Like a severed thread, Li Jian’s outward consciousness came to an abrupt halt.
He jerked his eyes open, sensing the surrounding barrier tightening around him as if giving him a warning: cross the boundary again, and the other party would not be so polite.
The knocking on the door continued, growing increasingly urgent, and Li Jian felt a strong premonition wash over him.
The person he was waiting for was right outside.
Downstairs, the sounds of singing and dancing carried on, and he could even hear the cheerful laughter coming from the neighboring rooms with crystal clarity.
Li Jian knew the fierce-faced female demon would come tonight. She would never allow anyone to snatch away her position as the head courtesan unless the person sitting in that seat was her wearing a brand-new face.
That was why he had made such a grand entrance into Changle Pavilion and let everyone know he was the next head courtesan; the female demon would inevitably be unable to resist coming to take a look for herself.
Yet, he hadn’t expected her to be so brazen that she couldn’t even wait for the crowd to disperse before eagerly rushing to steal his face.
Clutching the talisman tightly inside his Qiankun pouch, Li Jian stood up to open the door.
A thin crack appeared as the door frame shifted, and a smiling face abruptly materialized before his eyes.
It was actually Mother Hua!
Li Jian still didn’t dare lower his guard. His perception of the aura hadn’t been wrong; a faint trace of demonic energy was lingering all around him, and the talisman in his palm was practically itching to break free.
Only a second later, the proprietress spoke up, wearing her familiar, enthusiastic smile as she expressed solicitous concern: “Young Master Li, are you finding it comfortable staying here? The noises from next door didn’t disturb you, did they?”
Li Jian paused for a moment, withdrew his hand, and shook his head with cautious vigilance.
“That’s good. Although my establishment has plenty of space, there are also a lot of maidens around. This place is relatively quiet, and I was worried I might have neglected you.”
“It’s fine,” Li Jian said. “Mother Hua can just treat me the same way you treat the others.”
Hearing this, the proprietress immediately dismissed the idea. “How could that ever work? You are naturally different from them. You came here having paid with silver, so you should be treated like a guest staying at an inn. I have to make sure you’re served in absolute comfort, don’t you agree?”
After all, Li Jian had paid, and paid handsomely. To the proprietress, he was like an ancestral deity or a supreme patron; she might act overbearing with the other maidens, but she wouldn’t dare pull rank with Li Jian.
Her words sounded entirely sincere and showed no difference from her usual demeanor. Thinking he might have misjudged the situation, Li Jian relaxed his grip on the talisman and tucked it back into his Qiankun pouch.
Could it be…
Had he really misread the situation?
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with him, the proprietress closed the door and left.
The moment the door clicked shut, Li Jian let out a long breath, relieved that the proprietress had shown no abnormality, yet equally uneasy wondering where the trace of demonic energy he had sensed earlier could have possibly come from.
Locking the door securely and confirming no one was approaching outside, Li Jian prepared to return to his meditation.
As he turned around, the dim shadows swallowed the moonlight. Qiushui stood smiling behind him, her alluring figure half-leaning against the round table as she lightly twirled a folding fan in her hand.
She had arrived without a sound, not even leaving the slightest whisper of noise.
It finally dawned on Li Jian: the previous encounter had merely been a stepping stone to test the waters, a distraction meant to draw his attention. Only after he let down his guard would the real female demon reveal herself.
With a swift motion of his fingers, a sharp, long sword materialized in his palm, and Li Jian lunged forward to meet her. Unfazed, the woman leisurely exhaled a breath, gently waving her long sleeve to release a drifting mist of bewildering smoke that instantly infiltrated Li Jian’s senses.
Li Jian barely managed to parry, but he was still caught off guard. A wave of numbness instantly paralyzed his body, his legs turned to jelly, and his back slammed heavily against the door panel.
“To think you’re actually a little immortal master?”
Qiushui straightened up from the round table, stepping toward him with light, nimble footwork, her slender waist swaying with the full allure of a head courtesan.
