Chapter 9

After last night’s spring rain, the vegetation in Yedu City was moist, and the air was filled with the damp, earthy scent.

When Lanzu’s knees hit the uneven bluestone slab, water splashed from the puddles and into his bloodshot eyes.

However, he only stared at the broken reflection in the puddle, not blinking.

“——Who would’ve thought that a slave covered in filth in Wuse City would turn into someone so dignified?”

A pair of black boots stepped through the rainwater, entering Lanzu’s line of sight.

The owner of those feet looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, with a fair face and cheeks that still had a youthful innocence. When he smiled, he resembled a well-behaved nephew whom elders would adore.

But in the next moment, he lifted his foot and pressed down on Lanzu’s shoulder, forcing him to bend his back even more.

Against the light, the eyes of the noble youth still carried a smile but were icy cold.

“But that’s not a reason for you to kill my three personal guards, Lanzu. Back in the day when I saw you starving, didn’t I give you a bowl of meat? How can you repay kindness with enmity? It really breaks my heart.”

With each sentence, he lightly slapped the red-haired demon on the head, as if scolding a disobedient dog.

The scattered red hair hung down, covering Lan Zhu’s expression.

His stomach churned at those words, bringing sour bile to his throat, making him almost vomit. But he gritted his teeth, even though the tension under his clothes threatened to tear him apart, he forced himself to control this almost instinctive physiological reaction.

He had to endure.

Demons who survived the burning of Wuse City knew how difficult it was to get to where they were today.

Back then, Wuse City was ruled by the Yinshan clan, with one deputy city lord each from the Xiangli, Jiufang, and Zhongli clans, as well as the royal Murong clan. Together, they controlled this treasure trove that entertained the powerful.

With the combined power of the five great families, Wuse City was teeming with masters and nearly impregnable.

If not for Mo Lin with his boundless ghost fire, these demons would never have escaped that place.

But even so, Lanzu remembered the terrible price they paid to leave Wuse City.

Of the 300,000 demons in Wuse City, only less than 150,000 made it to Jiuyou.

The demons of Jiuyou were supported by the blood of their kin.

So——

Even if Lanzu had only a tenth of the loyalty that the mountain demon had for Mo Lin, he would still obey the orders of this demon lord.

Avoid conflicts with the noble families.

To give Jiuyou a chance to grow strong.

Lan Zhu closed his eyes, countless painful memories gushing out like pus from a wound.

He clenched his trembling hand, striving to remain calm.

“……Are you going to give me those thirty lashes or not? I don’t have time to waste here with you.”

The noble youth’s smile froze instantly.

His fingers tightened around the whip handle.

In a nearby second-floor teahouse, someone seemed to be playing chess behind the curtains.

With a crisp click, a chess piece was placed.

At the same time, the wheels of the ghost chariot rolled over the Zhuque Bridge, and the guhuoniao (bird demon) spread its wings, carrying Liuyu and Mo Lin towards Shifang Street, where Jiufang Xinglan and others were.

Chao Ming, following behind the chariot, gazed deeply in its direction.

Chaoyuan rarely initiated conversation:

“What do you think?”

The Jiufang family never acted rashly. Jiufang Xinglan’s actions today seemed odd.

Chao Ming turned his head, looking serious as he spoke to Chaoyuan:

“Did the young lady eat that roast duck just now?”

Chaoyuan: “I think Jiufang Xinglan might be targeting the young lady.”

Chao Ming bit his nail:

“Damn those Jiuyou demons! How dare they present such things to the young lady! They are deliberately luring her into depravity!”

Chaoyuan pondered:

“Could it be…that the people of Xian Du Yu Jing are worried that the young lady is getting too close to Jiuyou and will betray them?”

Chao Ming suddenly realized:

“They want to turn the young lady into a lowlife like them! How sinister!”

“……”

Chaoyuan withdrew his gaze from his brother, with whom he could no longer communicate, and looked at the ghost chariot ahead.

The atmosphere inside the chariot seemed tense.

Since boarding, Liuyu and Mo Lin hadn’t spoken a word.

This matter stemmed from Liuyu’s earlier remark about “standing up for her own people.”

When Liuyu said that, she clearly meant that although she didn’t care much for Lanzu, she liked Jiufang Xinglan even less. Between the two, she would rather help Lanzu.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished speaking, the mountain demon jumped up in rage:

“Lord Mo Li treats you so well, and you still want to help the Jiufang family! How ungrateful!”

