After Forcibly Taking The Beautiful, Powerful, And Tragic Demon Lord As A Concubine - Chapter 13

“I won?”

“I actually won!”

“Did everyone hear that? I won!”

The joy of victory emerged as a delayed reaction. Overjoyed, Lin Xueqing was so happy he wanted to wrap himself in a national flag and run a victory lap like an Olympic champion.

However, while ideals are plump, reality is bony.

Forget celebrating—the moment Lin Xueqing tried to turn around and take a step, he went limp and fell to the ground with a splat.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

He felt a bit aggrieved. Just a moment ago, he had been dashing and powerful, capable of soaring to the heavens or diving into the earth; why had he suddenly become a soft-shelled shrimp? Didn’t he need to save face?

At that moment, Lin Hai and Feng Ruyu arrived at his side.

Lin Hai helped him up, while Feng Ruyu directly tapped a few of his acupoints and fed him a medicinal pill.

“It’s nothing serious, just over-exhaustion of spiritual power. The rest are just superficial wounds.”

Lin Hai breathed a long sigh of relief. “That’s good then.”

After swallowing the pill, Lin Xueqing regained much of his strength, though he was still a bit weak. However, weakness didn’t stop him from bragging about himself.

His face beamed with delight and his spirit was high as he said to the two of them:

“Did you see that just now? Was the posture I used to beat him especially handsome?”

“Pfft—”

Speaking of this, Feng Ruyu wanted to laugh again. This kid had indeed won, and he was certainly clever enough, but God only knew who he had learned those punching postures from—they were incredibly hilarious.

But Feng Ruyu was a decent person; at a time like this, he forced himself to say something against his conscience: “Handsome, exceptionally handsome.”

Unexpectedly, receiving this praise made Lin Xueqing even more self-satisfied. “Right? Right? And I’m only at the third level of Foundation Establishment, while he’s at the seventh!”

Though, truth be told, he had benefited from the fact that Rong Yaowei wasn’t proficient with his sword technique.

But strictly speaking in terms of the result: he won!

The smile on Lin Hai’s face was so wide it couldn’t be closed. “You can say that again! Cousin, I feel like you’ve completely changed into a different person. I’ve never seen you look so brave and fierce.”

At that time, he had thought Lin Xueqing would surely lose miserably. He had already prepared himself for Lin Xueqing being injured and for his aunt to give him a harsh scolding.

But he hadn’t expected Lin Xueqing to actually win. And to win so beautifully.

“Incredible, truly incredible. As expected of someone from the Cheng family; you really are different.”

“Don’t, don’t—”

Lin Xueqing’s brow twitched. He thought to himself that his cousin was a real dimwit, bringing up the one thing he shouldn’t. He had risked his life to win this round; what if Ye Mingjing decided to send him away again because of that?

Fortunately, Ye Mingjing didn’t look angry.

Or rather, he looked the same as he had from beginning to end.

He sat quietly in his wheelchair watching everything happen—not angry, not happy, just watching. If he hadn’t spoken a few words occasionally, everyone would have forgotten his existence.

But after the battle ended, inevitably, Lin Xueqing still had to face him.

The distance grew shorter, and that peerlessly beautiful face became clearer and clearer.

Lin Xueqing could hear his heart thumping loudly. He knew he was nervous—a nervousness he hadn’t felt even when Rong Yaowei had a sword pointed at his throat.

Yet, Lin Xueqing didn’t quite understand what he was nervous about.

Was he afraid Ye Mingjing would fly into a rage, fall into madness, and kill everyone? It didn’t seem like it. If Ye Mingjing wanted to kill, he probably would have done so when Rong Yaowei was acting like a brat earlier.

Was he afraid he had delayed their agreed-upon time and that Ye Mingjing would be angry? That didn’t seem right either, because the time agreed upon with Ye Mingjing hadn’t arrived yet.

The two had made a three-day pact in the middle of the night. Right now, although the sun had set and dusk was slowly descending, the sky hadn’t turned completely dark yet.

The orange-gold sunset fell upon Ye Mingjing, gilding him in a layer of soft, golden light.

The Sword Sovereign’s mark on his forehead, which was already gold, became even more dazzling and eye-catching under the sunset. For a brief moment, Lin Xueqing felt that Ye Mingjing seemed a bit more gentle.

So, without knowing where the courage came from, after walking up to Ye Mingjing, he spoke as if possessed:

“Your Honor, were you satisfied with my performance just now?”

Ye Mingjing glanced at him, a hint of surprise flickering in his eyes.

Lin Xueqing snapped back to his senses immediately and hurriedly waved his hands in embarrassment to explain: “No, no, no, I didn’t mean anything else! Everything was as it should be. I’m just very grateful that you spoke up to help me! If it weren’t for your guidance, I would never have been able to defeat Rong Yaowei!”

Ye Mingjing said, “When did I ever say I was dissatisfied?”

Lin Xueqing: “…”

Holy crap?

What did he just hear!

“Never said I was dissatisfied” basically meant “extremely satisfied,” right? Rounding that up… did Ye Mingjing just praise him?

Ye Mingjing: “…”

No, I didn’t.

“Ahem.”

After a light cough, Ye Mingjing turned his wheelchair and said calmly, “Let’s go. This is not the place for talk. We will speak further after we return.”

Once Ye Mingjing left, the others naturally followed behind him.

As for Rong Yaowei’s group, Lin Xueqing no longer needed to worry about them; Lin Hai proactively took charge of the matter.

“Leave things here to me. Cousin, you and the Con… uh, His Honor should head back first. I’ll come find you once I’ve handled this.”

Feng Ruyu waved his hand and said, “Go on, go on. Why are you coming to find us? It’s not like you can practice medicine. Just go rest.”

