In Qian Si Yuan, several lesser beasts stood guard outside the courtyard, their faces full of envy as they listened to the sounds coming from inside the room, which had already continued for nearly half an hour.
At first, they could still hear Du Niangzi crying out miserably and begging for mercy.
After some time, her voice grew weaker and weaker.
Later, there was no sound at all, leaving only the heavy breathing of the Black-Skinned Demon King.
The lesser beasts looked at one another and silently praised him in their hearts: ‘The Mountain Lord is truly not old yet. To keep this up for so long.’
‘Du Niangzi has gone completely silent. Could it be that the Mountain Lord has already knocked her unconscious?’
Some of the lesser beasts even thought to themselves: ‘When will I ever get to live the kind of blissful life the Mountain Lord has, with a female demon by his side every day?’
Inside the room, Du Niangzi looked utterly haggard. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, and she was on the verge of collapse, her entire being teetering at the edge of breakdown.
She could clearly feel her cultivation and her life force being forcibly drained bit by bit by the Black-Skinned Demon King’s rough actions.
Fear rose in Du Niangzi’s heart.
The yang energy she had harvested from the sixteen strong young men in the secret realm had already been completely taken by the Black-Skinned Demon King.
Yet this brute showed no intention of letting her go.
Now, he had even begun drawing out her own cultivation and the very source of her life.
This was no longer just about life-extension. This was about killing her.
If it were only to extend his life, taking the yang energy stored in her body would have been enough.
Absorbing her cultivation and life source could, at best, nourish his physical body and make it stronger, but it would not increase his lifespan.
So the Black-Skinned Demon King clearly intended to drain her alive as punishment for the tricks she had played in the secret realm, for interfering with his life-extension plan, and for deceiving him afterward.
Du Niangzi wanted to beg for mercy, but her mouth was covered by the Black-Skinned Demon King’s hand.
She could not speak, only letting out muffled sounds.
Her insides burned with despair, and her heart turned to ash.
Just as she sank into utter hopelessness, something like an electric current suddenly surged into her mind.
She shuddered violently, then felt a vast amount of dual cultivation techniques and related knowledge appear in her consciousness out of nowhere.
Du Niangzi froze, then realized in shock that this knowledge came from the same source as the Xiyang Art she practiced.
It all belonged to the Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Life-Restoring Art.
Compared to her own technique, however, this method was far more complete and refined.
What astonished her even more was that she did not need to practice it at all.
She had already fully mastered it, clearly understanding every key point and able to use it as naturally as moving her own limbs, as if she had cultivated it for hundreds of years.
What was going on?
How had this entire set of techniques suddenly appeared in her mind?
Du Niangzi was filled with doubt and shock.
Suddenly, she thought of her ‘Master,’ Lin Xue.
It seemed that only Lin Xue could have done this.
After all, they were bound as master and servant, their souls connected.
Lin Xue could make her suffer unbearable pain in an instant, so naturally, he could also transmit an entire cultivation method into her mind in a single moment.
She did not know how Lin Xue had obtained the complete Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Life-Restoring Grand Method, but with her life at stake, she could not afford to think too much.
She had to fight back. She had to live.
Du Niangzi steadied herself and focused her mind, recognizing that what the Black-Skinned Demon King was using on her at this very moment was a high-level spell from the Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Life-Restoring Grand Method.
This spell used the opportunity of dual cultivation to forcibly plunder the other party’s cultivation and life source to nourish oneself.
The Black-Skinned Demon King intended to use this method to take everything from her and drain her into a dried corpse.
At the same time, she realized that his mastery of this spell was far from complete. His execution was clumsy and unrefined.
After all, Guo Shan Feng had only recently presented the complete Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Secret Manual to the Black-Skinned Demon King, and he had merely skimmed through it once.
Only because his talent far surpassed that of ordinary demons could he manage to use the spell at all after seeing it a single time.
Had he been even slightly more proficient, Du Niangzi would already be dead.
She let out a small breath of relief.
