Chapter 4

Liuyu was momentarily stunned by his question.

It was only then that she remembered that, in her past life, she had already told Mo Lin on their wedding night that she planned to live permanently at the Gathering Spirit Terrace.

She really did have a certain efficiency in handling matters.

Liuyu responded confidently, “What, is that not okay?”

Mo Lin fixed his gaze on her, his pale lips pulling into a faint smirk, his voice cold as he spoke:

“You were the one who said the Extreme Night Palace wasn’t clean.”

The Extreme Night Palace had been seized by the demon ghosts when they migrated to the Nine Hells, taken from the previous ruler of the Nine Hells.

The Nine Hells were desolate and remote, not particularly rich, but the former domain lord had lived extravagantly by exploiting the people of Nine Hells, and the palace had been built beautifully.

Before their wedding, in preparation for welcoming this noble woman, the entire palace had been renovated.

But despite all that, Mo Lin felt she still found nothing satisfactory about the Extreme Night Palace.

Her expression was one of forced tolerance, as if marrying him was the greatest humiliation and defeat of her life.

Under the cold, emotionless gaze, Liuyu felt a little uncomfortable.

That was the voice of the old Liuyu from a hundred years ago.

What did that have to do with the changed Liuyu she was now?

“It’s just… not that refined.”

Liuyu nonchalantly swapped out a word, gesturing casually towards a purple sandalwood lounge chair by the window.

“For example, that chair. The moment I saw it, I found it unpleasant. If it’s not replaced, every time I wake up, I’ll be forced to look at that ugly chair. It’s really despairing. So, I’m thinking of throwing some things away, clearing up space to put the dowry I brought from the Immortal Capital. You don’t mind, do you?”

Mo Lin’s eyes flickered.

Before he could respond, however, a mountain ape beside them spoke out in dissatisfaction.

“That chair is not ugly at all. It’s just…”

“Enough.”

Mo Lin interrupted, his cold gaze sweeping over the corpse on the ground. He raised his chin slightly.

“Explain. What happened?”

A puppet face-spider, crawling out of a skull, had already been sealed inside an energy ball by the ghost woman.

The faces of the twelve ritual gods in the room weren’t looking good.

The Extreme Night Palace was large, and it wasn’t uncommon for some demons or spirits to sneak in. It was easy enough to catch and kill them.

But this time, the intruder had entered the main building, right under the eyes of the master and mistress.

What was more important was that this had been noticed by the newly arrived mistress, who exposed it in front of everyone.

Liuyu glanced at the flustered face of Lan Zhu, smiling faintly.

“This morning, when she had a conflict with the mountain ape outside, I noticed her tone was off. Later, when I was changing in the inner chamber, she deliberately passed on some gossip to deepen my disgust for Nine Hells. If she were just a regular servant, it wouldn’t matter, but she was specially chosen by my father for me…”

“Father knows I have a bad temper, so he sent her to smooth things over for me, never to escalate tensions.”

This had happened in her past life as well.

But it was probably because the old Liuyu didn’t care much for Nine Hells, so the puppet face-spider didn’t stir up much trouble.

It had been lurking in the Gathering Spirit Terrace for an entire year, and under the guise of being Liuyu’s personal servant, it had earned her plenty of hatred in Nine Hells.

Even when the matter was discovered, Liuyu’s reputation in Nine Hells had already been damaged beyond repair, unless she herself went to great lengths to change their opinion of her.

But, as anyone could guess, the old Liuyu had never cared about that.

“There are many demons who use puppet face-spiders…”

The ghost woman held up the puppet face-spider by its limbs, shaking it.

The terrifying creature, capable of crushing human bones, trembled in her grasp.

She tilted her head, looking at the sulking Lan Zhu, her purple ribboned hairband swaying.

“You’re really embarrassing, Lan Zhu.”

Lan Zhu glared at her with fury, but the small ghost woman quickly darted behind a woman in white, only her head peeking out, giggling mischievously.

“Master—”

Lan Zhu, his face green and red with shame, lowered his head in humiliation.

“I was careless just now. Give me three days, and I will find the evidence of the face-spider’s crime and give you a proper explanation…”

“Just an explanation for me?”

Liuyu asked with a half-smile.

“…I’ll find a way to bring back the servant who was impersonated.”