She leaned in close to Li Jian, fluttering her folding fan as the crisp, pure aura belonging to an immortal sect practitioner washed over her, filling her with uncontrollable delight. It was her absolute favorite scent.
She had favored Song Zhiyuan earlier precisely because of this kind of clean, delicate fragrance. Never had she imagined that the scent emanating from this little immortal master before her would be even richer and purer than Song Zhiyuan’s, making her utterly reluctant to let go.
“The taste of an immortal sect practitioner is truly delectable… What a pity that you’re here to kill me, otherwise I’d really love to taste what this immortal-qi-infused flavor is like.”
The folding fan brushed past Li Jian’s cheek, and he tilted his head to dodge it. “Are you the fierce-faced female demon who steals people’s faces?”
The smile on Qiushui’s face stiffened momentarily before she rose, looking thoroughly unamused. “I dislike others calling me by that name it’s far too tacky. I much prefer hearing you call me… Head Courtesan.”
To gather all the breathtaking beauty in this world upon herself, to have everyone’s gazes fixated on her, with people desperately vying for her attention like pathetic clowns just for a single glance of hers only such glory was worthy of her current status.
Li Jian let out a disdainful, cold snort, propping himself up by the hilt of his sword in an attempt to stand. However, the female demon’s paralyzing smoke was far too potent, and daring not to risk using his full cultivation to force it out just yet, he chose to temporarily bide his time.
Noticing him frowning deeply with his handsome face contorted into a grimace, Qiushui sighed with a hint of pity. “Don’t waste your effort. This enchanting smoke was crafted using a millennium of my cultivation; even as an immortal sect cultivator, you won’t be able to break free.”
An ordinary person required only the tiniest fraction of it to instantly become a puppet at her mercy, devoid of all consciousness and perception that was precisely how she had replaced her previous faces.
Though Li Jian was an immortal cultivator whose spiritual foundation and skill exceeded her expectations, keeping him under control for the duration of an incense stick would pose no problem at all.
“You’ve actually attained a millennium of cultivation? If you had focused on proper cultivation, you would have had the opportunity to ascend.”
Li Jian shook his head and sighed.
“Now that you’ve harmed innocent lives, your millennium of toil is ruined in an instant. Don’t you find that a pity?”
Hearing this, Qiushui suddenly burst into a fit of wild laughter. Her shrill cackling echoed throughout the room, yet outside, where song and dance filled the air, not a single sound penetrated.
“A pity? Is there anyone in this world who would feel pity for me? I used to think men only cared about themselves and never gave a damn about anyone else.”
She pivoted around to sit by the round table, tilting her waist slightly and crossing her legs as she pointed toward the hustle and bustle outside the window. The lewd jests of men and the shy giggles of women drifted in.
“Listen to those sickening sounds,” she said. “All men are the same. When they’re infatuated, a woman is their entire world—they’d live and die for her without a second thought. But the moment their affection fades or their hearts wander, they won’t even look back, casting people aside like worn-out shoes and leaving those foolish girls waiting in vain.”
With those words, Qiushui’s expression suddenly turned vicious. She gripped her folding fan so tightly that her long, painted red nails nearly pierced into her flesh.
“And what’s most hateful of all are you hypocritical people from the immortal sects!”
As demons, they naturally despised immortal cultivators something Li Jian was already well accustomed to.
Taking advantage of the fierce-faced female demon’s monologue, Li Jian quietly circulated his internal energy, managing to recover about one or two tenths of his cultivation.
Qiushui had long since noticed him regulating his breath internally to buy time against her smoke, but she wasn’t in the least bit anxious. She was utterly confident that no matter how profound Li Jian’s cultivation might be, he would remain weak for a good while after inhaling her smoke.
Bracing himself against the sword hilt with his back pressed to the door, Li Jian gradually pushed himself up. With his limbs still limp and lacking strength, he panted heavily and said:
“I heard the fierce-faced female demon had a hideous appearance and was thus envious of beautiful women, preferring to claim other people’s good looks as her own.”
