004 Redefining the Soft Girl.
“After passing through this small town and circling around the mountain ahead, we’ll reach the entrance to the Demon Realm,” Xiao Huang said.
Xiao Huang was the name Nan Yao had given to the little squirrel.
The little squirrel strongly resisted this name: “I’m a system, understand? A high-level being from the main world, born to save different worlds. Giving me this name is an insult.”
“Please understand, our mission requires us to avoid drawing attention, so we need to lower our profile appropriately,” Nan Yao explained. “Look, a talking spirit pet is already conspicuous enough. Giving you a sophisticated name would easily attract unwanted notice.”
The little squirrel refused to accept her sophistry. The two had argued all the way from Hopeless Mountain to Imperial City, then from Imperial City to Lonely Soul Slope, and from Lonely Soul Slope to the gates of this nameless county, with neither side emerging victorious.
In the end, the little squirrel was bribed with five nuts and reluctantly accepted this humiliating name.
Now, the girl and squirrel stood before the city gates.
This nameless town was an area where ordinary mortals lived, but it also connected to the Demon-Guarding Mountain at the entrance to the Demon Realm, resulting in a complex mix of people coming and going.
There were disciples from the demon world, immortal cultivators seeking to eliminate demons, and common folk who had lived here for generations.
At this moment, the city gates bustled with activity.
A crowd had gathered around the bulletin board at the entrance, discussing the notices posted there.
Nan Yao squeezed through to take a look—
[Crown Prince Qi Guyuan has been kidnapped by a death row prisoner and is currently missing. Anyone with information leading to his whereabouts will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold.]
Below the text were portraits of the crown prince and the criminal.
The temptation of ten thousand gold taels was substantial, causing passersby to stop and examine the notice carefully.
This notice gave Nan Yao an idea. She took out writing brush, ink, and spirit communication paper from her spiritual pouch, found a flat stone to use as a surface, and began writing stroke by stroke—
[Missing Person Notice
I, a young woman, secretly pledged myself to my husband in marriage one year ago. My malicious mother-in-law harassed me relentlessly, and my husband grew increasingly cold toward me. In anger, I left home and haven’t returned for a year. Only today did I learn that my husband, who is terminally ill and nearing death, collaborated with his mother to drive me away because he didn’t want me to suffer.
Now my husband has disappeared to avoid burdening me, leaving no clues behind. I only know his name is Xie Diao. Anyone with information leading to his whereabouts will be rewarded with ten taels of gold.]
After finishing, Nan Yao posted this notice on the bulletin board.
The paper she used was spirit communication paper, not particularly rare in the cultivation world. Anyone who removed and burned this paper could briefly communicate with Nan Yao to relay information.
Curious onlookers immediately swarmed around, reading the notice with tears in their eyes:
“Heavens, who would have thought such a young girl could be so devoted, unwilling to abandon her seriously ill husband.”
“Such profound love between husband and wife, truly moving and admirable.”
Xiao Huang felt complicated: …Please don’t let Xie Diao himself see this.
Nan Yao, with her sweet and obedient nature, had always been popular with elders. Surrounded by the crowd, she put on a pitiful, coquettish act that moved everyone. A large group of warm-hearted citizens from the nameless town pledged to search every corner of the earth to find Xie Diao for her.
Satisfied, Nan Yao walked into the nameless town under the caring gazes of the kindly townsfolk.
Nameless City was situated in a perilous region, but with the recent easing of tensions among the three venerable masters, the three major forces had also become less confrontational. Moreover, the Demon Realm had issued orders forbidding disciples of the demon world from harming innocents within Nameless City.
This place was the only route to Demon-Guarding Mountain, which was rich with rare treasures and minerals. The residents of Nameless City made their living by risking their lives to mine these precious resources. Over generations, every household had grown prosperous, with ample food and clothing, living in abundance.
The city was bustling with life, its streets vibrant and lined with exquisitely carved buildings. Among the crowds were green-skinned, fanged Devilfolk and ordinary peddlers hawking their wares from shoulder poles.
