Chapter 22

“Would you like to try the Firefly Archery?”

Seeing Liuyu and the others standing outside, the shopkeeper of the magical item shop approached with a smile.

Liuyu snapped back to reality from Mo Lin’s previous words.

Turning around, a slight smile curved her lips, and a clear look of joy appeared in her eyes.

She assessed the approaching shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper was a man in his early fifties, with regular features, a few strands of noticeable white hair mixed in with his darker hair, and a slightly hunched back from years of dealing with customers. His face wore the typical business smile of someone used to greeting and sending off clients.

This magical item shop was one of the Yinshan family’s bases in Taiping City. The master craftsman, skilled in creating family trees, was the shopkeeper of this very store.

During regular days, he made magical items in the shop.

Secretly, he also forged false family records for wealthy but low-status families.

According to Wuzhi, the craftsman’s skills were among the best in the entire Great Zhao, and he was considered a half-family member, living off the Yinshan family’s business. He was more trustworthy than outsiders, at least in theory.

However…

Human nature was unpredictable, and there was no one truly reliable.

Liuyu had suffered greatly because of this in her past life, so she had to be extra cautious in this one.

“Our Firefly Archery game is different from others and quite challenging. If you can hit a firefly, you can choose any magical item from our store. No one has hit one yet tonight; would you like to give it a try?”

The shopkeeper had noticed Liuyu and her group earlier.

They had purchased many lanterns along the way, spending generously. All the shops in the night market hoped they would visit, and seeing them stop in front of his store, the shopkeeper was filled with unexpected joy.

Liuyu glanced at him for a moment before asking with a smile, “Really? Firefly Archery is just about shooting some fast-moving fireflies as targets. They’re common in the night market, so what makes it special?”

Seeing that Liuyu seemed interested, the shopkeeper’s smile deepened as he led her to the Firefly Archery stall on the right side of the door.

A man and a woman were drawing their bows and shooting, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.

As Liuyu and her group got closer, they realized that this was not the same as the usual firefly shooting game.

Just as Liuyu had said, in a normal Firefly Archery game, the fireflies as targets would move unpredictably, making them harder to hit. However, for skilled archers, hitting them wasn’t difficult.

But here, the shop had set up a Qi formation between the arrows and the fireflies.

Arrows that passed through the Qi formation no longer shot in a straight line but were redirected to the diagonal direction of the circular formation.

This meant that to hit the firefly on the left, one would need to aim at the right side.

This explanation wasn’t overly complicated, but with the fireflies stopping and darting at high speeds, aiming properly was far from easy.

The Mountain Demon, intrigued, looked around the Qi formation.

“This Qi formation is quite interesting. I haven’t seen anything like it before. The shopkeeper’s skills are impressive.”

The shopkeeper glanced at the little girl holding the arrows beside the stall and stroked his beard, smiling, “You’re too kind. It’s just a little trick my daughter came up with when she had nothing to do at home. It’s nothing grand.”

Although he said that, the pride in his eyes showed that he was a father who was proud of his daughter.

Eager to try, the Mountain Demon took some money and was about to hand it to the little girl holding the arrow container when the girl, around ten years old, blinked and sweetly said, “Thirty coins for one arrow. Buy ten, get one free! If you buy more, you’ll have more fun!”

Liuyu couldn’t help but glance at the girl a few more times.

Though young, she was quite the little businesswoman.

The Mountain Demon looked at Liuyu and Mo Lin behind him.

He had to admit that solving riddles wasn’t a strength of the Nine Underworld Demons, but shooting these little insects didn’t seem that difficult. This time, it would be their chance to show off in front of the esteemed ones, right?

“No need for that many. A few should be enough,” he said confidently.

Liuyu, surprised, remarked, “I didn’t expect the Mountain Demon to be good at archery.”

“He hasn’t even touched a bow,” Mo Lin said calmly, debunking his confidence. “It’s precisely because he’s never used a bow that he’s so sure of himself.”