Yet other people’s looks would always belong to others. Even if stolen, they could not be preserved indefinitely. Consequently, she had to change into a brand-new face every so often, constantly living under the reflected glory of someone else, until she eventually forgot what her original appearance looked like.
“I’m hideous?!”
Qiushui whipped her long sleeve outward, her shrill voice spiking several octaves as she demanded in disbelief.
Li Jian smiled, thoroughly satisfied with the expression on her face. “Otherwise, why wouldn’t you dare show your true face, hiding beneath someone else’s skin every single day until you’ve even forgotten your own name?”
“Nonsense!”
The smiling expression on Qiushui’s face instantly vanished into frost. A dense, pitch-black wave of demonic energy surged around her, billowing so thickly that it nearly swallowed the entire ceiling.
A demon with a millennium of cultivation was indeed not to be underestimated.
Yet by doing this, she could no longer conceal herself. Yangyang City was a territory sheltered by immortal sects; such potent demonic energy would inevitably attract far more formidable immortal cultivators.
Since Li Jian wasn’t certain he could subdue her unscathed on his own, he had deliberately provoked her into unleashing her absolute peak demonic energy. Once she displayed her full might, immortal practitioners nearby would catch wind of it and rush over, allowing them to capture her in one fell swoop.
Just as Li Jian was feeling quite pleased with his strategy, in the blink of an eye, Qiushui teleported right in front of him. Staring at him with a vicious, distorted glare, she clamped her long red fingernails around his neck, tightening her demonic energy until he could barely draw breath.
“You think I’m hideous?”
“You only know how hideous I am now, but you don’t know that I was once a peerless beauty as well. The appearances I’ve taken aren’t even a thousandth as lovely as my original face used to be.”
“It’s all because of you fake, hypocritical immortal sect bastards! If it weren’t for you lot, my face wouldn’t have been ruined, I wouldn’t have been abandoned by the man I loved, and I wouldn’t have fallen to this state.”
Back when she was first practicing cultivation in her youth, she too had been a beauty. The moment she took human form, it drew male demons to her dwelling day after day, all of them proclaiming her to be the most gorgeous female demon in the entire valley. Later, as she blossomed romantically, she fell deeply in love with a male demon who cherished her dearly. He protected her cultivation day in and day out, and a peaceful century passed by just like that.
Until one day, the male demon she loved was targeted by immortal cultivators while foraging for food and was nearly beaten to death. To protect her beloved, she had her face disfigured by the immortal practitioners.
With the level of cultivation she possessed back then, she had no way to restore her countenance. But deep down, she believed the one she loved would never mind such things.
She had thought that the demon loved her for who she was, regardless of appearance. Who could have known that shortly after her injury, that same male demon would grow infatuated with another and cast her aside?
“Your face is simply too terrifying,” he had said. “I can’t pretend I don’t see it.”
And indeed, he was right—her face was terrifying. Because she failed to heal it in time, the greater part of her face had become horribly warped and festering.
The arts of the immortal sect cultivators were specifically designed to counter their kind; she couldn’t even find a way to save herself, forced to endure the whispers and disdainful gazes of others day after day.
Eventually, when she could no longer bear it, she murdered the abandoning male demon with her own hands, absorbed his cultivation, and fled to the mortal realm.
To avoid ever being pointed at again, she began hunting for attractive faces and claiming them for her own.
Men were truly all the same whether mortals or demons, they all favored beauty. Relying on these borrowed looks, she finally recaptured the adoration she had once enjoyed.
“All men deserve to die… and you are no exception!”
Amidst her recollections, her bitter resentment grew heavier, and the demonic energy darkened further.
Staring viciously at Li Jian, her features twisted hideously. Because of the sudden surge of boiling rage, the stolen visage she wore could no longer sustain itself for much longer.
Seizing the moment, Li Jian wrenched his long sword free. Channeling the meager internal energy remaining within his body, he unleashed a sharp, piercing flash of sword qi that forced the fierce-faced female demon backward.
