8 – Cultivated a Demon, Forgot Even How to Serve in Bed.
During the delay, the fresh corpse had completely cooled.
Baili Zheque gathered the Remnant Soul Resentment into his palm: “My consort truly does not hesitate to hide her talents.”
Liu Wuzhi didn’t understand his words and politely smiled at him.
Saving people was the habit and mission of the lingzhi spirit herb, but it also required assessing the situation and acting within one’s capabilities. For example, right now, the Demon Lord clearly did not need her to save anyone.
If she wanted to return to the Azure Mist Sect, she had to please the Demon Lord, but she couldn’t expose that she wasn’t the original owner.
The first time was luck; if the Demon Lord wanted her to attend the bedchamber again, she would inevitably be exposed. She needed to divert his attention in other ways.
While she was thinking, Baili Zheque had already struck a familiar beckoning pose. Liu Wuzhi’s feet left the ground, and her body was manipulated to turn halfway around. The Demon Lord held her by one shoulder with a single hand, shaking his arm as if dusting off dirt.
After a clattering mess of sounds, the private stash she had obtained from interrogating prisoners these days all fell out, naturally including that broken Soul-Ferrying Bell.
Seeing the Demon Lord collect all her hard-earned results into his sleeve, Liu Wuzhi anxiously said, “You can have the rest, but can you give me back the little bell?”
Everything she cared about was written all over her face, as if her vital point had been seized.
The Demon Lord paid no heed, instead switching to gripping her waist from the outside in. Holding Liu Wuzhi like a human-shaped doll, he stepped onto the silver-purple demon markings and soared out of the dungeon as if riding clouds and mist.
The impact felt hard as iron, and the sharp fingernails poked painfully into her skin. Liu Wuzhi grew even more uneasy, changing to a negotiating tone: “Sovereign Lord, you just returned and already want me to attend the bedchamber. Can we wait a while longer? I can help you raise your Life Beast.”
As she said this, the Nether Butterfly Dusky Crow was also quite tempted, circling around the two as a hint.
The Demon Lord ignored them as well. Liu Wuzhi then tried to reach into his wide sleeve, but before she could even touch the hem of his robe, she was firmly restrained by a chilling oppressive aura.
After leaving the death prison, the full view of the Demon Palace truly unfolded before her eyes.
The crystal palace floated between heaven and earth, the air filled with a putrid sweetness. In the distance, she could see corpses of various kinds hanging from the outer walls of the city—some still twitching and bleeding, others long since weathered into bleached bones. Netherworld Butterflies and Dusk Crows fought over pecking at the flesh and blood.
“See clearly?” The Demon Lord intentionally slowed his pace, lowering his voice to intimidate, “This is the fate of those disloyal to this lord.”
Lingzhi was born from rotten wood. While sensing the deathly aura that felt particularly familiar, Liu Wuzhi offered a suggestion: “This is too wasteful. You should first bury them all in the ground, wait for the flesh and blood to turn into fertilizer, then hang the bones back up for exhibition. Kill two birds with one stone.”
Demon Lord: ?
Approaching the center of the Demon Palace, she gradually began to see people coming and going on the ground. At this moment, their posture was both strange and intimate. Liu Wuzhi twisted her body, indicating she wanted to get down, but the Demon Lord still held her firmly without moving an inch.
As they descended, the doors to the royal court at the highest point of the palace suddenly swung open. Inside, nine dragon pillars stood imposingly, the skeletal throne adorned with purple crystal clusters. Glazed lamps shone brilliantly, as if spiritual essences flowed within.
The hall was empty and devoid of people. The previous mess had been cleaned up by Yuan Lan, leaving behind a trail of dark red drag marks.
Baili Zheque casually tossed Liu Wuzhi aside and directly sat on the throne. He removed his crystal glasses, propped his chin with one hand, and closed his eyes to rest.
This wasn’t the bedchamber. Liu Wuzhi’s “bedchamber anxiety” eased slightly as she tentatively asked, “Can I go back now?”
The sound fell with an echo. Seeing that the Demon Lord did not respond, she cautiously shifted an inch outward in a half-sitting, half-leaning posture.
