After Marrying the Disabled Demon Lord as a Substitute, I Ran Away with His Child - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Xuan Mo’s words were like a boulder dropped into a still lake, sending ripples of shock through the crowd.

If Zuo Siqiu wasn’t in seclusion, where was she? No one could answer.

Xuan Mo asked again, his voice colder and more terrifying than before: “Where is her rooster?”

Yan Jiaojiao felt a chill run down her spine, her blood seemingly freezing in her veins. She finally realized what was wrong that explosion from days ago should have been suspicious. The Madam’s rooster was gone, and the Madam never took the rooster with her into the refining room.

The Right Protector, Blood Demon, quickly pieced things together and informed Xuan Mo about the sudden attack launched by Zhu Jiechou and Bi Zhian days prior. A murderous glint flashed in Xuan Mo’s eyes as he stormed toward the Demon Prison, his anger a physical weight in the air.

Trailing behind, Yan Jiaojiao whispered to Blood Demon, “Something is very wrong… The Madam couldn’t have… she couldn’t have run away, could she?”

Blood Demon replied, “Impossible. I’ve never seen the Venerable One treat anyone so well. Even for the sake of that affection, she wouldn’t leave!”

Walking ahead of them, Xuan Mo’s expression softened slightly. How could she run? Give her ten times the courage and she still wouldn’t dare!

…

Inside the Demon Prison, Xuan Mo didn’t waste words. He began torturing Zhu Jiechou and Bi Zhian with the casual ease of a high-level cultivator. By the third round of agony, the mangled Zhu Jiechou finally broke.

“She’s gone… hehehe…”

The words hit Xuan Mo like a physical slap. She really ran? How did she dare!

Zhu Jiechou, his mind shattered, laughed like a maniac. “Did you think she loved you? How could she love a Great Demon? How could she stay in a place that could take her life at any moment?” He used his last strength to mock him. “She loves me. She’s even carrying my baby… Little Junior Sister has my baby in her belly.”

Xuan Mo didn’t believe the nonsense about a “baby”; he assumed the man had simply gone mad. But the fact that “Zuo Siqiu ran away” was enough to push his temper past the breaking point. He crushed Zhu Jiechou’s jaw with his bare hand, hissing through gritted teeth, “Pray that what you say is a lie, or you will find that even death is a luxury you cannot afford.”

He turned to the guards. “Torture them. Do not stop for a single moment.” Then, he vanished.

…

In the mortal realm, on a gently flowing river, a small boat carried two women and a rooster toward a bustling city. The women looked remarkably ordinary with plain features, simple clothes but their eyes were exceptionally bright. They were Zuo Siqiu and Zuo Mudong, disguised using the secret techniques of the Long family.

“As the saying goes, the best place to hide is in the middle of a crowd,” Zuo Siqiu had told her sister. “We go to the mortal world and live as commoners. It’ll be much harder to find us.”

Zuo Mudong had looked at her with pride. “Siqiu, you’ve really grown up.”

Zuo Siqiu felt a surge of triumph. She had expected to be heartbroken after leaving Xuan Mo, but staying with her sister had filled that emotional void. She was surprised by how little she missed him, especially now that she had successfully rescued her parents’ souls.

“Once we settle,” Zuo Siqiu said, “we’ll hunt through the black markets for soul-refining manuals. If we learn how they were made, we can learn how to break the curse.”

Zuo Mudong was stunned by her sister’s ambition but smiled warmly. “Alright. When Father and Mother are back and the baby is born, our family will live happily ever after.”

The rooster, tucked into Zuo Siqiu’s arms, let out a spirited cluck. It had chased her halfway down the mountain; she hadn’t expected it to follow. Since it was barely a spirit beast and more of a “smart chicken,” it wouldn’t give away their location.

Two days later, they arrived in Yan City, a massive metropolis of over a million mortals. No cultivators lived there. They bought a small, 80-square-meter courtyard in a quiet, humble neighborhood.

