I've Become the Demoness

Chapter 13-The End of the Ten Years

One day in the middle of the sixth year, while meditating, Xiu Xiang finally felt her spiritual core completely mended. She was gathering twice as much spiritual energy at twice the speed.

Some time ago, the Demon King sensed her spiritual core blocked and broken. Using whatever energy he had left, he unblocked it so that it could start mending.

"Which bastard broke your spiritual core?" the Demon King asked sounding quite irritated.

"Master Feng Mian of North Peak of Tian Ling Sect," Xiu Xiang replied dully.

"Does that dumbass understand that if your core stays blocked over time you lose the ability to cultivate?" the Demon King snapped.

"I think that was the idea, Master," Xiu Xiang said. Her eyes were still closed as she replied.

"Hmph. If only I still had a body... I'd teach him a thing or two. How dare he hurt my precious disciple?" the Demon King said angrily.

Xiu Xiang slowly opened her eyes.

She spent over six years with the Demon King now and honestly, despite the excruciating training, she enjoyed her time spent with her stupid master. The training had been harsh, but she knew he meant well.

If she had to compare him to someone, it was almost as if he was her dad.

She had been alone all her life. She's never had someone like the Demon King who teased her when she was angry or cheered her up when she was down.

She's read many stories about how demons are heartless and mean and disgusting but the Demon King in front of her was far from the stories or legends she's read. Yea, he was an asshole some of the time, and a jerk who pissed her off most of the time, but he had been there every step of the way, doing whatever he can to make her stronger without letting her give in to the hatred in her heart unlike the Demon King in the novel who made the Demoness fall deeper and deeper into darkness.

Was he really a demon?

"Master, you're not getting any younger. Calm down and meditate." Xiu Xiang exhaled loudly and suddenly sensed an attack coming toward her. Her eyes opened and she quickly rolled off to the right to avoid the Demon King's hand chop. "Sneak attacks are not allowed anymore!"

"I was merely testing your speed. It's been a while since I've last tested it," he lied.

"Right..."

Yep, he's definitely a frigging demon.

Since her spiritual core had mended, the Demon King thought it was a good idea for her to finally learn how to control her own spiritual energy.

"Since you have the bloodline of a phoenix, your element attribute is naturally firebase. Slowly gather the energy in your hand. Picture the flame in the palm of your hand and shoot it."

As the Demon King explained this, a fireball emerged from his palm and turned into a flaming arrow that shot across the sky.

That didn't seem too hard... or so she thought.

She had only managed to gather a ball of energy in her palm when it exploded like a grenade singeing the tips of her hair. The Demon King burst out laughing and it only made Xiu Xiang more stubborn to master it.

Days turned to months and months turned to years.

"Try blocking this!" Xiu Xiang shouted as she sent a beautifully made fire arrow at the Demon King. It scorched the top of his hair and pierced into a nearby tree. The trunk exploded into a ball of fire and quickly turned to ashes.

"No cheating! That's your fifth arrow already!" the Demon King snapped.

It was almost a full ten years.

Xiu Xiang was now as fast as the Demon King was. The two of them collided into each other, shockwaves of energy rippled throughout the void of her unconsciousness. In a blink of an eye, they exchanged more than a hundred moves.

Gusts of wind erupted from each punch and kicks that a vortex was starting to forge around them. If they had been in the real world, the landscape around them would be turned into a wasteland.

After five hundred moves, the two of them exploded with such strong energy, they bounced off of each other leaving a trail of destruction behind them. What had once been a beautiful scenery now looked nothing more than a wasteland of rubble.

Mere seconds later, the rubble vanished, and the scenery returned to how it originally looked. The Demon King was now the one huffing and puffing as he peered over at his disciple.

"Let's... let's take a break for a second," he breathed.

Xiu Xiang laughed as she made her way over to her master.

"What's this? Is old age finally catching up to you?" she joked. Her master patted her head like a doting father and grinned.

"I am over three thousand years old," he replied.

They both rested under a peach tree as they each munched on a peach.

"I can't wait to get out of here so I can eat real food," Xiu Xiang said as she looked at the half-eaten peach in her hand. She knew it wasn't real and that the taste was all in her mind, but she ate it anyway. The Demon King chuckled beside her.
"It's been ten years..." he sighed heavily.

That's right.

The ten-year limit was finally up.

The moment he mentioned ten years, Xiu Xiang felt her heart dropped.

She knew that eventually the soul of the Demon King would fade away since he never merged his soul with hers. In the novel, the soul of the Demon King merged with the Demoness and eventually over time, her soul ate at him. Since the Demon King had no host to live off of, he was barely holding on.

"It's about time, isn't it?" Xiu Xiang said as the smile on her face faded away.

"You've known about it for a while, haven't you?" the Demon King asked. She could only nod. Over the years, even if the Demon King didn't say anything, Xiu Xiang would've known. She had felt the Demon King's soul fading.

"Sigh... you've grown a lot these ten years. I won't worry about leaving the demon realm in your hands," he said.

"Who cares about your stupid demon realm? I won't. I won't care at all. It's your demon realm so you take care of it!" she cried.

He chuckled lightly as he said, "Well, the choice is up to you. As my descendant, it's your right to inherit the demon realm."

"Your... descendant?" she breathed.

"Of course. My original form was once a phoenix. Sigh... it's been so long I barely remember it..."

So, this was the reason why she thought he felt like family. Tears streamed down her face she called him stupid. Unlike the original Demoness who had turned to the dark side and became a demon, Xiu Xiang was already demon beast.

"Are you sad, Xiang Er?" the Demon King asked. Xiu Xiang scoffed as if she didn't care.

"Of course not. I'll be relieved of your constant nagging and horrible training. No more excruciating pain... no more teasing..." her voice started to crack as she choked back on a sob. Her master placed a gentle hand on her head.

"Take so very good care of yourself, Xiang Er..." His voice already sounded like it was so far away. The warm hand on her head had already disappeared. She looked down at her wrists and ankles as she muttered through her sobs. "Stupid master. You didn't even take off my golden shackles before you left..."

She turned to look at the empty space next to her through her tear filled eyes. She never thought a day would come when she'd cry over the stupid arrogant Demon King.

"Don't worry, Master. I'll be alright."