Ning Ke was stunned when he heard that.
If he remembered correctly, the main villain was so ridiculously powerful because of his Demon Core, cultivated over ten thousand years, and his uniquely gifted foxfire.
If he gave both to the protagonist, how was he supposed to remain the strongest?
Something stirred in Ning Ke's mind, and a sudden thought struck him. Could this be why the villain lost to the protagonist later on?
Before he could examine that thought, Xiao Yuan continued:
[But of course, you don't have to give him all of it. You can give him just a small portion after refining it. That will keep him alive and help him survive this ordeal and escape the Demon Abyss!]
Ning Ke came back to his senses, lowered his head, and saw him.
Blood had stained Lou Yunxiao's lips a dark red. His hair was disheveled, and his frail body trembled with every cough. Though unconscious, he clutched Ning Ke's clothes in a death grip, as if begging him for help.
He looked so pitiful.
Where was that terrifying figure from the dungeon now?
Ning Ke gritted his teeth. "Fine. Hurry up and tell me how. I'll save him."
[All right!]
Following Xiao Yuan's instructions, Ning Ke pressed his fingers against several major acupoints on Lou Yunxiao's body.
He sealed Lou Yunxiao's meridians and settled him into a cross-legged position, then sat behind him and released Natal Foxfire from his fingertips.
That tiny ball burned far hotter than the flames that had surrounded him when he stepped into the Demon Soul River.
The instant it appeared, the temperature in the room shot up despite Ning Ke's best efforts to control it, drawing beads of sweat from Lou Yunxiao's forehead.
Ning Ke knew this was the true Natal Foxfire.
Once he gave it away, even just a portion, his vitality would suffer greatly and his strength would plummet.
What was more, he had to expend a tremendous amount of energy refining the foxfire into an otherworldly flame without the slightest trace of demonic energy before passing it to Lou Yunxiao. That would also prevent Lou Yunxiao from recognizing his hidden identity through the flame in the future...
The nights in the Demon Abyss were long.
Inside the wooden cabin.
Ning Ke kept Lou Yunxiao alive while rapidly refining the foxfire. Only when the sky outside began to brighten did he, his face deathly pale, draw the diminished ball of blue-green foxfire back into his body, leaving a wisp of orange-red flame dancing between his fingers.
Gazing at the boy's weak face, Ning Ke said earnestly:
"Kiddo, you'd better make something of yourself. Don't let all the effort I put into giving you these perks go to waste!"
With that, he pressed the ball of flame into Lou Yunxiao's chest.
Lou Yunxiao's body shuddered violently. A scarlet flame mark appeared on his exposed chest, and his meridians instantly lit up with fire. The demon souls ravaging his meridians and corroding his organs shrieked as they tried to flee his body, only to be devoured by the Natal Foxfire in his chest. They became Lou Yunxiao's own power, even turning around to repair his battered body!
[Now! Host, bite off a piece of your Demon Core and give it to him!]
"Bite?"
Ning Ke froze for a moment, then reflexively bit off a piece of the Demon Core that emerged from his body. Gripping Lou Yunxiao's jaw, he fed it into his mouth.
When he realized what he had done, his eyes widened, and he hurriedly backed away, spitting over and over.
Meanwhile, the piece of Demon Core containing over a thousand years of Ning Ke's cultivation immediately resonated with the flames. It automatically refined itself into an impurity-free Golden Core suited to Lou Yunxiao's body and descended into his once-damaged dantian, settling perfectly into place.
Boom-
A terrifying aura erupted from Lou Yunxiao's body.
In a single night, his ruined body had been completely restored, and even his strength had increased considerably.
"Mm, kiddo really did live up to expectations. He actually managed to withstand such concentrated power."
Ning Ke felt exactly like the old man in a martial arts novel who gave the protagonist secret manuals and internal energy after he fell off a cliff.
Having helped Lou Yunxiao this much, he felt considerably less guilty.
But there was still one last step.
He had to seal the connection between their Demon Cores.
After all, Lou Yunxiao's half of the Demon Core shared the same origin as his own. To keep his identity hidden, he had to conceal that connection.
By the time he finished the seal, Ning Ke felt utterly drained. Gone was the swagger he had possessed right after time rewound, when he had felt powerful enough to take on heaven and earth.
Exhausted, he slumped over the bedside beside Lou Yunxiao and fell dead asleep.
Lou Yunxiao felt as though he had dreamed many dreams.
He dreamed that he was the most astonishing genius the entire Flowing Cloud Sect-indeed, the entire Human Clan-had seen in thousands of years. He reached Qi Refining at five, Foundation Establishment at eight, and formed his Golden Core at fifteen.
For as long as he could remember, his name had always occupied first place on the Heavenly Dao Stele.
But then the scene shifted. His family and his sect went up in flames. Screams, the stench of charred human flesh, and the smell of blood filled the world.
Roaring, he swung his sword at the purple-robed Demon Venerable, only to be defeated in a few moves by the seemingly weightless fan in his opponent's hand. His Golden Core shattered, his eyes were destroyed, and his cultivation was stripped away. He could only lie on the ground like a lump of rotten meat, utterly abject, desperately spitting threats even he did not believe.
Those purple robes and that face were etched deep into his bones in the final instant before his sight vanished.
Exquisite beauty steeped in poison-he wanted nothing more than to skin him, tear out his tendons, grind his bones to dust, and scatter his ashes!
Yet after that fierce hatred, at the end of the dream, the scene changed again.
The bone-scraping pain and endless despair were dispelled by an unfamiliar warmth.
Someone reached out to him in the darkness.
That person gathered him gently into his arms, as though cherishing the most precious treasure, shielding him with spiritual power and driving away the icy demon souls gnawing at him. Searing flames rose from his chest, and his empty dantian was restored and made whole.
The warmth made him want to cry.
He could not help tightening his arms, refusing to let that warmth escape, refusing to let that ray of light leave him.
Like a drowning man clutching driftwood, like a man falling off a cliff clinging to a branch.
He could not let go.
Until...
A "gentle" "female voice" sounded beside his ear.
With "sweetly fragrant breath"-through gritted teeth-it asked him:
"Why, exactly, are you squeezing my chest so hard, kid?"
Before you continue