused solely on identifying threats, completely missing the fact she had been lying among the dead. Even so, cold sweat broke out all over her body. Her divine sense was severely damaged, her spiritual power unusable—things were worse than she had imagined. The girl was still sobbing. Mu Qiuhan, seeing that her grief didn't seem faked, began to form a plan. "I… I can't move. My legs have no strength. Can you help me up?" The girl hesitated for a moment, but didn't suspect anything. As she leapt into the pit to help, Mu Qiuhan placed a hand around her waist. In that brief moment, her fingers silently locked onto the girl's life gate. The girl remained unaware, instead bending over to support her. "Come, Senior Sister… let's go home…" Mu Qiuhan exited the pit with the girl's support. Just a few steps later, her eyes sharpened. Someone was approaching. She subtly shifted their positions, using the girl to shield her vital points, and calmly observed the new arrivals. Strangely, these cultivators—whom she couldn't sense earlier—were all still at the Qi Condensation stage? Why would the Immortal Sect send such low-level disciples to deal with her? Was there another trap? But no other presences could be found nearby. Calculating quietly, Mu Qiuhan wondered how to escape with minimal loss if they all attacked at once. Then one of them hesitantly spoke, "Rou'er, you… this… if she's… oh no…" Another was far more direct. "Rou'er, how could you be so reckless? What if Senior Sister had been possessed by some malevolent spirit? You might already be dead!" Realizing he may have gone too far, the man glanced nervously at Mu Qiuhan—only relaxing when she showed no response. The girl called Rou'er was no longer crying. She retorted sharply, "You all wanted Senior Sister dead, didn't you? That way, you'd have a chance at becoming inner sect disciples yourselves, right?" The others choked on her words, then quickly tried to explain themselves. "Senior Sister, don't listen to her nonsense. With our talents, how could we ever aim for an inner disciple's seat?" "That's right! She's talking rubbish!" Watching their noisy arguments, Mu Qiuhan began to wonder—had she really been too paranoid? Was this not some kind of scheme? Could it be… she had accidentally taken over the body of a disciple from the Immortal Sect? Just as doubt began to rise, a sudden searing pain erupted in her chest—fast, fierce, and uncontrollable. It felt as if something had burrowed into her heart, gnawing and tearing at her insides. Her spiritual energy drained rapidly, and the hand on Rou'er's waist began to tremble. Despite all her caution, she'd still fallen into a trap—and didn't even know how it happened! She wanted to use her last strength to destroy the girl's dantian… but in the end, she let go. So be it. One less corpse to accompany her to the underworld. At least the girl had cried for her—real or not, it was still a gesture. Mu Qiuhan released her grip and clenched her palm, struggling to stay conscious. She, a proud Demon Lord, undefeated by even the mightiest Immortal masters, was now about to perish at the hands of a few nameless juniors. Perhaps… this was her fate. The pain intensified. Unable to hold back, Mu Qiuhan coughed up a mouthful of blood. The noisy chatter around her abruptly stopped. "What's wrong with Senior Sister…?" "Is it the backlash from the Marrow Cleansing Pill?" "No way! You've seen what that pill does!" "Rou'er, why are you just standing there? Didn't Master give you a Clear Heart Pill? Give it to her, quick!" "Clear Heart Pill? That's for detoxification—will it work?" "Better than nothing!" The voices buzzed around her like flies. Mu Qiuhan felt someone cradle her and force something into her mouth. The next moment, her consciousness plunged into darkness.