After Forcibly Taking The Beautiful, Powerful, And Tragic Demon Lord As A Concubine - Chapter 7

Ye Mingjing had stayed in their wedding chamber last night.

The festive atmosphere wasn’t particularly noticeable in the dark of night, but by daylight, the room was brimming with celebratory flair.

Bright red “Double Happiness” characters were pasted on the doors and the bed, and no fewer than ten red lanterns were arranged at the entrance. It was exceptionally festive.

Seeing this, however, Lin Xueqing’s only thought was: Thank goodness I crossed over.

Otherwise, this wedding chamber turning into a funeral hall would have been a hellish joke.

At that thought, he looked down at the wedding robes he was wearing and felt they were quite out of place. Fortunately, this was the cultivation world; the technology for “one-click outfit changes” had long since been developed.

Lin Xueqing had already inquired with the servants earlier. By simply turning the jade thumb ring on his hand, he could change his attire.

Thus, standing at the doorway, Lin Xueqing first swapped his crumpled wedding robes for a set of light, comfortable teal-green clothing. Once he was sure he looked clean, tidy, and wouldn’t be an eyesore to Ye Mingjing, he lightly knocked on the half-open door and spoke softly:

“Venerable One, I have brought your breakfast.”

“Enter.”

A familiar, cold voice drifted from inside the room. Lin Xueqing pushed the door open with the utmost respect and walked in.

Before entering, Lin Xueqing’s heart was still thumping with trepidation. He feared Ye Mingjing wouldn’t like his cooking, or that the Great Demon would suddenly regret his mercy and start a massacre in broad daylight.

However, the moment he stepped inside, Lin Xueqing was stunned by the scene before him.

By the eastern window, Ye Mingjing sat in his wheelchair, holding a brush and painting. He had clearly just woken up not long ago. His long, black, silky hair wasn’t bound in a crown as usual, but instead draped loosely around his body.

On an ordinary person, loose hair might look messy, but not on Ye Mingjing. The black hair falling against his white robes looked like ink splashed across rice paper—unrestrained and languid.

The golden sword-sovereign mark between his brows acted like the finishing touch on a masterpiece, giving the entire scene an air of supreme nobility.

No wonder the original “cannon fodder” character had become so obsessed with Ye Mingjing just by seeing a painting of him. Who could possibly resist this?

In any case, Lin Xueqing was finding it a bit hard to handle. With just one look, his heart began to race uncontrollably, and his footsteps felt light. That was, until he walked a few steps closer and saw the content of Ye Mingjing’s painting—

Wait, why is it a pig?!

He felt dizzy and nauseous. Lin Xueqing heard the sound of his “maiden heart” shattering into pieces.

“Breakfast?”

Ye Mingjing finally reacted. He set down his brush, his narrow phoenix eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at Lin Xueqing with a ghost of a smile. “Didn’t I say I didn’t want any?”

Facing Ye Mingjing head-on, his beauty was even more striking. Lin Xueqing was shaken once again by that stunning face. Fortunately, the “pigpen warning” from the painting served as a wake-up call, and he bit his tongue hard to snap himself out of his trance.

“The servants earlier were just ignorant; the things they served weren’t tasty,” Lin Xueqing muttered. “How can someone eat nothing but fruit and vegetable roots first thing in the morning?”

“Oh? And what is it this time?”

“This time it’s lean meat porridge, small steamed buns, and oh, smashed cucumbers!” Lin Xueqing hurriedly opened the food box, introducing the items like he was showing off a treasure. He added specifically, “I made them myself.”

“You made them?”

There was a rare hint of amusement in Ye Mingjing’s tone. But soon, he lowered his gaze, and after a brief, indifferent glance at the various dishes in the box, his eyes darkened inexplicably.

Lin Xueqing didn’t notice the strange look in Ye Mingjing’s eyes. He remained quite proud. “Yes, I made them. My cooking skills are excellent.”

“In that case—”

“Venerable One, why don’t you try some?” “Eat it yourself.”

“Ah…”

Lin Xueqing froze, unable to believe what he had just heard. “Venerable One, I really made this myself.”

Thinking Ye Mingjing suspected him of lying, Lin Xueqing felt incredibly aggrieved. He held out his finger to show Ye Mingjing the burn marks. “Look, because it was my first time cooking and I couldn’t control the fire well, I even burned my finger.”

