Pei Xuan’s voice was bland beyond words, yet Shi Yue knew that he must have had a terribly difficult life in the past; otherwise, he would never have been caught and thrown into the beast arena for that kind of ordeal.
Holding the roasted rabbit leg, Pei Xuan prepared to hand it to Shi Yue, but with a raised eyebrow, he pulled it back instead.
As a result, Shi Yue’s hand lingered awkwardly in the air. He then blinked his innocent peach-blossom eyes at Pei Xuan.
Intentionally keeping the rabbit meat out of Shi Yue’s reach, Pei Xuan said in a leisurely tone, “A guard’s only duty is to protect. Since when does a guard also need to serve his master meals?”
Who doesn’t know how to put on airs?
Thus, Shi Yue also stiffened his face, adopting a bit of his masterly authority: “Pei Xuan, is this the attitude you use to speak with your master?”
“Lots of people want to have meals with me. I am in high demand.”
Pei Xuan let out a cold chuckle: “Then they must be blind.”
Shi Yue had to admit that his sharp tongue was no match for Pei Xuan’s.
Watching Shi Yue eat his humble pie, Pei Xuan was immensely pleased.
With a hint of playful amusement dancing at the corners of his eyes, he finally handed the rabbit leg over to him: “Fool, it was too hot for your mouth just now.”
Contented and satisfied, Shi Yue took it and bit into it. Sure enough, the temperature was neither too hot nor too cold, just right.
Giving Pei Xuan’s shoulder an approving pat, Shi Yue remarked, “You’re a good person.”
Pei Xuan’s skill at roasting wild rabbit was exceptional; he controlled the heat with exquisite precision. The meat was neither charred nor overly fatty, and every bite carried the smoky aroma of fruitwood.
Having starved for quite a while, Shi Yue wolfed down the food with great relish, throwing all regard for his image to the wind.
Displaying his toxic-tongue talent once again, Pei Xuan remarked, “You look truly hideous while eating.”
Ignoring him, Shi Yue instead asked, “How is your poison?”
“It has been suppressed, but I must not overexert my demonic power.”
Shi Yue felt a bit more at ease. After all, Pei Xuan was the only combat force he had by his side.
Whenever Shi Yue was full and satisfied, he loved playing with his folding fan. He instinctively moved to snap his fan open with a swift shwip, only to suddenly realize that he no longer had one, his sole fan had perished in the dense forest.
Shi Yue sighed despondently.
If he had only known, he would have brought that iron fan instead.
Once the two of them finished eating and packed up their belongings, they resumed their leisurely stroll toward Qingzhou.
Inside Qingzhou City
Situated at a vital strategic fortress on the northwestern border, Qingzhou could not compare to the prosperity of the capital. However, as an important military stronghold in the northwest that maintained a permanent garrison, it was an affluent and secure upper-tier prefecture.
Yet, the moment Shi Yue and Pei Xuan stepped inside the city gates, they sensed that something was deeply amiss.
The main street near the city gate had only a scattering of merchants hawking their wares, while all other shops kept their doors tightly shut. Overgrown weeds lined the streets, painting a desolate picture of total neglect.
When Shi Yue was a child, he had visited Qingzhou once while accompanying his elder brother to visit relatives.
Back then, Qingzhou had clearly been orderly and well-governed, with honest and simple folk. Why had it become such a bleak sight now?
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from a nearby butcher stall.
“The meat I bought from you this morning has already gone bad!” A man slammed the meat in his hand onto the butcher shop table with a fierce expression.
The pork butcher possessed a heavily muscled build. Inflamed with anger, his eyes bulged wide: “How dare you frame your father?! Every piece of meat your father sells is of the finest quality! I don’t know what filthy corner you dragged that meat from, but how dare you slander me!”
The man spat in his direction: “Piss off to your mother’s doghouse! You aren’t even afraid of being struck by lightning for selling spoiled meat!”
With a fierce yank, the butcher grabbed a jagged meat-cleaving saw and pointed it straight at him: “If you slander your father again, see if I don’t chop you into pieces!”
“Come on then! You filthy, stinking butcher! If you’ve got the guts, come at me! Coward!”
Blushing red with fury, the butcher raised his blade and charged toward the man.
At this critical moment, the patrolling guards finally arrived in time, pinning the two enraged men to the ground.
Assuming the guards would drag the two back to the magistrate’s office to slowly talk sense into them, Shi Yue never expected that the guards would instead shower the pair with kicks and punches.
