Even if Suyu’s true form was a cat, he was no ordinary cat. Qingmo had measured him at home before; stretched out entirely, Suyu stood half a head taller than Liuze.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to carry Suyu in his original size, Qingmo purposely transformed into a form just slightly larger than a small fluff ball.
“Though I cannot help much, at least I won’t become a burden.” The little rice cake flicked its tail, though its body still couldn’t move.
Failing to suppress the urge to kiss the creature, Qingmo stuffed the rice cake right into his robes without a second thought. After all, no cute furry animal in the world could ever escape the palm of his hand.
The soft little cat gave him an extra surge of momentum. The Seven Absolute Strings intertwined nimbly between his ten fingers, dispatching enemies with ghostly speed; by comparison, the resurrection speed of the Witch puppets slowed down significantly.
Suyu had taken the place of the small fluff ball, burying his head against Qingmo’s chest. Although his body was paralyzed and the bloody storm outside had yet to settle, he couldn’t help his heart from racing.
To be tucked inside the bosom of the person you loved—what cat could possibly endure such temptation?
True to his reputation as the Ghost Fiend, Qingmo executed his moves with ruthless deadliness. No matter how formidable the enemy, he handled them with effortless ease, even finding the spare time amidst the battle to slip a hand into his robes and stroke the cat’s head.
The cat was raised to a glossy, plump shine, prompting even Qingmo—a veteran connoisseur of all things fluffy—to let out a sigh of admiration. “Mnh… Your fur is so soft!”
“……Thank you.”
Suyu buried his head even deeper. It wasn’t that he had any ulterior motives; he was simply mortified.
Shapeshifting into a cat and petting cats right in the middle of a battlefield—the two of them were acting as though they were just playing around. Taking this in, Yue Zhiqiang’s eyes darkened as he clenched his fists, attempting to sow discord. “The Ghost Fiend truly possesses remarkable skills, actually managing to sweet-talk the Demon Lord into absolute obedience.”
Unamused, Qingmo grabbed Suyu by the back of his neck and hoisted him right out. “Are you blind? The man did this of his own accord, I didn’t do a thing!”
Having gone unhandled by anyone in such a manner for many years, Suyu experienced a momentary shock; if he hadn’t been paralyzed, he probably would have turned around and bitten the person holding him.
“Whatever.” With a cold face, Yue Zhiqiang summoned even more Witch puppets. “Either way, none of you are getting out of here today.”
“That remains to be seen.” Qingmo stuffed Suyu back inside, giving him a light, protective pat.
The barrier was specifically designed to counter the Ghost Fiend, and since Suyu was poisoned and unable to help, Yue Zhiqiang was confident that taking them down was only a matter of time.
Yet seeing Qingmo’s smug expression, he grew slightly uncertain.
The Ghost Fiend was cunning and full of tricks, so caution was essential.
Suddenly, Qingmo shifted from offense to defense, abandoning his obsession with these unkillable foes and stringing the Witch puppets along like a game to stall for time.
Yue Zhiqiang’s brow furrowed as an ominous feeling washed over him.
Suddenly, he sensed a fluctuation in the barrier.
Accompanied by a crisp shattering sound in the void, Yue Zhiqiang was forcefully driven back several feet by a mysterious, overwhelming force. A bloodthirsty sword flashed past, moving so fast that only residual shadows remained. In the blink of an eye, several Shadow Guards had already barred their blades right before his eyes.
All the Witch puppets froze dead in that exact instant.
Stepping squarely on top of a Witch puppet, Qingmo sneered triumphantly, “Did you really take me for a pushover? Yun Hengxue spends all day plotting how to deal with me, but I haven’t been wasting my time either over the years!”
“Lord.” Chanchao approached him. “The focal points of all the barriers have been destroyed.”
“Well done!” Qingmo hooked an arm over Chanchao’s shoulder.
This trip was a veritable Hongmen Banquet; having long guessed that the Witch Clan would devise methods to counter him, he certainly hadn’t been foolish enough to arrive unprepared. Thus, before leaving, he had sent Chanchao back to the Ghost Fiend Manor to summon a few idle Shadow Guards as a precaution against emergencies.
“Qingmo…” Suyu, obediently tucked against his chest, suddenly stirred.
A pair of soft, white, fluffy cat paws stretched out from the robes, followed by a small, furry head adorned with heterochromatic eyes.