Liuyu’s smile faded a little.

In her past life, she had dealt with the face-spider.

It appeared gentle and refined, standing out from the common folk, but in truth, it was as sinister and cold-blooded as its demon spider bloodline, hiding a terrifying cruelty behind its pleasant demeanor.

The real Green Pearl had already died when she was replaced by the face-spider.

Lan Zhu had failed to protect the palace properly.

As the master, Liuyu was also responsible for not safeguarding her people.

But in front of so many people, Liuyu wouldn’t show any weakness. Instead, she needed to assert her authority and make sure that the twelve ritual gods knew their place.

She looked around at the gathered crowd and said, with a smile in her voice:

“If this is the best you twelve ritual gods can do, perhaps it’s better to let my people take over the responsibility of guarding the Extreme Night Palace? After all, in all my years growing up in the Immortal Capital, I’ve never seen the family head’s people being so easily swapped out.”

Lan Zhu, feeling frustrated, wanted to defend his colleagues but had no words to offer.

It was clear that someone had taken advantage of a loophole last night.

During the demon banquet, the capital had been a mess, and he should have sent more people to keep watch. But, seeing how the Immortal Capital’s people were so picky about the wedding arrangements, he got angry and decided to leave them to manage it themselves.

The Immortal Capital had only sent about fifty people, so there were naturally places where they were overwhelmed.

He had hoped to watch them fail, but in the end, it was his side that lost face.

…Such bad luck!

Just then.

A ghostly servant dressed in black, with a hood, silently appeared outside the door.

Mo Lin glanced over with peripheral vision.

“Enter.”

The ghostly servant walked across the smooth redwood floor without making a sound. The only noise was the clinking of copper coins sewn onto the brim of the hood as they lightly collided when the servant bent down to whisper near Mo Lin.

Upon hearing something, Mo Lin’s pupils darkened.

After the servant finished speaking, Mo Lin raised his hand and waved gently, making the black-clad figure vanish like a shadow.

“Investigate first.”

The green-clad demon leaned one leg on the backrest of a four-legged stool, tapping his fingers on the armrest as he slowly ordered:

“Remove those assigned to guard the Extreme Night Palace, and let you all take turns keeping watch until this matter is resolved. Afterward, we’ll select new candidates—it’s also time to rotate the Twelve Masked Gods.”

The demons around him were slightly startled.

At the beginning of Nine Hells, there wasn’t a structured system like the Great Chao’s imperial court with its high-ranking officials.

The Twelve Masked Gods followed the sequence set in Wuse City, with four ranks dividing their power: “King,” “Duke,” “General,” and “Minister.”

The highest rank, the “King,” was naturally held by Mo Lin, and the remaining Twelve Masked Gods were divided into four “Dukes,” four “Generals,” and four “Ministers.”

These twelve demons collectively governed the affairs of Nine Hells, and their positions had never changed—though, so far, this had only been for two years.

In these two years, some had gained considerable power, while others had been stagnant. This decree meant a complete reshuffling of the internal power of Nine Hells.

It was like a stone throwing up a thousand waves.

“As for you—”

Seeing the gaze from above, the Mountain Demon’s eyes were stubborn, as though he was unwilling to back down, causing Mo Lin to frown.

“Why are you wasting time attending the Ghost Academy when you can’t even read? Who taught you this nonsense?”

The illiterate Mountain Demon froze for a moment, then blushed in embarrassment.

He turned his eyes, noticing that the girl beside Mo Lin was smiling at him, and his face immediately darkened.

…There are many illiterate demons in Nine Hells! What’s so strange about him not knowing how to read?!

“—Don’t get too cocky.”

As Mo Lin was escorted by the ghostly servants, the Mountain Demon suddenly leaned over and whispered next to Liu Yu.

Liu Yu, who was about to return to her room, paused and met the sharp gaze of the blue-clad youth.

“I don’t care who you are, a noble lady from a distinguished family or whatever. In my eyes, you’re not worthy of the Master. If you respect Nine Hells, everything will be fine, but if you continue to trample on the Master’s dignity, I won’t let you off.”

Liu Yu was a little surprised and raised an eyebrow, unable to stop herself from smiling.

Where did this old hag come from?

“Mo Lin.”

Liu Yu stepped out and called to the figure who was about to leave.