The smile on Liuyu’s face quickly disappeared.

Insulting her?

“Great, kicked out by my own family.”

Next to him, Mo Lin, whose expression had initially softened, regained his composure after the mountain monkey’s shout.

Jia Fang Zhang Hua was a disciple personally trained by Yin Shanze from a young age, and he had grown up with her as childhood sweethearts.

Because Liuyu liked to wear gold dresses, he personally cultivated the famous peony variety, Jinluyu.

Jinluyu had a strand of golden powder at its tip, luxuriant and lush, blooming in the courtyards of prominent families. Thus, when people mentioned Yinshan Liuyu, the image of the stunningly beautiful Jinluyu would come to mind, creating a story of a talented man and a beautiful woman.

Mo Lin had also seen the tree outside the young lady’s boudoir, covered with poem scrolls hanging from the cherry blossom tree.

According to old customs, young noblemen would write amorous poems on flower scrolls and present them to their favored ladies on the first day of the Flower Festival.

Among all the expressions of young affection on that tree, she only picked Jia Fang Zhang Hua’s scroll.

Barring any accidents, she was supposed to marry the eldest son of the Jia Fang family.

Not travel a long distance to the desolate Jiuyou to become the wife of a lowly demon ghost.

Finally, Liuyu, who had been holding back for a long time, couldn’t help but turn her head and cast a puzzled glance at the demon ghost beside her.

No way?

Did he really bring her here without even asking who she wanted to help?

She admitted he was very strong, but what if she really wanted to help Jia Fang Zhang Hua and the Jade-faced Spider? Wouldn’t that make the situation even worse for them?

Liuyu opened her mouth, about to speak—

Outside the ghost carriage, the guhuoniao let out a shrill cry, filled with the sharp anger of a beast.

The green-clad demon ghost, who had been leaning against the carriage wall, slowly sat up. His deep, forest-like eyes pierced through the ghost carriage, bypassing the bustling crowd, and locked onto the whip cracking in the distance.

In the next moment—

Using the ghost carriage as the center.

All the human cultivators and Jiuyou demon ghosts around felt an overwhelmingly oppressive force descending from the sky.

Although Jia Fang Zhang Hua’s innate talent was mediocre, he was born into the Jia Fang family, naturally receiving the family’s legacy, akin to a protective talisman. This ensured that such aristocratic offspring were separated from the common people who had to start from scratch in cultivation.

However, at this moment—

He looked up at the swirling clouds above, where the golden light behind the clouds transformed into a faint green glow, like a massive fire burning in the sky, ready to cascade down like molten lava, making one feel insignificantly small, like an ant.

Jiuyou, the Lord of Demons, Mo Lin.

These words, which he had only heard from his elders before, finally carried tangible intimidation now.

The two bodyguards beside him still had the strength to draw their swords, but Jia Fang Zhang Hua, snapping back to reality, raised his hand to signal them to stand down.

What was there to fear?

Did Mo Lin dare to kill him?

It would be easy for Mo Lin to kill him, but if he died, countless Jiuyou demons would follow him to the grave.

No matter how powerful, he was still a tiger or wolf in a cage, not worth fearing.

“Are you the Lord of Jiuyou?”

Jia Fang Zhang Hua bowed respectfully in the direction of the guhuoniao ghost carriage, his tone very amiable.

“Has the Lord come regarding my being attacked? Please rest assured, Lord, thanks to my bodyguards, I am unscathed. This Luzhu and I are old acquaintances, and now he is close to the Lord. For the Lord’s sake, I would not truly harm him.”

Inside the carriage, Liuyu curled her lips slightly at his words.

That tone, outwardly courteous but inherently disdainful, was unmistakably aristocratic.

This was the entrance to Shifang Street, a bustling area in Ye City.

The demons gathered here, blocked by Luzhu’s people, were already boiling with rage, eager to flay Jia Fang Zhang Hua alive.

Seeing Mo Lin finally appear, there was no need to lift the curtain. Mo Lin could sense how many eyes in the crowd were filled with hatred and anger.

Outside the carriage, however, the faces of the twelve guardian deities were full of worry.

This was a clear and straightforward trap.

