Two hours later.
The Ruby Queen’s long eyelashes trembled, and her body shifted faintly.
After a long while, her large eyes slowly opened.
Insect chirps and birdsong filled the air around her. The agonizing pain that should have wracked her body was gone. Instinctively, she raised a hand to her chest—then froze.
Lowering her gaze, she saw a long robe draped over her body.
She sat up abruptly and drew in a sharp breath. A faint red halo surfaced across her skin. Her meridians still throbbed dully, a clear sign that her injuries had not fully healed. Yet the grievous damage to her Origin—the fundamental wound she had suffered when colliding head-on with the Tiger Demon King—was gone, as if it had never existed.
Two garments wrapped her body tightly, covering her completely—even her feet.
Her original armor had long since been shattered, leaving her virtually unclothed. And yet, being covered by these two robes gave her a strange, unfamiliar sense of security.
Her nose twitched.
A faintly familiar scent lingered in the fabric.
Suddenly, the Ruby Queen’s eyes widened. She instinctively pressed her left breast.
A soft heartbeat answered beneath her palm.
Startled, she focused inward—and discovered a heart beating steadily within her chest. It felt… fragile.
A heart?
My heart?
“No… this is not my heart.” The Ruby Queen sat dazed. And yet, if it was not hers, how could it fit her body so perfectly? How could it reside so naturally within her chest?
The only difference was this: it no longer granted her overwhelming power. Instead, it stabilized her Origin to an astonishing degree.
What had happened?
Slowly, the Ruby Queen raised her right hand. Her long, pale fingers traced arcane patterns through the air. Each mark shimmered, condensed, and transformed into complex runes.
The runes drifted forward and settled against the earthen wall of the pit. A gentle glow spread, gathering into faint silhouettes.
As more runes formed, the images grew clearer.
If Fa Hua and Lan Ge had still been present, they would have recognized them instantly.
They were themselves.
With a casual wave of her hand, the Ruby Queen accelerated the scene. Time seemed to reverse, returning to the moment when Fa Hua and Lan Ge had first arrived.
The instant she saw them, her gaze turned icy. Unconcealed killing intent burst forth.
She watched as Fa Hua approached, Wisdom Sword in hand, slowly lifting her hair.
The Ruby Queen’s fists clenched. With sharp metallic sounds, six back-stingers erupted from her back.
Then Fa Hua withdrew the sword.
She watched as the two Humans carefully covered her with their garments, shielding every part of her body.
Her expression slowly went blank.
What she could not understand was why these two humans—whom she had relentlessly hunted—had not killed her when they had the chance.
Those garments… they were theirs.
She knew that even if they had killed her here, she might eventually revive. But they should not have known that. At that moment, after her desperate battle with the Tiger Demon King, she had been at her most vulnerable.
What followed left her even more stunned.
As unwilling as she was to believe it, she could clearly sense that they were saving her.
The Peerless Pearl’s radiance shone upon the place where her heart should have been. The void there must have been filled at that moment.
But why?
What benefit did this bring them?
The scene continued until the moment Fa Hua and Lan Ge departed two hours earlier.
The illusion faded.
Lowering her gaze to the robes covering her body, the Ruby Queen clearly felt that what she had gained was not merely a heart. At the same time, she sensed exactly what she had lost.
She had lost the faint connection—the subtle awareness of Fa Hua and Lan Ge—that had once existed through the aura of her original Blood-Diamond Heart.
**
“I kind of regret it. Do you regret it?” Lan Ge muttered as he urged the Wind Element to carry them forward at full speed.
“I never do meaningless things,” Fa Hua replied calmly.
“Tch… I don’t believe you don’t regret it,” Lan Ge scoffed. “If we’d killed her back then, wouldn’t everything have been settled? We’d be the first humans in history to kill a Moon God–level expert. Just thinking about it makes me proud.”
“Proud of taking advantage of someone while they were helpless?” Fa Hua shot him a glance.
“We’re not even the same race,” Lan Ge snorted, though his expression betrayed him.
“What’s the point of regretting something already done?” Fa Hua said. “Besides, this was guided by the ancestors.”
Lowering his head, he continued studying the Unravelling the Truth page of the Divine Codex, watching for any signs of danger.
“Don’t mention that damned pearl,” Lan Ge complained. “Every time it acts, it’s nerve-wracking. Dragging us right to the Ruby Queen… If we hadn’t saved her, she probably wouldn’t have died anyway. But severe injuries take time to recover from. By the time she came after us again, we might’ve already reached the Ancestral Court. Now? Who knows. I’m almost certain she’ll repay kindness with enmity. She doesn’t even know it was us.”
“Can you be quiet for a moment?” Fa Hua frowned.
“You’re unbearably dull. Whoever marries you someday is going to suffer,” Lan Ge muttered.
“Childish.”
“Why are you starting again? Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t mock me anymore?”
“When did I ever say that?”
Bickering as usual, the two continued onward at full speed.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, they took side paths whenever possible, relying on Unravelling the Truth to seek fortune and avoid calamity. Along the way, they encountered little difficulty.
For the first day or two, they remained tense. As Lan Ge had said, even if the Ruby Queen did not know who had saved her, she had been gravely injured while pursuing them. That alone should have deepened her hatred.
Yet five days passed in the blink of an eye.
They covered a great distance, but there was no pursuit—not even the faintest sense of being followed.
Their tension gradually eased, though their objective remained unchanged. Only reaching the Ancestral Court would truly put them at ease.
Another five days passed. According to the map, they had already covered roughly one third of the journey.
This was the speed of two Eighth-Rank experts traveling at full capacity. And even so, after ten full days in the Demon Domain, they had managed only a third of the distance.
The sheer vastness of the Demon Domain was staggering.
A mountain range soon blocked their path. Peak after peak soared into the clouds, stretching beyond the horizon.
“This should be the Tiansheng Mountain Range,” Fa Hua said, pointing to the map.
“These mountains look enormous,” Lan Ge said. “Are you sure we’re going straight through?”
“This is the shortest route. Detouring would add at least two thousand kilometers. Crossing the range is just over three hundred,” Fa Hua replied. “Even climbing will be faster.”
“Then let’s go.”
They were about to advance when a crisp bell rang out.
They stopped at once and slipped into the roadside woods.
Before long, a formation of demon race soldiers appeared.
To their surprise, it was a military unit. Soldiers were marching in ranks of ten, each carrying a long spear. Bells hung from the spears of the front row rang in a steady rhythm as they advanced.
These demon warriors were distinctive. Each stood around two meters tall, broad-shouldered and powerfully built, with slightly elongated faces and spiral horns rising from their heads. Many had beards.
They were clad in uniform light armor of an iron-gray metal. Their footsteps made no sound. Only the sound of bells could be heard.
As the unit drew closer, differences became apparent. Chief among them was the color of their horns.
Most were iron-gray. Some farther back bore bright silver.
But among them was a single pair of gleaming golden horns.
Their owner was shorter by demon race standards and was nearly lost in the formation. Yet a patch of open space beside her made her stand out as they passed.
She was a female warrior.
Though called short, she was roughly the same height as Fa Hua and Lan Ge, with a slender build. She wore the same gray armor as the others, carried a long spear, and that spear too gleamed gold.