She smiled sweetly and pointed at the boy beside her, whose expression had changed, saying to Mo Lin:

“The Gathering Spirit Platform has too many things. How about you lend me a few people to help? I’ll take him; he looks like he has endless strength.”

The Mountain Demon froze for a moment and angrily retorted, “Who has endless strength…”

Mo Lin glanced at her, seemingly wanting to say something, but finally just said indifferently:

“Suit yourself. You’re the Empress of Nine Hells. It’s such a small matter, just give the orders yourself. No need to ask me.”

“And what about the things in this building…?”

“I’ll take care of the things you can’t touch. As for the rest, you can decide yourself. Anything else? Ask everything now.”

Liu Yu responded, “Oh, nothing else. You go ahead with your business.”

“….”

Mo Lin was a bit caught off guard by her soft-spoken attitude.

By the way, she still hadn’t directly answered why she suddenly changed her mind about staying in the Extreme Night Palace.

…Maybe she thought it was too far from the Gathering Spirit Platform and couldn’t monitor him closely enough?

So, after struggling for a night, she would rather endure the discomfort of living with him and eventually changed her mind.

Other than that, Mo Lin couldn’t think of any other reason.

“Hey, wait.”

A sharp pang of concern struck Mo Lin’s heart, and his first instinct was—did she regret it?

However, the young girl walked briskly toward him, her eyes sparkling with a smile:

“Today, I’ll use a communication array to contact the Immortal Capital in Yujing. Don’t worry, I just want to check on my family’s situation. It’s not about the puppet-faced spider or Nine Hells.”

The Northern Wilderness Nine Hells was very far from the Southern Lands. They had to use a communication array to communicate.

Once activated, the communication array would be detected by Nine Hells’ Sky Sound Cloud Sea, and the person monitoring it would report to Mo Lin—this was something that every major family in the Great Chao used, so Liu Yu had informed him in advance to avoid misunderstandings.

Mo Lin relaxed his tense shoulders slightly.

Then he noticed she was standing very close.

Close enough to almost smell her fragrant hair.

The Demon Lord of Nine Hells averted his gaze, his voice flat:

“It doesn’t matter. Isn’t that what you came here for?”

This was true.

“Then what about you?”

Their eyes locked.

The girl’s eyes were as bright as stars.

“Why did you marry me?”

Mo Lin’s breath hitched for a moment.

For a brief instant, he felt as though she could see right through him.

Her gaze swept over the Twelve Masked Gods, who were trying to eavesdrop, and the demons quickly scattered when they received the warning.

After a long pause…

“…Naturally, it’s for Nine Hells’ recovery. What else could it be?”

He withdrew his gaze and focused on the stunning face in front of him, his tone calm and indifferent:

“Don’t be too full of yourself.”

As the green-clad demon’s robes passed by her, Liu Yu snapped back to her senses.

She narrowed her eyes, watching the demon’s retreating figure with a cold smile and muttered:

“—The one with the most stubborn mouth.”

The Demon Lord of Nine Hells almost stumbled as he descended the stairs.

When Mo Lin looked back down the corridor, Liuyu was no longer in sight. All that remained was the golden hairband, fluttering with her strands of hair, like a delicate golden butterfly flitting away, disappearing around the corner.

“Lord,” a hoarse voice of the ghost servant whispered in his ear, “Yin Mountain Liuyu… seems to have acted somewhat strangely today.”

Everyone knew the young lady’s purpose for marrying into Jiuyou.

Yet, on her very first day in the Extreme Night Palace, the incident with the puppet-faced spider occurred, followed by turmoil among the Twelve Nuo Gods—

Could all of this be part of her own scheme?

Had she secretly allied with the Jade-faced Spider, attempting to disrupt the situation in Jiuyou?

As soon as the ghost servant finished speaking, he felt a high and mighty gaze fixated on his lowered head.

“What did you call her?”

A cold sweat broke out along his back, sticking to his skin. The ghost servant lowered his head even further.

“It was a slip of the tongue, my Lord… I meant to say… Empress.”

The piercing gaze finally shifted away.

The ghost servant let out a careful sigh of relief.

A moment later, the cold and authoritative voice of the Demon Lord rang out:

“However, one thing you said is correct—today, she did indeed act unusually.”

For some inexplicable reason…

She had smiled at him several times.