The rooster was very satisfied with its new domain. It patrolled the yard like a king, especially after Zuo Siqiu bought a few hens to keep it company.

“I suggest you don’t let them have babies,” Zuo Siqiu teased the rooster while stroking its feathers. “I haven’t had eggs in ages. If you do, I might eat them all!”

The rooster wasn’t scared; instead, it became a “shepherd rooster,” herding the hens to eat and exercise so they would produce the best eggs for Zuo Siqiu. Zuo Mudong watched them, laughing. “You’ve fed this bird so many spirit pills that it’s smarter than most dogs.”

…

One morning, Zuo Siqiu stayed in bed. Her meridians and Dantian had been damaged when she forced the soul-refining furnace to activate during the escape, and her Golden Core was dim. Being pregnant made her even more prone to exhaustion.

The rooster, usually quiet, began crowing incessantly. It pecked open her door, grabbed her sleeve, and dragged her to the chicken coop. Inside were two fresh eggs.

“You brought me here to collect eggs?” Zuo Siqiu asked, picking them up.

“Cluck!”

“Are these your babies? Should I hatch them or boil them?”

The rooster immediately ran to the kitchen door and clucked. Zuo Siqiu laughed, “You’re so sensible! I didn’t raise you on spirit pills for nothing. Now you’re herding chickens and feeding me!”

By the time Zuo Mudong returned from the black market, the rooster had already “ordered” her to the kitchen to boil the eggs. It even watched the fire, pecking the burning wood out of the hearth to extinguish the flame once the water had boiled, then hopped onto the counter to scoop the eggs out with a spoon.

…

Life in the mortal realm was comfortable far better than the cold halls of the Xuan Cloud Sect.

Zuo Siqiu spent her days studying the soul-refining manuals her sister brought back. She didn’t use them on her parents yet; she practiced on other soul puppets until she successfully broke their seals.

Inside her “Mustard Seed” space, she finally restored her parents’ consciousness. When they realized their souls were free and saw their daughters, they wept.

“My poor girls,” her mother sobbed, hugging them. “You’ve suffered so much.”

Zuo Siqiu also dropped the “pregnancy” bombshell. Her parents were shocked, but unlike her father in her previous life, they didn’t judge.

“I don’t care who the father is,” her mother said, stroking her hair. “If you birthed them, they are my precious grandchildren.”

Her father added, “If I ever find out who bullied you, I’ll trade my old soul to get revenge!”

As her parents settled into the Mustard Seed space, they took over the “farming.” Zuo Siqiu had rescued nearly three hundred soul puppets by now. These souls, grateful for their freedom but unable to return to the world, stayed in her space to grow spirit herbs and medicine for her.

“Think of how delicate our girl was as a child,” her parents whispered to each other. “Now she supports a whole household. She must have gone through so much pain to become this strong.”

…

Today, Zuo Siqiu was lounging in a rocking chair under a tree in the courtyard. She had a crispy flatbread in one hand and a bowl of her sister’s braised pork and “shepherd eggs” in the other.

She patted her belly which was still quite flat despite being five or six months along. “Baby, this is the life of a god. I used to think the Xuan Cloud Sect was paradise. I was so wrong. This right here? I wouldn’t trade it for immortality.”

“Compared to this, that dog-man Xuan Mo was just a penny-pincher. I bought materials from his shop and he didn’t even give me a wholesale discount! He lent me money and called it ‘debt,’ but I gave him Dragon Blood and scales for free!”

“And I actually thought he was good to me! He’s a total scumbag! A selfish jerk who only cares about himself!”

Outside the small courtyard gate, the “selfish jerk” Xuan Mo who had spent two grueling months using every ounce of his power to track her down stood frozen in mid-air.

He had arrived cloaked in a murderous aura, ready to kick the door down and make her crawl in repentance. But instead, he heard her… slandering him?

Slandering the Number One Demon Venerable of the world!

Xuan Mo’s face was like stone. He was furious beyond measure, yet for some reason, the foot he had raised to kick the door simply… wouldn’t… move.