If Mo Li allowed the people of Xiandu Yujing to punish the demons in Jiuyou, he would lose the people’s support.

If he attacked Jia Fang Zhang Hua, causing a conflict between Jiuyou and Dachao, the city lords of Jiuyou who were temporarily unwilling to go to war with Dachao would join forces with the Exorcist Sect to marginalize Mo Lin, and the Jade-faced Spider would benefit the most.

Behind the curtain of the tea room, the sound of chess pieces falling was calm and unhurried.

The entire Shifang Street’s attention was focused on this small ghost carriage.

Even Luzhu, looking through the strands of his hair, glanced up.

His rational mind did not want the Lord to stand up at this moment, but in a hidden corner of his heart, his pride gnawed at his reason.

If he could live with dignity.

Why would he endure this humiliation?

Inside the ghost carriage, there was a faint sound of conversation, but due to Mo Lan’s overwhelming presence, even those with keen hearing could only hear indistinct murmurs.

The demons were anxious, scratching their ears and cheeks.

Who else was in there? What were they discussing?

With a swish—

The curtain was lifted.

The golden threads on the sleeves shimmered in the sunlight, momentarily blinding people until they saw the girl who emerged from the ghost carriage.

In one’s lifetime, it was rare to see such exceptional beauty.

She stood there, like the most cherished jade of the Jiuyou demons, glowing all over.

Even though Jia Fang Zhang Hua had seen this eldest daughter of the Yinshan clan before, each encounter made it hard not to be moved by her beauty and aura.

Seeing Liuyu walk towards him, Jia Fang Zhang Hua gathered his smile, ready to greet her, only to find that she didn’t even look at him and instead walked straight towards the red-haired demon ghost pinned to the ground.

Jia Fang Zhang Hua glanced up at the tea room on the second floor, quickly retracting his gaze, and watched Liuyu’s back as she slowly squatted down.

Could it be that Yinshan Liuyu was as the elders feared, too closely involved with Jiuyou?

Luzhu, with vacant eyes, slowly raised his gaze.

Why was she here?

To laugh at him?

Or…

The girl just smiled, and then, under everyone’s watchful eyes, she suddenly and genuinely slapped Luzhu.

Slap—!

The sound was crisp and clear, the force was at its maximum, causing Luzhu’s head to be knocked to the side.

“How did you end up in such a miserable state after just one day? Where’s the strength you had when you confronted me that day?”

The red-haired demon’s head remained tilted, his eyes wide open. It took him a moment to come back to his senses, and his previously vacant eyes finally regained their focus.

“Shit!”

“Yinshan Liuyu! You really—”

Liuyu interrupted him, “Did you really kill those three personal guards?”

“Screw it! If I’d known, I would have really killed them! I’d have killed that idiot too!”

Liuyu had a clear understanding now.

Under the shocked and angry stares of the other demons, she stood up and looked at Jiufang Xinglan behind her.

The slap she had just delivered instantly dispelled the few suspicions that had arisen in Jiufang Xinglan’s mind.

Yinshan Liuyu was indeed still the proud Yinshan Liuyu.

“Liuyu, why are you here?”

The young man’s smile was pure and obedient, calling her sister in a way that touched her heart.

“I’ve been busy with official duties and couldn’t attend your wedding. I was planning to visit you after dealing with the matters in Yushan. How have you been during your time in Jiuyou? Have you suffered any grievances? You know, my brother is very concerned about you. If there’s anything I can help with, just let me know.”

Liuyu stared at him.

Her eyes clearly smiled, but there was a depth to that smile that Jiufang Xinglan couldn’t quite fathom.

It made him feel an inexplicable guilt, as if… he had done something wrong.

Indeed, he had done many wrong things, but with this young lady, he couldn’t think of anything specific.

Liuyu spoke, “There is indeed something you can help with.”

Jiufang Xinglan’s smile grew wider.

“Really? What is it—”

Before he could finish his sentence.

His personal guard, who was on alert, didn’t even have time to touch the hilt of his sword. The beautiful lady, with an ethereal presence, raised her hand, and through the air, a torrent of murderous energy surged forth, landing heavily on Jiufang Xinglan’s still-smiling face.

Boom—!!!

Accompanied by a loud noise.

Lying face-up in the rubble, his body wracked with pain, Jiufang Xinglan belatedly realized.

Yinshan Liuyu had slapped him in front of everyone.