After a few days of rest, Huang Shi was finally able to recover enough that he no longer needed Bai Xinyue's help to move around, and this was despite the constant influx of healing from her spiritual energy.
What he learned from this was that her spiritual energy's healing ability is basically related to her ability to slightly improve the cultivation speed and physique of another cultivator; it was just another application.
"I can't actually fix your wounds. Instead, I force your body to speed up its natural recovery by stimulating your cells. Normally, doing so doesn't have any severe consequences, but in your case, if I force your body to heal itself from its injuries because of how severe they are, you might be cured of your wounds, but you would instantly die from fatigue."
With that, instead of forcing it, Bai Xinyue just helped him speed up his recovery faster than normal, but not to an excessive degree.
Right now, though, both he and Bai Xinyue were staring at a black scroll that seemed to seep out some sort of strange demonic energy. It was clear that this was the technique Huang Bai used to undergo his demonic transformation and directly raise his cultivation base by one entire stage.
"Even though this thing feels and smells disgusting, there could be something we can learn from it. Techniques that help raise a cultivator's cultivation are extremely rare, not to mention most of them have severe drawbacks."
As she said this, Bai Xinyue gave Huang Shi a look, and he instantly understood what she meant.
"Hey, it's not my fault that I'm such a genius! Don't you have your own technique that could do the same thing?"
Bai Xinyue instantly snorted coldly as she looked back at the scroll, raising her dainty right hand and surrounding it with her silvery-white spiritual energy before slowly grabbing hold of the thing.
The moment her hand came into contact with the scroll, it started to sizzle like a piece of meat bathed in oil, and it instantly gave off an extremely pungent smell—so much so that any normal person would have already vomited.
However, that was not the only thing that happened, as the scroll suddenly shone with an eerie red hue, which bathed the entire room in the color of blood.
Alright, that is officially a "what the fuck is that thing" moment.
Bai Xinyue, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any change in her expression, except perhaps for the slight, disdainful crinkle of her nose at the foul stench. As if offended by the scroll's resistance, the silvery-white light from her palm magnified in intensity, turning from a soft glow into a blinding, celestial radiance that hummed with absolute power.
ROAR!
Suddenly, a guttural, bone-chilling roar—like that of a prehistoric, monstrous beast—erupted from the fibers of the black scroll. The red light bleeding from the parchment flared with a sudden, violent intensity, pulsating like a dying heart as it surged upward to challenge Bai Xinyue's authority. Obviously, there was only one possible outcome in trying to provoke the dignity of her royal highness.
BOOM!
A powerful burst of spiritual energy exploded from Bai Xinyue's body. The shockwave didn't just rattle the cabin; it caused the very air to become deathly still while the foundation of the earth trembled beneath them.
Huang Shi felt his heart seize in his chest, clamped by an invisible hand, as an instinctive terror rushed up from his very bones. The feeling was like an ant meeting an anteater or a rabbit cornered by a starving wolf—a soul-crushing pressure that screamed at every nerve in his body to run away, to hide, or to simply accept his death.
Ah shit... what the hell is this woman? Is she even human?
Before long, the beast—or spirit, or soul, or whatever malevolent entity resided within the scroll—stopped roaring and started to scream in pure, unadulterated agony. The red light flickered violently, sputtering like a candle in a hurricane, before eventually being crushed into nonexistence.
Seeing that the scroll had finally become obedient and silent, its demonic will shattered, she reached down with calm grace, grabbed hold of the now-docile parchment, and unrolled it to read its contents.
Obviously, Huang Shi wouldn't miss this chance, and he tried to read through it as well. Unfortunately for him, the scroll was covered in characters he couldn't understand at all; in fact, he had never seen this language even when he visited the third level of the Information Hall.
What the hell is that? System, can you help me out?
[Responding to host... Trying to detect language...]
[Language detected... confirmed to be the language of the Devil Race.]
[Translation in progress...]
Before long, something strange happened. Suddenly, he was able to read the text he previously couldn't understand with total ease.
[Symphony of Agony and Despair]
What? That doesn't sound like some sort of devilish transformation technique. Did we get the wrong one?
Seeing the look of shock on Huang Shi's face, Bai Xinyue raised her eyebrow in surprise and spoke in a somewhat stunned manner.
"You can read the Devil Tongue?"
Hearing her question, Huang Shi was instantly flustered. He didn't know how to respond; obviously, he couldn't say that the System had translated the words for him unless he wanted his greatest secret to be exposed to her. Seeing that Huang Shi remained quiet, Bai Xinyue patted his shoulder before speaking softly.
"Don't worry, I won't probe into your secrets. I was just curious."
Huang Shi instantly breathed a sigh of relief as the lump of anxiety at the pit of his stomach disappeared.
Thank you, Bai Xinyue!
Seeing his opportunity to change the topic, Huang Shi pointed at the scroll and spoke in a confused tone.
"The scroll says it's a technique called the Symphony of Despair and Heartbreak. It doesn't really sound devil-like at all. Is that normal?"
Bai Xinyue remained silent for a few seconds, staring straight at the black scroll before looking back toward him and speaking in a solemn voice.
"Huang Shi, do you know the difference between orthodox cultivators and devil cultivators?"
Huang Shi was instantly a bit flabbergasted. Obviously, he didn't; he had never even seen a so-called devil cultivator until now.
He inquired in a probing manner, "So what's the difference? Do they eat humans or something? Live sacrifice? Mass murder?"