Lin Hai still hesitated.

But Lin Xueqing also said, “Master Ghost Doctor is right. Cousin, you should get some good rest. It’s been hard on you this whole journey.”

Lin Hai thought about it and felt that perhaps the young couple didn’t want outsiders to know too much about their business, so he didn’t refuse.

Once Lin Hai left, the other servants basically dispersed as well, going about their business.

Thus, on the small path leading from the martial arts stage back to the courtyard, only Ye Mingjing, Lin Xueqing, and Feng Ruyu were left.

Ye Mingjing sat in his wheelchair, leading the way at an unhurried pace. Lin Xueqing and Feng Ruyu followed quietly behind him, neither saying a word.

It was actually quite strange. Feng Ruyu was naturally a chatterbox; when he was coming from Mount Taixing with Lin Xueqing, he had talked incessantly. Moreover, he would frequently tease Lin Xueqing to make him laugh. He was a complete extrovert.

At times, Lin Xueqing had even found him a bit noisy. But now, following behind Ye Mingjing, Feng Ruyu refused to say a single word. This was very peculiar.

Lin Xueqing guessed that this likely had something to do with Feng Ruhui. The person Feng Ruyu cared about most was his younger brother, but his brother had died at Ye Mingjing’s hands.

It wasn’t that Ye Mingjing himself had killed Feng Ruhui, but Ye Mingjing was the commander-in-chief, and Feng Ruhui was a soldier. Now, the soldier was dead while the commander-in-chief remained. As the soldier’s family member, how could Feng Ruyu not bear a grudge against Ye Mingjing?

Sigh!

Lin Xueqing sighed in his heart. All things considered, it was all the fault of those demonic cultivators. If there were no demonic cultivators, there would have been no war between the righteous and the demonic sects. If there had been no war, how could Feng Ruhui have died?

But then again, if there hadn’t been a great war, Ye Mingjing wouldn’t have been injured, so how could he have ended up in his current state—being mocked and insulted by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like Rong Yaowei?

Thinking of this, Lin Xueqing took a deep breath and felt that he had hit Rong Yaowei too lightly just now. He should have landed a few more punches and smashed that brat’s foul mouth so he would never dare to speak such arrogant nonsense again.

However…

“Is it here?”

Feng Ruyu suddenly spoke, breaking the silence between the three.

The sky had gradually darkened. The courtyard, which was quiet and elegant during the day, looked somewhat lonely now. The flowers and plants that swayed in the wind had lost their vitality for the moment, hiding quietly within the shadows of the trees.

Ye Mingjing didn’t speak. Lin Xueqing replied, “It’s here.”

Feng Ruyu gave a light laugh and shot Ye Mingjing a meaningful look. “You’re living quite a comfortable life these days.”

Ye Mingjing still didn’t speak, simply moving forward silently.

His wheelchair had been specially forged for him by a master blacksmith at the request of his master, the Profound Mystery Sword Sovereign. It required neither the user’s spiritual power nor spirit stones to operate. The wheelchair would automatically absorb the circulating spiritual energy of heaven and earth for the user’s use.

Thus, the wheelchair smoothly crossed the steps and the threshold, entering the room steadily. Afterwards, Ye Mingjing lit an oil lamp.

“Please, have a seat.”

With a sour face, Feng Ruyu walked in. With a flick of his sleeve—whoosh—all the lamps in the room lit up, making the space brightly illuminated in an instant.

“I’m not used to it being too dark,” he said.

Ye Mingjing replied, “True. A healer must have clear eyes to have a clear heart.”

Feng Ruyu was clearly still suppressed with anger. He said, “Don’t use those standards for measuring ordinary medical cultivators on me. Even if I closed my eyes, I would still know what illness your body has. I just like the lamps to be lit.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is. I stand corrected,” Ye Mingjing said.

Looking at Ye Mingjing’s calm face, for some reason, Feng Ruyu suddenly thought of his own brother and felt a surge of rage. Why was it that Feng Ruhui was currently lying there, motionless, while Ye Mingjing could sit here perfectly fine?

Wasn’t Ye Mingjing known as the number one person in the cultivation world? Why couldn’t he even protect his own subordinate? Just what right did he have?

But just as he was about to lose his temper, Lin Xueqing, who was observing the situation closely from the side, naturally noticed the change in his expression and quickly spoke up to mediate:

“Master Ghost Doctor, Master Ghost Doctor, please sit down first. Are you thirsty? How about I pour you a cup of tea to rest? I have some top-quality black tea here that has the effect of calming the nerves and clearing the eyes. Even when the Sect Leader comes, my mother is reluctant to give it to him.”

Feng Ruyu: “…”

“No need,” he refused Lin Xueqing stiffly.

As the saying goes, one does not hit a smiling face. With Lin Xueqing’s interruption, the fire in Feng Ruyu’s heart was ultimately suppressed.

Lin Xueqing breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn’t dare to be completely at ease. After all, while the Ghost Doctor was pacified, the “great demon king” on the other side hadn’t been pacified yet.

So, turning back, he quickly looked toward Ye Mingjing. “Your Honor, since Master Ghost Doctor isn’t drinking, will you have some? Are you hungry? After being delayed all afternoon by that Rong Yaowei kid, you must be tired. How about I go pour you some tea and have the kitchen prepare some pastries so we can eat while we talk?”

But how could Lin Xueqing have expected that Ye Mingjing was even harder to serve?

Lin Xueqing’s concern was purely out of the kindness of his heart, yet Ye Mingjing only raised his phoenix-like eyes slightly, casting a cool, sidelong glance at him:

“Are you this fawning toward everyone?”