“Let’s see you gather a crowd and cause trouble again!”
“Treating us like we’re dead, huh?!”
Shi Yue frowned tightly. These guards lacked any sense of discipline whatsoever, how could they beat ordinary citizens in broad daylight?
Besides, why did everyone here seem like a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest spark?
Putting away his doubts, Shi Yue turned to Pei Xuan and said, “Let’s find an inn first to rest and tidy up before we visit the Mu family.”
Having traveled through wind and frost all along this road without even a chance to wash up, Shi Yue felt as though he reeked.
However, as Shi Yue walked from one end of the street to the other, every inn appeared utterly dilapidated. In the end, he had to settle for the least terrible option, an inn that looked slightly more habitable than the rest and stepped inside.
The interior was quite small, with spiderwebs dangling from the ceiling rafters. Two tables of guests were seated in the main hall.
When Shi Yue and Pei Xuan walked in, not a single person raised their head; everyone simply ate in self-absorption, acting as though newcomers were nothing more than thin air.
Strangers being unwilling to pay attention was one thing, but those two tables of guests didn’t utter a single word to their companions either. Thus, although there were dozens of people present in the entire hall, it was unearthly quiet.
“Staying the night?” The innkeeper was tallying accounts. He cast a sideways glance, lowering his head once more with an icy voice devoid of any welcoming warmth.
Arms crossed and wearing a nonchalant expression, Pei Xuan followed close behind Shi Yue, his slender eyes calmly appraising the inn’s environment.
Logically speaking, chores like booking rooms or dealing with strangers should have fallen to Pei Xuan, but Pei Xuan had never handled them well. Shi Yue felt that he truly made a terrible “master” lacking any shred of majesty.
Unable to rely on Pei Xuan, Shi Yue had no choice but to step forward and shoulder the burden himself: “Pardon me, do you still have vacant rooms available?”
“We do. How many?”
“Two superior rooms, thank you,” Shi Yue said warmly.
Without any expression on his face, the innkeeper tossed two keys over to Shi Yue: “The last two rooms on the right on the third floor.”
Shi Yue felt that everyone in Qingzhou was thoroughly abnormal, with an eerie strangeness permeating every corner.
As they stepped onto the long-neglected wooden stairs, the floorboards emitted a creaking squeak-squeak sound, adding an even more bizarre atmosphere to the dilapidated inn.
Following the room numbers, Shi Yue found his quarters. The two rooms were adjacent to each other, and Shi Yue casually tossed the other key to Pei Xuan.
“Go inside and clean up as well. Tomorrow morning, we check out and head to the Mu residence.”
Catching the key, Pei Xuan glanced at him as if making an offhand remark: “This inn might be unusual. Watch yourself.”
Shi Yue nodded.
Nighttime
Having finished washing up, Shi Yue collapsed onto the couch and let out a refreshing sigh of relief. After all the grueling days of travel, this was his first time being able to lie down and sleep properly.
Just as Shi Yue closed his eyes and prepared to play chess in his dreams with the god of longevity, he heard the sound of something dropping onto the floor from the adjacent room.
That was Pei Xuan’s room.
What on earth is he making a fuss about in the middle of the night?
However… he wasn’t entirely sure if Pei Xuan’s poison had been completely cleared. After all, Pei Xuan only got hurt because he was following him, and he had even healed his wounds in return.
Shi Yue felt that he ought to care for and look after his subordinate, letting the little madman experience a bit more warmth so he might treat him more kindly in the future.
With this thought in mind, Shi Yue reluctantly pulled himself up from the bed he had barely lain on for ten minutes, dressed properly, and walked over to Pei Xuan’s room next door.
When Shi Yue stood outside Pei Xuan’s door, however, he discovered that the light inside had already been extinguished.
Asleep already?
That didn’t make sense; it was still early, not to mention he had just heard a commotion moments before.
He decided to give a gentle knock anyway: “Pei Xuan? Are you asleep?”
Silence reigned inside the room.
Frowning, Shi Yue knocked once more: “Pei Xuan?”
Did he really fall asleep?
When did he become so disciplined?
With no other choice, Shi Yue turned around, intending to return to his own room and go to sleep.
Right at that moment, however, a muffled groan of agony drifted out from inside the room.
Returning in a hurry, Shi Yue hammered frantically against the wooden door: “Pei Xuan? What on earth is wrong with you, Pei Xuan?!”
Still, no one answered from within.
