Chapter 60: Finally Getting Down to Business

Hearing Su Zhiyun’s shout, A Ran snapped back to reality.

Her small face flushed crimson as she hurriedly bent down together with Xiao Mu to help Jiu Baiyun, who had fallen and rolled onto the ground.

Their fingers inevitably touched that fluffy tail again.

Jiu Baiyun’s body trembled violently once more, and a whimper escaped his throat.

The intense shame and that damned stimulating sensation nearly overwhelmed him.

“S-sorry, Big Brother Jiu!”

A Ran was flustered, momentarily unsure of what to do.

Su Zhiyun was anxious, her peripheral vision fixed tightly behind them.

The mountain sparrows that Jiu Baiyun had confused with deep blue sparks were losing the confused blue light in their eyes at a visible speed, and crimson killing intent was re-gathering.

The sharp and chaotic chirping sounds became unified again, re-locking onto the four of them.

“They’ve woken up! Quick! Lift him up! Run!!!”

She couldn’t wait for A Ran and Xiao Mu to slowly lift him.

Su Zhiyun simply lunged forward, practically dragging and pulling Jiu Baiyun and throwing him back onto the stretcher.

The rough canvas rubbed against Jiu Baiyun’s exposed tail root, bringing a sharp sting mixed with an indescribable tingling numbness.

“Run!!!”

The moment she steadied Jiu Baiyun, Su Zhiyun immediately shouted to A Ran and Xiao Mu, then lifted the stretcher.

Xiao Mu and A Ran quickly snapped out of their daze.

Seeing the mountain sparrows chasing them, they didn’t hesitate and immediately lifted the front of the stretcher and started running.

Su Zhiyun also sped up, ensuring the stretcher remained stable.

“High Danger”…

The scarlet words on Su Zhiyun’s system panel seemed to pulse continuously.

She didn’t even dare to glance and confirm whether it had changed to “Extreme Danger.”

The mountain sparrows were getting closer.

The one who sensed it most clearly was Jiu Baiyun.

He moved his fingers.

Jiu Baiyun narrowed his eyes, trying to use that ability like the Yao Fox Demon Venerable.

However, even though he had clearly sensed the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s ability just now, using it now was not so easy.

He only had the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s demon power, but that didn’t mean he had all of the Demon Venerable’s abilities.

Some abilities could be mastered after learning once, but many more were not so easily stolen.

But there was still good news.

The side effects brought by “Qi Stillness” had clearly started to subside at this point.

Apart from his fingers, many other parts of his body could now move as well.

“Jiu Baiyun! Are you done yet?”

Su Zhiyun was exhausted by the piercing sound so close behind her, and couldn’t help shouting at Jiu Baiyun.

Hearing this, Jiu Baiyun gave a bitter smile.

‘If he were done, wouldn’t he have gotten up already?’

He tried to turn his head to look behind.

Quite a few mountain sparrows had already closed in.

“Yao Fox Demon Venerable, can you do it one more time!”

He had no other option, so he could only ask the Yao Fox Demon Venerable for help.

But unfortunately, the Demon Venerable did not respond at all, obviously still in a blocked state.

This made Jiu Baiyun’s teeth ache.

‘If the Yao Fox Demon Venerable doesn’t come out, I really have no way! My spiritual energy is almost depleted, and I don’t really know how to use demon power!’

The abilities he could use all required forming hand seals! And converting demon power to spiritual energy, as the Demon Venerable said, would have to wait until the side effects of “Qi Stillness” disappeared.

If they kept dragging it out, Jiu Baiyun estimated they wouldn’t make it in time.

So he gritted his teeth and used his barely mobile elbow to prop up his limp body.

“Jiu Baiyun… You…”

Before Su Zhiyun could even ask, Jiu Baiyun had already slightly opened his mouth and, with a slight movement of his fingers, spat out a wisp of deep blue fox flame behind him.

The fox flame shot past Su Zhiyun at incredible speed toward the mountain sparrows, but it quickly extinguished because it couldn’t be sustained.

Only the two nearest sparrows caught the flame and were burned to ashes by the deep blue fox flame.

Seeing the sparrows that had once again filled the gaps, Jiu Baiyun was truly out of options.

After pausing for a moment, he turned his gaze toward his own tail behind him.

‘He refused to believe it! The Yao Fox Demon Venerable was in the same body as him. If he didn’t block his own perception, the Demon Venerable absolutely couldn’t block all perception completely!’

‘The reason she couldn’t feel it was purely because the intensity wasn’t enough!’

‘But… if I really grab it…’

Given how sensitive the tail was, he couldn’t bear it either…

But at this moment, he couldn’t worry about that anymore.

With that thought, Jiu Baiyun suddenly curled his five fingers!

That barely mobile hand grabbed fiercely at his own exposed tail root.

“Rip—”

The dull sound of nails tearing flesh and skin was masked by the rustling of cloth, but the excruciating pain that followed was like a red-hot branding iron being thrust into his spine.

“Urgh—”

A muffled sound rang out.

Jiu Baiyun’s body arched like a shrimp at death’s door, veins bulging at his temples.

The intense pain in his coccyx, mixed with the shame of being forcibly violated, instantly flooded into Jiu Baiyun’s mind, making his head go dizzy.

And then, in Jiu Baiyun’s mind, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s angry and embarrassed voice rang out.

“Jiu Baiyun!!! Do you want to die!!!”

Obviously, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable couldn’t completely block perception, and pain combined with stimulation often amplified perception countless times.

This had successfully affected the Demon Venerable.

‘This feeling was like being roughly invaded inside, forcibly taking my first time.’

‘The last time I experienced this was when Jiu Baiyun cut off six of his own tails at once…’

However, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable quickly sensed the mountain sparrows relentlessly chasing Su Zhiyun and couldn’t help but click her tongue.

‘She finally understood why Jiu Baiyun had suddenly done that. Only this way could I feel the stimulus…’

Hearing Jiu Baiyun’s muffled howls in her ear, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s fists clenched tighter and tighter.

She almost wanted to punch Jiu Baiyun directly.

‘He did this suicidal thing, and I didn’t howl, but this guy is howling—this makes me especially annoyed.’

But in the end, she suppressed her anger.

The Yao Fox Demon Venerable spoke in his mind, annoyed, almost gritting her teeth.

“Enough! Stop howling! I’ve already started converting into spiritual energy for you! Bear with it!”

Bearing the sharp pain coming from the tail, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable carefully sensed Jiu Baiyun’s current internal condition.

The main effects of the side effects from “Qi Stillness” had almost disappeared.

Spiritual energy and demon power could barely begin to circulate with each other.

She estimated that his body could move soon.

Meanwhile, Jiu Baiyun was in so much pain that his vision went dark.

The place where he had scratched his tail root with his nails burned fiercely, mixed with the lingering, maddening numbness that almost made him faint.

But immediately after, an extremely faint yet incredibly clear warm current began to flow slowly and laboriously through his dry, withered meridians.

It was spiritual energy!

This secretly delighted Jiu Baiyun.

‘The Yao Fox Demon Venerable is finally doing something useful!’