Qingmo felt his heart melt entirely. “What is it? Can you move now?”
Whenever he saw something fluffy, he instinctively slipped into a baby voice.
Noticing all the people gathered outside, Suyu still wished to maintain some dignity as the Demon Lord, and quickly shrank back down. “I can move, it’s just that… I don’t seem to be able to change back…”
“That’s fantastic… Ah no, how completely heartbreaking!” Letting slip the truth in his excitement, Qingmo was far more inclined to gaze at the soft, squishy rice cake than Suyu.
Through a layer of fabric, Suyu extended a paw to scratch lightly against Qingmo’s chest to vent his dissatisfaction. “Stop fooling around. Go find Yue Zhiqiang and get the antidote.”
“What’s the rush? You look genuinely adorable in this little form.”
As Qingmo muttered to himself while talking to the bulging lump against his chest, a few Shadow Guards nearby shot him knowing, teasing looks.
Rules within the Ghost Fiend Manor were relaxed, and the bolder ones dared to joke directly with him. “Where did the Lord steal this little creature from this time? The manor is running out of space to keep them all.”
“Ppffft, get lost! I didn’t steal or rob anyone, he threw himself into my arms!”
Kicking away the teasing guard, Qingmo grabbed Yue Zhiqiang by the collar and hauled him right up to his face. “Bai Yingfei must be out of his mind to fall for a scumbag like you! Hand over Suyu’s antidote right now!”
Yue Zhiqiang closed his eyes in silence, turning his head away with an expression of unyielding defiance.
At last, his lips parted. “…Just kill me.”
“Hmph!” Qingmo let out a cold laugh. “Wanting to die isn’t that easy.”
Since Yue Zhiqiang was Bai Yingfei’s lover and things had reached this point, his primary task was to make Bai Yingfei see the man’s true colors clearly.
Everything inside the City Lord’s Mansion remained peaceful and serene. When Qingmo brought Yue Zhiqiang back, the guards at the front gates were so startled by the procession that they nearly stumbled and lost their footing.
However, the first person to rush over upon hearing the commotion wasn’t Bai Yingfei, but Jiang Hong.
“Lord Ghost Fiend.” Jiang Hong bowed in greeting, though his eyes kept darting nervously toward whatever was hidden behind Qingmo.
Gathering from Jiang Hong’s expression that he likely had a report for Suyu—and sensing the cat burrow even deeper against his chest, making it obvious that Suyu had no desire to be seen right now—Qingmo cleared his throat awkwardly. “Your Lordship hasn’t returned yet. You can report whatever it is to me first.”
Given the trust Suyu placed in Qingmo that far surpassed ordinary colleagues, Jiang Hong held back nothing and blurted out, “Well… that person our Lord previously ordered us to monitor has made a move. They attempted to escape from the City Lord’s Mansion and were caught red-handed the moment they surfaced.”
Qingmo nodded, assuming they had successfully captured the individual. “Where are they?”
“……They got away.”
“G-Got away?”
Slowly placing his hands on his hips, Qingmo ground his molars together with a sharp creak, enunciating each word carefully. “Then what gives you the face to come report this to me? Go after them!”
While the Shadow Guards were admittedly somewhat undisciplined, they vowed never to rest until their target was secured, let alone dare show their faces before failure without succeeding.
Clearly, Suyu had simply spoiled these people far too much.
As his chest was pressed twice by paw pads, Qingmo understood Suyu’s meaning: since that masked figure had managed to escape from Suyu’s grasp once before, they undoubtedly possessed genuine skill, meaning Jiang Hong’s failure was hardly unforgivable and shouldn’t be met with harsh reprimands.
Yet Qingmo chose to interpret it as an order to scram immediately. “If you can’t finish the mission, Suyu doesn’t want to see you! Go sell your sugar paintings instead!”
With that, he turned on his heel and stormed off in a huff.
Suyu: ……
The City Lord’s Mansion dungeon.
Hearing the news, Bai Yingfei rushed over in a flurry, only to find Yue Zhiqiang kneeling inside a cell, bound in spiritual-energy-suppressing chains.
“Qingmo! What on earth is going on here?!”
“Ask him yourself, then.” Lounging sprawled across a chair with the cat cradled in his arms, Qingmo acted completely detached as he teased the feline. “Alas, poor little rice cake of ours, wanting to change back to human form and unable to.”
