Chapter 116: The Demon King's Enchantment

The bathing chamber provided by Demon King Hu San had a door but no windows. Inside, there was no lighting at all, yet it remained brightly lit at all hours, indifferent to day or night.

Thus, Feng Ke’er had no choice but to rely on her biological clock to tell the time—by now, she had reached the realm of fasting. However, fasting did not mean the body no longer felt hunger. Every three days, her stomach would stir with hunger. At such times, she would practice the second level of the Purification Heart Spell.

After practicing the Purification Heart Spell five times, Feng Ke’er finally repaired the space that the three Hua brothers had destroyed. After two more repetitions, her teleportation technique could finally be directed at will.

Having completed these tasks, Feng Ke’er calculated with her fingers and realized she had been inside this minuscule space for nearly twenty-one days.

During this time, Demon King Hu San seemed to have vanished from the mortal realm entirely, not showing his face even once.

Moreover, the Hua brothers had not come looking for her either.

Could the minuscule space really be that powerful? A thought stirred within Feng Ke’er. She sat cross-legged once again, pressing her right hand’s index and middle fingers to her brow, focusing her spirit to observe the secret chamber.

Indeed, the bathing chamber was merely a facade. Beneath the surface, she saw a black space pulsating with spiritual energy. Clearly, the spiritual energy here was at least ten times denser than what she had used to create her own space. The black spatial walls were formed entirely from condensed Five Elements spiritual energy. Interestingly, the way these energies were layered was completely different from her understanding.

The "Tongtian Compendium" contained many skill descriptions, but there was one major flaw: no illustrations, only textual explanations, and even those were often incomplete. Worse still, each entry in the Pangu Cultivation Diary included various annotations and reading notes, but none covered skill explanations. Thus, when learning skills, she had to rely heavily on imagination.

Take the spatial technique, for example—its description only mentioned condensing four or more types of pure spiritual energy and then forming the spatial wall. But how condensed the energy should be, whether it was liquid or solid, and the exact way to form the spatial wall—all these operational details were left unspoken. Feng Ke’er had to puzzle these out through her own reasoning and experiments, feeling her way forward.

In fact, her understanding at the time focused on the concept of “building.” She built the space like constructing a house: first condensing three types of pure spiritual energy into bricks roughly the size of modern red bricks, then stacking them like building a brick wall, one piece at a time, without any mortar or adhesive. No problem! Ice spiritual energy, condensed into ice-like liquid, along with crystalline particles formed from earth spiritual energy, could substitute for mortar.

Thus, she “built” her very first small spatial domain. Although not impenetrably solid, it was not a shoddy job either and was fairly sturdy. She had been a little proud of this achievement.

However, the spatial wall before her now was fashioned with an entirely different concept. If Feng Ke’er’s understanding was building houses, the creator of this space had approached it as weaving fabric.

This space used pure Five Elements spiritual energy. The five types were condensed into five-colored spiritual liquids, each as fine as a hair’s breadth. Then, like weaving cloth, these five-colored spiritual threads were tightly interwoven into a spiritual energy wall. Because each thread was so fine, at a glance they blended into a subtle black, which was why the entire spatial wall appeared as a low-key black. Yet, upon closer inspection, beneath the black surface shimmered a magnificent spectrum of colors. This was also why the space was brightly lit without any lighting.

Unlike Feng Ke’er’s stacked spiritual wall, the woven wall was light, thin, and agile.

Curious about its sturdiness, Feng Ke’er extended her index finger and gently prodded it.

Unexpectedly, it felt highly elastic.

Raising an eyebrow, she increased the force by twenty percent and jabbed again.

The spiritual wall effortlessly bounced her finger back.

Intrigued, her playful side grew bolder, and she pressed harder...

The experiment concluded that although the spiritual wall appeared thin, its strength far surpassed Feng Ke’er’s own spiritual wall. More importantly, the spiritual wall was dynamic. If one or several areas were attacked, those spots would indent, and the spiritual liquid from the unaffected areas would flow over to reinforce the weakened parts. This both accumulated spiritual energy and greatly enhanced the space’s resistance to damage.

Deeply inspired, Feng Ke’er resolved to abandon the “building” concept entirely. Borrowing this new idea, she intended to reconstruct the space as a soap bubble-like sphere.

According to calculations by the Golden Elixir experts responsible for refining artifacts, the remodeled space would have at least ten times the volume of the original.

It definitely wouldn’t fit in the bathing chamber.

But even if it did, Feng Ke’er had no intention of practicing here, for this was someone else’s domain.

At that moment, her hunger returned.

Heh, unknowingly, another three days had passed. Feng Ke’er sat cross-legged again, five hearts directed upward, and practiced the second level of the Purification Heart Spell once more. Then she yawned, drew a transformation talisman in the air, turning the straw mat into a comfortable sofa bed, lay down, wrapped herself up, and fell asleep.

Two hours later, she awoke and clapped her hands three times—the minuscule space was sealed by a powerful restriction that only the owner could enter or exit, and Feng Ke’er could not break it. Perhaps for this reason, Demon King Hu San dared to leave boldly.