To learn archery, you needed a suitable place, and bows and arrows were consumables. Demons fought mainly by instinct, and even when they used weapons, they preferred blades, swords, axes, and similar sharp tools. Archery was something only children from celestial families learned as a required skill.

As if to confirm Mo Lin’s words, a few sharp sounds rang out, and when everyone looked, they saw the confident young man in blue had missed the Qi formation entirely with two arrows, both flying off-target.

The little girl holding the arrows said, “Buy ten, get one free. Buy thirty, get five free!”

The Mountain Demon’s face turned hot as the surrounding crowd burst into laughter.

Liuyu also smiled lightly and, while everyone’s attention was focused on the Mountain Demon, she quickly glanced at the shopkeeper and said, “Your daughter is quite cute. At such a young age, she can create such a Qi formation. She must have great talent. Have you considered sending her to the Celestial Academy for further studies? I have a job offer, and if the shopkeeper is interested, I have some connections that might help you.”

Parents love their children and plan for their future. If they could send this young girl to the Yinshan clan’s Immortal Academy for training, her father’s loyalty to the Yinshan clan would become more credible.

Liuyu would also be able to trust him with the task of forging the family records.

However, the shopkeeper sighed and said:

“To be honest, I already have a son studying at the Lingyong Academy. The capital, Yujing, is prosperous, but everything requires money—food, clothing, shelter, all of it costs. The family is already burdened. If my daughter also enters the Immortal Academy, how can we afford it?”

Such a small matter was certainly not a problem in front of Liuyu.

But just as she was about to speak, in a flash of inspiration, Liuyu glanced at the shopkeeper and the little girl’s face, and suddenly blurted out:

“What’s your family name?”

The shopkeeper smiled and replied, “My surname is Yan, and my given name is Liangyi.”

Liuyu stared at him for a moment, then closed her mouth.

Noticing her silence, Mo Lin, who was standing beside her, quietly asked:

“Is there a problem?”

Liuyu turned her head and whispered in his ear, “Do you remember Yan Wushu, the one I mentioned last time?”

It was too close.

Mo Lin almost felt her lips brushing against his ear.

With his long eyelashes lowered, he replied softly:

“I remember.”

He was the one who almost killed her.

Yan Wushu… Yan Liangyi.

He lowered his eyes to meet Liuyu’s gaze.

“Are they related?”

Liuyu nodded.

Earlier, when Liu Niang gave her the information about the strongholds, this name was placed right next to Yan Wushu’s.

…That’s too much of a coincidence.

But after thinking about it carefully, it made sense.

Yan Wushu was recommended by the Yinshan clan to enter the Lingyong Academy. Now, Liuyu was looking for a suitable family record forgers in her own stronghold in Taiping City, so it wasn’t surprising that the names matched.

But unfortunately, since this was Yan Wushu’s family, she couldn’t use them, no matter what.

“—What Immortal Academy?”

Snapping back to reality, Liuyu looked down and saw the little girl holding the arrow tube, staring at her.

“Sister, my father can do it, so can I. If you need help with anything, just tell me.”

Mo Lin glanced down at her coldly, replying in a stern voice:

“It’s none of your business.”

The little girl, named Yue Niang, looked at Mo Lin.

His stature was already imposing to adults, let alone to a ten-year-old girl.

When he gave her a cold stare, the oppressive, chilling aura he emitted was exactly like the monsters in the ghost stories adults told.

Yue Niang shrank her neck and took a small step toward Liuyu.

“I heard you.”

She tugged at Liuyu’s sleeve, her eyes wide and bright like black grapes, but her voice was barely above a whisper:

“Are you going to forge the family records? I can do that too… I can keep quiet, I won’t let anyone else know… is that okay?”

Liuyu looked at her hopeful eyes.

Yue Niang, in turn, gazed at the beautiful, soft-hearted sister in front of her.