After such a long journey, Nan Yao’s first priority was to head to the largest inn in Nameless City for a hearty meal.
The waiter, noticing Nan Yao’s elegant attire and the spirit pet on her shoulder, recognized her as a cultivator with immortal roots and respectfully escorted her to the second floor.
No sooner had she sat down than Xiao Huang sensed something amiss: “Don’t you feel the atmosphere here is a bit oppressive?”
The second floor was nearly full, and every seated person wore identical gray robes and bamboo hats, each gripping a long sword adorned with a qilin pattern. A sinister black tattoo peeked out from the back of their hands, and all of them exuded a lifeless, grim aura, as if collectively declaring, “We’re all bad men.”
“This place seems dangerous. Look at those men—they don’t appear easy to deal with,” Xiao Huang fretted uneasily.
Nan Yao agreed with its assessment and promptly declared: “Waiter, I’d like stir-fried pig liver, boiled meat slices, pork heart and lotus root soup, kung pao chicken, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, osmanthus fish, and spicy shrimp. Oh, and do you have watermelon juice?”
“…”
Clearly, even after all this time, Xiao Huang hadn’t grown accustomed to the fact that Nan Yao, despite her delicate, vulnerable appearance, had such an untamed personality.
Nan Yao couldn’t care less about how wicked the men might be—her only concern was whether she was hungry.
Before the food arrived, the waiter escorted two young men upstairs.
Nan Yao was browsing a forum on the Book of Wishes and didn’t bother looking up to see what the newcomers looked like, only catching a glimpse of two figures—one in black, one in white—from the corner of her eye.
The one in white was lavishly dressed, his accessories exuding an air of nobility, adorned with gold, silver, and jade that clinked softly as he moved.
As for the one in black…
For some reason, even without seeing his face, Nan Yao sensed a murderous aura emanating from him.
The last time she’d felt something similar was when her mother had gone missing for two days, and her three uncles had become unusually cold and silent, radiating an aura of “if we don’t find her, the whole world will pay.”
The black-clad youth now gave her that same feeling, only intensified.
Thus, Nan Yao deduced that this person was either immensely powerful or also had three fathers.
But at the moment, she wasn’t concerned with such matters, for the food had arrived.
Just as she deftly rinsed her bowl and chopsticks with hot water and prepared to feast, an unexpected incident occurred—
“Now!”
The gray-robed leader slammed the table and rose to his feet the moment the black-and-white pair took their seats. At his signal, over a dozen men sprang into action, thumbs lifting as their swords slid from sheaths. A dozen gleaming blades pointed toward the direction where the two had sat.
As fate would have it, Nan Yao’s seat was right next to the pair in black and white.
So, she was quite fortunate to be encircled as well.
“Your Highness!” the leader addressed the youth in white. “We’re here to rescue you.”
“Save me?” The white-robed youth snorted coldly. “Qilin blades—you’re the Imperial Uncle’s men. Now that the Imperial Uncle holds the emperor hostage and controls the military, all seven of my brothers have been thrown into the death row prison. His ambition is obvious to everyone! Are you here to kill me or save me?”
The Crown Prince?
Xiao Huang remembered the notice posted at the city gate stating that the current Crown Prince Qi Guyuan had been abducted by a death row prisoner. Sensing something amiss, it warned, “This doesn’t seem like a safe place to stay. We should escape quickly…”
“Wow.”
Nan Yao was delighted.
Eating a meal while watching a live-action political intrigue martial arts drama?
But if the person in white was the Crown Prince, then the black-robed youth beside him… must be the death row prisoner?
While browsing the forum earlier, Nan Yao had come across a post about this prisoner:
[Has anyone heard? The death row prisoner imprisoned in the Bone-Devouring Dungeon escaped a few days ago and took Crown Prince Qi Guyuan hostage.]
[Is there anyone who doesn’t know about this? Seven days ago, the Virtuous King conspired with the demon realm to take the emperor hostage, forcing several princes and loyal ministers to their deaths in his coup. The next day, this death row prisoner suddenly appeared at their victory banquet and single-handedly slaughtered nearly a hundred people present. Even those millennia-old great demons were utterly defenseless against him.
