In the western suburbs of the Demon Realm’s Imperial City, flowers shone amidst tree shadows as the wind swayed the willow branches.
Rong Mu approached on the breeze, his demeanor calm and composed when he met Mo Qing, showing not a hint of guilt for having been caught in the act. Though his appearance was slightly frivolous, his conduct was strictly formal. After offering a proper salute, he stated the purpose of his visit: “In the past few days, several of my subordinates have gone missing. May I ask if the Demon Lord knows where they have gone?”
“I do,” Mo Qing replied lazily, sitting upon a mushroom. He then extended a finger with distinct knuckles, pointing casually toward Qi An’s side. “There, they are all there not a single one missing.”
Rong Mu fixed his gaze on Qi An, and his expression instantly froze.
A white cat with jade-green eyes was curled up on Qi An’s lap, allowing her to stroke its fur while it let out comfortable sighs from time to time. A white rabbit lay draped over her shoulder like a fur collar, nuzzling against her affectionately and enjoying the soft texture of her cheeks. Both the cat and the rabbit were demons who had reverted to their original forms and appeared quite satisfied. However, the male demons were not receiving such favorable treatment.
Crawling near Qi An’s feet were Chi Ti and Jiang Bu; other male demons in their original forms were suffering under sub-human torture. They were treated like toys, being pinched, rolled, pulled, and patted by two Black-Gold Blood-Flame Beasts. Howls of agony were on the verge of escaping them several times, but remembering Mo Qing’s warning against making noise, they stifled them into pitiful “woo-woo” sounds.
Mo Qing said, “Pardon the sight. These two little ones haven’t been out in a few days and had pent up some resentment; they are inevitably a bit excited today.”
A flash of displeasure crossed Rong Mu’s eyes, yet his face remained decorous. “Might the Demon Lord return them to me?”
Unexpectedly, Mo Qing agreed quite readily.
“You may have them; they are of no use anyway. However, if you need to find demons to shadow us in the future, choose more capable ones. Preferably, their original forms should be rare in the Six Realms; these are far too ordinary, and Qi An loses face taking them out.”
Rong Mu’s brow twitched. Was he truly treating the secret agents of the Demon Realm as mere spirit pets?
He swallowed his irritation, stepped forward, and with a sweep of his sleeves, gathered all the demons into them. Just as he was about to depart, Mo Qing suddenly asked, “Has the Demon Emperor mentioned when he will return?”
“Not yet,” Rong Mu paused slightly. “If the Demon Lord and the Immortal Envoy have important matters, please feel free to attend to them. Once His Majesty returns, we will surely notify you both.”
Mo Qing replied, “There is no rush. We have plenty of time to wait.”
Rong Mu did not say more. He merely took a deep look at Mo Qing before turning to leave.
After Rong Mu had gone, Qi An asked, “Why did you not pursue the matter of him tracking us?”
After all, she was an Immortal Envoy, and Mo Qing was the dignified Demon Lord; could they really just let it slide after being followed?
“If we were to pursue it, it would play right into his hands. He sent these weak, middling demons specifically so we would notice them, intending to bait us into a conflict.”
With Mo Qing’s explanation, Qi An understood. The laws of the Six Realms dictated that one must respect the customs of any foreign realm and not cause trouble, or else the realm’s administrators could unconditionally expel the offenders. If Mo Qing had instigated a conflict today based on being followed, Rong Mu could have set aside the fact that they were being tracked first and pointed directly at Mo Qing for causing chaos. As the followers were all Rong Mu’s people, they naturally would not tell the truth. Without evidence, no one would believe Mo Qing’s side of the story. If Mo Qing had acted out, every little demon in these western suburbs would have been a witness against him.
However, Qi An still had doubts. “He did this just to force us to leave? Why is he so afraid of us staying in the Demon Realm?”
“It likely has to do with the Demon Emperor,” Mo Qing said. “If he feared our presence posed a threat to the Demon Realm, he would surely use sound-transmission arts to contact the Demon Emperor and have him return as quickly as possible. Yet, when I asked about the Demon Emperor’s return date, he was ambiguous and gave no precise answer.”
Sound-transmission could reach someone thousands of miles away. If the Demon Emperor were concerned about a threat, he would have hurried back. His lack of a return date implied either that the Demon Emperor did not consider them a threat, or that Rong Mu had not informed him of their arrival at all.
As Qi An pondered this, she heard Mo Qing continue: “The Demon Emperor is a competitive soul who frequently travels the realms to spar with experts; he is not one to keep a low profile. Yet, ever since I became the Demon Lord, I have never seen him, and I rarely hear news of him. I suspect the Demon Emperor is not out on business he has met with trouble.”
“If that is true, why did Rong Mu not mention it?” Qi An asked. Then, a thought struck her: “Could it be that he is concealing it because he was the one who did something to the Demon Emperor?”
Seeing her eyes widen like a startled little beast, Mo Qing could not help but smile. Qi An was indignant; not understanding what was so funny about her observation, she put on a cold face, ready to protest.