The Demon Lord paid no attention.
Liu Wuzhi hurriedly moved another inch, then another… The aura around the Demon Lord weakened. If a professional spy were present, they would surely recognize the opening at this moment. It was the perfect opportunity for an assassination, but Liu Wuzhi only wanted to retreat as quickly as possible.
Just as she thought she could sneak out of the throne hall unnoticed, a sharp female voice suddenly rang out from outside the door: “Sovereign Lord, this humble concubine has urgent matters to report!”
An unfamiliar beauty, having walked all the way from the rear palace, climbed hundreds of steps, panting heavily. Though her voice was already breathless, her attire and makeup remained flawless. The long train of her skirt trailed behind her, and her hair was styled in an unusually high bun, as if only by maintaining such opulent height could she possess a certain life-threatening authority to speak at any moment.
Since the day she left after attending the bedchamber, Liu Wuzhi had not had the chance to tidy herself up. With disheveled hair, she glanced at the tallest Demon Lord in the Demon Palace.
The Demon Lord did not open his eyes, but his dangerous fingers lightly traced through the air. Liu Wuzhi frantically hugged herself, only to find that her body did not fly about uncontrollably. At the same time, an invisible barrier materialized outside the door, directly knocking the beauty flying!
After the sound of the fall, a distant, piercing cry of pain echoed from below—dressed so heavily, she must have fallen terribly.
“If you don’t want to be disturbed, I’ll take my leave too?” Liu Wuzhi said, continuing to inch further away from the Demon Lord.
After moving only a few steps, the beauty from earlier actually climbed back up. The two met at the doorway, and even though the other’s face was pale with fright, she still glared fiercely at Liu Wuzhi.
Having been imprisoned in the dungeon for three days, Liu Wuzhi knew nothing of the outside gossip, but explosive news had already spread throughout the Demon Palace: she was now the only woman to have emerged alive from the Sovereign Lord’s bedchamber! And she was very likely to have been favored!
Within the rear palace, the greatest fear had never been scarcity but inequality. They absolutely could not allow the Sovereign Lord to take an interest in her! This beauty had volunteered to come and cause trouble.
Learning from the earlier example, she dared not step forward upon reaching the doorway. Instead, she cried out pitifully to the inside: “This humble concubine has secret news about Wuzhi to report to the Sovereign Lord.”
The fact that she was still alive at this moment indicated the Sovereign Lord’s tacit permission.
“This humble concubine shared a room with Wuzhi, but on the night before Your summons, when I rose in the middle of the night, I found her bed empty.” The beauty accused with conviction. “After searching along the palace paths for a long time, I discovered that Wuzhi had changed out of her servant’s attire and was dressed in splendid robes, heading in the direction of the Sovereign Lord’s bedchamber.”
“She must have obtained some information from others, intending to harm you. Such treacherous intentions surely harbor disaster!”
The night before the beauties were summoned was a full moon night, also the time when the Sovereign Lord ordered the entire palace to be under lockdown. Anyone who touched the forbidden barrier would suffer severe injuries, even the Five Great Guardians would not escape unscathed. For a woman with only beauty to rely on, a shattered soul would be considered a light punishment.
“Outside the gate tower, a barrier was set—touching it meant certain death. This humble concubine saw with her own eyes Wuzhi touch the barrier and fall out.”
After speaking, the beauty seemed to recall her own fall earlier and paused slightly. “In any case, she must have pulled some trick to survive by chance and deliberately drew Your attention. You must not let your guard down.”
Hearing this, Liu Wuzhi also remembered: the moment she had crossed over was precisely in the middle of the night in the demon realm, with this body lying cold and lifeless before the gate tower.
Could it be that Wuzhi’s soul was shattered at that time?
Having sorted out the sequence of events, Liu Wuzhi gave her beautiful companion a grateful glance and found a suitable excuse for her lie: “I fell too hard that day, so I even forgot how to attend the bedchamber.”
What Little Lingzhi didn’t know was that surviving before the soul-shattering barrier was already suspicious enough. Just considering the fall she suffered from the Demon Lord on the day of attending the bedchamber, she not only didn’t break all her bones but also spent only three days in the death prison before stretching her limbs and bouncing back to life. In the eyes of outsiders, it almost seemed as if she possessed an undying body comparable to the Demon Lord’s.
