Chapter 25: What the Hell is a Demon Beast? It’s Albinism!

In the central part of the continent, there lies an underground city.

Its entrance is exposed for all to see, yet no one can enter.

The place is heavily guarded and filled with intricate mechanisms.

Deep within the underground city, there is a vast platform.

At the center of the platform stands a massive circular sculpture, resembling both a seismograph and an astrolabe.

The circular sculpture is rooted in the earth’s veins, with several outer rings encasing an object floating in the middle, which can only be seen clearly when approached…

It is a feather!

Not a real feather, but one forged from a special black metal.

The feather is entirely black, like a flash of lightning in the dark night, shimmering with a dull metallic luster.

The Black Feather exudes an endless chill, cold and hard, indestructible.

This Black Feather has been placed here for centuries, bearing the weight of time and history, symbolizing something mysterious.

The silent platform echoed with heavy footsteps as several heavily armored generals emerged from the layered entrance mechanisms.

These generals were all tall and imposing, with resolute expressions.

They stood in silence, gazing at the center of the platform, fixated on the sculpture.

The metal rings intertwined before their eyes, while the Black Feather in the center slowly moved.

Finally, one end of the feather steadily pointed to the southeast!

—————–

The next morning.

The entire Lingshan Village was bathed in clear skies, indicating that it would be a fine day.

A rare sight!

Village Chief Wang Chunyi arrived at the village entrance early in the morning, worried about the Fairy’s Mystic Hound.

His fears were confirmed.

The Mystic Hound was missing!

Wang Chunyi was so startled that he nearly jumped, and the septuagenarian almost burst into tears on the spot!

What should they do?

If the Mystic Hound was missing, how would they explain it to the Fairy when she returned?

But before he could shed a few tears, the figure of White Flame slowly approached from behind, passing by the Village Chief with elegant steps, and lay down at the village entrance as if nothing had happened, keeping watch.

Wang Chunyi: “…”

So where had the Mystic Hound just been?

Did it come down from the mountain top?

He didn’t dare to ask.

After calming down for a while, Wang Chunyi noticed a faint smell of blood in the air.

He looked around in panic but found nothing unusual—no dead bodies, not even a dead sparrow.

How strange!

—————–

Rong City.

The inn was comfortable, but Xiao Ranshu had a restless night. It rained all night, and she was plagued by nightmares.

In her dreams, there were all sorts of natural disasters, human calamities, and demon beasts running rampant, with danger lurking everywhere.

She and White Flame relied on each other, fleeing everywhere, nearly starving to death on the way…

Sitting up in bed, Xiao Ranshu rubbed her eyes and sighed with worry.

In these turbulent times, not only was martial prowess revered, but there were also such fantastical things as demon beasts.

She decided not to wander around aimlessly and to return to the mountain top as soon as possible after buying what she needed.

Although the Original Owner had passed away, there was nothing wrong with the Original Owner.

The mountain top was good!

Seclusion was good!

Xiao Ranshu feared death. This body wasn’t hers, but it had merged with her without any discomfort, as if it had been prepared for her from the very beginning.

In any case, she didn’t want to die.

Just after washing her face, Lao Zhao and Zhao Tiezhu knocked on her door.

The clothes they had bought yesterday were ready, and the two had picked them up early in the morning, along with some breakfast.

Xiao Ranshu changed into her new clothes, finished her breakfast, and continued to wear the incense stick upright in her hair, donning her veil and bamboo hat before heading downstairs.

It was still morning, several hours earlier than her usual waking time.

After checking out of the inn and stepping outside, before she could even board the carriage, Xiao Ranshu noticed a large crowd gathered at the entrance, buzzing with excitement.

“Come and see! This is the demon beast that was fished out of the river outside the city last night!”

“Is this a demon beast? Why doesn’t it have a tail?”

“It looks so strange!”

“I don’t think it’s a demon beast; it looks more like a person!”

“It is a demon beast! Its hair is white, and its skin has scales. It lives in the water and doesn’t come ashore. What else could it be?”

“Exactly! This is a demon beast! The floods around Rong City must be related to it!”

“Who fished it out? A true hero!”

“…”

Hearing this, Xiao Ranshu quickened her pace and walked over.

A demon beast?

Just yesterday, people were discussing it, and now it’s been caught?

Are demon beasts that easy to capture?

She had to see this for herself!

Curious, she craned her neck to peer into the crowd.

In the open space ahead, there was a large cage, inside which a frail figure was curled up, naked, with long silver hair spread across its back, covering most of its body.

The small patches of skin not hidden by the hair were exposed to the sun, turning red, with large flakes of skin peeling off.

This sight only added to the astonishment of the onlookers.

“It’s shedding scales!”

“This must be a water demon!”

“Or a sea demon?”

“Either way, it’s a demon!”

“…”

As they spoke, some people began throwing eggs and vegetable leaves at the cage.

The figure inside curled up even tighter, trembling and pleading, “No… please…”

The voice was androgynous, sounding quite young.

A boy? A girl?

But the pleas did not evoke any pity; instead, the crowd threw more aggressively, hurling insults.

Unable to bear the assault, the figure in the cage looked up at the crowd, revealing an eerily beautiful face.

His skin was snow-white, his eyelashes and hair silver, and his skin visibly reddened under the sun’s harsh rays.

And in his tear-filled eyes were a pair of pink irises!

The unusual eye color shocked the crowd, causing them to step back several paces.

Someone shouted, “The demon beast is about to cast a spell! Stay back!”

The area around the cage quickly emptied, leaving only Xiao Ranshu standing still.

At that moment, her lips twitched, and she felt utterly speechless inside.

What the hell.

She had genuinely thought that demon beasts in this world were dangerous.

And this is what it turned out to be?

This was just albinism!

Oh, and a skin condition, psoriasis, being mistaken for scales?

Was this world out of its mind?

The father and son, seeing Xiao Ranshu standing so close, were terrified and urged her to leave.

Lao Zhao: “Fairy, get away! This is a demon beast.”

Zhao Tiezhu: “This demon beast can even talk! Fairy, stay back!”

Xiao Ranshu raised her hand: “It’s fine.”

Her ethereal voice instantly silenced the crowd, and all eyes turned to her.

Only then did the crowd notice that this woman had an extraordinary presence, dressed in luxurious robes with a veil covering her face.

Especially the way she raised her hand—it was so calm and casual, as if a mere demon beast was beneath her notice.

And the incense stick on her head…

It truly stood out like a crane among chickens!

In the silence, Xiao Ranshu turned to the owner of the cage, a fisherman.

The fisherman was also sizing up Xiao Ranshu. Even with his straw hat, he could guess that the face beneath the veil must be celestial in beauty!

Xiao Ranshu asked, “You fished it out?”

The fisherman nodded, “Yes, I cast my net last night, and this morning when I pulled it up, I caught a demon beast.”

Xiao Ranshu asked, “What do you plan to do with it?”

The fisherman replied, “I originally wanted to take it to the City Lord’s residence to exchange for silver, but currently, the City Lord is away, and the second young master is also absent…”

He didn’t dare to kill the demon beast, and as an ordinary civilian, he really didn’t know how to handle it!

Xiao Ranshu smiled, “How about selling it to me?”

The fisherman’s eyes lit up, and he immediately agreed.

The woman before him was mysterious and noble, clearly a warrior, and possibly of an extremely high level.

Handing the demon beast over to her would put everyone at ease.