After His Demise, the Demon Lord's Doted Canary Finally Sees the Light - Chapter 63

At the border between the human and demon realms was a black market that was not bound by any territory. The visitors’ identities were varied: there were demons and fiends, and even occasionally powerful immortal experts who had hidden their auras to come here.

“Boss! Look at what I brought you!” A burly man with a sack on his back threw it onto a meat stall.

The owner of the stall was a slender mouse fiend. A calculating gleam flashed in his small eyes.

He nimbly jumped from his recliner, peeled open the sack, and said excitedly, “It’s alive?! Where did you get it?”

The man chuckled. He sneakily leaned in and whispered, “The top’s changed hands. This is the one who was thrown out. He’s a tough one. He just got into the army camp and angered a general. We’re thinking of selling him for a few good drinks.”

“Hiss—!” The boss frowned. He was worried. “If I hang him up, won’t it cause trouble?”

“Don’t worry!” The man patted his chest, guaranteeing, “He’s a slave now. Who would still care about him!”

The boss hesitated for a long time, but the potential profit was too great. It was a risk he had to take.

After they had agreed on a price and the money was exchanged, the man left. The boss couldn’t wait to untie the sack and pull out the heavy body.

He wiped a meat hook and muttered, “You people, you climb so high. When you’re in your prime, you’re more impressive than anyone, but now you’re more pathetic than anyone!”

He skillfully used an iron hook to pierce the person’s collarbones on both sides. The small mouse fiend pulled hard on the rope behind the stall, hanging the bloody body up with the unsold meat.

There were rumors of evil spells that required the flesh and blood of a demon as an ingredient. But demons were brutal and hard to deal with, so it was difficult to get a complete piece of their flesh.

This meat-selling mouse fiend was an expert in business. Every now and then, he would trade with the demon army stationed at the border. Some slaves who had committed major offenses and were beaten to death would be thrown on his stall to be sold.

But a dead body was never as fresh as a living one.

The boss hummed a tune and took out a trimming knife, cutting away all the rotten parts of the wound.

Throughout the process, the body only had a faint breath and an occasional convulsive twitch from the pain. There were no other movements.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over the stall.

The boss looked up. The person was completely hidden in a black cloak. Their face was unclear, but the hands that poked out from the sleeves were slender and fair.

Based on his past experiences, this person was a person of status.

In the black market, the biggest taboo was to pry into a customer’s identity.

He patted the meat under his hand with his bloody knife and enthusiastically greeted him. “Honored guest! You’ve come at a good time! This one still has a breath left. Would you like a piece?”

A cold, pleasant voice said, “I’ll take the whole thing.”

“What?” The boss dug at his ear, thinking he had misheard. Prices were high in the black market. A body this big would cost a lot of money.

The person in black seemed to have no patience for him. They casually threw a few items on the stall. Before the boss could react, they disappeared from the spot with the entire body.

The mouse fiend blinked. He counted and saw that there were only ten spirit stones (靈石) on his stall.

“…That’s a robbery—!!”

Liyun (黎雲) had been coming to his room more and more frequently these days.

Qiu Fuxue (秋負雪) had just finished handling official business and was about to brew a pot of tea when he saw the young man’s figure push the door open and enter.

The other man affectionately hugged him from behind, rubbing his cheek against his. “Brother.”

Qiu Fuxue hummed in response.

Liyun rubbed his cheek enough, then sat down. “Brother, that quack doctor down the mountain is still scamming people. Are you really not going to send someone to deal with him?”

Qiu Fuxue sighed helplessly. “I can’t drive him away. Just let him be.”

Seeing that the young man seemed to have something on his mind, he smiled and said directly, “I heard you made him kneel again today? What for this time?”

Liyun pouted, saying self-righteously, “I just find him unpleasant to look at!”

After speaking, he secretly glanced at his brother’s face and muttered, “Are you upset, Brother? Fine… I won’t punish him again. I’ll go tell him to get up right now.”

Although he said that, Liyun showed no sign of getting up. Qiu Fuxue cooperated, lightly tugging on the other’s sleeve. “Forget it. He has nowhere to use his brute strength. Let him kneel for a while.”

With his goal achieved, a sly look flashed in the young man’s eyes. He held onto his brother and wouldn’t let go.

Jiufang Cangze (九方蒼澤) had been at the Thousand Thoughts Sect for ten days.

He had once spent ten spirit stones to sell Qiu Fuxue to Yuan Liutian (原栎天). Now, the other man had spent ten spirit stones to buy him back from the black market.

The small wooden house he had built in front of the mountain gate had been torn down long ago. Aside from the time he spent recuperating, Qiu Fuxue had arranged for him to stay in the disciple dorms, where he ate and lived with the sect’s disciples.

Although he was officially given the same treatment as a disciple, he was not a true disciple after all. And Liyun often came to cause him trouble. With all his injuries, he was living a very difficult life.

Jiufang Cangze had once used the alias “Chuanze” to participate in the disciple selection. Now that his true identity had been exposed, the disciples who had once pitied him now hated him even more.

The dew was heavy, and the large bell on the mountain peak rang. It was midnight.

Jiufang Cangze arched his back and slowly crawled off the ground.

At that moment, a patrolling disciple suddenly stepped forward and kicked him back to the ground. “It’s not time yet!”

He fell to the ground in a pathetic heap. All the joints in his limbs screamed in pain. His voice trembled. “Mmm… He only told me to kneel until… midnight.”

The disciple said fiercely, “An elder added to your time. Keep kneeling! If you dare to disobey, you’ll be sent to seclusion!”

Jiufang Cangze frowned deeply and clenched his fists. His rebellious nature meant he wasn’t a soft persimmon that anyone could bully.

However, a faint breeze woke him up.

This was Qiu Fuxue’s territory. He had promised before that he wouldn’t cause trouble.

His spiritual core was gone, but this demon body would not disappear. The crimson demonic mark on his forehead was replaced by an ugly scar.

The last time he was sent to seclusion, the elder in charge, who disliked his demonic identity, had used a hot branding iron to brand him.

He hadn’t seen Qiu Fuxue in a long time. He wondered if the other man would despise him even more now that he was ugly and pathetic.

After kneeling on the hard stone for another full night, his knees were bruised and purple when he got up the next day. Pus seeped from his unhealed wounds.

Jiufang Cangze’s smile was desolate. He limped back to his room, leaning on the wall.

From a place where he couldn’t see, a pair of eyes had been watching him the entire time.

The room was chosen by Qiu Fuxue himself. Its location and size were not bad. The other man was not as harsh as Liyun, but he also didn’t go out of his way to be kind to him.

After kneeling for a full day and night, he hadn’t had a single bite of food or a drop of water. His body couldn’t take it anymore. The moment he entered his room, he collapsed onto the bed.

However, the bed was damp and cold.

Another disciple who couldn’t stand him had poured ice water on his bed while he was away.