Baili Zheque ignored Liu Wuzhi’s off-topic remark, impatiently opened his eyes, and stared from afar at the beauty who persistently framed Wuzhi, asking, “Only you?”
It took the beauty a moment to understand: “Only this humble one witnessed the incident, but everything I said just now was seen with my own eyes. I dare not conceal anything.”
In the time it took to say these few sentences, she had already quickly straightened her attire, deliberately revealing the delicate skin at her collar. Her gaze toward the throne gradually softened: “There are still some details regarding this matter. It is of great importance. I wonder if I could speak with the Sovereign Lord alone…”
Her seductive tone couldn’t match the Demon Lord’s swift, lethal speed.
From this moment on, aside from the parties involved, no one else would know about Wuzhi’s abnormality.
Outside the door, blood spurted like a fountain. Baili Zheque retrieved his monocle again, placed it on the bridge of his nose, and turned his gaze toward Liu Wuzhi.
For a plant, a scene of killing was like humans seeing the corpses of grass—utterly unrelatable. Liu Wuzhi had no intention of defending Wuzhi. Instead, she curiously asked, “Sovereign Lord, why is your glasses only half?”
In the Demon Lord’s eyes, however, this remark became an attempt to evade the main issue.
Baili Zheque felt contempt inwardly and instead said, “By noon tomorrow, I want to see the array diagram for converting celestial power into magical power.”
Hearing the Demon Lord assign her a task, Liu Wuzhi was puzzled: “I only know how to convert magical power into celestial power. I’ve never tried converting celestial power into magical power.”
In the death prison, she had relied on a magic array to purify elements harmful to the demon race, turning poisonous ingredients into food suitable for the prisoners.
The Demon Lord on the throne narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow, as if saying: If you can’t do it, I’ll kill you.
The next moment, Liu Wuzhi was flicked away by a snap of his fingers.
Even after returning to the rear palace, she still couldn’t figure out why the Demon Lord wanted to convert celestial power into magical power.
After all, how could there be celestial power in the demon realm?
Lost in thought, it took Liu Wuzhi a while to notice the growing number of gazes around her. The beauties in the rear palace pointed and whispered about her: “I heard that the beauty who shared a room with her went to report her, but the Sovereign Lord killed the informant instead of her.”
“Look at her face—she must have used some seduction art to bewitch the Sovereign Lord.”
“Exactly. They say she even dared to use seduction art in the dungeon. Those who follow heretical paths are bound to suffer retribution.”
“The Sovereign Lord sees everything clearly. He won’t let her gloat for long. He might already be on guard.”
“In my opinion, the Sovereign Lord suspects she’s a spy. Once he finds her weakness, he’ll surely make her die without a whole corpse.”
Liu Wuzhi wasn’t even afraid of the Demon Lord’s death threats, let alone these harmless, sour remarks. She walked openly toward the few leading the gossip: “I’m helping the Sovereign Lord. Could you lend me some magical power?”
The beauties were highly vigilant: “Use our magical power to continue practicing your seduction art?”
Liu Wuzhi tilted her head. “What exactly is seduction art?”
When she spoke, her eyes shimmered like autumn waters, naturally carrying an air of grace and charm.
Those who stared at her face for too long would find themselves blushing, turning away to mutter, “Shameless hussy!”
Having circled around without borrowing any magical power, Liu Wuzhi could only attempt to use Wuzhi’s own. She first tried to replicate the spore-spraying technique, but after several failures, she began silently reciting the Azure Mist Sect’s heart mantra. After fumbling for a long while, it still proved useless.
Unable to attend the bedchamber and incapable of channeling magical power, she was at high risk of being exposed.
Liu Wuzhi recalled everything she had learned at the Azure Mist Sect and, gathering her courage, recited a high-level celestial mantra she had yet to master—but in reverse. This time… it actually worked.
She looked down at the faint, cold-hued starlight glowing at her fingertips, her mouth agape in astonishment.
Was cultivating demonic arts… really this easy?