Fortunately, the situation was not yet beyond hope. There was still a chance to turn things around.
She could use this spell as well.
When both sides in dual cultivation used the same spell, the outcome depended on whose cultivation realm was higher and whose control over the technique was more refined.
Only one could seize the other’s life force and survive as the victor.
Although the Black-Skinned Demon King, as a Demon King, far surpassed her in realm and cultivation, his understanding of the technique lagged far behind hers.
Who would ultimately prevail was still uncertain.
Du Niangzi immediately focused all her attention, circulating her demon power and activating the same high-level spell.
She resisted the Black-Skinned Demon King’s draining of her cultivation and life source while beginning to siphon his in reverse.
…
At this moment, the Black-Skinned Demon King was in high spirits.
His original plan had been to drain the yang energy from Du Niangzi to extend his life, then stop and kill her on the spot with a single strike.
That foolish woman had dared to interfere with his grand life-extension plan in the secret realm. It was sheer courting death.
A female demon of such ordinary looks was someone he would not even glance at under normal circumstances.
If not for the urgency of his failing lifespan and the lack of other suitable female demons, he would never have lowered himself to her.
But the yang energy she carried came from sixteen young men at the peak of vitality, pure primordial yang.
After absorbing it all in one go, not only was his lifespan extended somewhat, but his body felt reinvigorated, as if he had returned to the prime of his youth, blood and energy surging.
Carried away by the sensation, he did not stop after absorbing enough yang energy.
Instead, he decided to use the high-level dual cultivation spell he had just learned to drain this spider demon to death, using her meager cultivation and lowly life source to nourish himself.
Since she was going to die anyway, it made no difference whether she was struck dead or drained dry.
While he was immersed in his pleasure, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
The spider demon beneath him, who had been on the brink of death, suddenly revived and began using the same high-level dual cultivation spell as he was.
Caught off guard, he found himself unable to resist.
His cultivation, the yang energy he had just absorbed, and even his already dwindling life source were being continuously siphoned away by Du Niangzi.
The Black-Skinned Demon King was greatly alarmed.
He realized that although Du Niangzi’s realm was low, her control over this spell was exceptionally refined.
The imbalance she created was stronger than his, and the force of her absorption exceeded his own.
As a dignified Demon King, he actually felt unable to resist.
If this continued and he failed to act quickly, he might truly be drained to death, all his cultivation becoming someone else’s wedding dress.
The Black-Skinned Demon King was both shocked and furious.
He wanted to stop the dual cultivation at once and break free from Du Niangzi, but this high-level spell was extremely insidious.
Once the other party began harvesting from him, there was no escape unless he countered with the same spell or the other party voluntarily stopped.
Expecting Du Niangzi to stop was clearly impossible.
He had no choice but to pour all his strength into maintaining the spell, relying on his superior realm and cultivation to barely hold off her counter-draining.
He tried to raise his palm to strike her dead. If she died, the spell would lose its caster and naturally dissipate.
But the moment he moved a finger, his lapse in focus caused a massive loss of cultivation, yang energy, and life source.
Terrified, he stopped moving and gritted his teeth, continuing to run the spell to resist her.
He dared not make any unnecessary movements, sweating profusely as he endured it.
At this moment, regret filled his heart.
He had never imagined that this spider demon had also mastered the complete Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Secret Manual, and to such a high degree.
It was obvious she had practiced it in secret for many years.
Who had taught her?
Zong Lie? Hei Feng?
If he had known this would happen, he would never have indulged himself.
He should have stopped immediately after absorbing the yang energy and killed her outright.
Now, it was far too late.
Seeing that a mighty Demon King like Black-Skinned Hei Pi had to exert his full strength just to withstand her technique, Du Niangzi could not help but feel a surge of triumph.
However, Hei Pi was still in the Demon King Realm, his cultivation profound.
Although her technique was refined, she could not overwhelm him quickly.
For the moment, neither demon could gain the upper hand, and the two were locked in a stalemate.