Even so, he was still no match for her. With a backhand strike, the female demon sent Li Jian reeling, causing him to cough up a mouthful of fresh blood.
“I told you not to make pointless struggles. I still don’t want to ruin this pretty face of yours.”
As she spoke, a fine crack split across her flawless, porcelain skin, letting out tiny droplets of dense blood. The female demon raised a hand to lightly stroke it, seemingly lamenting, “A mortal’s appearance is simply not durable.”
Her gaze then snapped back to Li Jian’s face. Though he was a man, his features rivaled countless beauties, and she had never yet tasted the visage of an immortal cultivator. Since he had delivered himself right to her doorstep, she might as well harvest his cultivation along with his face.
With that, Li Jian felt a powerful gale entirely envelop him, frantically tearing at every inch of skin on his body like a greedy, wailing monster howling in celebratory dance.
Outside, the strumming of zithers and songs continued unbothered, yet no one inside would ever hear the commotion in this room, as though it had been sealed off from reality in a separate dimension.
Li Jian closed his eyes, his heart turning utterly cold as he thought: Could I really be kicking the bucket right here today?
Damn it, he hadn’t even finished his mission before getting taken out by a quest NPC.
If word of this got out, System 301 would definitely think he was a disgrace, probably mock him endlessly, and feel secretly glad it hadn’t wasted any time on him from the start.
With a long sigh of resignation, Li Jian decided to accept his fate and start over from scratch—surely there would still be a chance to make a comeback.
Right at that moment, a formidable surge of power violently tore open the demonic energy wrapped around him, and in the next second, he felt himself fall into a warm embrace.
It was a familiar, pleasant scent. Li Jian tried to open his eyes to identify the person, but his eyelids felt far too heavy; before he could manage to open them, he passed out completely.
Xuan Lang pulled Li Jian tightly into his arms. Li Jian’s head lolled against his shoulder, and a streak of fresh blood still stained the corner of his lips. Reaching out with his sleeve, Xuan Lang gently wiped it clean, a sudden, dark chill flashing deep within his eyes.
The female demon’s demonic energy was shattered. Reverting to her true Qiushui appearance, she collapsed weakly onto the round table, vomiting a mouthful of dark blood.
A towering wall of black mist enveloped her at the doorway. In disbelief, she raised her gaze to look at the figure standing there, the overwhelming oppressive aura of the shadow making it nearly impossible for her to breathe as she stammered:
“You… who are you?”
To be able to tear apart her millennium-old demonic energy with a single hand was not an ability ordinary beings possessed.
Xuan Lang did not answer. He merely stared at her with icy eyes.
Lifting his hand, a tendril of black mist from his palm wrapped around her throat. With a gentle squeeze, the female demon began bleeding profusely.
“Was this… how you just treated him?”
Panic-stricken, the fierce-faced female demon thrashed her arms, trying to pry Xuan Lang’s hand away, but no matter what she tried, she couldn’t muster even a shred of strength.
She felt as though she were being slowly crushed to pieces by that person bit by bit.
“You… you’re from the demon race!”
Terror devoured her inch by inch. As her blood rapidly drained, the female demon widened her eyes in shock, growing ever more certain of her deduction only the long-lost demon race possessed such terrifying capabilities.
And his demonic aura seemed thousands of times more formidable than that of ordinary demons!
“Yet we… have always… minded our own business… By doing this… aren’t you afraid of offending the demon clan…”
Xuan Lang raised his eyes coldly, appearing utterly dismissive of her words.
The overwhelming demonic miasma completely suppressed the female demon’s power. Then, with a casual tightening of the hand gripping her throat, the female demon was crushed to annihilation by his demonic pressure, her very soul scattered into nothingness!
The barrier enclosing the room dissipated. Xuan Lang stepped out from the dissipating black fog, waving a hand to sweep away the final wisps of lingering demonic energy.
“Remember: not just anyone is someone you can touch at will!”