The Demon Lord had given her limited time, so Liu Wuzhi had no chance to dwell on her strange circumstances. She followed the same method, reciting several more celestial mantras in reverse, gathering the accumulated magical power in one place and drawing a formation to convert it into celestial power.
The next step was to convert the celestial power back into magical power.
Once focused, she lost track of time. Outside, the pale moon’s edges began to crack with scorched black fissures, slowly turning into a blood-like dark red as the demon realm quietly descended into night.
After being summoned by the Demon Lord, the surviving beauties returned to their three-years-unchanged life of menial labor, returning to their rooms one by one with sore backs and aching waists. Exhausted from a full day of hard work, everyone fell asleep as soon as they touched their pillows, leaving no time to mock Liu Wuzhi, who was still energetically staying up late.
They slept so soundly that they failed to notice Liu Wuzhi exhausting her own demon energy and, under the cover of night, stripping away the demon energy lingering on their clothes and belongings to use as test subjects. Nor did they notice the innate intelligence and keen insight that flashed in the young girl’s eyes when her gaze sharpened.
Outside the window, the moonlight returned to its pale hue, and the reverse formation she had drawn with her fingertips finally began to emit a faint trace of demon energy.
With just a glimmer of hope, Liu Wuzhi sprang up excitedly, eager to show off her progress to her senior brother.
Unintentionally kicking over a stool, she drew a curse from a sleeping beauty in the same room—only then did Liu Wuzhi remember she was no longer at the Azure Mist Sect but in the demon realm, and her spirits sank.
Moreover, if her senior brother found out that she, an immortal herb, had secretly cultivated demonic arts, she would surely face reprimand.
Little Lingzhi was quick to feel dismayed but equally quick to adapt.
Since she had to make the best of her situation, she decided to go and show the Demon Lord instead. Baili Zheque was a supreme Demon Lord himself, so he surely wouldn’t mind her cultivating demonic arts.
Liu Wuzhi decided to tidy herself up first.
While grooming herself in front of the mirror, the other beauties in the room gradually woke up. Unaware that their demon energy had diminished, they immediately began to mock her. “Oh, starting so early in the morning to seduce the Sovereign Lord?”
Liu Wuzhi knew that stealing demon energy was not the righteous path, so she remained silent out of guilt.
She wasn’t accustomed to Wuzhi’s style of dressing, but to avoid raising suspicion, she hastily put on a relatively simple dress. The young girl had a lovely figure, and even the other beauties couldn’t help but envy her. Yet, after donning the mature dress, Liu Wuzhi picked up a ribbon and began styling her hair into little buns and twin tails.
“…” What kind of bizarre fashion combination was this?
Braiding hair was an extremely meticulous task. Liu Wuzhi was carefully tying the bow symmetrically when suddenly, an unfamiliar male voice echoed in her mind: “Although the rebellion in the three realms has failed, it has still wounded Baili Zheque. I have already released new bait in the Defiled Realm. You must accompany that scoundrel on this journey and await further instructions when the time comes.”
Liu Wuzhi, who hadn’t understood a single word: ??
Wait, who are you?
Startled, her grip immediately loosened, and half of her braid unraveled.
She first looked up at the sky—no one.
Then she looked down at the ground—no one.
Finally, she glanced around—the beauties in the same room glared at her warily: “What are you looking at? Don’t even think about stealing our hairstyle ideas. Go make a fool of yourself somewhere else.”
Liu Wuzhi’s gaze returned to the mirror in front of her, and she fell into deep thought.
This entire room was filled with women—there were no men at all.
While re-braiding her hair, she recalled the voice in her mind again—clear in its words yet indistinct in its tone. She thought of the Demon Lord’s leniency and indulgence toward her, as well as the suspicious, hesitant glances from the people of the demon realm. Suddenly, a spark of realization struck her—
Could it be that she was actually a spy?!
Author’s Note:
The antagonist won’t appear for now but will continue to make (assisting) calls (and attacks).
Starting from the next chapter, updates will be slower and word counts will be reduced. If there’s no update by 6 p.m., no need to wait. There’s plenty of saved drafts, and updates will explode after going premium [pitiful].