A flash of silver light appeared, and the sweat-drenched Demon King stood before the painted screen.

“Miss Feng,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Feng Ke’er rose and bowed. “I am deeply grateful for Your Majesty’s hospitality. But I fear I have overstayed my welcome…”

The Demon King interrupted her. “Are you leaving, Miss Feng? Forgive my boldness, but where do you intend to go?”

Feng Ke’er nodded. “I have an appointment with a friend at the marketplace. He should have arrived by now.” She said this mainly to buy time. As the saying goes, a strong dragon cannot suppress the local snake. This was the Demon King’s territory, and she had indeed received many favors from him. Leaving without a trace might invite trouble. Besides, at the former site of the Qingyun Sect, Putizi had indeed mentioned he would come to Happy Valley to find her. So, this was no lie. She spoke sincerely, almost with the words “honest and trustworthy” written across her forehead.

The Demon King sighed in relief. “In that case, I shall escort you out. But before you go to the marketplace, could you accompany me somewhere?”

“What?” Feng Ke’er’s eyes sharpened, and she frowned slightly. She really disliked persistent nagging and coercion.

The Demon King quickly waved his hand to explain. “Miss Feng, please don’t misunderstand. I have no other intentions—only a favor to ask of you for Happy Valley.” Fearing refusal, he hastily added, “Rest assured, I am not one to exploit favors. I would never trouble you.”

“Well said,” Feng Ke’er’s expression cleared. “Please, Your Majesty, speak.”

At this point, how could she refuse? After all, she had received kindness. In this world, debts of kindness and enmity alike must be repaid.

“Here is the matter,” the Demon King said solemnly.

He had heard Feng Ke’er mention being pursued by three Immortals in the valley, but had been skeptical. So, after she left the bathing chamber, he secretly dispatched more men to search the valley. After a long time, there was movement in the forbidden area of the valley. Three powerful cultivators had broken into the restricted zone, triggering its defense mechanisms, and were now trapped inside.

Their appearance and clothing closely resembled the three Immortals Feng Ke’er had described. The Demon King had been so frightened that he nearly lost his soul, rushing back to ask Feng Ke’er to come and verify. At that moment, he happened to hear Feng Ke’er’s clapping summons.

“You say the three Immortals are trapped by your restriction?” Feng Ke’er was stunned. Were the celestial Golden Immortals in the divine realm just hollow titles, or was the Happy Valley hiding formidable talents?

The Demon King blushed, embarrassed. “I find it hard to believe myself, which is why I want you to come take a look.”

Indeed, there were many male cultivators in black hooded robes in this world. Feng Ke’er nodded. “Very well, Your Majesty, please lead the way.”

“Please follow me, Miss Feng,” the Demon King gestured invitingly and strode toward the painted screen.

But Feng Ke’er suddenly changed her mind, standing her ground. “Your Majesty, have you really been outside for only half a day?” She had spent a full twenty-four days inside the bathing chamber. The time did not match—the chamber’s time seemed to flow differently. Could the space be so extraordinary?

The Demon King turned back with a good-natured smile to explain. “Miss Feng, time inside this bathing chamber passes much faster than outside. One day outside equals two months inside. So, after handling affairs in the valley, I usually spend time in the chamber studying restrictions. That is why, in over a hundred years, I have made some breakthroughs in restriction techniques.”

“Your Majesty is too modest,” Feng Ke’er chuckled. Sixty times the ratio! One hundred years in the world, six thousand inside the chamber. To spend thousands of years focused on one thing and only make ‘some breakthroughs’ seemed unlikely. No wonder the tenfold restriction on the Heart of the Obstacle Sea was so much more advanced than those in the valley.

The Demon King only smiled silently, then raised his hand. With a swish, the bathing chamber door opened.

Golden sunlight poured in, illuminating the doorway brilliantly, nearly blinding Feng Ke’er.

Squinting, her heart filled with anticipation.

Outside the bathing chamber was a small courtyard with a winding corridor, a small bridge over flowing water—exquisitely refined. The entire courtyard hovered suspended above the center of Happy Valley. Standing in the courtyard, one could overlook the entire valley. Yet, complex invisible restrictions concealed its presence, so none, including Feng Ke’er, had discovered it. This was also why flying techniques were forbidden within Happy Valley.

Besides the Demon King, there were several attendants in the courtyard. The Demon King managed them strictly. They could not freely enter or exit the courtyard and typically used token passes to travel on cloud boats. Docks for the cloud boats were built on the western side of the courtyard and on cliffs east of the valley. The so-called restricted zone referred to the hundred-mile stretch from mid-mountain to the cliff east of the valley.

“Miss Feng, please look!” The Demon King approached a flat piece of white jade stone in the courtyard, flicked his sleeve, and lightly brushed the stone’s surface. Instantly, three disheveled black human-shaped shadows appeared on the stone’s large face.

Feng Ke’er gasped sharply. If they were not the Hua brothers, then who else could they be? (To be continued)

Tongtian Compendium 116_Chapter 116: The Demon King’s Restriction—Update Complete!