When the Virtuous King arrived with reinforcements, the prisoner didn’t even attempt to escape. Instead, he sat calmly in the host’s seat, leisurely eating post-meal fruits.]
Someone had asked: “Then how was he captured?”
[After eating and drinking his fill, he stood up and asked if there was a place to sleep in the Bone-Devouring Dungeon. The Virtuous King said yes, and that there were private cells. So the prisoner followed them to the dungeon and walked in himself—they didn’t even need to bind him.]
The description was so absurd that practically no one believed it.
And now, this unconventional prisoner was sitting right in front of Nan Yao.
…So young?
The black-robed youth appeared to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, handsome and spirited with a teenager’s unrestrained boldness. His black hair was tied high with a dark ribbon, with a few stray strands falling across his forehead that failed to conceal the sharpness in his smiling eyes.
Despite being surrounded by drawn swords, he showed no reaction. Leaning back casually in his chair with his arms behind his head, right leg crossed over his left knee, he lifted his chin toward Crown Prince Qi Guyuan and chuckled: “Order the food.”
“Audacious prisoner! With the imperial decree here, how dare you not surrender?” roared the gray-robed leader. “Your Highness, forgive my rudeness, but you must return with me today!”
As he finished speaking, cold steel flashed as blades thrust directly toward the two.
The black-robed youth seemed to sense the danger. Tilting his head slightly, a sword grazed past his cheek, neatly severing a stray strand of hair. In a lightning-fast move, he seized the attacker’s wrist, twisted it back with a crack of breaking bones, and used the man’s own sword to pierce through his chest.
“Imperial decree?” The youth gripped the sword hilt, driving the blade deeper while his other hand seized the back of the man’s head, forcing him to look up. “Did the decree mention not to disturb my meal?”
It seemed an inevitable deadly battle was underway.
The waiter crouched trembling on the first floor, not daring to make a sound. Xiao Huang, afraid of being struck by stray swords, jumped into Nan Yao’s arms and tucked its head down.
Soon enough, everyone realized this deadly confrontation clearly involved more than one monster.
It was understandable that the gray-robed men were hunting down the crown prince and this so-called “death row prisoner.” It was also understandable that the two sides failed to reach an agreement and ended up fighting fiercely on the second floor. But in such a situation, having a delicate young girl sitting there eating and drinking without a care was completely baffling.
While the youth chopped off the pursuer’s arm, Nan Yao was eating stir-fried pork liver.
While the youth stabbed through the pursuer’s heart, Nan Yao was eating boiled meat slices.
While the youth twisted the pursuer’s neck, Nan Yao asked the waiter why her pork heart and lotus root soup hadn’t been served yet.
Waiter: I can’t tell who the most terrifying person here is.
The group trembled in fear, the gray-robed men screamed in agony, and Nan Yao feasted heartily.
At that moment, Xiao Huang felt that in this world, probably no one but Nan Yao could kill the Evil Seed.
Just when everyone thought Nan Yao would finish her meal undisturbed, pay, and leave, an unexpected incident occurred.
“Plop”
A bloody severed pinky finger fell into the bowl of steaming pork heart and lotus root soup that Nan Yao had just picked up.
Nan Yao stared at the bloody soup in her hands, falling into deep thought. After remaining silent for several seconds, she set the bowl down, stood up, turned to look at the brawling crowd, took a deep breath, and drew the sword at her waist: “Who threw a pinky finger into my soup?! Own up to your mistake!”
The group, who had just been fighting to the death with fervor, simultaneously fell silent and turned their gazes in unison toward the purple-clad girl standing amidst the corpses.
“…”
Xiao Huang: I’m used to it.
Waiter: I’m not.
Author’s note:
Nan Yao: “So why did you kill someone at the victory banquet that day? Was it to uphold justice?”
Xie Diao: “Huh? I was just passing by and thought their dishes looked delicious.”
Nan Yao: “…”