"Alright... I guess."
Seeing that he didn't seem to mind, Yaohua summoned her courage and got up, choosing to overlook what had just happened.
However, listening to the little red phoenix call them "father" and "mother" again and again, Yaohua couldn't help but feel a flutter in her heart. She had to keep telling herself that Chongming was inexperienced in matters of love and didn't mean anything more.
Chongming, on the other hand, doted on the little phoenix. Although his expression remained calm, he let it chatter away beside his ear.
"I've done a lot of things here!" The red phoenix proudly puffed out its chest. "I've swallowed all the malevolent auras of the fierce beasts here. At first, some bad guys tried to pick on me, but luckily I was fast. Later, I trained hard and beat them all up!"
Unable to contain herself, Yaohua stepped forward quickly and ruffled its feathers. "You've suffered all these years. Mother has brought you a lot of new and interesting things. I wonder if you'll like them?"
She had always kept this little yellow chick in mind. So before coming here, she had brought all the things she liked to play with when she was young, as well as some cultivation supplies.
The red phoenix opened its big eyes wide. Watching her take out one treasure after another from the storage space, it jumped up happily. "How wonderful! I like these! Mother, where did you get these wonderful treasures? Did you find them just for me?"
Yaohua blushed a little. "Although I didn't look for them specifically for you, they're all the things I liked when I was a child."
Seeing the interaction between the two, a faint smile appeared on Chongming's lips. "Come to think of it, the red phoenix was trapped here all those years ago partly because of me. I should also give it some gifts."
He took out a small storage pouch from his storage space and handed it to the red phoenix.
The red phoenix took a peek inside and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, father is so generous!"
Chongming couldn't help but ruffle its feathers. "Has this little fellow been given a name?"
Yaohua said awkwardly, "Not officially yet."
"I'll take mother's surname. My name is Feng Yaoyao!" The red phoenix volunteered. "The old tree grandpa gave me this name. He's been taking care of me all these years. But the tree grandpa passed away two years ago... He told me not to forget him."
Saying this, its mood turned gloomy.
Yaohua comforted it, "The name the elder gave you must be a good one. From now on, you'll be called Yaoyao."
Yaoyao nodded and tried to cheer up. "Let's not talk about these sad things. By the way, mother, do you have anything delicious on you?"
It circled around her, sniffing. Then it exclaimed in surprise, "There's so much malevolent aura of fierce beasts in your body. Can I eat it?"
After getting permission, it let out a cheer and absorbed all the malevolent aura of the Paoxiao in Yaohua's body. Its cultivation level seemed to have improved a little.
Yaohua felt her mind clear, and a lot of the violence in her chest dissipated.
Yaoyao still stared at her, its eyes bright. "Mother, there's another delicious thing in your body. It seems to be a small seed. Can I eat it?"
Yaohua was stunned for a moment, then startled. "That's the Heavenly Demon Seed. You must never eat it casually!"
"What's the Heavenly Demon Seed?" Yaoyao tilted its head and asked. "Is it the same kind of demonic aura in father's body? The tree grandpa told me I could eat them!"
With that, it took a deep breath, and wisps of demonic aura drifted out of Chongming's body and were inhaled by it.
It said with a smile, "The demonic aura in father's body is delicious. It's sweet."
Yaohua was quite shocked. "How can you eat demonic aura?"
In the Three Realms, no living being had ever been heard of that could directly absorb demonic aura for cultivation.
Chongming thought for a moment, then opened his communication jade tablet and asked, "Chenyu, I have a little phoenix here that can eat demonic aura. Why is that?"
The lazy voice of God of War Chenyu came through. "It can eat demonic aura? It must have mutated after being in an environment full of demonic aura. The historical records of Penglai once mentioned that when the Demon Race fled to the sea, some fish mutated and specialized in eating demonic aura. For hundreds of years after that, the Demon Race didn't dare to invade Penglai again."
Chongming cut off the communication and pondered, "Maybe we can transfer the Heavenly Demon Seed to Yaoyao's body?"
"That's out of the question!" Yaohua immediately objected. "The Heavenly Demon Seed is an extremely dangerous thing. Yaoyao is still young. It shouldn't bear such pain. I already owe it too much!"
But Yaoyao exclaimed excitedly, "Great! That little seed is really delicious."
The more it said so, the more worried Yaohua became. "It might be the power of the Heavenly Demon Seed bewitching you. It found that it couldn't take root in my body, so it's trying every means to transfer to someone else's body. If you're contaminated by the Heavenly Demon Seed, you'll be parasitized..."
By then, if Yaoyao fell into the demonic path, she would have to kill it with her own hands. The risk was too great for her to take.
During the argument, the voice of the system sounded quietly, "Host, Yaoyao's idea is quite good. You should listen to it."
Yaohua was a little surprised. Since the last time the system tried its best to absorb the demonic aura for her, it hadn't appeared for a long time.
She asked, "Are you sure that Yaoyao won't fall into the demonic path after swallowing the Heavenly Demon Seed?"
The system said indifferently, "Although there's only a 50% chance, Yaoyao is still young. Even if it falls into the demonic path, it'll be very easy for you to kill it. If it succeeds, no one will have to be troubled by the Heavenly Demon Seed anymore, right?"
Originally, Yaohua still had a bit of gratitude towards the system because of its efforts to absorb the demonic aura last time. But after hearing these cold words, that bit of good impression disappeared completely.
No matter how young and weak Yaoyao was, it was still a life. She would rather be imprisoned in the Divine Tomb for all eternity than sacrifice someone else's life for her own sake.
At this moment, ripples of sound appeared in the air, seemingly coming from outside the Divine Tomb.
Chongming's expression changed slightly. "No, it must be Zhao Yue outside activating the Heavenly Demon Seed again!"
The Heavenly Demon Seed in Yaohua's body became restless again after receiving the summon. Enduring the pain in her body, she grabbed Chongming's hand. "No, don't take your blood..."
She could bear this bit of pain herself!
After all, if she couldn't bear it, in the days to come, every time the Heavenly Demon Seed was activated, she would have to rely on drinking blood to survive.
Chongming was extremely anxious, while Yaoyao was trying hard to absorb the demonic aura.
Suddenly, it said, "I remember. The tree grandpa gave me a Demon-Expelling Candy before he died. If mother eats it, she won't feel pain anymore!"
With that, it took out a crystal-clear green stone from under its belly and stuffed it into Yaohua's mouth.
As the green stone entered her mouth, the Heavenly Demon Seed gradually calmed down.
"What is this?" Chongming was very surprised.
Yaoyao said happily, "It's the Demon-Expelling Candy. When I first started absorbing the malevolent aura, I was very prone to going crazy and falling into the demonic path. Every time I was in a daze, the tree grandpa would give me this candy. He even left me a prescription!"
However, the power of the Heavenly Demon Seed in Yaohua's body was ten or a hundred times stronger than ordinary malevolent aura. The Demon-Expelling Candy couldn't completely remove the demonic seed. It could only suppress it temporarily.
Chongming decided to follow Yaoyao to collect more Demon-Expelling Candy.