Having no alternative, Shi Yue delivered a kick to the door. Expecting it to hold firm, he was surprised to find that the door had seen better days as well; with a single kick from Shi Yue, who considered himself a “martial arts good-for-nothing”—it flew wide open.
Black mist coiled through the room, and Pei Xuan was curled up tight on the floor, his garments draped in disarray across his body as if he were fighting off some excruciating torment.
Shi Yue never expected that Pei Xuan would manifest his demonic form once again. Not only were his fox ears exposed, but eight large, fluffy tails had also sprouted behind him, appearing quite bewitching amidst the dark vapors.
Shi Yue had known he was a fox demon, but he never imagined he would be an eight-tailed fox!
Though he had heard of nine-tailed foxes, he had never seen an eight-tailed one… Why was he missing a single tail?
Under normal circumstances, if Pei Xuan revealed his ears and tails, Shi Yue surely would have stealthily stroked them a couple of times just like last time. But right now, Shi Yue couldn’t spare a single thought for that.
“Pei Xuan!”
Turning pale with fright in his panic, Shi Yue rushed forward to help Pei Xuan up, only to be startled as their eyes met.
Pei Xuan’s pupils had shifted from their usual ink-black to a bewitching scarlet red.
Seemingly failing to recognize Shi Yue, Pei Xuan instinctively grabbed the arm of whoever touched him.
“Hiss.”
Shi Yue sucked in a cold breath from the grip. The little madman was in some unknown state, his grip heavy and ruthless; Shi Yue felt as though his wrist was about to break.
Pei Xuan stared coldly at Shi Yue, his scarlet eyes like sunken stars in a freezing pool, his entire face shrouded in gloom.
“Pei, Xuan, wake up.” Enduring the pain, Shi Yue spoke to Pei Xuan word by word.
Utter chaos churned in Shi Yue’s heart. Pei Xuan had never acted like this before; it was likely still because of that toxic fluid.
Pei Xuan’s hostility grew fiercer and fiercer, seeming almost entirely swallowed by swirling billows of black mist. Suddenly, he let out a painful whimper, seemingly regaining a sliver of clarity for a brief second. He abruptly released his tight grip on Shi Yue and forcefully shoved him away:
“Get away, from me. Dangerous.”
Thrown back by the sudden shove, Shi Yue tumbled onto the floor. His hand accidentally brushed against a protruding piece of broken wood on the ground, scraping a cut from which bright red blood began to ooze.
Paying no mind to the wound, a pair of peach-blossom eyes stared anxiously at Pei Xuan.
What should he do?
What on earth should he do?
He was no demon and had no idea how to handle this situation. Taking Pei Xuan to see a human physician would not only expose his identity, but human doctors couldn’t treat demons anyway.
Just as Shi Yue’s mind raced frantically for a solution, Pei Xuan looked straight at him as if bewitched.
The hunting-like, vicious glare in Pei Xuan’s eyes sent a chill straight down Shi Yue’s spine.
At that moment, Pei Xuan’s gaze looked nothing like that of a “human” it was devoid of any emotion, locked onto his prey like a tiger or lion on the hunt.
Sensing that the situation was turning south and feeling goosebumps break out across his entire body, Shi Yue turned tail and bolted without a second thought.
However, Pei Xuan gave Shi Yue no chance to escape.
The instant Shi Yue’s hand brushed against the door, Pei Xuan silently materialized behind him, slamming him abruptly against the door. Pressing tightly against Shi Yue’s body, he trapped him within a confined space.
“Pei Xuan!”
Pinned down abruptly, Shi Yue stared up at Pei Xuan’s handsome face, trying to push him away with his hands. The freshly scraped cut on his hand was slowly dripping blood.
Warm beads of blood trickled slowly down his wrist, eventually falling onto Pei Xuan’s hand.
Pei Xuan’s scarlet pupils contracted sharply. His nostrils flared slightly as he followed the scent of blood toward Shi Yue, as though he had found precisely what he desired.
Pei Xuan’s throat bobbed as if he had been put under a spell.
Before Shi Yue could make any reaction, the world spun before his eyes.
Pei Xuan pinned him directly onto the ground. Shi Yue tried to resist and push himself up, but Pei Xuan had already pressed himself over him, even wrapping his tails around Shi Yue like a constricting python on a hunt, leaving Shi Yue nowhere to run.
Shi Yue was tightly encircled within Pei Xuan’s embrace. Meanwhile, Pei Xuan buried his face against Shi Yue’s neck, sniffing slowly as his warm breath sent a wave of tickling shivers through him.