“No, it’s not okay.”

In her previous life, the Yinshan clan sent Yan Wushu to the Immortal Academy and even wrote a name card for him, allowing him to enter the Lingyong Academy as a commoner.

But that turned out to be a stepping stone for him to join another family.

In this life, Liuyu had been merciful enough by not uprooting his entire family and kicking them off the Yinshan clan’s land. Did they really expect her to train Yan Wushu’s sister?

Dream on.

Looking at the little girl’s pitiful face, Liuyu ignored her and turned her gaze away.

“—Shopkeeper, we’re done playing.”

The couple who had been standing nearby walked past Liuyu and returned the bow to the shopkeeper Yan.

In addition to the bow, they also returned the unused arrows. The shopkeeper Yan saw this and said:

“There are still so many left. You’re not playing anymore…”

Liuyu hadn’t paid attention to them earlier, but now they shot her and Mo Lin strange looks as they passed, their chins slightly raised as they said:

“My family has a rule—not to share anything with demons and ghosts.”

Mo Lin’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and he slowly raised his eyelids.

The young man in purple, standing across from them, seemed unsatisfied. He then spoke directly in front of Liuyu:

“I mean no offense, but I see that Miss is from a prestigious family, perhaps your family has fallen on hard times? No matter how fallen, a family like yours shouldn’t lower its standards by allowing demons and ghosts to serve you, tainting the reputation of your noble family…”

“—What do you mean by not sharing anything with demons and ghosts?! I didn’t even touch your bow, why are you being so pretentious?!”

If the Ghost Girl hadn’t been holding him back, the Mountain Demon would have lunged forward to tear apart the young man’s mouth.

“We’re in the same shop. What’s the difference from sharing an item?”

The young man in purple frowned, and when he raised his head to meet Liuyu’s gaze, he said:

“I truly mean no offense, but I’m simply speaking the truth. I hope you won’t take offense.”

His youthful appearance still looked a bit immature, and although he spoke with the elegant tone typical of the nobility, each word oozed a sense of superiority that placed himself above everyone else.

Liuyu stared at him for a moment and smiled:

“You mean no offense, but you’ve offended me quite thoroughly.”

The young girl in yellow beside him frowned, sizing up Liuyu from head to toe.

There was no family crest on her clothes, making it difficult to tell which family she was from. However, her demeanor couldn’t be disguised; she was definitely from a noble family.

The news of the demon attack on the city and the death of Yinshan Qi had already spread to nearby cities around the Demon Wall.

In these chaotic times, with no ruler over the city and the Yinshan clan far away in Yujing, the nearby noble families all had their eyes set on Taiping City, eager to claim the land.

But they didn’t dare to be too obvious and sent people to scout Taiping City first.

These two, were they part of the noble families sent to Taiping City?

But what noble family would have demons and ghosts serving them?

The one closest to her had quite an impressive aura, and certainly didn’t look like an ordinary servant.

“My brother speaks that way, don’t take it to heart. I am Shentu Shiying, and he is Shentu Shiyan. May I ask which noble house your ladyship hails from?”

Liuyu met Shentu Shiying’s face, which was adorned with a polite smile, but then shifted her gaze to the panting mountain demon not far away.

She motioned with her hand, signaling the ghost woman to take the bow from the mountain demon’s hands.

The ghost woman swiftly snatched it and jogged it over to Liuyu.

Liuyu turned the bow in her hands and lowered her eyes to test the string.

“As you said, it’s just a fallen house that no one has heard of. Compared to the Shentu family, who controls the six border cities, it’s not worth mentioning.”

Shentu Shiying carefully studied the girl’s face.

Indeed, it was a very unfamiliar face.

However, her composed and dignified posture made it hard to believe that this noble lady came from a ruined family.

“You flatter us. Compared to the great families of the Immortal Capital, our Shentu family is but an unknown name,” he said humbly, but there was a trace of condescension in his tone.