If this were the modern world, Lin Xueqing naturally wouldn’t have made such a mistake. But this was the cultivation world. Who knew the fire would suddenly flare up so high? He hadn’t been seriously injured, but it hurt—an itchy, throbbing pain.

Lin Xueqing had been afraid of running out of time, so he had only rinsed it with cold water and hadn’t had a chance to treat it yet.

Yet, to his surprise, Ye Mingjing remained completely unmoved. Not only was he indifferent, but he even seemed to think Lin Xueqing was being dramatic and affected.

“A minor injury like that… can’t it be healed instantly with a simple pill?”

Lin Xueqing: “…”

Dammit! Talk about throwing kindness back in someone’s face.

In that moment, Lin Xueqing’s heart turned cold with anger. He felt like smashing the whole table of breakfast right then and there. Of course, he didn’t actually dare to do it—the Great Demon was right there.

He could only swallow his fury, pack the food box back up exactly as it was, and force a fawning, fake smile. “The Venerable One is right. I’ll take these away and go pop a pill myself.”

“Mhm. Go then,” Ye Mingjing said.

Having said that, he lowered his head again and returned to his painting. He had the look of someone telling Lin Xueqing to be smart and get lost.

Lin Xueqing: Do I have any choice other than to roll away smoothly and efficiently?

Naturally, he didn’t. He could only “happily” beat a retreat.

On the surface, he was compliant, but in his heart, he had already cursed Ye Mingjing a thousand times. Big demon! Big jerk!

The moment he stepped out the door, Lin Xueqing decided he would never treat this man as his “idol” again. From now on, they were strictly in a “reader and villain” relationship. He wouldn’t do any more PR or comment control on Weibo for him. If someone called Ye Mingjing a villain again, he definitely wouldn’t fire back. In fact, he’d probably give that person a “like”!

How dare Ye Mingjing waste his sincere efforts like this? He had been burned several times to make such a hearty, delicious breakfast, and Ye Mingjing wouldn’t even take a single bite?

Fine, just starve then! You have no taste.

That was what Lin Xueqing thought as he carried the food box away. What he didn’t know was that the moment he left the room, Ye Mingjing, who had been painting a pig, suddenly looked up.

Looking in the direction Lin Xueqing had departed, his originally dark and calm eyes shifted, suddenly tinged with a flash of blood-red.

Ultimately, those breakfast items were finished on the flying boat. His two cousins praised him as they ate:

“Cousin, since when did you have such skills?”

“Yeah, you should have said so earlier! If we’d known, why would we have suffered through those tasteless Inedia Pills?”

As it turned out, not everyone in the immortal sects took pride in eating Inedia Pills. The servants from this morning were low-level cultivators with only two or three layers of Qi Refining. They took pride in not consuming mundane grains, feeling that taking Inedia Pills made them different from mortals. Thus, if they could take a pill, they wouldn’t touch a grain of rice.

But those with higher cultivation, like the two cousins, were different. Golden Core cultivators had eaten so many Inedia Pills that they were sick of them. However, the immortal sects had a pact with the mortal realm: without an official pass, one could not easily descend.

Therefore, the two cousins were exceptionally surprised and delighted to have this meal on the flying boat.

Lin Xueqing, however, didn’t have much to say. After being snapped at by Ye Mingjing that morning, he had lost his appetite entirely. He sat at the prow of the boat, looking listless. “If you like it, eat more. No need to save any for me.”

Lin Feng smiled. “Cousin, why so unhappy? You should be glad to finally be out on a trip.”

Lin Xueqing thought: How can I be happy? Who could be happy after being snubbed by their favorite character? And right to his face, after he’d painstakingly made a good meal.

In any case, Lin Xueqing couldn’t bring himself to be cheerful. His heart felt heavy, and he was on the verge of turning from a fan into a hater.

Lin Hai said, “Feng, don’t you understand him? He must be upset because things didn’t go well in the bridal chamber last night.”

Lin Feng slapped his forehead. “Right, right, how could I forget. My fault, my fault. Cousin, don’t take it to heart.”

Lin Xueqing: “…”

“It’s fine. I won’t hold a grudge over something small. It’s just—” He looked out at the layers of clouds beneath the boat. As far as the eye could see, the mist was vast and lonely. “We’ve been flying for hours. Why aren’t we there yet?”

He only had three days. Would they make it in time?

“Mount Taihang is quite far. We’ve almost reached the territory of the Beast Taming Sect.”

