After His Demise, the Demon Lord's Doted Canary Finally Sees the Light - Chapter 96

—A hundred years later.

The new batch of disciples at the Qianshan Sect  had just been selected. Elder Li Yun (looked through the new recruits and finally picked the most talented one, a boy named You Yuan, to be his disciple.

It so happened that his Senior Brother had just come out of seclusion. Li Yun decided to show off his new disciple to him.

Ever since the Nine Fiends were executed a century ago, Qiu Fuxue  would enter seclusion every now and then. His last one had lasted eighty-eight years.

When Li Yun went to greet his Senior Brother, his heart trembled the moment he saw him.

His Senior Brother’s hair had turned completely white, and the faint redness in his eyes had mostly faded.

Qiu Fuxue had personally planted a peach tree behind his house. When he had nothing to do, he would sit under it and drink tea. He would also mutter that when the tree bore fruit, he would pick them for Black Ball  to eat, which would cure the dog’s picky eating.

Li Yun brought You Yuan to the peach tree and found Qiu Fuxue there. For a moment, he truly felt the passage of time and the traces it had left on them.

The Senior Brother who used to gently and smilingly coax him was never coming back. Ever since the Demon-Subduing Formation had been opened, he had never seen his Senior Brother smile again.

“Senior Brother.”

Hearing the voice, Qiu Fuxue turned around. A few scattered, pink petals fell on his shoulders.

The first time You Yuan saw the Sect Leader, he was utterly captivated.

He was too beautiful. And not just beautiful, but there was also an indifferent coldness about him that made him feel as unapproachable as a god.

Li Yun took in the boy’s reaction. He patted his head and urged him, “Hurry, don’t just stand there.”

You Yuan snapped out of his trance and lowered his eyes, not daring to look directly at him. He walked up to Qiu Fuxue and bowed. “Disciple You Yuan greets the Sect Leader.”

Qiu Fuxue looked him over. He reached up and caught a peach blossom petal. “Is this the little disciple A-Yun was talking about? He is a child with a lot of spiritual energy.”

Li Yun puffed out his chest proudly. “Of course! My eye for talent isn’t bad! I will personally teach this child. He’s sure to accomplish great things in the future!”

Qiu Fuxue neither agreed nor disagreed. He conjured a pouch in his palm, imbued it with some magic, and placed the petal inside. He then handed it to You Yuan.

You Yuan hesitated, not daring to take it. He looked back at his Master for direction.

After all, before they came, his Master had lectured him for three days and three nights about what not to do when meeting the Sect Leader.

For example, anything related to the Sect Leader’s disciple.

“What your Senior Brother gives you is good stuff. Take it quickly!” Li Yun helped him out.

You Yuan numbly took the pouch. The moment he touched it, he felt a huge surge of spiritual power within.

“Woof… woof…”

Just then, a plump, round white ball came running over, holding a beautiful embroidered ball in its mouth.

Black Ball had lived in the Qianshan Sect for a hundred years and had absorbed a lot of spiritual energy. Although it had gained sentience, its intelligence was average. It also got fatter and fatter. Besides its coat, it had no characteristics of a snow wolf.

Black Ball’s huge body startled You Yuan, and he instinctively hid behind his master.

“Don’t be scared. It’s just fat,” Li Yun comforted him.

Qiu Fuxue let out an almost inaudible sigh and opened his hand. Black Ball spit the thing in its mouth out.

“Where did this new toy come from?”

Black Ball wagged its tail. If it weren’t a wolf, it would have definitely curled its tail and wagged it.

A flirtatious voice came over. “I gave it to him, of course.”

Surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic demon wolves, Lun Ling (侖靈) came hobbling into Qiu Fuxue’s study.

He took a storage bag from his pocket. “The Azure Sea Palace (青溟宮) is mostly rebuilt. I’ve tidied up some of my lord’s… things. Take a look.”

When the Nine Fiends were exterminated, the Azure Sea Palace collapsed. The entire demon realm became a ruin. It was Lun Ling who later gathered the remaining demon soldiers and spent a hundred years rebuilding the Azure Sea Palace.

Xu Wan (序挽), encouraged by Li Yun, had cultivated in the immortal way and joined the Qianshan Sect, so Lun Ling had come to the Qianshan Sect very often over the past hundred years.

Qiu Fuxue stared at the storage bag, lacking the courage to open it.

Time couldn’t heal all wounds. Even after so long, he still couldn’t let go.

He put the storage bag aside as if to avoid it. He turned to pat Black Ball’s head. The dog was happily playing with its new toy.

“It’s gotten fatter again. You and Xu Wan shouldn’t secretly feed it all the time.”

Lun Ling also sensed that he didn’t want to talk about that topic. He went along with it. “This little thing always cries that it’s hungry. Who could have the heart not to satisfy it?”

“…It’s not little anymore.”

Before, Black Ball’s body was at least the size of a normal snow wolf. But the last time he came out of seclusion, he had stared at the half-human-sized giant snow ball next to Li Yun for a long time before he realized it was his little Black Ball.

A snow wolf that was fed until it was fatter than a pig.

Lun Ling feigned a casual attitude and shook his arm, tossing the embroidered ball into the air. Black Ball got up, jumped, and caught the ball in its mouth. It landed with a loud thud.

Qiu Fuxue felt the desk in front of him shake.

Lun Ling patted its head. “See? Our little Black Ball isn’t fat; it’s just strong!”

“…”

Black Ball was a picky eater. It didn’t eat fruits or vegetables. It only ate meat, and it had to be cooked.

That night, Black Ball slept soundly in its bed, holding a pile of toys.

Meanwhile, Qiu Fuxue was sitting on his bed, staring at the storage bag in his hand.

The Immortal Lord had never taken a disciple in this life, yet he had told everyone that he had a disciple named Chuanze (川澤).

His fingers trembled as he opened the storage bag. Inside were mostly fragmented things, all tattered and none of them whole.

He rummaged through it for a long time until he found a tattered piece of clothing full of scratches. A piece of the sleeve seemed to have been torn off, yet it was surprisingly clean.

There were also some sharp pieces of dark iron.

It was from his previous sword, Fen Yu (焚玉).

Seeing these things, a past filled with intertwined love and hatred kept flashing in his mind.

His vision became more and more blurry. Qiu Fuxue belatedly touched his face. His fingertips were wet. He was crying again.

The sleeping Black Ball seemed to sense something. It suddenly woke up with a start and ran to its master’s bed, scratching at him with its paws to comfort him.

It was most afraid of seeing its master cry.

Qiu Fuxue bent down and hugged the large, round dog. His tears soaked its fur.

“If I had known, I would have said more to him in the end.”

“He wanted to take me to eat sweet cakes, and… we never got to properly tour Morning Twilight City…”

“The one piece of clothing I ever washed for him is still here.”

“I wanted to marry him…”

In a rambling voice, Qiu Fuxue talked to Black Ball for a long time, more than all the words he had spoken in the last hundred years combined.

Black Ball listened patiently, allowing its master to lie on top of it, until he stopped making any noise and cried himself to sleep in his memories.

Black Ball finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Woof…”

Humans are so fragile. If it weren’t for me, I don’t know what Master would do.