The Shentu family, stationed south of the Demon Ghost Great Wall, was indeed the most powerful force in the region.

“Today, my brother was at fault first. Thankfully, you don’t hold a grudge. Since that’s the case, we’ll take our leave—”

“Don’t be in a hurry.”

Liuyu’s face slowly broke into a smile.

“Lord Shentu is so kind to remind me of the etiquette of the noble families. I am truly grateful. Allow me to return the favor, and I hope you won’t mind.”

Shentu Shiying had a bad premonition.

Shentu Shiyan, unaware of Liuyu’s sarcastic tone, said solemnly:

“Miss, you’re too polite. I was only displeased—”

“You see, you both shot over a hundred arrows and still couldn’t hit one. How about I give you the fireflies we’ve shot down as a gift to Lord Shentu?”

At these words, even the most oblivious, Shentu Shiyan, noticed Liuyu’s ill-intentions.

The Shentu family was stationed at the Demon Ghost Great Wall, and the head of the family bore the heavy responsibility of being the first line of defense against the demon ghosts. Naturally, everyone in their family was a martial artist.

Martial artists despised losing in combat.

That was why they had been delayed here for so long; they were obsessed with proving they could be the first to shoot a firefly.

Unfortunately, they still hadn’t hit any.

But now this girl was openly boasting that she wanted to compete with a martial family?

A mocking smile appeared on Shentu Shiying’s face.

“This is quite a generous gift. But it’s not something so easily given away. Are you so confident?”

Liuyu smiled with her eyes squinted: “Miss Shentu, you’re joking. This is such a small matter; I don’t even need to step in.”

With that, she handed the bow to Mo Lin.

Mo Lin slowly met her gaze, his indifferent eyes carrying a hint of confusion.

She thought that since she was so confident, he would be the one to shoot.

Liuyu was even more confused.

After all, the honor of the demon ghost race had to be reclaimed by themselves—could she really rely on him?

“…You think I can’t?”

Liuyu tilted her head, staring at him in disbelief.

How could he not be able to do it?

In her previous life, when he stormed into the Immortal Capital, battling the twelve generals, she had seen him casually pick up a bow and shoot.

But then she thought about it again.

Well, that makes sense.

He had the limitless ghost fire and the ghost laws that could call upon spirits, so shooting didn’t really matter to him.

Liuyu remained calm on the outside, but she felt a bit troubled inside.

She could try shooting herself, but her skills were just as mediocre as the Shentu siblings’, and she had no assurance of winning.

Just as Liuyu was about to take the plunge, Mo Lin suddenly spoke:

“Let me try.”

…He must be joking.

Both Shentu siblings were stunned.

Learning it now?

What level was this, to speak with such arrogance?

Both of them found it absurd, yet when the demon ghost drew the bow and aimed, they felt an uneasy premonition—

He really could do it.

The arrow flew off the string like a shooting star, faster than the fireflies, and everyone’s gaze followed the flash as it sped through the group of fireflies, freezing the air as it passed.

It missed.

Liuyu wasn’t too disappointed, though. She was actually surprised by Mo Lin’s archery skills.

“You didn’t know how to shoot? When did you learn this? Why did you learn it?”

Mo Lin lowered his eyes and nocked another arrow.

The images of youths under lanterns flickered in his mind.

A girl in golden attire lazily leaned against the side, pointing at a particular artifact and casually saying:

“I want that, Zhanghua, shoot it down for me.”

A jade-like young man smiled warmly, as if he would always grant her every request.

“I know how, but I’m not accurate enough.”

Mo Lin raised his eyes and focused on the target. His usually indifferent gaze now sharp as a blade.

“Did you notice where I missed earlier?”

Liuyu snapped back to attention.

“Your shoulder and arm were too tense, and you used too much force, which made the arrow inaccurate.”

“Good.”

Another arrow shot out.

This time, it almost brushed against the firefly’s tail.