“That far!”

If he remembered correctly, the Beast Taming Sect was at the southernmost tip of the cultivation continent. It was the edge of the world, where spiritual energy was thin and the climate was harsh. Only the Beast Taming Sect lived there to raise spirit beasts; other sects looked down on the place.

“Yes. That’s exactly why Feng Ruyu practices medicine there.”

“Why is that?”

“Because fewer people will go there. Otherwise, with Feng Ruyu’s reputation, he’d probably be annoyed to death every day by people seeking medicine.”

“True,” Lin Xueqing realized.

“For an ordinary cultivator to get there by sword-flight, it might take half a month,” Lin Feng added. “Fortunately, we have this flying boat that can cover ten thousand miles a day. Plus, with Aunt’s pass, we aren’t blocked by the major sects along the way. Even so, it will take at least two days and two nights.”

“What? Two days and two nights?”

Lin Xueqing jumped so hard he nearly fell off the boat. Luckily, Lin Hai caught him in time. “Cousin, careful.”

“That won’t work! Two days and two nights? Everything will be over by then!”

Lin Xueqing was frantic. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have wasted time making breakfast for Ye Mingjing. Now, he hadn’t succeeded in sucking up to him, and he was running out of time. “Is there a way to speed up?”

Lin Hai looked conflicted. “There is, but…”

“But what?”

“But it consumes a lot of spirit stones.”

Since it was an emergency, spirit stones were the last thing on Lin Xueqing’s mind. Besides, he had plenty. He immediately pulled a large chest of top-grade spirit stones from his spatial ring. “Use these. Speed up.”

With spirit stones as fuel and the two Golden Core cousins powering the formation, they pushed through. Sure enough, by rushing, the group managed to reach Mount Taihang in just one day and one night.

However, going too fast had its downsides. They couldn’t brake in time during the landing. Lin Feng and Lin Hai were alright, but Lin Xueqing, with his low cultivation, tumbled headfirst and cut his forehead.

“Cousin, are you okay?” Lin Feng hurried to help him up.

Lin Xueqing looked a mess—his head was bleeding and his clothes were torn. But he didn’t care about himself; he immediately urged them to find Feng Ruyu. “Quick, find him and get him on the boat.”

It would take another day and night to get back. The round trip alone would take over two days. By Lin Xueqing’s calculations, he only had a few hours left.

But the situation didn’t look good. Lin Hai looked at the endless line ahead, and his face dropped. “Cousin, I don’t think… it’s going to work.”

Lin Xueqing: “…………”

“All these people are here for treatment?”

“Yes.”

“Damn! Why are there so many sick people these days? Can’t they find some pills and treat themselves?”

“Pills are good, but they’re expensive.”

“Isn’t Feng Ruyu expensive?”

“Actually, he’s not. Feng Ruyu is famous for treating money like dirt.”

“…So we can’t even pay to cut the line?”

“Probably not.” Lin Feng had heard of Feng Ruyu’s reputation before coming. “The Ghost Doctor has a stubborn temper. He refuses to treat anyone who cuts the line. Not only that, he’ll kick them out. He’s a Nascent Soul cultivator.”

A Nascent Soul cultivator… meaning it was impossible to kidnap him by force.

Lin Xueqing fell into deep thought.

Lin Hai asked, “Cousin, are you in a huge hurry?”

Lin Xueqing looked miserable. “Of course I am. Do I look like I’m not in a hurry?”

Lin Hai glanced at his still-bleeding head and swallowed his suggestion to wait. “How about we go beg him?”

Lin Xueqing didn’t think it would work. “These people must have tried that. The fact that they’re all queuing properly means begging is useless.”

“Then what should we do? Should we have Aunt send him a message?”

“No, Aunt went into seclusion to refine pills before we left. No one can reach her until the pills are finished.”

“This…”

“I’ve got it.” Lin Xueqing had a sudden inspiration. “Cousins, I brought many pills with me—pills for healing the body and cleansing the soul. Why don’t we set up a stall here and start treating people ourselves?”

“Huh?”

Lin Feng and Lin Hai were stunned. What kind of idea is this?

But the more Lin Xueqing thought about it, the better the plan seemed. He immediately ordered his subordinates to set up a stall. Most importantly, he needed to put up a sign.

“Cousin, you have good handwriting. Help me write a sign.”

“What should it say?”

“Call it: Better than Feng Ruyu.”