Before she could, Mo Qing said, “I investigated in the middle of the night. The most heavily guarded place in the entire Demon Realm is the Imperial Palace. Beyond normal guards, the palace is protected by barriers. This is somewhat excessive, so I suspect there is something fishy going on.” He paused, then added, “To find out the truth, we simply need to explore the palace ourselves.”
Deep in the night, two figures appeared within the Demon Realm’s Imperial Palace. Qi An had imagined them wearing night-traveling outfits, posing as a duo of heroic thieves uncovering royal secrets. To her surprise, they were walking grandly through the palace; the demon soldiers brushed right past them without ever noticing their presence. This left Qi An both pleasantly surprised and lacking any sense of accomplishment.
When they reached a secluded area, Qi An asked softly, “How did you manage this?”
Mo Qing explained, “The art of illusion can not only change one’s appearance but also integrate oneself with the surrounding environment. Unless one encounters someone with more powerful magic, one will not be discovered. However, I see no one in this Demon Realm stronger than me, so you may rest assured; we will not be found.”
Qi An could not help but sigh in admiration. Truly, the powerful are capable of anything.
However, simply not being discovered was not enough; they could not just wander blindly without a goal. Sensing her confusion, Mo Qing said, “When Rong Mu came to see us earlier, I placed a tracking spell on him. As long as we find him, we will surely learn something.”
Upon hearing this, Qi An admired him even more. It turned out he had planned everything; catching those followers was not just for her practice it was to lure Rong Mu out. Qi An suddenly felt that as long as she did not drag him down, she was providing the greatest help to such an omnipotent expert. She became increasingly cautious, fearing that any small noise might draw attention.
Soon, they crossed the opulent palace and discovered Rong Mu in a quiet area behind it. On the open grass, a magic formation was drawn. When they arrived, they saw Rong Mu shedding his own blood to activate the array.
As the blood dripped onto the formation, a dazzling spiritual light ignited on the ground. Then, on what had been a vacant plot, an ice bed resembling a jade carving suddenly appeared, with a young girl lying upon it.
She followed Mo Qing as he walked slowly toward the bed. Once they were closer, she was able to see the girl’s appearance clearly. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, with skin like snow and a face of peerless beauty. Though her eyes were closed, it did not stop Qi An from being intoxicated by the sight.
So, there is such a beautiful woman in this world.
Just as she was entranced by the girl’s beauty, Rong Mu stared silently at her for a long moment before suddenly manifesting a demon blade and stabbing it straight down toward her.
Qi An was startled and prepared to intervene to save the girl, but was stopped by Mo Qing.
Mo Qing said, “Rest assured. If he could kill her, he would not have waited until now.”
Just as Mo Qing said, the moment the blade touched the girl, it was immediately repelled, sending Rong Mu flying a long distance away.
Qi An was stunned for a moment. After blinking twice, she suddenly reacted, turning her head toward Mo Qing. “You just spoke, but he didn’t notice. Is he unable to hear our voices?”
Mo Qing was entirely calm. “Indeed. I have cast a spell so that only the two of us can hear each other’s voices.”
Qi An was taken aback. “Then why were we not talking the whole time?”
She had felt so tense, not daring to make a sound while walking or riding the wind, and it turned out she had been going to all that effort for nothing the others couldn’t hear them at all.
A trace of mischief appeared in Mo Qing’s eyes. “I saw that you seemed to enjoy this feeling of adventure.”
Though he was correct, Qi An would not admit it. She deliberately put on an unhappy expression. “I think you were teasing me.”
Mo Qing did not deny it. “It was quite fun.” Every time she was about to trip or touch something and feared making noise, she would subconsciously grab his hand a fact he found quite gratifying.
But this answer clearly did not satisfy Qi An. He smiled and coaxed, “It was my fault. Once you have cleared your internal energy, I will give you a few cultivation pills as compensation. How about that?”
Upon hearing this, Qi An immediately switched from anger to joy, saying quite magnanimously, “In that case, I will forgive you.”
While they were being perfectly harmonious on their side, they had completely forgotten about the sent-flying Rong Mu.
Rong Mu suppressed the pain surging in his chest, threw the demon blade aside, and clutching his chest, stumbled back toward the ice bed. He leaned one hand against the bed, staring at the girl’s face with complex emotions, losing the composure he had shown when dealing with Qi An and the others, his expression now full of despair.
“Why, even after two hundred years, am I still powerless against you?”
Following his gaze, Qi An looked at the girl’s face once more, and once again, she was stunned by her beauty. She truly had never seen such a beautiful woman.
No, that’s not entirely true. If Mo Qing weren’t a man, or if he looked a bit softer and more delicate, perhaps he could compare to her. Thinking this, she looked up at Mo Qing. Unexpectedly, he, who never cared about anything, was staring fixedly at the girl’s face at that very moment.
Qi An could not help but be stunned for a moment. As she came back to her senses, she suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.
Am I sick?