The expressions of the Shentu siblings changed.

The third shot.

The fourth shot.

One pointed, one drew the bow, and with every shot, the Shentu siblings grew more alarmed.

This was bad.

They should never have gotten into a conflict with these two.

If they were beaten by a demon ghost in public, the Shentu family would lose all face.

This girl—where exactly did she come from?

The twentieth arrow made a sound entirely different from the previous ones.

Standing at the edge of the stall, Yue Niang opened her mouth in surprise and was the first to shout:

“He hit it! He hit the firefly!”

The crowd erupted in chatter.

“He really hit it.”

“Even the people from the Shentu family couldn’t hit the firefly, but a demon ghost did.”

“This is truly…”

“Shh—don’t let Miss Shentu hear!”

The mountain demon and the ghost girl didn’t care about the Shentu siblings’ expressions. The two were jumping around, almost as if they were going to drum and parade in front of them to show off.

They even complained that the bow they used was dirty.

Not much skill, but a lot of fuss!

Liuyu took down the arrow, which actually hadn’t pierced the firefly but had only hit one of its wings.

However, even the stall owner admitted the shot was accurate, so they won it fair and square.

Liuyu arrogantly spun the arrow in her fingers and smiled, her eyes curving:

“The heavenly-grade artifact inside, Young Master Shentu can choose any one. I just need to take this arrow.”

This arrow had truly shamed the Shentu family.

“—Stop.”

Shentu Shiying called out to Liuyu as she was about to leave, her face unpleasant.

“You’ve given such a great gift, yet you won’t even leave your name?”

Liuyu had been waiting for this moment.

She turned around, her skirt swirling like the morning clouds.

“My name is—Ji Mo Gui.”

Shentu Shiying stared at her back.

Ji Mo Gui.

Very well, she would remember that name.

After walking out of the crowd, with a crescent moon hanging high in the sky, the lantern festival was in full swing. Mo Li looked at the light-footed girl, a slight curve forming at the corner of his lips.

“Where do you want to go next?”

Liuyu suddenly stopped walking.

She turned around and looked at the Shentu siblings, who had already moved some distance away. The mountain demon and the ghost girl were whispering, and without needing to listen, she knew they were talking bad about the Shentu siblings.

“The lantern festival… doesn’t seem that great. Ghost girl, Mountain Demon, are you done playing?”

The two nodded.

The lanterns were lit, they had made their mark, and bought plenty of things.

It was far more interesting than any other lantern festival they had seen or imagined before.

Liuyu twirled the arrow in her hand.

“Then let’s return to Jiuyou.”

Hearing that word, Mo Li’s gaze shifted slightly.

The Guo Huo Bird cart slowly passed through the Demon Ghost Great Wall.

They had been in Taiping City for only two days, but those two days were full of ups and downs, causing quite a stir, and it was exhausting.

On the cart, Liuyu spoke absentmindedly about trivial matters.

The Yan family couldn’t be used; they needed to find another master craftsman. The state of Taiping City wouldn’t remain leaderless for long, and they needed to establish the Ji Mo family before the surrounding families acted…

Mo Lin quietly listened beside her, his gaze falling on the top of her head as she spoke and let her head droop lower.

Some words lingered on his lips.

“You…”

Just as he started to speak, he saw the girl, unable to hold herself up any longer, fall asleep with her head resting on the low table between them.

The candlelight flickered dimly.

The silhouette of the Extreme Night Palace could vaguely be seen in the distance.

Through the car door, the voices of the ghost girl and mountain demon could be heard faintly, but Mo Lin remained still in the night, quietly studying the sleeping face of the girl. He reached out to gently brush away the hair sticking to her lips.

His finger lightly grazed her lips.

But he didn’t withdraw his hand.

“…Last time you came, I wasn’t able to greet you in person.”

He softly spoke the words he had been unable to say back then:

“Liuyu, welcome to… the world of demon ghosts.”