Keeping his paws tucked beneath his chin, Suyu remained silent. He discovered that ever since he had turned into a cat, the other man had grown increasingly devoid of boundaries, casually indulging in overly intimate actions and remarks at every turn.
Though he eagerly anticipated and cherished them, this wasn’t quite the outcome he wished to inspire while stuck in a feline body.
Across the cell, under Bai Yingfei’s repeated interrogations, Yue Zhiqiang finally spilled the truth.
He had indeed colluded with the black-robed individual to spread the Blood Skeleton, utilizing the Dream-Entering flowers he personally cultivated as a medium, but he claimed the entire arrangement was forced upon him under duress.
This included trapping Suyu and Qingmo within the altar earlier that day.
Flicking a freshly plucked Dream-Entering flower between his fingers, Qingmo interjected, “You claim the black-robed person used Yingfei’s life to threaten you into compliance, so why, the moment we arrived, did you not seek help instead of trying to strike at your own people?”
Yue Zhiqiang and Bai Yingfei had known each other for eight years; to stay with Bai Yingfei, Yue Zhiqiang had even defied the elders and left the Witch Clan single-handedly. Though Qingmo claimed to oppose the match, deep down he knew Yue Zhiqiang genuinely harbored deep affection for Bai Yingfei.
“Because I couldn’t afford to gamble with Yingfei’s life,” Yue Zhiqiang stared fixedly at Qingmo, speaking with unyielding certainty.
The Ghost Fiend was a reckless gambler who frequently threw caution to the wind regarding his own survival, but Yue Zhiqiang could not take such risks. Lacking certainty that Qingmo could defeat the mysterious mastermind, he had chosen the safest path available.
For instance, the current outcome was perhaps the best possible scenario: Qingmo might kill him, but at the very least, that would guarantee Bai Yingfei’s future safety and stability.
“You…! You’re incorrigible!” Tears welled up in Bai Yingfei’s eyes, his voice trembling with a choked sob as he raised his hand to slap him multiple times, yet ultimately lacking the heart to let it land.
Seizing the opportune moment, Qingmo cradled the cat and wedged himself right between the two men, holding the rice cake up. “Last question—the antidote! You can’t just leave him stuck as a cat forever!”
Suyu felt that this was precisely the moment he ought to let out a dignified meow, but his pride made it impossible for him to open his mouth.
Bai Yingfei cared not a whit about why Suyu had turned into a cat; consumed by fury over Yue Zhiqiang’s betrayal, he was determined to settle every single score.
Taking a deep breath, he spoke in a flat tone. “Give him the antidote.”
The calmer he sounded, the more it signaled the arrival of a brewing storm. Realizing just how furious Bai Yingfei truly was, Yue Zhiqiang stammered out, “I… truly don’t have one. The poison was meant for the demonic beasts under the black-robed person’s orders, with strict instructions to ensure the beasts inflicted wounds on Suyu so that he and the Ghost Fiend could be wiped out in one fell swoop…”
“A stomach full of malicious schemes.” Qingmo curled his lips in disdain, petting Suyu a couple of times while ensuring Yue Zhiqiang suffered even without securing the antidote. “So that demonic beast really went berserk because you were controlling it all along! You claimed it was all for Yingfei’s sake, yet yesterday when he fought the beast and got injured, did you just stand back in the shadows and watch?”
The wound on the back of Bai Yingfei’s hand was still unhealed, and a sudden wave of bitterness surged straight to his heart.
Having completed his mission and retreating with merit, Qingmo slipped out of the dungeon just in time to hear the crisp sound of a resounding slap echoing behind him.
“……You’ve got quite a belly full of schemes yourself.” Suyu muttered, resting his chin on his paws.
“Nonsense, I did it all to avenge you.”
Along the way, terrified of being spotted by others, Suyu hastily burrowed back into Qingmo’s robes, deeply regretting that standing firm like a wooden post would have been infinitely preferable to ending up in this humiliating state.
He had truly lost all face as a cat.
The moment they returned to their private courtyard where no one else could see, Qingmo eagerly pulled the furry creature out, only to find the palm-sized kitten rhythmically kneading its paws directly against his chest.
“How old are you and you’re still making biscuits!”
“……Meow.”
His feline instincts had gotten the better of him.